Books that scratches the Honorverse itch

I'm a long time fan of David Weber's Honorverse series and I've been looking for something similar for a while but without luck so far.

I've spent a lot of time figuring out what it is I'm looking for and this is the best I got so far:

The big one is that it feels like a real military with personnel policies and logistics and everything.
It's also not a static organisation. Strategies, tactics and equipment change throughout the books.
Lastly, it feels like slope game space.

I know these are all rather vague but I hope it's enough to work with.

Bonus points if the main character isn't the commander.

I do not want sailing ships in space so no RCN by David Drake or Alexis Carew by JA Sutherland.

I also really don't like The Lost Fleet by Campbell

Try Battlegroup Z, Daniel Gibbs. Currently on Kindle Unlimited with a few short stories and book 1's actually free. Bit to active a religion for my taste.
Stewart Glynn's Scattered Stars or Castle Federation series in your definition, the Starship's Mage books are well done if you like to mix magic with tech - I'm not generally happy with that.

Of course YMMV.

G.

royaldemko wrote:I'm a long time fan of David Weber's Honorverse series and I've been looking for something similar for a while but without luck so far.

I've spent a lot of time figuring out what it is I'm looking for and this is the best I got so far:

The big one is that it feels like a real military with personnel policies and logistics and everything.
It's also not a static organisation. Strategies, tactics and equipment change throughout the books.
Lastly, it feels like space.

I know these are all rather vague but I hope it's enough to work with.

Bonus points if the main character isn't the commander.

I do not want sailing ships in space so no RCN by David Drake or Alexis Carew by JA Sutherland.

I also really don't like The Lost Fleet by Campbell

Try Eric Thompson - and his Dunmoore series - he just completed the series with the 9th book.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=eric+thomson&rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_lbr_books_series_browse-bin%3ASiobhan+Dunmoore&dc&ds=v1%3Ad8YUqidAFtCnueONpsOZCrN5Ch3YjQMAon7%2Fhav2Foo&crid=2KFBNXVJR0KBY&qid=1723471264&rnid=3275128011&sprefix=eric+Thomson%2Caps%2C99&ref=sr_nr_p_lbr_books_series_browse-bin_2

He has 4 other series in the same universe at different points in a 2500 year timeline. Start with Dunmoore, then move to Decker's storyline in Decker's war.

Theemile wrote:

royaldemko wrote:I'm a long time fan of David Weber's Honorverse series and I've been looking for something similar for a while but without luck so far.

I've spent a lot of time figuring out what it is I'm looking for and this is the best I got so far:

The big one is that it feels like a real military with personnel policies and logistics and everything.
It's also not a static organisation. Strategies, tactics and equipment change throughout the books.
Lastly, it feels like space.

I know these are all rather vague but I hope it's enough to work with.

Bonus points if the main character isn't the commander.

I do not want sailing ships in space so no RCN by David Drake or Alexis Carew by JA Sutherland.

I also really don't like The Lost Fleet by Campbell

Try Eric Thompson - and his Dunmoore series - he just completed the series with the 9th book.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=eric+thomson&rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_lbr_books_series_browse-bin%3ASiobhan+Dunmoore&dc&ds=v1%3Ad8YUqidAFtCnueONpsOZCrN5Ch3YjQMAon7%2Fhav2Foo&crid=2KFBNXVJR0KBY&qid=1723471264&rnid=3275128011&sprefix=eric+Thomson%2Caps%2C99&ref=sr_nr_p_lbr_books_series_browse-bin_2

He has 4 other series in the same universe at different points in a 2500 year timeline. Start with Dunmoore, then move to Decker's storyline in Decker's war.

Also Jay Allen's "Blood on the Stars" series started good, but I lost interest ~10 books in as it started feeling repetitive and meandering (at the same time), but the early books were interesting:
https://www.amazon.com/Duel-Dark-Blood-Stars-Book-ebook/dp/B01MCZZTPS/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=8iu6a&content-id=amzn1.sym.f76d456a-cb0d-44de-b7b0-670c26ce80ba&pf_rd_p=f76d456a-cb0d-44de-b7b0-670c26ce80ba&pf_rd_r=132-7007179-4685610&pd_rd_wg=ow57P&pd_rd_r=6cbb6ac6-f879-48da-806d-41ed51ecadea&ref_=aufs_ap_sc_dsk

David also pushed a series called "The Destroyermen" a few years back. It as a WWII Destroyer sent to a Parallel Earth with other species... and other dribs and drabs of humanity falling though the cracks along with them. Again, the early books were good, but later books all started with "The story so far" intros that spanned 1/3rd to 1/2 of the relatively short books.
https://www.amazon.com/Into-Storm-Destroyermen-Book-I-ebook/dp/B001ANUOUM/ref=sr_1_1?crid=KMCADNG9WRZ2&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.FBJME1komkWn7SEkbl8cKCP9yQUorXfvY-zM5YDC9UkaQ1yT3NSJdo49gDdo-MARh9M5JlkR_1CVMLCXIyPOamoNNJEAyeCBuJPfoN_ZrtwoCu0LL7mpuHTAB9C2c_kYZkdU6_4y1WLRcxW97V-nlOF7S6X9Lv6PhC0W6CXGEZ0QLLas3De7Wp7dL-ZEuYhiyiiYco8devPflTbYjWdVhvGdxFsxK3naRh-y9mwwjJc.cPds9DySdBWNcGfJe208kj9hwPN4qBkNMdohOOEcOMY&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+destroyermen&qid=1723472632&s=digital-text&sprefix=the+destroyermen%2Cdigital-text%2C106&sr=1-1

