Books like 'Fleet Elements'
Readers who enjoyed Fleet Elements by Walter Jon Williams also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical sc-fi space action / adventure hard sci-fi military, war & conflict space-opera war military female-mc
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Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 68 ratingsFoundation and Empire tells the incredible story of a new breed of man who create a new force for galactic government. Thus, the Foundation hurtles into conflict with the decadent, decrepit First Empire. In this struggle for power amid the chaos of the stars, man stands at the threshold of a new, enlightened life which could easily be put aside for the old forces of barbarism... -
![Cordelia's Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold]()
Cordelia's Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsIn her first trial by fire, Cordelia Naismith captained a throwaway ship of the Betan Expeditionary Force on a mission to destroy an enemy armada...Categorized as:
female-mc military space-opera war 20th-century action-adventure anthologies audiobook -
![Foundation by Isaac Asimov]()
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 49 ratingsFor twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Seldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future -- to a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years... -
![A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge]()
A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsAlternative Cover Edition can be found here. After thousands of years searching, humans stand on the verge of first contact with an alien race. Two human groups: the Qeng Ho, a culture of free traders, and the Emergents, a ruthless society based on the technological enslavement of minds.The group that opens trade with the aliens will reap unimaginable riches... -
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![The Little Ships by J.A. Sutherland]()
The Little Ships by J.A. Sutherland
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsNewly commissioned lieutenant, Alexis Carew is appointed into HMS Shrewsbury, a 74-gun ship of the line in New London’s space navy. She expects Shrewsbury will be sent into action in the war against Hanover, but instead she finds that she and her new ship are pivotal in a Foreign Office plot to bring the star systems of the French Republic into the war and end the threat of Hanover forever...Categorized as:
colonization galactic-empire industrial-era military space-fleet space-opera war action-adventure -
![The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein]()
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsRobert A. Heinlein was the most influential science fiction writer of his era, an influence so large that, as Samuel R. Delany notes, "modern critics attempting to wrestle with that influence find themselves dealing with an object rather like the sky or an ocean." He won the Hugo Award for best novel four times, a record that still stands... -
![The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons]()
The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 68 ratingsOn the world called Hyperion the mysterious Time Tombs are opening and seven pilgrims risk their lives to petition the entity called the Shrike - a creature that may well control the fate of all mankind... -
![How Firm a Foundation by David Weber]()
How Firm a Foundation by David Weber
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe Charisian Empire, born in war, has always known it must fight for its very survival. What most of its subjects don't know even now, however, is how much more it's fighting for. Emperor Cayleb, Empress Sharleyan, Merlin Athrawes, and their innermost circle of most trusted advisers do know... -
![Mutineer by J.A. Sutherland]()
Mutineer by J.A. Sutherland
Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsJust as Midshipman Alexis Carew thinks she’s found a place in the Royal Navy, she’s transferred aboard H.M.S. Hermione. Her captain is a tartar, liberal with the cat, who thinks girls have no place aboard ship. The other midshipmen in the berth are no better. The only advice she’s offered is to keep her head down and mouth shut – things Alexis is rarely able to do...Categorized as:
colonization female-mc galactic-empire industrial-era military space-fleet space-opera victorian -
![Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks]()
Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 47 ratingsThe man known as Cheradenine Zakalwe was one of Special Circumstances' foremost agents, changing the destiny of planets to suit the Culture through intrigue, dirty tricks and military action.The woman known as Diziet Sma had plucked him from obscurity and pushed him towards his present eminence, but despite all their dealings she did not know him as well as she thought... -
![The Forever War by Joe Haldeman]()
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 46 ratingsThe Earth's leaders have drawn a line in the interstellar sand—despite the fact that the fierce alien enemy that they would oppose is inscrutable, unconquerable, and very far away... -
![Excession by Iain M. Banks]()
Excession by Iain M. Banks
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 41 ratingsThe international sensation Iain M. Banks offers readers a deeply imaginative, wittily satirical tale, proving once again that he is "a talent to be reckoned with" ("Locus"). In Excession, the Culture's espionage and dirty tricks section orders Diplomat Byr Gen-Hofoen to steal the soul of a long-dead starship captain... -
![The Neutronium Alchemist by Peter F. Hamilton]()
The Neutronium Alchemist by Peter F. Hamilton
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsNot every fallen angel comes from heaven...The ancient menace has finally escaped from Lalonde, shattering the Confederation's peaceful existence. Those who succumbed to it have acquired godlike powers, but now follow a far from divine gospel as they advance inexorably from world to world... -
