Military History, War and Fantasy Books

Hi Guys,

One more book recomendation thread ! :slight_smile: I’m looking for some military stuff and some fanstasy books.

Military: Just read “Enemy at the Gates” and loved it… Amazon is sending me “Blackhawk Down” too. Suggestions for a good read ? Not to US patriotic BS please. Tired of Tom Clancy flag waving.

Fantasy: Reading the Ice and Fire Trilogy and its the best I have ever read. Loved “the Magician”… loved “Timeline”… love all David Gemmel stuff.

Thanks for any suggestions…

Ah! Another Gemmell fan. I congratulate you on your fine taste.

Let me suggest John Marco’s Tyrants and Kings series. It’s just amazing stuff. The books are: Jackal of Nar, The Grand Design, and Saints of the Sword. He has another series I haven’t read.

You might like Grunts!* by Mary Gentle. Orcs find a stash of Marine gear and take up the USMC lifestyle. It’s funny as hell.

If you don’t mind military fiction, try Gates of Fire by Stephen Pressfield. It’s about the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae holding off the Persians and he puts you right there on the ground with em. Brutal stuff.

If you don’t mind military Sci-Fi, I LOVED the “March…” series from David Weber and John Ringo, and I am not usually a sci-fi reader. They feel like a classic war movie, but with some cool futuristic gear. Those are: March Upcountry, March to the Sea, March to the Stars.

For some good military historical fiction, I highly recommend The Flashman Series by George MacDonald Fraser. A well researched overview of the British Empire (and world history) in the 19th Century… as told by a total scoundrel/cad/coward. Make sure you read the footnotes as you go along.

In a similar vein, The Bandy Papers by Donald Jack. Also a well researched (and often very funny) story of a naive Canadian boy’s experiences in the First World War and the Russian Revolution.

The Assyrian and The Blood Star by Nicholas Guild. The “autobiography” of an Assyrian prince. Some of the best historical novels I’ve ever read. A warning, though. The first book is available in paperback, but the second is not, and is extremely difficult to find. If there’s anyone out there who has a copy of The Blood Star that they’re willing to part with, please e-mail me!

These are just books in the genre I enjoyed and highly recommend, some may be difficult to track down though, and several aren’t exactly up to date but I like Cold War stuff personally…

Military:

“Arc Light” by Eric L. Harry - excellent best in its category in my opinion, World War Three where they don’t hold back on the nukes.

“Cauldon”+“Red Phoenix” or “Vortex” by Larry Bond - Clancy like but actually good.

“Storming Intrepid” or “Thunder of Erebus” by Payne Harrison

“Total War 2006” by Simon Pearson

“Red Army” by Ralph Peters

“All Quiet on the Western Front” by Erich Maria Remarque if you fancy a classic

Anything by Craig Thomas is worth a read but I have a soft spot for “Firefox” very different than the movie, “Snow Falcon” and “Winter Hawk” are also worth a try.

Ever read Tad Williams? Of all the legions of fantasy writers trying to ape Tolkien, he’s the one who comes closest to the source without descending into outright plagiarism. Check out The Dragonbone Chair. Good stuff.

I just read Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides, which was fascinating. It’s the story of some of the WWII US soldiers that were captured by Japan when the US surrendered the Phillippines. They ended up languishing in prison camps for years, largely forgotten by America. When the US returned to the Phillippines, the powers that be realized that they’d better rescue these soldiers before the Japanese killed them, and launched a rescue mission that would make an amazing movie. Well worth reading, IMHO.

What, no mention of the Hornblower series, by C.S. Forrester?

Read those before you read anything else. Start with Beat to Quarters, then Ship of the Line, and then Flying Colours. Then try to not read the rest of the series. You will not be able to stop.

Regards,
Shodan

Robert Frezza’s Suid Afrika books are a great look at military SF.
A Small Colonial War
Fire in a Far Away Place
Cain’s Land

I’m also enjoying the Belisarius series by David Drake and Erick Flint.
An Oblique Approach
In the Heart of Darkness
Shield of Destiny
Fortune’s Stroke
The Tide of Victory

Harry Turtledove also has any number of excellent books in this vein.

