Military Science Fiction

Military science fiction is a very popular sub-genre and overlaps much of the time with the space opera genre. Most of the genre follow characters who are members of a military force and the novels often offer a detailed description of the conflicts and the tactics used.

Books Reviewed

• Master of Evil

  by Adam Christopher

  Science Fiction

  One of the aspects of Star Wars that I love is that it is an IP that keeps evolving, as do I. As a child I saw The New Hope as a simple action adventure between good and evil. The Emperor was omnipotent. As the series progressed, we see that the Empire was far too vast for one man to control, no mat...

  15th Dec 2025 Read review
• Braking Day

  by Adam Oyebanji

  Science Fiction

  When we colonise space, I hope that we send out the brightest and the best. These people will represent the absolute best that humanity has to offer, but what happens if the journey is a long one? The bright young things are not going to live to see the destination in 150 years, but their great-grea...

  5th Apr 2022 Read review
• Alphabet Squadron

  by Alexander Freed

  Science Fiction

  Many stories end abruptly with our heroes achieving their goal. The girl marries the Prince, the good guys win the fight. We all know that in real life stories don’t actually end, they carry on regardless whether you got married or now sport a medal. At the end of The Return of the Jedi you would be...

  27th Jun 2019 Read review
• Shadow Fall

  by Alexander Freed

  Science Fiction

  If you look at the Star Wars timeline from afar it can seem a little depressing. An Old Republic falls only for an Empire to rise. That goes and you get The New Order. It seems that the rebels are always having to rebel against something.  However, for the Sith to rise, there  must  be moments when...

  25th Jun 2020 Read review
• The Mask of Fear

  by Alexander Freed

  Science Fiction

  The reason that I enjoy the Star Wars Universe so much is that it vast and can be explored in new and interesting ways. The Skywalker stories will always be there, but there are shady towns and abandoned Sith temples spotted all over the Universe. You can follow an eccentric archaeologist hunting fo...

  18th Mar 2025 Read review
• The Red Scholar's Wake

  by Aliette de Bodard

  Science Fiction

  Love is love and that is truer in science fiction than any other genre as you can fall in love with anyone or anything. Someone of the same species, an alien or even a spaceship. With AI advancing who is to say that one day their personality will not appeal, couple that to an avatar they can create...

  8th Nov 2023 Read review
• Resilient

  by Allen Stroud

  Science Fiction

  Resilient is the second book in Allen Stroud's Fractal series , picking up right after the events of Fearless . As such it's impossible not to provide some minor spoilers about Fearless while talking about Resilient . I will however try my best to give away as little as possible, and anything mentio...

  9th Sep 2024 Read review
• Vigilance

  by Allen Stroud

  Science Fiction

  Vigilance is the third book in the Fractal series from Allen Stroud, following Fearless and Resilient . You know how it is with series; by the time you hit book three, you've got a pretty good idea of what you're getting into. The big question is whether the author can keep the momentum going, or if...

  5th Jul 2025 Read review
• The Fractal Episodes

  by Allen Stroud

  Science Fiction

  What differentiates a short story series from episodes? Allen Stroud’s The Fractal Series comes in a collection or can be read separately. There are twelve individual stories, that sounds like a short story collection, but there is a difference as they all take place within the Fearless universe tha...

  22nd Apr 2026 Read review
• Star Trek Prometheus: The Root of all Rage

  by Bernd Perplies

  Science Fiction

  What makes a great trilogy? Three stories that combine to make one, but are themselves also valid. Each book should have a start, middle and end that combine together to make a longer narrative. There are not many things worse for a fantasy or science fiction reader than getting their hands on a ‘fi...

  30th Jan 2019 Read review
• Star Trek Prometheus: In the Heart of Chaos

  by Bernd Perplies

  Science Fiction

  The original USS Enterprise was sent out on a five year mission to explore Space, but even the biggest Star Trek fan would not want to know about every single detail that happened on the voyage. We can forgo the times that they slept or went to the loo. Perhaps even skip a few lengthy sessions betwe...

  14th Feb 2019 Read review
• The Last Stand

  by Brad Ferguson

  Science Fiction

  Wars can go on for years. Not just the moments of action in which thousands of people die, but the cold wars between. Different factions may have an uneasy peace, but is this peace just an excuse to build for the next conflict? You may not imagine that Star Trek: The Next Generation is the best plac...

