SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

I've read Orson Scott Card and Dan Simmons and I'm looking to read more in this genre. I have Leviathan Wakes on my shelf and I'm looking at Peter F. Hamilton, Alastair Reynolds, and Iain M. Banks. Anything else from the past 20 years or so that's particularly noteworthy?

You've got some good ones there..are you asking for others outside of the ones you mentioned?

Some of the more prominent authors/books in that period:

Stephen Baxter (Xeelee series, The Time Ships)
Stephen R. Donaldson (The Gap series)
Michael Flynn (The January Dancer series)
Ken MacLeod (Engines of Light series, Newton's Wake)
Jack McDevitt (Alex Benedict series, The Academy series)
John Scalzi (Old Man's War series)
Vernor Vinge (Zones of Thought series)
Peter Watts (Blindsight)

There's always Asimov's good old Foundation series, but I'm betting you've already read that. Though, do those qualify as space opera? I confess I'm a little hazy on the definition.

Thanks for the recommendations!

I'd recommend the Xenowealth books by Tobias Buckell comprising Crystal Rain, Ragamuffin, and Sly Mongoose.

Also The Risen Empire and The Killing of Worlds by Scott Westerfeld.

John Scalzi's Old Man's War series:
Old Man's War
The Ghost Brigades
The Last Colony
Zoe's Tale

R.M. Meluch's Tour of the Merrimack series:
The Myriad
Wolf Star
The Sagittarius Command
Strength and Honor
The Ninth Circle

LEVIATHAN WAKES and CALIBAN'S WAR by James S.A. Corey. These are books 1 and 2 in the new EXPANSE series. Best hard SF I've read in maybe 10 years. And best characterization I've ever seen in any hard SF work, which all too often is written with cardboard figures.

I read the first book and then immediately started the second. I can hardly wait for the third (and final?) novel, ABADDON'S GATE.

Have you tried the Liaden Universe series by Steve Miller and Sharon Lee? Of the various possible starting points, my personal preference is Agent of Change (the first published, which kicks off with one of the best first lines ever) but YMMV: there's a GR series attached to that book sorted by internal chronology if you prefer that.

I started 5 books to see if there were any that stood out for me. They are: Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks, Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey, The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton, Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds, and Old Man's War by John Scalzi.

So far the only one that has really captured my interest has been Leviathan Wakes. It's the only one that seems to combine a compelling action-packed storyline with characters who are interesting and relatable. I'll read a bit more of the others to see if they get a little more interesting.

Hi Matt, I've been doing the same thing this year.

I've finished Consider Phlebas (3/5), Old Man's War (4/5) and Leviathan Wakes (5/5) as well as the sequal Caliban's War (4/5).

Currently busy with Revelation Space which I'm really enjoying.

Will start with Peter F. Hamilton's Pandora's Star soon and let you know what I think.

Would add the Troy Rising trilogy by John Ringo to the list of recommendations.

Leviathan Wakes
Veteran
God's War
The Skinner
Stealing Light

These I recently read and they are all terrific.

You want very recent space opera. Try these:


That Which is Human by Bruce Davis

Glowgems for Profit, also by Bruce Davis

A Vow to Sophia by John Bowers and it's direct sequel

The Fighter Queen. They're part of a saga starting with The Fighter King, but that's pretty much landlocked.

Children of Destruction. The first half is landlocked, but the second half is space opera.

Have you tried the books by Lois McMaster Bujold, the Vorkosigan saga? First books is Shards of Honour. Some of the stories are more planet side, but there's a lot of good space opera also.

Also, Jack McDevitt: The Engines of God and A Talent for War among others.

David Brin: Existence

Vrabinec wrote: "Dylan wrote: "Some of the more prominent authors/books in that period:

Stephen Baxter (Xeelee series, The Time Ships)
Stephen R. Donaldson (The Gap series)
Michael Flynn (The January Dancer series..."

My favorite Vernor Vinge is Rainbows End

Judy wrote: "Have you tried the books by Lois McMaster Bujold, the Vorkosigan saga? First books is Shards of Honour. Some of the stories are more planet side, but there's a lot of good space opera also.

Also..."

For pure joyous space opera, Bujold-style, I'd say get
The Warrior's Apprentice first. It was the first published, third in chronological order. If you don't fall in love with the Vorkosigans from reading that then you never will (and that's OK, the world is full of magnificent books).

If you enjoy action packed death and mayhem you should also look at Neal Asher's Cormac series, the rest of his Polity novels and the new Departure trilogy that's 2 books in.

For pure joyous space opera, Bujold-style, I'd say getThe Warrior's Apprentice first. "

I agree and I was hooked on Miles from the last bit in the second book which focused on his parents. He was a hyperactive child and the scene where he is around 4 or 5 years old and goes tearing out of the barn on one of his grandfather's horses (that he has, of course, been forbidden to ride) yelling, "See, I can ride ... I can ... I can!" just struck my fancy.

This 'if things aren't looking good, run faster!' attitude is characteristic of Miles' mindset and to some extent my own as well. I suspect this may be because I was hyperactive myself, before it was diagnosed as a 'problem' ... and I had a hyperactive son as well.

Depending on how "recent" you want the "Dread Empire's Fall" trilogy by Walter Jon Williams is pretty entertaining space opera/milSF.
Praxis (2002)
The Sundering (2003)
The Conventions of War (2005)

I'll second the Timothy Zahn suggestion. He's rather fabulous.

I recommend C.J. Cherryh's Foreigner series starting with Foreigner, which I know Cherryh is only known and talked about in certain circles.

Foreigner series looks good. Thanks for the suggestions! Question: For Neal Asher's Polity series would you recommend starting with Prador Moon or Gridlinked?

I just bought Brent Weeks 'The Black Prism' - heard it is good, gonna see for myself.

