Books like 'The Forbidden Stars'

Readers who enjoyed The Forbidden Stars by Tim Pratt also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.

science fiction  military  mystery  queer  aliens

  • Miles in Love by Lois McMaster Bujold

    Miles in Love by Lois McMaster Bujold

    Rated: 4.53 of 5 stars
    · 27 ratings
    Komarr—Miles Vorkosigan is sent to Komarr, a planet that could be a garden with a thousand more years of terraforming; or an uninhabitable wasteland, if the terraforming project fails. The solar mirror vital to the project has been shattered by a ship hurtling off course, and Miles has been sent to find out if it was an accident, or sabotage...
  • Miles Errant (Vorkosigan Saga (Publication Order) #5, 5.3 & 8) by Lois McMaster Bujold

    Miles Errant (Vorkosigan Saga (Publication Order) #5, 5.3 & 8) by Lois McMaster Bujold

    Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars
    · 31 ratings
    Contains: The Borders of InfinityBrothers in Arms Mirror DanceMiles Naismith--in the person of his two alter-egos Admiral Naismith and Lieutenant Lord Vorkosigan--embarks on a perilous series of adventures, from the liberation of Barrayaran allies from a Cetagandan POW camp to the rescue of clone children scheduled to be murdered for their bodies...
  • Sponsored links
  • A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine

    A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 2 of 5
    Behind closed doors [?] · 53 ratings
    An alien armada lurks on the edges of Teixcalaanli space. No one can communicate with it, no one can destroy it, and Fleet Captain Nine Hibiscus is running out of options. In a desperate attempt at diplomacy with the mysterious invaders, the fleet captain has sent for a diplomatic envoy...
    Categorized as:
    aliens  military  mystery  queer  science fiction  war  f-f  suspense
  • Without a Front: The Warrior’s Challenge by Fletcher DeLancey

    Without a Front: The Warrior’s Challenge by Fletcher DeLancey

    Rated: 4.73 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 4 of 5
    Explicit open door [?] · 14 ratings
    An assassin’s shot has shattered the Opah family and endangered Lancer Andira Tal. Now criminal forces are racing law enforcement to find the man who could topple Tal’s government.With the net closing around them, Tal and Salomen Opah discover the power of their tyree bond, a power Alsea has not seen in a millennium...
  • Miles, Mutants, and Microbes (Vorkosigan Saga (Publication Order) #4, 5.2 & 13) by Lois McMaster Bujold

    Miles, Mutants, and Microbes (Vorkosigan Saga (Publication Order) #4, 5.2 & 13) by Lois McMaster Bujold

    Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars
    · 28 ratings
    Content: Falling free Labyrinth Diplomatic immunity Miles Vorkosigan/Naismith : his life and times.Two complete novels and a short novel in one large volume:Falling Free—The Nebula Award-winning novel. Leo Graf was just your typical efficient engineer: mind your own business and do the job...
  • Catalyst by Fletcher DeLancey

    Catalyst by Fletcher DeLancey

    Rated: 4.72 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    After disobeying orders and saving the planet of Alsea from invasion, Captain Ekatya Serrado returns home a hero and renegade, alongside Dr. Lhyn Rivers, now the foremost authority on a culture that fascinates and terrifies. They share a secret: they are tyrees, linked by an Alsean empathic bond that should be biologically impossible for two Gaians...
    Categorized as:
    military  aliens  queer  science fiction  f-f  length-long
  • Without a Front: The Producer's Challenge by Fletcher DeLancey

    Without a Front: The Producer's Challenge by Fletcher DeLancey

    Rated: 4.71 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Alsea is fractured in the aftermath of war. So is its leader.Though devastated by a personal loss, Lancer Andira Tal must somehow stitch her world together and move it forward when all the rules have changed. Every decision is fraught with risk, and her enemies wait for her to stumble...
  • Miles, Mystery & Mayhem (Vorkosigan Saga (Publication Order) #3, 5.2 &  9) by Lois McMaster Bujold

    Miles, Mystery & Mayhem (Vorkosigan Saga (Publication Order) #3, 5.2 & 9) by Lois McMaster Bujold

    Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
    · 28 ratings
    Diplomat, soldier, spy - Lieutenant Lord Miles Naismith Vorkosigan of the Barrayarayan Empire, a.k.a. Admiral Naismith of the Dendarii Free Mercenaries, is a young man of many parts...
  • Alsea Rising: Gathering Storm by Fletcher DeLancey

