Anyone else a fan? I love David Weber in all his various guises.

Message edited by its author, Oct 31, 2006, 6:32pm.

Not really, read a few of those, then got sick of it (same with Elizabeth Moon). Are there other recommendations?

Generally, for that sort of thing I prefer to pick up the occasional thriller, or technothriller, or whatever you want to call them.

Matthew Reilly,Patrick Robinson,Dale Brown, etc. Not that those don't have the odd SF element, or future setting, just no fleets of spaceships.

What about Old Man's War? I haven't read it yet, but it keeps popping up in my recommendations.

I'd recommend that one, certainly.

HUGE David Weber fan. Love his Honor Harrington series. (Huh, weird, the touchstone pulled up a boardgame I didn't realize existed.)

Something I might add to my like to read list is Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica books. Want to read Babylon 5 books, just never seem to find them.

Message edited by its author, Dec 27, 2006, 10:23am.

Love Honor Harrington since I love Horation Hornblower and Captain Jack Aubrey/Dr. Stephen Mauterin...I will assume you are acquainted with those although they are historical not sci fi.

I also really like the Prince Roger eries by Dave Weber and John Ringo; as well as Dave's Insurrection, Crusade, et al series.

They're hard to find these days, being long out of print, but the "Commodore John Grimes" series by A. Bertram Chandler, beginning with The Road to the Rim, is another satisfying attempt to translate a Horatio Hornblower style story into SF. Chandler was, if memory serves, an officer in the Australian navy and/or merchant marine for many years.

On the ground-combat side of things . . . I've enjoyed Jerry Pournelle's "John Christian Falkenberg" stories, (The Mercenary, West of Honor, and perhaps others by now), and Joel Rosenberg's Not for Glory recently picked up Gordon Dickson's The Tactics of Mistake, but haven't started it.

Our book group really liked Old Man's War. Another fairly new space-military author is Walter Hunt, starting with Dark Wing

The Dorsai series, I have read those.

I really like the Honor Harrington series. Another good one is the Hammer's Slammers series by David Drake, though a lot of Drake's other military SF isn't to my taste.

Stupid question, maybe, because I don't read military SF (although I've read Elizabeth Moon's books). If military SF the equivalent of space opera? If not, what's the difference?

No Military SF is not the same as space opera. There is a focus on command structure heirarchy and technology is MilSF. in space opera the focus is on adventure pure and simple.

I don't think you can go past John Ringo's Aldenata Series if you're into military sci-fi.

Did anyone else like the "Prince Roger" series by David Weber and John Ringo? I loved that set of books and the underlying premise about "primitive" cultures.

What I like about military Sci Fi is:

1) The speculations about future technologies
2) The respect paid to the military, their training and what they can do with it
3) The battle strategies, tactics, and logistics
4) The commoradory
5) The different ways the future and space are envisioned, even by the same author

This last is very interesting to me; I love a lot of David Weber's books because he comes at the future from different angles depending on how we conquer the distance question. That is, how do we navigate and bridge the vast distances in space in a timely fashion.

I think one of his most successful series is one of his lesser known (I could be wrong--not the first time LOL) which includes Crusade, Insurrection, and The Shiva Option.

I would be interested in knowing why you like military Sci Fi.

Which was the Prince Roger series? I don't recognize it.

Did read through Apocalypse Troll which is a different feel for Weber than Harrington. Some military but not as much as some of his other writings.

Prince Roger series march upcountry, March to the sea, march to the stars There may be others. there are Free downloads of I think all three if you search.

Yes, I love military science fiction. What do you mean "in all his various guises"? Are there books I haven't read but would enjoy because Weber wrote them under another name? And I've also read Reilly, Robinson, Brown (as mentioned in #2) . . . looking at the touchstones, I've read all but six of the authors (though I have books by two of those six, not yet read).

Old Man's War was ok, but I haven't been able to get myself to try the sequel yet.

Hopefully this doesn't violate any TOS: http://www.baen.com/library/ - free books from the publisher. Includes March Upcountry, and numerous other David Weber books.

haylan: Why military science fiction?: Your five reasons roughly correspond to my reasons for reading this genre.

Prince Roger: also known as Empire of Man (by David Weber and John Ringo):
1) March Upcountry
2) March to the Sea
3) March to the Stars
4) We Few

Message edited by its author, Dec 28, 2006, 11:49am.

The battle strategies, tactics, and logistics
I Usually view this with the deepest suspicion , and often make a point not to visualise it.
I remember at one point in the Honor Harrington Series the two sides resumed the war because they were equally matched I could think of no better reason not to resume.

The respect paid to the military, their training and what they can do with it


Can be very po-faced at times again see Honor Harrington.

The camaradrie

Works better if they are not Po-faced see Traviss and Huff for a bit more realism.

Message edited by its author, Dec 28, 2006, 1:35pm.

