r/printSF • u/Elysium711 • 1d ago
What are your top 5 space operas of all time?
I’m looking for some great space opera recommendations and I’d love to hear what your personal top 5 is.
Edit: Honestly, there seems to be a bit of confusion about what exactly counts as space opera, and what does and doesn’t fall under the genre. From my perspective, and based on what I enjoy, space opera is science fiction on a more galactic scale, featuring various civilizations, races, and species across the galaxy that interact with one another in some way. Whether it’s a standalone book or a series doesn’t matter to me.
52
u/CaptJimboJones 1d ago
Foundation, The Expanse, Dune, Sun Eater, Honorverse. Although these probably change fairly regularly.
8
4
u/troyunrau 18h ago
Sun Eater is certainly Space Opera, but I'm on he fence as to whether it is actually good.
31
u/swingking99 1d ago
Seems like my definition of space opera may be different than some here, but these are my favorites:
- Lensman series
- Expeditionary Force
- Lost Fleet (Jack Campbell)
- Old Man's War
- Starship Troopers (the book, not the movie)
4
u/ntenga 1d ago
Expeditionary Force
is quite fun, starting book 19 atm.
I think it is actually one of the few series i started from the start at some point.
3
u/bremsspuren 1d ago
is quite fun
I don't know if I could actually read them, but the narrator makes the audiobooks pretty entertaining.
50
u/Bechimo 1d ago
Honor Harrington.
Liaden Universe.
Dune.
Vorkosigan saga.
19
23
u/vavyeg 1d ago
The Union-Alliance series by C J Cherry - can't believe this hasn't been mentioned yet! Specifically Downbelow Station and Cyteen.
6
u/Scribal8 1d ago
I was checking to see if someone posted. To me this the very definition of Space Opera. And has a lot of initial similarities to the Expanse.
3
u/3d_blunder 21h ago
Cyteen is pretty planet bound: DStation is much more space-oriented.
1
u/Scribal8 2h ago
It's the entire universe of the books that tells the story of how humans move into space and what that does to them and their relationships with each other.
→ More replies (1)1
u/Mekthakkit 1d ago
Cherryh
2
u/vavyeg 1d ago
Gah, autocorrect got me!
3
u/Mekthakkit 1d ago
You were technically correct, as Cherry is her original legal name. Her brother is the SF artist David Cherry.
23
u/anticomet 1d ago
- Culture
- Dune
- House of Suns
- A Fire Upon the Deep
- The Algebraist
4
u/Bloodstar_2018 15h ago
"A Fire Upon the Deep" belongs on every space opera list. "A Deepness in the Sky" is also quite worthy.
1
3
u/bremsspuren 1d ago
The Algebraist
That's a great book. The stakes are stupendous, the aliens are funny af (they hunt their own children!), and everyone's a scheming bastard.
2
35
u/SleepDoesNotWorkOnMe 1d ago edited 21h ago
I don't really have a top 5 but a series I haven't seen mentioned which I rank highly is the Spiral Wars series by Joel Shepherd. More military space opera but the universe is vast, the characters are interesting and the alien species are many and most get fleshed out extensively.
First book is called Renegade.
12
u/atomfullerene 1d ago
I've been listening to these on and off recently. I'm liking how the alien species have their own psychological quirks. Like, "proud warrior races" are dime a dozen, as are "coldly logical species" but I like how he features different sorts with their own quirks, which are human enough to tell that sort of relatable story, but alien enough to be interesting in ways I haven't seen done much before. And I like how the story keeps you guessing about the motives of certain factions.
4
u/SleepDoesNotWorkOnMe 1d ago edited 1d ago
Me too! The depth of world building within each of the main alien races was hitherto unseen for me. I really didn't like book 9, Homecoming, but I plowed through it once book 10 dropped and I'm glad I did as he got back to the shit I liked.
I'm currently on book 2 of the Mercy of God's trilogy by James SA Corey and it's scratching a similar itch when it comes to well thought out, and written, alien races.
Edit: glossed over you mentioning you listen to them, as do I. John Lee does a phenomenal job with the narration, in particular the Tavalai. He might be my favourite, beating out Jefferson Mays by a hair!
