Military Sci-fi books......

[AngelGrinder]

So....basically...I'm a big nerd when it comes to reading! But I don't care, so, I want peoples recommendations for books or series in this genre....

I've just finished the latest book from the Clone Alliance series and have enjoyed it so far.

I've also read the Orphanage books, the lost fleet series and a few others....so who's read similar, or I'm willing to branch to others! I generally enjoy books that involve aliens (fighting them, or first contact etc) so these are preferable! Anyone got any recommendations, or just want to be geeky and discuss other books of this kind?
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[Mister James]

I found both the Orphange and Lost Fleet series a bit childish and predictable - the former was more interesting, I got bored and declined to buy the last couple of LF novels.

Neal Asher isn't exactly military sci-fi, but his Polity series is superlative, and has plenty of military/space naval action in it, without being another carbon copy of Forever War.

If you like Warhammer, the Gaunt's Ghosts series by Dan Abnett is classic military sci-fi with a gothic 40k twist - all of them are well worth a read.
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[Itchy]

Armor by John Steakley is like starship troopers (book) but less talking more fighting and psychological aftermath in robotic battle fighting suits.

Old Man's War John Scalzi, which is a book about interstellar war and genetics instead of robot battle fighting suits

The Forever War Which I read about 1/3 of before somebody borrowed it and never gave it back.

The moon is a harsh mistress Sci fi but rather political rational anarchist, the earth/moon war occupies only about 20% of the end of the book
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[Fawbish]

[bazza]

The Dorsai/Childe series by Gordon R Dickson.
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[AngelGrinder]

Agreed with lost fleet Mister James...I enjoyed the way the space battles happened...with all the time delays, light delays and the complications of fighting in space with ridiculous distances and speed involved...but there was not nearly enough for 6 books of stuff! And the aliens hinted at for 5 and 4/3's of the books where a huuuuge disappointment.

Orphanage's first book I really enjoyed...went a bit downhill after that!
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[Mister James]

Fawbish - he's an excellent writer, and a top bloke to boot. I swap the occasional email with him after we got into a debate on his Facebook page about the election. It helps that most 40k novels are utter pap written for kids by mongs - I should know, I foolishly buy most of them despite knowing I'll be disappointed.

Angelgrinder - agreed on both series.

I really can't recommend Neal Asher enough.
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[AngelGrinder]

I may have a look at the warhammers ones...does it help to know much backstory? I havnt been into it in years. Any book in particular you'd recommend?

Also, has anyone read the 'helfort's war' series?

And as mentioned I'm reading the 'clone alliance' series and would reccommend it highly...it's very unpredictable, each boll is very different, not the cleverest book by any means, but I'm enjoying it!
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[Dr. DaveJPS]

not 40K i know but the C.L Werner warhammer books (like the Witchhunter series) are good
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[Fawbish]

[yen_powell]

Consider Phlebas by Iain M Banks and then the rest of the Culture novels. Makes your head hurt with some of the fanatastic stuff in them.
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[Mister James]

I did consider mentioning the Culture novels, but you couldn't call them military sci-fi. Excellently written - and as you say, full of seriously BIG concepts.

Helfort's War and the sequels are readable; but again, I find them a little childish and 1-dimensional. The bad guys are pantomime villains, the lead character is effortlessly awesome and the technology is pretty simplistic.
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[panrider_uk]

[Hazylogic]

You don't need any backstory. All you need to know is that in the future there is only war!

During the summer I tend to read 40k/starwars as it's easy enough to get along with after spending the rest of the year doing critical theory on medieval poetry...

One that is non stop 40k is the ultramarine Omnibus by Graham McNeill. It took me a long time to complete, as I needed to read it in short spurts; as it is non stop 'for the emperor!'

I also enjoyed the Eisenhorn trilogy by Dan Abnett. A rather somber take on being in the inquisition. It could of been written in the early 19c - Quality stuff.

There is also another W40k book, rather aptly entitled 'let the galaxy burn.' It's chock full of short stories, all which showcase the futile nature of war in their universe. It harbours plenty of different perspectives too: my favourite was set on an agricultural planet and the Tyranids arrive.

Mechanicum by Graham Mcneill. I think this is book 7 or 8, but you don't need to read them in order. I found McNeill provides a lot of detail, Yet his descriptions seem to flow, and only help in imagining the battles being fought on Mars.

The first three books in the Horus Heresy are okay too; purely to see how the galaxy became the way it is - superstitious rather than rational - which is not the way the Emperor intended it to be. It all just crumbles around him.

I do enjoy the 40k universe and some of the authors do try and show that it isn't so black and white. However, there is a lot of shit being wrote for it, which they just seem to churn out. But, if you get the likes of McNeill and Abnett, then they can capture your attention, and place it in the universe with relative ease; so you don't end up looking for the gaping holes in the story or plot, which some of the authors are unable to do.

I want to be a dreadnought and live 1000 years.

[damz]

im currently reading the "Horus Heresy" series from black library, pretty good so far, nearly on the 5th book of the serieis.

linkage

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horus_Heresy_%28novels%29
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[Hazylogic]

[Dr. DaveJPS]

[Fawbish]

[nowhere.elysium]

Ender's game - it's a bit on the naive side, but the universe that Orson Scott Card generates is oddly compelling.

Scratch Monkey and Glasshouse by Charles Stross - both rather good, post-singularity material. Worth a glance, and if you enjoy them, try Accelerando by the same guy. It's my favourite book at the moment.

Of course, there's Starship Troopers, which is legendarily good, but not too fussed with the futurist element - it's more about the experiences of a soldier, than about a protracted campaign.
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[Fawbish]

[Mister James]

[Fawbish]

Mechanicum was mint, but I think the best of the series so far has been A Thousand Sons - well written, well paced, steeped in just enough history. Though, personally would prefer it if some of these books have the cahunas to start writing actual communication between the Emperor and his proteges. Not in your face stuff, I love the whole Emperor is incomprehensively powerful angle - just a bit more.

Another would be Fulgrim and Legion. My three favourites I think - the first 5 are great but I'm not super keen on a series thats linked via different authors, doesnt flow as smooth imo.
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[Hazylogic]

[Hazylogic]

[Serendipity]

I read all the original GW books when they were published in the early 90’s including the Dark Future, Warhammer and W40K ones. I’ve not read any of the more recent ones, but I liked the originals a lot so I’ll look into it.

My favourite series of sci-fi novels are all pretty much out of print these days, but you can still pick them up from Amazon second-hand and doubtless they will appear as digital books eventually.

Author: Julian May

The Saga of the Exiles comprises four books:

The Many-Coloured Land
The Golden Torc
The Nonborn King
The Adversary

Gifted old French dude invents a time gate in 22nd century France that opens a door to the same location six million years in the past. Unfortunately it’s a one way trip as anything that comes back through the portal ages six million years in an instant. Gradually a business builds sending misfits and nutters through the time gate. No one knows what happens on the other side and thousands of people choose to go through over several decades.

The story starts with a small group of travellers going through to discover that Earth of six million years ago is occupied by two alien races locked in a never ending war with all the humans who’ve come through the gate effectively getting enslaved. Lots of fighting, both high and low tech and superhuman mind powers play a large part in all the books.

The story loosely continues with four further books, set on Earth and various other planets, which tell the story of the family of one of the main characters from the 1940s through to 22nd century. These books are:

Intervention (the US version was in two parts, but UK was one volume.)
Jack the Bodiless
Diamond Mask
Magnificat

Not particularly high-brow stuff, but I found it emotionally involving and highly entertaining.
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