There are a lot of reasons to love military science fiction. They’re filled with political intrigue, highlight the intricacy of strategy, and often feature epic battle scenes. The only way to make them bigger and better is to put them in space. After all, in the vacuum of space, one wrong move doesn’t just mean death for one soldier, but potentially an entire ship.
That’s part of the beauty of space battles. There can be fighting that ranges from the brutal intimacy of hand to hand combat all the way to massive maneuvering of ships the size of planets. The tactics have to be different, forcing the reader into a world filled with uncertainty. These aren’t battles where we have a history to fall back on or a familiarity to guide us. The characters have to think differently, which means, so do we.
If space is the final frontier, then the stars are the future battlegrounds, and there’s no way to know for sure what waits far beyond our own horizon. It’s alien and familiar, known and unknown. It’s the perfect backdrop to unleash our imagination. We scoured the galaxy and found seven science fiction books with the best space battles guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat.
Angelmass
When a black hole in deep space is discovered to carry tiny particles that make humans calm, rational, and compelled to tell the truth, the Empyrean dictates that all members of the government wear one of these “angel” particles. But the Pax, the Empire on Earth, only sees an alien designed to control humanity. The Pax sends two men to spy on the Empyrean by enlisting on an angel-hunting ship.
What they discover is much worse than the Pax fears. But before they can communicate their findings, the Pax sends a warship to confront the Empyrean’s. A handful of people know the truth, and it’s up to them to stop a galactic war.
Honor Bound
Being an intergalactic fugitive wasn’t exactly in Zara Cole’s plans. But after she barely survived fighting an unexpected battle in a covert war, that’s exactly what she is. Now, she has to find a place to heal two Leviathan ships filled with refugees. They head to the nearest outpost, a haven for alien criminals where Zara is going to need her skills from life on Earth as a thief.
When Zara discovers a secret that could turn the tide of the war in the wrong direction, she has no choice but to take a stand against evil. Running is probably the smarter choice. Good thing Zara never learned how to run away from a fight.
The Honor of the Queen
The Republic of Haven needs allies, and the planet Grayson is strategically situated to be an excellent ally. Only, when Her Majesty’s Foreign Office chose Honor Harrington as their ambassador, they didn’t consider that her presence would insult the men and cause problems among the women. Although gender discrimination is a historical memory on their planet, Honor soon discovers that it’s all too real on Grayson—and it’s tiring. But when she decides to withdraw her resources, their sister planet attacks. Now, Honor has to help them prevail, not just for her own reputation, but for the sake of her Queen.
Ninefox Gambit
When Kel Command gives disgraced Captain Kel Cheris the opportunity to redeem herself, she knows the task won’t be easy. She lost her reputation for how she fought the heretics before. Now, she has to retake the Fortress of Scattered Needles from the very heretics who condemned her … and if the fortress falls, the hexarchate might be next.
The smart play is to ally with an undead tactician. After all, he’s never lost a battle. The only problem is, he went mad and massacred two armies—his own included. Left with little choice, she decides to keep an eye of the untrustworthy general and hope that as the battle wears on, she doesn’t become his next victim.
Dauntless
After a century of war, the Alliance fleet is crippled in enemy territory. With few options, they wake up a man who’s been in hibernation for a century. Captain John “Black Jack” Geary is revered for his heroic tactics. He reluctantly takes command of the fleet after he is woken, and is appalled by the hero worship. But he’s a man of action and focuses on winning the war. Their one chance is to bring a stolen hypernet key home, and to do that, he’s going to have to embody the legendary tactics that Black Jack went down in history for.
Trading in Danger
Kylara Vatta has never been one for tradition. The only girl in her family, she chose to join the military instead of joining the family transportation business. At least, that was the plan. One bad decision gets her expelled and sent home. The media coverage is a humiliation for their entire family and Ky is sure her life is over. Until an opportunity lands at her feet. She’s given the chance to captain a Vatta Transportation ship, one of the oldest in the fleet, on its final voyage.
It should be a simple assignment, but nothing is ever simple for Ky. When she tries to prove she has skills beyond her family name alone, she accidentally ends up in the middle of a colonial war. It’s going to take all of her military training and soldier’s instincts to get them out alive.
Leviathan Wakes
When Jim Holden and his crew stumble on a derelict ship, the ice mining crew accidentally discovers a secret worth killing for. The solar system is on the brink of war and what they found aboard the ship could be the only thing that maintains peace. But first, Holden has to figure out who left the ship and why. It’s only when a detective searching for a missing girl finds them first that they realize the girl might be the key they’ve all been searching for. As tensions between Earth and the Outer Planet revolutionaries escalates, and secretive corporations plot in the background, the fate of the universe lies in the hands of one small ship.
Featured image: Alexander Andrews / Unsplash
