I really enjoyed The Hyperion Cantos, and the first few Dune books I read a long time ago (may reread these now). Can anyone recommend some other books (or series) along these lines? Huge stories on an epic scale, space battles, cool future tech, etc.
I‘m reading the Culture series right now and I feel like it fits at least partially. It‘s got an epic scale, space battles and future tech. Only thing disorienting for me is how each book so far seems to be about someone/somewhere else.
The Imperial Radch trilogy by Ann Leckie was very good. It's got a few interesting themes along with the space battles and evil empires and weird aliens, like gender and personhood. I hear there's a new book in the same universe, but unconnected to the trilogy characters, that just came out I think?
I would recommend the Red Rising series by Pierce Brown. Every book takes place on a different planet with an amazing amount of character building and detail in the plot.
The first book of the second trilogy was a bit rough, it felt to me that the entire thing was just giving backstory setting up the story. I did enjoy book 5 though.
I really enjoyed Peter Hamilton's Commonwealth Saga (Pandora's Star/Judas Unchained) + The Void Trilogy which is in the same universe as the Commonwealth Saga books and features some of the same characters.
2nd this, great worldbuilding in the first books; and the peripheral Inspector Dreyfus books. diamond dogs etc.
IMO the latest book in the series (the final one? maybe?) Inhibitor Phase was disappointing...rehashed characters (somehow, Palpatine returned vibes) & a "grudgingly respect through shared adversities " trope that was hard to overcome.
I think The Expanse is a pretty obvious recommendation.
I also really like the Remembrance of Earth's Past books by Cixin Liu, but I'm not sure I'd call that a Space Opera. It's a series, yes, but it is very unlike other long-form space operas.
The expanse is probably the best sci fi series of recent past. It is only comparable to classics like Asimov and le Guin in quality, although it has a very different philosophy and style.
The show is my favorite show of all time and I still think the books are better. If you liked the show, at all, you'll really like the books. Amos Burton is probably my favorite character in any fictional universe.
Part of the reason why the show is so good is because it follows the books pretty closely imo. It's astounding how on narrative they manage to stay for that many seasons (with some exceptions, probably.. it had been a while since I'd read the books when I watched the show)
I watched the show first (I've never gotten past season 4, personally) and I liked the books WAY more. The show added a lot of unnecessary drama that distracted from the overall plot IMO.
Awesome list, thanks! Looks like the first book of Honor Harrington is free on Kindle so I can check it out right away. Should I read that series in publication order?
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