The Forever War

Ender's Shadow

Orson Scott Card1999

A genetically engineered street urchin joins a space-based military academy. He navigates the same events as Ender Wiggin from a new perspective.

sardonic → propulsive, still military sci-fi

pace0·prose0·bleak0

Orphanage

Robert Buettner2004

After aliens attack Earth from Ganymede, a young orphan joins a desperate military mission to invade Jupiter's moon using improvised technology.

sardonic → earnest, still military sci-fi

pace0·prose0·bleak0

The Outback Stars

Sandra McDonald2007

A lieutenant investigates a series of accidents on a spaceship using a mysterious alien transport system. It is a military mystery.

Same sardonic register, still military sci-fi

pace0·prose0·bleak0

War Dogs

Greg Bear2014

Soldiers are deployed to Mars to fight an alien threat on behalf of another species. The narrator recounts the mission from a hospital bed.

sardonic → tense, still military sci-fi

pace0·prose0·bleak+1

Nova Express

William S. Burroughs1964

An experimental narrative uses the cut-up technique to depict a war between intergalactic criminals and the police. It is a collage of imagery.

Same sardonic register

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

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.

sardonic → dreamlike

pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

Phule's Company

Robert Lynn Asprin1990

A wealthy captain is court-martialed and sent to lead a group of military misfits on a remote frontier planet.

sardonic → playful, still military sci-fi

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

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.

sardonic → earnest, still military sci-fi

pace0·prose-1·bleak-1

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·bleak+1

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·bleak+1

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.

sardonic → dreamlike

pace-2·prose+2·bleak+1

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.

sardonic → meditative

pace-2·prose+2·bleak0

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.

sardonic → bleak, still military sci-fi

pace0·prose0·bleak+2

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.

sardonic → propulsive, still military sci-fi

pace0·prose+1·bleak+2