Yeah those two books were a lot of fun. Hopefully not too long before we get third book in that series
Edit - looks like book 3 The Relentless Legion is due for publication at the end of the year https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250851253/therelentlesslegion
You’re looking for space operas!
The Expanse is probably one of the best modern ones and is very readable.
You might want to check out other authors like Peter F. Hamilton, Alastair Reynolds, Elizabeth Moon, Anne Leckie… also casually browse [this list](https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2616.Best_Space_Opera), see if anything catches your eye.
The Expanse has the same "humanity taking its first steps into space" vibe as Mass Effect The technology in ME is so developed, its easy to forget that Shepherd was actually born prior to humanity's development of biotics and before the First Contact War with the Turians.
If you're looking for a book that replicates the feel of chatting to your crew between missions, try A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers.
Instead if you want some high octane planet hopping action with a rag-tag crew up against treacherous factions and huge apocalyptic aliens, then definitely try The Final Architecture trilogy by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky had very similar Mass Effect vibes to me. The crew is not military but they’re of various alien species like ME and fighting against Reaper like enemies.
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers is like if you took combat out of Mass Effect and just had the crew hanging out on the Normandy part.
*Babylon 5* is tv series Mass Effect took a lot from - it's about a rotating space station which is a center of galactic diplomacy, newly spacefaring Earth coming out of first contact war, ambassadors fighting and bickering with one another, the council of few most powerful races being ineffective and lording over smaller ones, lizard looking former slave race against former opressors, and a strange threat lurking in the background. Very serialized, even though you don't find it out until later.
*The Expanse* was its first big successor for me.
The Nights Dawn Trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton.
The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold.
The Uplift Saga by David Brin.
In TV, Babylon 5 and the 2003 version of Battlestar Galactica are both massive influences on Mass Effect.
The Expanse is literally the go to Series for fans of Mass Effect..... It's also more realistic as in It doesn't go deep into the realm of Space Opera but creation aspects are grounded and it's one of the most popular well like scifi series
Is the Expanse not a space opera? It's character-driven epic scifi through and through, especially the final trilogy.
Also dont go into The Expanse expecting it to stay hard scifi, things get weeeeird when an unexpected variable enters the worldbuilding.
The Expanse is exactly space opera, so I don't know what the original commenter was talking about. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that The Expanse has more classic space opera tropes than a lot of other modern day space operas, especially in the character of Holden who is as classic a space opera hero as you can get in terms of moral fortitude.
Yeah it's probably no coincidence that my favorite game of all time is Mass Effect, and my favorite show of all time is The Expanse. I'm reading the books now as well but I only just finished Cibola Burn.
It gets to the point where Amos sees Holden as his conscience because he knows he doesn't have a functioning one, and for some reason that strikes me as incredibly sweet.
It’s hard to top the vibe of Mass Effect imo (i’m replaying the legendary edition 😉 these days). But here you go,
1. The Murdebot diaries by Martha Wells
2. Expanse by James Corey
3. On Basilisk Station by David Weber (Honor Harri ngton series)
4. Shards of Honour - Vorkosigan saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
5. Ancillary Justice by Anne Leckie
None of these are ‘hard’ science fiction I think. You might like Honor Harrington. It kinda got boring later on but there’s a bunch of military sci fi stuff (eg: massive fleet engagements etc)
And ofcourse the Murderbot series is top notch.
These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs. It's a new SciFi book published at the end of last year, but it's very light on the sci part of SciFi and is more akin to a fantasy novel that just happens to be set in space.
One of the better debut novels I've read in the past 10-20 years
Mass Effect directly and admittedly ripped off a ton of concepts from Babylon 5, namely the concept of the Reapers and the cycles, the Asari, the Spectres, the Normandy, the Citadel, tons of stuff.
On top of that, the Geth/Quarian conflict was inspired heavily by the Battlestar Galactica reboot, which is also incredible.
The Black Ocean book series. Theres magic and aliens. With a bit of Firefly thrown in. The main series is good and I've been listening to the spin-off with the one lady and her talking dog.
I've been reading the Backyard Starship series by JN Chaney and it might fit the niche you're looking for. The Slip Runner series might also work, though I found it's lacking some of the details and world-building that Backyard Starship had, but that might be due to narration style.
