A ReadOrbit guide
Explore recommendation-ready books selected for readers interested in 300–500 pages.
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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…
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 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…
2014
by Frank Chadwick
"Original Trade Paperback. The exciting debut of a steampunk masterpiece from legendary game author and creator of the staple steampunk role playing game, Space: 1889. The stunning unveiling of a perfectly formed steampunk past, from an author who helped define the genre. London…
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 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…
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…
2012
by RJ Palmer
Bowen is an orphaned child in feudal England whose first appearance in this novel is having been bound hands and feet and whipped mercilessly by the monks in a monastery in an excess of bloodlust. He’s realistically of an indeterminate age but no more than about seven years old a…
2012
by Lois McMaster Bujold
"Book Fourteen in the best-selling Vorkosigan series. Captain Ivan Vorpatril is happy with his relatively uneventful bachelor's life of a staff officer to a Barrayaran admiral. Ivan, cousin to Imperial troubleshooter Miles Vorkosigan, is not far down the hereditary list for the e…
2012
by David Wong
"Fan favorite David Wong takes readers to a whole new level with this blistering sequel to the cult sensation John Dies at the End, soon to be a movie starring Paul Giamatti Originally released as an online serial where it received more than 70,000 downloads, John Dies at the End…
2010
by Cory Doctorow
Young adult science fiction set in the present or near future. The characters are "gold farmers" extracting virtual resources from online games and selling them to richer players. Their exploitation leads them to unionize, which leads to violence and trickery. In the virtual futu…
2008
by James Rollins
What if you could bioengineer the next great world prophet: scientifically produce the next Buddha, the next Muhammad, or the next Jesus? Would it mark the Second Coming or initiate a chain reaction with disastrous consequences?A master at combining historical and religious intri…
2007
by Peter David
Some say the line between good and evil is narrower than we imagine – a divide as subtle as a mirror, and perhaps just as deep. To peer into its black, reflective glass is to know the dark potential we each possess, and we cross that obsidian boundary at our peril… into a world w…
2007
by David Gunn
Set in a chillingly realistic far-future world, and featuring a gritty antihero even more frightening than the evil empire he serves as soldier and assassin, Death's Head is sure to be one of the most talked-about novels of the year. David Gunn is loaded--and he shoots to kill.At…
2006
by Aaron Allston
This is the era of Luke Skywalker's legacy: the Jedi Master has unified the order into a cohesive group of powerful Jedi Knights. But as the new era begins, planetary interests threaten to disrupt this time of relative peace, and Luke is plagued with visions of an approaching dar…
2006
by Terry Brooks
Terry Brooks is one of a handful of writers whose work defines modern fantasy fiction. His twenty-three international bestsellers have ranged from the beloved Shannara series to stories that tread a much darker path. Armageddon's Children is a new creation--the perfect opportunit…
2005
by Steven Barnes
Ord Cestus, a planet mostly barren and inhospitable to life, was first colonized as a prison world—until a handful of hardy pioneers discovered its rich ore deposits and managed to build up a successful droid-manufacturing industry. But when the Clone Wars erupted, bringing sever…
2005
by Nora Roberts
Eve Dallas Investigation In Death New York City of 2059 'Murder was always an insult, and had been since the first human hand had smashed a stone into the first human skull. But the murder, bloody and brutal, of an entire family in their own home, in there own beds, was a differe…
2005
by Stephen Baxter
Stephen Baxter's gripping page-turners are feats of bold speculation and big ideas that, for all their time-and-space-spanning grandeur, remain firmly rooted in scientific fact and cutting-edge theory. Now Baxter is back with the final volume in his monumental Destiny's Children…
2005
by Kim Stanley Robinson
The bestselling author of the classic Mars trilogy and The Years of Rice and Salt returns with a riveting new trilogy of cutting-edge science, international politics, and the real-life ramifications of global warming as they are played out in our nation's capital--and in the dail…
2004
by C. J. Cherryh
One of today's bestselling and most critically acclaimed writers of science fiction and fantasy, C. J. Cherryh has been entertaining readers for more than thirty years with beautifully imagined, complex novels of intrigue and adventure. With Hammerfall she began an entirely new u…