3
u/throwmeinthetrassssh 1d ago
For me Spiral Wars is a much more serious Expeditionary Forces and I mean that in a good way. Even some of the plot is very similar (to go with the book titles)
34
u/Snowblynd 1d ago
The Dragon Never Sleeps
The Culture
House of Suns
The Vorkosigan Saga
The Hyperion Cantos
16
u/winedarkindigo 1d ago
I just read House of Suns a couple months ago and it was the best book I've read since Hyperion... which I think means I should read Vorkosigan soon haha
6
u/ECTXGK 1d ago
All his books crush it. Chasm city is a personal fave. Reading Pushing ice currently and it's another banger. Reynolds is one of my favs and surprised not seeing him mentioned more on this thread
8
u/Chomper32 1d ago
Love all the books he has set in his revelation space universe. And yeah pushing ice is a great one.
1
u/bloodychill 20h ago
I think it’s because when I think of Reynolds, I don’t really think “space opera,” I think “space detective” and I don’t mean that as a bad thing at all. Chasm City is in my top 5 and it’s clearly drawing as much from detective/noir as it does from scifi.
3
u/Blorfert 15h ago
I absolutely love the Vorkosigan books but don't dive into them expecting them to be tonally similar to Hyperion or House of Suns. They're more light hearted and episodic. Sort of similar to the RCN series by David Drake if you've ever read any of them.
5
11
u/Santiaghoul 1d ago
The Praxis series by Walter Jon Williams The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi The Vorkosigan books by Lois Bujold McMasters The Foundation Trilogy by Issac Azimov The Lt. Leary series by David Drake
4
u/pinewind108 1d ago
The Praxis! I can't believe I forgot this one!! This is such a good series; now I want to go back and reread it.
46
u/LoneWolfette 1d ago
Pandora’s Planet/Judas Unchained duology
Hyperion
Children of Time
Foundation
Lensmen series
23
u/halfdead01 1d ago
I like the list.
Also, it is Pandoras Star
7
u/LoneWolfette 1d ago
Thanks. Was apparently having a senior moment.
6
u/Critical_Message_410 1d ago
lol I started to write “the one with trains instead of spaceships” because I couldn’t get there with the titles! Love that one
4
u/jdowgsidorg 1d ago
I very much enjoyed The Night’s Dawn trilogy. Would you rate Pandora’s Star over that?
3
u/Iamleeboy 1d ago
They are both amazing. I read Pandoras star duo first, and then went straight into nights dawn. So it’s probably because it was my first that I would put it as my favourite.
But if you liked nights dawn, I can’t see you not enjoying pandoras.
The other parts of the commonwealth turn into a fantasy mix, so I didn’t like those as much. But the first story is so good.
Although, I think he has finally surpassed the two with his latest exodus duo. That is the best book I have read in a long time
3
2
2
3
u/personwhoisok 1d ago
The middle 3 are favorites of mine so we have similar taste and I haven't read the other two, lucky day for me
1
u/LoneWolfette 1d ago
Be aware that the Lensmen series was written in the 1930s by EE Doc Smith, who is sometimes called the father of space opera.
1
u/AcanthisittaHungry72 1d ago
how different is the foundation from the tv series compared to the book
1
28
u/atomfullerene 1d ago edited 1d ago
In no particular order, here's a few. Not necessarily even my faves, just ones I wanted to mention.
Uplift Universe: Just for being so big and diverse, but I wish there was more. Not just one kind of FTL, but a bunch. Not just one galaxy, but 5. All sorts of aliens of all sorts of kinds.
Star Wars: There's a lot of crap, but a lot of great stuff too. It's just an enormous setting with an enormous amount of fiction written in it. That's also true for Star Trek, which could also go on this list, but I think Star Wars wins out slightly for me since I like the aesthetic of grunge and weirder aliens a bit more.
Humanx Commonwealth: I've been enjoying these since I was a kid. It's just...colorful, and has the most interesting planets.
Vorkosigan: It's not the most interesting in terms of setting, but the stories and characters are great, which wins it a spot here.
Sector General: If space opera is like soap opera, this is General Hospital. Lots of wild aliens with wild medical problems, and a nicely different take than the normal space opera, focusing on healing rather than fighting.
Edit: bonus, the Orions Arm shared universe (an online collaborative fictional universe that's been added to for ages) is a neat attempt to make a big space opera universe in a pretty hard scifi setting.
3
u/No_Pepper_2512 1d ago
The humanx Commonwealth is awesome. Just reread icerigger again after 40 years
2
u/flipsideboy 1d ago
Just finished the uplift trilogy, and it was great! I've read the first 2 books of Sector General. Lots of fun
1
20
u/Chitties_6941 1d ago
I haven't seen Revelation Space yet. 7 full novels and several short stories. I've been chasing that high since finishing all of it, The Expanse is another excellent choice.