![Endymion by Dan Simmons, Guy Abadia]()
Endymion by Dan Simmons, Guy Abadia
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 50 ratingsThe multiple-award-winning SF master returns to the universe that is his greatest success--the world of Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion--to tell a story of love and memory, triumph and terror in a novel even more magnificent than its predecessors.Two hundred and seventy-four years after the fall of the WorldWeb in Fall of Hyperion, Raoul Endymion is sent on a quest... -
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![The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle]()
The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle
Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars · 37 ratingsIn 3016, the 2nd Empire of Man spans hundreds of star systems, thanks to faster-than-light Alderson Drive. Intelligent beings are finally found from the Mote, an isolated star in a thick dust cloud. The bottled-up ancient civilization, at least one million years old, are welcoming, kind, yet evasive, with a dark problem they have not solved in over a million years... -
![The Dance of Time by Eric Flint, David Drake]()
The Dance of Time by Eric Flint, David Drake
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe Malwa and their evil have been driven back to their Indian heartland, but there they coil to strike again... -
![The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov]()
The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsIn the twenty-second century Earth obtains limitless, free energy from a source science little understands: an exchange between Earth and a parallel universe, using a process devised by the aliens. But even free energy has a price. The transference process itself will eventually lead to the destruction of the Earth's Sun--and of Earth itself...Categorized as:
aliens first-contact invasion space-opera suspense 20th-century action-adventure adult -
![A Mighty Fortress by David Weber]()
A Mighty Fortress by David Weber
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsYoung Cayleb Ahrmahk has accomplished things few people could even dream of. Not yet even thirty years old, he’s won the most crushing naval victories in human history. He’s smashed a hostile alliance of no less than five princedoms and won the hand of the beautiful young Queen Sharleyan of Chisholm... -
![By Schism Rent Asunder by David Weber]()
By Schism Rent Asunder by David Weber
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe world has changed. The mercantile kingdom of Charis has prevailed over the alliance designed to exterminate it. Armed with better sailing vessels, better guns and better devices of all sorts, Charis faced the combined navies of the rest of the world at Darcos Sound and Armageddon Reef, and broke them... -
![The Borders of Infinity by Lois McMaster Bujold]()
The Borders of Infinity by Lois McMaster Bujold
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsOn a rescue mission gone wrong, Miles Vorkosigan is captured by the enemy Cetagandans and thrown into a dome-shaped prisoner of war camp that seems a literal Circle of Hell. Against impossible odds, Miles organizes thousands of angry and dispirited prisoners into military formation that may offer the only chance for escape... -
![The Naked God by Peter F. Hamilton]()
The Naked God by Peter F. Hamilton
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsThe Confederation is starting to collapse politically and economically, allowing the 'possessed' to infiltrate more worlds. Quinn Dexter is loose on Earth, destroying the giant arcologies one at a time. As Louise Kavanagh tries to track him down, she manages to acquire some strange and powerful allies whose goal doesn't quite match her own... -
![The Uplift War by David Brin]()
The Uplift War by David Brin
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThis is the third book in the Uplift series. Humanity has contacted their Patron Line and uplifted chimpanzees and dolphins to full partnership. But on a distant planet occupied by Earth humans and neo-chimps, it seems the chimps have information concerning the location of the Progenitors... -
![The Short Victorious War by David Weber]()
The Short Victorious War by David Weber
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsThe proles are revolting.The families who rule the People's Republic of Haven are in trouble. The treasury's empty, the Proles are restless, and civil war is imminent.But the ruling class knows what they need to keep in power; another short, victorious war to unite the people and fill the treasury once more... -
![A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge]()
A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsAlternate Cover Edition can be found here. A Fire upon the Deep is the big, breakout book that fulfills the promise of Vinge's career to date: a gripping tale of galactic war told on a cosmic scale... -
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![Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein]()
Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 46 ratingsIn one of Robert Heinlein's most controversial bestsellers, a recruit of the future goes through the toughest boot camp in the Universe--and into battle with the Terran Mobile Infantry against mankind's most frightening enemy...Categorized as:
aliens first-contact invasion military space-opera war 20th-century action-adventure -
![The Butcher's Bill by David Drake]()
The Butcher's Bill by David Drake
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThey were the best mercenaries in the galaxy. They were Hammer's Slammers! The Butcher's Bill contains a novel, two novellas, four short stories, and a new novelette written for the collection, in addition to an Introduction by the author... -
![Bolo by Keith Laumer]()
Bolo by Keith Laumer
