I feel like I wrote this post from time to time on Reddit and I think I’ll start this tradition here. I’m. a Honor Harrington fan. I’ve read several other space operas and they always fall short. The three that came close were Lt. Leary, Kris Longknife and Vorkosigan saga. Lt. Leary was nice, but it failed on World building. Kris Longknife also failed on world building and had astronomical levels of cringe with aliens and plot, but I enjoyed it. Vorkosigan saga had better world building and it was nice overall, but the books without Miles Vorkosigan weren’t enjoyable. There were other series that I enjoyed: Serrano Legacy, Vatta’s War (those are some of my favorites but they were too short), Starship’s mage (it declines with every new book), The Lost Fleet (it has a serious plot problem, the plot doesn’t move forward), Old Man’s War (it was really nice), Dread Empire Fall (also awesome), Teixcalaan (good, but short), Alarm of War (good, but short and pretty generic), Bobbiverse (I read until book 3, it isn’t for me), Red Rising 1st trilogy (really nice, but too Hunger Gamish, this whole dividing society into a cast system is getting old), Ark Royal. The Three Body Problem was awesome and, contrary to most series, didn’t leave me craving more after it was over. Edit: forgot to mention The Expanse, it was OK.
I think that what won me over on HH was the fact that she is a complete Mary Sue and other character don’t fall far from the tree, there is a nice world building, characters die, and there is a ton of action.
On the other hand, there are some long books that I enjoy that aren’t space operas. I really enjoy the Dresden Files (because he is cool and it is a long series), I absolutely love Jack Reacher (it is just a nice fun read, it’s like a nice Big Mac), I also enjoy The Spellmonger series, and I enjoyed the Riyria. I disliked Takeshi Kovacs (lack of sequence and plot) and I absolutely hate Southern Reach (VanderMeer), and there is another popular sci-fi book that is written as a report, which I also hated. I don’t like those very innovative mystery stories where you are trying to figure out wtf is going on or waiting for a plot to start until the middle of the book.
Got any suggestions? =)
(OMG, after writing this post, I see myself as an incredible hard reader to please)
Two obvious suggestions are Frank Herbert’s “Dune” series, and Issac Asimov’s “Foundation” series.
Both are sci-fi classics (Dune is still the best selling sci-fi book of all time I believe) and are space operas of a massive scope.
They are also some of my personal favorites.
I also immensely enjoyed Asimov’s “Robot” books. Three fun little whodunnit’s set in an interesting universe.
About four years ago, on a whim I decided to buy the entire Asimov scifi collection (inc short stories which I’m usually not keen on). Really surprised me how prescient and creative he was, considering how long ago it was written.
He has a really ‘comfy’ writing style, only way I can explain it… trying to read some hard scifi afterwards was a bit of a slog. Like a reading version of wading through treacle.
And he’s funny, too!
You always hear about how forward thinking and philosophical his stories were, never how human and alive his characters are, or how he regularly gets a smile out of the reader.
Those are also some of my favorites, the only reason I didn’t recommend is because I didn’t consider it to be quite the same genre, but agree they are excellent!
They are also in the same universe, as foundation makes a few references to that series, which are also fun to catch.
No love for Iain M Banks? The Culture series looks like it will tick all your boxes and instead of following a single protagonist the Culture itself is the protagonist so each book has it’s own cast of interesting characters.
I second this. The Culture cycle is one of the best space opera series ever written.
I really enjoyed the Culture setting but had to give up after Look to Windward because that was about 3 books in a row with unsatisfying endings.
+1 - Banks is probably my favorite sci fi author (as you might have guessed based on my username). The Culture series is excellent and highly entertaining.
Dan Simmons - Hyperian Kantos. Four books in the series, well worth a read imo… I loved it
Adrian Tchaikovsky - Children of Time / Children of Ruin / Children of Memory (not read the third but am sure it’ll be as good as the first two)
100% Hyperion Cantos
I want to know if OP has read AT and what they think. I love all his books (just finishing Lords of Uncreation) and so could use OP’s list for things to go to next :)
No idea why my brain had me put a K instead of a C. I haven’t played Mortal Kombat in a while so can’t even blame it on that
A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge. I liked the prequel, A Deepness in the Sky even more.
I loved anything Vinge put out. Always good reading.
Vinge is probably my favourite SiFi author. Incredibly well paced and populated stories
Fantastic book, I had no clue there was a prequel. I must acquire this.
Reality Dysfunction, Hyperion, Red Rising, Dune, The Expanse, Foundation, The Mote in God’s Eye
The Expanse and Red Rising series is exactly what he’s looking for! Also the Bobbiverse is a decent addition!