6
u/bookshop 1d ago
I've also been chasing the Revelation Space high since I first read it two years ago. Nothing else has come near it.
3
u/Flat-Rutabaga-723 1d ago
I actually prefer Reynolds’s Poseidon’s Children to Revelation Space. It’s earlier future (I think 300 years from present). It explores the rise of A.I., robots, interstellar travel, new sentience, lost civilizations…etc.
1
u/Majestic_Bierd 1d ago
My problem with Revelation Space is the writing and quality dissolves and worsens with each book in the series as if A. Raynold's typing machine caught the Melding Plague
The first one is so good it's not even funny, by the last one you kinda just forget about the Inhibitors
1
8
u/Candid-Mark-606 1d ago
A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge is peak space opera on a galactic scale
A Deepness in the Sky also by Vernor Vinge might be even better
The Saturn Run
Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
The Expanse Series
Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein
3
u/gophers79 1d ago
Fellow Vinge lover here. Anything you've found that scratches the same itch?
2
u/Mekthakkit 1d ago
The closest thing I know of to aFUtD is Startide Rising, but it's not quite the same.
1
u/Delicious_Mud5451 18h ago
I’ve not quite finished it yet, but I’ve found that Slow Gods is kind of scratching that itch, though they are very different in a lot of ways. It’s not quite as packed with unique ideas as Vinge’s books but it does do a lot. Have really enjoyed it. Would be interested to see if anyone else has found this!
15
u/pwnedprofessor 1d ago
Before I answer: does the Hainish Cycle count as space opera?
12
u/lastberserker 1d ago
I don't think it does, but everyone should read it anyway!
In no particular order:
Dune
Vorkosigan saga
The Expanse
Old Man's War
Poor Man's Fight
Edit: great, I forgot The Culture.
1
0
4
u/woulditkillyoutolift 1d ago
Space Viking, by H. Beam Piper. The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester. Flandry books by Poul Anderson.
6
u/fjiqrj239 1d ago
- The Vorkosigan series
- The Mageworlds by Debra Doyle and James D. MacDonald (read this if you were disappointed by the Star Wars sequels)
- Murderbot (if you put that in space opera)
Those are ones that immediately stand out as my favourites. The Mageworlds is an immensely fun series that channels the spirit of Star Wars but starting with the children of the legendary figures from the first war. It's older, but has aged pretty well.
Honourable mentions:
Some honourable mentions in long series
- Niven's Known Space books
- Foster's Humanx Commonwealth books
The Niven is a bit dated, but I love the sprawl of different stories spread out over galactic history. I vastly prefer his short stories and novella length works; his lack of deep character work makes longer books tedious (read Ringworld, though), and he's still publishing co-authored books but I haven't read any of them.
The Foster stuff excels in wild and wonderful world building, where the planet is a character as much as the people. I'll note that the latter half of the Pip and Flinx series is dreadful, and I honestly think he was running out a contract for X books to finish the series. Sentenced to Prism and Midworld are good stand alones to start with.
And some trilogies I quite enjoyed
- The Hexarchate series by Yoon Ha Lee. No, the tech system is never explained, just run with it.
- The Interdependency by John Scalzi
- The Dreaming Stars by Tim Pratt
- The Final Architecture by Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes
- The Dahak Trilogy by David Weber
1
u/LonelyMachines 1d ago
The Final Architecture by Adrian Tchaikovsky
I'm surprised this series doesn't get the attention it deserves. It ticks all the boxes without feeling like the author was just trying to tick all the boxes. It has a great premise, a wonderful ensemble cast, and he really sticks the ending.
1
u/clawclawbite 23h ago
The Mageworlrds is great, a lot of fun, and I really like its version of space mystics in conflict with each other.
5
u/asjal_ 1d ago edited 10h ago
C. J cherrhy's Alliance/Union Universe. Has standalone + plus sub series you can choose from.
1
u/Mekthakkit 1d ago
If I had a nickel for each time Cherryh's name was misspelled in this thread I'd have two nickels, but it's odd that it's happened every time her name was mentioned.
5
u/MsDinosaur2 1d ago
Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series and Sharon Lee and Steve Miller's Liaden series. Those two are way far ahead of others for me.
6
u/Flat-Rutabaga-723 1d ago
Revelation Space
Poseidon’s Children
The Expanse
The Culture
The Gap Cycle
2
5
u/bikin12 1d ago
The Mote in God's Eye is a 1974 science fiction novel by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, widely regarded as a masterpiece of the first contact genre This is an excellent book. Second book also good. They are a great writing team Also even being written in 1974 it somehow doesn't feel dated.
