Book picks similar to
Outliers by S.M. Pearce


dystopian
sci-fi
action-adv
read-in-english

Mission: Destructor (The Transcended #7)


Anthony James - 2019
     The Creator is the most powerful entity in the known universe. Protected by the walls of its dark sphere, it constructs vast machines designed to wipe out entire species. So far, it has not encountered significant resistance. Times change. Captain Becky Keller and Commander Joe Nation are given their most dangerous mission yet. Sent into the depths of the dark sphere, they must do whatever it takes to wipe out this deadly alien entity. It’s never easy and the stakes have never been higher. Luckily, Keller and Nation have been given a few tools to help them out. A warship fitted with a quad-barrelled experimental cannon and a spy craft carrying a bomb should be enough to guarantee success. Surely. In the Creator’s realm there are no guarantees. What lies ahead will be the hardest road Keller and Nation have ever travelled. Mission: Destructor is a high-action science fiction adventure involving massive space battles, overwhelming odds and exciting technology. It concludes the Transcended series of books, picking up straight after book 6: Monolith.

Star Bourne (Star Man #1)


I.G. Roberts - 2016
    When he wakes, he is in another place and, it seems, another time. Colin is a very long way from home, on the Ship FNS Destiny with no way to return. When he visits the devastated colony of Zafar, he becomes a changed man, a man with a new purpose in life. Pirates attacking planets and Star-Ships quickly show him the universe is not the friendly place he once thought it was. The idea that people who are as technologically advanced as these will be peaceful and benevolent is only partly true. These Aliens must still maintain a military to defend themselves against their enemies. After pirates attack the ship he is travelling on, the entire command structure is out of action, leaving only Colin to guide the repairs and help the crew steer the ship safely back to home port. Along the way he must rescue innocent civilians from the pirates and help the Federation of Sentient Peoples (FSP) to survive. He learns that the very actions he must take to save the ship and crew could also see him branded a pirate if he is successful. While the FSP is by no means a utopian society, its leaders are smart enough to know they are in trouble and who they should ask for help. Can Colin save the ship and her crew? If he does, will the Federation authorities put him in prison for doing so?

Life as an Independent Space Hauler


Jason Hill - 2021
    Everything was taken from him and he was pressed into military service as a fighter pilot. A few years later, Jace has gotten out of military service and worked on a corporate freighter. He has grown to love space and plans to never return to earth. Dissatisfied with the corporate life, Jace finds the necessary backing to go independent. Thus, he begins the life of an independent freight hauler. This story is inspired by Nathan Lowell's Golden Age of the Solar Clipper series, Firefly, and some anime.

Agents of the Planetary Republic Books 1-10


Jaxon Reed - 2021
    Treaties are signed, trade is restored. But spies and diplomatic turmoil lead to a high-tech cold war of epic proportions. Ex Space Marine Gina Wilcox finds herself in a law enforcement career after the war, but life can be just as dangerous on the streets as the battlefield. Sleeper cells activate, assassinating government officials. Crime syndicates flourish. And a certain high-tech android has been stolen by the League, spirited off world for unknown purposes. Into this milieu a band of Marine outcasts join the fight. They spent more time in the brig than on the battlefield, yet racked up admirable wartime kill ratios. These renegades are quietly recruited by Republican Naval Intelligence to lead black ops against the League. Gina Wilcox will join their leader Commander Hamilton Wolf in a risky interstellar quest to retrieve an android who doesn’t even realize she’s not human. The fate of two civilizations hangs in the balance . . .

Starswept


Mary Fan - 2017
    A century later, 15-year-old violist Iris Lei considers herself lucky to attend Papilio, a prestigious performing arts school powered by their technology. Born penniless, Iris’s one shot at a better life is to attract an Adryil patron. But only the best get hired, and competition is fierce.A sudden encounter with an Adryil boy upends her world. Iris longs to learn about him and his faraway realm, but after the authorities arrest him for trespassing, the only evidence she has of his existence is the mysterious alien device he slipped to her. When she starts hearing his voice in her head, she wonders if her world of backstabbing artists and pressure for perfection is driving her insane. Then, she discovers that her visions of him are real—by way of telepathy—and soon finds herself lost in the kind of impossible love she depicts in her music.But even as their bond deepens, Iris realizes that he’s hiding something from her—and it’s dangerous. Her quest for answers leads her past her sheltered world to a strange planet lightyears away, where she uncovers secrets about Earth’s alien allies that shatter everything she knows.

