Books like 'The Year's Best Science Fiction, Volume 2: The Saga Anthology of Science Fiction 2021'
Readers who enjoyed The Year's Best Science Fiction, Volume 2: The Saga Anthology of Science Fiction 2021 by Jonathan Strahan also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
sc-fi hard sci-fi military, war & conflict steamy ai cyberpunk literary-fiction soldiers space-opera military
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A Hop, Skip and a Jump by Mackey Chandler
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsLee has a lot going for her, tons of money, true friends who will stand by her, an unexpected bonus of extended life from advanced medial treatments, and a start at unraveling some of the pesky secrets in the stars. But there is so much to do to take advantage of all these opportunities that she's overwhelmed. Keeping all they've gained may not be easy... -
Battle for New Canaan - The Orion War Books 1-3 by M.D. Cooper
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratings***The drums of war thunder across the stars...***The final negotiations between the Silstrand Alliance and the Scipian Empire are complete, and it's time for Tanis and Sera to part ways. Sera must return to Khardine, where new challenges await, and preprations for the march on Airtha begin. Meanwhile Tanis turns toward the Praesepe Cluster... -
Edge World by B.V. Larson
Rated: 4.48 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsA lonely planet circles a star on the very border of Province 921. Critical resources produced there are claimed by both the Mogwa and the Skay. War between the Galactic giants becomes more likely every day.James McGill and Legion Varus are deployed to protect Edge World, a planet that rotates at a walking pace. Each day is as long as a year back on Earth... -
Rescue The Princess by John Hindmarsh
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsJack suffered from an attack by the Blue Caps. He sued the RSN and won. He also sued the Royal Family and won. Now he’s acquired his own warship and his first mission is to rescue the princess.What? Yes, Sofia is missing. The Queen has taken an intense dislike to her daughter’s ambitions and Sofia has disappeared. Jack sets out to rescue her with the assistance of Black Company marines... -
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Destroyer by Joshua Dalzelle
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsA relentless enemy… An old wolf's last hunt… The future of two species hanging in the balance… The Darshik war machine is flagging, but the war is far from over. Even as an exhausted Federation military tenses up for a counterattack after repelling the last Darshik invasion, reports are coming in of a new, more powerful class of ship that's striking deep into Terran space... -
Secret of the Phoenix by Joshua Dalzelle
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsCaptain Jason Burke has begun to suspect that the random attacks on his ship and crew over the last couple of years may not be so random after all. Evidence is mounting that there is something on the Phoenix ... something that powerful factions will stop at nothing to get their hands on... -
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 15: Pursuit by Randolph Lalonde
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAlice Valent, Noah "Carnie" Lucas and the crew of the Clever Dream are delving into the galactic underworld in search of resistance groups and Mary Reed, an elusive leader amongst the rebels... -
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 11: Revenge by Randolph Lalonde
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAlice's career moves on to the next phase in Haven Fleet, sending her into real action and real danger. All the while she wonders where her father, Jacob Valent and his ship, the Revenge, have gone. If only she knew her father is busy taking an opportunity to strike the Order of Eden behind the front lines, slowing their journey home while taking a big risk for a big reward along the way... -
In Fury Born by David Weber
Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsImperial Intelligence couldn't find them, the Imperial Fleet couldn't catch them, and local defenses couldn't stop them. It seemed the planet-wrecking pirates were invincible. But they made a big mistake when they raided ex-commando leader Alicia DeVries' quiet home work, tortured and murdered her family, and then left her for dead... -
Breakaway by Craig Alanson, R.C. Bray
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe Expeditionary Force saga continues with Breakaway, the eagerly awaited sequel to number-one Audible-ranked and New York Times best-selling Brushfire, from an epic sci-fi writer at the top of his game. Join the millions of listeners who have enjoyed R.C. Bray’s hilarious portrayal of Joe, Skippy, The Merry Band of Pirates and so many other unforgettable characters... -
Smuggler's Dilemma by Jamie McFarlane
Rated: 4.41 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsThere’s guerrilla warfare in the main asteroid belt. The Red Houzi pirates have launched a deadly campaign, sacking defenseless mining colonies and then vanishing into the deep dark of space. No one can predict where or when they will show up next, not even the great Mars Protectorate Navy... -
It's Always Something by Mackey Chandler
