# Best modern "space opera" type science fiction titles? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 17, 2017, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-space-opera-type-science-fiction-titles/784595 "2017-04-17T00:22:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-space-opera-type-science-fiction-titles/784595/1 "2017-04-17T00:22:13Z")
I’m an unashamed fan of Niven and Asimov and other similar “big universe” science fiction authors where the stores are wide ranging and adventure oriented vs more metaphysical or cyber punk “living in the network” type stories. Nothing wrong with them just not my preference. What’s good in these categories that’s been published in the last 10 years or so? ---
**Author:** ![Corporal\_Nobbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Corporal\_Nobbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corporal_Nobbs)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-space-opera-type-science-fiction-titles/784595/2 "2017-04-17T00:26:36Z")
The Expanse series by James SA Corey. Is excellent. It’s a pen name for two of JRR Martens researchers. Good characters and action but thoughtful. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-space-opera-type-science-fiction-titles/784595/3 "2017-04-17T00:28:41Z")
I’m very, very fond of Jack McDevitt’s linked novels. They’re sufficiently independent, you can read them in just about any order. Best one to start with, though, is “The Engines of God.” If you like this one, you’ll like everything of his. His novel “Omega” is one of the two best “first contact” novels ever written (IMO.) (The other is Vernor Vinge’s “A Deepness in the Sky.”) But don’t read “Omega” until you’ve read “The Engines of God,” because that book sets up the universe. Also, I’ve met him at SF conventions, and he’s one of the nicest guys in the world. (Vinge is another!) ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-space-opera-type-science-fiction-titles/784595/4 "2017-04-17T00:29:56Z")
Peter F Hamilton might be up your alley. _The Dreaming Void_ trilogy is very good and he’s got a bunch of other great stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-space-opera-type-science-fiction-titles/784595/5 "2017-04-17T00:31:13Z")
Peter F. Hamilton is very good. ninja’d ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-space-opera-type-science-fiction-titles/784595/6 "2017-04-17T00:47:16Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I’m very, very fond of Jack McDevitt’s linked novels. They’re sufficiently independent, you can read them in just about any order. Best one to start with, though, is “The Engines of God.” If you like this one, you’ll like everything of his. Does it get better? I’m about 30 pages in and finding it to be a pretty dull slog thus far. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-space-opera-type-science-fiction-titles/784595/7 "2017-04-17T01:03:29Z")
I second Corey and Hamilton. Great universe builders, those guys. I look forward to seeing more suggestions in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-space-opera-type-science-fiction-titles/784595/8 "2017-04-17T01:08:22Z")
Brin’s _Uplift_ saga is pretty good. But by the end, when the story is spanning a few centuries, it started straining my suspension of disbelief a bit: There’s no way anyone could hold out against such vastly superior science for that long. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-space-opera-type-science-fiction-titles/784595/9 "2017-04-17T01:38:47Z")
The Expanse is the best straight-up space opera I’ve read in many years. If you like this sort of thing, it’s going to be high-grade candy for you. Check it out. In the past month, I’ve read two excellent books by Becky Chambers, both in the same universe. It’s a very Star Trek universe, with a Galactic Commons made up of various species who have figured out how to get along, and the action of the first book takes place on a small, vaguely Firefly-esque ship, where a crew about half human and half alien go on a picaresque journey. The book is [The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22733729-the-long-way-to-a-small-angry-planet), and I highly recommend it: it’s funny and smart. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-space-opera-type-science-fiction-titles/784595/10 "2017-04-17T01:41:18Z")
Oh! Ann Leckie’s [Ancillary Justice](https://www.amazon.com/Ancillary-Justice-Imperial-Radch-Leckie/dp/031624662X) series is fantastic, although it may be a little too metaphysical for your tastes. The protagonist is a battlecruiser in human form, every human is referred to as “she” regardless of their sex because nobody in the future pays attention to gender, folks distribute their intelligence over multiple bodies in order to improve efficiency, and other weirdness. It’s definitely operatic in feel, though, and well worth reading. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-space-opera-type-science-fiction-titles/784595/11 "2017-04-17T01:51:37Z")
…nerrrrrrrrds…!!! ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-space-opera-type-science-fiction-titles/784595/12 "2017-04-17T01:53:17Z")
Sorry. It just lurched out of me. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-space-opera-type-science-fiction-titles/784595/13 "2017-04-17T10:41:06Z")
I loved Walter Jon Williams’ _Dread Empire’s Fall_. Here’s a [very positive review](http://www.tor.com/2009/05/26/aliens-spaceships-and-fun-walter-jon-williamss-dread-empires-fall/) (with a bit of a summary but nothing too spoilerish): [QUOTE=Jo Walton] Dread Empire’s Fall consists of three books, The Praxis, The Sundering and Conventions of War. They need to be read in that order to make sense, though each volume has a good volume conclusion. And they’re my favourite favourite kind of thing. There are aliens, and spaceships, and planets with funny names. There’s a space navy. There are great characters. The background all makes sense as it comes into focus. There’s a war, in which the characters get to do clever things and get promoted. If you like military SF you’ll like it. And if you don’t like military SF you might well like it anyway because it’s funny and clever. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-space-opera-type-science-fiction-titles/784595/14 "2017-04-17T12:01:50Z")
Another vote for Peter Hamilton and James S.A. Corey. Also, Iain M. Banks “Culture” series, if it qualifies as space opera. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-space-opera-type-science-fiction-titles/784595/15 "2017-04-17T12:50:12Z")
I think The Vorkosigan Saga qualifies, as the most recent book in the series was published in the last ten years. Lois McMaster Bujold is mind-blowingly good at creating compelling, realistic characters. For me, she redefined what science fiction could be. I’d put her down as one of my favorite authors. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-space-opera-type-science-fiction-titles/784595/16 "2017-04-17T16:06:47Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I think The Vorkosigan Saga qualifies, as the most recent book in the series was published in the last ten years. Lois McMaster Bujold is mind-blowingly good at creating compelling, realistic characters. For me, she redefined what science fiction could be. I’d put her down as one of my favorite authors. I came to mention those. They’re very much stories in the classic space-opera mode, with battle scenes and daring rescues and interstellar intrigue, with Lord So-and-So swearing fealty to the Emperor and then flying off in his mercenary starship fleet, and yet they never feel old-fashioned. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-space-opera-type-science-fiction-titles/784595/17 "2017-04-17T16:22:45Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Brin’s _Uplift_ saga is pretty good. But by the end, when the story is spanning a few centuries, it started straining my suspension of disbelief a bit: There’s no way anyone could hold out against such vastly superior science for that long. But as somebody pointed out in a past thread, it’s no longer possible to regard Brin as a new author. His work is now classic science fiction. _Sundiver_ was published thirty-seven years ago and _Heaven’s Reach_, the most recent uplift book, was published nineteen years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-space-opera-type-science-fiction-titles/784595/18 "2017-04-17T16:25:53Z")
Posting yet again to say “me too” on positive comments regarding **Ancillary Justice** and the **Vorkosiverse** as Space Opera. I’ll try to come up with something original soon, though. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-space-opera-type-science-fiction-titles/784595/19 "2017-04-17T17:05:54Z")
Whoa, Brin has been around for that long? I guess my standard of “modern” is calibrated against Asimov and Heinlein. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-space-opera-type-science-fiction-titles/784595/20 "2017-04-17T17:14:54Z")
You wouldn’t know that it’s space opera from the premise or the first chapter, but… **The Carpet Makers** by Andreas Eschbach ends up being just that, and an utterly unique read. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-space-opera-type-science-fiction-titles/784595.md?page=2)