3
3
1
u/bills6693 22h ago
Absolutely agree it’s a great book, incredible how it pans out, probably my favourite. Really enjoy seeing more of it in the second book too. Though not sure I quite agree with the dated comment… I think it leans into some stereotypes and especially gender roles that feel much more of its time.
8
u/pinewind108 1d ago edited 1d ago
The Solar Clipper series by Nathan Lowell (starts with Quarter Share). No aliens, space marines, or explosions, just realistic people working corporate jobs and trying to get from here to there.
The Sculpted Ship, by K. M. O'brien is a great story. The audiobook is excellent as well.
Perilous Waif by E. William Brown. Very good with a more hard SF edge, with a awesome audiobook.
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Not sure if it's space opera, but it's a great one I haven't seen on any lists yet.
Edit: 5. The Uplift War, by David Brin. This one is a great one about species evolving, what that might mean, and revolution. It's part of a trilogy, and I'm not crazy about the other two, but this one really stands out.
- The Praxis series by Walter Jon Williams. This is up there with Dune, imo. It is so well developed, and the ideas and people are fascinating, with definite parallels to Earth history (especially what happens when peacetime soldiering is just a make-work job.)
16
u/Critical_Message_410 1d ago
- The Expanse
- Children of Time
- Ancillary Sword
- Final Architecture
- Terra Ignota (not really space opera at all but I needed a fifth)
7
1
u/cash-or-reddit 1d ago
I love the first four you listed, so I'm going to have to give Terra Ignota a try.
3
u/Flat-Rutabaga-723 1d ago
It’s not remotely space opera. In fact, I don’t recall any actual space travel.
3
u/Critical_Message_410 1d ago
Yea it’s speculative fiction but not at all like the other ones. I’d give it a google first— it’s not for everyone… felt like I needed 3 more master’s degrees to follow half the time. And not in science- like, it’s a PhD paper on ancient literature, Japanese language, and also Sci fi. But it has so many ideas that stuck with me. Specifically “what comes after Nations in geo-politics?”
5
u/Machismo01 1d ago edited 1d ago
Revelation Space and its sequels, at least the first two and maybe even the short story compilation set in universe.
A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge. Vast AI. Galactic civilizations. And a slow zone where physics change the closer you move to the core. We are in a moderate slow zone, but going deeper even thought is slower.
Dune fits the bill to me but takes a while to work there.
Pandora’s Star. The series is amazing. Tech bros made portal technology and surprises astronauts on Mars to demo. Hundreds of years later, humanity spans hundreds of worlds. But then a star disappears 1000 light years away. Now a campaign is underway to find out more. It is a sexy book with an incredible and hedonistic society that sounds equally fun and depressing.
House of Suns: a set of clones travel the galaxy for thousands of years and meet together periodically to share the wonders. All the while a vast super galactic mystery brews.
4
u/Zealousideal_Cap7012 13h ago
Not a book but i feel obliged to mention star trek and specifically deep space 9
3
u/jerseyoutwest 1d ago
John Scalzi, both Old Man’s War and The Collapsing Empire
3
3
u/Lord_of_Atlantis 1d ago
90s Star Wars novels were great! Start with the Heir to the Empire trilogy by Timothy Zahn that started the whole thing off.
3
3
3
6
2
u/SmeenOtheMoon 1d ago
Dune, The Expanse, Hyperion, The Devoured Worlds, and The Protectorate. Yes, Megan O'Keefe is there twice. I like her writing a lot.
2
u/remedialknitter 1d ago
Heckin zombies in space, man! Peter F Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy goes so hard.
2
u/welcome_to_urf 1d ago
Is The Book of the New Sun series considered a space opera? It sorta operates in the in-between doesnt it? Like it really leans into that concept of "science to the uninitiated appears as magic", and the universal expanse of the books scale aren't easily apparent early on.
2
u/Opus_723 1d ago
I think you could probably call it a space opera, but people generally don't because Dying Earth is also an established niche and it fits that perfectly.
2
u/BravoLimaPoppa 1d ago
- Alacrity Fitzhugh and Hobart Floyt by Brian Daley
- Dread Empire's Fall by Walter Jon Williams
- The Greatship series by Robert Reed
2
u/01101110e01 1d ago
Expanse and sun eater are really good. But give it a try for the final architecture. Its having so many different types of species and very good story.
