Good space opera series?

So, High Fantasy is usually my genre of choice, but Space Opera is another that I'm particularly fond of but haven't explored nearly as exhaustively. Star Wars was one of my earliest loves, and I followed the EU fairly obsessively for years until Legacy of the Force and Fate of the Jedi ended up throwing away that good will at a remarkable rate; I'm still in the process of getting back into the new canon Expanded Universe. In any event, does anyone have any recommendations of good, epic Space Opera to scratch this particular itch? I'm particularly interested in multi-book sagas (trilogy or longer) and I tend to prefer things a bit closer to the Science Fantasy end of the scale, though I'll go for harder sci-fi if it pulls me in enough. I've previously read classic examples like Asimov's Foundation, Herbert's Dune, and Simmons' Hyperion Cantos, as well as more contemporary works like Anderson's Saga of Seven Suns (some interesting ideas hamstrung by a mediocre writer), Weis's Star of the Guardians, and the current ongoing The Expanse and The Indranan War (I've read some Warhammer 40K stuff too, but with the exception of the Ciaphas Cain novels - which are actually willing to have some fun with the OTT-ness of the setting - they haven't been much to my taste; I don't much care for grimdark-for-grimdark's-sake). Anyone have any good recs?

i like the Vorkosigan Saga

If you can find it, try Edward "Doc" Smith's Lensmen series. Or Edgar Rice Burroughs John Carter novels. Both are dated, but they're foundational in the Space Opera genre.

A Fire Upon the Deep is very, very good with a lot of bizarre and interesting ideas and a good mix of small-scale and large-scale conflict. Though I haven't read the sequel The Children of the Sky yet, and I thought the prequel A Deepness in the Sky was just okay.

David Weber. Accept no substitutes.

Weber is on the harder end of the spectrum, though. I'd suggest Vorkosigan first.

For classics pretty much anything by Heinlein. Also the Kollin brothers Unincorporated series.

I second the recommendation for Lensmen. It reads like a Cliché Storm because it's pretty much where the Space Opera cliches came from. It's certainly dated in places (Narm Charm is probably part of the appeal for a modern reader), but it has a certain grandeur to it that has seldom been duplicated, and the scale of the central conflict is huge. Literally universe-spanning.

You could also go check out non-Star Wars Timothy Zahn. They're all Space Opera in one form or other, with plots that zing along at a nice clip. I liked the Conquerors trilogy in particular. It has a nice way of viewing the conflict from multiple sides.

I liked the "Cities in Flight" books by James Blish (also known as the "Okie" books). They're good Space Opera too, and though it doesn't look like it at first, the final conflict has a scale similar to Lensmen. The mechanics of space flight in that series are that bigger is more efficient, so entire cities have engines installed and fly off into space. New York plays a staring role.

Oh and I second the recommendation for just about anything by Heinlein. Starship Troopers is one of my favorites, but there's good stuff in even his juvenile work like Have Spacesuit, Will Travel and Farmer in the Sky.

edited 21st Feb '17 8:45:12 AM by Bense

I third the Vorkosigan Saga and Weber's "Honor Harrington" books. I've not read much of Weber's other space-opera stuff so have no comment.

I liked the Honor Harrington books too, but they haven't left as lasting an impression on me as some of these others. The villains are perhaps a little too over-the-top for me, and the parallels between Honor and Lord Nelson, and the Havenites and the French Revolution are a little too heavy-handed for me. I mean, Weber even named his Robespierre analog "Robert S. Pierre".

I like the Revelation Space books.

A little less known... try the Maxwell Saga by Peter Grant.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NGTR505/ref=series_rw_dp_sw

One of these days I really need to get around to writing up a page for that series.

edited 22nd Feb '17 4:17:58 PM by Zyffyr

Anyone recommend Iain Banks Culture 'verse yet? If not let me.

edited 15th Mar '17 3:22:36 PM by tricksterson

David Drake's RCN series. Where Honor Harrington is "Horatio Hornblower In Space", RCN is "Aubrey-Maturin In Space".

I'm afraid I find Drake's style too heavy handed to really enjoy

I wrote the Lucifer's Star novel.

I recommend David Weber's Honor Harrington for the first dozen books or so, though. It remains some of the best you'll find.

Beat me to it, The Culture books were my first thought. Consider Phlebas could be skipped if you like, but The Player of Games and Use of Weapons are absolute musts, the latter might be one of the best novels I've ever read.

I've started a post in this thread three times, and then gotten lost because it's just such a broad topic! I'm going to try to start small this time; I may be back.

Seconding the recommendation for The Culture. A really imaginative, mind-bending series, and very well written.

Also seconding the recommendation for The Vorkosigan Saga. This one is a huge favorite of mine. But the early novels are, unfortunately, a bit weak, so it might be better to start with later ones. Fortunately, they're all mostly standalone. A good starting point might be Barrayar, which is the second in the internal chronology, but the seventh one published.

For old classics, one of my particular favorites is Jack Vance's Gaean Reach novels, which include The Demon Princes. Vance's florid style can seem a bit odd at first, but his strong sense of humor makes it all work.

A more recent example I highly recommend is the Ancillary Justice series. The first book swept most of the major SF awards. It's a fascinating look at what it might be like to have been part of a hive mind.

I just read one of the Demon Prince books (Palace of Love - right in the middle of the cycle. I was a little confused as to what was going on). Vance's style is...singular..but can be quite enjoyable.

His Dying Earth stories are his most famous, but they aren't really Space Opera.

edited 20th Mar '17 8:34:54 AM by Bense

I don't know if it technically counts as Space Opera, but I'm currently reading Children of Time which has spaceships, terraforming and giant sentient spiders, and is also very well written so I'd recommend that too.

Seconding the recs of the Vorkosigan Saga and Ancillary Justice.

Also, I'd recommend Red Rising, although the Space Opera aspect is much more present in the second and third books of the trilogy than it is in the first.

Someone I like but not everybody does, Jack L. Chalker. I can particularly recommend his Well of Worlds and Lords of the Diamond series.

I'd suggest the Legend Of Galactic Heroes series by Yoshiki Tanaka, since they're being translated now. They're sort of dry, but they really capture the vast scale of a galactic war.

edited 2nd Apr '17 9:01:24 PM by Zendervai

For space opera, my go-to list is Lois Mcmaster Bujold, Vernor Vinge, Ian M. Banks, Ann Leckie, Hannu Rajaniemi

Let me throw in Tobias S. Buckell, John Ringo (if the politics doesn't turn you off) and David Brin