On February 8, 2024, Arrowhead Game Studios released Helldivers 2, a co-op shooter that has taken the gaming world by storm. A month after its release, the game was still seeing increasing sales as more and more players signed up to battle bug-like aliens (including the creepy Gall Titans) and terrifying robot armies in relentless co-op gameplay. Developer Arrowhead Games has achieved something truly special: players from all over the world on Playstation and PC fighting together to achieve common goals. It’s no wonder more people are now searching for games and books like Helldivers 2.
The reason for Helldivers 2’s success isn’t just its satisfyingly difficult, impressively realistic gameplay and awesome weapons. It’s also the way Arrowhead is willing to push the game’s brilliant satirical tone, reminiscent of classic sci-fi films. Starship Troopers (1997), which criticizes excessive patriotism, imperialism and militarization. Helldivers are easily replaceable cogs in a relentless war machine.
Players are called into this galactic army to protect their loved ones on Super-Earth from a bile-spewing invasion. Their only job? To be a perfect soldier, die for the cause, and not question the mission. In Helldivers, you don’t play a single character, but an ever-changing line of dying soldiers whose job it is to destroy planets, farm resources, and kill, kill, kill – all in the name of “spreading managed democracy.”
I had that in mind when I put together this list of books like Helldivers. There’s relentless action and fast-paced fight scenes in these books, but there are also many necessary questions about authority. You often wonder if you’re hearing the real story or being fed endless propaganda designed to convince you that you’re dying for a good cause when in reality you’re just giving your body to a bloodthirsty empire.
Action-packed books like Helldivers 2
Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh
Kyr has trained her whole life to become the perfect soldier and avenge the destruction of planet Earth by humanity’s great alien enemy, Wisdom. But when she is transferred to the nursery of Gaea Station instead of the front lines and her brother disappears, she begins to ask herself for the first time: Is the command really honest with us and do they really have humanity’s best future in mind? This exciting, lively science fiction film is full of action, surprising twists and anti-military, anti-fascist rebellion.
The Desolation of Baal by Guy Haley
The iconic Warhammer 40k book series is one of the first things that came to mind when making this list. It’s fast-paced, action-packed, and has twists on the theme of war and authority. This volume is part of the Space Marine Conquests sub-series. In it, the Blood Angels are under threat. The Hive Fleets, vast, plague-like swarms of the insect-like Tyranids, are on their way. The Warfront has assembled 30,000 Space Marines to fight the bugs – but will it be enough?
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
In a cross between Pacific Rim And The hunger GamesMen become pilots of Chrysalises, giant robots built to protect civilization from the aliens on the other side of the Great Wall. This system relies on them to brutally exploit young women by draining their life energy. But if young Zeitan can avenge her sister and become the best pilot Huaxia has ever seen, she will have the power she needs to bring the entire system to its knees.
Forward to Our Noble Death by Shigeru Mizuki, translated by Jocelyne Allen
In this graphic novel based on true events, a Japanese infantry unit in New Guinea fights to survive and do their duty. It is a scathing account of the nonsensical bureaucracy and rules of the Japanese army. For example, when a group of soldiers are ordered to fight against impossible odds, the leaders of the bureaucracy declare them dead. When they return alive, they are not congratulated but told to find a way to die in the line of duty. Helldivers will enjoy the dark, bitterly comic mood.
Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
The cult adaptation of Heinlein’s novel is a satire…but the book itself is not. It only feels that way because the glorification of the military, martyrdom, and a society ruled by violence and the naked, brutal facts of war is so stark. In the midst of this system, a young man joins the troops, hoping to find himself along the way. The book will remind Helldivers of the game’s world of military, perpetual war, and fear. It’s philosophical, but hard to put down.
Silent City by Sarah Davis-Goff
Orpen is a banshee and is one of a group of women who fight in savage gangs against the flesh-hungry Skrake who rule most of Ireland. She always wanted to be one, but now that she is older she regrets her decision. It turns out that society is ruled by strict patriarchal rules. When Orpen begins to reveal her true feelings, she is surprised by how many banshees are on her side. The novel follows her attempts to gain her freedom and start something new through twists and struggles.
War Girls by Tochi Onyebuchi
In this dystopia inspired by the Biafran War, former child soldier Onyii is a “war girl,” a highly trained and experienced soldier on the front lines. Her younger sister Ify is an inventor. The problem? In the chaos of war, they find themselves on different sides. This book has its emotional moments, but is also full of aerial combat scenes involving robots, science and technology, and philosophical questions about what it means to be a partially synthetic or augmented human.
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
The author draws on his own experiences in the Vietnam War in this book, which is about young soldiers – including our protagonist, Private William Mandella – who are sent to fight on an alien planet far from home and experience the horrors, separation and trauma of war. It reveals the economic interests of war as well as the difficulty of returning to society afterward, which is further heightened in this book by time dilation (whereas Mandella experiences months, Earth experiences centuries).
The Water Outlaws by SL Huang
Lin Chong has always kept her head down and followed orders. As a skilled weapons instructor, she prides herself on her ability to rise in a patriarchal, strict society. But one man’s cruelty undoes everything. On the run and branded a criminal, she is adopted by a bandit gang, a group of outcasts who defend the marginalized against the harsh, unjust empire. The Bandits of Liangshan will reward readers with their martial arts-inspired combat and passionate devotion to giving citizens the justice they deserve.
Want more book recommendations? Check out our list of 20 must-read novels inspired by video games, our list of 10 great books for young gamers, or our list of eight great fantasy novels like Baldur’s Gate.
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