Here's a list of Sci-Fi / Space Opera stories written specifically for the Young Adult audience since YA became a recognized book category. 'YA Space Opera' is defined as a science-fiction based novel STARRING A YOUNG ADULT PROTAGONIST (age 12-17) on an extra-planetary or galactic scale which has a heavy emphasis on character development and (usually) beating overwhelming odds in addition to the worldbuilding and science. YA Space Opera tales that include contemporary YA issues and concerns, relationships, and other story lines which appeal to YA sensibilities are welcome. Earth-bound dystopia is explicitly disqualified unless it contains a significant space element such as an alien invasion, alien first-contact, or a quest to get into outer space.

This listopia is maintained by the Space Opera Fans community. Come join us! https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

We maintain MANY listopias in many space-opera sub-genres ... just visit our community to find the right 'fit' for your Space Opera sweet tooth.

AUTHORS: these listopias are a pain-in-the-butt to update (requires grovelling to Goodreads administration), so you will not endear yourself to the very small and intimate community of avid sci-fi readers you hope to reach if you are a jerk and spam this list with irrelevant crap or every...single...book in your series. You will quickly find yourself blacklisted from people's reading lists if you act like a jerk, so please be polite and follow the rules. If you want to get to know us, come visit us and interact as a READER.
1

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4.12 avg rating — 1,022,663 ratings
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2

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4.40 avg rating — 409,098 ratings
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3

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4.23 avg rating — 466,174 ratings
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4

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4.24 avg rating — 162,627 ratings
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5

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3.77 avg rating — 119,542 ratings
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6

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 482,404 ratings
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7

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3.94 avg rating — 156,911 ratings
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8

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3.89 avg rating — 71,853 ratings
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9

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4.43 avg rating — 82,069 ratings
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10

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4.01 avg rating — 55,228 ratings
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11

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4.15 avg rating — 9,338 ratings
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12

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4.06 avg rating — 34,553 ratings
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13

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3.83 avg rating — 150,720 ratings
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14

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4.44 avg rating — 5,484 ratings
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15

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3.84 avg rating — 5,747 ratings
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16

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4.37 avg rating — 290 ratings
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17

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4.31 avg rating — 1,487,370 ratings
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18

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3.71 avg rating — 1,916 ratings
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19

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3.89 avg rating — 23,672 ratings
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20

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4.09 avg rating — 74,927 ratings
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21

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3.84 avg rating — 1,263,888 ratings
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22

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4.44 avg rating — 58,315 ratings
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23

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4.27 avg rating — 863,782 ratings
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24

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3.71 avg rating — 14,310 ratings
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25

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3.85 avg rating — 13,657 ratings
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26

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4.28 avg rating — 33,320 ratings
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27

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3.95 avg rating — 74 ratings
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27

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3.73 avg rating — 1,038 ratings
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29

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4.10 avg rating — 804 ratings
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30

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4.14 avg rating — 2,323 ratings
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31

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4.16 avg rating — 244 ratings
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32

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4.30 avg rating — 1,777 ratings
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32

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4.07 avg rating — 45,252 ratings
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34

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3.84 avg rating — 81,642 ratings
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35

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3.93 avg rating — 22,441 ratings
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36

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4.06 avg rating — 5,349 ratings
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37

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4.10 avg rating — 15,078 ratings
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38

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4.26 avg rating — 59,347 ratings
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39

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3.87 avg rating — 8,448 ratings
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40

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4.11 avg rating — 5,917 ratings
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41

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3.60 avg rating — 2,406 ratings
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41

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3.78 avg rating — 518 ratings
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43

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3.80 avg rating — 6,595 ratings
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44

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4.13 avg rating — 3,153 ratings
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45

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3.53 avg rating — 14,969 ratings
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46

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3.76 avg rating — 2,227 ratings
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47

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3.75 avg rating — 9,652 ratings
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48

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3.69 avg rating — 1,596 ratings
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49

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4.39 avg rating — 378 ratings
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50

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4.38 avg rating — 236 ratings
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51

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3.65 avg rating — 2,278 ratings
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51

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3.54 avg rating — 635 ratings
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53

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4.34 avg rating — 80 ratings
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54

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3.40 avg rating — 8,129 ratings
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55

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3.74 avg rating — 1,441 ratings
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56

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3.54 avg rating — 612 ratings
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57

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3.58 avg rating — 79 ratings
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58

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4.41 avg rating — 315,131 ratings
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59

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3.54 avg rating — 13,749 ratings
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59

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3.82 avg rating — 12,623 ratings
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61

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3.99 avg rating — 708 ratings
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62

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3.93 avg rating — 353,386 ratings
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63

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3.99 avg rating — 82 ratings
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64

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3.75 avg rating — 1,652 ratings
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65

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4.16 avg rating — 2,915 ratings
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65

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3.45 avg rating — 853 ratings
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67

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3.51 avg rating — 105 ratings
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68

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4.07 avg rating — 866 ratings
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69

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 224 ratings
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70