Star Trek, Star Wars, and Battlestar Galactica are all better as tv shows/movies than books. As for military sci-fi, the book of Starship Troopers is pretty good. Personally, I'm a fan of Ender's Game as well. While not strictly part of this sub-genre, it is great sci-fi, and could easily be considered military sci-fi, as it deals with a boot-camp like situation and military-esque stuff.

I included Ender's Game in my verison of the Military SF tag.

I've never read a Battlestar Galactica book, though I own two. Depending on the author, a Star Trek or a Star Wars book can sometimes be better than a specific tv episode or movie. Stargate is a much better tv series/movie than it is a book (at least the few Stargate books I've read). On the other hand (for Stargate; Also (for the other two), I like reading, and there are only so many episodes/movies made in these particular universes (Star Trek/Star Wars, etc.), so I enjoy an occasional dip into those universes through new stories found in books not yet read.

Message edited by its author, Dec 28, 2006, 1:39pm.

David Feinteuch opinion of the other media in the audience questions part of this. matches my own.

Message edited by its author, Dec 28, 2006, 1:42pm.

And what was his opinion? Oh, I see, I asked too quickly, you have now provided a link.

And now I'm back to wondering what his opinion is on this subject, as I cannot listen to things on this computer.

I have some of his books, but I not yet read David Feintuch.

Message edited by its author, Dec 28, 2006, 1:44pm.

That they don't compare.

Ah, ok. Thanks. I have rarely thought of comparing different media. I like or dislike something because of the media it is in, not because it is a Star Trek book or a Star Trek TV episode (well that's confusing - I compare books to books, TV episodes to TV episodes).

On the other hand: I think that movies based on books tend to be "better" than movies based on thin air (whether I've read the book or not). And I think the television series based on the movie Stargate was/is a better adaptation of the story-line than the book series that appeared between the movie and the TV series. The book series was "better" at following through the implications of the "last alien" premise and was an interesting story-line, but the TV series just seemed better. I thought about the different media in the Stargate case because the TV series and the book series (the one by Bill McCay) went in different directions in adapting the movie into a new "thing."

Message edited by its author, Dec 28, 2006, 1:55pm.

The excellent sci-fi book, Hyperion by Dan Simmons has some great depictions of military structure interwoven with great storytelling.

--JA

Thank you quinaquisset, I have put Hunt's first book on hold at the library. Thank-you andersoj, I have put Hyperion on hold at the library. I have a book by Dan Simmons, but I have not yet read anything by him.

Feintuch didn't really sit well with me. The stuff was dry and boring.

Military SF authors to sample (attempting to only include authors not previous mentioned in this thread):

John Birmingham - Science Fiction (science experiment sends "modern" ~2020 naval ships back to WWII) and Alternate History - WWII
Eric Flint - SF, alternate history, and alt Historical Fiction (alternate history set in the past, as opposed as to alternate history set in modern or future times ('Future alternate history" sounds odd, but involves some change in say 1920, but the book takes place in 2020) Rivers of War series
W. Michael Gear - Starstrike
John G. Hemry - Paul Sinclair series
Larry Niven & Steven Barnes - The Descent of Anansi
John Ringo - Legacy of Aldenata, Council Wars
Harry Turtledove - The alien invasion one (Worldwar and Colonization), Krispos series (at least the one I read, there are more than one) are SF, and if you include Alt History in SF then the rest of the series come in Great War Multi-Series, Days of Infamy series (except for Time of Troubles, which is Fantasy)
Timothy Zahn - Cobra series, Conquerors Saga

If you like Battletech, there are numerous authors out there.

All those "near future" military books could technically come in under Science Fiction, but are not normally considered Science Fiction (books by Dale Brown, Stephen Coonts, and the like; books take place in the future (near future, by as little as an hour, as much as 30+ years (Ralph Peters The War in 2020), and contemplate what might happen if say Iran and the USA were to fight a war).

Message edited by its author, Dec 29, 2006, 12:57pm.

I like some military SF, but not everything.

I enjoyed Weber and Ringo's Prince Roger series, but glazed over and couldn't force myself to continue Honor Harrington after book 4 or so. And it was a struggle up to then. Too much concentration on the battles, and the space vectors, and massive damage and kills, and everyone just keeps going on. Also his writing about the political issues was just boring.

I liked Feintuch and thought some of his had really good black humor.

Karen Traviss has a wonderful new series that also has really good aliens.

Haven't read Huff's series yet, though I just got the last book recently. I like her fantasy.

I like Eric Flint, because he also has humor, though he too gets bogged down in the fighting.

S.M. Stirling is similar to Flint except he lacks the humor and is even more devoted to battle. The last book in the Nantucket Trilogy was just one long battle.

Harry Turtledove has a boring writing style and I don't really care for it, so I have avoided most of his books.

