Book picks similar to
Deck of Cards by Rebecca Lickiss


science-fiction
space-opera
5-star
adventure

Cloak of War


Casey Calouette - 2017
    He expected the biggest decision to be which whisky to drink. He expected the biggest threat to be the redhead in the orbital bar. Instead he was drafted and sent to the frontlines as a junior officer. With the 6th Fleet on the ropes, he finds himself battle promoted onto a little missile frigate that’s more missile than frigate. But as his career begins he learns that command isn’t what they teach you in college but what you learn in the hard vacuum of space. As Karl loses his first major fleet engagement he’s adrift on a dying hulk with his only hope for the future to be a half mad Captain who might be his greatest mentor or his worst enemy. Maybe both.

The Cost of Freedom (Starship Freedom Book 2)


Daniel Arenson - 2021
    A relic of a bygone era. A rusty old warship converted into a tourist trap. Then the aliens attacked. Now, once more, the legendary Freedom flies to war. The war is brutal. The enemy is merciless. The rahs, vicious arachnids from deep space, crave only one thing. Human flesh. Before this terror, Earth’s fleet crumbles. Starships burn. Millions die. But the Freedom still flies. James King, her gruff old commander, still fights. The Freedom will never surrender. The Freedom will never flee. The long, cold night has come to Earth, but the Freedom shines bright. The survivors of the fleet rally behind her. All brave souls heed her call. The Freedom sounds the cry of Earth: We will win!

Reforged (Bolt Eaters Trilogy Book 2)


Isaac Hooke - 2018
    Trapped on an alien world. Struggling to survive. The mission was supposed to be easy. Travel to an alien world on the far side of the galaxy, do some recon, go home. But the operation proved tougher than expected. A whole lot tougher. Eric and the Bolt Eaters have been taken prisoner by a former member of their platoon, a Mind Refurb who has sold out Earth to the aliens. Normally, Eric and the platoon members wouldn't stand for such a blatant act of betrayal. It's just too bad they're all restrained aboard an otherworldly transport and scheduled for immediate disassembly. Some days it really sucks to be a human-machine hybrid.

Invasion


David Ryker - 2018
    The last remnant of some long-lost race, it might have been lost forever. We might have been saved. But we were not alone, after all. The universe teemed with life. And the intelligence was found. Studied. Awoken. And the stars burned. Civilization after civilization fell to its irresistible, bloodthirsty might. Others ran, and it followed relentlessly into the abyss. Toward fresh prey. Now it's our turn. Our ships are old, politicians corrupt, citizens divided. And yet we must succeed where no other race ever has. We will stand. We will fight. And we will never surrender. Invasion is the first book in the Contact saga. The first three books will be released by September 25th!

Freddy Anderson's Home


John Ricks - 2010
    Freddy Anderson used that ability working to save the world from a world ending disaster. However, the human race is now at war. Aliens have attacked and captured many of our top people including Freddy Anderson and are headed back to their home world. They are trying to extract from his mind information that will help them understand how the humans destroyed their greatest ship and how to annihilate the entire human race.

The Contingency Four Book Boxed Set


G.J. Ogden - 2020
    More than 1,100 pages of epic space opera action and adventure with unique heroes and twists that you won’t see coming. Over 1.5 Million Page Reads and counting! From book one: No-one comes in peace. Every being in the galaxy wants something, and is willing to take it by force. The Hedalt were no different. They came from the distant reaches of the galaxy to wage war. Their fleet wanted to take Earth for its prize, but we were ready. We were stronger. For years, we fought them, ship-to-ship, until we scattered their forces and drove them back. Pursuing the Hedalt fleet to their home world, we delivered the decisive blow. We nuked their planet and wiped them out for good. Or so we thought. For decades, Earth Fleet sent out Deep Space Recon missions to scour the galaxy and clean up the remnants of the Hedalt Empire. Eventually, we found only ghosts – empty outposts and long-dead colonies. But, close to the edge of known space, I – Captain Taylor Ray – and my crew are about to make a discovery that will change everything. The war isn’t over. The war has yet to begin. The series includes: The Contingency The Way Station Gambit Rise of Nimrod Fleet Earth’s Last War

Hard Drop


Will van der Vaart - 2013
    Their objective is classified, marked only by coordinates leading them into a deserted city at the heart of the fighting. From the beginning, everything possible goes wrong. A missile strike rocks the carrier mid-launch, and only a fraction of the unit reaches the surface alive.Outmanned, outgunned, and scattered, with a hard deadline to orbital bombardment looming, it is up to Drop Commander Tyco Hale to rally his troops and reach their objective. But what they find, hidden deep in the tunneled passages under the city, will change everything about what he fights for and what he believes in. With the unit in tatters and loyalties divided, the choice he makes in the dark will seal all of their fates - and much more besides.

