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The Elephants' Graveyard

Lawrence M. Schoen

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Similar in premise + themes

These books are ranked using the premise + themes labels extracted for The Elephants' Graveyard. Books rank higher when they are close on every selected axis.

Premise labels used: uplifted animals, anthropomorphic elephants, communion with the dead, memory particles, exiled species, resource monopoly, precognition, prophecy, interplanetary power struggle, hidden origins

Themes labels used: racism, prejudice, bigotry, cultural bias, memory, death, identity, free will, fate vs free will, social engineering, genetic tampering, colonial exile, power and control, history, responsibility, civilization, humanity, loss, exclusion, morality of intervention, privilege

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

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Startide Rising

David Brin · 1984 · The Uplift Saga

A dolphin-crewed starship shelters on an ocean world while alien fleets hunt a discovery that could reshape galactic power.

Why this is here

Premise labels: uplifted dolphins · genetic uplift · alien pursuit · galactic hierarchy · ancient relic · water world · crew survival · indentured client species

Themes labels: sentience · evolution · genetic engineering · language · communication · racism · slavery · colonialism · ethics of uplift · identity · agency · consent · civilization · power structures · ecology · self-determination · science and society

Semantic match: ranked by premise + themes

Distance: 0.1694

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Sundiver

David Brin · 2010 · The Uplift Saga

A human-led expedition into the Sun uncovers alien life, sabotage, and a deeper mystery about humanity’s origins.

Why this is here

Premise labels: uplift · human origins · first contact · solar exploration · hidden sentience · galactic hierarchy · patron client

Themes labels: human exceptionalism · evolution · genetic engineering · species rights · identity · belonging · cultural assimilation · dependency · colonialism · politics · scientific inquiry · origins · civilization · uplift ethics · race hierarchy

Semantic match: ranked by premise + themes

Distance: 0.1717

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Seed to Harvest

Octavia E. Butler · 2007 · Patternist

Four linked Butler novels trace telepathy, mutation, and power struggles across centuries in a bleak, visionary saga.

Why this is here

Premise labels: telepathic lineage · immortal breeder · human transformation · power struggle · origin story · species change · coerced evolution · distant-future conflict

Themes labels: slavery · freedom · power · domination · resistance · identity · transformation · race · gender · class inequality · colonialism · survival · community · family · immortality · humanity · eugenics · coercion · autonomy · hierarchy · history · violence · healing · nurturing · sexuality · breeding · colonization · cultural survival · power and love

Semantic match: ranked by premise + themes

Distance: 0.1758

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Lives of the Monster Dogs

Kirsten Bakis · 1997

Elegant, intelligent monster dogs arrive in New York and a young woman helps uncover their strange, tragic history.

Why this is here

Premise labels: intelligent animals · human-like animals · created beings · scientific experiment · alienation · celebrity outsiders · refugee community · species survival

Themes labels: humanity · animality · otherness · identity · culture clash · civilization · ethics of creation · scientific hubris · mortality · exile · belonging · dehumanization · art and society · history and memory · nature vs culture · language and communication

Semantic match: ranked by premise + themes

Distance: 0.1811

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The Book of Phoenix

Nnedi Okorafor · 2015 · Who Fears Death

A genetically engineered young woman in a dystopian lab breaks free and unleashes a fiery, mythic revolt.

Why this is here

Premise labels: genetic experimentation · superhuman woman · revolt · revenge · escape from captivity · post-apocalyptic future · oppressed subjects · mythmaking

Themes labels: racism · colonialism · slavery · medical experimentation · genetic engineering · identity · freedom · revenge · oppression · humanity · ethics of science · power · storytelling · memory · mythmaking · resistance · revolution · justice · dehumanization · environmental collapse · class/citizenship

Semantic match: ranked by premise + themes

Distance: 0.1822

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Mort(e)

Robert Repino · 2015 · War with No Name

A former housecat turned war hero searches a post-human world for a lost dog friend amid ants, violence, and belief wars.