  13th Jan 2020 Read review
• Absynthe

  by Brendan P. Bellecourt

  Science Fiction

  I have done my time at university where I drank too much and stayed out too late. Looking back now I can only think about my poor liver and the crazy never die attitude that many of the young have. I was never that adventurous and stuck to beer and whatever was on offer at the Student Union. I certa...

  13th Dec 2021 Read review
• First Mage on the Moon

  by Cameron Johnston

  Fantasy

  I like when a genre becomes so embedded that as a whole, we can play with it. This has happened for years in comic books, even the films are so prevalent now that you get plenty of leftfield superhero movies. One genre that has been around longer and has even deeper roots is Fantasy, but has it expl...

  14th Apr 2026 Read review
• Dooku: Jedi Lost

  by Cavan Scott

  Science Fiction

  Star Wars is a franchise rich with great characters, but who to choose? It is tricky writing a cannon book on the likes of likes Han Solo or Rey lest you impinge on the films themselves. Thankfully, with such an abundance of history to choose from, there is always an interesting character to expand...

  15th Nov 2019 Read review
• The Rising Storm

  by Cavan Scott

  Science Fiction

  The Force is a concept that underpins the Star Wars Universe, but it is good or bad? The entire point is that it is both. There is a Light Side and a Dark Side, and these two opposing elements must be in balance. During the Star Wars films, the Dark Side is on its uppers and therefore we follow a ba...

  29th Jun 2021 Read review
• Light of the Jedi

  by Charles Soule

  Science Fiction

  The Universe of Star Wars is a vast one full of unexplored planets, characters and timelines but the will of The Force always seems to drag it back to the Skywalkers.  The  brand-new   Star Wars: The High Republic  is an attempt to write Star Wars free from the restraints  of the films as it is set...

  5th Jan 2021 Read review
• Scales

  by Christopher Hinz

  Science Fiction

  War, what is it good for? Not a lot, but depressingly it is a real driver of innovation. What better way to inspire the greatest minds in the country than to task them with more efficient ways to kill the enemy? Arms races happen all over the place from conventional gun and bullets to newer types of...

  15th Apr 2025 Read review
• Bluebird

  by Ciel Pierlot

  Science Fiction

  There is nothing quite like space for great action sci fi. The spaceships, the weapons, the futuristic or alien technology. Massive explosions and body parts flying about the place is great, but it is nothing without characters that you care about. Somone losing a hand means nothing if it is just an...

  8th Feb 2022 Read review
• The Fallen Star

  by Claudia Gray

  Science Fiction

  The Fallen Star  by Claudia Gray is released on the first anniversary of the creation of  The High Republic  Universe, a bold move by the Star Wars novels to create their own sandbox in which to play, free from the Skywalkers. There are comics, YA books and more. At the centre are the core novels th...

  5th Jan 2022 Read review
• Embedded

  by Dan Abnett

  Science Fiction

  To the veteran journalist Lex Falk the planet Eighty Six looks as dull as it's unimaginative name would suggest, then trouble starts brewing with the local population and the media start getting the runaround from the military high command, his interest is suddenly roused. I have been looking forwar...

  8th Mar 2011 Read review
• First and Only

  by Dan Abnett

  Science Fiction

  It has been nearly 20 years since I first read a Warhammer 40K novel, way before Games Workshops publishing company Black Library was formed. I was and always will be a big fan of anything Games Workshop related, spending a vast amount of my formative years playing a myriad number of games and paint...

  30th Sep 2011 Read review
• Ghostmaker

  by Dan Abnett

  Science Fiction

  The second novel in the Warhammer 40k Gaunt's Ghosts Series and written by that insanely talented author Dan Abnett, Ghostmaker acts as a reflection on the history of the Ghost's and focuses on telling the story of the major characters within the regiment. This is done through the use of connected s...

  8th Feb 2012 Read review
• Know no Fear

  by Dan Abnett

  Science Fiction

  I can't really imagine a more exciting sounding Warhammer 40K novel, a battle during the Horus Heresy conflict that depicts the Ultramarines (my favorite Legion) against the Word Bearers - told with energy and grace by that master of battles Dan Abnett. The Primarch of the Ultramarines - Roboute Gui...

