How to: Military Science Fiction
_Novels featuring the use use of technology, mainly weapons, for military purposes and principal characters that are members of a military organization involved in military activity; sometimes occurring in outer space or other planets._

#### [Armor](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/102327.Armor) (1984) _by [John Steakley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Steakley)_ [4.12]

Steakley puts his readers inside the mind of an armored soldier who lives in constant fear of being torn apart by the enemy he was sent to fight. The book plays brilliantly on our innate fear of bugs and describes the visceral terror of fighting a nearly unstoppable enemy. - [@phmullins](https://github.com/phmullins)
Description
> Felix is an Earth soldier, encased in special body armor designed to withstand Earth's most implacable enemy-a bioengineered, insectoid alien horde. But Felix is also equipped with internal mechanisms that enable him, and his fellow soldiers, to survive battle situations that would destroy a man's mind. This is a remarkable novel of the horror, the courage, and the aftermath of combat--and how the strength of the human spirit can be the greatest armor of all.
#### [The Aurora Cycle Series](https://www.goodreads.com/series/179394-the-aurora-cycle) (2019-2021) _by [Amie Kaufman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amie_Kaufman)_ [4.2]

This novel starts as a simple rescue by a cadet that led to the entire universe fighting an epic battle they have no hope of winning.

What makes this novel awesome is the build up to the final epic battle. It starts as a small team of ragtags who were framed for a crime and later find out that the least of their worry is the intergalactic military but rather an incomprehensible galaxy ending force whose sole existence is to added all living things to its hive. - [@sammy4gh](https://github.com/sammy4gh)
Description
> The year is 2380, and the graduating cadets of Aurora Academy are being assigned their first missions. Star pupil Tyler Jones is ready to recruit the squad of his dreams, but his own boneheaded heroism sees him stuck with the dregs nobody else in the Academy would touch…
  >
  > A cocky diplomat with a black belt in sarcasm, A sociopath scientist with a fondness for shooting her bunkmates ,A smart-ass techwiz with the galaxy’s biggest chip on his shoulder, An alien warrior with anger management issues ,A tomboy pilot who’s totally not into him, in case you were wondering
  >
  > And Ty’s squad isn’t even his biggest problem—that’d be Aurora Jie-Lin O’Malley, the girl he’s just rescued from interdimensional space. Trapped in cryo-sleep for two centuries, Auri is a girl out of time and out of her depth. But she could be the catalyst that starts a war millions of years in the making, and Tyler’s squad of losers, discipline-cases and misfits might just be the last hope for the entire galaxy.
  >
  > They're not the heroes we deserve. They're just the ones we could find. Nobody panic.
Books:

- [Aurora Rising](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30075662-aurora-rising) [4.1]
- [Aurora Burning](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40516960-aurora-burning) [4.3]
- [Aurora's End](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40516976-aurora-s-end) [4.2]

#### [Ender’s Game](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/375802.Ender_s_Game) (1985) _by [Orson Scott Card](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card)_ [4.3] 🌟 🔥

This is a quick read, but it has a slow burn; the more times I read this book, and the more I think of it, the better it becomes. This book is one of the most strategically interesting books I have read. At every turn, you can feel Orson Scott Card manipulating you into seeing how brilliant Ender is. A masterpiece. - [@RichardLitt](https://github.com/RichardLitt)

I’ve lost count of the amount of times I have read _Ender’s Game_. I generally read it around once a year, at least. It is part of a larger series, including _Speaker for the Dead_, and _Xenocide_ - follow-ups which build on _Ender’s Game_ and which are, in their own right, great books. _EG_ was originally just a short story, a kind of prequel to the themes spoken of in _Speaker for the Dead_. It shows Card’s talent that he was able to so fluently make it a stand-alone book.

I love _Ender’s Game_. All things considered, this is not a book about emotional development, or about coming of age. It’s not about taking on the weight of the world. Rather, this is a book about strategy. More happens in the gaps between the pages than in the chapters themselves - taking the time to figure out how Ender worked out an advantage in a game room, and how you would have done it, is an incredibly rewarding experience. Every now and then, there is a wonderful feeling of ‘Damn, I wish I had done that! So smart.’ And, as Card notes in the prologue:

> Fiction, because it is not about somebody who actually lived in the real world, always has