The Dead Worlds


T.R. Harris - 2019
    meets Star Wars!Blamed for a theft he didn't commit ...Pursued by some of the most dangerous creatures in the galaxy ... Adam Cain is BACK ... and ready for some royal alien ass-kicking!International bestselling science fiction author T.R. Harris introduces the first book in his new space opera series set in the universe of The Human Chronicles Saga , a thrilling tale of Human Superiority in the galaxy. The Adam Cain Chronicles  Book #1: The Dead WorldsYou've heard of him. He's Adam Cain,  The Alien with an Attitude.  Now he's back... in a series of new adventures as a badass Human showing the galaxy who's the boss. Accompanied by his buddies Riyad Tarazi and Sherri Valentine, Adam is struggling to make ends meet on a distant tropical world running Capt. Cain's Bar & Grill . The problem:They picked the worst place in the galaxy to run a legitimate business ... smack dab in the middle of lawless Dead Zone . Comprised of a hundred dead worlds left in the wake of one of Adam's old enemies--Kracion-- The Zone is a gold-rush-like region of salvagers, pirates and scoundrels,all looking for their piece of the action. And in the center of all this activity is the oasis planet of Liave-3, the home of Capt. Cain's .  In The Dead Worlds: After a supply of prototype superweapons goes missing from one of the dead worlds, suspicion falls on Adam and his friends as the thieves.Our heroes find themselves being hunted, kidnapped and otherwise abused...until they say enough is enough. That's when the aliens learn the galaxy's most important lesson: You don't mess with the Humans !  The Adam Cain Chronicles takes Adam and his friends back their basic raw talents, as supermen among the aliens of the galaxy. Set in the familiar universe of The Human Chronicles Saga , this new series rediscovers the wonder and excitement of the earlier books, when it was just Human vs. Alien. It also retains all the humor, witty banter and gritty realism of the first series. Each novel in The Adam Cain Chronicles is written to be a stand-alone work, able to be read by old and new fans alike. So if you've never experienced an Adam Cain adventures before, this is a great place to start. And for existing fans, you'll find all of the elements you loved in The Human Chronicles Saga ...and more! The ride is about to start! Order your copy of The Dead Worlds today.  Don't miss a minute of The Adam Cain Chronicles . And be sure to check out all the novels by T.R. Harris....The Adam Cain ChroniclesThe Dead Worlds The Human Chronicles SagaThe Fringe Worlds Alien Assassin The War of Pawns

Solar Storm: Book 2: Season 1: Episodes IV - V


Marcus Richardson - 2018
    Exhausted, wounded, and alone, Jay must find the will to push through and rescue his child. Kate, back in control of her own destiny, faces a taste of the reality FEMA has delivered to the major cities of America in the aftermath of the coronal mass ejection. She must pass through the fire to return home, but only if she's ready to sacrifice everything. Leah and the other students left behind become firsthand witnesses to the desperation of man and what violence that can bring. They are forced to dig deep and defend themselves, or risk becoming a footnote in a new, darker history of mankind. In a world where electricity is a thing of the past, can there be any hope for the future? After all, it's not a matter of if a CME will strike the earth, but when.

We Knew They Were Coming


Ira Tabankin - 2016
     Mankind's oldest question is, 'Are we alone' has been answered. A typing error changes the area of space NASA's Kepler probe searches for Earth-like planets. It records a very bright light, an anomaly that doesn't match anything in NASA's files. It records something heading towards Earth at a speed so high as to be unbelievable. Earth has just over four years to prepare. The outgoing US President spends months before he believes there really is something heading to Earth. NASA's code word for the object is unicorn. The mythical horned horse is coming. The President forms a committee to figure out what to do, he hands the hot potato to his successor who takes the leaders of only six other countries into his. confidence. The unicorn committee begins preparations, they decide to build shelters and arm the military with the most advanced weapons they can design and build in four years. Supply shortages ripple through the economy, rumors spread across the web. The government decides to take a drastic act in order to control the flow of information. As the unicorn speeds towards Earth, the government tries a unique way to spread what they hope is lifesaving information to the population, they hire survivalists, without telling them why, to spread information that something is coming and everyone needs to prepare.An amateur stargazer captures the bright light heading towards the planet. As the object draws closer, it begins to slow down, the bright light becomes additional lights, more than a single ship is coming. Panic spreads across the world. Everyone with a grievance attacks their enemies. When the objects arrive at Jupiter to refuel, their first act is to clear everything orbiting the planet, increasing the stress when GPS, communications, intelligence and debris is destroyed, leaving everyone on Earth without a lot of their toys. Their second act is to turn the world’s grid off.The United States President decides to attack the aliens with ground-based rail guns, striking a couple of the ships orbiting the planet, the alien’s respond by shutting off all electrical energy, including batteries. Earth is slapped back two hundred years. A small group of survivalists tries to apply their knowledge to build a new life. This is book 1 of a new series. It tells the story of the unicorn sighting, arrival, attack and the beginning of the rebuilding.