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsHome is a nice place to live. If only so many people didn't think so. The influx has driven housing prices past anything reasonable. The Homies and their lunar allies have made sure they won't starve if Earth cuts them off, but they want to do much more than just survive. April and her friends are prospering, and working to make everyone else succeeds too. But Earth is still in turmoil... -
Allora by S.H. Jucha
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsUntil the Confederation created Allora, it had produced SADEs (self-aware digital entities) for hundreds of years with enormous consistency and harnessed their capabilities to power the society. But this particular, young SADE was disturbed by her confinement... -
Haraken by S.H. Jucha
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsNine years of tranquility came to an abrupt end when a Méridien starship entered the Hellébore system, sounding a dire warning for Alex Racine, the Haraken president. Unwanted visitors had arrived again. But this time, they’re not alien; they’re human... -
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De Oppresso Liber by Evan Currie
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe war may be over, but the fighting continues as SOLCOM learns of an excursion by the Ross'El against an unaffiliated pre-space civilization in the no man's land between Earth and the Alien Alliance. With always more questions than answers, SOLCOM dispatches a ship to quietly survey the situation and determine what, if any, course of action is best... -
Open Arms by Evan Currie
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWith the war officially over, and years of fighting weighing on her, Sorilla has officially put in her papers and called in every chit she's owed. It's time to hang up her power armor, lay down her rifle, and try to build something for herself rather than for other people. The War, however, is only over when the powers that be say it is... -
The War Ship: Rise of the Jain, Book Two by Neal Asher
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsTheir nemesis lies in wait . . . Orlandine has destroyed the alien Jain super-soldier by deploying an actual black hole. And now that same weapon hoovers up clouds of lethal Jain technology, swarming within the deadly accretion disc’s event horizon. All seems just as she planned. Yet behind her back, forces incite rebellion on her home world, planning her assassination... -
Defiance by Joel Shepherd
Rated: 4.37 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsThe UFS Phoenix is hunting for the long-lost drysine data-core. Within it lie the secrets to saving humanity from the resurgent deepynine machine-race. To recover it, Captain Erik Debogande must work together with the man who holds his sister hostage — the power-hungry parren leader Aristan. Aristan has sworn he will return Lisbeth Debogande once Phoenix grants him equal access to its prize... -
New Frontiers by Joshua Dalzelle
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe Black Fleet story continues... The Phage War had been a devastating conflict for the Terran Confederacy. Even with the destruction of their terrifying, implacable foe, humanity is still reeling. Political alliances are crumbling and their mighty fleet is in tatters. There is nothing to celebrate, even after such a complete victory.They soon learn that there are other stellar neighbors .. -
The Technician by Neal Asher
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe Theocracy has been dead for 20 years, and the Polity rules on Masada. But the Tidy Squad consists of rebels who cannot accept the new order. Their hate for surviving theocrats is undiminished, and the iconic Jeremiah Tombs is at the top of their hitlist... -
Tactics of Mistake by Gordon R. Dickson
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIt's obvious that Cletus Graeme--limping, mild-mannered scholarly--doesn't belong on a battling field, but instead at a desk working on his fourth book on battle strategy and tactics. But Bakhalla has more battlefields than libraries, and Graeme sees his small force of Dorsai--soldiers of fortune--as the perfect opportunity to test his theories... -
Sol by S.H. Jucha
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsSol’s warships paid the ultimate price for threatening the Haraken and New Terran worlds. Now, Haraken President Alex Racine and his Méridien partner, Renée de Guirnon, are engaged in a desperate gamble to stop a war between their worlds and United Earth’s (UE) massive forces before it starts... -
Rando Splicer by Joel Shepherd
Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsSeparated from her ship, Major Trace Thakur is stranded on the reeh-occupied world of Rando. The native corbi have suffered beneath reeh tyranny for 800 years, and many have given up hope... -
Polity Agent by Neal Asher
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom eight hundred years in the future, a runcible gate is opened into the Polity and those coming through it have been sent specially to take the alien maker back to its home civilization in the Small Magellanic cloud. Once these refugees are safely through, the gate itself is rapidly shut downbecause something alien is pursuing them. The gate is then dumped into a nearby sun... -
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Rika Commander by M.D. Cooper
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsRika returns to the Albany System, to defend it from Nietzschea once more... -
