Women soldiers book series in reading order

by Michael Z. Williamson

David Weber

90 books• 23 series

David Mark Weber, born October 24, 1952, is an American writer of science fiction and fantasy. The Honor Harrington books are his best-known work, and his first novel, written with Steve White, sold to Baen Books in 1989; Baen has remained his principal publisher. Weber's catalogue holds 90 titles from Insurrection (1990) to Challenges (2025), spanning the Honorverse, Safehold, War God, Dahak and Gordian Division series. Space warfare, women soldiers and imaginary wars and battles run through the recorded subjects.

Mike Moscoe, born 2 August 1947, is an American science fiction writer living in Vancouver, Washington, who also publishes as Mike Shepherd. Moscoe grew up in a Navy family and moved often as a child. The catalogue holds 44 books from First Dawn (1996) to The South Shall Rise Again (2022), including Mutineer (2004) and Audacious (2007). Series include Kris Longknife, Vicky Peterwald, Rita Longknife: Iteeche War, Jump Universe, Lost Millennium and BattleTech: Mechwarrior Dark Age. Subjects cover space opera, navies, space warfare and women soldiers.

Jeffe Kennedy

63 books• 14 series

Jeffe Kennedy writes fantasy romance and erotic romance. Her Twelve Kingdoms, Uncharted Realms and Chronicles of Dasnaria series were published by Kensington, and The Orchid Throne (2019) opened the Forgotten Empires for St. Martin's Press. The Pages of the Mind took the 2017 RITA Award for Best Paranormal Romance. Kennedy's catalogue holds 63 titles published between 2004 and 2026, most recently Princes, Potions, and Pixie Dust (2026), at a median of 368 pages.

Lindsay McKenna is the pseudonym of Eileen Nauman, who served in the U.S. Navy from 1964 to 1967 and has also been a volunteer firefighter, an EMT in Arizona and a pilot. Nauman is known as the Top Gun of Women's Military Fiction. The catalogue records 148 books from Captive of Fate (1983) to No Turning Back (2024). Morgan's Mercenaries and its sub-series, Delos, Wind River Valley, Shadow Team and Black Jaguar Squadron are among the series, and military veterans, cowboys and Wyoming appear in the subjects alongside romantic suspense.

Jane Yolen

237 books• 22 series

Jane Yolen (Jane Hyatt Yolen, February 11, 1939 to June 11, 2026) was an American author of fantasy, science fiction and children's books. The Devil's Arithmetic, a Holocaust novella, is the best-known Yolen work, and Owl Moon and The Emperor and the Kite are among the others. The short works Sister Emily's Lightship and Lost Girls both won Nebula Awards. The catalogue counts 237 books from The Witch Who Wasn't (1964) to Daddy Plays a Mean Guitar (2026). Series include Commander Toad, How Do Dinosaurs...?, Pit Dragons, the Young Merlin Trilogy, Books of the Great Alta and Tartan Magic. Yolen worked as an editor, collaborated most often with Adam Stemple, and in 2012 became the first woman to give the Andrew Lang lecture.

Michael Grant writes young adult science fiction and horror. The Gone series opens his catalogue in 2008 and runs through Hunger, Lies, Plague and Fear; BZRK, the Magnificent 12, Messenger of Fear, Eve and Adam and the Soldier Girl books follow. Survival, good and evil, the supernatural and the Second World War are the recurring subjects across 30 catalogued titles published between 2008 and 2019. Hero (2019) is the most recent entry.

Manda Scott

21 books• 5 series

Manda Scott, born in 1962, trained as a veterinary surgeon at the University of Glasgow before becoming a novelist, columnist, blogger, podcaster and occasional broadcaster. Scott grew up in Glasgow and now lives in Shropshire. Her 21 books start with Hen's Teeth (1996). Dreaming the Eagle (2003), Dreaming the Bull, Dreaming the Hound and Dreaming the Serpent Spear followed, and the Iceni, Romans and Britons are listed subjects. Scott's series are Boudica, Rome, Kellen Stewart, Storycuts and Capitaine Inés Picaut, and Any Human Power (2024) is her newest book.

Joel Shepherd is an Australian science fiction author born in Adelaide in 1974. Shepherd studied film and television arts at Curtin University in Perth. The Crossover manuscript was shortlisted for the George Turner Prize in 1999, and Crossover (2001) became the first of his 20 books. Cassandra Kresnov is his recurring character, with androids and women soldiers among the subjects, and Shepherd also writes the Spiral Wars and A Trial of Blood and Steel series.

Terry Pratchett

148 books• 18 series

Terry Pratchett (28 April 1948 to 12 March 2015) was an English author, humorist and satirist. Discworld, a run of 41 comic fantasy novels published from 1983 to 2015, is the work most associated with Pratchett, together with Good Omens (1990), written with Neil Gaiman. The Carpet People (1971) was the first Pratchett novel, and The Colour of Magic (1983) opened Discworld. The Shepherd's Crown, the last Discworld novel, came out in August 2015, five months after Pratchett's death. The catalogue also lists the Long Earth, Bromeliad Trilogy and Johnny Maxwell series, with The Discworld Bestiary dated 2026.