Andromeda Rising


Jay Allan - 2019
     An industrial hell. The foulest and most decrepit slum on Parsephon. A nest of human misery, where hope is word long forgotten, and the dead are carted away every day. It is the worst pit in the Confederation’s great industrial machine known as the Iron Belt. Among the millions born into misery, poverty, and despair under the dark and smoky haze that covers the planet, Andromeda Lafarge is unique. One lost soul among billions, she is tough, relentless, determined to get out, to escape, to blaze her own trail, and to make a name for herself across the stars. Andi will break the chains binding her to a life of destitution, leave the Gut and Parsephon behind forever, and plunge into the dark and deadly worlds of the lost empire, prospecting for imperial artifacts, the bits and pieces of old tech that can make her rich. She will find new friends—and enemies—on the frontier, and she will blaze a trail from the filthy, polluted Iron Belt world of her birth to the dead and haunted imperial planets of the Badlands. She will fight, endure hardships unimaginable, save comrades…and lose some, too. She will struggle to amass wealth, to do whatever is necessary to ensure she will never again be helpless, and she will bring back the technology of the ancients, scraps of mankind’s lost legacy, to do it. She will create a name for herself among the rough and tumble adventurers who ply the rogue trade in ancient tech. For some, she will become one to emulate, to follow. To others, her name will become the foulest of curses. She will make her way, blade and pistol in hand, from one dead and ancient world to another. She will become the scourge of the Badlands. The Andromeda Chronicles is a new series set in the Blood on the Stars universe. Book 1: Andromeda Rising Book 2: Wings of Pegasus Book 3: Into the Badlands The Blood on the Stars Series: Book 1 - Duel in the Dark Book 2 - Call to Arms Book 3 - Ruins of Empire Book 4 - Echoes of Glory Book 5 - Cauldron of Fire Book 6 - Dauntless Book 7 - The White Fleet Book 8 - Black Dawn Book 9 - Invasion Book 10 - Nightfall Book 11 - The Grand Alliance Book 12 - The Colossus (Coming) Book 13 – The Others (Coming) Book 14 – Enemy of My Enemy (Coming)

Rescue on Gimhae: Stories of the Orphan Corps 1


Earl T. Roske - 2018
    Comfort. Defend. There is no love lost between the Radial Marines and the Hospitaller Orphan Corps. So, when Sergeant Seavers learns a platoon of Marines will be tagging along for the drop down to the surface of Gimhae, he’s certain this will doom his chances at officer candidate training.As if that wasn’t enough for one mission, the colonists on Gimhae are acting skittish and uncharacteristically rude. Sgt Seavers isn’t used to this kind of behavior. Not from people his team of Hospitallers has come to save from the terraflu.Something’s amiss. Sgt Seavers can feel it. And it may have something to do with the smuggler ships hiding over the next hill.Rescue on Gimhae is the first book in the Stories of the Orphan Corps series. It is also a standalone story in the Hospitaller universe. There is no required sequence to the books in the Stories of the Orphan Corps series. Be the first on deck to experience the beginning of the adventures with the Orphan Corps. Buy it now!

Meteor


Jerry Dawson - 2018
    Under social media pressure, NASA sends David Anderson to the island to investigate the death and vindicate the agency. But Anderson is not the only newcomer to the island. More people are dying. Anderson and his team must figure out what is killing everyone before they, too, become victims. But how do you stop a killing machine that keeps evolving?Michael Crichton and Douglas Preston fans will enjoy the hard science fiction in this action-packed thriller.“Scary as hell.”“Bone-chillingly frightening.”

We Dare


Eric Thomson - 2019
    The Marines of Ghost Squadron are humanity’s foremost black ops specialists who strike without warning and vanish without a trace.  They will do whatever is necessary to protect humanity anywhere in the known galaxy.  With the Commonwealth increasingly unstable thanks to venal politicians, greedy financiers, and power-hungry revolutionaries, they don’t lack for missions.When an undercover Constabulary officer vanishes after uncovering a massive cartel-run human trafficking operation, the Commonwealth’s interstellar police force calls for help from Naval Intelligence.  Because the cartel’s operations could upend the delicate political balance between the older core worlds and the more recently colonized outer star systems, Ghost Squadron gets the job.  Its mission: find the missing Constabulary officer and choke off the growing slave trade bedeviling humanity’s perilous galactic frontier.Ghost Squadron’s commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Zachary Thomas Decker, spent the last ten years as a Naval Intelligence agent.  His job was thwarting plots and terminating the Commonwealth’s internal enemies alongside his partner, a trained assassin.  Now, with several hundred of the deadliest Marines ever fielded at his back, Zack Decker will change the course of history and usher in a new era. Humanity's interstellar empire ended in "Ashes of Empire."  Witness its birth a thousand years earlier in Eric Thomson's new series "Ghost Squadron."

United Moon Colonies


Tom Merritt - 2011
    Now as the Moon finally gains respect on its parent planet, a new madman wants to kill Chong. But it's not all about the President. They have an even more insidious plot to rule both worlds and bring the Fundys back for good.