A ReadOrbit guide
Explore recommendation-ready books selected for readers interested in dark.
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2021
by Anthony Doerr
"From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of perhaps the most bestselling and beloved literary fiction of our time comes a triumph of imagination and compassion, a soaring novel about children on the cusp of adulthood in a broken world, who find resilience, hope, and story. The her…
2021
by James G. Robertson
Death comes, and misery follows. As a man in his early twenties, Leon never genuinely contemplated what would happen after his death. Like those before him, he never understood the truth of our universe. After his sudden demise, the terrorizing reality of a mysterious dystopian a…
2018
by Benjamin Eldon Stevens, Brett M. Rogers
"Frankenstein and Its Classics is the first collection of scholarship dedicated to how Frankenstein and works inspired by it draw on ancient Greek and Roman literature, history, philosophy, and myth. Presenting twelve new essays intended for students, scholars, and other readers…
2017
by D. Harlan Wilson
"Prophetic short stories and apocalyptic novels like The Crystal World made J.G. Ballard a foundational figure in the British New Wave. Rejecting the science fiction of rockets and aliens, he explored an inner space of humanity informed by psychiatry and biology and shaped by Sur…
2017
by Kay Kenyon
"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy meets X-Men in a classic British espionage story. A young woman must go undercover and use her superpowers to discover a secret Nazi plat and stop an invasion of England. In 1936, there are paranormal abilities that have slowly seeped into the world, br…
2017
by Alan Dean Foster
"Unlikely duo Pip and Flinx return to right another wrong in this all-new sci-fi adventure from one of the genre's living legends. Fans of fun, fast-paced, imaginative science fiction adventure, rejoice! #1 New York Times bestselling author Alan Dean Foster returns to his much-lo…
2017
by Jay Hosking
"Three Years with the Rat is a mind-warping thriller that will make you question reality as you conceive of it. One of the most assured and haunting debuts I've read in recent memory." --Blake Crouch, author of Dark Matter After several years of drifting between school and go-now…
2016
by Brendan DuBois
*A decade ago, the alien Creepers came to Earth, dropping asteroids to drown our coastal cities, detonating nuclear weapons overhead to destroy our communications, power and computer systems, and to set up their network of killer stealth satellites to kill anything on our planet…
2016
by Harry Turtledove
"The novels of Harry Turtledove show history balancing on single moments: One act of folly. One poor decision. One moment of rage. In his astounding new series, the unthinkable has come to pass. The Cold War turns hot--and the United States and the Soviet Union unleash their nucl…
2016
by Martha Wells
"An expedition of groundlings from the Empire of Kish have traveled through the Three Worlds to the Indigo Cloud court of the Raksura, shape-shifting creatures of flight that live in large family groups. The groundlings have found a sealed ancient city at the edge of the shallow…
2016
by Chuck Palahniuk, Cameron Stewart, David W. Mack
"Fight Club 2 is available exclusively as a Graphic Novel! Some imaginary friends never go away. Ten years after starting Project Mayhem, he lives a mundane life. A kid, a wife. Pills to keep his destiny at bay. But it won't last long, the wife has seen to that. He's back where h…
2016
by Alfredo Véa
"What if we could travel back in time to save our heroes from painful deaths? What if we could rewrite history to protect and reward the innocent victims of injustice? In Alfredo Vea's daring new novel, one man does just that, taking readers on a series of remarkable journeys. Ab…
2016
by Naomi Novik
"With the acclaimed Temeraire novels, New York Times bestselling author Naomi Novik has created a fantasy series like no other, combining the high-flying appeal of Anne McCaffrey's Pern saga and the swashbuckling derring-do of Patrick O'Brian's historical seafaring adventures. No…
2016
by Eric Flint
"A new novel in New York Times best seller Eric Flint's science fiction Jao Empire series. It has become clear to both the Jao and their human and Lleix partners that if they are going to defeat the Ekhat who have been terrorizing the galaxy for eons, they need more allies. To th…
2016
by Chuck Tingle
With his genre-defining work, Space Raptor Butt Invasion, Chuck Tingle proved that even gay dinosaur erotica could be nominated for a Hugo Award, the most prestigious honor in science fiction. Nobody could have expected what would happen when the story continued. Collected here i…
2016
by Gerald Alva Miller
"Gerald Alva Miller Jr.'s Understanding William Gibson is a thoughtful examination of the life and work of William Gibson, author of eleven novels and twenty short stories. Gibson is the recipient of many notable awards for science fiction writing including the Nebula, Hugo, and…
2014
by Toby Whaymand
Susan Atkins, Captain of Starship NOVA, is on a special mission to transport prisoner CX589 to the planet Troidon. It is Earth Year 2288, and she and her crew must ride a wormhole in order to propel themselves into the future to reach Troidon. While time travel is impossible, The…
2014
by Elizabeth Moon
"Acclaimed author Elizabeth Moon spins gripping, richly imagined epic fantasy novels that have earned comparisons to the work of such authors as Robin Hobb and Lois McMaster Bujold. In this volume, Moon's brilliant masterwork reaches its triumphant conclusion. The mysterious reap…
2014
by Steve White
"Book #4 of the Jason Thanou Time Travel series. Jason and his team travel to the latter days of the American Civil War to combat a transhumanist threat. Sequel to Pirates of the Timestream. Special operations officer Jason Thanou of the Temporal Regulatory Authority must once ag…
2014
by Iver P. Cooper
"A new addition to the multiple New York Times best-selling Ring of Fire series. After carving a place for itself in war-torn 17th century Europe, citizens of the modern town of Grantville, West Virginia, the up-timers and their allies take on continental America and the Japan! A…
2014
by Karen Burnham
"Greg Egan (1961- ) publishes works that challenge readers with rigorous, deeply-informed scientific speculation. He unapologetically delves into mathematics, physics, and other disciplines in his prose, putting him in the vanguard of the hard science fiction renaissance of the 1…
2014
by Eric Flint, Walter H. Hunt
"Book #18 in the multiple New York Times best-selling Ring of Fire series, and the team behind national bestseller 1635: The Kremlin Games. After carving a free state for itself in war-torn 17th century Europe, citizens of the modern town of Grantville, West Virginia contend with…
2014
by Ryk E. Spoor
"In a world of data manipulation and cyberspying, an investigative journalist find that the supernatural lurks! A major revision of Spoor's first novel, Digital Knight, with all new material. Being an expert in information searches, image processing and enhancement, pattern match…
2013
by David Weber
Wrong number? There are two sides to any quarrel . . . unless there are more. Queen Elizabeth of Manticore's first cousin and Honor Harrington's best friend, Michelle Henke, has just handed the "invincible" Solarian League Navy the most humiliating, one sided defeat in its entire…