A lot of C.J. Cherryh's books can be considered military SF, but they are never about the battles,but about the people and their society and the choices they make and the consequences of those actions.

Karin Lowachee has a series that starts with Warchild and is very good and strongly influenced by Cherryh.

I'm somewhat surprised that Joe Haldeman has not been mentioned here.

Mindbridge
The Forever War
Forever Peace
Forever Free

Message edited by its author, Jan 1, 2007, 12:36am.

Joe Haldeman's books are a different case, I suppose, being explicitly anti-war, rather than the military-geek type stuff which is mentioned above?

Certainly should be mentioned though.

Has anyone read John Steakley's Armor? I read it back in high school and at the time I thought it was an incredible read. I would put it in the Military Sci -Fi myself.

I liked Old Man's War a great deal, but that's something of an exception in the military SF field. In general, I'd rather read straight-up military history; though there are always exceptions. I'm also fond of John Birmingham's alternate history thrillers, to note one.

I have read a lot of David Webers book and have enjoyed most of them Path of the Fury is the best in my opinion.
The only problem I have is that he repeat himself a lot, I have the feeling that i am reading the same sentence again and again.
It is still good but most would be better if a few pages where cut out.

Another good series is by Susan R. Matthews. It is called Jurisdiction and the books in the series are :

An Exchange of Hostages
Prisoner of Conscience
Hour of Judgment
Angel of Destruction
The Devil and Deep Space
Warring States

I hae not read Path of the Fury but I have read In fury Born Which seems to be the same plus back story. I must say i assummed that the Mil SF was the back story. and Path of Fury pure Space Opera

I read the original, 1992 Path of Fury, but did not read In Fury Born. Judging by how wordy Weber can get, and the fact that I have already read and liked Path of Fury, I doubt that I will ever read the expanded In Fury Born.

Note: As mentioned, I didn't read the new version, so can't say what was added. Judging from the review on Amazon, and your, SimonW11's, review here on LibraryThing, I'd say that the new stuff was the Alicia DeVries backstory (the first book, or I should say, the Path of Fury book, started after the death of certain people close to DeVries (don't want to give everything away, though the Path of Fury book jacket itself let's you know what I'm referring to). As one Amazon reviewer noted (and one LibraryThing reviewer, for that matter, over on the Path of Fury book page), In Fury Born is a prequel +. The confusion, on my end, is if Path of Fury story is included, and if so, if more is added after the Path of Fury storyline is picked up in the newer expanded In Fury Born book.

Mil SF vs. pure Space Opera. I assume that people have different definitions of everything, but I included Path of Fury in Military Fiction because it involved military personnel (ex, and/or otherwise). Just like I include Brian Haig's Sean Drummond books in Military Fiction, even though, for the most part, no active warfare is involved (Drummond is a JAG lawyer); or why I include Martin Limon's Korean military police series in Military Fiction, even though, again, no active warfare is involved. Getting back to SF - the Paul Sinclair series, by John G. Hemry, also involves a legal officer, but in space (this time, though, there is some actual fighting involved, in addition to the legal activities of Sinclair).

The boundary at which military SF become space opera can certainly be a hard distinction to make. I suppose that much of the distinction falls on whether the story in question would make as much sense set in a historical military setting or whether it's a story that could only take place in a future setting. My problem tends to be with SF military procedural pot-boilers. Then again, any good idea can be reduced to a pot-boiler when the author goes back to the well too often and the readership rewards them accordingly.

I might also make note that Richard Morgan's Broken Angels has as much tactical military action and procedural detail as any fan could want. This is though he's really writing an advanced form of cyberpunk, with that subgenra's emphasis on the caper. Not to mention that Morgan's mercenaries commit more atrocities before breakfast than most people do all day; not for the squimish.

Rather unscientifically, I tend to seperate military SF and space opera by the tone of the book. Frankly, if the phrase "unimaginable energies" is used more than two or three times in a book, I'm likely to put it in my space opera category. :-)

To circle back to the David Weber books, I consider The Apocalypse Troll to be space opera while I put the Honor Harrington series into military SF. Thinking about it some more, despite the death and destruction tossed around by the typical space opera book there's a sense of almost fun in the writing. On the other hand, military SF can be downright grim and serious.

re msg 27: Again, thanks for mentioning Hunt. I finished his first book a while back and forgot to offer my thanks again. Unfortunately, I've read a book since reading The Dark Wing, so all I can say now is that I liked it well enough to put the next Dark Wing book on my to-read list (though, I'm not sure I want to continue following this particular series path).

If you like military sci-fi, you have absolutely gotta read the Belisarius series.

The first book, An Oblique Approach, is available for free as a loss leader ebook from the publisher's Free Library. You'll end up buying them all.

FicusFan wrote:
"A lot of C.J. Cherryh's books can be considered military SF, but they are never about the battles,but about the people and their society and the choices they make and the consequences of those actions.

