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The Consortium Rebellion trilogy by Jessie Mihalik
I’ve had so much fun with the Consortium Rebellion trilogy. I’m very slow to come to new authors, and have a tendency to stick with the ones I know, so I was super thrilled to be able to add Jessie Mihalik to my must-read list.
These books are the perfect blend of action, intrigue, cool futuristic scifi tech, and romance. If you’re looking for a refreshing new voice in the genre, I can’t recommend these enough.
Polaris Rising is first in the series.
The Sirantha Jax series by Ann Aguirre
The Sirantha Jax books made me start reading scifi again. I read more scifi when I was younger, but somewhere along the way it stopped appealing to me. Then I saw Grimspace on the shelf one day and it hit me: this was the scifi book I’d been waiting for.
Everything in this series is so well done. The world-building is amazing without slowing down the plot, and Jax is a complex, sometimes brash, character that I really loved. Aguirre knows how to write a flawed character that you can still really love, and Jax develops so much as the books progress. Grimspace is first in this six-book series, and if you want more afterwards, Aguirre’s Dred Chronicles spinoff series is every bit as worth it.
The Machineries of Empire series by Yoon Ha Lee
One of the most beautifully written scifi series I’ve ever read. The names for all the ships and space stations alone are breathtaking and evoke such detailed images that the setting really comes to life and inspires a wealth of imagination.
Also contains one of the most badass, diverse casts of characters I’ve read in a long time. Once you finish this trilogy, you’ll understand what I mean when I say I am infinitely sad that I will never be at the head of a space battle in this universe and therefore will never get to strike fear into the hearts of my enemies by slipping on a pair of fingerless gloves and saying, “Banner the deuce of gears.”
If audio is your thing, Emily Woo Zeller’s narration of this series is stellar.
The Valor novels by Tanya Huff
Military scifi at its best! A welcome gender flip on the hard-line, career military character. If I’m ever pressed into an intergalactic war, I hope to serve under someone like staff sergeant Torrin Kerr.
Featuring a seemingly eternal war that no one can remember why they’re fighting, the Valor novels deliver an extremely satisfying series arc (and some pretty cool aliens).
Another series where the audio narration is fantastic.