Eich, Raymund. Take the Shilling.

Np: The Author, 2012.

I’m kind of picky about military science fiction novels because so many of them are just shoot-’em-ups with plots and characters that could as easily be set in medieval Europe or the Wild West as in the future on another planet. This one is the first in a trilogy and it’s considerably better than most — a mix of quite original social worldbuilding and universal battlefield angst. Tomas Neuman is an eighteen-year-old in a rural town on Josephine, one of the Confederated Worlds, which is at war with a rival group of planets, the Progressive Republic (known as Unity). He’s convinced himself he should enlist — with multiple motivations, as has always been the case with young men going off to war — and hopefully to get into the Space Force (which gets all the headlines). But for various reasons, he ends up in the Ground Forces as an infantryman.

Rowling, J. K. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay.

London: Pottermore Publishing, 2016.

First of all, if you’ve seen the movie, you already know it has nothing whatever to do with the book written by Newt Scamander (except the title), and there’s nothing except a passing mention of Hogwart’s. And it’s set in New York in 1926, so none of the characters you know from the original series are in it either. That said, it’s a highly enjoyable fantasy adventure, and it’s written by Rowling, so it’s everything you might expect.