Ten Amazing Space Opera Reads

[@aljawad]

Good overview, and I made note of the ones I haven’t read myself. Incidentally, one of your TBRs is an absolute banger - but I will not specify which one in order not to distract your reading schedule or order!

[@bookspin]

That's very considerate of you! Looking forward to it

[@AdamCollings]

Some great sounding recommendations., Added a bunch to my eternally growing TBR.

[@toweringtbr]

Revelation Space sounds good. The Vanished Birds is wonderful!

[@bookspin]

@toweringtbr Great, looking forward to it!

[@fdmanana]

Lots of good suggestions as usual Robin. I'm finishing A Fire Upon the Deep, and enjoying it a lot. As for suggestions, have you ever read anything by Julie Czerneda? I've read 2 space operas from her, the "Species Imperative" and "The Web Shifters", both are trilogies and very good IMHO. She's an author that seems always under the radar in the booktube channels.

[@bookspin]

@fdmanana Thanks Filipe, no I've not read her work, I appreciate the recommendation.

[@dipanjanbiswas6580]

Great video - decided to get Becky Chambers' book

[@bookspin]

@dipanjanbiswas6580 Great, hope you enjoy it!

[@sfwordsofwonder]

I really liked Fire Upon the Deep, Deepness in the Sky was pretty good and Children of the Sky was a bit of a let down because it don't really complete the story and unfortunately Vinge past away recently. I really want to read Revelation Space, Skylark of Space (very soon), and Pandora's Star. Great video Robin.

[@bookspin]

Thanks Ira. I'm curious to see how you get on with Revelation Space and Skylark. I plan to read Pandora's Star early next year.

[@BookishChas]

Great recommendations! Alastair Reynolds is on my top 5 sci-fi authors to try out.

[@bookspin]

Thanks Chas! Now I'm curious who the other four are

[@BookishChas]

@@bookspin Adrian Tchaikovsky, Neal Stephenson, Vernor Vinge, and Arthur C Clarke.

[@bartsbookspace]

I enjoyed Vanished Birds quite a bit. The author has tremendous potential. His writing style is unique and quite impressive, even as the ideas in the book for the most part, been done before. I hope you like it. Binti was good. Good, but not terribly memorable… From your 5 recommendations I read (and enjoyed or loved) all except for Fearless, which I have not heard anyone else talk about.

[@bookspin]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I'm definitely looking forward to the Vanished Birds

[@SciFiScavenger]

A sub genre I'm rather fond of myself. I'd definitely bump up Pandora's Star. He has his detractors - too long, too much info dump, too many characters, gratuitous sex, blah blah blah - but i don't care. Great books, something to lose yourself in. His other famous work is the Night's Dawn trilogy, equally epic, also great fun.

[@bookspin]

Thanks Jon! Yes, I'm planning to read the Commonwealth Saga early next year, looking forward it!

[@Kim_Miller]

Some good picks here. I really liked Small Angry Planet. I wanted something calm and pleasant to read after a couple of heavy hitters. To me it was comfort food, like butter chicken with saffron rice. Not every meal needs to be Madras curry. 😀

[@bookspin]

Yes, it's a great comfort read. Butter chicken sounds good!

[@Castabulan]

I would recommend A Requiem for Homo Sapiens by David Zindell, the works of John Meaney and the earlier works by Peter Hamilton, Reality Disfunction.

[@bookspin]

Thanks for the suggestions

[@drakhir]

I found Children of Time okay. For me, Tchaikovsky's Final Architecture series is amazing, and far superior, especially in terms of space opera.

[@Serreski]

I like the Hobbit

[@delhatton]

Add to your list: Stephen Donaldson's Gap Cycle in 5 volumes. Don't be daunted by the page count. Best space opera ever. Scariest aliens ever. Fascinating character arcs. These books are rarely mentioned by people who consider themselves to be knowledgeable about ScFi. Don't know why. Donaldson is better know for his works of fantasy.

[@bookspin]

@delhatton Thanks for the recommendation. First I've heard of this series but I will look into it

[@SciFiScavenger]

​@bookspin definitely worth your time!

[@psikeyhackr6914]

*Gibraltar Earth* trilogy by Michael McCollum

[@bookspin]

Interesting, that's new to me. Thanks for the recommendation!

[@psikeyhackr6914]

@@bookspin McCollum is an aerospace engineer. It might be too Hard SF to be regarded as the usual space opera.

[@fuffalump]

The #1, best space opera of all time, no ifs and or buts is - The Vorkosigan saga. Also some of the best scifi ever in general. Definition of(relatively) unknown gem!

[@bookspin]

That's a glowing recommendation, thanks!

[@KevinsNovelAdvice]

Quite a few I’d never heard of. Great list of recs! 🪐

[@bookspin]

@@KevinsNovelAdvice Thanks for watching!

[@Folkstone1957]

E.E. “Doc” Smith “The Lensman” series. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lensman_series