Ghosts of Onyx (Halo)

The Ghost Brigades

John Scalzi2006

Soldiers grown from the DNA of the dead hunt a traitorous scientist across the galaxy. It follows a new recruit with an inherited consciousness.

Same propulsive register, still military sci-fi

pace0·prose0·bleak-1

Valor's Choice

Tanya Huff2000

A staff sergeant leads a diplomatic mission that turns into a desperate defensive stand against an alien swarm.

Same propulsive register, still military sci-fi

pace0·prose0·bleak-1

On My Way to Paradise

Dave Wolverton1989

A pharmacist in a future Panama joins a mercenary army to pay for his escape from a war-torn Earth.

propulsive → bleak, still military sci-fi

pace0·prose0·bleak0

Light Bringer

Pierce Brown2023

Darrow is stranded and defeated after a major loss. He must rebuild his forces and return to Mars to stop Lysander from restoring Gold supremacy.

Same propulsive register, still military sci-fi

pace0·prose0·bleak0

Dhalgren

Samuel R. Delany1975

An amnesiac wanderer enters Bellona, a city cut off from the world where time and geography shift. He joins a gang and writes poetry.

propulsive → dreamlike

pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

Too Like the Lightning

Ada Palmer2016

In a 25th-century utopia, a convict narrates the discovery of a boy who can perform miracles. The prose uses 18th-century styles and gender terms.

propulsive → sardonic

pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

A Galaxy Unknown

Thomas DePrima2010

An ensign uses her tactical skills to rise through the ranks of a space navy while fighting pirates and internal bureaucracy.

propulsive → earnest, still military sci-fi

pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

The Longest Ride

Nicholas Sparks2013

An elderly man trapped in a car crash remembers his late wife while a young couple's romance develops nearby.

propulsive → tender

pace-1·prose-1·bleak-2

Hell Divers

Nicholas Sansbury Smith2016

Skydivers jump from massive airships to a ruined Earth to scavenge parts for humanity's survival. One team is stranded in a hostile zone.

pace+1·prose-1·bleak0

Lines of Departure

Marko Kloos2014

An officer fights an interstellar war against alien giants while Earth collapses into poverty. It follows military campaigns across space.

pace+1·prose0·bleak0

Dhalgren

Samuel R. Delany1975

An amnesiac wanderer enters Bellona, a city cut off from the world where time and geography shift. He joins a gang and writes poetry.

propulsive → dreamlike

pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

Invisible Cities

Italo Calvino1972

Marco Polo describes fifty-five imaginary cities to Kublai Khan. The book is a series of short, prose-poem meditations on urban existence.

propulsive → meditative

pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

Kaleidoscope Century

John Barnes1995

A mercenary wakes every ten years to a new body and a changing world. He uncovers his own history of atrocities across the 21st century.

propulsive → bleak, still military sci-fi

pace0·prose0·bleak+1

Dark Age

Pierce Brown2019

An outlawed revolutionary fights a losing war on Mercury while an exiled heir attempts to reclaim a space empire. It is a violent military epic.

Same propulsive register, still military sci-fi

pace0·prose+1·bleak+1