Enemies & Allies by Rick Partlow
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe war is over and Andy Clanton is ready to live happily ever after.Space Force has other ideas.Recruited to follow the last signal of the mysterious Elders to a system halfway across the galaxy, Andy joins the crew of the James Bowie for another adventure into the unknown... -
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 12: Invasion by Randolph Lalonde
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAll signs point to a looming invasion. The Edxi, an intelligent insect race, will lead the charge as they attempt to take the Tamber moon and the worlds around it to hatch their broods and create a new strategic foothold in the Milky Way. The entire fleet is rushing to make last minute preparations as Alice is forced to take a short relaxation leave to recover from recent events... -
Quantum Escape by Joe Kuster
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsCovalent Technology’s unveiling of the next generation of Mesh caused ripples felt worldwide. In one move, Alex and Sophie not only launched their latest money-making scheme but also their opening salvo in their war against the rogue AI that stands to destroy all those that might oppose it. Such a thing was always bound to attract attention... -
The Complete Hammer's Slammers Volume 3 by David Drake
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWith a veteran ’s eye for the harsh and gritty details of war, David Drake depicts a futuristic analog of Vietnam-era tank combat in his Hammer’s Slammers fiction. Upon this tactical foundation, Drake uses historical metaphor to provide a rich and detailed future-history that is both unique and strangely familiar...Categorized as:
military soldiers space-opera action-adventure adult anthologies fiction hard-sci-fi -
The Long-Range War by Christopher G. Nuttall
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe gloves have finally come off ... The Tokomak, the unquestioned masters of the galaxy, have dispatched a massive fleet to crush the Solar Union - and the fledgling Galactic Alliance - before the human race and its alien allies can tear the galactic order asunder. Hundreds of thousands of starships under the command of an alien tactical genius, bent on exterminating the entire human race .. -
And What Goes Around by Mackey Chandler
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe nation of Home and their ally Central seems to have bought some safety by moving Mitsubishi 3 from Low Earth Orbit to a halo orbit around L2 beyond the moon. It has added expenses, but it has unexpected advantages too, when Earth has its own problems. A little extra distance works just fine... -
Been There, Done That by Mackey Chandler
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsApril and her partners Jeff and Heather have a secret. They’ve been to another star, and are sending a crew to a couple more close-by stars. The Earthies have tried to do this already, and failed. The Three have just a hair better technology, and with a little luck and April’s good sense, managed not to kill themselves right away... -
Armor World by B.V. Larson
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsIn a twist of fate that rocks the Galactic Empire, James McGill finds himself negotiating the future of a thousand inhabited worlds. An artificial object made of compressed stardust is barreling toward Earth. Is it an invasion ship? A doomsday weapon? Perhaps it’s the final response of Squanto, the Warlord of Rigel who McGill has repeatedly humiliated... -
Savage Homecoming by Joshua Dalzelle
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsEver since he joined Omega Force, Captain Jason Burke has lived with the underlying fear that one day Earth would be discovered. His desire to keep Earth’s existence and location a secret has driven him to extremes, and kept him far away from his homeworld for a long time.But now Jason’s greatest fear is realized, and a fleet of alien ships has attacked his planet... -
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New Canaan by M.D. Cooper
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsTanis Richards has spent half her life on the Intrepid, guiding the great colony ship, and its two million passengers, across hundreds of light-years. She has risked life, limb and those dearest to her to get this far. Now she’s within reach of her goal; the New Canaan System, and a normal, stable life. The kind she's only dreamed about... -
Title Fight by Scott Sigler, Matt Wallace
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsParsec Award-winning author Matt Wallace and New York Times best-selling novelist Scott Sigler team up to bring you TITLE FIGHT, a strange and brutal tale that combines science fiction with mixed martial arts (MMA).Set in the universe used for Sigler’s books THE ROOKIE and THE STARTER, TITLE FIGHT is MMA cage fighting in the far future, where augmented sentients often battle to the death... -
Croma Venture by Joel Shepherd
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsUpon the ancient drysine moon/city of Defiance, the UFS Phoenix is being rebuilt, but her crew cannot do so in peace. Parren factions jostle for control of not only Defiance, but of the drysine data-core that Phoenix won at such an awful price. But the parren do not lay sole claim to that ancient knowledge, and within the bowels of the machine-city, something long-dead is awakening... -
