Best romantic action books according to redditors
We found 191 Reddit comments discussing the best romantic action books. We ranked the 45 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 191 Reddit comments discussing the best romantic action books. We ranked the 45 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
So I was unable to dig up a link to this masterpiece, but I did find a book about a man who is reincarnated as a magic academy. Not a magic academy student. Get your shit together Japan.
A book you want is The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers.
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Nothing really epic happens in this book, which is what makes it so good. It just follows the crew of a ship that (best way to describe it) plots hyperspace routes on an adventure to plot a route further than anyone has gone before. Again, this is less full of sci-fi tropes and more character interaction. I recommend it to anyone. Also, it is a civilian ship, so no military.
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I liked Firefly, and I liked this, they are different, but have lots of similarities.
I'll recommend my partner's book if that's ok? She's not on Reddit, but she's super talented.
The Cardinal Gate by Amy Cissell, book 1 of the Eleanor Morgan series. 4 of 7 books are out, 5 is out in a couple months. It's available on all platforms. Urban Fantasy featuring fae, shifters, mages, and vampires. 38 reviews with a 4.6 average on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Cardinal-Gate-Eleanor-Morgan-Novel-ebook/dp/B06VWTG7CY/
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet is $1.99 on Amazon kindle right now. I picked it up the other day and binged thru it...someday I'll learn not to start reading a book at 1030 when I have to work the next day...lol. It was well worth the price, I enjoyed it and will probably get the next one too
Just thinking about it and re-reading your post, have you looked at Charles Stross's Laundry Files? If you liked The Dresden Files these may be right up your alley...
Fortune's Pawn (Paradox Series) [Paperback]
Rachel Bach (Author)
http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/0316221112
Won't be released until November.
I mean, look at those faces.
They mean business.
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*edited to explain:
This is a mere bit of serious self-promotion to mark last night's final 'click' of 'submit' of my 4th book in this very serious series.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VW65TY6/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i9
House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds
> Reynolds (The Prefect) returns to the universe of his 2005 novella Thousandth Night in this sprawling novel of intergalactic intrigue. It is 6.4 million years in the future and humanity has spread throughout the Milky Way. Some cultures have established transient empires across space; others, the Lines, have used relativistic travel to colonize deep time. Clone-siblings Campion and Purslane are delayed on their way to a Gentian Line reunion, a coincidence that saves them from a massacre. Allied with potentially hostile Machine People and an enigmatic post-human god called the Spirit, armed only with fragmentary records and hints that Campion's research provoked the mysterious House of Suns, the Gentian survivors struggle to find and stop their enemies before the genocide can be completed. Intriguing ideas and competent characterization make this a fine example of grand-scale relativistic space opera.
I would recommend House of Suns by Alistair Reynolds.
Lighthearted space opera, like Nathan Lowell, Andrew Moriarty, Jamie McFarlane, Becky Chambers, Peter Grant. The stories often involve a young person getting their first job onboard a commercial spacecraft of some sort.
If you're open to looking at novels outside of the Star Wars universe, I've stolen several characters from The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. The crew in that story is more Firefly-ish, just taking jobs and trying to make it.
zem beat me to the punch with 'Last and First Men' I can't recommend this book more. If you're in a country with copyright laws of life +50 years then this is in the public domain i.e. free and legal to download (I'd recommend Gutenberg Australia).
Not a novel but a similar concept to 'Last and First Men' is Dougal Dixons Man After Man: An Anthropology of the Future (to navigate to each chapter, click on the links at the bottom of each page; 200, 300,....5 million years hence).
Frank Herberts Dune explores the idea of the evolution of humanity with the Guild Navigators, Mentats, Bene Gesserit, Bene Tleilax etc. [mini rant](/s"Although his son has stated in his toilet paper worthy novels that these aren't so much cases of gradual evolution as sudden developments that seem to fit well into a narrative in order to make money")
Robert Reeds novel Sister Alice tells a story spanning hundreds of thousands of years with humans having gained godlike powers. Also by the same author and in the same vein I'd recommend Marrow and The Well of Stars.
Alastair Reynolds also did a good job with House of Suns; very similar to 'Sister Alice'.
Can you believe I've typed that twice because of a blue screen of death.
House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds. There are no aliens, but there is a robot race. FTL does not exist. The space farers go into stasis during journeys. There is an interstellar chase scene that lasts tens of thousands of years.
Evan Currie's Odyssey One series is more military than pure space opera, but it is awesome.
The Golden Oecumene series by John C Wright is a Transhuman Space Opera of epic proportions. I highly recommend it.