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsBolo. Originally developed as far back as the 1980's by the Bolo Division of General Motors, these great artillery machines took on awareness in later designs and gradually began to replace man in that most human of endeavors: War.But let Bolo speak for itself... -
![Dorsai! by Gordon R. Dickson]()
Dorsai! by Gordon R. Dickson
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsaka The Genetic GeneralThroughout the Fourteen Worlds of humanity, no race is as feared and respected as the Dorsai. The ultimate warriors, they are known for their deadly rages, unbreakable honor, and fierce independence. No man rules the Dorsai, but their mastery of the art of war has made them the most valuable mercenaries in the known universe...Categorized as:
military space-fleet space-opera war 20th-century action-adventure adult anthologies -
![The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton]()
The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsIn AD 2600 the human race is finally beginning to realize its full potential. Hundreds of colonized planets scattered across the galaxy host a multitude of prosperous and wildly diverse cultures. Genetic engineering has pushed evolution far beyond nature's boundaries, defeating disease and producing extraordinary spaceborn creatures... -
![Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle]()
Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsTHE LUCKY ONES WENT FIRST…The gigantic comet has slammed into Earth, forging earthquakes a thousand times too powerful to measure on the Richter scale, tidal waves thousands of feet high. Cities were turned into oceans; oceans turned into steam... -
![On Silver Wings by Evan Currie]()
On Silver Wings by Evan Currie
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsIn the future, mankind has colonized other worlds, mined asteroid belts, and sent ships so far into the blackness of space that light from their drives won't reach Earth for centuries. Through it all, life has been found in almost every system we visited and yet we've never encountered another intelligent species.Until now... -
![On Basilisk Station by David Weber]()
On Basilisk Station by David Weber
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsHonor Harrington in trouble: Having made him look the fool, she's been exiled to Basilisk Station in disgrace and set up for ruin by a superior who hates her. Her demoralized crew blames her for their ship's humiliating posting to an out-of-the-way picket station. The aborigines of the system's only habitable planet are smoking homicide-inducing hallucinogens... -
![Ilium by Dan Simmons]()
Ilium by Dan Simmons
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsThe Trojan War rages at the foot of Olympos Mons on Mars—observed and influenced from on high by Zeus and his immortal family—and twenty-first-century professor Thomas Hockenberry is there to play a role in the insidious private wars of vengeful gods and goddesses... -
![The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester, Neil Gaiman]()
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester, Neil Gaiman
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 34 ratingsIn this pulse-quickening novel, Alfred Bester imagines a future in which people "jaunte" a thousand miles with a single thought, where the rich barricade themselves in labyrinths and protect themselves with radioactive hitmen—and where an inarticulate outcast is the most valuable and dangerous man alive... -
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![The Pride of Chanur by C.J. Cherryh]()
The Pride of Chanur by C.J. Cherryh
Rated: 3.95 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsNo one at Meetpoint Station had ever seen a creature like the Outsider. Naked-hided, blunt toothed and blunt-fingered, Tully was the sole surviving member of his company -- a communicative, spacefaring species hitherto unknown -- and he was a prisoner of his discoverer/ captors the sadistic, treacherous kif, until his escape onto the hani ship The Pride of Chanur...Categorized as:
aliens female-mc first-contact invasion space-opera suspense 20th-century action-adventure -
![Fisherman's Hope by David Feintuch]()
Fisherman's Hope by David Feintuch
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsNewly appointed Naval Commandant Nicholas Seafort's past unexpectedly catches up with him when an evil politician blackmails him into giving up his commission. But then an alien attack revives Nick's career, and soon he will lead Earth's defenses against annihilation. Alone at the center of a cosmic apocalypses, Nick will face his most challenging battle... -
![Startide Rising by David Brin]()
Startide Rising by David Brin
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsDavid Brin's Uplift novels are among the most thrilling and extraordinary science fiction ever written. Sundiver, Startide Rising, and The Uplift War--a New York Times bestseller--together make up one of the most beloved sagas of all time. Brin's tales are set in a future universe in which no species can reach sentience without being "uplifted" by a patron race...Categorized as:
aliens first-contact invasion military space-opera war 20th-century action-adventure -
![Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson]()
Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe red planet is red no longer, as Mars has become a perfectly inhabitable world. But while Mars flourishes, Earth is threatened by overpopulation and ecological disaster. Soon people look to Mars as a refuge, initiating a possible interplanetary conflict, as well as political strife between the Reds, who wish to preserve the planet in its desert state, and the Green "terraformers"... -
![The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson by Kim Stanley Robinson, Jonathan Strahan]()
The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson by Kim Stanley Robinson, Jonathan Strahan