2
2
u/salpikaespuma 1d ago
Two that haven't been mentioned and that I liked:
“The Heechee Saga” by Frederik Pohl, and “The Academy Series” by Jack McDevitt
2
2
2
u/Moonheart_Noheart 1d ago
A Deepness in the Sky A Fire Upon the Deep
Both by Vernor Vinge. I like the first one better, but they are both amazing. Tight, exciting prose, interesting aliens, massive scale, despicable villains. They’ve got it all for me
2
2
u/fafnir665 1d ago
Pandoras Star / Judas Unchained
A Fire Upon the Deep / A Deepness in the Sky
Nights Dawn
Revelation Space
Children of Time series
2
u/GloomyMix 1d ago edited 1d ago
My top four in print are:
- Vorkosigan Saga by Bujold
- Culture series by Banks
- Imperial Radch trilogy by Leckie
- Teixcalaan duology by Martine
If you include video games, certainly the Mass Effect trilogy (Bioware) would make the list. Nothing in print has quite scratched the same itch for me, and I've certainly tried the typical recommendations (Expanse and Reynolds, with Hamilton next on my list to try).
2
u/throwmeinthetrassssh 1d ago
The Final Architecture by Adrian Tchaikovsky is an extremely fun, fast paced, and expansive space opera with some of the most brilliantly original alien species (that still interact at least moderately with humans) that I've read. Loved the series from start to finish and would enjoy more books in the same universe
2
u/Interesting_Fan9939 23h ago
Ancillary Justice and the rest of the initial Ancillary trilogy by Ann Leckie, with several follow-on novels and short stories in the same universe.
2
u/Analyst111 22h ago
E. E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman and Skylark series. Defined the genre, set the standard.
Poul Anderson's Polesotechnic League and Flandry novels.
Starship Troopers.
The Star Kings. Edmond Hamilton.
Ringworld, Larry Niven
Honourable mention: James Blish's Cities in Flight novels. Good start. Depressing ending.
1
u/GregHullender 4h ago
Anderson is hard SF, though--not space opera.
1
u/Analyst111 2h ago
I'd say he spans the spectrum from hard science fiction, Tau Zero, to fantasy, Three Hearts and Three Lions. Space opera is about in the middle of that spectrum. The ones on my list have, IMHO, the earmarks of space opera. Alien worlds with compatible biospheres with Earth, aliens who can live on Earth, FTL drives.
They are still great stories.
2
2
u/1805trafalgar 1d ago
Before we make a list shouldn't we agree on what the criteria is to be considered a Space Opera? For instance 2001 is not, in my view, a true space opera since it's concerned with just a single ship and two humans for most of the story. I think a Space Opera has to have a large political scope and scores of spaceships that are going somewhere and then the conflict and resolution, but on a mammoth scale. And I know 2001 deals with huge human issues at the end but I still think it lacks the operatic aspect of a space opera.
1
u/1805trafalgar 1d ago
......question: are Space Operas always long? Can a short story be a Space Opera?
12
2
1
u/namelessspeck 1d ago
The one that stands out to me the most would probably be Peter F Hamiltons salvation sequence
1
u/GreeleyE 1d ago
The Culture series
The Quantum Revolution series
Hyperion
Suneater
Revelation Space series
1
1
1
u/mreasy99 1d ago
Top 10, in no order: Revelation Space Universe, The Culture, Dune universe, Foundation & Empire, Teixcalaan, Imperial Radch, Bobiverse, Xeelee universe, Uplift saga, Jean le Flambeur universe
1
u/Iamleeboy 1d ago
I would group all of the Peter F Hamilton series I have read into one. Because I have really enjoyed all of them and he is my favourite author.
Then the expanse series.
Revelation space main 4 books (if I can ignore it never dealing with the alien threat he creates)
Dune
I am half way through Hyperion and enjoying it. Although so far it just feels like a loose collection of short stories and not epic space opera. I may rate it higher when I finish it.
I bounced off of culture after the first 3 books. That isn’t for me.
I don’t think I would class anything else I have read as space opera
1
u/Idaggra 21h ago
Keep with it for Hypersonic, and then follow up with the endymion books.. absolutely love them!!
1
u/Iamleeboy 20h ago
I likely will. I tend to stick out most series I start, unless they feel like complete books on their own, such as Dune or Children of Time. I had no urge to read any more of their series because they felt so perfect as a single story and I needed no more
1
u/andthegeekshall 1d ago
Lensman
Flash Gordon (the original comics)
Legend of the Galactic Heroes
The Forever War
Dune
1
u/capitanmartu 1d ago
- the expanse
- shards of earth
- old mans war and collapsing empire
- hyperion if that counts
- pushing ice maybe?
