OT-Sci-Fi Book Review

[Haven]

Best sci-fi I have read..... next to perhapes some Orson Scott Card is...

"Pandora's Star" by Peter Hamilton and the follow up "Judas Unchained"

Nice big thick books of about 500 pages each and a seemingly vast array of non-connected characters that are well fleshed out.

Perhapes a bit to much 'love' scenes and some parts are a little out there, but ultimately its about humankind (who now live for 800+ years due to memory chips and cloned bodies) who have spread to the surrounding galaxies run into a malevolent race on 'Pandora's star' plus a 'sleeper cell' of the alien origin currently working to undermine humanity and that investigation.

Really great universe, well thought out 'tech', and great characters.

Highly recommended.

[Tegyrius]

I can't believe a discussion of military SF has gotten this far without mention of David Drake's work, particularly the Hammer's Slammers and RCN universes.

- C.

[pmulcahy11b]

Though it has nothing to do with T2K, I'd have to nominate Arthur C Clarke's Childhood's End as my favorite Sci Fi book. One of the first Sci Fi books I ever read, and simply fantastic!

Are you able to move this Ref I put it in the wrong thread!

[kato13]

Are you able to move this Ref I put it in the wrong thread!

Done.

[Targan]

I can't believe a discussion of military SF has gotten this far without mention of David Drake's work, particularly the Hammer's Slammers and RCN universes.

Funny you should mention that. I was going to mention Hammer's Slammers in my initial post about The Forever War but I forgot once I started writing it.

[Targan]

Best sci-fi I have read..... next to perhapes some Orson Scott Card is...

"Pandora's Star" by Peter Hamilton and the follow up "Judas Unchained".

I intend to read all the books in that series by Hamilton. There is actually a prequel to those two books. His other series, the Night's Dawn Trilogy, absolutely blew my mind. REALLY good reading.

[Mohoender]

Best sci-fi I have read..... next to perhapes some Orson Scott Card is...

I'll agree to Orson Scott Card, "Ender's Game" remain one of my favorite but the best sci-fi writer in my opinion still is a remote author and dental surgeon (nobody's perfect) named Stefan Wul (who wrote novels between 1956-1959 only).

One of his novel was translated in English in 1973 : The temple of the past. He is better known from addaptated animations: Fantastic Planet (1973) and Time Masters (1981) drawn by Moebius.

I'll also advocate that some of its works have been among these that largely inspired Hollywood and the sci-fi drama produced in the US (also he was far from alone in that matter).

[Tegyrius]

Funny you should mention that. I was going to mention Hammer's Slammers in my initial post about The Forever War but I forgot once I started writing it.

They're of an age, in more than one sense of the word. Drake, like Haldeman, served in Vietnam and channeled those experiences directly into his writing.

- C.

[Adm.Lee]

Somewhere between horror, sci-fi, and T2k: the Black Tide Rising series by John Ringo. Four novels and a collection of short stories by other authors.

Somewhat the standard zombie-apocalypse story, except it's the folks who trained and prepped who survive and succeed.The T2k element is how the survivors start organizing and planning to recover the US and the world. Spoiler: they don't go very far into that, less than a calendar year in all of the books.

Also, lots of military characters and action.
The focus shifts to two teenage sisters as the superheroes of the story, so be warned of that.

[WallShadow]

I'd like to see a film/series of "Retief of the CDT" stories, where the Corps Diplomatique Terrestrienne fights an interstellar Cold War with the sly, plotting Groaci race. Very tongue-in-cheek; it would test a filmmaker's skill to pull off the dry, wry humor.

[ArmySGT.]

I knew it existed but I've never read it. I'd hate to be disappointed by it.

Make no mistake I did enjoy the book Starship Troopers. I enjoyed the film too I guess, but it was nowhere near as good as the book and the differences (and the amount by which the differences damaged the film) reminded me of the differences between the book and film versions of The Postman.

Thanks for making this a separate thread Kato!

Umm I am going to declare myself apostate...... I thought the Movie "The Postman" was better than the book "The Postman" by David Brin.

Something else I would like to see as a Sci Fi mini series.. David Brin's Uplift novels.

[ArmySGT.]

I can't force myself to call that film Starship Troopers. I can't believe that Robert Heinlein's estate gave the OK for that film. Bunch of moneygrubbers.

Well, they sold the rights before the film was made.... The Director (being generous) said he hated the book and called it a fascist wet dream that he deliberately quit reading.

[ArmySGT.]

I am working my way through the "Destroyermen" series.

A WW2 U.S. Destroyer that is hopelessly obsolete at the beginning of WW2 sails through a dimensional rift during a fight with IJN forces in a typhoon...

The combatants find themselves on an alternate earth.... a very alternate earth.

It's very entertaining.

[unkated]

Vintage Military Sci-Fi

There is the Texas-Israeli War: 1999, full of T2K flavor, written in 1974 by Jake Saunders and Howard Waldrop.

in a world depopulated by bio an chem weapons, but where nukes were effectively limited, an Israeli mercenary tank squadron assists the US military in a drive into Texas to put down a rebellion, in exchange for land. (Yes, Texas, the US government WILL come and take away your guns if you revolt).

And, of course, H Beam Piper's Space Viking, with mostly stellar combat, but some groundside encounters. In the far future (2000 years hence), planets originally at the frontier are keeping civilization alive after a general collapse of the Terran Confederation. Those with technology sometimes find it easier to take from those without it...

Poul Anderson's Flandry of Terra. Dominic Flandry is a Bond-esque agent of the Terran Empire, engaged in a cold war against the expansionistic rival empire of the alien Merseians. Very Cold War in Space (written in the 1960s, tough to avoid), includes several novels and novellas.


Uncle Ted

[unkated]

Jerry Pournelle's Falkenberg series (part of the Co-Dominium setting)

• West of Honor
• Mercenary
• Prince of Mercenaries
• Go Tell the Spartans and Prince of Sparta

All fairly realistic decent tales of near-future military exploits. The first three are about a mercenary unit - interestingly written before the 1990s rise of private security firms.

Set in the same universe:

• King David's Spaceship - An adventuring party goes to another planet to recover knowledge of how to build their own space ship.
• The Mote in God's Eye - An excellent tale of first encounter with another species.

Uncle Ted