22 April, 2009

April Science Fiction Book Recommendation

It might be much calling what follows a book, but Death's Head: Maximum Offense, by David Gunn (can you get a name better than that for military sci-fi?) is a quick and hugely entertaining read. The pace is break neck and it doesn't let up for a second. I found my self leaning forward in my chair, airline style, braced for impact. I finished this in one sitting, not because it was a must read but because its simple good honest fun.

The main character of this military science fiction novel is a muscular skin envelope stitched together to cover a ton and a half of pressurized testosterone, who leads a rag tag unit of dysfunctional super soldiers. Macho hardly begins to describe the protagonist--insane probably does. But boy o boy insanity is fun when you combine it with future tech and a frequent desire to exterminate your enemies, and generally anyone that's an annoyance.

Hive minds, godlike emperors, ring worlds, and desperation make this an enjoyable if slightly shallow read. Highly recommended if you just want to go along for the ride.

Here is a fairly comprehensive listing of military science fiction out there for those of you that might enjoy other titles. Enjoy!

4 comments:

ibpurpledragon said...

Sounds good, I am a serious David Weber, John Ringo, Dalmas, Drake fan so this guy sounds good and I have never read him.

Bill

Liviu said...

Book 1 is better imho; I agree that Sven makes a great character, but he gets a bit repetitive in book 2; though that arena duel was worth the price of the book by itself

bloggeratf said...

Arena duel was priceless. I guess I somehow missed the first book, I'll have to go pick it up. You have a favorite in the genre?

Liviu said...

Mil-sf is not monolithic - for space opera stuff, David Weber is my co-number #1 sf author (with PFH) and I read all his books since the early 90's. Lois Bujold Miles is #2 - I love her fantasy too

For hardcore action - realistic with table of ranks and such - John Ringo had good stuff though he kind of declined recently

Tom Kratman's Carera and Caliphate are just great but not for everyone due to *very, very strong* political opinions - Count of Greenpeace and Duke of UN with personal slaves that they torture at whim in the future, Michael Moore hanged for treason in one and strangled as an example in the other, stuff like this...
Crusades, crucifixions...

For more adventure stuff - Neal Asher, David Gunn, Andi Remic, Robert Buettner (this is sort of hardcore infantry slogging but the context is more adventure than "realistic"), SA Swann

For things that are labeled sometimes as mil-sf but they are straight adventure sf - Mark VanName Jon & Lobo, Laura Reeve had a good debut last year, Richard Morgan's Broken Angels

Kind of top my head for now, but I am sure I forgot others..