Burn Out


Kristi Helvig - 2014
    One of the last survivors in Earth's final years, Tora yearns to escape the wasteland her planet has become after the sun turns "red giant," but discovers her fellow survivors are even deadlier than the hostile environment.Holed up in an underground shelter, Tora is alone--her brilliant scientist father murdered, her mother and sister burned to death. She dreams of living on a planet with oceans, plants, and animals. Unfortunately, the oceans dried out ages ago, the only plants are giant cacti with deadly spines, and her pet, Trigger, is a gun--one of the bio-energetic weapons her father created for the government before his conscience kicked in.When family friend, Markus, arrives with mercenaries to take the weapons by force, Tora's fury turns to fear when government ships descend in an attempt to kill them all. She forges an unlikely alliance with Markus and his rag-tag group of raiders, including a smart but quiet soldier named James. Tora must quickly figure out who she can trust, as she must choose between saving herself by giving up the guns or honoring her father's request to save humanity from the most lethal weapons in existence.

This Savage Song


Victoria Schwab - 2016
    In this dark urban fantasy from author Victoria Schwab, a young woman and a young man must choose whether to become heroes or villains—and friends or enemies—with the future of their home at stake. The first of two books.Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to a divided city—a city where the violence has begun to breed actual monsters. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father, who lets the monsters roam free and makes the humans pay for his protection. All August wants is to be human, as good-hearted as his own father, to play a bigger role in protecting the innocent—but he’s one of the monsters. One who can steal a soul with a simple strain of music. When the chance arises to keep an eye on Kate, who’s just been kicked out of her sixth boarding school and returned home, August jumps at it. But Kate discovers August’s secret, and after a failed assassination attempt the pair must flee for their lives.

The Amplified Trilogy: The Amplified Books 1-3


Lauren M. Flauding - 2017
    Includes The Amplified, The Dissenters, and The Restrainers.

Chaos of the Covenant Series Box Set #1-3


M.R. Forbes - 2018
    Thousands are dead. A fleet is in ruins. Can a group of criminals the galaxy doesn't want become the heroes the galaxy needs? *SPECIAL NEW RELEASE PRICE FOR A LIMITED TIME.* Book one - HELL’S REJECTS: The most powerful starships ever constructed are missing. Thousands are dead. A fleet is in ruins... Lieutenant Abigail Cage never expected to find herself in Hell. There was a time when she was one of the most respected soldiers in the military. Now she's doing hard labor on the most miserable planet in the universe. Not for long. The Earth Republic is looking for the most dangerous individuals it can control. The best of the worst, and Abbey is one of them. The mission is simple. Find the missing ships and kill the traitors who stole them. It's most likely suicide, but she has nothing to lose. There's only one problem... A new evil is rising in the galaxy. One with a power unlike anything anyone has ever seen. One that's been waiting for this moment for a very, very long time. And they want Abbey too. Book Two - FIRE AND BRIMSTONE: Abbey is pissed. You would be too if you had been blamed for something you didn’t do, given something you didn’t want, and changed into something else. She still isn’t even quite sure what that else is. The one thing she does know? Things are getting messy, and this is only the beginning. Gant is gone, Captain Mann has been captured, her so-called team is ready to make a run for the stars, and she’s pretty sure the gift that saved her life is no gift at all. Even worse? The enemy didn't just steal the two most powerful starships in the galaxy. They’re building a whole fleet of them. Book Three - THE DEVILS DO The devil you know or the one you don’t? For Abbie and the Rejects, things are guaranteed to get ugly whichever they choose. On the plus side: They know where the enemy fleet is being built, they’ve got a killer new ride, a few surprising new allies, and they don’t all hate one another quite as much as they used to. On the minus: The enemy fleet is coming online faster than they hoped, the new ride is running on backup life support, the new allies can barely be trusted, and there isn't anywhere in the galaxy where Thraven can't reach. There’s nowhere to rest. There’s no time to reload. The stakes are higher, the pressure is up, and only one thing is certain: One way or another, there’s going to be hell to pay. The rest of the CHAOS OF THE COVENANT series (not included): 4. Kill the Queen! 5. Damned If You Don’t 6. Good Intentions 7. Queen of Demons Perfect for fans of Star Wars, Guardians of the Galaxy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or anyone who enjoys a hearty blend of military science-fiction and space opera spiced with magic. Pick it up today, and then try to put it down.

