The Fantasy Review’s list of 10 Immersive Military Science Fiction Books.
On Silver Wings (Hayden War Cycle, #1) by Evan Currie
From the blurb:
When the Colony on Hayden’s world went black, a team was sent to investigate. It was supposed to be a training mission : skip in, find out the Casimir Transmitter had gone dead, report back and wait for resupply from the Fleet. By the time the only surviving member of the team made landfall, it was spectacularly clear that this wasn’t a training mission. Now Sgt Sorilla Aida has a job to do. She has to gather the local survivors, recon the enemy, train a militia, and take the war right to the enemy’s doorstep. Just what she trained for…
Red Rising (Red Rising Saga, #1) by Pierce Brown
From the blurb:
Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. Yet he toils willingly, trusting that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children…
Earth Strike (Star Carrier, #1) by Ian Douglas
From the blurb:
In the vein of the hit television show Battlestar Galactica comes Earth Strike—the first book in the action-packed Star Carrier science fiction series by Ian Douglas, author of the popular Inheritance, Heritage, and Legacy Trilogies and one of the most adept writers of military sf working today. Earth Strike rockets readers into a vast and deadly intergalactic battle, as humankind attempts to bring down an evil empire and establish itself as the new major power. Fans of Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers and Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War, welcome aboard the Star Carrier!
First Light (The Red, #1) by Linda Nagata
From the blurb:
There Needs To Be A War Going On Somewhere: Lieutenant James Shelley commands a high-tech squad of soldiers in a rural district within the African Sahel. They hunt insurgents each night on a harrowing patrol, guided by three simple goals: protect civilians, kill the enemy, and stay alive-because in a for-profit war manufactured by the defense industry there can be no cause worth dying for. To keep his soldiers safe, Shelley uses every high-tech asset available to him-but his best weapon is a flawless sense of imminent danger . . . as if God is with him, whispering warnings in his ear.
The Forever War (The Forever War, #1) by Joe Haldeman
From the blurb:
The Earth’s leaders have drawn a line in the interstellar sand–despite the fact that the fierce alien enemy they would oppose is inscrutable, unconquerable, and very far away. A reluctant conscript drafted into an elite Military unit, Private William Mandella has been propelled through space and time to fight in the distant thousand-year conflict; to perform his duties and do whatever it takes to survive the ordeal and return home…
Conquerors’ Pride (The Conquerors Saga, #1) by Timothy Zahn
From the blurb:
A long era of peace and prosperity in the interstellar Commonwealth has suddenly come to an end. Four alien starships of unknown origin have attacked, without provocation, an eight-ship Peacemaker task force, utterly destroying it in six savage minutes. The authorities claim there were no survivors. But Lord Stewart Cavanaugh, a former member of Parliament, has learned through back channels that one man may have survived to be captured by the aliens…
Ender’s Game (Ender’s Saga, #1) by Orson Scott Card
From the blurb:
In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race’s next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew “Ender” Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn’t make the cut―young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training…
Battle Cruiser (Lost Colonies Trilogy, #1) by B.V. Larson
From the blurb:
One starship will either save Earth or destroy her.A century ago our star erupted, destroying Earth’s wormhole network and closing off trade with her colonized planets. After being out of contact with the younger worlds for so many years, Humanity is shocked when a huge ship appears at the edge of the Solar System. Our outdated navy investigates, both curious and fearful…
Man of War (Rebellion, #1) by M.R. Forbes
From the blurb:
In the year 2280, an alien fleet attacked the Earth.Their weapons were unstoppable, their defenses unbreakable.Our technology was inferior, our militaries overwhelmed.Only one starship escaped before civilization fell.Earth was lost.It was never forgotten.Fifty-two years have passed.A message from home has been received.The time to fight for what is ours has come.Welcome to the rebellion.
Skyward (Skyward, #1) by Brandon Sanderson
From the blurb:
Spensa’s world has been under attack for decades. Now pilots are the heroes of what’s left of the human race, and becoming one has always been Spensa’s dream. Since she was a little girl, she has imagined soaring skyward and proving her bravery. But her fate is intertwined with her father’s–a pilot himself who was killed years ago when he abruptly deserted his team, leaving Spensa’s chances of attending flight school at slim to none…