    Alsea Rising: Gathering Storm by Fletcher DeLancey

    Rated: 4.79 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    AN OLD ENEMY. A NEW THREAT.As Alsea’s space elevator nears completion, an unsettling rumor arrives: the Voloth are stirring once more.Lancer Andira Tal has been preparing for this since the Battle of Alsea, determined that her people will never again pay such a price. She will use every weapon at her disposal—including her own bondmate...
    Categorized as:
    military  queer  science fiction  f-f  length-long
  • Alsea Rising: The Seventh Star by Fletcher DeLancey

    Alsea Rising: The Seventh Star by Fletcher DeLancey

    Rated: 4.78 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    The Voloth have arrived.Their opening gambit upends months of planning. Their second assault leaves Alsea’s defenses scrambling. The third may end it all.While Captain Serrado and her forces desperately fight to prevent a catastrophe, Lancer Tal activates her secret weapon: the divine tyrees, led by Salomen Opah. But Salomen is no warrior, and a changing battle can unravel even the best of plans...
    Categorized as:
    military  queer  science fiction  f-f  length-long
  • The Mountains of Mourning by Lois McMaster Bujold

    The Mountains of Mourning by Lois McMaster Bujold

    Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars
    · 39 ratings
    [A Miles Vorkosigan Story] Twenty year old Ensign Miles Vorkosigan plays detective in a murder case, and tests the balance of power as a member of the Barrayaran nobility. [Publisher's Note: The Mountains of Mourning was originally published as a stand-alone novella in the May 1989 issue of Analog...
  • Resilience by Fletcher DeLancey

    Resilience by Fletcher DeLancey

    Rated: 4.74 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    As the first Alsean to serve aboard a Protectorate warship, Rahel Sayana thought her empathic sense would be an advantage. She never imagined it could be a weakness.Captain Ekatya Serrado has her hands full with a new empathic officer, an attempted murder, and a missing cargo ship. Finding the lost ship only adds to her problems: its crew lies dead amid signs of alien predators...
  • Relativity by G.S. Jennsen

    Relativity by G.S. Jennsen

    Rated: 4.59 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    “I’d tell you to be careful, but we wouldn’t be here if you’d ever taken that advice. No reason to start now, right?”For millennia the Anadens have ruled the known universe. They believe they’ve crafted the perfect empire, ordered and impervious to challenge. They believe the fight has been crushed out of the species they subjugate. They are wrong.It’s a suicide mission, without a doubt...
  • Transcendence by G.S. Jennsen

    Transcendence by G.S. Jennsen

    Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    What does it mean to be human? What if the price of saving humanity is giving up your own? The year is 2322, and we stand upon the precipice of extinction. The invading Metigen armada has decimated the eastern third of settled space in a matter of days, leaving tens of millions dead...
  • Galactic Gladiators Set: Books 7-9 by Anna Hackett

    Galactic Gladiators Set: Books 7-9 by Anna Hackett

    Rated: 4.75 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Fighting for love, honor, and freedom on the galaxy’s lawless outer rim…When several women from Earth find themselves abducted from a space station by alien slavers, life becomes a battle for survival on a dangerous desert planet.Includes:Beast: Rescued by gladiators on the alien world of Carthago, starship pilot Mia is working to find other abducted humans who are still lost...
  • The Borders of Infinity by Lois McMaster Bujold

    The Borders of Infinity by Lois McMaster Bujold

    Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars
    · 42 ratings
    [A Miles Vorkosigan Story] Miles infiltrates a prison camp at Dagoola IV, where he plots from within to free the prisoners. [Publisher's Note: The Borders of Infinity was originally published as a stand-alone novella in the anthology Free Lancers in September 1987. It was then included in the novel Borders of Infinity (October 1989). For the novel, Ms...
  • Abysm by G.S. Jennsen

    Abysm by G.S. Jennsen

    Rated: 4.53 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    In the quest to be the masters of their own fate, will humanity rise to become liberators or follow the path of their ancestors into darkness?Alex Solovy and Caleb Marano risked everything to learn the hidden purpose behind the Metigen's multiverse portal network, but nothing could have prepared them for the answer...
  • Leap by Michael C. Grumley

    Leap by Michael C. Grumley

    Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars
    · 37 ratings
    ONE OF MANKIND'S GREATEST LEGENDS HAS BEEN DISCOVERED... A FIND THAT ANY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD WOULD KILL TO POSSESS... ...AND IT'S ABOUT TO CHANGE EVERYTHING. One year ago, a remarkable breakthrough changed what it means to be human. Now, from a new research center in Puerto Rico, Alison Shaw and her team are about to stun the world...again...
  • The Caphenon by Fletcher DeLancey

