Title: Dauntless
Author: Campbell, Jack
ISBN: 9780441014187
Notes: This first book of a six-book series introduces Captain John "Black Jack" Geary, who awakens from a hundred years of cryogenic sleep to find himself a legendary hero and the last hope of the Alliance, who are in a losing war with the Syndic and whose fleet is stranded in enemy territory. Fans of naval space action will enjoy this.

Title: Ender's Game
Author: Card, Orson Scott
ISBN: 9780765342294
Notes: Another classic, this book is set in a time when aliens have attacked and nearly destroyed the Earth. Knowing that the next attack could be the last, the authorities have started to train the next generation of military officers from childhood through a series of "games." Ender is the best at these games but is he good enough to save humanity itself?

Title: Death's Head
Author: Gunn, David
ISBN: 9780345498274
Notes: If there were a genre called "popcorn action books" then this would be in it. Following the story of super-soldier in a mildly dystopian future, this book doesn't concern itself with commentary or subtlety and gets right to blowing stuff up. And yes, that's a good thing.

Title: Starship Troopers
Author: Heinlein, Robert
ISBN: 9780441014101
Notes: One of the originals in the genre and still one of the best. If your only experience with the story is the movie then you're missing out, the novel is more of an insightful commentary on the nature of war than it is a mindless action-fest.

Title: Broken Angels
Author: Morgan, Richard K.
ISBN: 0345457714
Notes: The sequel to Altered Carbon still features hero Takeshi Kovacs but it's much more action and much less detective story. The story takes place in a future where peoples' consciousness has been digitized and can be beamed between worlds and bodies, which allows Kovacs to end up in the body of a super-soldier and go on a mission to find a lost Martian space-ship.

Title: Woken Furies
Author: Morgan, Richard K.
ISBN: 0345479718
Notes: The third Takeshi Kovacs novel is bigger and faster and louder than the ones that came before it. This time the hero is trying to protect a woman from sinister forces while trying to decide how he himself feels about her. This book has all of the action and "action" that fans of the genre could want.

Title: A Hymn Before Battle
Author: Ringo, John
ISBN: 0671319418
Notes: Michael O'Shea is a man's man and a soldier's soldier who leads his power-armored infantry into battle against merciless aliens. If you enjoy books about traditional marines but feel like they don't have enough lasers then this is the series for you.

Title: The Honor of the Qeen
Author: Weber, David
ISBN: 9780743435727
Notes: The Honor Harrington series is unique among military science fiction books because it features a female protagonist. Honor is the daring female captain of the HMS Fearless who handles near impossible missions with flair that would shame most male heroes. This series is space opera at its finest.