Shadow Me


Tahereh Mafi - 2019
    Juliette is still reeling from Warner's betrayal, and Kenji is trying to balance his friendship with her with his responsibilities as a leader of the resistance against the Reestablishment. Things get even more interesting when an unexpected person from Omega Point’s past surfaces.The ending of Restore Me left readers gasping, and this novella full of Kenji’s signature sass and big heart is the perfect story to tide fans over until Defy Me, the shocking fifth book in the Shatter Me series.

Bone Quarry


K.D. McNiven - 2019
    Dive leader, Megan Gerhart and her team discover what appears to be an underwater graveyard, heaped with bones…human bones! When they call in paleontologist Rourke Wolf to investigate their chilling findings, the team is thrown into a spine-tingling adventure that could cost them their lives, both in and out of the water. Faced with death-defying odds, they must confront dinosaurs believed to be extinct for 8 million years … Does the team have the grit to escape this terrifying encounter alive, when the odds are not in their favor?

The Rising Storm


Ceri A. Lowe - 2014
    Saved from the ravaged remains of London by the mysterious and all-powerful Paradigm Industries, her fierce independence and unique skills soon gain her recognition from the highest levels of command. But their plans to rebuild civilisation from scratch mean destroying all remnants of the past – no matter what, or who, gets left behind.Alice must decide if she will fight for the old world, or the new…Decades later, 15-year-old Carter Warren is woken from the Catacombs after years of cryonic sleep. He’s determined to do whatever it takes to climb the ranks to Controller General - until he realises the Industry’s control methods have become harsher than ever. The Barricades make sure nothing from the Deadlands can get in to the Community – and no one can get out. And a shocking discovery about his own family causes Carter to question everything he’s ever known… As Alice becomes entangled in the Industry’s plan for the future, and Carter delves into the secrets of his past, they must make sacrifices which threaten to tear them apart. And both of them are forced to confront an impossible question… Would you dare to risk it all for the perfect world?An addictive and gripping dystopian series, perfect for fans of The Girl Who Dared to Think, The Hunger Games and The Gender Game.This book was previously titled Paradigm.

Lethal Cargo


Felix R. Savage - 2018
    But things get hotter than he bargained for when he lands on a planet occupied by Travellers. These grisly space pirates have a reputation so dire, even aliens won’t mess with them. But even aliens aren't as badass as Shifters. Mike and his crew are Shifters--alt-humans with the ability to Shift into animal form. When they impulsively rescue three of the Travellers' victims, they stumble on a deadly plot that spans the Cluster—and it's focused like a laser beam on their homeworld. From deep space to the slums of Shiftertown, the chase is on. To untangle the mystery in time, Mike will have to outwit not only the Travellers but the kingpin of his own crime-ridden Shifter community, while staying one step ahead of the police. If he fails, the Travellers will take his planet … and his beloved daughter.Join the crew of the St. Clare as they struggle to put the clues together, battle murderous criminals, and above all, hang onto their humanity. If you’re a fan of Firefly or The Expanse, you’ll love this interstellar adventure set in a cluster of stars far, far away, in a future where we’ve colonized the stars and even altered our own DNA, but remain all too human.Lethal Cargo is the first book of A Cauldron of Stars, a new space opera thriller series from New York Times bestselling sci-fi author Felix R. Savage. It contains swearing, sex, spaceships, unapologetic badassery, shapeshifting wolves, tigers, bears, lions, and one very large snake. You have been warned!

Becoming Darkness


Lindsay Francis Brambles - 2015
    The virus wiped out most of humanity and turned two-hundred million people into vampires. But after her best friend is brutally murdered, Sophie becomes determined to find answers to what seems to be a conspiracy running generations deep. And when she questions the peace treaty that keeps her small community protected, Sophie begins to discover terrible truths about herself and what it means to be human in a world ruled by darkness.

The Threat Below


Jason Latshaw - 2015
    Now, a small remnant – the descendants of the few survivors who were able to escape the massacre below – lives above the clouds, on the top of a Mountain. When they discover that their water supply is being poisoned Down Below, an expedition, including seventeen year-old girl Icelyn Brathius, must descend and face the monsters, the Threat Below, that wiped out civilization centuries ago. Icelyn quickly learns that all is not what it seems as she uncovers secrets hundreds of years old and struggles to stay alive in a world where no human is fit to survive.