Good space opera series?

I'm really enjoying the Alexis Carew books.

Like Honor Harrington but EVEN MORE Hornblower in Space.

Those are on my list for that reason. There's also the Kris Longknife series but, to quote myself from an annoyed tumblr post I wrote when I finished the second book:

"Is Kris Longknife meant to be a female Miles Vorkosigan, but teratogenic mutations and his various personal and cultural issues replaced with kidnapping angst, dysfunctional parents and a often mentioned lack of bossom?"

(among other issues)

So I can't really recommend them.

Anyway good thread

I need some space opera for writing my second novel. Always good to immerse yourself in a genre when creating it, according to Stephen King.

And I'm only a few books into Miles' series. Took me way too long to get to them.

Oh yeah, Vernor Vinge and David Brin are good recommendations. Thanks for the reminder. Brin's Uplift series is a classic (and one of the few series by anyone to have had two books win both of SF's major awards—the only other one I know of is Ender's Game). I highly recommend it. And Vinge's very popular Zones of Thought series is a personal favorite.

For those who like Hornblower In Space stuff, Poul Anderson's Dominic Flandry series is another excellent example.

Slightly off the beaten track, I'm a big fan of Walter Jon Williams' humorous Drake Maijstral series, which is a combination of space opera and comedy of manners. Williams also has a more traditional (but still quite good) space opera called Dread Empire's Fall, which I also recommend.

Read the first Alexis Carew story. Good read, but people were Not Hyperbole when they said its even more Hornblower in Space than Harrington.

Poul Anderson period is a good choice, don't know why I didn't recommend him before. Also John Varley, don't know if he's been mentioned yet.

edited 16th Apr '17 3:38:39 PM by tricksterson

I'm a big fan of Poul overall, yeah. (He was friends with my mom, and I'm still friends with his daughter, but that's only a small part of the reason—the main reason is that he's good.) But the Flandry series is the most space-opera-y thing he did, which is why I mentioned it. Some of his other stuff probably fits the category, but that's really the big one, I think.

Love Varley, but I can't think of anything by him that I'd call Space Opera. Most of his stuff is very much one-solar-system.

John Scalzi's brand-new series looks like it's going to be an excellent example of the genre. Only the first book is out, but I just finished it, and really liked it. (Those who might be offended by a character who loves the Cluster F-Bomb might want to approach it cautiously, though. )

For those who want some mystery (and more than a dash of xeno-archeology) in their space opera, Jack McDevitt's Alex Benedict series is well worth a look.

I consider Varley proof that you can have space opera while confined to the Solar System. If the Gaea Trilogy isn't in the best Space Opera tradition I can't imagine what is. Or the Thunder and Lightning series.

edited 17th Apr '17 10:03:57 AM by tricksterson

Planetary Romance of the good-old-fashioned kind. But I will admit that the Gaia trilogy, at the least, is fairly space-opera-y. Of course, Space Opera and Planetary Romance are cousin-genres, so that's not too surprising.

edited 21st Apr '17 1:08:53 PM by Xtifr

Except the science in Varley's stuff I'll grant is generally harder than you usually find in either genre.

Well, I got plenty of writing done for my sequel to Lucifer's Star and I can attribute that partially to you guys and your help. I appreciate it a great deal and hope the influences will make my work better.

Troper-writers to the rescue!