Fans pick 30 books like Fulgrim

By Graham McNeill,

Here are 30 books that Fulgrim fans have personally recommended if you like Fulgrim. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Neuromancer

Stu Jones Author Of The Zone

From my list on cyberpunk that revolutionized the genre.

Why am I passionate about this?

From early on, I found myself captivated by the concept of a dystopic future for humanity. Years later, a 20+ year police career cemented the notion that people are not inherently good and that if a dystopic future is at all possibleā€“we as a species will make it a reality. My love of science fiction, especially all forms of dystopia, combined with a hard-earned street-level grit and a love of action. Whether writing solo or with my amazing co-author, Dr. Gareth Worthington, I often inject these elements into my stories. I hope you enjoy the books on this list as much as I did!

Stu's book list on cyberpunk that revolutionized the genre

Stu Jones Why did Stu love this book?

I donā€™t think cyberpunk as we know it would exist without William Gibsonā€™s Neuromancer. If PKD jump-started the genre, then Gibson advanced it in ways previously unimaginable.

I love the tone and texture of this book. Written in a gritty urban style, the mixture of atmosphere and wacky characters vividly paints the concept of high-tech and low-life that underpins the cyberpunk genre. Plus, it has ā€œstreet samuraiā€ā€“I mean, letā€™s go!

By William Gibson,

Why should I read it?

15 authors picked Neuromancer as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The book that defined the cyberpunk movement, inspiring everything from The Matrix to Cyberpunk 2077.

The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.

William Gibson revolutionised science fiction in his 1984 debut Neuromancer. The writer who gave us the matrix and coined the term 'cyberspace' produced a first novel that won the Hugo, Nebula and Philip K. Dick Awards, and lit the fuse on the Cyberpunk movement.

More than three decades later, Gibson's text is as stylish as ever, his noir narrative still glitters like chrome in the shadows and his depictions ofā€¦


Book cover of Snow Crash

Steve Rubin Author Of Early Nerds: Almost-True Stories from Silicon Valley

From my list on help you love nerds.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a lifelong computer nerd, Iā€™m disappointed by the way weā€™re portrayed in the media. If you believe the stories, nerds are awkward and self-centered, with no room in their compulsive worldview for anything outside of their singular goals. This is absurd. Sure, some nerds are awkward and self-centered, but so are most of the people on this planet. To set the record straight, Iā€™ve written stories about the many nerds I know, all of them with rich lives that extend far beyond their love of computers. These people are adventurers, jokesters, musicians, athletes, motorheads, connoisseurs, and more, with extreme passions that defy nerdiness.

Steve's book list on help you love nerds

Steve Rubin Why did Steve love this book?

I was instantly captivated by the name of this bookā€™s lead character: Hiro Protagonist. Yes, heā€™s a nerd and an expert hacker, but heā€™s also much more than that. Hiro delivers pizza, does swordplay, and has trouble surviving in the world, like so many people.

Heā€™s real, and his partnership with two adventurous women makes his journey even more appealing.

By Neal Stephenson,

Why should I read it?

17 authors picked Snow Crash as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The ā€œbrilliantly realizedā€ (The New York Times Book Review) breakthrough novel from visionary author Neal Stephenson, a modern classic that predicted the metaverse and inspired generations of Silicon Valley innovators

Hiro lives in a Los Angeles where franchises line the freeway as far as the eye can see. The only relief from the sea of logos is within the autonomous city-states, where law-abiding citizens donā€™t dare leave their mansions.

Hiro delivers pizza to the mansions for a living, defending his pies from marauders when necessary with a matched set of samurai swords. His home is a shared 20 X 30ā€¦


Book cover of Children of Time

Phil Bailey Author Of Kelvoo's Testimonial: Surviving the Aftermath of Human First Contact

From my list on first contact science fiction novels.

Why am I passionate about this?

Of all the intelligent species (both real and fictional), humans fascinate me the most. For me, itā€™s the creativity and diversity of humans that both divide and unite us. Our eternal struggle to understand one another and overcome our differences fascinates me. I love first-contact science fiction that lets us view the values and behavior of our own species through the lens of true outsiders. I find great value in these parables when they increase self-awareness of our identities and our effect on others.

Phil's book list on first contact science fiction novels

Phil Bailey Why did Phil love this book?

As a big fan of xenofiction, I appreciated that large parts of the book were written from the perspective of non-humans. I loved the authorā€™s imagination, which, while innovative, never strayed into the implausible.

I was very interested in the timespan of thousands of years and the concept of accelerated evolution, and I found the intelligent, massive spiders to be both creepy and fascinating. For me, Children of Time was a good page-turner and a great read.

By Adrian Tchaikovsky,

Why should I read it?