Karin Lowachee has a series that starts with Warchild and is very good and strongly influenced by Cherryh."

As a longtime fan of C. J. Cherryh, and especially because of that personal side to the politics and military stories I might have to try and find something by Karin Lowachee . . has anyone got any suggestions of a good one to try?

A Boy and His Tank is kind of a different take on this. I'd also recommend andy of the John Ringo books!

That book (Armour) is one of my all time favorites. Too bad he didn't write more.

I've got some by Jr., L. E. Modesitt that are definitely must-reads:
The Parafaith War
The Ethos Effect (semi-linked sequel to above)

Though many of his sci-fi titles have excellent descriptions of what ship-to-ship space combat would really be like, these two are particularly effective at it. As well, Gravity Dreams has an excellent take on an advanced peaceful society's pseudo-military system of public service repayments and credit stockpiling.

Star Wars Republic commando Triple zero is pretty good too.

Alan Dean Foster - The Spoils of War part of The Damned series. A good Humans Vs Aliens war.

I might recommend Harrie Irving Hancock for his bizarre alternate-World War One series of novels that he wrote for boys. He wrote it while WWI was happening, but it depicts different events, like the invasion of the U.S. He was very popular and must have had a lot of influence on Golden Age writers who grew up with the books.

Message edited by its author, May 1, 2007, 1:34am.

Do the Retief series by Keith Laumer and Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card count as military?

~~EK

I count Ender's Game as military because it involves the military training (among other things). I do not know about the rest of the series as I only read the first (Ender's Game), and I do not know the Retief Series.

David Drake and S.M. Stirling "General" series. Five books (The Forge, The Hammer, The Anvil, The Steel, The Sword). Loosely based on Belasarius's campaigns in the Mediterranean for the Byzantines, although only very loosely. There were some subsequent books based on the same universe, one called "The Chosen" and one called, I think, "The Reformer". Varying quality, but an interesting premise.

S.M. Stirling "Drakon" series. Very, very bleak.

Gordon R. Dickson's "Dorsai" series. Dickson may be the real inventor of modern Military SciFi, despite Heinlein's Starship Troopers.

David Drakes "Hammer's Slammers" series.

William R. Forstchen's "Lost Regiment" Series. Civil War regiment transferred to another world where terrible things are happening.

Poul Anderson's "High Crusade" barely qualifies, but it is a classic. Likewise, his "Flandry" series, which is quite good, for old stuff, although more espionage than military.

Ian M. Banks' "Culture" books all have military elements, especially "Excession", although, like Anderson's Flandry, they shade more into espionage. Also, he has all those wonderful names for the Culture's ships.

Jack Campbell is a fairly new author that has a good military sci-fi series. I've only read the first book, but so far seems good. But I do agree with the OP about David Weber. He is my fave military sci-fi author. I really enjoy his Honor Harrington series, but my absolute fave books of his is In Death Ground and The Shiva Option. Great military sci-fi/alien invasion story. The battle scenes, they're amazing.

I second (third) John Scalzi's Old Man's War (and his follow-ups The Ghost Brigades & The Last Colony).

Reading this thread, I was reminded of an excellent military SF book I read about 5 years ago titled The Last World War by Dayton Ward, has anybody else read it?

Also, I suggest Ian Douglas' Legacy Triology.

I'll second, third (and more) the recommendations for Armor, and Path of the Fury; I've read them both several times over the years. Most of the early David Weber stuff, written alone or with others, is good, but I can't say I care much for the recent Honor Harrington books. Basically, when everyone gets a tree cat, it's time to stop reading that series. David Feintuch is also really good, in my opinion, but be warned, his writing is pretty gritty.

#7 ABVR wrote: "They're hard to find these days, being long out of print, but the "Commodore John Grimes" series by A. Bertram Chandler, beginning with The Road to the Rim, is another satisfying attempt to translate a Horatio Hornblower style story into SF. Chandler was, if memory serves, an officer in the Australian navy and/or merchant marine for many years." I haven't read them yet (and just discovered I shelved them under Grimes instead of Chandler, which is going to be a pain to move given the overcrowded state of my shelves), but just a few months ago I picked up all the John Grimes books in six hardcover volumes from the Science Fiction Book Club, so just join up and wait for their inevitable "buy 1 get 1 free" offer, or something similar, which is what I did.

A good series with some military aspects is the Liaden Universe by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. I also read and enjoyed R.M. Meluch's book The Myriad (Tour of the Merrimack #1); it was quite a bit better than I expected.

I just read the first few pages of Mike Resnick's Starship: Mutiny, which I've had on my shelf for more than a year. There's hardly ever been anything written by Resnick that I've failed to enjoy, and I quite enjoyed those first few pages enough to stop here and go read it, so...later y'all.