    The Caphenon by Fletcher DeLancey

    Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    A split-second decision to save a civilization. Another decision to give it away. Captain Ekatya Serrado has spent her career fighting the Voloth, who view less advanced civilizations as fuel for their empire. The choice between saving her ship or a world under attack is easy. The choices that come after are harder...
    Categorized as:
    aliens  military  queer  science fiction  f-f  war  length-long
  • Cajole by Jenny Schwartz

    Cajole by Jenny Schwartz

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · 19 ratings
    If life on the border was complicated, life on Capitoline is insane. Nora and Liam struggle to reconcile her abilities and his duty, while caught up in the dangerous games of the powerful.Political intrigue, family drama, and ancient alien technology combine in the fourth novel of the Human Sector...
  • Weatherman by Lois McMaster Bujold

    Weatherman by Lois McMaster Bujold

    Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars
    · 25 ratings
    On Miles' first military posting, he is sent to an outpost with Arctic temperatures and a psychotic, unstable commander. When the commander orders his men to enter a facility that is leaking poisonous radiation, the men revolt, and it's up to Miles to use his wits to avoid a massacre. A story later incorporated into the Hugo Award-winning novel THE VOR GAME...
  • Going Ballistic by Dorothy Grant

    Going Ballistic by Dorothy Grant

    Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    When her plane tries to come apart at apogee during a hijack, ballistic airline pilot Michelle Lauden handles the worst day she could imagine. After getting down without losing any passengers or crew, though, she finds her troubles have just begun!The country she's landed in has just declared independence from the Federation...
  • Dark Strength by Cynthia Sax, Amanda Kelsey

    Dark Strength by Cynthia Sax, Amanda Kelsey

    Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    The Bigger They Are, The Harder They Fall. Balvan, the Refuge’s Gatekeeper, is huge, green, and has a reputation for crushing skulls. He’s a modified humanoid, genetically designed to be the ultimate warrior. One of a kind and considered monstrous by many, he never expects to find his mate, the one female meant for him...
    Categorized as:
    military  aliens  futuristic  science fiction  m-f
  • Rubicon by G.S. Jennsen

    Rubicon by G.S. Jennsen

    Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    “We are you—the you that you could have been.”The Anaden Directorate has ruled Amaranthe for millennia, subjugating species and galaxies in a neverending quest for control and order. For as many millennia, the anarchs have rebelled, defiantly claiming their own freedom yet without hope of winning it for everyone...
  • Requiem by G.S. Jennsen

    Requiem by G.S. Jennsen

    Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    The end of the world began with a library query…how will it conclude?What began as a chance discovery of an anomalous signal is now a multiverse war between humanity and its genetic ancestors over who controls the levers of life and death. Over who decides what life is and whether it will be allowed to exist. For the ruling Anaden Directorate, victory means immortality...
  • Zakota by Ruby Lionsdrake

    Zakota by Ruby Lionsdrake

    Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    Katie Saunders isn’t used to sitting on her butt, but she’s been stuck doing exactly that as the Star Guardians fly all over the galaxy, trying to get her and the other kidnapped women back home. Now it looks like they have to engage in a battle against evil aliens before making the final flight to Earth. Since they’ve captured an extra ship and are short on pilots, Katie wants to help...
  • Holdouts by Thomas J. Doscher

    Holdouts by Thomas J. Doscher

    Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    It just got awkward... With the Va'Shen villagers home safe, Army Ranger Captain Ben Gibson is ready to settle in for an easy deployment overseeing a sleepy refueling base on the occupied enemy homeworld and its small contingent of soldiers and sailors...
  • Sidespace by G.S. Jennsen

    Sidespace by G.S. Jennsen

    Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Humanity is saved. But its troubles are just beginning.To achieve their extraordinary triumph over the invading Metigen armada, humanity put aside its myriad of political and social conflicts and united against a common foe intent on annihilating civilization. In victory, unparalleled peace and prosperity are theirs for the taking—if they can keep hold of them...
  • Weapons Master by Anna Hackett

    Weapons Master by Anna Hackett

    Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars
    · 17 ratings
    A grumpy cyborg weapons master collides with a feisty mechanic from Earth who turns his ordered existence upside down.Abducted from her exploration ship and enslaved on a desert world, mechanic Bellamy Walsh has fought for her survival. She’s had to fight for everything in her life, and she doesn’t ever expect things to be easy...
  • Warrior 3.0 by Natalie Debrabandere

