Book picks similar to
The Balance (The Stone's Blade, #2) by Allynn Riggs


space-opera
unshelved
favourite-worldbuilding
genre-syfi-fan-horr

Victory's Wake


Daniel Gibbs - 2021
    The war is over. Or is it?In the wake of the bitter galactic conflict, a cauldron of desperate refugees is rife with rival cartels and flooded with drugs and weapons. In this pocket of lawlessness, old enemies are fighting a new war by proxy. Captain Jackson Adams of the Coalition Defense Force is tasked with gathering a ragtag crew for a black ops mission—infiltrate the cartels and discover the enemy’s ultimate scheme. But what they uncover is more horrifying than anyone ever anticipated.

Trust a Few


E.M. Swift-Hook - 2017
    But the past is hard to escape. The 'City has always been a dangerous place to live: now it's lethal. Not only are the crime lords exploiting its lawless streets, it is also the unwitting test bed for a sinister corporate technology. As Jaz tries to find an old friend who needs him, can a new ally help? Can he even be trusted? 'Trust A Few' is the first book in 'Haruspex', a tense new, sci-fi trilogy from Fortune's Fools.

Intrepid


Nate Johnson - 2016
    What could be better. What was supposed to be a six month cruise of discovery had turned into a glorified baby sitting adventure for a bunch of civilians. Leave it to the Imperial Navy to ruin a good thing. Petty Officer Tanner just wanted to finish the patrol and get back to normal. That, and as far away from the enticing Miss Nora Johnson as possible. All that changed when the ISS Intrepid was threatened with destruction and he quickly became the only thing between these civilians and instant death. Crash landing on the strange new world. Petty Officer Eric Tanner must keep these civilians alive until they were rescued. Heaven knows. they weren't going to do it on their own.

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!

Freedom's Siege


Bobby Adair - 2017
     An alien craft the size of a cruise ship blips into space between the earth and the moon. It sends no messages. It responds to no calls. The people of earth panic, of course. The spacecraft settles on the moon and bides its time. It's right there, where anyone with a telescope can see it, but it's too far away for earth's nascent space programs to reach. And then, nothing happens. Frenzy fizzles to boredom. Everyone's attention turns back to their lives. Not that it matters, because the aliens are preparing for what's coming next, conquest. The Freedom's Fire Series Prequel - Freedom's Siege book 1 - Freedom's Fire book 2 - Freedom's Fury book 3 - Freedom's Fate book 4 - Freedom's Fist

Survivor


Saff - 2014
     During a routine collection, she finds herself dragged into the middle of an alien uprising. The Ancients, merciless beings set on reclaiming the universe, have only one person left to stop them: Nova. She must battle the Ancients, time, and her sanity, in order to stop the annihilation of the human race. Fear the hero who has nothing left to lose. Buy now to join the fight!

Ghost Fleet


D.A. Boulter - 2011
    Experts say they are scanner echoes tossed out of the past by the Phenomenon. The rumors and a cryptic entry in an ancestor's diary propel Lieutenant-Commander Mart Britlot of the Confederation navy into the dangerous Sivon sector of space. There, Britlot hopes to find help for the Confederation, now facing a two-front war. As the last living Confederation descendant of the Adian nation, Britlot is obsessed with finding the ghost ships, believed destroyed during a mass emigration 300 years in the past. He dreams of riding to the rescue at the head of the never defeated Adian fleet; he dreams of finding family after the death of all his near relatives at the hands of the Combine. He'll drive his ship and crew beyond endurance to achieve this. The felid Tlartox Empire, eager to avenge their humiliating defeat at the hands of the Confederation, has voted to annul the long-standing peace treaty. The glory of The Hunt beckons. Admiral Tood Tlomega has focused on the human planet Lormar, with its great naval base, as a fitting target for retribution. She will return dignity to the people of Tlar. She will return them to the path that Tlar illuminated so many centuries ago.But a small band of Tlartox subversives intend to rake a claw across the plans of the war-mongers, and give both the Empire and the Confederation something they hadn't counted on.

Dead College


Kent Reaper - 2013
    He's confused, he's disoriented. He asks himself what's going on. But he doesn't know. It's not like anyone's alive to tell him anyway. Just a short trip to the bathroom, a welcome break from the geology class that puts him to sleep and his world is turned upside down. He sees things that defy explanation: His classmate eating his professor, his professor getting up, shrugging off fatal injuries and coming for him.Zack knows he must get out of this nightmare. But when he's inadvertently trapped in the faculty building by a fellow survivor, he soon discovers that the living may be even more dangerous than the monstrous undead.

Earth Vs. Aliens


T. Jackson King - 2014
    In space, you assume, you die. So when Aliens show up in the distant Kuiper Belt, out beyond Pluto, asking for a First Contact ‘chat’ with his crewmates on the comet hunting spaceship Uhuru, he warns his captain not to trust words but to get the heck away. His evolutionary biology studies have taught him that bright skin colors, shark-like teeth and talons mean these Aliens are star-traveling predators! But that violates the ‘feel good’ society promoted by Earth’s Unity government. A bloody fight ensues and Jack realizes these Aliens are keystone predators aiming to add Sol system to their home territory. Jack leads a battle to ensure Humans will never be slaves to Aliens. If someone has to die to make space safe for humanity, then those dying will be Aliens!

