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The Elephants' Graveyard

Lawrence M. Schoen

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Similar in themes

These books are ranked using the themes labels extracted for The Elephants' Graveyard.

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

Focused on “evolution” where exact label matches exist.

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

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Survivor

Octavia E. Butler · 1978 · Patternist

A young woman on an alien world must navigate tribal war, colonists, and dangerous loyalties to keep her people alive.

Why this is here

Themes labels: survival · colonialism · race · caste system · colorism · slavery · free will · agency · complicity · prejudice · religious bigotry · addiction · consent · sexual violence · domestic violence · assimilation · otherness · humanity · intercultural understanding · interbreeding · freedom · power

Semantic match: ranked by themes

Distance: 0.0815

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Lilith's Brood

Octavia E. Butler · 2000 · Xenogenesis

A post-apocalyptic trilogy about humanity’s survival bargain with aliens who demand genetic and social transformation.

Why this is here

Themes labels: human nature · consent · free will · hierarchy · otherness · xenophobia · colonialism · race · gender · sexuality · reproduction · eugenics · survival · identity · community · belonging · self-determination · change · evolution · biological determinism · ethical ambiguity · family structure · power · violence · adaptation · misanthropy · hope vs bleakness

Semantic match: ranked by themes

Distance: 0.1135

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Slan

A.E. van Vogt · 1998 · Slan

A mutant orphan races to survive in a future society that hunts his kind while uncovering the truth of the Slans.

Why this is here

Themes labels: prejudice · racism · genocide · anti-war · eugenics · evolution · superiority · identity · propaganda · mob psychology · authoritarianism · cultural oppression · misinformation · survival · minority status

Semantic match: ranked by themes

Distance: 0.1155

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The Fifth Head of Cerberus

Gene Wolfe · 1999

Three linked novellas on twin colonized planets unravel identity, colonial guilt, and a vanished people.

Why this is here

Themes labels: identity · memory · colonialism · colonization · hybridity · heritage · passing · genocide · oppression · racism · slavery · genetic inheritance · nature vs nurture · selfhood · humanity · historical consciousness · truth and perception · social reality · cultural extinction · authority · imperialism · childhood · maturity · moral ambiguity · postcolonial guilt · species shame

Semantic match: ranked by themes

Distance: 0.0954

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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

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 themes

Distance: 0.1006

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In Our Stars

Jack Campbell · 2024 · The Doomed Earth

A half-alien fleet officer is hurled 40 years into Earth’s past and must stop the catastrophe she already witnessed.

Why this is here

Themes labels: xenophobia · bigotry · prejudice · racism · fascism · corruption · social collapse · civil strife · first contact · identity · humanity · duty · sacrifice · free will · time travel paradox · responsibility · equality · tolerance · allegory · social commentary · accountability

Semantic match: ranked by themes

Distance: 0.1020

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Empire of Silence

Christopher Ruocchio · 2018 · The Sun Eater

An exiled nobleman recounts how he became a legendary outcast, gladiator, and future destroyer of suns.

Why this is here

Themes labels: fate vs choice · identity · power · violence · religious control · xenophobia · colonialism · privilege · morality · humanity · history · memory · language · knowledge · survival · absolution · duty · war · imperialism · class oppression

Semantic match: ranked by themes

Distance: 0.1025

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The Dragon Masters

Jack Vance · 1962

On a remote colony world, rival human lords and a secretive mystic sect face an alien return and weaponized breeding.

Why this is here

Themes labels: slavery · free will · destiny · pacifism · war · freedom · authority · communication failure · cultural incomprehension · genetic control · moral equivalence · genocide · civilization decline · progress · predestination · human nature · social hierarchy · allegory

Semantic match: ranked by themes

Distance: 0.1052

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Iron Sunrise

Charles Stross · 2004 · Eschaton

A refugee teen and a UN agent race to uncover who destroyed a world before a retaliatory fleet wipes out another.

Why this is here

Themes labels: causality · free will · genocide · political manipulation · identity · posthumanism · overpopulation · survival · espionage · totalitarianism · eugenics · morality · technology and society · consequences · truth seeking

Semantic match: ranked by themes

Distance: 0.1067

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The Test

Sylvain Neuvel · 2019

A British citizenship test turns into a terrifying moral ordeal for an immigrant father and his family.

Why this is here

Themes labels: immigration · citizenship · belonging · racism · xenophobia · sexism · ageism · bias · prejudice · morality · ethics · free will · choice · sacrifice · humanity · dehumanization · bureaucracy · social commentary · psychological trauma · survival · good citizen · systemic injustice · identity · value of life · power

Semantic match: ranked by themes

Distance: 0.1072

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Outlaw Planet

M.R. Carey · 2025

A schoolteacher turned outlaw and a sentient gun uncover the truth behind a frontier world locked in endless war.

Why this is here

Themes labels: colonialism · imperialism · slavery · self-determination · free will · war · grief · revenge · memory · sentience · moral ambiguity · authoritarian oppression · historical cycles · eugenics · identity · displacement

Semantic match: ranked by themes

Distance: 0.1080

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Thirteen

Richard K. Morgan · 2007

A genetically engineered bounty hunter is pulled into a violent, politically charged hunt for another rogue variant.

Why this is here

Themes labels: genetic determinism · nature vs nurture · identity · humanity · prejudice · bigotry · race · gender roles · masculinity · religion · politics · social control · free will · civilization · violence · corruption · class inequality · otherness

Semantic match: ranked by themes

Distance: 0.1081

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