I've also recently finished reading the book Armor by John Steakley. It is an epic tale of a struggle against overwhelming odds, and a destructive war on a foreign planet. For all who enjoy novels getting into the heads of battle hardened soldiers, this is a novel packed such phychiological topics, a certainly worthwhile read for fans of military science fiction.

Pages: 426

Synopsis:

The planet is called Banshee. The air is unbreathable, the water poisonous. It is the home of the most implacable enemies that humanity, in all its interstellar expansion, has ever encountered.

Body Armor has been devised for the commando forces that are to be dropped on Banshee--the culmination of ten thousand years of the armorers' craft. A trooper in this armor is a one-man, atomic-powered battle-fortress--but he will have to fight a nearly endless horde of beserk, hard-shelled monsters--the fighting arm of a species which uses biological technology to design perfect, mindless war minions.

Felix is a scout in A-team Two. Highly competent, he is the sole survivor of mission after mission. Yet he is a man consumed by fear and hatred. And he is protected not only by his custom-fitted body armor, the culmination of 10,000 years of the armorers' craft, but also by an odd being which seems to live with him, a cold killing machine he calls "the Engine."

This is Felix's story--a story of the horror, the courage, and the aftermath of combat, and the story, too, of how strength of spirit can be the greatest armor of all.

Seeds of Earth, a truly fantastic novel. Science Fiction at it's prime, the story an intertwining web of space politics, centered around the long lost human colonies sent into dark space in humanities last hour.  A tiresome read at times, but I have found that most of my favourites tend to be so, and I have nothing but compliments to give this book.  I must warn however, if you are looking for a simpler Sci-Fi read, this is not it.  This is for all the die hards out there, a feast for all fans of Frank Herbert and Orson Scott Card.

Pages: 628

Other Books in Humanity's Fire:  The Orphaned Worlds, The Ascendant Stars

Synopsis:

The first intelligent species to encounter mankind attacked without warning. Merciless. Relentless. Unstoppable. With little hope of halting the invasion, Earth’s last roll of the dice was to dispatch three colony ships, seeds of Earth, to different parts of the galaxy. The human race would live on … somewhere.

150 years later, the planet Darien hosts a thriving human settlement, which enjoys a peaceful relationship with an indigenous race, the scholarly Uvovo. But there are secrets buried on Darien’s forest moon. Secrets that go back to an apocalyptic battle fought between ancient races at the dawn of galactic civilisation. Unknown to its colonists Darien is about to become the focus of an intergalactic power struggle, where the true stakes are beyond their comprehension. And what choices will the Uvovo make when their true nature is revealed and the skies grow dark with the enemy?

My latest addition is (as you might have guessed) Prince of Thorns, the first in a enthralling trilogy.  A delightfully cruel and sinister novel following the quest of a twisted and outcast antihero on a journey of revenge, Prince of Thorns had me captivated beginning to end.  Incorporating sword duels, magic, and spirits of the dead, it makes for a enthralling read for any fiction reader.

Pages: 348

Other books in the Broken Empire trilogy: King of Thorns, Emperor of Thorns

Synopsis: 

When he was nine, he watched as his mother and brother were killed before him. At thirteen, he led a band of bloodthirsty thugs. By fifteen, he intends to be king...

It's time for Prince Honorous Jorg Ancrath to return to the castle he turned his back on, to take what's rightfully his. Since the day he hung pinned on the thorns of a briar patch and watched Count Renar's men slaughter his mother and young brother, Jorg has been driven to vent his rage. Life and death are no more than a game to him--and he has nothing left to lose. But treachery awaits him in his father's castle. Treachery and dark magic. No matter how fierce his will, can one young man conquer enemies with power beyond his imagining?