  5th Mar 2012 Read review
• Prospero Burns

  by Dan Abnett

  Science Fiction

  This is the third audio book to be reviewed within the pages of SFBook and again we are firmly within the realms of Warhammer 40k, this time during that tremulous period of the Horus Heresy. Dan Abnett is the author and Prospero Burns the novel, narrated by Gareth Armstrong on eleven CD's representi...

  6th Aug 2012 Read review
• Cold Storage

  by David Koepp

  Horror

  We are only one mutation away from an organism that could wipe out humans. Sound all dystopian and farfetched? This is what I was reading in the paper this very morning as super bugs are becoming increasingly prevalent and our conventional medicines are having no effect. David Koepp is an author who...

  28th Nov 2019 Read review
• Galaxy's Edge: Black Spire

  by Delilah S. Dawson

  Science Fiction

  To the uninitiated, Star Wars is just a film. To everyone else, that is just nonsense. There are multiple films, games, books, toys, teddies and now a theme park.  A  small part of the Star War Universe  resides  in Disneyland. You can visit the outpost of Black Spire and experience what it is  like...

  23rd Sep 2019 Read review
• Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade

  by Delilah S. Dawson

  Science Fiction

  You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain. For years, the Jedi have been considered a paragon of virtue, everything that is good to the Sith’s bad. But there must be a reason so many Jedi fall. The path to the Dark Side is not pathed with sex, drugs, and rock...

  31st Jul 2023 Read review
• Mickey7

  by Edward Ashton

  Science Fiction

  If I lived in a Star Trek universe I would always travel by shuttlecraft and refuse to use the transporter. I am just uneasy with the idea of being split into atoms and reformed elsewhere. I am, for all intents and purposes, the same person, with the same memories, but am I? Is it not true that one...

  17th Feb 2022 Read review
• Some Desperate Glory

  by Emily Tesh

  Science Fiction

  Stories are often told from the side of good, the plucky underdog who fights against the armies of evil only to be victorious, but what about a book told from the side of the agitators, the terrorists the anarchists? These are all labels and Emily Tesh sets out to prove in Some Desperate Glory that...

  3rd Apr 2023 Read review
• Star Wars Visions Ronin

  by Emma Mieko Candon

  Science Fiction

  As a fan of the expanded Star Wars Universe of novels, I pinch myself with the amount of quality content there is. These are not just novelisations of the films, or even expansions of the most well-known characters, the novels are cutting deep and exploring corners of the universe that have not even...

  9th Nov 2021 Read review
• Captain Marvel Shadow Code

  by Gilly Segal

  Science Fiction

  Any fan of the Marvelverse will understand there are various aspects to it. You have your traditional superhero tales, but also those set-in space, or ones that feature magic. Captain Marvel has always been a character who spans them all. Captain Carol Danvers has seen it all in her adventures acros...

  13th Oct 2023 Read review
• Perchance to Dream

  by Howard Weinstein

  Science Fiction

  I have been a fan of  Star Trek  for a long time and am happy to overlook many of the  contradictions   and technobabble that it has a habit of spouting but one thing I can never get my head around is why. Why are they on these ships? Why  risk  their lives? For a  scientific  vessel the turnover is...

  1st Dec 2020 Read review
• Re-Coil

  by J. T. Nicholas

  Science Fiction

  Death is not something that people like to think about, but without death how are we to live? Within all of us in the unspoken knowledge that one day we will die. For this reason, we venture forth, live, breath, love and laugh. Some of us more than others, but without death would we even bother? We...

  2nd Mar 2020 Read review
• Captain America: The Shield of Sam Wilson

  by Jesse J. Holland

  Science Fiction

  Graphic Novels have an advantage over prose in terms of kinetic visuals. You can show in a panel the action taking place and all the colours, in a book you need to describe this. This advantage can be too tempting for some and the book becomes all action and not enough depth. The best comics are alw...

  17th Jan 2025 Read review
• Hellwegs Keep

  by Justin Holley

  Horror

  I have always felt that the idea of travelling space is horrific enough without the thought of added monsters or manipulations of the mind. The only thing between you and the vast vacuum of space is a few inches of steel. When you arrive on a new planet, things are not much safer. The air may be bre...

