Yes, Van Rijn is cool. So is Adzel with a plasma cannon mounted on his back. 
It’s not a science-marches-on problem with those books; it is that Smith was such a ham-fisted writer. H.G. Wells ages better, just because he could write better.
If you can find them, check out the anthologies Galactic Empires: Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, edited by Brian Aldiss. Classic space opera!
May be out of print, but I enjoyed Brian Daley’s Hobart Floyt and Alacrity Fitzhugh books - Requiem for a Ruler of Worlds, Jinx On a Terran Inheritance, and Fall of the White Ship Avatar. Fun, well-written, real space opera stuff.
Definitely out of print, although you can still find copies around. Great fun.
That’s a planetary romance. Different subgenre.
Thanks, or rather Kaor.
However, the TVTropes page on Space Opera also sez:
My recommends:
Brian Daley’s Han Solo series; some of the better (and earliest) Star Wars EU stuff. Good character-driven stuff (and not a villain-of-the week-that-threatens-Galactic-civilization drek!)
John Ringo’s Empire of Man Series (March Upcountry, March to the Sea, March to the Stars, We Few), his Legacy of the Aldenata series (too many books to mention, with lots of spin-offs with co-authors, like The Watch on the Rhine and Yellow Eyes). Also his Troy Rising series, loosely inspred by the Schlock Mercenary webcomic.
Now there’s some space opera!
Only read this if you think actual storytelling should be interrupted by right-wing polemics every other chapter.
Somehow this comment reminded me of L Ron Hubbard’s Battlefield Earth.
JohnT, I highly recommend the author that you are currently reading, Stephen Baxter.
His Xeelee Sequence, a series of novels, is a prime example of hard SF with a grand ‘space opera’ feel. Of course, it can’t truly compare to the early progenitors of the subgenre (notably E.E. “Doc” Smith and John Campbell) because Baxter tends to be less melodramatic and his technology is not as dated as that of the earlier authors. Nevertheless, Baxter along with Iain M. Banks (The Culture Series) are well worth your time.
Another vote for Vernor Vinge. Fire Upon The Deep and Deepness In The Sky are utterly superb, although my favourite is Across Realtime. It doesn’t span galaxies but it does span an incredible amount of time.
There’s enough other stuff out there cramming kittens-and-puppies-singing-kumbaya liberal dreck down the reader’s throat to counterbalance it.
Isn’t that pretty much limited to Star Trek?
Like what? Either I’ve missed it or I’m blind to it. I’ve rarely read a Science Fiction writer as politically preachy as Ringo* - left or right.
*Granted, Live Free or Die is the only solo novel I’ve read by him.
Read the March series…it’s pretty free of politics, except those internal to the story.
Thank you everybody!
I’ve read the two Vinge Deep(ness) books - thought DitS was much better than FutD. I tried to read the third in the series but it was too boring: never cared for the Tines and could not get into a novel that focused on them.
Ayup.