Science fiction · Similar reads
Books like A Memory Called Empire
The best books like A Memory Called Empire are Homage to Catalonia, The Left Hand of Darkness, and Stardust. A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine is about cultural assimilation and resistance, imperial power, identity and memory. If that's what drew you in, here are 12 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- Homage to Catalonia
01
George Orwell · Memoir
Homage to Catalonia is George Orwell's firsthand account of fighting in the Spanish Civil War, which he joined in late 1936 as a volunteer with the POUM militia — a Trotskyist revolutionary organization that was later suppressed by the Soviet-backed Stalinist wing of the Republican forces.
A kindred science fiction read.
Read the summary → - The Left Hand of Darkness
02
Ursula K. Le Guin · Science fiction
The Left Hand of Darkness follows Genly Ai, an envoy from a loose interstellar federation called the Ekumen, who has been sent alone to the planet Gethen — also called Winter — to persuade its nations to join.
A kindred science fiction read.
Read the summary → - Stardust
03
Neil Gaiman · Fantasy
Stardust begins with a simple bargain: young Tristran Thorn promises a girl he fancies that he will bring her a fallen star, and to find it he must cross the wall at the edge of his English village into Faerie.
A kindred science fiction read.
Read the summary → - Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
04
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Yuval Noah Harari · History
Sapiens traces the full arc of human history from the emergence of Homo sapiens in Africa roughly 70,000 years ago to the present.
A kindred science fiction read.
Read the summary → - The Player of Games
05
Iain M. Banks · Science fiction
Jernau Gurgeh is the greatest game player in the Culture — an interstellar post-scarcity civilization governed by benevolent AIs called Minds.
Both dig into complicity.
Read the summary → - Babel
06
R.F. Kuang · Historical fiction
Set in an alternate 1830s Oxford, Babel imagines a Royal Institute of Translation at the heart of the British Empire — a place where silver bars engraved with translation "match-words" generate the industrial magic that powers British supremacy.
Both dig into complicity.
Read the summary → - Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar
07
Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar
Tom Holland · History
Dynasty picks up where Rubicon ended.
Both dig into imperial power.
Read the summary → - Heart of Darkness
08
Joseph Conrad · Literary fiction
Marlow, a sailor sitting on a boat on the Thames, tells the story of a journey he made up the Congo River to find Kurtz, a brilliant company agent who has gone silent deep in the interior.
Both dig into complicity.
Read the summary → - Poverty, by America
09
Matthew Desmond · Economics
Poverty, by America is Matthew Desmond's follow-up to Evicted, and it makes a more explicit and polemical argument: poverty in the United States is not a natural condition or a problem of insufficient resources.
Both dig into complicity.
Read the summary → - Shutter Island
10
Dennis Lehane · Thriller
It is 1954, and U.S.
Both dig into identity and memory.
Read the summary → - The Sense of an Ending
11
Julian Barnes · Literary fiction
The Sense of an Ending is a short novel in two parts.
Both dig into complicity.
Read the summary → - Verity
12
Colleen Hoover · Thriller
Lowen Ashby is a struggling author hired to ghostwrite the remaining books in bestselling thriller writer Verity Crawford's series, while Verity recovers from a traumatic brain injury.
Both dig into complicity.
Read the summary →
Books like A Memory Called Empire: quick answers
What are the best books like A Memory Called Empire?
The best books like A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine are Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell, The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin, Stardust by Neil Gaiman, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with A Memory Called Empire, such as cultural assimilation and resistance, imperial power, identity and memory.
What should I read after A Memory Called Empire?
A natural next read after A Memory Called Empire is Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell. A kindred science fiction read. Other strong choices are The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin, Stardust by Neil Gaiman, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari.
What books are similar to A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine?
A Memory Called Empire centers on cultural assimilation and resistance, imperial power, identity and memory. Books with a similar feel include Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell, The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin, Stardust by Neil Gaiman, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks, Babel by R.F. Kuang — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