Oh, yeah, one final thing. John G. Hemry's been mentioned a couple of times and Jack Campbell was mentioned at #52. They are one and the same author, so beware. I personally didn't like the first Hemry book (in the Universal Law series) much as I found the character interaction and dialogue to be unrealistic. I'd already bought the Campbell books before finding out he's really Hemry (I hate that). Anyway, FYI, your mileage may vary, etc.

Message edited by its author, Jun 23, 2007, 9:12pm.

This is one of the finest "sci-fi" military books around. Take Starship troopers and put some real thinking into it and you have Armor. Sadly, this is his only real book, other than a piece of crap vampire thing, but this is a great one-hit wonder.

I highly recommend it. It is also back in print.

2-2 To what book are your referring?

haylan,

2-2dragoon is referring to Armor by John Steakley. His other book, the "piece of crap vampire thing" is Vampire$, which was turned into a movie called John Carpenter's Vampire$, or something like that, starring James Woods. The movie was fairly bad but the book isn't as horrible as 2-2 makes it out to be. However, Armor is the book to read. According to a fan site here http://www.johnsteakley.com/, Steakley has been working on a follow-up to Armor for at least a couple of years now. Who knows when/if he'll finish it?

What about Harry Harrison's "Bill, the Galactic Hero?" An extremely funny satire on Military SF.

I recommend Richard Fawkes. He's written two good military sf novels. I've tried most of the others, but gave up after a couple of books - David Weber, Jack Campbell, Walter H. Hunt, Elizabeth Moon...

Message edited by its author, Dec 14, 2007, 11:12am.

I suspect The Forever War by Joe Haldeman will always be the ultimate military sci-fi book for me. I've read some of the other "classic" military SF books, such as Armor, Starship Troopers, and Ender's Game, and liked different things about each of them, but for me, The Forever War has everything and then some.

(Someone mentioned that The Forever War is "anti-war" and therefore perhaps not like other military sci-fi, but I disagree. It did still have lots about military strategy and command heirarchy. Plus a lot of military sci-fi books do actually address the stupidity of war at the same time they're dealing with the strategy stuff.)

I've read Old Man's War twice and really liked it.

Someone mentioned Babylon 5 books early in this thread; I highly recommend To Dream in the City of Sorrows, although I don't think of it so much as military sci-fi. It's not as hard to find as it used to be because they did re-release it at some point. Our local Half Price Books has a copy or two, at least.

In more recent military sci-fi, I've recently enjoyed Lost Fleet: Dauntless by John G. Hemry, and my husband says the second book in the series is almost as good as the first.

No, the Vampire$ movie is pretty ordinary, but the book is pretty good.

Joel Shepherd's Cassandra Kresnov series is bit military.

The Weapon by Michael Z. Williamson is quite good. Haven't read anything else by him.

I'll have to put my hand for (Armor) as well. After a quick perusal of my librarium, I noticed that a lot of people missed the Dirigent series, which is pretty straight up. A little bland, yeh, because it's all military and little scifi. But, give it a chance, I suppose. Likewise, ((Chris Bunch)) 's Last Legion series is very actiony milscifi. Straight-up milscifi is hard to find. I wouldn't discount ((William C. Dietz)) either, or some of ((S.M. Stirling)) 's work, though they can be fairly dicey as to how military you want your scifi.

DE

B5 books are out there! Have you looked for them on the 'net? Have you looked for them in used bookstores? Have you looked in dealers' rooms at sf cons?

I found Armor hard going. Didn't like it at all.

How about the Kris Longknife series by Mike Shepherd? I think them more military than Elizabeth Moon's various series. Never like David Weber's Honor Harrington series although I did very much like Path of the Fury and the Colin MacIntyre series (Mutineers' Moon, The Armageddon Inheritance, etc.). Although I liked the Prince Roger books, they were a little bit too heavy on the military for me - I found myself scanning over a lot of the tech stuff like I did with the Tom Clancy books.

(I think some touchstones are not working tonight.)

I'm a little surprised no one has mentioned C.J. Cherryh, as many of her novels work well as military SF. I'm thinking of those books dealing with the Company Fleet (Heavy Time, Hellburner, etc.).

I've read Dauntless, The Lost Fleet, book 1 and just finished Fearless, The Lost Fleet, book 2 by Jack Campbell and enjoyed them both. I'm looking forward to reading the third book soon...

I tried the first of that series, but wasn't overly impressed. But then, I'm not a big fan of military sf, and often wonder why I even bother to read it...

I like Matthew Reilly, Covert One Novels by Robert Ludlum and Some of Arthur C Clarke's books which are about military

Never read anythin by David Weber
must find it when i go to the library

Shenya

Which Arthur C. Clarke novels are about the military? I'm not aware of any.

Clarke's Glide Path at least, about the development ground-controlled approach radar in WW2. Not sure about any others.

I just recieved a copy of On Basilisk Station by David Weber, anyone have any opinions on it? Good, bad or indifferent.