For different views on the social effects of military service it is fun to read Robert A. Heinlein’s Starship Troopers, followed by a couple of the more famous ‘rebuttals’: Harry Harrison’s, Bill, The Galactic Hero, and Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War. All three are good books, but you’ll be reminded of the blind men describing the elephant before you’re done. :smiley:

As for military history, Xenophon is very readable.

I second the Flashman suggestion, great fun there.

For military history try Anthony Beevors excellent books Stalingrad and Berlin. There are a number of good books around on the Eastern Front, the BBC’s War of the Century has some incredible interviews with survivors and is a good start.

Happy reading.

I third the Flashman suggestion. Outstanding, funny and informative. :slight_smile:

But don’t forget to read Fraser’s autobiography of his actual experiences in WW2 in Burma, Quartered Safe Out Here. One of the best, if not the best, autobiographical accounts of being at war.

The Price of Glory by Alaistair Horne is a great military history book, focussing on the battle of Verdun.

I also loved Brian Farwell’s The Great Anglo-Boer War.

And, of course, for the Civil War, you should read Shelby Foote.

As far as war novels, The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara has rarely been topped.

To be fair, Turtledove has any number of bad books in this vein, too. When he’s good, he’s great, but when he’s bad, he’s AWFUL.

WWII Military - An Army at Dawn - The War in North Africa, 1942-1943 by Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson.

This is volume one of The Liberation Trilogy and I am enjoying it very much.

MeanJoe

I have to second the recommendation for Horne’s “The Price of Glory”. One of the best books written about an individual battle ever. Also on the First World War, Barbara Tuchman’s “Guns of August” is a brilliant and insightful read.

John Erikson’s two volume series on the Eastern front of War War II, “The Road to Stalingrad” and “The Road To Berlin”, are very interesting. Written largly from the Soviet perspective they provide a take on those events not often found in Western writing. A bit dry and techincal at times but if you want to understand that conflict these are almost essential reading.

On the fantasy end I would suggest checking out George R. R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” series. Probably the best fantasy series in a long time, at least it has the potential to be with it at the half way point. A masterpiece of plotting, filled with unexpected but quite believable twists, complex and realistic politics and completely realized and complex characters. Its also frequenlty dark, often violent, and always moving. And unlike most fantasy’s the ending is far from clear. It really doesn’t get any better than this.

Also have to recommend Steven Erikson’s (though he will not be available in the states until sometime this spring or summer) “Malazan Book of the Fallen”. Often over the top but strickingly fresh and original in many aspects. He has 5 books currently out, though they are only available at this time in England and Canada. I ordered my copies from Amazon UK based on the recommdation of many friends and was not disappointed.

I fourth the Flashman books, second the “March” series GMRyujin mentioned, and add the “Sten” series by Bunch and Cole.

How about an Italian professor of Aesthetics in First World War? A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin is one of the best war novels I’ve ever read.

The story is told by the 80 year old professor who misses his bus, along with an illiterate factory worker. They decide to walk together and his young companion listens raptly while the WWI veteran tells story after story of his amazing life. The tales he tells are episodic and hypnotic. You simply can’t put this book down until you find out what happens to him next.

I really recommend it.

You might like S.M. Stirling. I’d recommend his Nantucket trilogy, Island in the Sea of Time, Against the Tide of Years, and On the Oceans of Eternity. Or one of his more recent novels, The Peshawar Lancers or Conquistador.

I just picked this one up so I’m glad to hear it’s a good read. I just finished his new book In the Company of Soldiers. He was embedded with the 101st Airborn in Iraq - although it should have been titled “In the Company of Division Commanders” because that’s really what it’s about. I notice that the negative reviews it got on Amazon focus on the fact that he doesn’t pull punches when it comes to the Bush administration.

Some others I’d recommend are Cornelius Ryan: A Bridge Too Far (Operation Market-Garden)
and
**Sherry Sontag: Blind Man’s Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage **

For SF, any of the Alastair Reynolds books particularly Chasm City

Reread the OP, dude…