Ghost in the Shell (Light Novel) - Recommendations

• Vol: 5; Ch: 42
• 2009 - 2012

When a high-ranking government official is kidnapped, the Prime Minister must call in his top crime fighting force known as Section 9. Led by the beautiful (and deadly) Major Kusanagi, the cybernetically enhanced squad must use all their skill to take down the kidnappers and rescue the hostages. But that's only half of the mission; can Kusanagi and company find out who's behind the kidnapping, and, more importantly, just what they're after?

• Vol: 4
• 2013 - 2016

In the year 2024, Ernest Serano was kidnapped and ransomed; the event was known as the Laughing Man incident due to the involvement of a world-class hacker of the same name. Six years later, the police force Section 9 finds itself in the midst of a terrorist plot and conspiracy unlike anything they've ever known. The Laughing Man - with the ability to hack into even the eyes of those around him - has returned, and his motives are unclear. The Major, Batou, and the rest of Section 9 must race against the clock to determine the reason for the Laughing Man's re-emergence and unravel the twisted conspiracy of major corporations around them...

• Vol: 1; Ch: 6
• 1997 - 2001

March 6, 2035. Motoko Aramaki is a hyper-advanced cyborg, a counter-terrorist Net security expert, heading the investigative department of the giant multi-national Poseidon Industrial. Partly transcending the physical world and existing in a virtual world of networks, Motoko is a fusion of multiple entities and identities, deploying remotely controlled prosthetic humanoid surrogates around the globe to investigate a series of bizarre incidents. Meanwhile, Tamaki Tamai, a psychic detective from the Channeling Agency, has been commissioned to explore strange changes in the temporal universe brought about by two forces, one represented by the teachings of a professor named Rahampol, the other by the complex, evolving Motoko entity. What unfolds will all be in a day's work—a day that will change everything, forever.

• Vol: 3; Ch: 45
• 2004 - 2005

In the not-too-distant future of 2032, the frontier dividing humans and machines has been crossed. Crimes comitted by flesh-and-metal cyborgs are investigated by Section 9, an elite counter-terrorist squad run by Chief Aramaki and his cyborg assistant, Major Motoko Kusanagi. Section 9 has faced countless adversaries in the real world and in cyberspace, but none like 'The Awakened.' It is believed that this lethal group of terrorists can take over the minds and bodies of almost anyone. Used as tools to commit crimes against the state, the victims are unaware of who or what is controlling them. When Major Kusanagi captures one of the victims, she hacks into his cyberbrain to learn the ringleader's identity-what she discovers leads her on a journey deep into the heart of cyberspace, a journey that shakes her to the core.

• Vol: 10; Ch: 65
• 1997 - 2003

Killy is a wanderer in a vast technological wasteland known as the Megastructure. His mission is to find a human with net terminal genes to prevent the collapse of the Netsphere, a virtual realm under control of the Authority. His long, desolate journeys are punctuated by brutal encounters with silicon creatures bent on annihilating humanity; cyborgs intent on infiltrating the Netsphere; and the builders, massive machines that mindlessly add to the chaos of the Megastructure. His only protection is an incredibly powerful gun known as a gravitational beam emitter, which he never hesitates to unleash on his enemies. Will Killy be able to find net terminal genes amidst the scattered human tribes, or is the Netsphere doomed to failure?

• Vol: 2
• 2019

• Vol: 1
• 1982

In their quest for the ultimate weapon, the secret organization Talon has delved into the realms of cybernetics and mind powers – culminating in the creation of the superpowered Blue Sonnet. When Talon begins to suspect that high school student Komatsuzaki Lan has level one Esper abilities, Sonnet is sent to observe and test her; but Lan has minimal control over her abilities, and when one of her friends is hurt during Sonnet’s “test,” she flees – with Talon’s forces hot on her trail. While Lan struggles to gain control of her newfound abilities and her humanity, Sonnet finds her own humanity slowly asserting itself. Will Talon succeed in molding Lan and Sonnet into the weapons they desire?

• Vol: 5+; Ch: 78+
• 2019 - ?

Focuses on Section 9 members’ everyday activities in Japan after the disappearance of the Major. The members, of course, includes Togusa, Batou, Azuma, Ishikawa, and a new character who is recruited from the Psychic Division, Tsunagi.

• Ch: 3
• 2018

In this future, advertisements have infiltrated fashion, and young people earn lucrative amounts of money by becoming affiliates. As affiliates, people wear devices attached to clothing that advertise products. However, crimes related to this advertising trend have increased. Law, a persona program, has teamed up with Reisen, a former ad agency employee,  to investigate these crimes. An odd-couple team, Law and Reisen dive into a hi-tech world of commercialism and…murder?

• One Shot
• 2004

In a dark, dystopic future, the Church of Transfiguration was formed; their charter was to promote extreme cybernetic enhancements. However, mankind also perfected the art of immortality through genetic manipulation, and then the great ruin came. Now, the Church sends its Inquisition to track down these genetically modified beings, and the only one who is seemingly able to stand in their way is Digimortal, a deadly, violent mercenary...