The first few books of the Honor Harrington series are entertaining reads, if a little derivative. But Harrington soon becomes so much of a paragon she stretches credulity, and the books soon turn into extended moans and rants about politicians and anything else that annoys Weber. Try the first couple, don't bother with the rest.

>74 iansales

Thats sounds about the same as most series. Thank you

Basilisk Station is worth a look, definitely, but I'd mostly agree with Ian.

I have read some a few related short stories that are ok, too.

72,
yeah that is the book
I wasn't able to remember which "path" it was hhe

>73

Basilisk Station is a good into to the Honor Harrington world. The entire series is excellent, from someone who does like Military Sci Fi. Do some of the battles seem a little redundant? Possibly because the style of battle tends to be similar. Consider that all those battles do create a particular type of military officer and thus creates a specific series. Once you get beyond Field of Dishonor and Flag in Exile the series changes because the main character has been promoted. More politics does start to filter into the books, because that is what happens in the upper ranks of this particular military and government.

I throw out this thought: Don't judge a book based on other's opinions. Give it a chance yourself before saying no.

started reading the book last night. Seems to have possibilities. Thanks to all,for all the input.

Message edited by its author, Feb 1, 2008, 7:07pm.

Published in April 2007, The Outback Stars, by Sandra McDonald is military and written by an officer of the United States Navy. I have pre-ordered book two by this new Science Fiction author, because I enjoy military science fiction, and good prose, and original thinking in SF. See my review for a more extended analysis.

> 78

Don't judge a book based on other's opinions. Give it a chance yourself before saying no.

Then why bother asking for their opinion in the first place?

#81

Honestly, I don't ask for other's opinions. I like to read things and find things out myself.

When others ask for opinions, I make this comment because the negative opinions always seem to be more verbose and more vocal than the positive ones. (Doesn't matter what book or any other positive reviews.)

Even a lot of reviews tend to hold a negative slant. I don't point people toward reviews or opinions. I point them to their own intellect.

Unless you're capable of reading every sf novel ever published, you need reviews and others' opinions in order to separate the books you will enjoy, appreciate or admire from those that you'll hate.

I think what gilroy might be saying is that "if you are in some way interested in a book, don't let the opinion of others convince you to not read it -you might end up not agreeing with their assessment"

Why would you be interested in a book, except perhaps as a result of reviews or the opinions of others...

There is so much information out there now that it is impossible to be accurately discriminatory. you can only be discriminatory about the commentary on the information...

Yes I have impulsively been interested in books that reviews have warned me off. Notice that I'm allowing for nothing more than the dictates of personal whimsy in engaging in arbitrary behaviour. I allow myself those impulses as a regular reader -the kid in the candy shop approach. Otherwise I find myself on a program or schedule, and reading, for me anyway, is supposed to offer some respite from that kind of thing.

Most of the time like you, I personally use, other people's opinions to steer from what could be a waste of time.
It's just that I've also found that the general consensus that seeks to steer my opinions on things, can be found to be wrong.
I don't think that's really a controversial statement. ;)

Granted,the way it usually plays out is: everyone says something is great, and you find that you don't agree. So you don't even have the fun of thumbing your nose at other people while you waste your time. ;)

Message edited by its author, Feb 4, 2008, 11:27am.

"Why would you be interested in a book, except perhaps as a result of reviews or the opinions of others..."

Um, what? Are you saying that you have never randomly picked up a book, looked at the description (or read a little of the first chapter, or just was intrigued by the picture or) and become interested or not without knowing the opinions of others and/or without reading reviews? 75%-90% of the books I find are random pick-ups.

Most of the books I buy are because I like the author's other works, I've heard good things about the book, or it's like other books that I do like. Yes, on occasion, I do buy something on whim.

But I own so many damn books now that I've not read that I can't do that anymore. I have to read the ones I've already bought before I can start buying ones I know nothing about. Besides, I have to admit that most impulse buys usually prove to be crap.

The best way to take a risk to read a new book is burrowing it from the library

That is ofcourse if you can cope with it untill you read rest of the books you've burrowed

This is not usefull always though
and I didn't find any book by David Weber in the library !

Message edited by its author, Feb 24, 2008, 12:19pm.

I can't get enough Military SF!

David Weber, John Ringo, David Drake, David Feintuch

I also enjoyed C. J. Cherryhs Merchanter books which are hooked up with Downbelow Station: Merchanter's Luck, rimrunners, tripoint, and Finity's end. They come from a slightly different angle but were still great, I believe Merchanters luck is about to get reprinted.

If anyone is in Chicago in November the theme for Windycon is Military SF: www.windycon.org

John Ringo is the Guest of Honor, Eric Flint is there and also Dave Mattingly who does Webers Cover art amongst others.

Message edited by its author, Feb 29, 2008, 7:13pm.