9 authors picked Children of Time as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Winner of the 30th anniversary Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Novel

Adrian Tchaikovksy's critically acclaimed, stand-alone novel Children of Time, is the epic story of humanity's battle for survival on a terraformed planet.

Who will inherit this new Earth?

The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age - a world terraformed and prepared for human life.

But all is not right in this new Eden. In the long years since theā€¦


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Book cover of Aggressor

Aggressor by FX Holden,

It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan. The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced, it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run theā€¦

Book cover of Contact Harvest

Dagmar Rokita Author Of The Vanquisher of Kings I

From my list on sci-fi about war and weapons.

Why am I passionate about this?

I always felt torn between the future and the past. I've been fascinated with space, aliens, and technology since I could remember. When I was too young to write, I could spend long hours drawing alien worlds, plants, and creatures. These hobbies from my childhood shaped my current passion for futuristic subjects, but the events from ancient and modern history still remain an important inspiration for my books. My country, Poland, experienced many wars, and history is a necessary subject at school. Historical books and documentaries let me discover and analyse how our society evolved and what mistakes did it make, so I can use this knowledge in my military sci-fi novels. 

Dagmar's book list on sci-fi about war and weapons

Dagmar Rokita Why did Dagmar love this book?

Iā€™m too clumsy to play games, so I explored the Halo universe through books and animated series. Fansā€™ opinions on this book are quite divided, but I found it really interesting.

The characters have a deeper development here, and that lets me get personally involved in this story. All sides of the conflict have something to say here. I would recommend this novel to everyone who wants to explore the Halo universe because it really helped me understand the essential aspects of it: alien races, the basic conflicts and technology.

By Joseph Staten,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Contact Harvest as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The New York Times bestsellerā€”part of the expanded universe based on the award-winning video game series Halo!

2524. Harvest is a peaceful, prosperous farming colony on the very edge of human-controlled space. But humanity has unknowingly trespassed on holy groundā€”straying into the path of the aggressive, theocratic empire known as the Covenant. What begins as a chance encounter between an alien privateer and a human freighter soon catapults all of mankind into a struggle for its very existence.

But humanity is also currently locked in a bitter civil war of its own: the Insurrection. With resources strained to the breakingā€¦


Book cover of Twilight Company

Dagmar Rokita Author Of The Vanquisher of Kings I

From my list on sci-fi about war and weapons.

Why am I passionate about this?

I always felt torn between the future and the past. I've been fascinated with space, aliens, and technology since I could remember. When I was too young to write, I could spend long hours drawing alien worlds, plants, and creatures. These hobbies from my childhood shaped my current passion for futuristic subjects, but the events from ancient and modern history still remain an important inspiration for my books. My country, Poland, experienced many wars, and history is a necessary subject at school. Historical books and documentaries let me discover and analyse how our society evolved and what mistakes did it make, so I can use this knowledge in my military sci-fi novels. 

Dagmar's book list on sci-fi about war and weapons

Dagmar Rokita Why did Dagmar love this book?

I always treated Star Wars as a fun series to watch. Lasers, spaceships, some cool droids, but thatā€™s all.

I felt that some element is missing here: the ā€œwarsā€ in "Star Warsā€ were usually too clean, and the warriors were just some heroes going for some fun adventures. My view was violently changed by two things: Rogue One (movie) and Twilight Company (book). These two things presented wars from a completely different perspective.

Twilight Company tells a story of common soldiers, whose whole purpose is to die and become forgotten, while the famous heroes collect all the glory. This book shows that every epic victory has its ugly side.

By Alexander Freed,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Twilight Company as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The bravest soldiers. The toughest warriors. The ultimate survivors.

Among the stars and across the vast expanses of space, the Galactic Civil War rages. On the battlefields of multiple worlds in the Mid Rim, legions of ruthless stormtroopers-bent on crushing resistance to the Empire wherever it arises-are waging close and brutal combat against an armada of freedom fighters. In the streets and alleys of ravaged cities, the front-line forces of the Rebel Alliance are taking the fight to the enemy, pushing deeper into Imperial territory and grappling with the savage flesh-and-blood realities of war on the ground.

Leading the chargeā€¦


Book cover of The Book That Wouldn't Burn

Kian N. Ardalan Author Of Eleventh Cycle

From my list on think about humanity's legacy.

Why am I passionate about this?

Something that annoys me to no end is when people avoid reading fantasy or sci-fi because it isnā€™t realistic. I argue that realism isnā€™t about the veracity of flying dragons or building a fusion reactor that can fit in our hands; itā€™s about the human elements in between. Sci-fi can be a reminder of the dangerous trajectory we are heading in. Fantasy can reflect inequality by condensing resources to one mystical gem. To this end, any book that ends with me understanding the danger of language by describing it as a virus or showing me how books can bridge the gap between past and present makes me grow as a person.