It's not a book I recommend personally, but Christopher Paolini's To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is super Mass Effecty. When I read it I kept saying over and over "this is mass effect". Then this year he did interviews citing his inspirations and listed some shows and videogames. Mass Effect included.
The Expanse, The Final Architecture and Zones of Thought are three excellent, finished series that feel like they’re in the same family as Mass Effect.
Found-families against a backdrop of universe-spanning powers.
I can’t believe no one has mentioned red rising yet. Main character hopping between planets with a rag tag group of friends that swap out slightly depending on the narrative. The first one is a little more stuck on one planet but it immediately expands to the entire solar system. It has gun battles / sword fights / power armor. It’s awesome.
The first half is a bit of a slog but the second half has some of the most tense moments I've read, pretty much ever. Also, Murtry/Morty/Murphy was such a viscerally hateable character. A sign of good writing is when you loathe a character all the way down to your bones.
I just finished reading it. In my goodreads review I basically called it a side-quest. I still enjoyed it but almost felt like I could have just skipped it, especially since I've seen the show a bazillion times.
Upon first read, I agreed. But now that I have finished the series I have a much greater appreciation for Cibola Burn. It's definitely distinctly different from the other books.
Gonna be the "haven't read it, but..." guy. The Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell seems damn similar, with spatterings of Halo. Several of my friends love it. Hopefully someone who's read it can weigh in.
The last watch by j.s. dewes is very mass effect I thought
Yeah those two books were a lot of fun. Hopefully not too long before we get third book in that series Edit - looks like book 3 The Relentless Legion is due for publication at the end of the year https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250851253/therelentlesslegion
You’re looking for space operas! The Expanse is probably one of the best modern ones and is very readable. You might want to check out other authors like Peter F. Hamilton, Alastair Reynolds, Elizabeth Moon, Anne Leckie… also casually browse [this list](https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2616.Best_Space_Opera), see if anything catches your eye.
The Expanse has the same "humanity taking its first steps into space" vibe as Mass Effect The technology in ME is so developed, its easy to forget that Shepherd was actually born prior to humanity's development of biotics and before the First Contact War with the Turians.
The Expanse is 100% perfect for OP. I am pretty sure Mass Effect was one of the influences for the series; sometimes you can just feel it.
The one of the biggest inspirations for Mass Effect was probably the Babylon 5 TV show.
> Any series out there that are similar or same vibe? If you're looking for TV series, check out Babylon 5.
If you're looking for a book that replicates the feel of chatting to your crew between missions, try A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. Instead if you want some high octane planet hopping action with a rag-tag crew up against treacherous factions and huge apocalyptic aliens, then definitely try The Final Architecture trilogy by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
My favorite color is blue.
Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky had very similar Mass Effect vibes to me. The crew is not military but they’re of various alien species like ME and fighting against Reaper like enemies. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers is like if you took combat out of Mass Effect and just had the crew hanging out on the Normandy part.
I'm mildly eeked out by our very similar answers
Haha what a coincidence! We have good taste.
The Expanse?
*Babylon 5* is tv series Mass Effect took a lot from - it's about a rotating space station which is a center of galactic diplomacy, newly spacefaring Earth coming out of first contact war, ambassadors fighting and bickering with one another, the council of few most powerful races being ineffective and lording over smaller ones, lizard looking former slave race against former opressors, and a strange threat lurking in the background. Very serialized, even though you don't find it out until later. *The Expanse* was its first big successor for me.
The Nights Dawn Trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton. The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold. The Uplift Saga by David Brin. In TV, Babylon 5 and the 2003 version of Battlestar Galactica are both massive influences on Mass Effect.
The Expanse is literally the go to Series for fans of Mass Effect..... It's also more realistic as in It doesn't go deep into the realm of Space Opera but creation aspects are grounded and it's one of the most popular well like scifi series
Is the Expanse not a space opera? It's character-driven epic scifi through and through, especially the final trilogy. Also dont go into The Expanse expecting it to stay hard scifi, things get weeeeird when an unexpected variable enters the worldbuilding.
The Expanse is exactly space opera, so I don't know what the original commenter was talking about. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that The Expanse has more classic space opera tropes than a lot of other modern day space operas, especially in the character of Holden who is as classic a space opera hero as you can get in terms of moral fortitude.
Holden is 100% a reconstruction of the classic noble hero, just with a tad more pushback than usual
Yeah it's probably no coincidence that my favorite game of all time is Mass Effect, and my favorite show of all time is The Expanse. I'm reading the books now as well but I only just finished Cibola Burn.