  12th Dec 2023 Read review
• Wayseeker

  by Justina Ireland

  Science Fiction

  Over the years Star Wars has become a complicated beast, even the first film was a Space Opera that had a lot going on. Throw in various timelines and you have an epic on your hands, but some of the simpler stories are the ones that work the best. The Acolyte was series that expanded on The High Rep...

  7th May 2025 Read review
• Star Wars: Sanctuary

  by Lamar Giles

  Science Fiction

  I have always appeciated the rich tapestry that the extended Star Wars Universe has given the reader. Whilst the films are few and far between, and the TV shows more abundant but still limited, it is the books that allow fans to deep dive into characters and places that may not get as much love on t...

  27th Aug 2025 Read review
• Celestial

  by M D Lachlan

  Science Fiction

  There are many roads to enlightenment. You can spend decades mastering the art of meditation, becoming one with the universe. You can seek to achieve the divine through the depraved, in acts so vial that you push through what is acceptable into the other. Any of the routes take commitment and none o...

  8th Nov 2022 Read review
• Providence

  by Max Barry

  Science Fiction

  Luddites are a group that used to destroy the machines that were taking their jobs. The term is now used as a derivative  way to  talk about someone who does not get  technology but ,   did  they have it right ?  All us smug computer literate people may have the best jobs  now , but how lo ng until...

  29th Apr 2020 Read review
• Redsight

  by Meredith Mooring

  Science Fiction

  There are space books and then there are Space Operas. What makes a good Space Opera is a sense of scale – the big and the small. Characters making decisions that define the entire Universe, but also their place in the local power struggle. Who will rule, which family? Which sect? Which Goddess? Red...

  1st Mar 2024 Read review
• The Price of Freedom

  by Michael C. Bland

  Science Fiction

  After discovering what The Price of Safety and The Price of Rebellion are in the first two outings in Michael C Bland’s dystopian trilogy, we finally get to see what The Price of Freedom is in this final outing. In a world in which everyone has been rendered blind unless they wear technology, you ca...

  8th Jul 2025 Read review
• Symbiote

  by Michael Nayak

  Science Fiction

  The thought of travelling to space and living on the International Space Station has no interest to me. Stuck in a metal box, isolated, miles away from civilisation with only the same people as company sound like a one-way ticket to madness. You do not need to go into space to create such a feeling....

  3rd Feb 2025 Read review
• Low Red Moon

  by Mike Chen

  Science Fiction

  As more novels are written within the Star Wars Universe, I start to realise that I am drawn increasingly towards the wider Universe and not the core Skywalker saga. On TV, The Mandalorian, and in the book world the stories I have enjoyed most were adapted from a Star Wars comic, and one even based...

  5th Jun 2026 Read review
• Sixteenth Watch

  by Myke Cole

  Science Fiction

  The future could be Utopian, but if the vast majority of science fiction novels have taught us only one thing: it’s going to be Dystopian. The setting of Myke Cole’s Sixteenth Watch promises to be an uplifting one as humans have populated the moon and therefore found the resources needed to power Ea...

  12th Mar 2020 Read review
• Captain's Daughter

  by Peter David

  Science Fiction

  There are many things that I want to be in life, but I don’t want to be the relation of a famous Star Trek character. You are only there to be killed off at some point  e.g.  Kirk’s Son or  Father depending on what Universe you are in. Now in  Star Trek : The  Captain ’s  Daughter  by Peter David it...

  4th May 2020 Read review
• Alien: Seventh Circle

  by Philippa Ballantine

  Science Fiction

  It is not that the aliens in Alien are constantly evolving, it is that they are constantly adapting to the scenario they are in. We usually see them egging up humans, but if they landed in a world populated by cows it would only be a few days that a bovine Alien was ripping up the locals. Aliens are...

  26th Feb 2025 Read review
• Iron Gold

  by Pierce Brown

  Science Fiction

  Being an author there are hard decisions to be made. Do you stick with the same characters or try to be someone who writes about different times and places in each book? After the original  Red Rising  trilogy, author Pierce Brown had the option to stop writing about Darrow’s rise and instead concen...

  7th Feb 2019 Read review
• Mercury Rising

  by R. W. W. Greene

  Science Fiction

  Space is for the few. You may have been trained as a professional astronaut and pushed the boundaries of science. Maybe you are a geek done good and decided to spend your billions on the vanity project of commercial space travel. Maybe, just maybe, you are a celeb or competition winner who won the c...

