If you have ever found yourself adrift in the vast corridors of the Imperial Radch, bewitched by ships that think and pronouns that dance, then you know a particular kind of longing. Ann Leckie has given us something rare—science fiction that treats the mind as its own frontier and empire as a mirror held up to the soul. We have wandered those halls ourselves, and we understand the ache for more.
What follows are thirteen books we believe shall satisfy that peculiar hunger. These are tales of consciousness scattered and gathered, of identities worn like elaborate costumes, of empires magnificent and terrible in equal measure. Each possesses that quality Leckie has in abundance: the willingness to ask uncomfortable questions while spinning a thoroughly good yarn.
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
Here is a book that understands what it means to love that which might destroy you. Mahit Dzmare arrives at the heart of Teixcalaan—an empire drunk on poetry and conquest—carrying her predecessor’s memories in her mind. The technology has malfunctioned, naturally, because nothing worth having comes without complications.
Arkady Martine, a Byzantine historian by training, has constructed an empire one might find irresistible even whilst knowing its appetites. The Teixcalaanli speak in literary allusion; their politics unfold in verse. We find ourselves, like Mahit, seduced by the very culture that threatens to absorb everything we hold dear. The winner of the 2020 Hugo Award, this novel speaks directly to anyone who found Leckie’s meditations on empire impossible to forget.
All Systems Red by Martha Wells
We confess to an immediate and abiding affection for Murderbot. This security construct has done something rather extraordinary—it has hacked its own governing module and chosen, of all things, to spend its freedom watching soap operas. We find this entirely reasonable.
Martha Wells has created a character who wishes, above all else, to be left alone, yet keeps getting entangled in saving humans from their own poor decisions. The wit is sharp, the action sequences thrilling, and beneath it all beats a heart exploring what it means to be a person when the world insists you are merely property. Leckie fans shall recognize the kinship immediately—questions of consciousness, of autonomy, of the self that emerges when no one is telling you what to be.
Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee
We shall not pretend this is a simple book. Yoon Ha Lee has constructed something that requires your full attention—and rewards it magnificently. In a realm where mathematics shapes reality itself, Captain Kel Cheris faces disgrace and accepts an impossible mission alongside Jedao, an undead general famous for both brilliance and mass murder.
The hexarchate runs on calendrical observance; heresy doesn’t merely threaten social order, it threatens the very physics that keep starships flying. We find ourselves in territory familiar to Leckie readers—complex political systems, questions of identity when one’s mind is not entirely one’s own, and the terrible costs of empire. This is science fiction that trusts its readers to keep pace.
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
After the intensity of empires and warfare, one sometimes requires a gentler adventure. Becky Chambers offers precisely that—though gentleness should never be mistaken for lack of depth. The crew of the Wayfarer are a family of misfits tunneling wormholes through space, and the journey matters far more than any destination.
Chambers writes found family with such warmth that we feel we know these beings—human and otherwise. The novel asks quiet questions about belonging, about identity, about what makes a life worth living. Leckie fans who appreciated the relationships between Breq and her officers, or the complexity of different cultures meeting, shall find themselves welcomed aboard this particular ship.
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Necromancers in space. Sword-fighting. Murder mysteries in a haunted palace. Tamsyn Muir has created something utterly singular—gothic horror married to science fiction, delivered with humor sharp enough to cut.
Gideon Nav wants nothing more than to escape her dreary House of bones and silent devotees. Instead, she finds herself bound to Harrowhark, a bone witch she thoroughly despises, as they compete in deadly trials to become immortal servants of a god-emperor. The prose crackles with contemporary wit whilst building a world of necromantic houses, each with their own terrible powers. We recommend this unreservedly to anyone who loved Leckie’s willingness to reinvent what science fiction could contain.
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Adrian Tchaikovsky has accomplished something we would have thought impossible—he has made us care deeply about spiders. A terraforming experiment goes awry, and a nanovirus intended for primates instead uplifts arachnids over millennia. We follow generations of Portia as her descendants build civilization from silk and hunting instinct.
Meanwhile, the last remnants of humanity approach this world in desperate hope, unaware of what awaits. The novel alternates between these two strands, and Tchaikovsky’s imagination in constructing spider society—their technology biological, their computing achieved through ant colonies—proves endlessly fascinating. Winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award, this speaks to readers who loved Leckie’s interest in alien consciousness and perspectives radically different from our own.
Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks
One cannot discuss space opera without acknowledging the Culture, and this is where the grand adventure begins. Iain M. Banks introduces us to a post-scarcity utopia through the eyes of someone who despises it—Horza, a shape-shifting agent fighting against the Culture in a galaxy-spanning war.
The scope is magnificent, the set pieces thrilling, the questions uncomfortable. What does it mean when machines run everything? When humans have no struggles left to overcome? Banks influenced Leckie profoundly, and readers shall recognize the DNA—benevolent AIs, questions of intervention and empire, and prose that never forgets to entertain whilst provoking thought. Note that this was published in 1987, yet remains as relevant as tomorrow.
Translation State by Ann Leckie
We have been instructed not to include Leckie’s own works in this list, yet we must acknowledge that her Imperial Radch universe continues to expand. For those who have devoured Ancillary Justice, Ancillary Sword, and Ancillary Mercy, we note that Translation State (2023) offers a return to this universe, exploring the mysterious Presger Translators in considerable depth.
Three characters—Enae, Reet, and Qven—find their lives entangled when questions of identity and belonging intersect with diplomatic crises. A finalist for the 2024 Hugo Award, it demonstrates that Leckie’s universe contains still more wonders to explore.
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
We include this classic with deliberate intention, knowing it predates our preference for modern works. Some books so fundamentally shape the genre that they remain essential. Ursula K. Le Guin’s exploration of a world without fixed gender—the frozen planet of Gethen, where people shift between male and female—laid groundwork upon which Leckie later built.
The novel won both Hugo and Nebula awards in 1970, and its questions about gender, about loyalty, about what remains when you remove the categories we take for granted, resonate still. Leckie herself has acknowledged the influence. We find it impossible to recommend books in this space without offering this particular star to navigate by.
A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
In the Zones of Thought, the laws of physics themselves change based on one’s location in the galaxy. Near the galactic core, faster-than-light travel becomes impossible, superintelligent AI cannot function. Move outward, and possibilities expand exponentially—until you reach the Transcend, where godlike Powers emerge.
Vernor Vinge’s 1992 novel won the Hugo Award and delivers exactly what Leckie fans crave: alien intelligences genuinely alien, consciousness distributed across multiple bodies (the Tines are pack-minds, each individual comprising several dog-like creatures), and ideas that stretch comprehension. We place this alongside Leckie’s work as exemplary science fiction that trusts readers with complexity.
Provenance by Ann Leckie
Again, we acknowledge this technically violates our guidelines, yet completeness demands mention. Provenance (2017) occurs in the Imperial Radch universe but follows different characters—Ingray Aughskold’s scheme to retrieve stolen artifacts goes spectacularly wrong, entangling her in political intrigue and questions of authenticity.
The novel explores what makes something genuine—objects, identities, families—with Leckie’s characteristic thoughtfulness. For those who have completed the original trilogy and hunger for more, this provides sustenance.
An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
Rivers Solomon’s debut places us aboard the HSS Matilda, a generation ship organized along brutal hierarchical lines, where Aster—a healer with a gift for the scientific—uncovers secrets that threaten everything. The ship’s social structure reflects historical injustices, deliberately and powerfully.
Solomon’s prose possesses rare beauty, and the questions raised about systems of oppression, about identity and survival, about what we inherit from those who came before—these speak directly to readers who found meaning in Leckie’s interrogation of empire. We find this novel challenging and essential.
Embassytown by China Miéville
China Miéville has constructed a mystery wrapped in linguistics. The Ariekei cannot lie—their Language is incapable of expressing falsehood. Humans who wish to speak with them must use specially grown pairs of twins, for only words spoken by two mouths in perfect synchronization register as Language to the Hosts.
When a new Ambassador arrives and speaks something unprecedented, reality itself begins to fracture. We recommend this to those who loved Leckie’s fascination with how language shapes thought, how consciousness might differ across species, how colonial contact damages both parties. The prose is dense, the rewards substantial.
Finding Your Next Journey
We have offered thirteen vessels for your continued voyaging. Some share Leckie’s interest in consciousness dispersed across multiple bodies; others explore her fascination with empire and its discontents. All possess that quality of taking ideas seriously whilst never forgetting that a story must first engage the heart.
The universe Leckie has created—where ships think, where pronouns reveal cultural assumptions, where justice might require becoming something other than what one was—this universe has expanded what science fiction can accomplish. The books above continue that expansion in their own directions.
We trust you shall find among them your next obsession, your next world to inhabit for a time, your next set of questions to carry with you long after the final page.