Galaxy of Heroes


Gus Flory - 2009
    A breathtakingly beautiful cyborg. A battle like no other. An adventure you won't forget!The lives of four space drifters intersect on a planet of hope as the most powerful war machine in the galaxy approaches, threatening to consume them all in a storm of metal and fire.Capt. Jace Spade is a fighter pilot from the Roga System. He is determined to find his maker—the enigmatic Dr. Zander—even if his search means risking all in the conflagrations of the Inner Galaxy.Capt. Mina Casey is also a fighter pilot, but from an advanced human civilization that arose in the Heliac System. Capt. Casey has drifted through the void for eons as visions of a warm planet where she can sink her feet in the sand and watch the sunset filled her dreams.Sgt. Joe Grimes—a Heliac Ranger who once lived for the thrill of the fight—is now disillusioned after the total defeat and destruction of his home world. He would leave all humanity behind if he could only get away.Genie is a beautiful and indestructible cyborg constructed by a technologically advanced civilization for the purpose of interacting with humans. Genie is programmed to love Joe Grimes, but she longs to be free.

Embers


Craig Robertson - 2017
    He wanted to be dead. But Jon wakes up in the far future with an alien burrowing in his chest for salvage. Someone was going to pay for this. Check that. Lots of people were going to pay for this. Jon was the first astronaut to download to an android host to find the population of doomed Earth a new home. But that was so long time ago. He is now literally lost in time. The far flung future is dominated by an unstoppable species, the Adamant. They have conquered most of the galaxy. No civilization has successfully resisted them. Brutally efficient, selflessly devoted to their empire, and callous to all other forms of life, the Adamant have advanced without boundaries. But they are about to run into a major problem. One very pissed off Jon Ryan stands in their way. He escapes their prison ship, rescues two teenage shapeshifters, and intends to protect them at all costs. Jon, Mirraya, and Slapgren race across the galaxy always just one step ahead of disaster. But the combined evil forces that pursue them tear the trio apart. The teens must fend on their own in a hostile universe. All the while, Jon runs for his life, hoping against all hope to locate the teens. In a galaxy burning with war, genocide, and hidden magic, can Jon Ryan pull of one more miracle?

Last Flight of the Acheron


Rick Partlow - 2017
     She joined the Commonwealth Space Fleet to please her mother, a high-ranking military officer; he joined as an escape from the crushing poverty and crime of the Trans-Angeles Public Housing Blocks, and the unlikely friends envisioned boring, peacetime careers as shuttle pilots. The Tahni Imperium had other ideas… Caught in the desperate fury of the Battle for Mars, the two young pilots wind up the last defense against an alien armada, but their war is just beginning. Recruited to fly the Fleet’s newest weapon in this new war, they take the fight deep into the heart of the Imperium and battle not just against the enemy but against incompetent leadership and ineffectual tactics. Can the unconventional strategies of a pair of hotshot young pilots change the course of the war? And when the time comes that a choice has to be made between duty to command and loyalty to a friend, which of the two will be willing to make one last flight alone…

Rampant Destruction (Cerberus #10)


Andy Peloquin - 2021
    The Protection Bureau’s day of reckoning has come!Armed with the proof that Agent Styver betrayed him and locked him in the Vault, Nolan is determined to sever ties with the Protection Bureau once and for all.If only it was that simple or easy…Even with a small army of fellow Silverguards and a newly upgraded Taia, he’s taking on the most powerful secret government organization in the Nyzarian Empire, one that possesses unlimited resources and technology beyond anything he’s encountered or defeated.The battle is already fierce, but things will get really ugly when the Protection Bureau decides to threaten everything and everyone Nolan loves. Don't miss Book 10 in the explosive Cerberus Series!

Two for Joy: The Uplifting True Story of One Courageous Family’s Life of Happiness With Severely Disabled Twins


James Melville-Ross - 2016
    James Melville-Ross, their father, tells of how the twins not only survived—despite being given the last rites as babies—but also thrived. From the dramatic first few months of the twins’ lives—when Alice suffered a heart attack when only a day old, and Thomas’s lungs filled with blood, leaving him only 20 minutes away from death—Two for Joy reveals the path that James and his wife Georgie have followed as parents to two severely disabled children. After the initial anger came the sheer hard work: the sleepless nights; the hospital dashes; the curious stares and unwelcome comment from strangers. But slowly came acceptance and, eventually, celebration of the joy that the medical marvels Thomas and Alice—now happy and energetic ten year olds—have brought to their lives. Finally they understood that disability might have turned their world upside down, but that it has also provided rewards beyond anything they could have imagined. This story is for any parent experiencing the shock of having extremely premature babies or coming to terms with having a child diagnosed with a disability. More than that, this story will change people’s attitudes to disability, and show that love and true happiness can be found in even the most challenging of circumstances.