Destiny Lost by M.D. Cooper
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsSera leads a simple life. A little smuggling, some drinking contests, and captaining her star freighter, Sabrina. But when she picks up a mysterious shipping container on Coburn Station, things begin to go wrong. She finds herself at odds with The Mark, a dangerous pirate organization that wants the cargo on her ship... -
"Star Wars" Encyclopedia by Stephen J. Sansweet
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFeaturing an introduction by Star Wars novelist Timothy Zahn, this deluxe, hardcover encyclopedia covers everything having to do with the film and its characters, sequels, production, special effects, computer games, and the like, and includes full-color illustrations. Reissue...Categorized as:
military space-opera book children-books fiction hard-sci-fi male-author violent-conflict -
First Strike by Raymond L. Weil
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe cryosleep chambers are beginning to fail. Surveillance of Hocklyn space has revealed that the Hocklyns are thirty years ahead of their projected schedule and will soon reach human occupied space. War could break out any day if something isn't done... -
Valkyrie Burning by Evan Currie
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsThe war that began on Hayden's World years ago has blossomed into a brawl across the stars, and yet that single and otherwise largely unimportant colony continues to be a central point in the conflagration. Human forces have pushed outward, now taking enemy worlds in response to the attacks on their own, but they don't have the numbers or the power to hold what they take... -
Kantovan Vault by Joel Shepherd
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe UFS Phoenix is on a mission to find a lost data-core that may contain the secret to defeating the alo-deepynine alliance. But the means to find the data-core is hidden deep in tavalai space, in a highest-security vault where the tavalai's manipulative State Department keep all their most treacherous secrets. To recover it, Phoenix must pull off the most daring heist the Spiral has ever seen... -
The Human by Neal Asher
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA warship is laying waste to the galaxy, making for unexpected allies in the face of incredible acts of war. This is the high-octane conclusion to Neal Asher's Rise of the Jain trilogy.An entire galaxy hangs in the balance.A Jain warship has risen from the depths of space, emerging with a deadly grudge and a wealth of ancient yet lethal technology... -
Qalea Drop by Joel Shepherd
Rated: 4.47 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsThe UFS Phoenix embarks on a dangerous quest for the AI Ceephay Queen who rules at the heart of the Reeh Empire. For cover, Phoenix will use the enormous war being launched by the new rulers of the croma, Croma'Dokran, into reeh space... -
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Brass Man by Neal Asher
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIan Cormac, a legendary Earth Central Security agent, the James Bond of a wealthy future, is hunting an interstellar dragon, little knowing that, far away, his competition has resurrected an horrific killing machine named "Mr. Crane" to assist in a similar hunt, ecompassing whole star systems. Mr... -
Against a Dark Background by Iain M. Banks
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsShe came from one of the more disreputable aristocratic families.Sharrow was once the leader of a personality-attuned combat team in one of the sporadic little commercial wars in the civilization based around the planet Golter... -
Soldiers of Fortune by Joshua Dalzelle
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsAfter the daring rescue of a political dissident, Omega Force is contracted to investigate a rash of violent attacks on civilian shipping lanes within a group of star systems known as the Concordian Cluster... -
Lines of Departure by Marko Kloos
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsVicious interstellar conflict with an indestructible alien species. Bloody civil war over the last habitable zones of the cosmos. Political unrest, militaristic police forces, dire threats to the Solar System…Humanity is on the ropes, and after years of fighting a two-front war with losing odds, so is North American Defense Corps officer Andrew Grayson... -
Demon Star by B.V. Larson, David VanDyke
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsThree stars, three worlds, three civilizations…one massive war. In a triple star system, not all planets are equal. When the DEMON STAR swings closest in her orbit, the Insectoids always invade. They raid the inner worlds with grim regularity, riding hordes of stealthed ships in ever growing waves. Their mission is to destroy all opposition—alien, human or otherwise... -
The Vanguard Emerges by Michael Chatfield, Dawn Chapman
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsEarth and her colonies are not alone. Politics, discussions and alliances. Mark doesn’t care about any of it. When did it matters when the artillery falls and blood is spilled? All that matters is who stands beside you when blood is spilled and hell lays all around you. Centurion Victor, has a nice ring to it, Major Victor, Corporal Victor, Private Victor, his path has not been a short one...
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