A Hymn Before Battle

"A Hymn Before Battle" (John Ringo) - This is the first "Posleen" book.  The Posleen are a race of centaurs who have high tech weapons and are invading the Federation.  All the Federation races are pacifists, so they come to Earth to recruit an army.

There is obviously a lot more going on (I know it won't be resolved, because I have read "Eye of the Storm" which takes place after all these).  Some hints have already been dropped.

It is very much the best of Ringo (I don't see how he keeps it straight in his head against the "Looking Glass" series).  Fun space opera combined with good mil-SF.

Caught in the Crossfire

"Caught in the Crossfire" (David Drake) - This is a collection of Hammer's Slammers stories (two longer pieces, two short stories, and one intermediate).

Pretty typical Slammers and Drake, although two of them showed a very ruthless side of the Slammers that you don't normally see.