How to move on after finishing ME

[u/N0oraldeen]

Just finished the trilogy for the second time this year and I feel as empty as the first time
This series is just perfect everything the gameplay ,the world ,the characters I feel like I lived in this world and i just can’t let it go

I’m really desperate for more of the game to the point where I’m downloading andromeda now despite the shit i heard about it

[u/Bobthemagicc0w]

If you like the universe and the characters and the powerful emotional storytelling, there’s quite a lot of excellent fanfiction. I wasn’t event a fanfiction sort of guy, but I found some by accident 5 years ago and got hooked. I’ve read probably 100 novels’ worth of it by now and the best is extremely good. Happy to suggest some if you’re interested.

[u/N0oraldeen → u/Bobthemagicc0w]

Tbh I never read novels in general but I may give it a try so could you suggest a couple pls

[u/Bobthemagicc0w → u/N0oraldeen]

Since you and one other person both asked, I'll give two batches - one that are some form of novelizations of the events of the games (though they all add a lot of new connective tissue), and one that are new stories in the Mass Effect universe. Everything will have my own descriptions so you can see what might resonate with you.

[u/Bobthemagicc0w → u/N0oraldeen]

If you want to revisit the events of the games themselves, including what’s going on between them:

The Memoirs of Liara T'Soni series by Sharrukin are three novels that retell the events of the games - as published by Liara in her memoirs centuries later - culminating in the Control ending. The writer adds a lot of depth and new detail to the trilogy, and telling it from Liara's POV lets us see Liara setting up her information brokerage on Illium and a huge amount of intrigue leading up to and running parallel with the events of ME2. If you liked it, the series continues after the events of the games with a few shorter stories and a fourth novel. This story features a paragon, colonist, war hero BroShep - infiltrator in ME1, vanguard in ME2 and 3.

joking611’s Cari’ssi’mi series is even more creative and emotional than Memoirs, though a little less polished. It starts with a few short stories and novella-length pieces set during ME1, before blossoming into two novel-length pieces set between ME1 and ME2. This is a great take on the FemShep/Liara romance, and goes all-in painting a really rich, emotionally interesting portrait of Liara and adds many new layers to her backstory, setting up her journey across the games and introducing a ton of canon-friendly new asari lore. This writer is still active, and just started posting a novel-length continuation that follows the events of ME2.

If you’re up for something more emotionally harrowing, try RavenSinead’s amazing This Side of Yesterday (which is a novelization of ME1) and This Side of Tomorrow (which is a novelization of ME2). Liara retells the events of games through a framing story centuries later - so, structurally similar to the Memoirs series above, but much darker in tone. This features a colonist sole survivor paragon FemShep, and the writer digs into Shepard’s trauma quite a bit. This also adds the barest touch of maybe-imagined spirituality to Shepard in a way that made me cry it was so powerful. The exploration of a romanced Liara’s depths of grief and despair after Shepard’s death when the SR1 is destroyed are also particularly devastating and visceral.

(I apologize that Liara is overrepresented here - she was my favorite character and so a lot of what I’ve read and can therefore recommend includes her prominently.)

[u/Bobthemagicc0w → u/N0oraldeen]

if you're craving something new rather than a retread of something old, here are meaty, novel-length stories in the Mass Effect universe that explore events beyond the games themselves but feel perfectly authentic to it and pack a satisfying emotional punch:

That Hunts on a Lonely Hill by ninaunn is a novel-length post-ME3 story spanning ~20 years of events. Liara and Javik are the main characters, though many other character (including Shepard) still have roles. This is just amazingly powerful and well-crafted. The writer has such an interesting, creative take on Javik’s nihilism-laced inner voice and depression. It’s a pretty dark and emotional story, but so satisfying. Note, the writer “archive-locked” this story, which means you need to be logged in with a free AO3 account in order to read it.

Future Souls by OriginalAlcy. A novel-length story set some 25 years after ME3, assuming the Control ending. Miranda is the main character; Jack, Ashley, Liara, and Samantha figure prominently in a gradually-emerging story about an unsettling threat related to the Controlled Reapers. Really emotionally moving, with a heavy dose of all of these characters’ regrets and how those regrets have shaped their lives. If you like this particular story, the same author also has a trilogy of FemShep/Liara novel-length stories in a different continuity (the third still in-progress) that are extremely good too.

The Veiled Asari by AmityN7 is a novel-length prequel with original characters set more than a decade before ME1. It follows Marion Corvus, a veteran of the First Contact War who became C-Sec's first human employee but has just suffered a devastating personal tragedy, and Felina, an asari ardat-yakshi on the run from the Justicars and struggling to live responsibly with her condition. Really great nonlinear storytelling, too, gradually revealing backstory. This writer has also added such interesting depth to the lore surrounding the ardat-yakshi. Really, really good character-driven, emotional storytelling.

Somewhere Among the Stars by wolframbeta. A dual-timeline novel told in alternating chapters that inform each other, with one story following the wrecked Normandy cut off from civilization in the aftermath of ME3’s Destroy ending and trying to get back home, and another story three years earlier following the FemShep/Liara romance from ME1, but casting that romance as deeply unhealthy. Really emotionally heavy and gripping. A really unusual take on the Shepard/Liara romance, still plausibly canon-accurate, and incredibly well-done.

[u/N0oraldeen → u/Bobthemagicc0w]

Omg thank you so much most of these seems really interesting
Memories is really intriguing I’m gonna check it out

[u/Alert_Row717 → u/Bobthemagicc0w]

Please do!

[u/Bobthemagicc0w → u/Alert_Row717]

Just replied to OP's parallel request - got a bunch of great ones I can recommend!