Rachel Bach has a great series called Fortunes Pawn. Also a lil closer to military sci-fi but it has some nice Space Opera themes.
Joshua Dalzelle has a great series called the Black Fleet, again more military sci-fi than true space opera, but very good none the less.
The Reality Dysfunction series though, if you are looking for a meaty Space opera to lose yourself in is a must read series.
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I almost forgot about the Manifold Series by Stephen Baxter and the Darwin's Radio series by Greg Bear. Both are phenomenal reads, and while technically they are set in the near future and aren't space opera per say, they are must reads for anyone into Sci-Fi.
My partner just moved her UF series to KU. There are 5 books out with 2 more to come. It has some romance and on the page sex, but definitely stays firmly on the UF side of the line. The romance is just a subplot, not the main plot.
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The Eleanor Morgan Novels by Amy Cissell.
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The first book is "The Cardinal Gate" - Born fae but raised human, Eleanor is tasked with bringing about the end of the world as she knows it. Thrust into a world of supernaturals, can she survive the machinations of fae, shifters, mages, and vampires on a road trip across the US?
https://www.amazon.com/Cardinal-Gate-Eleanor-Morgan-Novel-ebook/dp/B06VWTG7CY/
I tend to enjoy both, but I generally write in third person limited. There are advantages and disadvantages to both styles, in my opinion. For first person, I need to really like the voice of the character or it ends up being grating.
A few suggestions:
If you're in the mood for some military fantasy, I'd recommend The Thousand Names by Django Wexler. Possibly Brian McClellan's books, too.
If you like science fantasy, try Without Bloodshed by /u/starbreakerauthor. He has a great (and very diverse cast) and excellent prose.
If you like heavy magic systems, a lot of problem solving, and the occasional anime-esque action scene, you might like my own books. First one is Forging Divinity. Fair warning that I put a lot of detail into the magic, which makes it seem sort of "video gamey" to some people.
Alastair Reynolds - House of Suns
Fortune's Pawn by Rachel Bach book one of three
Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:
amazon.co.uk
amazon.ca
amazon.com.au
amazon.com.mx
amazon.de
amazon.it
amazon.es
amazon.com.br
amazon.nl
amazon.fr
Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
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My favorite sci-fi novel, I never miss a chance to promote is House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds. It transcends the genre, in my opinion. I wish more people knew about it.
I also like The Dispossessed.
How about The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet? A aliens with humans on a single ship. Nice world building. Fun characters.
The Kindle version of my science fantasy thriller, Without Bloodshed, is on sale today and tomorrow.
One of my favorite books of 2016 : https://www.amazon.com/Long-Small-Angry-Planet-Wayfarers/dp/0062444131
Getting a perfect baby bottom clean shave with zero irritation that would last the rest of my life would make me cry with crippling joy. I would stay in the fetal position crying until hunger forced me out of this posture.
edit: oops hope close enough to five.
Have a look at Elizabeth Moon's Vatta's War series. Space opera/MilSF, simple narratives.
Incidentally, if you use FTL, you can set the average speed and transit time to whatever is convenient to your narrative.
Excession by Iain Banks is a good look at a post scarcity interstellar society. It's also a good study in plotting and pacing. In a Banks novel you'll generally encounter complex narratives, factions gathering intelligence for most of the book and maneuvering into position, then a big action scene, then the factions regroup and then a big final action scene.
I think you should also look at Martha Wells' Murderbot series. This is a series of novellas, 40K words, but they are basically being marketed as novels, and readers are eating it up. Wells is killing it with this series, and you should study the overall form of the story and the writing style and tone/mood.
Readers are hungry for lighthearted SF now. Not necessarily humorous SF like the Hitchhiker's Guide, though humorous is also popular, but lighthearted enough so that the characters can crack a joke occasionally, or have some running banter in their dialogue. Murderbot is a killer android with a soft side.
I think readers are tired of the doom & gloom of post apoc, and right now the market responds to lighter fare. Other recent examples of this would be We are Legion (We are Bob) and The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. I hesitate in include these two, because I think they are both poorly written, but they are both lighthearted and are super popular right now.
It depends on what you mean by 'similar feel', since star citizen is of course different things to different people.
There are some literal wing commander novelizations that are fine if you're looking for WW2 in space military adventure. Character development errm... But there's definitely parallels to the Star Citizen setting, having its roots in the same places.
https://www.amazon.com/Through-Struggle-Stars-Human-Reach-ebook/dp/B005FGNLDM
The Human Reach is a well done 'space war story' with a decent degree of hardness. It's not really space opera since the main character(s) function more as viewpoint characters as opposed to being the only ones moving the war along.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZP64F28/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Long Way to a Small Angry Planet is a largely non-violent space adventure that is character-focused with a deep backstory and well developed setting.