Terry Goodkind

33 books• 5 series

Terry Goodkind (January 11, 1948 to September 17, 2020) was an American writer of epic fantasy, known for The Sword of Truth. That series sold 25 million copies, was translated into more than 20 languages and became the television series Legend of the Seeker, which ran from November 2008 to May 2010. Goodkind also wrote The Law of Nines (2009), a contemporary suspense novel tied to the fantasy books, and drew on Ayn Rand's objectivism in the work. The catalogue lists 33 titles, from Wizard's First Rule (1994) to Into Darkness (2020). Richard Rahl and Kahlan Amnell are the characters tagged most often.

Adrian Tchaikovsky

83 books• 21 series

Adrian Tchaikovsky is the name under which British author Adrian Czajkowski, born in June 1972, publishes fantasy and science fiction. The natural world shapes the writing, which often treats artificial intelligence and alienness through non-human characters. Tchaikovsky is best known for Shadows of the Apt and for the Children of Time series, which won a Hugo Award; Children of Time also took the 30th Arthur C. Clarke Award in 2016. The catalogue holds 86 books, opening with Empire in Black and Gold (2008), and Last Song of Ash is due in 2027. Further series include Final Architecture, Tyrant Philosophers, Dogs of War and Echoes of the Fall.

Elizabeth Moon

35 books• 10 series

Elizabeth Moon, born March 7, 1945, is an American writer of science fiction and fantasy who served in the United States Marine Corps before turning to writing. The Speed of Dark won the Nebula Award in 2003, and Moon has also written newspaper columns and opinion pieces. The catalogue lists 35 books from 1988 to 2026, opening with Sheepfarmer's Daughter and Divided Allegiance (both 1988) and Oath of Gold (1989). Horngard (2026) is the newest. Series include the Deed of Paksenarrion, Serrano Legacy, Vatta's War, Vatta's Peace, Paladin's Legacy, Legacy of Gird and Planet Pirates. Space opera, epic fantasy, women soldiers and pirates appear in the subject tags.

Tanya Huff

67 books• 13 series

Tanya Huff, born in 1957, is a Canadian fantasy author published since the late 1980s. The Blood Books, whose detective is Vicki Nelson, were adapted for television as Blood Ties. The catalogue records 67 books from Child of the Grove (1988) to Saved by the Spell (2026), with Vicki Nelson, Confederation, Quarters, Peacekeeper, Smoke Trilogy, Gale Women and Wizard of the Grove among the series listed. Vampires, wizards, witches and life on other planets appear in the recorded subjects, and Doctor Who and Valdemar are also logged against the listing.

Steve Perry writes science fiction and fantasy, and the catalogue holds 62 books from The Tularemia Gambit (1981) to Kill Switch (2026). The listing includes Conan the Fearless (1986) and Conan the Defiant (1987). Series include Matador, Cutter's Wars, Void, Venture Silk, Stellar Ranger and Medstar, plus tie-in work for Aliens Vs. Predator and Star Wars. Michael Reaves shares credit on 2 books.

Jean Johnson writes fantasy romance and military science fiction. The Sons of Destiny sequence names each book for its brother -- The Sword, The Wolf, The Master, The Cat, The Storm, The Flame, The Song, The Mage -- and prophecy drives the run. Theirs Not to Reason Why and First Salik War move the work into space warfare with women soldiers, while Guardians of Destiny, Shifting Plains and Flame Seas continue the fantasy side. 34 books span 2007 to 2019, at a median of 336 pages.

Jo Walton

24 books• 3 series

Jo Walton, born 1964, is a Welsh-Canadian writer of fantasy and science fiction, and a poet. Among Others took both the Hugo and the Nebula in 2012, Tooth and Claw the World Fantasy Award in 2004, Lifelode the Mythopoeic Award in 2010 and My Real Children the Tiptree Award in 2015. The Small Change books, Farthing, Ha'penny and Half a Crown, set alternate history against the cozy mystery. Walton's catalogue holds 24 titles from The King's Peace (2000) to Everybody's Perfect, dated 2026, with Tir Tanagiri and Thessaly the recorded series.

Michael Z. Williamson

24 books• 4 series

Michael Z. Williamson, born in 1967, writes military science fiction and military fiction. The libertarian-themed Freehold series, published by Baen Books, is Williamson's best-known work: eight Freehold novels appeared between 2004 and 2016, followed by the anthologies Forged in Blood (2017) and Freehold: Resistance (2019), which gather short stories set in that universe by Williamson and by other writers, among them Larry Correia, Tony Daniel, Tom Kratman and Brad R. Torgersen. The catalogue holds 24 books dated 2003 to 2021, opening with Freehold (2003), with space warfare, refugees, snipers and terrorism among the recorded subjects.

Suzy McKee Charnas

21 books• 6 series

Suzy McKee Charnas (1939–2023) was an American writer of science fiction and fantasy novels and short fiction. Charnas won the Hugo, the Nebula and the James Tiptree Jr. Award. The Holdfast Chronicles, 4 volumes written across almost thirty years from Walk to the End of the World (1974) to The Conqueror's Child (1999), is regarded as her major work. Stagestruck Vampires and Other Phantasms (2004) collects her short fiction, and the Sorcery Hall Trilogy is among 21 catalogued books.