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What to read after The Peripheral?
That’s a million-dollar question. But we’ve found the answer and prepared a top-10 list of books like The Peripheral for you.
No need to dig into the depths of the Internet anymore to decide what you should read if you liked The Peripheral, so meticulously written by William Gibson, the progenitor of cyberpunk.
Liked.
Hmm…That’s perhaps not exactly the right word to describe your feelings about Gibson’s The Peripheral, a mind-blowing cyberpunk thriller.
What Drove Your Interest in Similar Novels to The Peripheral?
If you’ve already peered into our review of The Peripheral, you must have recalled why this sci-fi novel was a detonator that blew up your head with –
- Time travel between the timelines that interconnect in the story: close-to-ruination near future of the 2030s and the post-apocalyptic one, seventy-some years later;
- Dramatic turns and twists: cruel murder, kidnapping, blackmailing, and more
- Gibsonian terms;
- AI-assisted corruption and conspiracies
- Dystopian futurism
- Who’s-behind-the-crime discovery, etc.
Then, probably, you read Agency, the second novel in the trilogy. Now you’re waiting for the third part – Jackpot.
While you’re waiting, we know how to quench your hunger – The Peripheral similar books are laid out for you below.
Top 10 Books Like The Peripheral
Singularity Sky by Charles Stross
Welcome to the world of cybernetics, anti-ageing, space colonization, and the god-like AI, the Eschaton, which has created singularity and dictated existential rules.
When an alien intelligence, the Festival, disrupts the order in one of the colonies by offering prohibited technologies, a space fleet is organized to stop it.
But seems that the main duo, a cyber-engineering expert and a UN agent, have two different missions…
Will any of their plans work? Read here.
Don’t hurry to move on to other books like The Peripheral. As Singularity Sky is the first novel in the Eschaton series, your next read should be Iron Sunrise, its sequel.
The Lazarus Men by Christian Warren Freed
Would you like to have a good bite of 2273?
As humanity started its galactic life, the struggle for power became even fiercer. A secretive society, The Lazarus Men, show their horrendous, brute faces.
When Gerald LaPlant, a man from Old Earth, becomes a witness to a killing, he’s caught between two fires that can either burn or save him.
Whom should he trust?
Grab your copy of this adventurous space odyssey.
Eon by Greg Bear
A 290-km-long asteroid, the Stone, penetrates the Earth’s near-orbital space.
As the expedition explores its parts, they notice hints of a parallel universe and alternate timeline.
The Stone’s insides bear the signs of terraformation and tech advancements of the future civilization.
Then there’s the Way, a passage that hides its own secrets.
When scientific and political interests collide, there seems no way to prevent the Death, a nuclear catastrophe predicted by the Stone’s inhabitants. But what if it’s not the worst danger?
Here’s the link to this puzzling science fiction story, the first novel in the 3-book series, The Way.
Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan
What does it feel like to have your consciousness transferred to someone else’s body?
In a world 400+ years from now, “sleeving”, a process of mind transfer, enables interstellar travelling.
Once incarcerated, Takeshi Kovacs, an ex-soldier, is now “downloaded” into a “sleeve” (body). He gets a task to investigate a murder mystery.
No simple clues because it’s a detective-like cyberpunk “blockbuster” by Richard Morgan.
Check its price.
P.S.: Netflix adapted Altered Carbon for the same-name TV series.
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
“The Moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason.”
You can’t expect anything less explosive from the author, who grew up in a family of biochemists and physicists.
After the explosion and its consequences, Stephenson offers to take you on a post-apocalyptic survival quest in a space mission.
This hard sci-fi novel is crammed with elements of philosophy, robotics, space engineering, physics, and genetics.
Read Seveneves and enjoy the scientific accuracy of the author and his profound descriptions of the socio-tech changes.
The Eden Paradox by Barry Kirwan
The year is 2063, and humanity is falling into an abyss…
The Earth is boiling from heat. Military robots are no help in making the war stop.
The only hope is Eden, a paradise-like planet. Two attempts to colonize it was in vain.
Will the third one succeed if something weird is lurking over the corner?
Try to understand The Eden Paradox, an enthralling action-packed sci-fi novel that startles you with murder, conspiracies, and mysteries at the very beginning.
Arrival by Jasper T. Scott
What if the Earth were invaded by aliens?
The Kyrons “moor” their spaceships in California right in the mid of the 22nd century.
Chris Randall, an ex-military man, tries to protect his family. There seems to be no escape, as the extraterrestrial nation has prepared a grand plan for humans…
Take a different look at an alien takeover in this book by the USA Today bestselling author of over 30 sci-fi novels.
Neuromancer by William Gibson
If you need similar books to The Peripheral by William Gibson, you can’t miss out on Neuromancer, his debut cyberpunk masterpiece.
The Gibsonian universe unfolds very rapidly introducing you to Case, an ex-hacker and misfit.
He’s hired by the enigmatic Armitage to do the job in the matrix, a global network used by hackers to their benefit.
His accomplices are a femme fatale and cyborg-assassin in one bottle, a sadistic drug addict, and a digital reconstruct of an acclaimed cyber-guru.
Of course, this story wouldn’t be intricate enough without artificial intelligence playing its own game.
Not a single word more – here’s your copy.
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
Cryptonomicon is one of the books like The Peripheral, also torn between the two timelines.
In the first one, WWII is picking up steam. Lawrence Waterhouse and other cryptography and math genii deal with the decryption of the Enigma machine.
They’ve got a serious secret to hide.
In the 1990s, Lawrence’s grandson, Randy, a geeky programmer, tries to build a “data haven”.
When the storylines get interrelated, machinations and schemes of the past pop up in the future, making things too complicated.
In this semi-fictional novel, Neal Stephenson fictionalized numerous historical figures like Alan Turing, for instance.
The book is available on Amazon.
The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi
From the very title, you can feel the vibes of fatality.
The Interdependency, a galactic empire of colonies, is on the verge of a disaster.
A specific network, the Flow that enables interstellar commerce, is predicted to lead to the fatal extinction of mankind.
Can three people save others? What if others don’t believe the forecast and don’t want to be saved?
With great dialogues, the story is character-driven and well-conceived. At the same time, you get the healthiest dose of physics.
Get your portion of it here.
Similar Books to The Peripheral: Your Wrap-up
Now you can copy and save your list of the best sci-fi books like The Peripheral:
- Singularity Sky by Charles Stross
- The Lazarus Men by Christian Warren Freed
- Eon by Greg Bear
- Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan
- Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
- The Eden Paradox by Barry Kirwan
- Arrival by Jasper Scott
- Neuromancer by William Gibson
- Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
- The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi
Which of those have you added to your reading list? Or maybe have them on your list as already-read?