Top 15 Best Military SciFi Series (Ranked!)

my top 15 military science fiction book series ranked! Remember this is SERIES only. Was your favorite on here? Hope you enjoy.

#scifibooks #military #booktube
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CHAPTERS:
00:00 - intro
00:42 - what is milSF
01:37 - ranking system
02:18 - private
08:45 - corporal
12:15 - lieutenant
18:50 - major
24:19 - cadet
25:40 - honorable mention ROTC
27:47 - general
33:48 - outro

[JimBro]

I was so pleased to see Ringo's Posleen series make the cut. It's a favorite of mine which usually is overlooked. Earned you a subscriber, too!

[johnbast]

No Jerry Pournelle (The Mercenary) or David Drake (Hammer's Slammers and others)? Otherwise, great video, you've introduced me to a couple of series I didn't know about.

[ironjade]

Many of David Drake's books are available from Amazon so they can't be that hard to find. I'm amazed that he doesn't appear on your list. His RCN and Hammer's Slammers books, inspired by C. S. Forester and Patrick O'Brian, are great fun.

[calebcox]

My favorite is the Childe Cycle (aka Dorsai series) by Gordon R. Dickson. These focus more on strategy and tactics from a commander's point of view rather than a foot soldier. Some of the books might not strictly fit the definition here (e.g. one book's main character is a war correspondent rather than a member of the military), but I really enjoy them and I think they're very much worth checking out.

[warhawke]

The Sten Chronicles by Alan Cole and Chris Bunch, Starfire series by Steve White and Dave Weber, Empire of Man series by John Ringo and David Weber might qualify as Prince Roger is technically in the military. Starwolf series by Edmond Hamilton.

[mikebiorn]

Berserker, BOLO, Expanse, Hammer’s Slammers, Armor

[michaelshostak]

I enjoyed David Drake's DAHAK series. Only 3 books but very readable: MUTINEER"S MOON, THE ARMAGGEDON INHERITANCE, and HEIRS OF EMPIRE. Again, very enjoyable, and I'm re-reading them now.

[clarksmith]

For fun, may I suggest “Phule’s Company” side splitting sf military.

[dougsundseth]

Series I would recommend:

RCN, David Drake
Honor Harrington, David Weber
Starfire, Weber & Steve White
Empire of Man, Weber & John Ringo
Janissaries, Jerry Pournelle
The General, S.M. Stirling & Drake
Childe Cycle, Gordon Dickson
Frontlines, Marko Kloos
Commodore Grimes, A. Bertram Chandler
Falkenberg's Legion, Pournelle
Lost Regiment, William Forstchen
Vorkosigan, Lois McMaster Bujold
Hammer's Slammers, David Drake
Seafort, David Feintuch
D'Shai, Joel Rosenberg
Dirigent Mercenary Corps, Rick Shelley
Empire's Corps, Christopher Nuttall
Vatta's War, Elizabeth Moon - Note that by the end of the series, Kylara Vatta is running a military force, so I do consider it Mil SF.

Honorable Mention
Lensman, E.E. Smith - I'm too old to find this interesting anymore, but when I read this as a teen, it was amazing.

I wouldn't consider Ender's Game to be a Mil SF series, since only the first book is Military SF.

[taun]

For your consideration:
H. Beam Piper's "Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen" continued by John F. Carr - "Great Kings War", "Kalvan Kingmakerr", "Siege of Tarr-Hostigos", "The Fireseed War", "GunPowder God", "The Hos-Blethan Affair" and "Down Styphon". While it is set in a Musket and pike level civilization, it has strong Sci-Fi overtones.

Jerry Pourrnelle's "Janissaries" series. (Janisaries, Clan And Crown, Storms of Victory and Mamelukes (started by Jerry Pourrnelle, finished by David Weber and Philip Pournelle)

[paulblase]

I had to binge read The Expeditionary Force series. Alanson has the best depictions of military tactics and space combat ever. His related series of the Mavericks is also very good.

[maxturgeon]

One more comment! I really appreciate how you take time at the beginning of your videos to set up the parameters/criteria behind your lists. It's really helpful!

[TheLibraryChamber]

Keith Laumer's Bolo and subsequent Chronicles of the Dinochrome Brigade is an essential reading for Sci-Fi ground warfare.

[erbernaljr]

Great recommendations, there are a few I haven't heard of and will definitely check them out. I recently finished the "Empire of Man" series by David Weber and John Ringo. Four books, very entertaining, but simultaneously too long and too short. The main character is royalty, so he has entire regiment who are his body guard, has no real military experience to speak of despite, being their commanding officer. Well written, very original, good character development, and imperial politicking and backstabbing.

[DrVesuvius]

Skippy The Magnificent would like a word about your description of the Expeditionary Force series that focussed on that dum-dum Joe and the smelly monkeys instead of the real star of the series. Exoforce managed to be a hilarious read while still taking the perils of the plot seriously, because the humour comes from the characters rather than being gratuitous.

[mormengil]

One military scifi series I cannot recommend enough is the Gaunt's Ghosts series by Dan Abnett. Yes it takes place in the warhammer 40k universe, but instead of focusing on space marines and other superhuman beings, it focuses down to the common grunts, the imperial guard, and specifically a half formed regiment and it's misadventures in decades of war in the Sabbat Worlds crusade. It stars off slow, and takes a bit to ramp up, but by necropolis it has become amazing, and later books are constantly ramping up in quality. I loved this series so much. There is also a long game played by Abnett, where he plants some stuff very very early on, and it comes into play many books later, and it hits like a dumb truck. A couple of incidents broke me completely, and I was literally in tears.

Very fun series, and I highly recommend it.

[PeterNebelung]

Posleen wars Hymn before battle has plot holes? Such as? I've read it 3x now and found it flowed quite nicely, and didn't leave any blanks to wonder about. I've read the entire series, and wish Ringo would do more of them. It drops you off a cliff at the end.

[dalejones]

This is a spectacular video. The editing was superb. All the funny inserts were great. The list of books is absolutely insane. I could have put them all on my To Be Bought list but I limited it to 9 of the 15. Thanks so much for all the hard work you put into this video

[sullyway]

I would add to your list the following, Gordon Dickson's DORSAI series, Taylor Andersen's Destroyermen series, Eric Flint's Ring of Fire series and William R. Forstchen's Rally Cry: The Lost Regiment . I would further add Saberhagen's Berserker series, David Drake's Hammer's Slammers and Keith Laumer's BOLO series. Oh and as a USAF Veteran i can say that most servicemen will agree that a soldiers life is 90% boredom ho-hum and 10% SHEER OH! I almost forgot this one. Horseclans by Robert Adams it is set in the future, 11 books, passed away in 1991.

[sched]

what do you think of company wars serie of C.J.Cherryh (Downbelow station, Merchanter's Luck, Rimrunners, etc...) ? I loved it as the space battle were exceptionaly realistic