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 224 ratings
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71

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 224 ratings
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72

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4.22 avg rating — 2,793 ratings
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73

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3.90 avg rating — 1,160 ratings
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74

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3.90 avg rating — 100 ratings
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75

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4.17 avg rating — 464 ratings
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76

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3.61 avg rating — 1,030 ratings
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77

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4.67 avg rating — 3 ratings
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77

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4.12 avg rating — 2,558 ratings
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77

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4.25 avg rating — 4 ratings
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77

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3.86 avg rating — 592 ratings
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77

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3.55 avg rating — 47 ratings
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77

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 11 ratings
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77

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4.47 avg rating — 38 ratings
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77

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2 ratings
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77

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3.78 avg rating — 37 ratings
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77

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4.67 avg rating — 12 ratings
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77

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3.93 avg rating — 31,514 ratings
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77

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3.94 avg rating — 23,457 ratings
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77

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3.67 avg rating — 39 ratings
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77

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4.05 avg rating — 28,015 ratings
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77

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4.13 avg rating — 12,293 ratings
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77

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3.75 avg rating — 3,685 ratings
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77

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4.14 avg rating — 711 ratings
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77

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3.58 avg rating — 1,073 ratings
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77

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3.82 avg rating — 279 ratings
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77

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 5 ratings
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77

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4.34 avg rating — 56 ratings
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77

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4.39 avg rating — 79 ratings
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77

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4.64 avg rating — 25 ratings
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77

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3.86 avg rating — 7 ratings
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51 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Anna 344 books
358 friends
Betsy 2637 books
28 friends
Charlotte 514 books
29 friends
Shannon 2154 books
17 friends
Kate 1249 books
72 friends
Clare 8586 books
349 friends
Soumya 1374 books
38 friends
Sarah 2262 books
95 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-6 of 6 (6 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Erin Lynn (new)

Erin Lynn Does The Fifth Wave really count? I don't see it as a space opera because it takes place on Earth...


message 2: by Anna (last edited Mar 11, 2015 06:45PM) (new)

Anna Erishkigal Erin Lynn wrote: "Does The Fifth Wave really count? I don't see it as a space opera because it takes place on Earth..."

I take a very expansive view of Space Opera when it comes to the paltry amount of decent sci-fi out there for teens. It involves an alien invasion, so from the alien's point of view, yeah... it's space opera-ish (sorta).

The alternative is to have our community members keep shoving a 1950 edition of Heinlein into kid's faces and then get miffed about 'youth today' when the kid shoves it right back :-P


message 3: by Kate (last edited Jun 20, 2015 06:29PM) (new)

Kate Any recs that don't have much romance (or have a queer romance, I'd like that), don't involve war, and involve friendly aliens?


message 4: by Anna (last edited Jun 20, 2015 09:27PM) (new)

Anna Erishkigal Kate wrote: "Any recs that don't have much romance (or have a queer romance, I'd like that), don't involve war, and involve friendly aliens?"

Hi Kate!

I took the liberty of looking at your bio and noticed you have both telepathy and cats listed in your interests, so based on that I think you'd enjoy the following series:

Frontier Series by Leonie Rogers - empathic sentient black panthers on a colonized planet

Frontier Resistance by Leonie Rogers Frontier Incursion by Leonie Rogers

Star Kingdom series by Jane Lindeskold and David Weber telepathic six-legged sentient cats on a colony planet

A Beautiful Friendship (Honorverse Stephanie Harrington, #1) by David Weber Fire Season (Honorverse Stephanie Harrington, #2) by David Weber Treecat Wars (Honorverse Stephanie Harrington, #3) by David Weber

Now as for a queer romance, we have a folder within our Space Opera Fans community where our member share book recommendations, including alternative lifestyles. I have not read these books myself, but am basing it off our members recommendations:

Stolen Time by J.M. Brink

Discussion thread is HERE: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Saga, Volume 1 by Brian K. Vaughan Saga, Volume 2 by Brian K. Vaughan Saga, Volume 3 by Brian K. Vaughan Saga, Volume 4 by Brian K. Vaughan

A lot of community members report liking the Saga space opera/alien graphic novel series, but it has some MATURE topics in it.

The Girls From Alcyone (The Girls from Alcyone #1) by Cary Caffrey

Has mature topics in it.


I hope you find these helpful? Happy reading!


message 5: by Kate (new)

Kate Anna wrote: "Kate wrote: "Any recs that don't have much romance (or have a queer romance, I'd like that), don't involve war, and involve friendly aliens?"

Hi Kate!

I took the liberty of looking at your bio an..."


Thanks! I've read Saga and the first Stephanie Harrington book, and the rest look really good! I'm going to check out the Frontier series.


cathedralwindow85 of BRISEIS I think that these books should be added to a hyped-up type of Accelerated Reader!, maybe called Starship Accelerated Reader! with a space ship on the book jacket sticker. Just a thought. Along with Ursula K. LeGuin, etc.
--cathedralwindowgirl85.


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