I've just started The Clone Republic by Steven L. Kent and it's not bad so far. Has anyone else read these books? (It's a series.)

#80 I brought home from the grocery store The Outback Stars today. From the cover it looks like I will be enjoying a military romance simular to the work of Elizabeth Moon. Let you know how it goes.

#92 - Aelith:

Please do message me when you post your conclusion on The Outback Stars. I'm very interested to know how other readers experience McDonald's new series.

The second book in the series - The Stars Down Under, just hit the bookstores yesterday, but I read an advance copy a couple of weeks ago, and posted a review here at LT and at Amazon.

Just recieved the following by Harry Harrison

Bill The Galactic Hero Volume 1, "The Planet Of the Robot Slaves"

Bill The Galactic Hero Volume 2, "On The Planet Of Bottled Brains"

Bill The Galactic Hero Volume 3, "On The Planet Of Tasteless Pleasure"

Bill The Galactic Hero Volume 4, "On The Planet Of Zombie Vampires"

Had to get them after reading "Bill The Galactic Hero" the oringinal.

Also got book #2 "The Honor of the Queen (Honor Harrington)" by David Weber, enjoyed the first one.

Message edited by its author, Mar 21, 2008, 4:51pm.

I thought all of the sequels to "Bill, the Galactic Hero" were in Russian.

No their not. All these are from the late 80's early 90's.

Message edited by its author, Mar 22, 2008, 9:50am.

#93 Pandababy

Yes I enjoyed it and I will probably get the sequil. I would tag it first as a romance, then a military mystery procedural/chase, and Science fiction last.
The aborigianal mythology was an interesting way of introducing an ailien culture from our own back yard.

Yes, there is a strong "personal relationship" developed in The Outback Stars (which I admit I enjoyed very much). Number two in the series, The Stars Down Under, has more action, less on 'romance', but the relationships in the first one develop in unexpected ways. One thing I like about Sarah McDonald is her originality.

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the first one, as I did. I liked the second one even better.

Has anyone else read any Cassandra Kresnov novels:

Crossover: a cassandra kresnov novel
Breakaway
Killswitch by Joel Shepherd?

I just read the last one and it was pretty good...

Message edited by its author, Apr 9, 2008, 5:50am.

Yes, the Kresnov series is high quality throughout, definitely worth it.

I just read the second of Steven L. Kent's series, Rogue Clone. The world-building seemed sketchier in this second outing and the plot wasn't very tight, but it wasn't too bad...

Just picked up the following;

War of Honor (Honor Harrington Series, Book 10)
by David Weber
Echoes of Honor (Honor Harrington Series, Book 8)
Empire From the Ashes by David Weber
The Regiment: A Trilogy (Regiment Series) by John Dalmas

Much as I love David Weber, and I do, 'War of Honor' damn near killed me.

Rich

>103 cosmicdolphin
Read the first two in the series they weren't too bad. Nice easy reads for vacation. I bought these two while at the outlet stores. They had a sale, buy three get the forth for a $1.00. So three of the books were only $4.99 each, so for a $1.00 I took the chance. If it's that bad I won't feel too bad.

My advice for 'War of Honor' is read it on a plane, take no other books, so you have to finish it ;-)

I still need to read 'Empire From the Ashes'.

I'm currently on 'Shadow of Saganami' the Honor Harrington spin off, and then 'At all Costs' is lined up after that, which will finish all the Honorverse books for me.

I can highly recommend 'Crown of Slaves' by Weber/Flint, thats a fine book.

I would go back and read books 3-6 in the Honor Harrington series before attempting the later books. The First 6 books are definitely the best, 7 took a dip in quality, 8 and 9 weren't bad.

Heck! I almost got Crown of Slaves it looked good. And I had planned to reading the other Honor books before these two, just couldn't pass up a bargain.

Just finished Orphanage by Robert Buettner the first in the series and I enjoyed it immensely. No surprises', even fewer if you have read Starship Troopers or The Forever War. Not so much an imitation but a homage to those books.

Earth's cities are being destroyed one by one by an alien race. Jason Wanders' father is dead and his mother is killed in one of the attacks. After getting in trouble, for fighting in school, he is given a choice - enlist in the army or serve time in jail. (Of coarse we know what he which he will pick).

The storys' pace and development is very familar to any who have read the above mentioned books. But it has an up to date feel.

I've already started the second book Orphan's Destiny and bought the third book in the series Orphan's Journey.

Empire from Ashes was a great read. The moon as a giant warship. What could be better?

Orphan's Destiny by Robert Buettner About par for a second book of a series. We see the survivors ( 700 of ten thousand) of the Battle of Gandymede come home to a Hero's welcome. after which they are des carded by a war weary populations. General Jason Wander is paraded around as a trophy and celebrity to drum up support for politicians' ideas that he doesn't agree with. Of course the Slugs return and the battle begins again. Still not a bad read.

