Top Books Set in Space I Want to Read

This Top 5 series started back in October and I kind of lost motivation for making it every week. But it’s back! This is a series of books that I want to read that all have a common theme. Previously on the blog I have focused on witches, werewolves, thrillers, faeries, fairy tale re-tellings, high fantasy and many more. I am going to try and bring this series back for every Saturday.

The upcoming schedule is:

9/14/19 — Set in Space

9/21/19 — Over 500 Pages 

9/28/19 — Books with Maps

Rules!

• Share your top 5 books of the current topic– these can be books that you want to read, have read and loved, have read and hated, you can do it any way you want.
• Tag the original post (This one!)
• Tag 5 people

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Books set in Space

This is a HUGE genre. I don’t read a ton of books set in space, but I have really enjoyed a few. I absolutely LOVED the Across the Universe series, The Diabolic and also highly recommend Artemis. (You can read my review of The Diabolic and my review of Artemis if you’re interested!) While this isn’t my favorite topic to read about, when it is done right I have loved books set in space. I have quite a few books on my TBR that are space that I’m excited about. Since I don’t read a lot of books set in space I thought that it would be easy to narrow this list down to only 5… but as usual my TBR is monsterous and I have no self control.

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do. This afternoon, her planet was invaded.

The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it’s clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she’d never speak to again.

BRIEFING NOTE: Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.

This book is really close to the top of my backlist TBR list. I have heard tons of great things about this series and really want to read it. I have also heard that the audio for this one is incredible and full cast, so I hope to borrow the audiobook from my library so I can enjoy this one!

The Stars We Steal by Alexa Donne

Engagement season is in the air. Eighteen-year-old Princess Leonie “Leo” Kolburg, heir to a faded European spaceship, only has one thing on her mind: which lucky bachelor can save her family from financial ruin?

But when Leo’s childhood friend and first love Elliot returns as the captain of a successful whiskey ship, everything changes. Elliot was the one that got away, the boy Leo’s family deemed to be unsuitable for marriage. Now, he’s the biggest catch of the season and he seems determined to make Leo’s life miserable. But old habits die hard, and as Leo navigates the glittering balls of the Valg Season, she finds herself failing for her first love in a game of love, lies, and past regrets.

This book sounds like The Bachelorette in space! I love books like this that are filled with fancy dresses and lots of suitors. I actually already have an ARC of this book and I really can’t wait to read it!

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

“I live for the dream that my children will be born free,” she says. “That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them.”

“I live for you,” I say sadly.

Eo kisses my cheek. “Then you must live for more.”

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations.

Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.

But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity already reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.

Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity’s overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society’s ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies… even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.

This book has won tons of awards and has been recommended to me over and over again. It seems to be a dystopian science fiction book that has an interesting caste system. Based on what people have said about this one I think that this could be a 5 star read for me.

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman & Megan Spooner

It’s a night like any other on board the Icarus. Then, catastrophe strikes: the massive luxury spaceliner is yanked out of hyperspace and plummets into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive. And they seem to be alone.

Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a young war hero who learned long ago that girls like Lilac are more trouble than they’re worth. But with only each other to rely on, Lilac and Tarver must work together, making a tortuous journey across the eerie, deserted terrain to seek help.

Then, against all odds, Lilac and Tarver find a strange blessing in the tragedy that has thrown them into each other’s arms. Without the hope of a future together in their own world, they begin to wonder—would they be better off staying here forever?

Everything changes when they uncover the truth behind the chilling whispers that haunt their every step. Lilac and Tarver may find a way off this planet. But they won’t be the same people who landed on it.

The Starbound Trilogy: Three worlds. Three love stories. One enemy.

I got a copy of this a while ago when my best friend was passing through a town and saw a bookstore that had a whole shelf of ARCs they were giving away. He mailed me a box full of ARCs and this was one of them. I can’t believe that I still haven’t read it because it looks incredible.

Half Way Home by Hugh Howey

From the New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of Wool and the Molly Fyde saga comes a story of teenage colonists marooned on a distant planet.

WE WOKE IN FIRE
Five hundred colonists have been sent across the stars to settle an alien planet. Vat-grown in a dream-like state, they are educated through simulations by an artificial intelligence and should awaken at thirty years old, fully-trained, and ready to tame the new world.
But fifteen years in, an explosion on their vessel kills most of the homesteaders and destroys the majority of their supplies. Worse yet, the sixty that awaken and escape the flames are only half-taught and possess the skills least useful for survival.
Naked and terrified, the teens stumble from their fiery baptism ill-prepared for the unfamiliar and harsh alien world around them. Though they attempt to work with the colony A.I. to build a home, tension and misery are rampant, escalating into battles for dominance.
Soon they find that their worst enemy isn’t the hostile environment, the A.I., or the blast that nearly killed them. Their greatest danger is each other.

I got an unsolicited ARC when I asked for a review copy of a different book. It does look pretty interesting, and I have high hopes that I might really love this one. While I may have not read this book on my own I am really glad that they sent me a copy because by the synopsis this seems like something I might wind up loving

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Tags!

Christina @ Chrikaru Reads

Louise @ A Little Fool Reads

MK @ Books Over Everything

Steph @ Books Love Readers

Dana @ Devour Books with Dana

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Check out other book bloggers top 5!

Roo @ By The 100th Page — Top 5 Books Set In Space

Alys @ Alys in Bookland — Top 5 Series Set in Space that I already Read and Want to Read

Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads — Top 5 Saturday: Space Setting

Susan @ Novel Lives — “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Top Five Books I Have Or Want To Read Set in Space

Michael @ The Book Lovers’ Sanctuary — Top Five Saturday: Set in Space

Becky @ Becky’s Book Blog — 5 books that are out of this world!

Blair @ Feed The Crime — -| Top 5 Saturday — Books I Want To Read That Are Set In Space|-

Hamad @ The Book Prescription — Top 5 books Set In Space

Sara @ My Year of Reading Dangerously — Top 5 Books Set In Space | Top 5 Saturdays

Nen and Jen @ Nen and Jen — Saturday Top 5: Set in Space

Dini @ Dinipandareads — Top 5 Saturday: Books Set In Space!

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October Topics!

So we’re midway through September already, so it’s time to start talking about October topics! I would like to theme the October topics to the fall season and Halloween if possible. There are 4 Saturdays in October, so we need topic recommendations!

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Let’s Chat!

Do you love books set in space? What is your favorite book set in space? Have you read any of these books? Should I move any of these up my TBR? What do you love about space settings? Do you have any recommendations for October topics? Make sure to comment below so we can chat about books set in space!