Why this is here

Premise labels: animal uprising · war against humanity · sentient animals · giant ants · search quest · lost love · human extinction · posthuman society · species conflict · uplifted animals

Themes labels: war trauma · slavery · freedom · religion · faith · belief systems · identity · love · friendship · ecology · speciesism · human nature · power · violence · morality · compassion · civilization collapse · sentience · self-determination · dominion

Semantic match: ranked by premise + themes

Distance: 0.1835

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The Constant Rabbit

Jasper Fforde · 2020

In an alternate UK, a rabbit spotter must choose sides when a rabbit family moves in next door.

Why this is here

Premise labels: anthropomorphic animals · rabbit rights · social allegory · outsider newcomer · political scapegoating · neighborhood conflict · bystander complicity · minority underclass

Themes labels: racism · xenophobia · anti-immigration · prejudice · othering · speciesism · privilege · bystander effect · complicity · segregation · assimilation · cultural integration · political hypocrisy · fascism · populism · class anxiety · community belonging · moral courage · social justice · identity

Semantic match: ranked by premise + themes

Distance: 0.1840

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The Hidden Girl and Other Stories

Ken Liu · 2020

A linked speculative-fiction collection on memory, identity, technology, and family, spanning history, futures, and the Singularity.

Why this is here

Premise labels: speculative futures · uploaded consciousness · posthumanism · family bonds · history and heritage · technology and society · alien contact · war and displacement · climate change · internet toxicity · art and AI · immigrant experience

Themes labels: identity · memory · heritage · culture clash · colonialism · empathy · humanity · embodiment · mortality · digital immortality · grief · truth and reality · technology ethics · freedom · resistance · art · social media · gun violence · climate change · refugees · war · moral ambiguity · transhumanism

Semantic match: ranked by premise + themes

Distance: 0.1845

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Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge

Mike Resnick · 2019 · Birthright

Alien archaeologists excavate Olduvai Gorge and uncover seven artifacts that reveal humanity’s rise, ruin, and legacy.

Why this is here

Premise labels: alien archaeology · posthuman future · extinct humanity · artifacts as portals · human origins · rise and fall · civilizational decline · historical vignettes

Themes labels: human nature · violence · greed · slavery · racism · environmental destruction · extinction · survival · ambition · civilization · colonialism · tribalism · moral ambiguity · memory · identity · hubris · history · evolution

Semantic match: ranked by premise + themes

Distance: 0.1854

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City

Clifford D. Simak · 2004

A future-history fix-up where dogs preserve the myths of humanity as Earth passes from humans to robots and other heirs.

Why this is here

Premise labels: human extinction · post-human future · dog civilization · robot helpers · future history · oral tradition · mythic history · species succession · civilizational decline · uplifted animals · surviving Earth · legacy of humanity

Themes labels: human nature · violence and nonviolence · civilizational decline · progress and loss · home and belonging · isolation · utopia · evolution · myth and history · ecology · post-humanity · identity · memory · purpose · transcendence · brotherhood of species · agoraphobia

Semantic match: ranked by premise + themes

Distance: 0.1862

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The National Telepathy

Roque Larraquy · 2025

In 1930s Buenos Aires, an elite project to display Indigenous people derails when a telepathic sloth enters the system.

Why this is here

Premise labels: ethnographic park · human zoo · telepathic sloth · state secrecy · power appropriation

Themes labels: colonialism · racism · white supremacy · political corruption · power · appropriation · exploitation · pseudoscience · scientism · nationalism · class privilege · civilization critique · bureaucracy · control · misogyny · globalization · environmental destruction · fetishization · gender imbalance

Semantic match: ranked by premise + themes

Distance: 0.1878

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Galactic North

Alastair Reynolds · 2007 · Revelation Space

Eight linked Revelation Space stories trace humanity’s far-future evolution, factions, and secrets across millennia.

Why this is here

Premise labels: future history · universe expansion · backstory collection · shared universe · far-future humanity · posthuman factions · spacefaring civilization · interconnected stories

Themes labels: identity · human modification · civilization · technology · war · betrayal · retribution · ethics · survival · collective consciousness · prejudice · memory · history · inevitability · humanity · extinction · class divide · power · moral complexity

Semantic match: ranked by premise + themes

Distance: 0.1898

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