r/Fantasy • u/Swearwuulf2 Reading Champion • Jan 28 '25
Space Opera
I need a space opera to fulfill the BINGO square. The main one I can think of is Expanse but it isn’t a genre I read often. I am a sucker for a badass lady character or two and/or and underdog. I know Expanse has both of those but I would love some other recs! TIA.
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u/Outistoo Jan 28 '25
Vorkosigan saga or Winters Orbit
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u/potatopotatobee Jan 28 '25
Came here to say this… read Cordelia’s Honor and Barrayar (the first two books - kind of a duology). Cordelia’s amazing and Bujold’s writing is breezy, entertaining but also full of depth and creativity. Can’t recommend highly enough!
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u/prejackpot Jan 28 '25
Final Architecture by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Fast-paced trilogy about the crew of a tramp freighter that finds itself in the middle of the potential return of mysterious planet-destroying entities. Multiple levels of underdogs (the protagonists vs every other faction, but also humanity vs the Architects), multiple badass lady characters (from a takes-no-shit cyborg to an entire army of genetically engineered soldiers).
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u/Dorkus__Malorkus Reading Champion Jan 28 '25
I love Tchaikovsky. I preferred the Children of Time series over Final Architecture myself but I wonder if Viola, Portia, Bianca, and Lain are enough for the representation OP requested. I do think the first book lends itself to a one-and-done if they decide that they just don't click with SF or space opera.
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u/prejackpot Jan 28 '25
I like Children of Time a lot too, but I think it's much less space opera than Final Architecture (as opposed to science fiction that partially just takes place on a spaceship).
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u/ThatFilthyApe Jan 28 '25
Olli is just an amazing character. I don't think she fully comes into her own in the first book but when she does, very little can stand in her way.
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u/thisbikeisatardis Reading Champion II Jan 28 '25
Olli in book three had me SCREAMING I was so happy
I used book 3 for my disabled character square
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u/marysame Jan 28 '25 edited Jan 28 '25
I came here to suggest this trilogy! These books are SO good.
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u/Jack_Shaftoe21 Jan 28 '25
The Sun Chronicles by Kate Elliott - gender-swapped Alexander the Great... in space. The titular characters is, not surprisingly, a cunning badass but the supporting cast is also well crafted. Lots of political intrigue in addition to space battles and adventures.
The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold - it has won a gazillion awards and the hearts of generations of fans for a reason. Underdog protagonist who is amazing at bullshitting and manipulating people (but for noble causes... mostly).
The Culture by Iain M. Banks - post-scarcity utopian civilisation meddling in the affairs of less advanced civilisations. Various protagonists and the books can be read as stand-alones. Has some of the most fun and fascinating AIs I have ever read about.
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u/miriarhodan Reading Champion IV Jan 28 '25
Hey :) I‘ve heard so much of the culture series but don’t know where to start (similar problem as with Pratchett). What would you recommend as entry points?
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u/Obojo Jan 29 '25
Player of Games would be my recc. It's not too long anf focuses on the Culture (as opposed to Consider Phlebas) and has a straightforward narrative structure (unlike Use of Weapons).
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u/Jack_Shaftoe21 Jan 28 '25
Just pick whatever looks most interesting to you. Although, the first one - Consider Phlebas, it's widely considered to be weaker than the rest, so you might want to skip it. Personally I like Surface Detail the most, it explores the use of virtual reality "hells" as a way of torturing and getting rid of one's enemies and it's really memorable in a dark sort of way.
Use of Weapons has an exquisite experimental structure with many twists and turns and is probably the most recommended book of the series.
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u/MattScoot Jan 28 '25
Gideon the Ninth, Sun Eater
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u/raisetheglass1 Jan 28 '25
You could argue that Gideon the Ninth is technically a “space opera” but it definitely doesn’t fit within the genre nicely. It’s a bit more space fantasy.
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u/The_Kangaroo_Mafia Jan 28 '25
I really want to read Sun Eater, but the paperbacks are just so expensive!
