If you are looking for some great Mass Effect fanfiction then look no further.
Mass Effect is a science-fiction role-playing game. It is developed by Bioware and can be played on several consoles.
In the Mass Effect game, the player is Commander Shepard of the SSV Normandy.
And they need to take a recon squad across the galaxy.
This is to try and stop the enemy from taking over the galaxy.
So if you like to play and read about sci-fi games with a lot of action, then Mass Effect fanfiction might be just the thing for you.
Along with the entire trilogy of games, there is a whole world of Mass Effect fanfiction out there.
But in this post, I will be writing about some of the most popular Mass Effect fanfiction according to hits received in Archive Of Our Own.
Keep reading to find out more about some of these amazing and original stories.
1. Son of Palaven, Daughter of Earth
This story is an arranged marriage trope.
The main characters are Commander Shepard and Garrus Vakarian.
But the biggest difference is that Shepard is female in this story.
Earth has lost the First Contact War and the humans surrendered to the Turians.
To form a peaceful alliance, Commander Shepard is somewhat forced into a marriage with Garrus.
Neither of them wants this but eventually, they realize that it is the best thing to do.
All 66 chapters of this story are very popular and have over 88,000 hits so far.
Even though it isn’t a trope you see a lot in this fandom, it still is a very popular one.
2. Every One That Asketh
In this story, the reapers are defeated.
Commander Shepard and the Normandy have seemed to disappear and nobody knows what really happened.
But then the Commander shows up again, causing a lot of complications for a lot of people.
Here the Commander is also a female and on top of that, she is pregnant with Garrus’ baby.
So now not only does the Commander have to deal with the after-effects of the war, but also with the consequences of her actions.
This story is the first part of the “Every one that Asketh” series.
If you enjoyed this story be sure to take a look at the next part.
3. Variations on a Theme, with Tank and Gunfire
In this story Commander Shepard finds herself reliving some of the things she went through in the past few years.
Thus, this story features a lot of flashbacks.
Some of her memories are familiar from the games, but others are completely new.
Then the story will continue back in the present time, explaining what the Commander is going through right now.
It also shows a lot of the consequences of her previous actions.
The chapters aren’t very long, which makes them very easy to read.
Also because of the flashbacks to fights that happened in the games as well, this story will be fun to read for big fans of the games.
4. A Handful of Dust
The war is over and the Reapers are gone, but life isn’t back to normal yet.
In this story, we see the aftermath of the War.
We follow Garrus and Shepard and see what the war has done to them and how they are handling it.
And in most cases, the answer to how they are handling it is, not well.
Now they have to face even more new enemies.
The build-up in this story is very strong, just like the writing style.
The writer took a world that is familiar and turned it around into something new.
And over 48,000 people already read this story.
This story is part of a much larger series, the “Grace Shepard” series.
So be sure to check out the rest of the series.
5. Communication
This is a short story, only containing 1 chapter of 2650 words.
Apparently, there were a lot of requests for a story about this subject, so the writer took it upon themselves to write one.
Here we see another female Commander Shepard.
She is being pursued by multiple different Turians.
On the one hand, she finds it incredibly funny but on the other hand, she does not know what to do about it.
She keeps rejecting the Turians until Garrus comes along.
If you want a fast and funny read, be sure to check this one out.
6. Jaws That Bite, Claws That Catch
It has been a long time since the First contact war.
Commander Shepard still has to fight to not see all Turians as the enemy, especially Garrus Vakarian.
She finds that Garrus might be better as an ally than an enemy and slowly starts to trust him more.
This is basically another story about the female Shepard and Garrus fandom, which is very popular among Mass Effect fans.
The fans of this fanfic all agree that it is beautifully written and the characters all feel so real.
This makes for a big fanbase and even though the story has long been finished, it still gets new readers every day.
7. Marked Introductions
In this story, we follow Shepard as she discovers a mark on her arm in a foreign language.
Many people think this is the soulmate mark, and when she finds out it is in Turian she is not happy, to say the least.
As soon as she can, she signs up to join the alliance and find out for herself what the writing on her arm means.
As the writer says, this is a soulmate trope that is very popular among many fandoms.
This story contains only one chapter and 2613 words in total, making it a very short story.
But nonetheless, it is a very popular story with over 41,000 hits.
8. Territory
In this story, Shepard and Garrus are in a physical relationship.
But because Garrus is Turian and not human he has a different way of handling this relationship.
Shepard isn’t sure how to deal with this and asks for advice from the Primarch.
She then has a much better understanding of the way of the Turians and has to consider if she wants this relationship to go any further.
This is another 1 chapter story but with 2115 words it is even shorter than the previous story.
The writing style however is very pleasant and makes the story super easy to read.
It is a fun story and if you are looking for something fun and fast to read, this absolutely is a story to consider
9. My Sister
This story takes place at the end of Mass Effect 3.
Here we see more of Tali’Zorah Nar Rayya.
As Shepard is trying to deal with the Catalyst, Tali takes matters into her own hands and goes out to save Shepard.
It seems impossible to succeed, but she does it anyway.
Again, this is a 1 chapter story and only 844 words, making it the shortest story so far.
It probably is best to read it as a sort of aftermath after playing the games.
It’s something to finalize everything that has occurred so far.
The writing style is good and if you know these characters well there really isn’t any more information you will need.
10. Ghost
This is yet another story about Shepard and Garrus and the interspecies relationship between them.
They face more hardship in their relationship just because of being Human and Turian.
But also because Shepard is the Commander and Garrus, being a Turian, is basically the enemy.
There is a lot more fighting and war-like scenes in this story than in any of the previous ones.
It also feels a bit more political and goes a lot deeper into the true intentions of the original games.
All the important characters from all three of the games are present in this story, making it feel very complete.
It is part 6 in a larger series called “Commander Eliza Shepard series”.
And it is really worth your time to read all the other parts as well to make the story even more complete.
Mass Effect Fanfiction: Conclusion
I hope this article has helped you find some great Mass Effect fanfiction to read!
These 10 are just a small sample of all the amazing stories out there.
So be sure to take a look and find your own favorite among them.
And if you have questions about this topic, feel free to leave a message in the comments below!
Lastly, if you want to read more about fanfiction on this blog, then check out:
