If Captain Laurent Zai’s cold-bore decision-making and the novel’s plausible physics hooked you, you’ll love how Blindsight treats first contact like a brutal lab experiment. A surgically detached observer, Siri Keeton, joins a crew led by the predatory Jukka Sarasti to interrogate a truly alien intelligence, pushing the same questions that shadow the Rix conflict: what counts as consciousness, and what survives when humanity optimizes itself for survival? It’s the same chill you felt when the Empire’s tactics met the Rix’s machine-worship—only stripped to the bone.

If Senator Nara Oxham’s floor fights, backchannel deals, and idealism colliding with an immortal throne drew you in, A Memory Called Empire will scratch that itch. Ambassador Mahit Dzmare navigates an imperial metropolis where a single whispered poem can topple ministries, and succession crises turn on coded favors—echoing the way Oxham threads policy through danger while the Immortal court plays a longer game. The stakes are personal, cultural, and imperial—just like in the Empire-versus-Rix standoff.

If the Empire’s clash with the Rix thrilled you for its ruthless momentum and galaxy-spanning stakes, Revelation Space delivers that same iron-grip propulsion. Dan Sylveste’s obsession, Ilia Volyova’s doomsday ship, and an ancient, system-scale threat collide in a cascade of discoveries—much like the way Zai’s campaign and Oxham’s statecraft spiral toward revelations about the costs of survival. It’s the same blend of vast scope, hard tech, and unforgiving choices.

If you enjoyed how The Risen Empire intercuts Zai’s command decisions with Oxham’s legislative gambits, Leviathan Wakes mirrors that rhythm through James Holden and Detective Miller. You get ship-to-ship gambles, system-wide brinkmanship, and a mystery whose revelations rewire the stakes—akin to the Rix escalation forcing both the Imperial Navy and Senate to move. The alternating POVs keep the throttle open while deepening the political fallout.

If the Empire’s deathless ruler and the Immortals’ social gravity fascinated you, Altered Carbon dives into how living forever warps justice and power. Takeshi Kovacs’s investigation into Laurens Bancroft’s "suicide" exposes a world where the wealthy resleeve indefinitely, bending law and love to their will—echoing the moral trade-offs you saw when Oxham confronts a system built to preserve an undying throne, and when Zai weighs lives against outcomes.