Kian's book list on think about humanity's legacy

Kian N. Ardalan Why did Kian love this book?

Books are what connect us to the past and remind us of the present.

My love for Mark Lawrenceā€™s work began when I saw the cover for King of Thorns at a bookstore. I went ahead and ordered Prince of Thorns the same day and never looked back. So it comes with a heavy heart when I say that this has taken the spot as my favorite book by Mark.

What a beautiful, simple idea to base a story around the library of Babel. Pop culture still invokes imagery regarding the library of Alexandria. Books, and by extension, libraries, connect us to our past. They are the legacy that we leave behind, and they are vessels for the zeitgeist that different points of existence embody.

By Mark Lawrence,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Book That Wouldn't Burn as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

All books, no matter their binding, will fall to dust. The stories they carry may last longer. They might outlive the paper, the library, even the language in which they were first written.

The greatest story can reach the stars . . .

This is the start of an incredible new journey from the internationally bestselling author of Prince of Thorns, in which, though the pen may be mightier than the sword, blood will be spilled and cities burned...

Evar has lived his whole life trapped within a vast library, older than empires and larger than cities.

Livira has spentā€¦


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Book cover of Captain James Heron First Into the Fray: Prequel to Harry Heron Into the Unknown of the Harry Heron Series

Captain James Heron First Into the Fray by Patrick G. Cox, Janet Angelo (editor),

Captain Heron finds himself embroiled in a conflict that threatens to bring down the world order he is sworn to defend when a secretive Consortium seeks to undermine the World Treaty Organisation and the democracies it represents as he oversees the building and commissioning of a new starship.

When theā€¦

Book cover of Helsreach

Dagmar Rokita Author Of The Vanquisher of Kings I

From my list on sci-fi about war and weapons.

Why am I passionate about this?

I always felt torn between the future and the past. I've been fascinated with space, aliens, and technology since I could remember. When I was too young to write, I could spend long hours drawing alien worlds, plants, and creatures. These hobbies from my childhood shaped my current passion for futuristic subjects, but the events from ancient and modern history still remain an important inspiration for my books. My country, Poland, experienced many wars, and history is a necessary subject at school. Historical books and documentaries let me discover and analyse how our society evolved and what mistakes did it make, so I can use this knowledge in my military sci-fi novels. 

Dagmar's book list on sci-fi about war and weapons

Dagmar Rokita Why did Dagmar love this book?

I love books that make me bite my nails and shake like a leaf.

Helsreach was so intense that I could read it in about two days. Every page is filled with action and suspense, what doesnā€™t downgrade the character development. These two things made this book perfect in my eyes.

Following the characters who struggled to fight an inhuman enemy was fascinating in itself, but discovering their complicated relationships let me get completely involved in this story. They all had a different way of thinking, but the common enemy united them. I want to avoid spoilers, so I will just say that the ending was mind-blowing.

By Aaron Dembski-Bowden,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Helsreach as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

When the world of Armageddon is attacked by orks, the Black Templars Space Marine Chapter are amongst those sent to liberate it. Chaplain Grimaldus and a band of Black Templars are charged with the defence of Hive Helsreach from the xenos invaders in one of the many battlezones. But as the orks numbers grow and the Space Marines dwindle, Grimaldus faces a desperate last stand in an Imperial temple. Determined to sell their lives dearly, will the Black Templars hold on long enough to be reinforced, or will their sacrifice ultimately be in vain.


Book cover of Alien: The Cold Forge

Dagmar Rokita Author Of The Vanquisher of Kings I

From my list on sci-fi about war and weapons.

Why am I passionate about this?

I always felt torn between the future and the past. I've been fascinated with space, aliens, and technology since I could remember. When I was too young to write, I could spend long hours drawing alien worlds, plants, and creatures. These hobbies from my childhood shaped my current passion for futuristic subjects, but the events from ancient and modern history still remain an important inspiration for my books. My country, Poland, experienced many wars, and history is a necessary subject at school. Historical books and documentaries let me discover and analyse how our society evolved and what mistakes did it make, so I can use this knowledge in my military sci-fi novels. 

Dagmar's book list on sci-fi about war and weapons

Dagmar Rokita Why did Dagmar love this book?

This book isnā€™t about the war itself; the core focus here is the military technology and its consequences.

As a big fan of the Alien series, I understood the risk of any human-alien encounter... and here I was confronted with the idea of weaponising the aliens. I knew from the very beginning that everything will go wrong, so my fundamental question was, ā€œHow exactly would it go wrong?ā€

If aliens werenā€™t enough, some members of the space station crew had pretty unfriendly intentions too. That was my favourite aspect of this book ā€“ yes, you should fear aliens, but you canā€™t be sure that your co-worker isnā€™t planning something sinister.

