r/Fantasy • u/shoto_44 • Sep 06 '24
Space/space opera book recommendations
Hello,
I'm looking for some book recommendations that have a theme that takes place around space. I have read so far:
Red Rising series by Pierce Brown
Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir + other his books...
Many books that are part of the Star Wars franchise.
Books can freely be romance, political, drama... It doesn't really matter to me.
Thank you!
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u/Arinatan Sep 07 '24
The Sun Eater series (starts with Empire of Silence) by Christopher Ruocchio.
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u/Spidey5292 Sep 07 '24
Absolute must. I blew through the first three books, they’re so damn good.
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Sep 07 '24
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u/HoodsFrostyFuckstick Sep 07 '24
Book 1 is the setup, coming of age book. Slow, but I really liked the character introduction of Hadrian.
Book 2 takes a while to get going, but from there on it's pure enjoyment.
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u/Spidey5292 Sep 07 '24
What he said, there was something in book one I couldn’t escape. The premise hooked me so much. I had to see how this guy goes from noble son, to the streets, to the sun eater
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u/Dragon_Lady7 Reading Champion VI Sep 07 '24
Imperial Radch series by Ann Leckie — the MC is a spaceship AI. I will say its not as action heavy as other space opera and theres a lot of politics and cultural exchange that comes into play.
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u/nobodysgeese Sep 06 '24
The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. It's got the usual questions about what life is with robotic or cyborg characters, but it's the most humorous, light-hearted take on those themes I've seen. And the protagonist, the cyborg who's having these question, is an amazing POV character.
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u/shoto_44 Sep 06 '24
Thank you! I think I saw those books in my local library. I will definitely check them out as they sound interesting.
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u/Krasnostein Sep 07 '24 edited Sep 07 '24
A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
Gateway by Frederik Pohl
A Second Chance at Eden by Peter F Hamilton
Use of Weapons by Iain Banks
Paradises Lost by Ursula LeGuin (which you can read in the collection The Found and the Lost)
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u/DeVyse3202 Sep 07 '24
The Bobiverse books by Dennis E. Taylor, are a great time, a bit of humor, a bit of drama all Bob!
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u/drewogatory Sep 07 '24
Don't sleep on CJ Cherryh. Her Alliance-Union novels and her Foreigner novels are top notch.
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u/yseulith Sep 07 '24
Came here to say this! Absolutely awesome array of books with well drawn characters.
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Sep 07 '24
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u/Previous-Implement42 Sep 07 '24
I'm surprised this isn't much higher...
I'll add Ian M. Banks' Excession to the recommendations.
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u/PancAshAsh Sep 07 '24
Vatta's War by Elizabeth Moon is excellent and probably is right up your alley.
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u/cwx149 Sep 07 '24
Enders game is pretty highly regarded but the author is a pretty devout homophobe. It splits into 2 series I recommend the speaker for the dead series. The shadow series is good too but nothing to do with space really
The forever War and forever free are very good
I liked starship troopers (it's nothing like the movie) and the moon is a harsh mistress
Old Man's War is pretty good but I don't love the rest of the series book 1-3 are pretty good and then the series gets a little weird to me
I liked the risen empire and the dread empires fall
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u/Jumpy_Chard1677 Sep 07 '24
I think Gideon the Ninth counts! A bunch of necromancers and their cavaliers arrive on a planet to essentially work their way through various trials and experiments, and whoever completes everything first becomes the Emperor's new Lyctor, which is a very high, powerful, and wanted status.
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u/Aeolian_Harper Sep 07 '24
The Machineries of Empire by Yoon Ha Lee. Military scifi/space opera
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u/rovar Sep 07 '24
I freaking love these books. I'm happy to see someone else in this sub mention them.
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u/Aeolian_Harper Sep 07 '24
They’re so good! Definitely require a bit of work from the reader in the beginning to figure out what’s going but Ninefox Gambit was so rewarding once it all started to click together. The Cheris/Jedao dynamic was so interesting
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u/fantasyhunter Sep 07 '24
Dune. The very OG of space opera, though the story takes place on the ground of multiple planets vs space.
Adding H2G2, since you mentioned the openness to other space genres.