Second Red Rising! Ender’s Game combined with Hunger Games. Then the next books kick off with space combat, mech suits, & political intrigue
++ Hyperion by Dan Simmons. One of my favorites
Pandora’s Star and the sequel Judas Unchained by Peter F Hamilton
Excellent storyline
Really, all of the Commonwealth Saga are good reads
Alastair Reynolds - Revelation space i.e. Inhibitor sequence
Peter F Hamilton - Void trilogy in the Commonwealth universe
I absolutely love Hamilton’s Commonwealth universe! Pandora’s Star then Judas Unchained, then the void trilogy followed up by The Abyss Beyond Dreams. I’ve read all of them 3 times and thinking of doing a 4th round soon!
I’ve also seen House of Suns mentioned here a few times. It gets my vote for the exploration of deep time due to the speed limits of causality.
I don’t know what it is, but I struggle with both series that take place in the Commonwealth. Pandora’s Star took quite a bit for me to get into, hooked me right as the book ended, but I enjoyed Judas Unchained after that.
I just finished Dreaming Void (Void #1), and it flowed the same as Pandora’s Star to me, but I’ve grown a little over that kind of lead-up and then just end the book. On top of that, the world shifted too much, and it’s hard for me to feel like I understand it in the slightest. I’ve been hesitant to continue it.
+1 for both authors.
Hamilton has great characters and great sci-fi.
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy 🌌 . Probably not what you’re looking for.
I’ve read it and it is awesome. Worth mentioning whenever someone wants a light read.
Light? It has the meaning of life, the universe and everything. /s
Children Of Time Trilogy.
Amazing books that explore topics like Consciousness and Intelligence from angles you wouldn’t expect
Also Adrian Tchaikovsky’s new series, the Final Architecture. Two books in, so far so very good.
I just finished the second book. We’re going on an adventure…
It’s not one of the Culture novels, but The Algebraist by Iain Banks is one of my favorite one book cover to cover operas.
Revelation Space.
Niven’s Ringworld series
Foundation?
Revelation Space! Yes, yes, yes! Pick them up and don’t look back.
Also, if you’re into pulpy sci-fi, the Avery Cates books are fun reads. Start with Electric Church.
Ringworld (3) series plus the Fleet of Worlds (5) series.
The Damned trilogy by Alan Dean Foster Hyperion by Dan Simmons The Culture series by Iain M Banks
Have you read any of Alastair Reynolds’s books?
House of Suns, while just a single book, felt like it had one of the biggest universes I’d ever read a story set in, and is my favorite sci-fi book, ever.
For something bigger, look into his Revelation Space series. It’s a bunch of books, some connected, some not, all set in the same universe.
Loved House of Suns
A fellow fan! Ima gush a bit.
It seems we might get more books set in the universe, at some point. I really want to know what happened to the first machine race. If it was indeed birthed by the boy Abigail played with as a child, as is implied. His family specialized in robotics, and he got stuck in palacial, which later became the brain scanning tech to create the lines using Gentians cloning tech, as opposed to digitizing, like the machine cloud Campion and Purslaine meet, which was originally human.
And I also want to know if Purslane is indeed Abigail, as her having palacial aboard her ship implies.
Man. I’ve never read a book with so many dots to connect, as House of Suns. And two main characters who are already a couple, and that’s just how they are for the whole story? How unusual is that!?
Seconding Revelation Space series. His books are great about being epic and mildly disconcerting at the same time.
John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War series was a long and pretty interesting read.
Premise starts out as a “humanity vs the stars” kind of story, but instead of sending young people to their deaths, the futuristic human society instead recruits old people who have already lived full lives. You can enlist towards the end of your natural life to transfer your mind to a (photo)synthetic purpose-built humanoid super soldier body. If you survive a period of time (5 years?), you earn another shot at life and can elect to become a colonist for far away worlds. Most don’t get that far.
Your usual “long-term relationship tensions,” “humans are always bad guys,” “what will technology think of next?” tropes apply.
If you like Star Wars (original trilogy, that is), I’d recommend Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn. I can also recommend his Conquerer’s trilogy and Cobra series.
I liked The Lost Fleet, personally. The space battles are excellent, and they’re quick reads. Agreed about the plot, though, it takes a while. Worth it overall IMO.
You might consider the Iron Druid series, too. It’s written in a lighter tone than the Dresden Files, but it’s got a similar vibe.
You might check out Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison, too. It’s another urban fantasy with an interesting world premise. I struggle a little to recommend it – I lost interest fairly quickly, but if you don’t mind some romance in your urban fantasy, you might like it more than I did. And if you do like it, it’s a long series, over a dozen books!