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like...what do you think you like in such a book?
a well developed setting with deep lore and thought given to the logical consequences of the society and technology?
appealing and interesting characters with developed personalities and consistent reactions?
Fast paced action and adventure?
To see the bad guys get their proper comeuppance regularly?
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These things are not always compatible or present in the same books.
Those are up on Amazon now, perhaps the site was taken down?
https://www.amazon.com/WHAAAT-reincarnated-Magic-Academy-Book-ebook/dp/B01FYZ3D4K
Not sure what genres you like.
But if you enjoy fantasy I'd recommend Terry Pratchett, comedy fantasy author who has really good characters and intriguing plots. Don't start from the first book he wrote though. Maybe read some summaries from later books and see what sticks out? But I personally love the Watch novels http://www.lspace.org/books/reading-order-guides/the-discworld-reading-order-guide-20.jpg They follow a fairly cynical detective and his various adventures. I've found that the comedy in Pratchett's books generally adds to the story, instead of taking away from the impact of it. He points out a lot of the intrinsic absurdities of life, in ways that are funny but also sometimes feel insightful.
If you enjoy sci-fi, 'a long way to a small angry planet' (https://www.amazon.com/Long-Small-Angry-Planet-Wayfarers/dp/0062444131) might be good. Its character focused, with a good plot, but is generally a warm and pleasant read, without being comedy. However, it still manages to deal with complex issues, has an interesting plot, and has some really genuinely interesting worldbuilding and aliens.
If you want more realism, James Herriot's novels might be a good choice. They are basically fictionalized memoirs of a vet in the English countryside. Some of the stories are hilarious, some are bittersweet. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18929854-all-creatures-great-and-small
Off the top of my head, the Paradox Seriesis right up your alley. Female lead, but no doubt a dick-swinging mf all the same. I've got some more on the tip of my tongue; I'll have to look through my library when I get home.
Long Trip to a Small Angry Planet
https://www.amazon.com/Long-Small-Angry-Planet-Wayfarers-ebook/dp/B00ZP64F28/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1504576843&sr=8-1&keywords=long+trip+to+a+small+angry+planet
Redshirts
https://www.amazon.com/Redshirts-Novel-Three-Codas-Winner-ebook/dp/B0079XPUOW/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1504576869&sr=1-1&keywords=redshirts
[Fortune's Pawn] (http://www.amazon.com/Fortunes-Pawn-Paradox-Book-1/dp/0316221112) by Rachael Bach
From Amazon:
Devi Morris isn't your average mercenary. She has plans. Big ones. And a ton of ambition. It's a combination that's going to get her killed one day - but not just yet.
That is, until she just gets a job on a tiny trade ship with a nasty reputation for surprises. The Glorious Fool isn't misnamed: it likes to get into trouble, so much so that one year of security work under its captain is equal to five years everywhere else. With odds like that, Devi knows she's found the perfect way to get the jump on the next part of her Plan. But the Fool doesn't give up its secrets without a fight, and one year on this ship might be more than even Devi can handle.
The Paradox series by Rachel Bach, starting with Fortune's Pawn. it's a popcorn space opera with equal parts action, adventure and romance.
This is the one. Some other good ones might be Ender's Game, A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, and Fluency. Really all depends on what types of book you like to read. I can recommend many!
Chaos Quarter by David Welsh is pretty much a quick fun read that seems to fit the bill of what you're asking.
As someone else said, The Expanse series starting with Leviathan Wakes is a really enjoyable story.
I'd also mark down Fortune's Pawn by Rachel Bach. It's simple and easy to digest without going all Revelation Space on you.
Repercussions set forth by a misguided civilization unleash events difficult to predict or control which ripple through space and time affecting the lives of several characters simultaneously. As such, a young man living in the Dark Ages, occupied with mundane activities notices something strange about the world he lives in. Eventually, he acquires a mysterious device which seems to be at the heart of these phenomena. Soon he finds himself lost in unknown versions of reality and must find his way back to loved ones while filling in the missing pieces of his own personal story.
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Get it here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P1K6LR4
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet I’m not much of a sci-fi reader, but this is turning out to be... less tedious. I'd recommend it if you liked Firefly.
I don't think I have any cheap books on my list.
litRPG: litRPG Harem series. New Release in November: Forsaken 2027
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Forsaken is out now: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KN9TWZR
A new litRPG series by first time author Sharon Leslie. The series covers a new immersive gaming world that players need to have Neural Links fitted to their brain stems and play using a POD filled with Nanogel. The game has five known gaming zones, only two are active when the game launches.
