That was my first thought too: “big, vast books with sequels, most dealing with the political and cultural implications of what it is the author is exploring”? That’s Foundation (particularly as you can link the I, Robot series in (and Pebble in the Sky) as well.
I’d mention the Pratchett/Baxter Long Earth series but frankly the rapidly decreasing amount of Pratchett means that an interesting concept wanders off into the weeds, and you get a whole book on a fun way to destroy a planet using magnets.
On the one hand, Asimov is interested in political/cultural implications of his stuff, sure. On the other hand, in my opinion he’s really bad at that. The societies he creates are interesting, but interesting as baubles and puzzles, not really as plausible societies with subtleties.
Admittedly it’s been yonks since I’ve read any of his stuff–but that’s in large part because his social dynamics were so off-putting to me.
Space Opera? It’s a big topic – in more ways than one. Unfortunately, a lot of the classic books are Out Of Print, or at least out of book stores. And a lot of the Classic ones are very out of date. One advantage of a lot of this being old is that it’s available cheap in the form of e-books, so you can find them on Kindle or Nook. But here’s a list. Forgive me if I’m doing a lot of repeating – I only skimmed the above.
The originators of Space Opera are arguably
E.E. “Doc” Smith
The Lensman series
The Skylark series
Especially Lensman, which is so far-out that it hasn’t aged all that badly. It was also incredibly influential – Gren Lantern stole a lot from it, as possibly did Star Wars.
Edmond Hamilton
In the 1920s and 1930s he came up with a host of outrageous devices and plots, sometime destroying entire worlds. Married to fellow SF and fantasy writer Leigh Brackett, who (if you’re looking for Star Wars connections) wrote the first draft screenplay for The Empire Strikes Back
Leigh Brackett
…of course. They named an SF vision of the solar system after her.
Poul Anderson
Lots of stories, including his Dominick Flandry, Nicholas van Rijn, David Falkyn, and Hoka series. He also wrote lots of stand-alone space opera, and fantasy
A. Bertram Chandler
Maerchant Marine captain who wrote lots of space-as-a-bigger-ocean novels, including his Rim World series and his John Grimes novels
Larry Niven
Surely his Tales of Known Space series qualifies as space opera. Including the infinite series of “Man-Kzin War” collections with other authors.
That barely scratches the surface, but it’ll give you a start.
I’d say so, although IMO “A Deepness in The Sky” is far better than “Fire Upon the Deep”. I never could get into the “The Children of The Sky” though.
As far as John Scalzi is concerned, I’m torn between recommending “The Collapsing Empire” or “Old Man’s War” as his better space opera efforts. If nothing else, the latter series has the interesting pair of “Zoe’s Tale” / “The Last Colony” being the same events told from two different characters’ perspectives.
The “Remembrance of Earth’s Past” series (Three Body Problem) starts out strong, but goes downhill fast as the series goes on- the further into the future it goes, the more crazy it gets.
I very much enjoyed David Brin’s Uplift series and Frederik Pohl’s Gateway series. And the Culture series by Iain M. Banks are great as well.
I endorse the suggestion towards Vernor Vinge, although the “Zones of Thought” novels have a degree of sequel-ness to them (particularly A Fire Upon the Deep and Children of the Sky).
A Deepness in the Sky is a prequel with a significantly different-looking milieu, so IMHO feels more self-contained. It does end with a subtle sequel hook which ties it into the action in A Fire Upon the Deep, albeit literally millennia later.
Donaldson’s writing is so turgid that even if he was writing about the Care Bears throwing a birthday party for the My Little Ponies, I’d steer clear of him.
Yeah, Donaldson’s writing style is—or at least can be—a bit much, although not enough to keep me from reading and enjoying him. Maybe it helps if you make a drinking game out of it: e.g. while reading The Gap Cycle, take a drink every time you encounter the word “brisance.”
I thought of recommending “Old Man’s War,” but in a very loose way, it seems more military SF than space opera to me. I know there’s huge overlap between the subgenres, but Collapsing Empire is more in the Dune mold that the OP is looking for, while still having Scalzi’s trademark wisecrackery and grand schemes.
True… I guess I’m just a bit hesitant to suggest “The Collapsing Empire” because I was kind of disappointed with the last book, while on the whole, I loved “Old Man’s War”.
I didn’t really see it as military SF, as I saw it more as John Perry’s adventure in this new universe, and the military was the only way he could get there. Similarly, Jane had sort of the reverse of that experience.
And the Harry Wilson books/stories were pretty much straight-up space opera as I understand it.
I enjoy his books more now that I have them on my kindle, and can just touch the word in question to get a quick definition. It sure has expanded my vocabulary.
I was thinking Downbelow Station as an introduction to the genre. It comes with a little intro to set the stage, human protagonists, interstellar as well as petty politics and military strategy, multiple factions/pov and it can also act as the best entry point to Cherryh’s extended Union-Alliance space if interest develops.
But it really depends how much you enjoy that particular blend of hers. The drawback compared to the first Chanur book - longer and less kinetic.
I would hesitate to recommend what I would call British SF to anyone as an introduction to space opera; authors like Iain Banks, Stephen Baxter, Peter Hamilton, Alistair Reynolds, Charles Stross, or Vernor Vinge (although he’s an American). They are all great authors but their style is not as accessible to people looking for an introduction to science fiction. Their writing style often assumes a familiarity with the conventions of the genre.
“A Memory Called Empire” by Arkady Martine leaps to mind (in addition to the previous ones mentioned).
I will say that Foundation seems to me to be deliberately the opposite of space opera. Space Opera is all about individuals having extreme agency (being able to influence vast events through their personal actions) - and Foundation is all about individuals (with very rare exceptions) being the pawns of vast social processes
There was a wonderful online essay about the Gap series which was nothing more than a web page by an author who loved the books and loved their flaws even more. I cannot find it. Any one remember this?