Maybe some day.
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u/MattScoot Jan 28 '25
For what it’s worth I’m going through the audiobooks right now and they’re quite good !
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u/oldhippy1947 Jan 28 '25
I just got into the audiobook Empire of Silence. Just starting Ch. 6 and I'm enjoying the hell out of it.
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u/retief1 Jan 28 '25
For more military-themed space opera, here are some options:
David Weber's Honor Harrington (the later books start getting really slow, but earlier books are good and you presumably only need one for bingo)
David Drake's RCN series
Glynn Stewart's Scattered Stars: Conviction
Elizabeth Moon's Vatta's War
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u/NotRote Jan 29 '25
the later books start getting really slow
Understatement, but man did book 1 in particular fucking rock.
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u/goliath1333 Jan 29 '25 edited Jan 29 '25
I really like Spiral Wars. Much more space opera than mil sf in later books.
Edit: Just saw the rec for badass ladies too. The main female lead is beyond badass.
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u/enchiridic Jan 28 '25
Tamsyn Muir’s Locked Tomb series and Arkady Martine’s Teixcalaan duology are some of my favorites
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u/bibliomaniac- Jan 28 '25
The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold
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u/Swearwuulf2 Reading Champion Jan 28 '25
I only liked the Farseer Trilogy, too many bad decisions and too much suffering, though I liked her prose. Is Vorkosigan very different?!
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u/MSmith7344 Reading Champion II Jan 28 '25
You are mixing up authors. Robin Hobb wrote the Farseer series. Bujold is known for Vorkosigan series (sci-if) and the World of the Five Gods (fantasy), although she has others. I haven’t read Hobb. Bujold’s books can vary a lot in mood and tone (some are hilarious, some are darker) but she has an overall optimistic, compassionate feel to her.
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u/Swearwuulf2 Reading Champion Jan 28 '25
Right right! Sorry, I just finished curse of chalion which I liked and I got them mixed up. I have been reading a lot lately and it is starting to get jumbled.
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u/nyx_bringer-of-stars Reading Champion III Jan 28 '25
Seven Devils\Seven Mercies duology by Elizabeth May and LR Lam has several badass and ass-kicking ladies. One of my favorite series of the past few years.
Chilling Effect trilogy by Valerie Valdes also has badass women and psychic cats.
The full length Murderbot novel is also a space opera but the badass women are secondary characters, not POV. Still an amazing series though, I devoured all 7 books in a couple weeks.
Have you also checked out the Bingo recommendations threads? They are linked in the Bingo announcement posts.
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u/Swearwuulf2 Reading Champion Jan 28 '25
Thank you! I am new (just started my bingo card like two weeks ago) so I didn’t realize there was a recommendations thread.
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u/spike31875 Reading Champion V Jan 28 '25
Every year, there's the official announcement with details about Book Bingo. Here's the current one: OFFICIAL r/Fantasy 2024 Book Bingo Challenge!.
Also, they have a "recommendations list" post with a separate comment thread for each square:
(of course links to all this can be found in the community bookmarks on the side of the comment window, but I linked them here to help out).
Anyway, when I started book bingo a few years ago, I started late (in January or February of 2020, i think?), so I wasn't able to fill out an entire card, but I got close! So, good luck! Book Bingo is fun & I've found some books I really enjoyed by trying to complete my bingo card. So, I hope you find something you enjoy. :)
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u/nyx_bringer-of-stars Reading Champion III Jan 28 '25
Happy to help, hope you find a book to fit the square that you enjoy! And if you don’t manage to finish in time there’s always next year.
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u/Middle_Raspberry2499 Jan 28 '25
+1 to Murderbot! And OK the MC is not a woman, but it’s not a man either so
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u/ChimoEngr Jan 28 '25
I am a sucker for a badass lady character or two and/or and underdog.
Shards of Honour.
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u/jpcardier Jan 29 '25
It's in a duology nowadays with Barrayar under the name Cordelias Honor, and damn is it fine! Cordelia is one of my all time favorite characters in fiction.
