# Recommendations: Books like Dread Empire's Fall **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 29, 2019, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-books-like-dread-empires-fall/836276 "2019-06-29T22:33:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2019, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-books-like-dread-empires-fall/836276/21 "2019-07-02T15:48:04Z")
Robert Heinlein’s _Starship Troopers_ and Joe Haldeman’s similar but Vietnam-tinged miltary sf novel, _The Forever War_, are both well worth a read. > [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > …John Scalzi’s books, especially [Old Man’s War](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36510196-old-man-s-war) and the others in the series, are military SF. We’re not talking ultra-hard, but it’s also not full of magic space knights or anything. He’s pretty light on characterization, and his prose is workmanlike at best, but he’s clever and funny and can write a damn fine page-turner… Yes, the _Old Man’s War_ series is excellent. There’ve been five novels, a novella and two short stories so far; they hold together very well. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2019, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-books-like-dread-empires-fall/836276/22 "2019-07-02T15:55:38Z")
> [@BeepKillBeep](#): > > As per the OP, hard isn’t a strict requirement. I picked up Consider Phelbas last night, but I didn’t get a chance to start it. I’m hoping to start this evening. I appreciate all the recommendations, even if I’m not replying to each individually. They’re all going on my sci-fi wishlist on Amazon. FWIW, _Consider Phelbas_ is probably one of the worst of the Culture novels. (Still better than _The Hydrogen Sonata,_ or most of _Matter_ though.) Which isn’t to say it’s bad. It is probably one of his more space opera-y novels though. And it’s not short. I liked it, but I’m posting to say that if you didn’t think it great, the series gets better. The Culture novels don’t really have anything to do with each other, so read them in what ever order you want. Another space opera I constantly recommend here, but it’s not military science fiction at all, is Alastair Reynolds’s _Revelation Space_ universe. More Gothic horror than typical science fiction, but it’s one of the few series that takes Clarke’s observation about ‘sufficiently advanced technology is magic’ to heart. Weirdly, only the first half of the official trilogy is any good, but the other works set in the universe are great. EDIT: Oh, and take a gander at Stross’s Neptune’s Brood. Neat if you like an economics discussion with your transhumanism. ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2019, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-books-like-dread-empires-fall/836276/23 "2019-07-02T20:42:39Z")
I also love Old Man’s War. John Scalzi is one of my favorite sci-fi authors. I’m enjoying his new series as well. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2019, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-books-like-dread-empires-fall/836276/24 "2019-07-03T04:07:37Z")
> [@BeepKillBeep](#): > > I also love Old Man’s War. John Scalzi is one of my favorite sci-fi authors. I’m enjoying his new series as well. Me, too (_The Collapsing Empire_ etc.) but there’s not much military sf in there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendations-books-like-dread-empires-fall/836276.md?page=1)