The Gap series by Donaldson and the Heechee books by Pohl are older than the 20 year mark but held up pretty well. I also always loved the whole later half to 1/3 of Heinlein's work that kind of fits loosely together into a universe. The Coyote series is recent and has some good points, though it's a colonization story for the first few stories. The Orphanage series is also fun in a space opera meets military science fiction series. Of these I liked the Heinlein and Donaldson the best. I have recently been going through some of the New Wave authors from the 70's and have liked some of the space operaish works (Russian Spring and Into The Jungle) by Norman Spinrad. Recent isn't necessarily better in my experience though some of these works may have grown more golden with the passage of time and my memory.

I'm totally seconding the."Merrimack" series call out. Way, way above average space opera that's a little overlooked, IMHO. Liaden was another good call out. It's a little older than 20 years, but new books keep coming out. my recommendation would be "The Sparrow". One of the best books, period, that I've read in a long while.

Rich wrote: "my recommendation would be "The Sparrow". One of the best books, period, that I've read in a long while"

I love The Sparrow too, but I get the sense it might not be what Matt's looking for, since he said action-packed.

I want to second or third :-) Neal Asher whose Polity universe books are terrific although his last 2, non-polity books suck.
The Skinner is my absolute favorite...

I third The Sparrow, Matt. It may not be for you, then again it may. Action- packed, no, though neat stuff happens. Character- packed that you want to hang out with, because they are so interesting, smart, different and flawed definately.

It may not seem like space opera but Jack McDevitts, A Talent for War has a Indiana Jones meets Buck Rogers feel to it. Alex Benedict is a capable woman who doesn't shy away when told no. The search for truth leads to an amazing discovery that helps to bring truth to a space legend. If that doesn't pull you go with the classics Asimov or Herbert.

Benjamin wrote: "I'd recommend

Also The Risen Empire and The Killing of Worlds by Scott Westerfeld."

I second the Risen Empire I haven't got to the Killing of Worlds yet.

I would strongly recommend Transcendence by Christopher McKitterick

How did you come across this obscure book? It's not available at the library, not on Kindle and even used its pretty pricey. So, where did you find it? Looks very interesting

.Karin wrote: "I would strongly recommend Transcendence by Christopher McKitterick"

Jed wrote: "How did you come across this obscure book? It's not available at the library, not on Kindle and even used its pretty pricey. So, where did you find it? Looks very interesting

I found it on kindle for 3.99 http://www.amazon.com/Transcendence-e...

I have not read it. I'm just good at finding information. The author has not properly linked the hardcover, paperback, and kindle versions so each has its own entry on the author page on Amazon Christopher McKitterick

Kurt wrote: "It may not seem like space opera but Jack McDevitts, A Talent for War has a Indiana Jones meets Buck Rogers feel to it. Alex Benedict is a capable woman who doesn't shy away when told no. The searc..."
I love this series, but Alex Benedict is a male character. His pilot/associate (the main secondary character) is a woman, Chase Kolpath.

I also recommend the Vatta's War series by Elizabeth Moon and her Serrano series as well. The Seafort Saga is also good, by David Feintuch, and the Saga of the Skolian Empire by Catherine Asaro.

Most of the once I know and love are mentioned above except the one I also enjoyed. Not sure if it's necessarily a space opera, but it's a very good series:
Jack Campbell The Lost Fleet

I loved lost fleet, (though it had it's problems). Read the books as they came out, and I plan on checking out the new series he's done.

Let me also point you to the space opera list, it might be useful if you haven't seen it before.

http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/11...

While The Sparrow is a very good book, there's no way one could consider it space opera.

Sc wrote: "Depending on how "recent" you want the "Dread Empire's Fall" trilogy by Walter Jon Williams is pretty entertaining space opera/milSF.
Praxis (2002)
The Sundering (2003)
The Conventions of War (2005)"

Big fan of these for more of "hard science" perspective on space opera. David Weber's "Honorverse" (1st title "On Baslilisk Station") is really great for more military-scifi as well.

I have become a great fan of Alastair Reynolds and the Revelation Space series. Revelation SpaceAlastair Reynolds

Spinward Fringe: Origins By Randolf Lalonde, this is a trilogy omnibus that is free...and it is rocking good space opera

I also highly recommend Elizabeth Moon's books, excellent space opera, very well written heros and heroines

In Her Name series by Michael Hicks.

Peter F. Hamilton has a new one out:

I second the nomination of Elizabeth Moon's books -- at least the ones set on spaceships. They're action-packed, as requested, and very well written.

I'll third Meluch's "Tour of the Merrimack" series. Especially brilliant for the difficulty in knowing whom to identify with... the Americans or the Romans?

For sci-fi try Nastragull by Erik Willen, or The Curse of Europa by David Kayser.
I'm currently reading The Triskele by Lowri Thomas, it's Welsh folklore based.
In fact, stroll through my shelves for loads of ideas :)

Trike wrote: "While The Sparrow is a very good book, there's no way one could consider it space opera."

I'm not certain if there's an official definition of space opera, or if "The Sparrow" is true space opera, but except for the parts where the people from Earth travel through space on a hollowed out asteroid to a distant planet to interact with a newly discovered alien race, you're probably right.

Just finished Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynolds. Not quite the grand scale of The Revelation Space Collection but good enjoyable space opera.

I was directed here by a friend who suggested my books would be applicable, but looks like promoting them would violate the group rules...

Myself, I'd reiterate the recommendation for Jack Campbell's Lost Fleet series...loved each of the ones I've seen so far. I've also enjoyed K. M. Tolan's Dancer series, and a pair of debut novels from J. C. Cassels (Sovran's Pawn) and Cary Caffrey (The Girls From Alcyone).