OMG!!!!! This is the best sci-fi book list!!!! This is my favorite subgenre. I have read 5 of these books and I will definitely be buying the others. The 5 I've read are among my favorite books of all time. Thank you so much for this list
Great list, I really like the sound of Embedded. I read Starship Troopers last year and really enjoyed that too. Great job digging up this many standalone books in this category, so many are in series. Great video!
Interesting picks! I'll definitely be picking up All You Need Is Kill. Though I know it is part of a duology, I have to say I really Loved Adrian Tchaikovsky's Dogs Of War for being a Military Science Fiction book that was a little bit different and it absolutely can be read as a stand alone too.
You have good insight, enjoyed the listen. Love Armor. Armor is a story that exemplifies the 'push forward at any cost' mentality. Losing your body, push forward. Losing you mind, push forward. Always get to the next day, always survive. Armor is truly a masterpiece of surviving the impossible as a soldier. I'll buy a few of you recommendations. Thanks.
Great list! Not many people knows Andre Norton. It's such a rarity to hear someone talking about her books. Love your videos, always very energetic and optimistic!
Fine, since you twisted my arm I guess I'll reread Starship Troopers again. Lots of really dope sounding recs in this, another few for Mount TBR. Thanks for the great video!
This is a genre I don't think I've ever read, but always wanted to. Thanks for highlighting standalones! These days I have neither the patience nor the brain focus for series. Also, your hair in the opening was so cute & curly! Wish I could get mine like that.
Most people that I've "discussed" ST novel with usually end up admitting they haven't even read the book! They've just watched the film, read some articles that were clearly biased, and think that gives them an informed opinion about it and Heinlein! A book that I'd put on the list is Consider Phlebas, yes it's part of the Culture set but it's also stand alone, even when compared to most of the Culture novels.
Oh YES another great rec list!! My TBR just keeps growing and growing. Starship Troopers reminds me that I still haven't read the book, despite the movie being one of my all time faves (and if my husband finds this comment, yes, I know the movie is nothing like the book, I know!!). That needs to head to the top of mount TBR.
I couldn't tell you how many times I read All You Need Is Kill. It's one where I re-read it immediately after finishing it, and then again about a week later, and then again and again over the years.Cage's journey is so interesting, and that mix of caring with clinical analyses of his day. Then Rita, and her battles mixed with her struggles and her strength. Truly a story that goes to the heart.
Excellent list. Looking forward to reading 'In The Black' and 'Rubicon' (both of which sound great) and, of course, I was delighted to see Starship Troopers in the No. 1 slot as this is my all time favourite SF novel (not just my favourite military SF novel). I thought your review was spot on - this is a thought provoking book and there is surprising depth in he discussions of morals and ethics. And about growing up and taking responsibility. But why did you have to illustrate your No.1 pick with scenes from the Starship Trooper movie which is just poles apart from the novel. If ever a book deserved a re-boot at the cinema... 🙂 Thank you, as always.
Yeah i’m going to be eagerly awaiting your reviews for those books!! As for the visuals- i gotta use some visuals, and i think showing pages of text doesnt have same excitement haha. 🤣
@@secretsauceofstorycraft You do yourself a disservice. Your are such an animated and engaging presenter that we don't need other visuals... 🙂 Just show the book covers (and all the alternative versions).
Wasp by Eric Frank Russell might be worth a look. It's a fifties novel about psychological guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines. Bill the Galactic Hero by Harry Harrison was a stand alone, that much later was expanded into a series. It's a science fiction war comedy. Another science fiction war comedy is Who Goes Here by Bob Shaw. It also escaped being a stand alone by having expansions added later. All You Need Is Kill was also adapted into a Manga
Military Sci-Fi? My intro to that world was Battlezone, the video game from the end of the 90's. It has a really insane story with ancient alien technology, conspiracies and a Cold War being fought secretly in space by the US against the Soviet Union (in the 50's!!) it was beautiful!!
Number one had to be 'Starship Troopers'; it is THE classic military SF novel. There were a couple of "answer" novels to it, the well-known 'The Forever War' by Joe Haldeman, itself a classic novel, and the lesser known 'Naked to the Stars' by Gordon R. Dickson. Some of the early novels you mentioned I hadn't heard of, yet alone read, and I might someday get around to reading.
This is the very first of your lists consisting only of novels I haven't read. Heck, I haven't _heard_ of half of them. I think I will make this list into one of my many wishlists. (BTW, I _reaylly_ should read Heinlein already, if nothing to see was he enamored with his fascist society, or does he parodiese it, as the movie does.) As for cliffhangers, I absolutely _hate_ them. Good old Lois McMaster Bujold shows how it is done: 15 or 16 novels and four novellas in _Vorkosigan Saga,_ and not a single cliffhanger. And yet, when you start it, you have to read them all in a binge. (OK, the news Miles receives at the end of _Cryoburn_ might count as a cliffhanger, but it merely marks an end of an era; besides, it is followed by only one additional novel.)
Wow! 🤯 well i hope thats a good thing. I am thinkin of all the books on the list, heinlein is the one book i would Most recommend. I will also say…Cliffhangers are effective.
Haha yeah sadly forever war is part of a series regardless of how bad the sequel turned out to be… they even make an omnibus so… i put it on my series list :)
Reread Armor recently and it was quite good. Havent read any non 40k by Abnett but he is quite good. Have Trooper on read soon shelf. Will see if it has more bugs than Armor.
I'd definitely say Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I know he wrote a second book called Bear Head but as far as I know they are only connected by a few characters and the stories are quite different. I could be wrong though as I haven't read Bear Head yet.
I really liked Armor, but I agree that the Felix chapters are much better than the Jack chapters. Overall, though, I’d still rate it pretty high and recommend it. I recently read Star Rangers and liked it. I’ll have to find Star Guard and give that a try as well. One of my favorites, which does meet the definition of military SF in an unusual way is the High Crusade, by Poul Anderson. The main characters are medieval knights fighting alien invaders. It’s a standalone, though there is a sequel short story (included in some editions). It’s my favorite comedic novel.
📚 Blimey, I don’t know a majority of these books! I am going to have to hand in my SciFi library card based upon this list 😂 Quite a few oldie classics that are probably hard to track down? The closest I get to one is the Tomlinson, as I have his “Children of a Dead Earth” trilogy whose first editions have some well dodgy cover arts. But I do have a few Dewes and Hurley, including those listed here, so I guess I can keep my SciFi library card after all 😮💨 Would you like to know more?
most of my military sci fi are series just got one I can add to your list Hell's Horizon by Richard Fox and Jonathan P. Brazee best go for audiobook narrated by Giancarlo Esposito and Eric Dane
This Is How You Lose the Time War, 2019, Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone. I don't know if this story fits into your definition of military scifi, but it is war, and the there are two protagonist one on each side. Do check it out if you haven't already.
So no Marko Kloos then. I’m trying another series, Ryk Brown’s Frontier Saga. It’s like Star Trek so far. Steve Gibson loves it. Nobody ignores Secret Sauce's messages!
@@secretsauceofstorycraft He seems to write series that never end. There's always Old Man's War. I think of it as a standalone. And Forever War. They've had sequels but it's not like the books ended on a cliffhanger.