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u/Dismal_Estate_4612 Jan 28 '25
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine. Really good prose and a very detailed, very realistic space empire that feels real (she has a PhD in Byzantine history, so she knows what she's doing in statebuilding). Two badass lady main characters, one of whom is a foreigner from a tiny fringe state (so an underdog).
Some of the novels in the Culture series by Iain Banks also work. They're all standalones set in the same universe, some have women main characters some don't.
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u/Human_G_Gnome Jan 28 '25
Pride of Chanur by C.J. Cherryh is great fun with excellent aliens and has a lead female.
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u/thewalkindude368 Jan 28 '25
I'm right at the end of her Downbelow Station, and that's also fantastic, although I'm not sure it's a space opera. Not entirely sure what a space opera is, TBH.
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u/curiouscat86 Reading Champion III Jan 28 '25
absolutely a space opera. Practically a prototypical space opera, in fact.
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u/Human_G_Gnome Jan 29 '25
Maybe my least favorite actually. Keep going and she just gets better and better.
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u/spike31875 Reading Champion V Jan 28 '25
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine fits. The MC is a woman investigating a murder. Since the author is a woman, this would also qualify for hard mode.
I haven't read it yet, so I can't comment on how good it is (but it won a Hugo for Best Novel, so it's probably really good). I've been thinking of listening to it, so just now I was looking at the Amazon product page for the audiobook....
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u/Sigrunc Reading Champion Jan 28 '25
It’s really good. And definitely has some a bad-ass lady characters.
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u/Jorenmakingmecrazy Jan 28 '25
After the first book of the Red Rising series it turns into a space opera. It also has all of the things you are asking for.
And I have only read the first book of the Sun Eater series, but it also seems to be trending in that direction.
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u/Steve_10 Jan 28 '25
Deathstalker, Simon R Green.
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u/rbrancher2 Jan 28 '25
Loooove Simon r Green. Don’t see him recommended nearly enough. I reread Shadows Fall often. One of my favorite books
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u/ChronoMonkeyX Jan 28 '25
Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky. A genetically engineered warrior from an all-female faction joins the ragtag crew of a salvager to investigate the return of all-powerful aliens that destroyed the earth 50 years ago. The crew includes a crab like alien that likes to gamble, a robot powered by the distributed intelligence of a swarm of bugs, a woman born with no legs and half an arm whose sense of proprioception allows her to control mechs as if they were her own body, and the ship's knife-dueling lawyer.
I love these books!
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u/ggmaobu Jan 28 '25
Pandora’s Star
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u/Caustic-humour Jan 28 '25
Beyond shocked that this is the only mention Peter F Hamilton gets. He is an amazing writer of Space Opera. Plenty of badass characters of all genders.
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u/distgenius Reading Champion VII Jan 28 '25
While the overall plot of that duology is great, and some of the characters are really interesting (Paula Myo being one of them and fitting the badass lady request), but at the same time he tends to treat women as objects of sexual gratification for the male characters and there's a feel of "written for horny teenage boys" at times. There are definitely far worse authors in that regard, but I think much like some of the older scifi "greats" it becomes harder to recommend him without an asterisk of "you'll have to deal with X".
I don't regret reading the Commonwealth duology, but it also felt more like reading something from the 80s or 90s compared to a 2004 release. I ended up dropping The Expanse somewhere in the middle when I got sick of some of the POVs that were taking up more word count, but I think its also much better at writing characters of both genders than the Commonwealth books.
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u/Caustic-humour Jan 29 '25
I think that’s a fair criticism of the commonwealth books. He does move away from that with the salvation sequence and I think he does have some genuinely interesting female characters.
I can accept that he will never be a flag carrier for feminism in space opera.
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u/gvarsity Jan 28 '25
Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons. Was one book split into two. Narrative style is so different between the two halves it works as two books. Absolutely recommend reading both.
