Any Military Science Fiction

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by gbm

If you have not read them try The Sten Chronicles by Allan Cole & Chris Bunch.

bernie

Sten is up there are far as favorite series. The last couple were not quite as good, but still readable.

[hildea]

Ann Leckie, the triology starting with Ancillary Justice. There are some mysterious aliens, but they are mainly important because they beat a human military expansionist empire a thousand years ago, and they're still dealing with the aftermath and the peace terms they were forced to accept.

It definitely "shakes things up a bit". For one thing, the protagonist, Breq, is an AI who used to control a huge warship and thousands of soldier units (made from criminals and prisoners of war - waste not, want not). When the book starts the ship is dead, and she's only got only one soldier unit left.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Penforhire

Did you read John Steakley's "Armor?"

I just started Armor, and as of the first battle it appears so far to be exactly what the OP says he DOESN'T want.
Will things charge dramatically?

I see Armor recommend a lot here, but I'm two hours into the audiobook, and it's not doing much for me. I'm not sure I'm going to keep with it.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by ApK

I just started Armor, and as of the first battle it appears so far to be exactly what the OP says he DOESN'T want.
Will things charge dramatically?

I see Armor recommend a lot here, but I'm two hours into the audiobook, and it's not doing much for me. I'm not sure I'm going to keep with it.

I read Armor a while back. It seemed just ok to me, not exceptional, but some people really seem to love it. I guess it's one of those books where you either love it, or you don't. The idea behind the book was interesting to me, though. The author has a couple of books that I thought had interesting ideas, but the execute never really grabbed me.

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by hildea

Ann Leckie, the triology starting with Ancillary Justice. There are some mysterious aliens, but they are mainly important because they beat a human military expansionist empire a thousand years ago, and they're still dealing with the aftermath and the peace terms they were forced to accept.

It definitely "shakes things up a bit". For one thing, the protagonist, Breq, is an AI who used to control a huge warship and thousands of soldier units (made from criminals and prisoners of war - waste not, want not). When the book starts the ship is dead, and she's only got only one soldier unit left.

Sounds interesting!

[ARM X Author]

These do have aliens, but the structure and content of these are pretty far off the beaten path of stereotypical macho space marines and big fleet stuff. Yukikaze and Good Luck, Yukikaze by Chohei Kambayashi are pretty thought-provoking while still having interesting action scenarios. The Robotech novels by Jack McKinney (joint pseudonym of authors Brian Daley and James Luceno) are also a lot of fun. The first book in that series is called Genesis, which usually comes in an omnibus volume these days. Both of these book series have very memorable characters.

[svenlind]

Maybe Weapons of Choice: World War 2.1 could interest the OP.
I found it quite interesting.

From the blurb:

"In 2021, a quantum military experiment goes horrifically wrong. A multinational taskforce of ultra-modern warships is suddenly transported back in time to 1942… right into the path of the US naval battle group bound for Midway Atoll."

[Penforhire]

I recently read Ancillary Justice. Not an especially easy read. She puts a lot on the reader to notice and interpret. I enjoyed it but not everyone will.

I think my major complaints are throwing too many vowels into Radch names (are these guys modeled after Romans or Hawaiians, lol) and one historically important alien race name is Rrrrrr. No, I'm not kidding. Six r's.

A minor complaint is she touches on the nature of strong AI (e.g. ships and stations) without showing how it is constrained from becoming our masters (edit to add - one-time overrides are not the basis for their day to day behavior). I did like how she posits that emotions in AI are necessary to make swift decisions. That is an unusual twist that is actually the most important theme of the story.

My big question is how did a single person, Anaander Minaai, rise to control the Radch so thoroughly and permanently (three thousand years, IIRC)? Maybe later books will touch on this.

I will likely continue reading the Ancillary series.

[kyteflyer]

Try Robert Doherty/Bob Mayer (alternate names, same fellow)

[Greg Anos]

Joe Haldeman's The Forever War?

Henry Kuttner's Clash By Night

H Beam Piper's Space Viking?

How far out before it stops being a war book. . .

Mack Reynold's Joe Mauser Yarns (Starts with Mercenary From Tomorrow)

[Apache]

The Forlorn Hope by David Drake.
Apache

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

The Confederation series by Tanya Huff

I don't want to read too much about it lest I get spoiled - but will I have to contend with romance in this series?

I enjoy female protagonists immensely in sci-fi...until someone feels the need to give them a love interest.

[AnemicOak]

Not totally sure how to answer. There is a "love interest", I guess you'd call him, at a later point in the series I suppose, but it's not like the books turn into a harlequin romance or something nor does it really become the main focus of the overall story line. Did I ever feel like I was all of the sudden reading a Romance book? Nope. Torrin Kerr still kicks butts and takes names throughout.

It's just realistic and adds dimension IMO to have characters develop relationships as they grow throughout a series (in SciFi, Fantasy, Mystery, etc.), but YMMV.

[vsalvaggio]

Just wanted to second the recommendation for H. Paul Honsinger's Man of War series. Best new Military Sci-Fi series I've come across in a while.

All 3 books are available from Amazon for $1.99 each.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...eries_rw_dp_sw

[Apache]

Originally Posted by vsalvaggio

Just wanted to second the recommendation for H. Paul Honsinger's Man of War series. Best new Military Sci-Fi series I've come across in a while.

All 3 books are available from Amazon for $1.99 each.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...eries_rw_dp_sw

I agree with this. They are very good.
Apache