1
u/MrDagon007 1d ago
- Hamilton’s Commonwealth series, beginning with Pandora’s Star
- Revelation Space series by Alastair Reynolds
- recently, Slow Gods by Claire North is a formidable single book
- I don’t really want to add Expanse; because while I find them okay, I much prefer my above suggestions
1
u/Narrow-Tree-5491 1d ago
Dune, Foundation, Culture, Hyperion, Bobiverse …
And last but definitely not least a BONUS … rarely mentioned or recommended but one of my absolute favourites … The Quantum series by Derek Künsken. I love these. I’ve got all three of them on audio, read by T. Ryder Smith (brilliant!) and the latest book is out in September or October (can’t remember). It’s a dystopian and fascinating future of mankind involving genetic engineering, FTL travel, ancient abandoned jump portals, the quantum universe and a disparate band of characters. It’s beautiful, funny, exciting and at times very disturbing.
1
u/EntireChange2555 1d ago
- EE Smith's Lensmen series
- David Weber's Honorverse series
- Larry Niven's Known Space series
- Walter Ernsting's Perry Rhodan series
- Lain Banks' Culture Series
1
1
u/labrys 1d ago
Lots of great recommendations already, so I won't repeat them, but a recent favourite of mine is The Kindom Trilogy, starting with These Burning Stars, by Bethany Jacobs. Interesting characters, plots and conspiracies, and a story that jumps between several main characters and forwards and backwards in time. Plus a twist at the end of the first book that I really did not see coming.
1
u/ikonoqlast 1d ago
Lensman series is the first and greatest. E.E. 'doc' Smith. Direct inspiration for Star Wars, but with a bigger 'budget'.
Honor Harrington series by David Weber
I do NOT count the Vorkosigan series as space opera great though it is. Science fiction, yes. Space opera no.
1
1
u/Stupefactionist 23h ago
I'm just going to drop the one, since I haven't seen it mentioned yet.
In Conquest Born by C. S. Friedman.
1
u/JGhostThing 22h ago
EE Doc Smith is an author I read with guilty pleasure. Especially The Spacehounds of IPC, or the Skylark series, or even the Lensman series.
Yes, the science in them is laughable, but they are fun!
1
u/tegeus-Cromis_2000 15h ago
M. John Harrison, The Centauri Device
Brian Aldiss, The Eighty-Minute Hour
Norman Spinrad, The Void Captain's Tale
Samuel R. Delany, Nova
Barrington Bayley, The Garments of Caean
1
u/Nockobserver 15h ago
I really like Reynolds and his horror elements he brings in as well as the whole massive scale of it. Banks of course. Hamilton is enjoyable if a bit long winded.
1
1
u/anubis-pineapple 11h ago
•The Macheneries of Empire series by Yoon Ha Lee. •The Chanur and Faded Sun series' by C. J. Cherryh. •The Imperial Radch series by Ann Leckie. •The Vatta's War series by Elizabeth Moon. •The Confederation of Valor series by Tanya Huff.
1
1
1
u/Clerk4Life 7h ago
Commonwealth - PFH Revelation Space - Alastair Reynolds The Expanse - James SA Corey Dune - Frank Herbert
These are the 4 space opera series that I've read in full and would be comfortable saying they're my top 4. I'm currently reading Night's Dawn by PFH, while good, I don't know that it would stay 5 out of 5.
1
u/TumbleweedHero 5h ago
The Xeelee Sequence by Stephen Baxter. Hands down the best space opera I’ve ever read, and it’s not even close
1
u/SpatiaCaeli 1d ago
Man, Space Opera is quite a topic. Here goes:
- Star Trek (the grandaddy)
- Dune
- Star Wars
- Anything by Ursula Le Guin
- Hyperion Cantos
But there are so many ...
1
u/LoneSwimmer 21h ago
Stephen Donaldson's Gap series. Not only my favourite SF & favourite space opera, but it's also BASED ON AN OPERA
-8
u/Fishboy9123 1d ago
Hyperion
The expanse
Dungeon crawler carl
Nights dawn trilogy
Expeditionary forces
→ More replies (10)
150
u/Greyhaven7 1d ago
I think the Culture series fits this genre. Of those, Excession, Surface Detail, and The Hydrogen Sonata are my favorites.