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.
this post was submitted on 14 Jun 2023
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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.
I've heard the Expanse books are great, I watched the Amazon series already. Are the books even better?
I'm seconding the other guy that the books are even better! Plus they go past the point of the show so you'll be able to get more out of the world.
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.
The Honor Harrington series is great for epic space opera.
The Bobiverse is really good too, though less... grandiose? It felt more personal to me.
The Well of Souls serie(s) are great.
For less opera and more funny the Phule books by Robert Aspirin are good.
I loved the Bobiverse series, I'll have to check out the other ones!
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?
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.
Did you finish book 5? That one was a slog for me, and I enjoyed most of the rest (even if book 3 showed much of the strain of finishing the first trilogy, I never felt the pacing slip as much).