If you loved how Vivian Liao gets flung into a far-future war of godlike powers and has to outmaneuver the Empress’s impossible reach, you’ll savor the ruthless, world-sized ambitions in The Stars Are Legion. Hurley delivers living starships, rival warlords, and desperate gambits that echo Vivian’s against-all-odds pushes—only here the empires are made of flesh and memory, and the betrayals cut just as deep.

In Empress of Forever, reality bends to unfathomable systems—whether it’s the Empress’s god-tier tech or Vivian’s audacious hacks. Ninefox Gambit runs on that same vibe: calendrical warfare turns math into weapons, and Captain Kel Cheris must partner with the undead tactician Shuos Jedao to crack an impossible fortress. If the Empress’s reality-distorting power thrilled you, this intricate, razor-sharp war of physics-as-faith will hit the same nerve.

Liked Vivian’s quips and the wry banter threading through apocalyptic standoffs with the Empress? All Systems Red gives you that same smart, deadpan edge via Murderbot, a security unit that would rather binge TV than save humans—until saving them becomes complicated. It’s fast, funny, and full of chaotic missions where competence, sarcasm, and reluctant heroics carry the day, much like Vivian’s improvised victories.

If the leap from Earth to the Empress’s timeless dominion thrilled you—the impossible prisons, colossal constructs, and daring breakouts—The Quantum Thief channels that same audacity. Master thief Jean le Flambeur escapes a surreal prison and careens across post-human societies, from the time-economy city of the Oubliette on Mars to the vast Sobornost. It’s heists, mind-games, and set pieces as jaw-dropping as Vivian’s run-ins with cosmic powers.

If you were drawn to Vivian Liao’s steel and the Empress’s terrifying charisma, Ancillary Justice delivers a similarly electric clash. Breq—once the AI of a starship—hunts the many-bodied ruler Anaander Mianaai, mirroring the mortal-versus-godlike confrontation you enjoyed. Rich questions of identity and power unfold alongside razor-tense confrontations, echoing the complicated loyalties and moral stakes that defined Vivian’s rebellion.