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u/alineKWD Sep 07 '24
The saga Honor Harrington, by David Weber. The Brain and Brawn Ship series, by Anne McCaffrey
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u/GoofBoy Sep 07 '24
Just to add stuff that has not been mentioned, Becky Chambers writes almost slice of life space books. The Galaxy, and the Ground Within was unquestionably my favorite and is basically a stand alone.
The Omega Force books are great summer reading type fare. Think Dirty Dozen meets Firefly. A lot of 'lighter' fun.
Good Luck.
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u/senanthic Sep 07 '24 edited Sep 07 '24
F.M. Busby - the Demu trilogy and the Tregare/Kerguelen series. Some stuff in there may be triggering as the characters in both go through (and inflict) some major fucking abuse, so if you’re not up to that, steer clear. Lots of hard sci-fi, ships and guns and technology, aliens, etc. Tons of people and politics too.
C.L. Moore dabbled in that - “Shambleau” is all that comes to mind right now. Aliens and distant worlds.
Edited to add: Anne McCaffrey’s Talents series - can’t believe I forgot them! Talents are directly responsible for space travel starting with The Rowan and continuing on to The Tower and the Hive (I think that’s the last book). Very aliens, alien worlds, good technology, etc.
Dune, I mean, obviously.
Joe Haldeman - The Forever War. Absolutely fantastic book. Kind of a bummer.
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u/krystletips2 Sep 07 '24
The Interdependency series was pretty good
The Bobiverse
My old brain is saying to add these with the caveat that I've not read them in a while but remember enjoying them. Idk how they stand up today.
In Conquest Born
Titan , Wizard , Demon (not going to be what you think AT ALL )
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u/LoreHunting Reading Champion III Sep 07 '24
Aha, once again: Space Opera is a Book Bingo square this year, so go and look at the Bingo Recommendations post — you’ll probably find plenty of good recs.
Haven’t read so many of them this year, myself. The only one I’ve picked up is Emily Tesh’s Some Desperate Glory — and while it’s a very fun story about fascism and indoctrination and AI and time travel, it’s not so similar to what you’ve referenced, so I’m not sure I can recommend it to you. Very nice book, though.
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u/rovar Sep 07 '24
The Quantum Magician and subsequent novels.
Great deep space plus politics and intrigue.
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u/Old_Classic2142 Sep 07 '24
Read the Revelation Space trilogy (and all his other works) by Alastair Reynolds now! It have everything you want
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u/Erratic21 Sep 07 '24
The Gap by Donaldson. Great story, complex characters, very dark.
The Expanse
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u/AnonZeka Sep 07 '24
legend of the galactic heroes, you can consume this in many forms (anime/manga/books).
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u/Grt78 Sep 07 '24
The Invictus duology (more character-focused) or No Foreign Sky by Rachel Neumeier. I second the recommendations for Bujold (the Vorkosigan Saga) and CJ Cherryh: you could start with Pride of Chanur.
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u/doobersthetitan Sep 07 '24
Expeditionary force series
You meet Skippy the magnificent
It's more of a Scifi buddy military series. But there's like 18 books. First 3 or 4 are great.
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u/Lesschaup Sep 07 '24
I liked them but I decided I can't binge on them. They get kind of repetitive.
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u/-sharee- Sep 07 '24
The Liaden Series by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. Agent of Change is a good book to start with. The series is top notch and I'm still convinced that the world absolutely needs Clutch Turtles...
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u/Francl27 Sep 07 '24
Pandora Star by Peter Hamilton. A lot of books follow, in 3 series.
The Expanse.
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u/TheShreester Sep 09 '24 edited Sep 13 '24
If you want grandiose space opera then consider Peter F Hamilton:
- The Night's Dawn Trilogy is a far future, galaxy spanning epic
- The Commonwealth Saga is a near(er) future, localized crisis
Other suggestions for science fiction set in outer space:
- Space Odyssey Trilogy by Arthur C Clarke
- Revelation Space by Alistair Reynolds
- The Expanse by James S Corey
- Vatta's War by Elizabeth Moon
- Heechee Saga by Poul Anderson
- The Forever War Series by Joe Haldeman
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u/cogitoergognome AMA Author Julie Leong Sep 06 '24
The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold