Here are 100 books that Star Compass fans have personally recommended if you like
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I’ve published eleven classic-style space opera novels, a novella, and many short stories. Before becoming a writer, I spent twenty years in US Air Force in space operations; even though my books are light on science, I really was a rocket scientist! Plus, I’ve read science fiction since I was barely a teen, starting with Heinlein and McCaffery, and am always looking for my next favorite author!
Siti Kassis isn’t sure what she wants to do with her life, but following her father back to the deserted homeworld of humanity is pretty low on her list. But the Hero of Darenti Four insists, and it’s an exciting mission, so they enter deep sleep together, and emerge into a much different Earth than they expected.
The characters are believable and clever, with funny bits liberally sprinkled throughout, and Julia’s writing is excellent. Young, old, male, or female; every reader will love Siti’s adventures on a catastrophically changed Earth!
A hero with big expectations. A daughter who doesn’t want to live in his shadow.
Siti Kassis, daughter of the “Hero of Darenti Four,” doesn't know what she wants out of life. A lot of her friends are taking time to travel and see the galaxy. But her father wants her to attend the Academy and follow in his footsteps.
Then the Hero is offered one last assignment: take a team to find and explore the deserted homeworld of mankind. It’s a twenty-year mission, and he doesn’t want to leave his only child behind. Siti's going, whether she wants to…
"A haunting YA mystery. Touching on everything from police ineptitude and community solidarity to the endless frustration of being patronized as a young person, this paranormal thriller confidently combines timely and relatable themes within a page-turning storyline." - Self-Publishing Review
"Biel's writing is fast-paced and sharp!" - author Christy Wopat…
I’ve published eleven classic-style space opera novels, a novella, and many short stories. Before becoming a writer, I spent twenty years in US Air Force in space operations; even though my books are light on science, I really was a rocket scientist! Plus, I’ve read science fiction since I was barely a teen, starting with Heinlein and McCaffery, and am always looking for my next favorite author!
Clair Johnson is determined to prove herself and find out what really happened to her mother. Neither of those things happen the way she expects.
This is an easy read, with interesting world building, and a realistic set of characters. I enjoyed the setting, the friend group, and the intrigue a lot!
In a world of music videos on television, punk rock, and roller derby, the race for space is finally on in this young adult SF adventure!
The United Federation has set a goal of sending a manned rocket to the moon; but rival countries will stop at nothing to plant their flags first—no matter the cost.
For Claire Johnson, that cost might be her life.
The seventeen-year-old spunky waitress wants nothing more than to honor her mother's memory by gaining entrance to the United Federation Space Program and doing her part for the mission. Yet her father wants Claire as…
I’ve published eleven classic-style space opera novels, a novella, and many short stories. Before becoming a writer, I spent twenty years in US Air Force in space operations; even though my books are light on science, I really was a rocket scientist! Plus, I’ve read science fiction since I was barely a teen, starting with Heinlein and McCaffery, and am always looking for my next favorite author!
Ruby hates robots and artificial intelligence. She desperately wants to join an expedition to the outer reaches of the solar system, where humans do the work, rather than computers. But she’s still too young and needs to finish her degree. Determined to make her own fate, she sets off to join, but of course, she’s abducted by space-faring robots with some very strange flaws…
A really fun book, with robots that are all too human, and an endearing main character.
What would you do if you were kidnapped by alien robots?
Ruby Palmer finds herself on an entire planet surrounded by the things she hates the most: robots. Besides taking everything she says way too literally, the robots have problems of their own. A myriad of technical glitches are, on the cosmological scale, quickly destroying them. Ruby has the programming knowledge and skills that matter to them, but can she overcome her fears and find it within herself to help? Her survival, along with the survival of all of humanity and robot kind, depends on it.
Kindle Book Award Finalist. Readers' Favorite Book Award Finalist. Gotham Writers' YA Novel Discovery Contest Finalist. B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree
Brigit Quinn has always felt like an outsider. Growing up in a small town where her mom’s pagan practices are the stuff of local gossip, she’s spent her whole life trying…
I’ve published eleven classic-style space opera novels, a novella, and many short stories. Before becoming a writer, I spent twenty years in US Air Force in space operations; even though my books are light on science, I really was a rocket scientist! Plus, I’ve read science fiction since I was barely a teen, starting with Heinlein and McCaffery, and am always looking for my next favorite author!
Theo has lived in “safety” her entire life, but as she’s grown, she’s become clumsy. Her safe world considers her a potential threat. Plus, her mother has moved them out of Theo’s life-long home, and wants to take her across the galaxy, and her father has disappeared. Everything in her life has changed and nothing is as it seems. But Theo is no weakling; she’s a survivor.
