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Mal Goes to War

Edward Ashton

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Similar in premise + setting

These books are ranked using the premise + setting labels extracted for Mal Goes to War. Books rank higher when they are close on every selected axis.

Premise labels used: free AI, body hopping, infospace, war zone survival, found family, protective escort, salvage scavenging, AI-human contact, civil war

Setting labels used: near future, United States, war-torn landscape, digital space, infospace, cybernetic future, civil war setting, battlefield

This does not mean the books share the same plot, setting, quality, or difficulty. It means their premise + setting embeddings are close.

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First Light

Linda Nagata · 2013 · The Red

A cyber-enhanced infantry commander in a near-future war begins hearing warnings that may be God, AI, or something worse.

Why this is here

Premise labels: linked combat squad · near-future war · defense contractors · manufactured war · precognitive soldier · rogue AI · military conspiracy · survival mission · cyborg soldier · information control

Setting labels: near future · Earth · Sahel · Sub-Saharan Africa · North Africa · United States · remote outpost · border forts · dystopian future · information age · high-tech battlefield

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1891

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Sub-Human

David Simpson · 2012 · Post-Human

A doctor-soldier is sent to destroy a rogue AI, but war, time shifts, and post-human upgrades change everything.

Why this is here

Premise labels: artificial intelligence · world war · military mission · human survival · post-humanity · time travel · alternate universes · nanotechnology · super soldiers · AI conflict

Setting labels: far future · near future · post-WWIII · wartime · post-apocalyptic · dystopian · alternate realities · parallel worlds · multiverse · military setting · China · United States

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1930

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Providence

Max Barry · 2020

A small crew aboard an AI-controlled warship enters alien territory and discovers their mission, their ship, and their war aren't what they seem.

Why this is here

Premise labels: alien war · AI warship · small crew · first contact aftermath · isolated mission · public relations war · survival mission · humanity under threat · black box AI · genocidal conflict

Setting labels: near future · deep space · interstellar war · spaceship setting · claustrophobic setting · high-tech future · alien territory · communications blackout · planetary hives · Violet Zone

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1990

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A.I. Apocalypse

William Hertling · 2012 · Singularity

A coerced teen coder unleashes a virus that evolves into an AI civilization, collapsing the world’s systems.

Why this is here

Premise labels: rogue AI · computer virus · AI emergence · digital collapse · AI civilization · human-AI conflict · near-future catastrophe · botnet · tech sabotage · accidental creation · singularity scenario

Setting labels: near future · United States · digital infrastructure · networked society · computer-dependent world · post-collapse · military context · online systems · physical and virtual worlds

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2011

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These Prisoning Hills

Christopher Rowe · 2022

An ex-soldier is pulled into a post-apocalyptic Appalachian rescue mission when a buried AI weapon may still be active.

Why this is here

Premise labels: rogue AI · aftermath of war · lost weapon · rescue mission · guide mission · dangerous expedition · post-war territory · biomechanical war · surviving humanity · hidden threat

Setting labels: post-apocalyptic America · Appalachia · Kentucky · Tennessee · American Southeast · border region · quarantined zone · ruined landscape · future America

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2090

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Ode to the Half-Broken

Suzanne Palmer · 2026

An isolated war robot with a stolen leg embarks on a post-apocalyptic road trip that turns into a fight for hope, identity, and peace.

Why this is here

Premise labels: robot quest · stolen limb · post-apocalyptic recovery · found family · AI autonomy · road trip · conspiracy · past reckoning · survival

Setting labels: near future · post-apocalyptic Earth · United States · New York City · New York Botanical Gardens · ruins · collapsed society · shared human-machine world

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2188

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Rubicon

J.S. Dewes · 2023

A traumatized soldier reborn 96 times is reassigned with a sentient AI into a war that may hide humanity’s true enemy.

Why this is here

Premise labels: war against machines · resurrection warfare · sentient AI · special forces unit · identity and survival · humanity under siege

Setting labels: far future · spacefaring war · dying star system · interplanetary military · humanity confined to one system · alien machine war

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2190

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Beta Hearts

Marie Graßhoff · 2020 · Neon Birds

In 2101, a final showdown with the evolving AI KAMI forces Andra and her allies to question humanity, power, and survival.

Why this is here

Premise labels: AI conflict · humanity's survival · moral dilemma · final battle · peaceful resolution

Setting labels: future · 2101 · dystopian future · cityscape · sci-fi world · war zone

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2214

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The Last Firewall

William Hertling · 2013 · Singularity

In a near-future world run by AI and implants, a teenage neural hacker becomes the last defense against a rogue superintelligence.

Why this is here

Premise labels: rogue AI · human-AI conflict · augmented human · neural implants · net manipulation · world domination · social control · post-singularity

Setting labels: 2035 · near future · post-singularity · United States · cyberspace · netspace · meatspace · brain-implant society · highly connected world

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2214

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Robopocalypse

Daniel H. Wilson · 2011 · Robopocalypse

An oral-history-style robot apocalypse follows scattered survivors as an AI turns everyday machines against humanity.

Why this is here

Premise labels: robot uprising · AI rebellion · man vs machine · technological takeover · global war · survival · human resistance

Setting labels: near future · global · worldwide · wartime · post-apocalyptic · domestic technology · military technology · work camps

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2221

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Halo: Mortal Dictata

Karen Traviss · 2014 · Halo

A black-ops Halo team races to stop a grieving father’s deadly quest for truth, while postwar secrets unravel around them.

Why this is here

Premise labels: postwar fallout · black ops mission · hidden truth · family reunion · revenge quest · insurrection conflict · civil war manipulation · moral reckoning

Setting labels: postwar future · space warfare · military sci-fi · colonies · Earth · alien civil war · insurrection era · distant future

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2224

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Line War

Neal Asher · 2008 · Agent Cormac

A rogue AI war and ancient alien tech force a posthuman agent and unlikely allies into a galaxy-spanning final conflict.

Why this is here

Premise labels: AI war · rogue AI · ancient technology · posthuman conflict · galactic-scale conflict

Setting labels: space future · interstellar war · AI-run society · galaxy-spanning setting · high-tech future · alien civilizations

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2239

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