The Sword and Laser discussion

Hello, I'm looking for books like the Expanse series(Leviathan Wakes). I really liked how it mainly focuses on the crew. I especially liked the development between Holden and Naomi. I would prefer it if the main character is a "hero" type of person, much like Holden. It doesn't need to be science-fiction. Doesn't need to be a series either, but I'd prefer it. And most importantly, it needs to have a side romance like with Holden and Naomi.

Chris Wooding's Tales From the Ketty Jay spring to mind. Its more Steampunk/Fantasy than The Expanse & owes more than small debt to Firefly but ticks all your other boxes and is a really enjoyable series. Start with Retribution Falls

Pat wrote: "Chris Wooding's Tales From the Ketty Jay spring to mind. Its more Steampunk/Fantasy than The Expanse & owes more than small debt to Firefly but ticks all your other boxes and is a re..."

Actually, I said "hero" type main character. I've tried reading a sample of the book but couldn't bring myself to it because of that.

If the prime directive here is "Heroic Captain", there are countless Star Trek novels out there that would probably meet your requirement.

Maybe Patrick O'Brian's Captain Jack Aubrey novels? I've never read them, but from the movie I remember him being a very noble character.

Scificharacter wrote: "Pat wrote: "Chris Wooding's Tales From the Ketty Jay spring to mind. Its more Steampunk/Fantasy than The Expanse & owes more than small debt to Firefly but ticks all your other boxes..."

Probably depends on your definition of 'hero'. I like mine with some grey around the edges

Wouldn't most traditional fantasy quest stories fit this model as well? Like Jordan's "Eye of the World", or Sanderson's "Mistborn". Alister Reynolds books generally have a crew in them, but since he usually writes from multiple POV it doesn't always feel that way.

Tricky thing with Mistborn is, they're heroes... but also criminals.

Yeah there are some fantasy DnD style books that have a definite group of questers working together to save the world, like the Dragonlance books, the Belgariad and the Mallorean.

I'm not as well versed in scifi stuff but John Varley's trilogy that starts with Titan has a small crew that works together exploring a BDO. Also Niven's Ringworld.

Kind of out there, Tad Williams' Otherland series (4 books) is about virtual reality, but there is a good group with the main character being an African woman. But I think there are a lot of little groups of two/three that slowly meet up and then work together so I dunno if that would work for you. Also each book is humongous. But there is a side plot romance ;)

Also many of Michael Crichton's science thrillers have crews - Andromeda Strain, Sphere, Timeline.

Okay, I threw a bunch of noodles at this wall, maybe one will stick :-)

Riyria Revelations. It has a buddy cop feel - except they're thieves.

If you're looking for a literal crew, how about Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars/Green Mars/Blue Mars trilogy? It focuses on the crew of the interplanetary expedition tasked with terraforming Mars.

Nathan Lowell's Quarter Share. It's pretty low key though. But it has the best coffee making scene I've ever read. The audio is free on podiobooks.

http://podiobooks.com/contributor/nat...

John Scalzi's Redshirts has a crew/group dynamic. It is a parody of Star Trek after all and it's all human-centric. I love this book. <3

The Sand Pebbles is not SF but its by an author who has also written very well regarded SF short fiction and probably ticks the boxes. It is set on a US Gunboat in China in the early years of the Chinese revolution. No side romance though.

Not read it but I hear great things about Take Back Plenty which seems to tick all your boxes.