  9th May 2022 Read review
• Resistance Reborn

  by Rebecca Roanhorse

  Science Fiction

  The Star Wars tie in novels have a rich and varied galaxy to explore. An author can reach into the distant past or take on the history of an obscure character. Sometimes you just want to read about the big hitters. What happens between those massive blockbuster movies? Whilst we are waiting for the...

  10th Dec 2019 Read review
• Shrouded Loyalties

  by Reese Hogan

  Science Fiction

  What is war good for? Not much, but it does advance some technologies faster than they might have been. Microwave technology, nuclear, plastic surgery – all have benefitted from being pushed by necessity. What about a war on a distant planet? Like here on Earth, any opposing armies will be looking f...

  19th Jul 2019 Read review
• Titan Hoppers

  by Rob J Hayes

  Science Fiction

  Humanity is a parasite sucking the recourses from the Earth until there are no more. Like a remora attached to the undercarriage of a shark, humans will one day need find a new host. The alternative is to change our ways, but that does not seem likely. Titan Hoppers by Rob J Hayes follows a flotilla...

  8th Aug 2022 Read review
• Doctor Aphra

  by Sarah Kuhn

  Science Fiction

  When an intellectual property becomes huge it can go one of two  ways,  a homogeneous blob of the same stories on repeat, or a vibrant  universe full of different adventures. Star Wars was already massive, but  recently has branched out even wider. This included a reset of the tie in novels and rath...

  7th Apr 2021 Read review
• Captain America: Dark designs

  by Stefan Petrucha

  Science Fiction

  There is an inherent problem with superheroes. Sometimes they are just too super. How is any mortal person meant to take down a being that can fly into the sun or bounce bullets off their bracelets? It is up to the comic creators to come up with an enemy that will match the super heroics with super...

  3rd Nov 2019 Read review
• The Distant Stars Are My Only Friends

  by Stephan George

  Science Fiction

  As a species we are doing a good enough job of messing up our own chances of survival, but what if I told you that we could also mess up another distant planet too? In Stephan George’s The Distant Stars Are My Only Friends , Arax is a traveller who does not go into space, but instead projects his co...

  16th Dec 2022 Read review
• The Glass Abyss

  by Steven Barnes

  Science Fiction

  I have always enjoyed the Star Wars extended universe novels, be they the Legend set, or the newer relaunched series. The books allow us to explore the Skywalker saga in more depth, but for me the most fun is exploring the deeper cuts. I have read fantastic novels that have delved into the lives of...

  23rd Oct 2024 Read review
• The Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda

  by Suyi Davies Okungbowa

  Science Fiction

  The sheer number of comic books out there are a blessing and a curse. There are so many stories to catch up on and different versions of the same characters. It is wonderful for the explorer, but for the casual fan it can be daunting. We all know something about Black Panther , the character, Wakand...

  30th Apr 2025 Read review
• Aliens: Bishop

  by T R Napper

  Science Fiction

  Who doesn’t love the Alien series? But which subset are you talking about? Like any science fiction property, once you investigate it and expand upon it, the series begins to fragment. You have Alien , Aliens , Aliens vs Predator , Prometheus , and more. They are all the same universe but split off...

  21st Dec 2023 Read review
• Temptation of the Force

  by Tessa Gratton

  Science Fiction

  As Star Wars fans we take the lore for granted. We know our Wookie from our Ewok, but to the casual person they are just two different types of furry alien. Take a step back and it is a complex universe, full of planets and species. It was tricky enough with just the three films, but six films later...

  13th Jun 2024 Read review
• Thrawn - Treason

  by Timothy Zahn

  Science Fiction

  When the Star Wars sequels were announced a world of fandom got very excited. What happened to Han Solo, Luke and Leia et al? Many Star Wars fans already had an inkling having read the many Star Wars tie in book that released from the early 90s onwards. However, like many a Star Wars film, there was...

  13th Aug 2019 Read review
• Aliens: Infiltrator

  by Weston Ochse

  Science Fiction

  The Alien franchise can be seen as one of two things: an awesome series of Space based horror and action stories, or a textbook example of Corporate Malfeasance. The Aliens may be the most reoccurring characters, but the second is not Ripley, it is Weyland Industries. This corporation pops up in var...

  4th May 2021 Read review