Fledgling is an alternative entry point into the Liaden Universe, Lee & Miller fabulous space opera series. The writing is outstanding, the universe complex, and the characters fantastic. I love everything about this series!
I grew up on a steady book diet of child detectives, fairy tales involving monsters in the woods, and historical fiction about the black plague. The same themes go through the books I love to read and write, transporting me with world-building set in realms or historical settings with technology so strange it could be fantasy. Characters are shaped by the world around them and the more perilous the world, the more it challenges the characters. If there are monsters, I’m in.
Alan Campbell set the mixed steampunk science-fantasy genre for me, with his high fantasy worlds where machines and magic go hand in hand, to prison cities surrounded by poisonous waters that can turn you into permanent sea-dwellers, and telepathic abilities worth killing for.
This is a world where a trip to the beach might kill you if the telepaths don’t find you first.
Leaving the behind the imaginings of Deepgate, Alan Campbell introduces a new world, a new cast of characters in a novel that reads like a cross between Stephen Deas and Joe Abercrombie.
With non-stop action, beautiful characterization and Alan's usual flair for imagination and lyrical writing, welcome to a world of water - where dragons are used as weapons and countries are separated by power, greed and fear...
Thrown out of the Graveyard corps by a corrupt and weak emperor, Granger has to turn to running his own prison. It's not a lucrative business but if he keeps his head…
Steampunk has always been a fascinating genre to me, especially seeing how different creators play with historical elements. But the question that I’m always looking to answer is, “Why is this history different from our own?” What has allowed this alternate Victorian era to create fantastical technology? As I asked this question about my own steampunk books, I found great delight in how other authors have combined magic with their technology to create delightfully refreshing outcomes. I continue to search out these books as I am always surprised at their creativity and novelty.
In true Sanderson fashion, the worldbuilding in this book is unparalleled. I adore how he has blended both steampunk elements and an entirely unique magic system revolving around chalk drawings–it gives a sense of a much larger world beyond what the story shows.
The combination of art and math in the magic system is something that really fascinated me, and I love how the characters only succeeded when they combined their respective strengths. I always love a good mystery-adventure in a school setting!
The Rithmatist, Brandon Sanderson's New York Times bestselling epic teen adventure is now available in paperback.
More than anything, Joel wants to be a Rithmatist. Rithmatists have the power to infuse life into two-dimensional figures known as Chalklings. Rithmatists are humanity's only defense against the Wild Chalklings. Having nearly overrun the territory of Nebrask, the Wild Chalklings now threaten all of the American Isles.
As the son of a lowly chalkmaker at Armedius Academy, Joel can only watch as Rithmatist students learn the magical art that he would do anything to practice. Then students start disappearing―kidnapped from their rooms at…
A hair-raising, side-splitting supernatural adventure!
In the idyllic town of Pine Port, Kelsey was on the cusp of realizing her dreams. In weeks, she'd clasp her high school diploma and beauty license. Or so she thought, until her life took a supernatural detour, far removed from the ordinary path she'd…
I'm the product of a man who married more times than I like to admit to strangers and even family. We moved all the time. Those two elements in my life led me to run out the door immediately upon release from sorting my belongings from their thoroughly packed boxes. I made friends at once with everyone I came across. Who knew how long we’d live there? Over the years, I acquired deep friendships from around the U.S. and often daydreamed of them all being in the same place at once and loving the solidarity. It never happened, but it's a theme that runs through me. It’s what I like to write about.
This book captured me from the first moment with Amaranthe determined to be the best enforcer despite being looked down upon because she was a woman doing a man’s job and not doing what her family expected of her.
When she finds herself the target of an assassin which she must target, she gathers a collection of misfits who (spoiler sort of) become the family she needs to succeed and survive along with bumble, trip, fail, and regroup with.
I loved cheering her on and wincing at her (sometimes hilarious) struggles.
Imperial law enforcer Amaranthe Lokdon is good at her job: she can deter thieves and pacify thugs, if not with a blade, then by toppling an eight-foot pile of coffee canisters onto their heads. But when ravaged bodies show up on the waterfront, an arson covers up human sacrifices, and a powerful business coalition plots to kill the emperor, she feels a tad overwhelmed.