The third book "Orphan's Journey" By this book I think the series has run its' coarse. There are just to many things taken from other stories, books and authors. Plus the characters are static not growing or maturing at all (you would think there would be some change in the 20 years these books cover so far).
I don't want to make this a spoiler so lets just say the book is "John Carter of Mars' meets "Stargate" with accents of Heinlein.
I don't think I'll be reading the fourth book.

David Gunn
1. Death's Head
2. Death's Head - Maximum Offense

Finally read Old Man's War by John Scalzi --excellent book!

Just read Tanya Huff's first book in her "Confederation" series Valor's Choice, pretty good read.

Message edited by its author, Jul 13, 2008, 11:20am.

The Mercenary by Jerry Pournelle;

I don't know how I missed this when it came out in the 70's. It is a good story.
The Co-Dominion (a world alliance led by the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.) have colonized many new worlds and now uses them to ship their prisoners and unwanted population to. This alliance is about to crumble due to the rise in nationalism. Due to budget cuts Col. John Christian Falkenberg and his brigade of space marines are let go from the service. They form a mercenary army that will go to the highest bidder. These bidders are worlds that the C. D. can no longer afford to keep, so are being given their independence.
But there is more to this setup than meets the eye.
Although the characters are a cardboard the story is well told an still has a modern tone two it.
He went on to write four more books in this series known collectively as "Falkenberg's Legion" They can be found in one book called "The Prince"
which I have ordered.

Message edited by its author, Jul 21, 2008, 7:00am.

Haven't been here in a while. Still love military SF. I finished the first four books in the Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell (John G. Hemry.) I enjoyed them very much and look forward to the last two in the series.

I love David Weber, for some darn reason. He has interested ideas, for one thing. The moon as a giant spaceship was way kool! I loved the Shiva's Option series where the sequence runs backwards. And, the alien enemy is relentless. I thought in the In the Shadow of ... I liked a lot. I think the first a six books of Honor Harrington are great! After that, not so much. However, I'm still a fan.

I read the Lt. Leary series and even though David Drake attempts to rip off O'Brian the books were darn interesting for some reason.

I read Elizabeth Moon's Vatta series. All of them were good except the final volume...IMO.

Lots of great suggestions here I can't wait to read, and thanks for mentioning them!

The Honor Harrington and Lt Leary books are all channelling the Napoleonic wars to greater or lesser effect; the Leary books may be marginally earlier - David Drake comments he was aiming for a mixture of Georgian England and just-pre-Imperial Rome.

Personally I prefer the Weber books to the Leary books. However, you shouldn't forget older books although they are pure hokum by today's standard's; E E Smith's Lensmen books and Edmond Hamilton's Chronicles of the Star Kings are favourite examples in my library.

To add to the hokey but good we could add Lucky Starr: Space Ranger by Isaac Asimov and
John Grimes: Survey Captain
by A. Bertram Chandler. Although they might be considered more of the space opera type than Military Sci Fi

Just a heads up for all you John Scalzi fans - TOR has joined the LT Early Reviewer program, and are offering twenty copies of the next book in the Old Man's War series - Zoe's Tale. Of course I threw my name in the hat, and hope to snag a copy, so I don't know why I'm telling the competition about it... must be my good deed for the day.

wow. no warhammer 40k fans? people, youre missing out. the Gaunt Ghost series is superb.

I love Warhammer 40K. Haven't read any Gaunt's Ghosts yet, but I've read the first 3 volumes of the Horus Heresy. I've also read the Soul Drinkers Omnibus, the Eisenhorn Omnibus, and the Inquisitor Wars. Good stuff.

Let's see ... I remember reading a new little known book about a military hegemony in the future that safeguards individuals in trouble, and prevents governments from corruption and causing economic disasters. I just can't remember the title!

Message edited by its author, Feb 3, 2009, 12:52pm.

Military Sci Fi for me brings up memories of Falkenberg and Hammers Slammers and the Peace Company. Even Demontech. An outgrowth of pure military fiction.

But a lot of what was discussed in this thread, Honor Harrington, the Jack Campbell books, I have always seen as Naval science Fiction to an extent. Ships instead of Battlefields.

But one could add to that list, Bill Baldwin and his Helmsman series, or even James Doohan and his what else, Flight Engineer series (Could Scotty really be linked to any other type of tale.

That might just be a convention of the genre, since one must get from point A to point B somehow. Adopting the jargon of the Navy seems more fitting than the jargon of the Air Force. Although a combination of terminology occurs, since many battleships in space carry smaller aircraft, akin to a space aircraft carrier / battleship.

Is there military fantasy, apart from the oft-mentioned Warhammer?

122: Well there used to be all the Battletech books, but i guess they are more straight science fiction.

I mentioned the Demontech books which is Military Fantasy, how about Glen Cook and his Black Company series for Military Fantasy.