By Alex White,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Alien as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

With the failure of Hadley's Hope, Weyland-Yutani has suffered a devastating setback-the loss of the Aliens they aggressively sought to exploit. Yet there's a reason the Company has risen to the top of the food chain. True to form, they have a redundancy already in place... the facility known as The Cold Forge.

Remote station RB-232 has become their greatest asset in weaponizing the Xenomorphs. However, when Dorian Sudler is sent to RB-232 to assess their progress, he discovers that there's a spy aboard-someone who doesn't necessarily act in the company's best interests. For Dorian, this is the most unforgivableā€¦


Book cover of Death World

Beau Johnston Author Of Sleep with One Eye Open

From my list on casual (or non) readers.

Why am I passionate about this?

I despise long-winded books with an electoral roll of characters or characters with unnecessarily complex names. Reading should be a pleasure, not a chore. High school does its best to suck the joy out of reading with its ā€œwhat did the author mean here?ā€ nonsense. If the reader has to guess what the author means, the author failed to tell their story. Symbolism and hidden meanings are a joke. I wonā€™t read pretentious books that people only read so they can say theyā€™ve read them. One of the reasons I started writing was to reach people who ended up as non-readers because high school ruined reading for them.

Beau's book list on casual (or non) readers

Beau Johnston Why did Beau love this book?

The story is set in the Warhammer 40ā€™000 universe, but anyone can read it without feeling lost. I love the way the author subverts the readerā€™s expectation from a story of ā€œmilitary squad Vs. monsterā€ to ā€œmilitary squad Vs. everything-on-the-planet.ā€

A fantastic blend of (John Carpenterā€™s) The Thing and Predator. An enjoyable and easy-to-read tale of claustrophobic, slow-burning tension and Hollywood 80s action hero. I loved the ever-increasing sense of paranoia they endure by gradually discovering that absolutely everything wants to kill them.

By Steve Lyons,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Death World as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A squad of Catachan Jungle Fighters is sent to the deathworld of Rogar III in response to an ork incursion. But, as well as dealing with the orks, they must do battle the planet itself ƂĀæ not to the mention the mysterious figures that stalk them across the deadly terrain.


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Book cover of The Circus Infinite

The Circus Infinite by Khan Wong,

Hunted by those who want to study his gravity powers, Jes makes his way to the best place for a mixed-species fugitive to blend in: the pleasure moon where everyone just wants to be lost in the party. It doesnā€™t take long for him to catch the attention of theā€¦

Book cover of Eisenhorn: The Omnibus

Rory Surtain Author Of Psyker

From my list on fantasy set in a dark, dystopian world or universe.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love dystopian science fantasy for the fact that it defines its own reality. The distant, magical aspects of every dystopian world create separation from the world we live in. The reader must cling to the characters, accept their motives and flaws, and finish the ride no matter where it goes. Not every plot needs to reform the status quo. Star Wars was the white-washed exception, and even that got dark at times. Combining flawed characters with flawed settings makes a novel compelling without the need for overly fantastic powers or world-altering events. Sure, I include those too, but futuristic dystopia offers plenty of challenges for simply surviving each day.

Rory's book list on fantasy set in a dark, dystopian world or universe

Rory Surtain Why did Rory love this book?

A different kind of hero. Cerebral and self-contained. Eisenhorn is an Inquisitor who maneuvers within the system and operates within his own complex reality, fighting a never-ending war against all aspects of Chaos. He finds allies in impossible places and uses them to his advantage. Part mystery, part adventure, and expertly crafted to portray the darkest of futures, it is the quintessential dystopian science fantasy. While some may question the rigid morality of the future day, Eisenhorn chooses results over dogma, choosing the lesser of two evils. I learned that characters must choose their own reality, adapting to the dystopia in which they reside. Itā€™s a compelling human trait that transcends any universe.  

By Dan Abnett,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Eisenhorn as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn is an Imperial inquisitor, one of the tirelss defenders of humanity. With his warband he scourges the galaxy, walking in the shadows of darkness in order to root out heresy. When that heresy is found to infiltrate the hierarchy of the Imperium and the Inquisition itself, Eisnehorn must rely on himself alone to deal with it ā€“ even if it means making deals with the enemy and compromising everything he ahs ever believed in.

Read it because
It's the whole classic trilogy that remains top of many Warhammer 40,000 fans' must-read lists, And in Pariah, there's aā€¦


Book cover of Neuromancer
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Book cover of Children of Time

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