Forsaken is out now: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KN9TWZR
_ _ _ _ _ _
Cain sits at his desk as the two-minute silence on the anniversary of the World’s Worst Day passes by as he suffers another flashback. Wheeling himself past the reception desk, he notices Toni. Everything about Toni drew both his mind and eyes; he knew that Toni was the complete package, a package he could never tire of, if not have.
Little does Cain know his life was going to change. Without a date in three years, soon he would have five hot women to satisfy, Toni is one of them. All because he cannot refuse to help a damsel in distress.
Join Cain and Toni on an exciting roller-coaster of a ride in more ways than one. Making friends with mutant creatures, killing idiot players who try to kill them. As the death counts rise so does the number of women Cain ends up in bed with, often at the same time.
Who knew immersive playing was so tiring?
Notes:
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers --I bought this one but just noticed today that it was on kindle unlimited. An easy but well written sci fi book. I have a hard time caring about characters in Sci Fi books (I don't know why this has been the case for me, but it has) but I did give a shit about the characters in this book.
Gonna keep this short and sweet. I'm Matthew Graybosch, and I write sci-fi for metalheads with a bit of romance baked in. I've got two novels out:
Read 'em in that order and you'll be fine. :)
Also I think you would be able to detect the massive spot of nothingness in your field of view.
Edit: There is a book by Alastair Reynolds called House of Suns where an alien race uses similar technology to cloak a galaxy.
https://www.amazon.com/Mason-Storm-Reapers-TRULY-CONQUER-ebook/dp/B08176L3P1
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//I WANT THE XPATH FOR THIS
Kelly
After what happened, I walked away from everything I loved and vowed never to come back.
Mason
I fucked up years ago and trusted a friend over the woman I loved and have regretted it to this day.
He was her high school boyfriend.
She was his one that got away.
His best friend sexually assaulted her.
He didn't know that. So, when he said the words that ultimately destroy any future that they might have had, they both thought that was the end.
After ten years of avoidance and the death of her mother brings her back to the small town of Delway, North Carolina. A flat tire and a dead cellphone leads her to the door of the "Storm Reapers MC Clubhouse." Behind this door, she'll come face-to-face with her past and the man that once had her heart. She's not the same girl he knew before she left. She'll prove that by carving her path to vengeance.
Can they pick up where they ended so many years ago and have the future they were once hoping to have? Or will outside forces from their past tear them apart before they have the chance to find out?
A full-length novel featuring an MFM Menage Scene. Warning: Sexual Assualt, Violence, and Strong language.
Hello, everyone! I'm a long-time member of the subreddit (I actually found my writing group on this subreddit, go figure) but a first-time commenter on this thread. I wanted to just give a shout-out for my first publication: Hunting the Bayou King. I really had a blast writing it, and my publisher Heads & Tails is just wonderful.
In addition to the eBook publication, they also published a print anthology of all the books in the series thus far, including my story. They did a great job editing it, and so it felt so crazy to hold my own book in my hands and go, "I wrote this. It looks like a real book, but I wrote this."
Despite being part of a larger series, Hunting the Bayou King is actually able to be read standalone. It's all about Steampunk Kaiju and the consequences of trying to kill a god. It actually serves as a prequel to the series and really was an opportunity for me to go crazy with my sense of scale.
I'm still working on other projects, of course. I'm in the middle of a Progression Fantasy project of my own making that should be super fun. If all goes according to plan, it should drop for publication sometime next year.
I wanted to thank the subreddit for helping me push myself to this point. I'm still not where I want to be as an author yet, but I am proud of myself for what I have accomplished so far. If you get a chance to read Hunting the Bayou King, please do let me know what you think. If possible, drop a review (that would seriously mean the world to me).
Other than that, thank you everyone. Keep writing!
I was searching reddit for posts related to Count of Monte Cristo and saw this post. It's a month old but can I suggest a book I just finished?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZBKRHYN/ref=mp_s_a_1_fkmr0_1?keywords=el+dorado+matthew+l+Martin&qid=1571533650
It's a book inspired by Count, except the setting isn't Napoleonic France, but Civil War/Reconstruction era USA, and beyond.
Saga of Seven Suns might be right up your alley. Three races, space travel and mystery to a level involved.
Hope you like it.
Have you heard of this one?
This looks interesting. I just added it to my reading list.
here is a US link for those interested
Have you tried reading novels such as https://www.amazon.com/WHAAAT-reincarnated-Magic-Academy-Book-ebook/dp/B01FYZ3D4K for ideas?