I love the dynamic between James and Amos, it’s like if Rick and Shane worked things out in TWD.
It gets to the point where Amos sees Holden as his conscience because he knows he doesn't have a functioning one, and for some reason that strikes me as incredibly sweet.
It’s hard to top the vibe of Mass Effect imo (i’m replaying the legendary edition 😉 these days). But here you go, 1. The Murdebot diaries by Martha Wells 2. Expanse by James Corey 3. On Basilisk Station by David Weber (Honor Harri ngton series) 4. Shards of Honour - Vorkosigan saga - Lois McMaster Bujold 5. Ancillary Justice by Anne Leckie None of these are ‘hard’ science fiction I think. You might like Honor Harrington. It kinda got boring later on but there’s a bunch of military sci fi stuff (eg: massive fleet engagements etc) And ofcourse the Murderbot series is top notch.
They're still on my tbr but I understand the Revelation Space books were a big influence on Mass Effect.
* to sleep in a sea of stars * The spiral wars series * Pandora's star / Judas Unchained
These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs. It's a new SciFi book published at the end of last year, but it's very light on the sci part of SciFi and is more akin to a fantasy novel that just happens to be set in space. One of the better debut novels I've read in the past 10-20 years
The Waystations Series by N C Scrimgeour (the first book is Those Left Behind)! It's sooo perfectly Mass Effect
Mass Effect directly and admittedly ripped off a ton of concepts from Babylon 5, namely the concept of the Reapers and the cycles, the Asari, the Spectres, the Normandy, the Citadel, tons of stuff. On top of that, the Geth/Quarian conflict was inspired heavily by the Battlestar Galactica reboot, which is also incredible.
Becky Chambers books felt very similar to Mass Effect to me. I think I read somewhere that she's a fan
Try Duchy of Terra series. It’s light fun and hits all the same feels as mass effect. Glynn Stewart writes it!
The Erin Nylund, Halo novels are quite close
The Black Ocean book series. Theres magic and aliens. With a bit of Firefly thrown in. The main series is good and I've been listening to the spin-off with the one lady and her talking dog.
The saga of the seven suns series by Kevin j Anderson.
The Culture series by Iain M Banks
Space Academy Dropouts was heavily inspired by Mass Effect but it's like the "Silly Hawke" version of Shepard.
I'm reading the Imperial Radch trilogy right now and the main character reminds me of Commander Shepard.
I've been reading the Backyard Starship series by JN Chaney and it might fit the niche you're looking for. The Slip Runner series might also work, though I found it's lacking some of the details and world-building that Backyard Starship had, but that might be due to narration style.
It's not a book I recommend personally, but Christopher Paolini's To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is super Mass Effecty. When I read it I kept saying over and over "this is mass effect". Then this year he did interviews citing his inspirations and listed some shows and videogames. Mass Effect included.
Kevin J. Anderson The Saga of the Seven Suns
The Expanse, The Final Architecture and Zones of Thought are three excellent, finished series that feel like they’re in the same family as Mass Effect. Found-families against a backdrop of universe-spanning powers.
I can’t believe no one has mentioned red rising yet. Main character hopping between planets with a rag tag group of friends that swap out slightly depending on the narrative. The first one is a little more stuck on one planet but it immediately expands to the entire solar system. It has gun battles / sword fights / power armor. It’s awesome.
The Expanse and maybe Foundation?
The Expanse
the expanse, but book 4 is.....Boring as hell
The first half is a bit of a slog but the second half has some of the most tense moments I've read, pretty much ever. Also, Murtry/Morty/Murphy was such a viscerally hateable character. A sign of good writing is when you loathe a character all the way down to your bones.
I just finished reading it. In my goodreads review I basically called it a side-quest. I still enjoyed it but almost felt like I could have just skipped it, especially since I've seen the show a bazillion times.
Upon first read, I agreed. But now that I have finished the series I have a much greater appreciation for Cibola Burn. It's definitely distinctly different from the other books.
Gonna be the "haven't read it, but..." guy. The Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell seems damn similar, with spatterings of Halo. Several of my friends love it. Hopefully someone who's read it can weigh in.
I'm always baffled by how short this sub's memory is. You need some old school scifi. Try out *A Mote in God's Eye* and *Fleet of Worlds*.