    Warrior 3.0 by Natalie Debrabandere

    Rated: 4.80 of 5 stars
    · 5 ratings
    CAN LOVE TRANSCEND TIME AND SPACE? Following victory on Earth, Commander Al’eesya Y Shar is once again fighting on behalf of the Confederation of Planets. The fierce, handsome soldier has put the past, and especially one particular human, behind her for good. Dr Kelsey Gray is a survivor. Although her own memories may be lost to her, her passion for saving lives is intact...
  • Faith, Part 3 by Grace Goodwin

    Faith, Part 3 by Grace Goodwin

    Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    The traitor within the Jax household has been found, and the repercussions are staggering, with Faith barely surviving and their mating destroyed. But Faith has always been unpredictable—just ask her sisters— and nothing will stop her from getting what she wants…and she wants Thor. Even if it kills her...
  • Aeson: Black by Vera Nazarian

    Aeson: Black by Vera Nazarian

    Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    Prince, soldier, hero of Atlantis.Haunted by death and the blue eyes of a stranger.Faced with an impossible choice.Love or Duty.Aeson Kassiopei, Imperial Crown Prince, survived his fiery death at Ae-Leiterra, saved the Fleet, and became the man we know today...
  • Galactic Gladiators Set: Books 10-12 by Anna Hackett

    Galactic Gladiators Set: Books 10-12 by Anna Hackett

    Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    Fighting for love, honor, and freedom on the galaxy’s lawless outer rim…When several women from Earth find themselves abducted from a space station by alien slavers, life becomes a battle for survival on a dangerous desert planet...
  • Fire's Mate by C.W. Gray

    Fire's Mate by C.W. Gray

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Welcome back to Charybdis Station!Fire may be a deadly Crellic Element, but he much prefers napping and snacking to murdering armies. After centuries of being used as a weapon, he's finally able to live peacefully on Charybdis Station. While he's content to spend his days visiting his friends and raiding their homes for food, he longs for one more thing. A mate to call his own...
  • The Last Symbiotes 2: Living Starship by Dante King

    The Last Symbiotes 2: Living Starship by Dante King

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    James Decker, captain of the living starship Farrago, has a mission: locate the seven symbiotes scattered across space. This mission will bring him credits beyond his imaginations, but it could also save the universe.He has found three, but there are still four more out there.And all the while, the strange faceless man from the Cloud Sea is never far away...
  • Collision Course: A Class 5 Novel by Michelle Diener

    Collision Course: A Class 5 Novel by Michelle Diener

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    A step into the unknown . . . Rose is looking forward to meeting the Fisone as part of the United Council’s outreach mission. Since the Tecran were defeated, and the full scope of their crimes were uncovered, the UC has wanted to find the Tecran’s victims and extend the hand of friendship...
  • Arena 7 by Logan Jacobs

    Arena 7 by Logan Jacobs

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Seven. It’s a bigly number. The biggest this series has ever seen, and that’s to be expected, because I only endorse the best and most biggest possible. And that’s what Arena is. It’s a fantastic story about the best American President of all time picking Marc Havoc to represent the world in the very important Crucible of Carnage space battle arena thing. But this book is a bit different...
  • Inversion Point by Jenn Burke, Kelly Jensen

    Inversion Point by Jenn Burke, Kelly Jensen

    Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    Zander and Felix's relationship has been to the brink and back: the Human-Stin War, imprisonment and an actual death/resurrection. Zander's death, to be specific, and the experience has left him…changed. The mysterious race known as the Guardians chose to revive him and appointed him as their emissary...
  • Constant by Lexi Ander

    Constant by Lexi Ander

    Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    Can a Warlord and a Prince find love when the galaxy is on the brink of war?Chief Warlord Sohm'lan has a job he loves protecting the family who claims him as one of their own. He has known the loss of a mate and believed he would walk alone for the rest of his life… that is until Prince Mestor demanded more from him than duty...
  • Death's Mate by C.W. Gray

    Death's Mate by C.W. Gray

    Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    Welcome to Charybdis Station!Dr. Verion Morrick is complicated. No, really. Not too long ago, Verion was simply a divorced research scientist on Frost Veil who wanted to reconnect with his estranged son. Now, a few years, one death and resurrection later, Verion is a new person -- both Death, the Crellic Element, and Verion Morrick. One being that helped protect the galaxy from an insidious evil...
  • Amaranthe II: Rebellion by G.S. Jennsen

