28 books like Heir to the Empire

The late Sir Pratchett was a hero of mine. The Discworld universe is one of the most well-put-together, zany, yet relatable places. The amount of depth that he was able to achieve with a setting that others might consider a joke is astounding.

In order for a universe to connect with me, it has to have characters that I love dearly. Granny Aching and her granddaughter Tiffany are among the few literary characters that have ever brought me to tears on multiple occasions. I used to read this book to my students, and there is one scene in particular towards the end that causes me to choke up every time I read it.

It’s simple and powerful, and it speaks to me on a personal level. I lost my mom back in 2008, and the scene to which I am referring here hits on that sense of loss so well… show more.

I recommend this book because it can help give a reader a good idea of what to expect with the military aspect of my story. I was always a massive fan of the games and was sure to jump into the books when they were released. And I enjoyed the books just as much.

I like to think the overall franchise influenced the ideas I came up with for my battle school setting in book one and other factors pertaining to the story.

When I read this book, it was the full Jade Phoenix trilogy put into one paperback, so for me it was a really long book that showed someone completely fail in life, then drag himself back up and crawl his way to the top. It also exposed me to the ‘Clans’ and what they meant. 

Position by merit. Earning your place through combat. A desire to prove yourself and gain power, but not by sucking up or backstabbing. Imagine a nation led by warriors instead of politicians. Even though the Clans aren’t the ‘good guys,’ there’s a huge difference between this book and all others. Enough that it stuck with me and the concept was reused in my own book as an homage to these Battletech books.

Just as the Jade Phoenix Trilogy introduced me to mechs, Rogue Squadron is the book to explain starfighter combat. It’s the first of a long series that literally writes the book on the subject, and the tactics used actually make sense as opposed to books where they just fly around and shoot stuff. 

But more than that, it’s about a squadron, a team that works inside the cockpit and outside to have an impact on a galactic war. They don’t win it themselves, but you can see the impact of a few people at the right time and with the right motivation and gear can do a lot of good. They also show how Jedi do not just come from a Temple as kids. Sometimes adults, who had no idea of their potential, rise to great things. 

Potential isn’t just for kids, after all.

This was one giant book I got as a gift and thought I’d never read, but when I started I couldn’t stop. These are old stories, and arguably the oldest I have ever read that ring true today. Holmes is like Thrawn, a mastermind, but he doesn’t rule Empires or command armies. Holmes works in isolation with only his trusted assistant Watson. He follows mysteries wherever they present themselves and is bored by anything else.

It’s the keen intellect that draws me to this book. The kind of stuff most people wouldn’t waste their time on because it goes over their heads. This is not the new Hollywood version of Holmes, this is much more potent. Older movies of Holmes do much better, but none match the caliber that is in these original stories. 

I can’t fully explain, but there is a magic to them that rejects the ‘mundane’ world… show more.

What kind of list would this be about massive universes without mentioning the Cosmere? Brandon Sanderson is the undisputed king of worldbuilding because he is so meticulously obsessed with the details, and is so good at juggling all of them in a way that interweaves like a tapestry of crossing stories.

The fact that this story holds dozens of nods to characters from his other stories that exist within the same universe as the worlds on which this book takes place while not being confusing to someone unfamiliar with all that the Cosmere has to offer is why I want to recommend this book in particular, though.

I will freely admit that I am not a Cosmere aficionado. The task of trying to keep up on everything that Sanderson writes is entirely too daunting for me (how does the man write so much, so well, and so fast?!!). But I… show more.

The best way to start a list about books that are part of bigger universes is to start with a book about building universes! The ambiance of this book, the intrigue, and the worldbuilding! Oh my goodness, the worldbuilding! Tie-in novels often get a bad rap, so one can be forgiven for thinking that this book might not be great because it’s based on a video game. But the story of the D’ni civilization that literally crafts worlds with their words that they write in magical books speaks to my author’s soul.

Something that I feel is necessary for a universe to have weight is that there must be an appropriate cost for everything that happens, and every choice that the characters make must follow Newton’s Third Law of Motion (for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction). This is reflected so beautifully in the way Atrus learns… show more.

So many times with tie-in novels, you have the issue of trying to predict what a fanbase wants while still trying to keep a story original. I’ve read a lot of tie-in novels that fail in this, and as a result, their stories fall flat and become hollow narratives. The Warhammer 40k universe has a long, rich, and storied history of lore. Sometimes, that lore boils down to “Space Marines are cool,” and that is as far as the depth of the worldbuilding goes. 

This book succeeds where many others do not. In this story, I got to see the effects of a universe that is dominated by war played out in the lives of these characters. Rather than a string of events between one fight to the next, I saw the toll that such an existence would have on the people who live it. It does this in a… show more.

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

I felt that some element is missing here: the “wars” in "Star Wars” 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.

I love Star Wars, and I’ve been a Star Wars nerd forever. This book jumps into an Imperial conspiracy to restore the Empire using the ghost of its old leader, Grand Admiral Thrawn, who was long thought dead. 

I read this one thinking that the “conspiracy” was upfront and required no special thought. Still, two of the key players—Borsk Fey’lya and Major Grodin Tierce—are playing their own games within games, creating an interwoven conspiracy I confess I didn’t see coming until I read it. When I re-read the book, I looked hard to find their clues, and I had to carefully study each to find the underlying markers. It was an enjoyable, if jolting, way to delve into Star Wars lore.