Theemile wrote:Also Jay Allen's "Blood on the Stars" series started good, but I lost interest ~10 books in as it started feeling repetitive and meandering (at the same time), but the early books were interesting:
https://www.amazon.com/Duel-Dark-Blood-Stars-Book-ebook/dp/B01MCZZTPS/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=8iu6a&content-id=amzn1.sym.f76d456a-cb0d-44de-b7b0-670c26ce80ba&pf_rd_p=f76d456a-cb0d-44de-b7b0-670c26ce80ba&pf_rd_r=132-7007179-4685610&pd_rd_wg=ow57P&pd_rd_r=6cbb6ac6-f879-48da-806d-41ed51ecadea&ref_=aufs_ap_sc_dsk

I agree on that. It seems Jay lost his hand... possibly during COVID? Whereas before the battles had tactic, when there were still few ships versus few other ships, by the time the scope crept up to massive space battles, all tactics were lost and everything was just a multi-chapter slugging match. I still recommend the first few books, up until "White Fleet."

Another author I highly recommend is Glynn Stewart, with his "Castle Federation" and "Peacekeepers of Sol" series being up top with the Honorverse in my list (the three are among the Top 5). The "Castle Federation" series is now over at 9 books, but I wish he'd write more... one of the polities in the Alliance of Free Stars is a certain Star Kingdom of Phoenix, whose home system is a binary star system, whose prime minister at the time had Summervale as surname, and whose navy was the Royal Phoenix Navy. Oh, and a phoenix is a mythical animal. That may sound familiar

The "Peacekeepers of Sol" series is still going and its 8th book is coming later this year. I hope he doesn't end at 9 like the "Castle Federation" and the "Duchy of Terra" because there's so much more to explore. Unlike the Honorverse and "Castle Federation", it has aliens.

He's also started a new series "House Adamant" that has promise. The first one is a good example of David's "surprise is what was there all along."

("Duchy of Terra" is worth a read if you have time)

Another author that comes to mind is Christopher Nuttall. I've been following his "Empire Corps" series for years now. It's more focused on ground combat than space, as the name implies, but there are some space battles and anti-piracy.

Reading the "Ark Royal" series is in my to-do list but I haven't begun, so I can't comment on how good it is.

I echo the suggestion to check out Glynn Stewart. Lots of good series there. If you don't want to start a "long" series, then possibly try the Exile trilogy.

There is also the expanse-ese Vigilante books co-written with Terry Mixon, whose Empire of Bones series is worth a look as well.

Finally, Evan Currie has some excellent books out there. Both his "Odyssey" and "On Silver Wings" series are worth checking out. Odyssey is primarily space, while the other focuses a little more on ground war, though has plenty of space battles as well.

Dauntless wrote:Finally, Evan Currie has some excellent books out there. Both his "Odyssey" and "On Silver Wings" series are worth checking out. Odyssey is primarily space, while the other focuses a little more on ground war, though has plenty of space battles as well.

I'll have to look again at "Odyssey." Looks like I moved the sample of the first book into my "undecided" pile back in 2015. And given how much I have on the "to buy" list, "undecided" effectively meant "no."

royaldemko wrote:I do not want sailing ships in space so no RCN by David Drake or Alexis Carew by JA Sutherland.

Speaking of, what happened to the Alexis Carew book 7?

Anyway, I've just remembered a really good one other: Walter Jon William's Praxis universe, with the "Fall of Dread Empire" and "Praxis" trilogies and a couple of standalone stories. If you like space battles and politics, you'll love this series too.

The recommendation quote on Amazon for The Praxis is by one certain George R.R. Martin: “Space opera the way it ought to be [...] Bujold and Weber, bend the knee; interstellar adventure has a new king, and his name is Walter Jon Williams.”

I haven't read Lois McMaster Bujold but that's another author that I have to look into some time.

ThinksMarkedly wrote:

royaldemko wrote:I do not want sailing ships in space so no RCN by David Drake or Alexis Carew by JA Sutherland.

Speaking of, what happened to the Alexis Carew book 7?

Anyway, I've just remembered a really good one other: Walter Jon William's Praxis universe, with the "Fall of Dread Empire" and "Praxis" trilogies and a couple of standalone stories. If you like space battles and politics, you'll love this series too.

The recommendation quote on Amazon for The Praxis is by one certain George R.R. Martin: “Space opera the way it ought to be [...] Bujold and Weber, bend the knee; interstellar adventure has a new king, and his name is Walter Jon Williams.”

I haven't read Lois McMaster Bujold but that's another author that I have to look into some time.

Bujold writes/wrote Vorkosogian Saga, hope you can find a copy of the Cryoburn CD.