Star wars is a space opera which describes the events of a faraway world in a faraway time. It is one of the biggest sensations of the modern day and age, and its films as well as books have received tremendous popularity. Here are 8 books with stories similar to Star Wars. If you love the star wars, you might just like some of these other science fiction books on this list. All of them are also space operas with distinctive features of space travel and colonization elsewhere in the world.
8 Books With Stories Similar to Star Wars:
Leviathan Wakes by James Corey
This book is the introduction to the Expanse series. Incorporating elements of space operas like Star Wars, this book follows a solar system colonized by humans. The planets and their moons are now human territory but the stars still lie beyond our reach. We alternatively follow Jim and Detective Miller. Jim, an ice miner, finds an abandoned ship which contains a tremendously powerful secret. Even though he isn’t aware of it, someone is willing to kill for the secret. On the other hand we have the Detective, who is searching for one girl amidst the billions in the world, for a specific purpose.
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
This story follows Rosemary Harper as she journeys through space in the ship ‘Wayfarer.’ Her eventful journey becomes all the more dangerous when she must risk her life (for reasons that we won’t give because they’re full of spoilers.) To navigate these uncertain times, she learns to depend and trust in her crew, and discovers and redefines love in the process. A peculiar blend of sci-fi and literary fiction, this book is a great feel-good yet thrilling read.
Dune by Frank Herbert
This is perhaps one of the best sci fi books ever, and has a lot of elements in common with Star Wars, most visibly the intergalactic travel. This space opera follows a boy Paul, who is all set to become the next ruler of Arrakis. Arrakis, however, is an infertile and inhospitable land which mostly comprises endless stretches of desert. The only thing going in favour of the people is the ‘spice’ mélange which has curious properties that extend the life. Post the betrayal of House of Attreides, it falls upon Paul to travel to the limits of his destiny and bear to fruition mankind’s most unattainable dream.
The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi
This is the stunning introduction to the Interdependency series, which took the world by storm at its release. In this Star Wars-esque space opera, we follow a world where ‘the flow’ (an extradimensional field at some points on the space-time fabric) have made travel faster than light. Thus humanity ‘flows’ from earth to spaces outside, creating a robust empire, the Interdependency. But soon people discover that the flow is not static, but a moving, dynamic force that can isolate people and even the whole of humanity. So now the Empress, a scientist and a starship captain must collude to salvage the empire form collapse.
Triplanetary by E E Doc Smith
This sci fi adventure is much like Star Wars in its mood and tone as well a its content. In this hypothetical world, two races, Arisians and Eddorians are in perpetual intergalactic war with each other. And the prize for the winners is Earth. Thus with the human planet at stake, these two planets are continuously rivalling each other. As the Arisians foresee the end of the world, they begin breeding programs to ensure the survival of their species. What ensues is a thrilling space drama that transcends the imagination.
A Passage of Stars by Kate Elliott
At the heart of this space opera is Ransome. Ransome, the future heiress of the stormy colony of Unruli, is a fierce woman. He parents raise her to be strong, powerful, independent and proud. Thus she is a boss woman of sorts, full of feistiness and agency. But the only man she bows down to is her intelligent and wonderful tutor. But when her tutor is held hostage, she realizes that she must traverse the universe in search for him. Thus begins an epic saga of space travel.
Solaris by Stanislaw Lem
This stunning work of Polish literature follows Krish Kelvin, who arrives on the planet Solaris to study its ocean. However he notices something surreal on the planet. The ocean is an almost living creature, which projects your own repressed memories onto you. In this case, the aliens are not a hoard of human-like figures living on a different planet, the rather the alien is an ocean that no one seems to understand. The novel hinges on the notion that to scale outer depts, you mist first scale your inner depths. The discovery of another planet begins with a deep discovery of your own individual being.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
This novel follows Ryland Grace through interstellar journey. Assigned with a mission to save the planet and the last vestiges of humanity, race is packed off on a spaceship. However, when he wakes up, two corpses surround him and he has no memory of his identity or his mission. As his memories begin to return, he realizes the mammoth nature of the task that he faces and races against time to complete his mission. With fantastic worldbuilding that is replete with sound scientific explanations, this seems less a fantasy and more a mystery. It also has the elements of space travel and intergalactic peoples of Star Wars too.
Also Read: 10 Short and Easy to Read Books That will Help Beginners Start Reading