Worse, Sicarius, the empire's most notorious assassin, is in town. He's tied in with the chaos somehow, but Amaranthe would be a fool to cross his path. Unfortunately, her superiors order her to hunt him down.…
Steampunk has always been a fascinating genre to me, especially seeing how different creators play with historical elements. But the question that I’m always looking to answer is, “Why is this history different from our own?” What has allowed this alternate Victorian era to create fantastical technology? As I asked this question about my own steampunk books, I found great delight in how other authors have combined magic with their technology to create delightfully refreshing outcomes. I continue to search out these books as I am always surprised at their creativity and novelty.
How could I resist steampunk zombies? Every character in this book is unique and memorable, and I admire their grit and ingenuity as they navigate the dangerous environment they live in.
I found it very refreshing to have a book focused on the relationship between a middle-aged mother and her teenage son, and that it was her love for him that drove all her choices.
At the start of the Civil War, a Russian mining company commissions a great machine to pave the way from Seattle to Alaska and speed up the gold rush that is beating a path to the frozen north. Inventor Leviticus Blue creates the machine, but on its first test run it malfunctions, decimating Seattle's banking district and uncovering a vein of Blight Gas that turns everyone who breathes it into the living dead. Sixteen years later Briar, Blue's widow, lives in the poor neighborhood outside the wall that's been built around the uninhabitable city. Life is tough with a ruined…
In the hands of a skilled horror author, there is something powerful about a slow-burn romance. When two characters are drawn to each other against the backdrop of dread and danger, the stakes are raised. Every moment the two have together is hard-won, special. The romance doesn’t soften the horror; it sharpens it. It gives readers something to invest in and hope for. That intense emotional investment creates tension. Survival isn’t just about escaping the supernatural threat or a human monster; it’s about what might be lost if they don’t. In horror, love is a luxury because it’s risky and a vulnerability. It's a favorite element of good horror.
Perfect for horror readers who enjoy a narrative that is easy to settle into (the pages fly by), enjoy elements of dark fantasy with rich, opulent settings, and anything to do with blood, not necessarily vampires, but vampire-like activity.
The “rags-to-riches” storyline is so satisfying, I was physically dying for the MC to get to her new home, take a bath, get a makeover, and sink into a pretty & comfy bed. I loved this book so much; it delivered on everything, including my infatuation with reading about female friendships, toxicity, jealousy, and rivalry. Also, quite a bit of sapphic romance, which is a breath of fresh air in horror, filled with stale same-sex relationships or no romance at all.
NOMINATED FOR BEST HORROR NOVEL in the GOODREADS READERS CHOICE AWARDS...
'A lurid, luscious debauch of a book.' Guardian
'An unforgettable feast of decadence and depravity, House of Hunger cements Henderson's place as one of the great gothic writers of our generation.' S T GIBSON, author of A Dowry of Blood
A young woman is drawn into the upper echelons of a society where blood is power in this dark and enthralling Gothic novel from the author of The Year of the Witching.
WANTED: A bloodmaid of exceptional taste. Must have a keen proclivity for life's finer pleasures. Girls of…
An Heir of Realms tells the tale of two young heroines—a dragon rider and a portal jumper—who fight dragon-like parasites to save their realms from extinction.
Rhoswen is training as a Realm Rider to work with dragons and burn away the Narxon swarming into her realm. Rhoswen’s dream is to…
I’m a cyclist and a cycling fan. I’ve commuted through the Surrey countryside by tricycle and explored the cycling city of Cambridge by bike. I’ve stood at the side of the road to cheer on the Olympic road race, the Tour de France and the Tour of Britain, and the World Road Cycling Championships. I kept on cycling until I was eight and a half months pregnant and was reading a biography of Beryl Burton when I went into labour. There aren’t a lot of cycling novels out there, but I’m proud of having added one to that small number.
For me, cycling has meant freedom. This book celebrates the bicycle as a tool for women’s emancipation. Microcosm Publishing has a strong track record (pun intended) in celebrating feminism, cycling, and the intersection of the two, and this is a particularly good example.
Set in a universe that seems to be just a jump away from our own, about a century and a half ago, it’s insightful on matters of class and wealth, too. I particularly enjoyed all the little details of fashion. I found myself rooting hard for the heroine in her struggle to ride a bike, not just competitively, but at all. And I was charmed by a love story I wasn’t expecting.
Emmeline Escot knows that she was born to ride in Seren’s cutthroat velocipede races. The only problem: She’s female in a world where women lead tightly laced lives. Emmeline watches her twin brother gain success as a professional racing jockey while her own life grows increasingly narrow. Ever more stifled by rules, corsets, and her upcoming marriage of convenience to a brusque stranger, Emmy rebelswith stunning consequences. Can her dream to race survive scandal, scrutiny, and heartbreak?
