Recommend me some space opera

[XT]

Spoiler alert:

@BrainGlutton

And still preserving the SS as an organization? What’s the point of the SS without its antisemitism, etc?

The SS was also an elite military force. In the book Germany is at the edge of destruction, and they are pulling out all of the stops in an attempt (ultimately futile) to save the nation…including putting a lot of their old, WWII era soldiers through a process that makes them young and strong again. One of the groups they bring back is the SS, though they are clear that no one who was convicted of any of the genocide stuff would be allowed back. Still, some of those types do make it through and back into the ranks of the SS…and, pretty much universally those folks all meet with a bad end in the book. Of course, so does just about everyone else, since German is essentially wiped out in the end, though they manage to hold out in the mountains and eventually rebuild as a people. The book is really more about redemption than it is about some sort of neo-Nazi SS hero worship or whatever it was Der Trihs was getting at…I suspect he never actually read the book. Or Troy Rising either.

[Voyager]

@Boyo_Jim

Keith Laumer’s Retief series is another good choice. Retief is an intergalactic diplomat surrounded by a department of dunces.

Retief is great (well, early Retief, stay away from the late ones published by Baen where he is going through the motions) but hardly space opera. I heard Laumer talk about his experience as a military attache in Burma, and Retief is diplomatic satire transported to space. From his eyes, back when he was there, Burma was more alien than anyplace he made up.

Philip Jose Farmer penned a fantastic opening to a series on River World, called To Your Scattered Bodies Go. Be warned, however, that the series just gets worse and worse, to the point where I wondered Farmer was playing some kind of elaborate joke to jerk around his fans.

Not even close to space opera. The Fabulous Riverboat was pretty good, but it is hard to end a series build around a big mystery well - see Lost.

Cordwainer Smith might qualify as space opera, especially Scanners Live in Vain but it is so far from the space opera tradition that it is really pushing any reasonable definition. But he is definitely worth reading, no doubt about it.

[VOW]

What I’ve read of Ben Bova has been good. AFAIK, his books are stand alone. I really enjoyed Mars.
~VOW

[XT]

@VOW

What I’ve read of Ben Bova has been good. AFAIK, his books are stand alone. I really enjoyed Mars.
~VOW

Actually, his (IIRC) Grand Tour story line is a loosely connected series of books that are all part of the same story arc. Also, Mars has 1 or 2 sequels to it if you haven’t read them.

[BrainGlutton]

@XT

Actually, his (IIRC) Grand Tour story line is a loosely connected series of books that are all part of the same story arc. Also, Mars has 1 or 2 sequels to it if you haven’t read them.

But, the Grand Tour series is really too serious and sophisticated to be space opera. Too much science, too much character development, not enough fighting. Besides, it’s entirely intra-Solar-System; real space opera is interstellar at the very least!

[XT]

@BrainGlutton

But, the Grand Tour series is really too serious and sophisticated to be space opera. Too much science, too much character development, not enough fighting. Besides, it’s entirely intra-Solar-System; real space opera is interstellar at the very least!

Sure, that’s why I didn’t recommend it. Was just saying that not all of Ben’s stuff is standalone…and that there are sequels to even the Mars series (which I liked btw).

Personally, my favorite as I said earlier is the Honor Harrington series, though it’s gotten a bit wild and wooly with the latest books and the spin off series. Still, for space opera it doesn’t get much more opera like than HH. If you liked Forester’s HH (Horatio Hornblower), then you’d like Weber’s HH, as they are very similar in feel…though, sadly, Honor never says the classic ‘beat to quarters, Mr. Bush!’…

[Battle_Pope]

The Stars at War series (you can also get it from Baen) is pretty much all-out fleet vs fleet combat.

The Lost Fleet is worth a look.

If you want to try David Weber without getting bogged down in the Harrington universe Mutineers’ Moon is not a bad start.

Second on John Scalzi’s Old Mans War series.

I love the Lensman series, sometimes all that purple-prose is just fun reading.

If ground combat is more your thing, David Drake’s Hammer’s Slammers series and Redliners or Keith Laumer’s Bolo books will give you all you need.

[Reepicheep]

P. M. Griffin has the Star Commando series. A little romancy, but nice space opera all the same.

[movingfinger]

Not exactly space opera in the sense it is being discussed here but Jack Vance wrote a light-hearted confection called Space Opera involving an intergalactic opera troup presenting works of famous earth operas to quite alien worlds.