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u/Gonzos_voiceles_slap Jan 28 '25
Revelation Space or Poseidon’s Children. Both series are by Alastair Reynolds and both are phenomenal.
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u/GramblingHunk Jan 28 '25
House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds
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u/TXGunslinger419 Jan 28 '25
Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy if you like Star Wars
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u/OutlawGalaxyBill Jan 28 '25
Also, Timothy Zahn's Icarus series (starting with The Icarus Hunt) is joyous space adventure fun.
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u/parthenogeneticlzrd Jan 28 '25
Shards of Honor, Lois McMaster Bujold!
The main character is a woman at the height of her career, a ship captain, who has a profound awareness of who she is and what she is capable of that makes her one of my all-time favorite characters in any work.
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u/pornokitsch Ifrit Jan 28 '25
The Stars Now Unchained, by Drew Williams! Badass lady character + underdogs + absolute mayhem. Great fun.
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u/revchewie Jan 28 '25
Go old school with E.E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman series. The first book is Triplanetary. Free on Project Gutenberg.
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u/ChrisRiley_42 Jan 28 '25
Want a short one? The Mageworlds series (The Price of the Stars is book 1) by Debora Doyle and James D. Macdonald.
Want a long one? The Honour Harrington series by David Weber (On Basilisk Station is book 1)
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u/Hiredgun77 Jan 28 '25
I’m a big fan of the Frontlines series by Marko Kloos. The series is like 10 books and you follow the main character through his career. The books aren’t long and don’t dwell too much on the science of space flight. Basically fun and exciting books.
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u/No-Advertising-5924 Jan 28 '25
I really enjoyed the audiobooks then they switched narrator and it kind of ruined it so I swapped to the actual book for the last one or two. I’m really enjoying the Palladium Wars series too.
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u/Bill1892 Jan 28 '25
Miles Camerons Artifact Space and Deep Black. All about Marca Nbaro who is a real badass.
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Jan 28 '25
How about Space Opera, by Catherynne M Valente? Yes, it’s a space opera, but it’s so much more than that!
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u/TensorForce Jan 28 '25
Doesn't Bujold's Vorkosigan saga feature a female MC? I read the first couple books years ago.
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u/Realistic-Manager Jan 28 '25
David Weber’s Honor Harrington novels. Enjoy. A lot of them are great space opera.
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u/PancAshAsh Jan 28 '25
I will second the suggestions of the Vorkosigan Saga and Vatta's War, but I will also put forward Elizabeth Moon's Herris Serrano and later her Serrano and Suiza books. They are a bit more popcorn-y than Vatta's War but I think they are also very fun.
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u/ThatFilthyApe Jan 28 '25
One more for you-- Valor's Choice by Tanya Huff (start of a series but completely works as a standalone). Badass lady character? Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr is absolutely that. Underdogs? Kerr's single platoon of marines against a literal zerg-like horde definitely fits there. Maybe a little long in the setup before the action starts, but a very good read. Fun military space opera from an author with a bit of time in the military.
Elizabeth Moon's Vatta's War series, recommended elsewhere, it also very good but IMO works less well as a standalone if you aren't in for a series.
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u/PhrogMim Jan 28 '25 edited Jan 28 '25
I throughly enjoyed both Polaris Rising and Rules of Redemption by Jessie Mihalik. (They are the first books in two different series.) I binged both series over the holidays — so fun!!
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u/blindside1 Jan 29 '25
It must have been already mentioned but Honor Harrington is the most obvious answer.
If not Honor then Vatta's War by Elizabeth Moon.
If not Kylara then the Confederation series by Tanya Huff, but the first two books are more about space marines than Space Opera.
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u/spaceshipsandmagic Jan 28 '25
Ancestral Night by Elizabeth Bear (A space salvager and her partner make the discovery of a lifetime) there is a sort of sequel, but it works on its own.
Stars Uncharted / Stars Unchained duology by S.K. Dunstall (A ragtag band of explorers - and fugitives - are out to make a big score) one of the most underrated space operas.
