# Best modern "space opera" type science fiction titles?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-space-opera-type-science-fiction-titles/784595>\
**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:** 4\
**Page:** 3

<div class="post-metadata">

**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 25, 2017, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-space-opera-type-science-fiction-titles/784595/41 "2017-04-25T13:29:47Z")

</div>

I just finished “Revenger”, by Alastair Reynolds, and I think it definitely fits the bill for space opera. I enjoyed it quite a bit – almost steampunk-ish tech (sailing through space), lots of mystical artifacts and robots, and space pirates. A pretty quick read, too. I had read the Revelation Space stuff years ago, and I didn’t remember enjoying it nearly as much as I enjoyed this one.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2017, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-space-opera-type-science-fiction-titles/784595/42 "2017-04-25T13:55:18Z")

</div>

> [@Paintcharge](#):
>
> The most recent of Vernor Vinge’s [Zone’s of Thought](https://www.amazon.com/Children-Sky-Zones-Thought-Book-ebook/dp/B004YD5JIW/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8) trilogy came out in 2011.

_A Fire Upon the Deep_ is one of the greatest space opera novels of all time. Anyone wanting space opera would do well to read it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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 25, 2017, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-space-opera-type-science-fiction-titles/784595/43 "2017-04-25T14:46:40Z")

</div>

> [@DSYoungEsq](#):
>
> I was going to mention Cherryh and Weber, but Weber wrote the Honor Harrington stories mostly in the 90s, and Cherryh’s main universe, Alliance-Union Space, she began writing about in the 70s and 80s. So I assume the OP has already read all that both authors have available to offer.

FWIW, I’ve only read one book by Weber–some nonsense about an alien invasion of earth–and I invented a new genre term to describe it: ordnance porn. The caliber of bullets, the dimensions of missiles, the firing rates of artillery were given far more detail than characters or setting ever received. It was dreadful, and I doubt I’ll ever read anything else by him.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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 25, 2017, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-space-opera-type-science-fiction-titles/784595/44 "2017-04-25T16:07:59Z")

</div>

I suppose one could check out what O. S. Card has been cranking out in his **Ender’s game** universe recently; The ongoing saga of Mazer Rackham and the first “Bug War”. Lots of zipping around with troops on earth and above it, and later off in distant space. I tried a few of the tomes but it never captured for me the heart of what made the original **Ender’s game** so good.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-modern-space-opera-type-science-fiction-titles/784595.md?page=2)