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAdventurers, scientists, artists, workers, and visionaries — these are the men and women you will encounter in the short fiction of Kim Stanley Robinson...Categorized as:
aliens colonization first-contact invasion military space-fleet action-adventure adult -
![Eden by Stanisław Lem]()
Eden by Stanisław Lem
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsA six-man crew crash-lands on Eden, fourth planet from another sun. The men find a strange world that grows ever stranger, and everywhere there are images of death. The crew's attempt to communicate with this civilization leads to violence and to a cruel truth-cruel precisely because it is so human. Translated by Marc E. Heine...Categorized as:
aliens colonization first-contact invasion 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook -
![Olympos by Dan Simmons]()
Olympos by Dan Simmons
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsLibrarian's Note: Alternate Edition with same isbn & isbn 13: January 2011THE EXTRAORDINARY AND MAGNIFICENT EPIC CONCLUSION TO THE HUGO AWARD-NOMINATED ILIUMBeneath the gaze of the gods, the mighty armies of Greece and Troy met in fierce and glorious combat, scrupulously following the text set forth in Homer's timeless narrative, but that was before twenty-first century scholar Thomas... -
![Midshipman's Hope by David Feintuch]()
Midshipman's Hope by David Feintuch
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsDavid Feintuch’s acclaimed Seafort Saga begins as Nicholas Seafort sets off on an interstellar naval adventure he will never forget In the year 2194, seventeen-year-old Nicholas Seafort is assigned to the Hibernia as a lowly midshipman. Destination: the thriving colony of Hope Nation...Categorized as:
aliens colonization military space-fleet space-opera war 20th-century action-adventure -
![Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson]()
Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsIn the Nebula Award winning Red Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson began his critically acclaimed epic saga of the colonization of Mars, Now the Hugo Award winning Green Mars continues the thrilling and timeless tale of humanity's struggle to survive at its farthest frontier... -
![Prisoner's Hope by David Feintuch]()
Prisoner's Hope by David Feintuch
Rated: 3.86 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsRecovering from injuries at Hope Nation, Captain Nicholas Seafort is appointed liaison to the wealthy planters of the verdant colony planet and finds himself called upon to halt a revolution and rally his people against alien invaders... -
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![Mindstar Rising by Peter F. Hamilton]()
Mindstar Rising by Peter F. Hamilton
Rated: 3.84 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsGreg Mandel, late of the Mindstar Battalion, has been many things in his life. Commando. Freedom fighter. Assassin. Now he's a freelance operative with a very special edge: telepathy. In the high-tech, hard-edged world of computer crime, zero-gravity smuggling, and artificial intelligence, Greg Mandel is the man to call when things get rough... -
![The Puppet Masters by Robert A. Heinlein]()
The Puppet Masters by Robert A. Heinlein
Rated: 3.86 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsFirst came the news that a flying saucer had landed in Iowa. Then came the announcement that the whole thing was a hoax. End of story. Case closed.Except that two agents of the most secret intelligence agency in the U.S. government were on the scene and disappeared without reporting back. Then four more follow up agents also disappeared...Categorized as:
aliens first-contact invasion space-opera war 20th-century action-adventure audiobook -
![The Best Military Science Fiction of the 20th Century by Harry Turtledove, George R.R. Martin]()
The Best Military Science Fiction of the 20th Century by Harry Turtledove, George R.R. Martin
Rated: 3.75 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsExplosive and provocative battles fought across the boundaries of time and space--and on the frontiers of the human mind.Science fiction's finest have yielded this definitive collection featuring stories of warfare, victory, conquest, heroism, and overwhelming odds. These are scenarios few have ever dared to contemplate, and they include: ¸ "Superiority": Arthur C... -
![Moving Mars by Greg Bear]()
Moving Mars by Greg Bear
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsMoving Mars is a story of human courage and love set within the greater saga of a planetary liberation movement. Mars is a colonial world, governed by corporate interests on Earth. The citizens of Mars are hardworking, but held back by their lack of access to the best education, and the desire of the Earthly powers to keep the best new inventions for themselves...Categorized as:
colonization military space-opera 20th-century action-adventure adult audiobook book -
![Last Human by Doug Naylor]()
Last Human by Doug Naylor
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsLister gazed out of the porthole and catalogue the series of disasters that had led him to this point in space and time: the bad decisions, the poor career choices, the unreliable friendships that had led him here - on a prison ship bound for the most inhospitable penal colony in the outer cosmos... and all he'd ever wanted was to be a soft metal guitar icon... -
![Have Space Suit—Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlein]()
Have Space Suit—Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlein
Rated: 3.85 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsKip from midwest Centerville USA works the summer before college as a pharmacy soda jerk, and wins an authentic stripped-down spacesuit in a soap contest. He answers a distress radio call from Peewee, scrawny rag doll-clutching genius aged 11. With the comforting cop Mother Thing, three-eyed tripod Wormfaces kidnap them to the Moon and Pluto...
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