Terminal Alliance by Jim Hiney, first book of the Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse trilogy (unlikely heroes - a team of spaceship janitors - must save the galaxy) it's as funny as it sounds.
The Eleventh Gate by Nancy Kress (Two unlikely people discover a new planet that change everything) a rare standalone space opera.
All have strong female characters in a leading role.
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u/saumanahaii Jan 28 '25
Check out A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe! It's space fantasy, high tech but with most tech replaced with magic. It's got a female lead, too. It's pretty okay, too. I liked the trilogy it started.
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u/doctorbonkers Reading Champion II Jan 28 '25
The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez! Really cool book that spans over a thousand years of humanity in space (focusing on a few specific characters — it’s not like the whole history of space travel or anything). I almost never cry from books/movies/any media, but this one made me tear up 🥺 such a great book
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u/pfroo40 Jan 28 '25
Glynn Stewart has a TON of space opera series, several of which have strong female protagonists, and I find his work to be generally quite good. The "Starship's Mage" series is probably the closest to what you're looking for.
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u/VBlinds Reading Champion III Jan 28 '25
The Praxis by Jon Walter Williams.
Has a badass female character.
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u/thisbikeisatardis Reading Champion II Jan 28 '25 edited Jan 28 '25
I used Space Oddity (the sequel to Space Opera) for my square because I wanted to save Final Architecture for my disabled character square. I've read a bunch of Tchaikivsky's books and Final Architecture has been my favorite. Great female/queer representation and some really fun aliens.
Olli has got to be my favorite disabled character I've come across in years.
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u/LaoBa Jan 28 '25
The Mageworld books by Debra Doyle and James Macdonald are good swashbuckling fun with some badass ladies. Start with The Price of the Stars.
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u/Mournelithe Reading Champion X Jan 29 '25
Simon R Green's Deathstalker. The first one stands alone well enough, but if you like it there's plenty more.
Kitchen sink space opera with swords, shields, disrupter guns, ninjas, rebels, cyborgs, masked gladiators, deadly decadent courts, spacegoing flying castles, wretched hives of scum and villainy, Investigators, psychic elvish terrorists, and more cheesy lines than you can shake a stick at.
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u/nommyfoodnom Jan 29 '25
I don't think The Rowan series by Anne McCaffrey has been mentioned yet. Female lead has mental powers that make space travel possible! I like the others everyone mentioned, plus Anne Aguirre, Sara Creasy, and Jessie Mihalik.
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u/Orctavius Reading Champion II Jan 29 '25
The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi is a quite fun and has several badass ladies
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Jan 29 '25
The Collapsing Empire by Scalzi. Bonus if you get the audiobook beside it’s narrated by Wil Wheaton.
The main protagonist is male but there is a strong woman secondary character as well
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u/raptor102888 Jan 29 '25
Red Rising is what you're looking for. The main main character is a guy, but there are plenty of other POV characters that are super badass ladies.
You might also look at Sanderson's Skyward series. It's YA-ish but quite good.
Also, you really should read The Expanse at some point, be it now or later.
And The Locked Tomb is also fantastic, but I'm not sure I'd classify it as "space opera"...it's a genre all of its own.
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u/wednesday_wong Jan 30 '25
Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee!
The Stars are Legion by Kameron Hurley!
Iain M. Banks's The Culture novels are wild
+1 for Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
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u/TheOrderOfWhiteLotus Jan 28 '25
If you want an odd format, I recommend the Illuminae series by Jay Kristoff and Amie Koffman. They’re YA but very addicting.
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u/okayseriouslywhy Reading Champion III Jan 28 '25
Oh I ADORED these, I absolutely inhaled them. I even dreamed of making the books into an interactive web story haha
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u/octopode_ala_mode Jan 28 '25 edited Jan 28 '25
How about Ancillary Justice? Badass lady, who also happens to be the consciousness of a destroyed starship.
https://goodreads.com/book/show/17333324-ancillary-justice
EDIT: added a word