    Amaranthe II: Rebellion by G.S. Jennsen

    Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    AMARANTHE II: REBELLION is jam-packed with over 1,200 pages of Sci-Fi Adventure**Includes the Aurora Renegades trilogy (Sidespace, Dissonance, Abysm), the 2nd trilogy in the Amaranthe universe, + a short story + bonus content)**It is a time of accelerating technological change & shifting allegiances as the old rules fall away & the old balance of power is upended...
  • Lonely Shore by Jenn Burke, Kelly Jensen

    Lonely Shore by Jenn Burke, Kelly Jensen

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Book two of Chaos StationAll they can do is live day to day... Felix Ingesson has returned to his duties as the Chaos's engineer with Zander Anatolius, his ex-boyfriend-turned-broken-super-soldier, at his side. Hope means something again. But there's nothing Felix can do to battle the alien poison flowing through Zander's veins, or his imminent mental decline...
  • Defying Fate by Regine Abel

    Defying Fate by Regine Abel

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    No more secrets. No more lies.For the past eight years, Tevek has searched for his missing mother and sister. But as a top technological mind of Guldar, he is closely watched. And as one of the secret leaders of the rebellion, he must tread carefully...
  • Damnation by Jean Johnson

    Damnation by Jean Johnson

    Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars
    · 21 ratings
    It began with a terrible vision of the future. Compelled by her precognitive abilities, Ia must somehow save her home galaxy long after she’s gone...
  • A Very Arcav Christmas by Hope Hart

    A Very Arcav Christmas by Hope Hart

    Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Babies, weddings, and Christmas... oh my! For the human women on Arcavia, there's plenty to celebrate during the holidays. Sure, the Grivath are a constant threat, but with a surprise wedding to plan, a baby on the way, and even a visit from Santa, the first Arcav Christmas is sure to be incredible...
  • Bound by Tana Stone

    Bound by Tana Stone

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · 13 ratings
    She’s been given a choice. Mate with the part-cyborg alien who abducted her. Or die. For Shreya, taking an alien for a mate was never in the cards. As one of the human women who rejected the idea of being a tribute bride to the Drexian warriors, she was just fine without a big, hulking alien. Even if they are gorgeous...
  • The Flowers of Vashnoi by Lois McMaster Bujold

    The Flowers of Vashnoi by Lois McMaster Bujold

    Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars
    · 34 ratings
    Still new to her duties as Lady Vorkosigan, Ekaterin is working together with expatriate scientist Enrique Borgos on a radical scheme to recover the lands of the Vashnoi exclusion zone, lingering radioactive legacy of the Cetagandan invasion of the planet Barrayar. When Enrique’s experimental bioengineered creatures go missing, the pair discover that the zone still conceals deadly old secrets...
  • ICE by Kevin Tinto

    ICE by Kevin Tinto

    Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars
    · 27 ratings
    Archaeologist Leah Andrews stumbles upon something inexplicable in southwestern New Mexico: inside a dark cavern lies an undiscovered, Native American cliff dwelling abandoned for 800 years. While twisting through one of the narrow underground passageways, Leah’s flashlight illuminates the remains of a violent massacre...
  • Cupcake Girls by Thomas J. Doscher

    Cupcake Girls by Thomas J. Doscher

    Rated: 4.58 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 2 of 5
    Behind closed doors [?] · 6 ratings
    A month has passed since Captain Ben Gibson arranged for the return of the village's missing commandos, and relations between the Rangers and the local alien community have never been better. As the two sides work together to prepare for the arrival of a group of refugees, he and the Va'Shen priestess, Alacea, work on exploring their budding personal relationship...
  • Apostles of Mercy by Lindsay Ellis

    Apostles of Mercy by Lindsay Ellis

    Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    Apostles of Mercy is the new alternate history first contact novel from the instant New York Times, Wall Street Journal and LA Times bestselling Lindsay Ellis.First Contact has not been going well. The nations of Earth are rapidly militarizing against the arrival of the Superorganism, an alien civilization that promises to destroy humanity before it can develop into a real threat...
Fantastic book recommendations by romance book lovers for romance book lovers.
Find out more about romance.io.


Get recommendations by genres & tropes

Use the romance book finder to mix and match over 100 content keywords to find the books that match your preferences

romance book finder

Looking for more inspiration? Enter another book title to get more suggestions on what to read next.


Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.