The War Shelf

If You Like This Game or War Film, Read This Book

19 books Every card says who recommends it

Each card pairs a game, film or series with a book that shares something with it, says what the book is, and what to know before starting. The list is spoiler-free.

Shooters and space war

Empire of Silence

Christopher RuocchioStart with The Sun Eater, book 1 (seven books, complete)

science fiction

Pairs with
Halo
What it is
Hadrian Marlowe, a nobleman's son in an interstellar empire, looks back on the life that made him infamous.
Good to know
a slow, reflective first-person memoir with a long opening journey before the wars arrive.

House of Suns

Alastair Reynolds

science fiction

Pairs with
Interstellar and Halo
What it is
six million years ago a woman split herself into a thousand clones who now roam the galaxy and meet every two hundred thousand years. Two of them arrive late to a reunion and find their line being hunted.
Good to know
deep-time space opera about a family of immortals, not a military story.

Eisenhorn

Dan AbnettStart with Xenos, or the Eisenhorn omnibus

Warhammer 40,000

Pairs with
Space Marine, Dawn of War, Warhammer 40k, Mass Effect
What it is
Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn hunts daemons, aliens and heretics across the Imperium, and over the trilogy starts working with the powers he swore to destroy. The publisher calls it "part detective story, part interplanetary epic."
Good to know
an investigation more than a war story. No Warhammer knowledge needed. See our Warhammer starter page.

The Faith of Beasts

James S. A. CoreyStart with The Mercy of Gods (The Captive's War, book 1)

science fiction

Pairs with
The Expanse and Mass Effect
What it is
humans live as captives of the Carryx, an alien empire that rules thousands of species through war, while an agent of the empire's enemy works inside its palace.
Good to know
this is book two; the series starts with The Mercy of Gods. By the authors of The Expanse.

First and Only

Dan AbnettStart with Gaunt's Ghosts, book 1 (16+ novels)

Warhammer 40,000

Pairs with
Space Marine, Dawn of War, Warhammer 40k, Doom, Sharpe
What it is
Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt leads the Tanith First, a light infantry regiment of survivors from a destroyed world, through the Sabbat Worlds crusade.
Good to know
infantry warfare, rival regiments and treachery in the command, rather than one super-soldier. See our Warhammer starter page.

Paradise-1

David WellingtonStart with Red Space, book 1

science fiction

Pairs with
Dead Space and Alien: Covenant
What it is
an exiled officer is sent to a new colony. Her ship is ambushed on the final approach, its AI is corrupted, and the colony doesn't answer.
Good to know
horror: derelict ships, a rogue AI and something wrong with the colonists. Long, and it ends on a cliffhanger.

The Genesis of Misery

Neon YangStart with book 1 of a trilogy

science fiction

Pairs with
Evangelion and Armored Core
What it is
Misery Nomaki, a cynical girl from a poor outer colony, is hailed as a prophesied messiah and pilots a holy mech in a religious war she doesn't believe in.
Good to know
mech battles share the stage with questions of faith. Book one ends just as the big reveals start.

Soulslikes and dark fantasy RPGs

Between Two Fires

Christopher BuehlmanStandalone

Pairs with
Elden Ring
What it is
Thomas, a disgraced knight wounded at Crécy, protects a girl who sees angels as they cross France during the Black Death toward Avignon. The plague is a front in Lucifer's war on Heaven.
Good to know
medieval horror. Content note: an early threat of sexual violence.

In the Shadow of Their Dying

Michael R. Fletcher and Anna Smith SparkNovella

Pairs with
Dark Souls and Berserk
What it is
Tash, the third-best available assassin in a city under siege, takes a job to kill the king, and finds a demon guarding his chambers.
Good to know
short and very gory, with dark humor in the assassin's chapters and poetic brutality in the demon's.

Empire of the Vampire

Jay KristoffStart with Empire of the Vampire, book 1

Pairs with
The Witcher 3
What it is
there has been no sunrise for twenty-seven years, and vampires are building an empire on the ruins of humanity's. Gabriel de León, the last silversaint of an order of monster hunters, is a prisoner forced to tell his story.
Good to know
horror as much as fantasy, and long: over 700 pages in paperback.

Bloodmage

Stephen AryanStart with Battlemage (Age of Darkness, book 1)

Pairs with
Dragon Age: Inquisition and The Witcher
What it is
years after a war against battlemages, a city fears magic, and bodies drained of life start turning up. A member of the Watch recruits a gifted young man to find the killer.
Good to know
book two of a trilogy and a thriller set in one city, not a war novel; start with Battlemage.

War, stealth and crime

War Song

Michael MichelPrequel to The Price of Power

Indie

Pairs with
Ryse: Son of Rome and Joe Abercrombie's The Heroes
What it is
a miner who has lost his family to an occupying empire decides how far he will go against it, in the first stirrings of a rebellion.
Good to know
a short prequel; one reviewer says it stands alone but is best read after The Price of Power.

Daughter of Crows

Mark LawrenceStart with The Academy of Kindness, book 1

Pairs with
Dishonored and John Wick
What it is
Rue, now old, is one of the few girls who survived an academy that trains them as agents of retribution. When violence reaches her door, she goes after revenge for lost friends.
Good to know
darker than Lawrence's earlier grimdark, with horror elements; past and present are interwoven.

Jade City

Fonda LeeStart with Jade City (trilogy complete)

Pairs with
Yakuza 0
What it is
rival families fight for territory and power in a modern, East Asian-inspired city where jade gives warriors their abilities.
Good to know
clan war and martial arts, not armies; family obligation drives it.

War films and series

Most of these are our own picks; each card says which.

The Thousand Names

Django WexlerStart with The Shadow Campaigns, book 1 (five books)

Pairs with
Sharpe
What it is
soldiers of Vordan on campaign in a setting inspired by Napoleonic Europe and North Africa, with something supernatural at stake.
Good to know
book one is a campaign; the revolutionary politics come later in the series.

Gunmetal Gods

Zamil AkhtarStart with Gunmetal Gods

Pairs with
Kingdom of Heaven
What it is
a conquering army meets resistance from janissaries as supernatural powers enter a religious war.
Good to know
horror and religious violence are central.

His Majesty's Dragon

Naomi NovikStart with Temeraire, book 1

Pairs with
Master and Commander
What it is
naval captain Will Laurence bonds with a dragon and joins the Aerial Corps in an alternative Napoleonic war.
Good to know
the human–dragon bond is at the center, as much as the war.
Awards
Locus Award for Best First Novel and Compton Crook Award, 2007; Hugo Award nominee.

On Basilisk Station

David WeberStart with Honor Harrington, book 1

science fiction

Pairs with
Master and Commander
What it is
Honor Harrington, a captain in the Royal Manticoran Navy, fights age-of-sail naval battles in space: broadsides, crossing the enemy's T, and plenty of politics.
Good to know
slow and detailed; one of the two reviewers bounced off it.

On Stranger Tides

Tim PowersStandalone

Pairs with
Master and Commander
What it is
a man forced into piracy is drawn into Blackbeard's supernatural schemes in the Caribbean.
Good to know
pirates and magic, not naval service.

FAQ

What books are like Halo?

Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio and House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds.

What books are like Mass Effect?

Dan Abnett's Eisenhorn, a Warhammer 40,000 trilogy, and James S. A. Corey's The Captive's War.

What books are like Dark Souls or Elden Ring?

Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman for Elden Ring, and In the Shadow of Their Dying by Michael R. Fletcher and Anna Smith Spark for Dark Souls.

Is there a book like Doom?

First and Only, the first Gaunt's Ghosts novel by Dan Abnett.

Sources

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