The Fantasy Review’s list of 10 Military Sci-Fi Books with Heart-Pounding Suspense.
Armor by John Steakley
From the blurb:
The planet is called Banshee. The air is unbreathable, the water is poisonous. It is home to the most implacable enemies that humanity, in all its interstellar expansion, has ever encountered.
Body armor has been devised for the commando forces that are to be dropped on Banshee—the culmination of ten thousand years of the armorers’ craft. A trooper in this armor is a one-man, atomic powered battle fortress. But he will have to fight a nearly endless horde of berserk, hard-shelled monsters—the fighting arm of a species which uses biological technology to design perfect, mindless war minions…
Shards of Honour (Vorkosigan Saga, #1) by Lois McMaster Bujold
From the blurb:
When Cordelia Naismith and her survey crew are attacked by a renegade group from Barrayar, she is taken prisoner by Aral Vorkosigan, commander of the Barrayan ship that has been taken over by an ambitious and ruthless crew member. Aral and Cordelia survive countless mishaps while their mutual admiration and even stronger feelings emerge…
On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington, #1) by David Weber
From the blurb:
Having made him look a fool, she’s been exiled to Basilisk Station in disgrace and set up for ruin by a superior who hates her.
Her demoralized crew blames her for their ship’s humilating posting to an out-of-the-way picket station.
The indigenous people of the system’s only habiltable planet are smoking homicide-inducing hallucinogens…
Valor’s Choice (Confederation, #1) by Tanya Huff
From the blurb:
Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr was a battle-hardened professional. So when she and her platoon were yanked from a well-deserved leave for what was supposed to be “easy” duty as the honor guard for a diplomatic mission to the non-Confederation world of the Silsviss, she was ready for anything…
Dorsai! (Childe Cycle, #1) by Gordon R. Dickson
From the blurb:
Throughout the Fourteen Worlds of humanity, no race is as feared and respected as the Dorsai. The ultimate warriors, they are known for their deadly rages, unbreakable honor, and fierce independence. No man rules the Dorsai, but their mastery of the art of war has made them the most valuable mercenaries in the known universe…
Semper Mars (Heritage Trilogy, #1) by Ian Douglas
From the blurb:
The Year is 2040.
The Marines have landed on Mars to guard the unearthed secrets of an ancient and dangerous alien race: Ourselves.
Scientists have discovered something astonishing in the subterranean ruins of a sprawling Martian city: startling evidence of an alternative history that threatens to split humanity into opposing factions and plunge the Earth into chaos and war…
Swarm (Star Force, #1) by B.V. Larson
From the blurb:
Earth arms marines with alien technology and builds its first battle fleet!
Kyle Riggs is snatched by an alien spacecraft sometime after midnight. The ship is testing everyone it catches and murdering the weak. The good news is that Kyle keeps passing tests and staying alive. The bad news is the aliens who sent this ship are the nicest ones out there….
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: his son, Commander Pheylan Cavanaugh…
The Clone Republic (Rogue Clone, #1) by Steven L. Kent
From the blurb:
Earth, 2508 A.D. Humans have spread across the six arms of the Milky Way Galaxy. The Unified Authority controls Earth’s colonies with an iron fist and a powerful military—a military made up almost entirely of clones…
Genesis (First Colony, #1) by Ken Lozito
From the blurb:
A mission gone wrong. Innocent lives have been lost.
Escaping wrongful imprisonment wasn’t something Connor had in mind, but being put into stasis aboard Earth’s first interstellar colony ship was something he couldn’t have prepared for.
For three hundred thousand colonists, the new colony brings the promise of a fresh start…a second chance. Connor might be the wrong man for the colony, but he’s the right man to see that it survives what’s coming…
