SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Hey guys, been playing this great game again and it leaves me hungry for more! Does anyone know of a sci-fi book that comes close? With cooperation between different species, politics, great characters, with good lore and world building... Thank you in advance!

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

Have you read Armada by Ernest Cline?

Probably a dumb question but have you read Dune or Starship Troopers? They encompass a lot of the deep lore, politics, and military aspects that Mass Effect was no doubt inspired by. The Expanse series as well goes deep into politics between different human factions in the future.

Hmm!

The Three-Body Problem has a lot of that, but more about the science.

Ninefox Gambit comes off a little more "magical" in its military sci-fi structure, but has lots of politicking, cooperation, and strange space happenings.

The Sparrow is a wonderful first contact, but really quite sad.

The first thing I thought of was Ancillary Justice. I think that has a lot of what you want.

Embassytown has really deep ties between humans and aliens and a very bizarre story.

Heart of Gold I think would fit really well, but is again maybe on the "lighter" side.

Anna wrote: "The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers"

I second that.

See also Larry Niven’s Known Space Universe. Try Ringworld. If you like that, the rabbit hole goes deep.

Jack L. Chalker’s Saga of the Well World. First one is Midnight at the Well of Souls.

Ian M. Banks’ Culture series, of course. I think you can start anywhere as they’re mostly standalone/loosely connected books, but Excession is in the ME ballpark.

John Scalzi’s space opera is lighter fare. The Old Man's War series (6 books so far) and the Interdepency series with one book so far, The Collapsing Empire, although I think the latter is humans-only.

Anna wrote: "The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers"

Strongly thirding this! This was the first thing that came to mind.

Also going to agree with Ancillary Justice, and add in her other book, Provenance. And agreeing with Ninefox Gambit as well.

If you haven't looked at the Mass Effect novels themselves already, they're pretty decent and add to the storyline in the games.

I'll also throw out Downbelow Station.

Startide Rising has a lot of interspecies cooperation and conflict. It's the second in The Uplift Saga, but the first is so-so and isn't necessary.

Chris wrote: "Startide Rising has a lot of interspecies cooperation and conflict. It's the second in The Uplift Saga, but the first is so-so and isn't necessary."

Those are good ones, too. Excellent call.

Survival is the first book in a series I enjoyed a great deal. Other books by Julie E. Czerneda also fit well.

James White's Ambulance Ship series has a great cast of aliens.

Stardoc is another series that I enjoyed a great deal.

I adore the Mass Effect games so I’ll be adding many of these to my ever-expanding queue. Thank you!

I saw recently that N.K. Jemisin wrote Mass Effect: Initiation. This one seems to be a standalone featuring Cora Harper in events that take place before Andromeda.

I haven't read it yet, but I'm one of the few people who really loved Mass Effect Andromeda, so I'll be interested to see more of Cora's story. It's nice that it's written by a Hugo Award winner.

All of the above selections are great too, and I've added lots of them to my TBR.