5 Underrated Space Operas You Need To Read
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- Опубліковано 9 тра 2024
- Today we’re diving into 5 lesser known space opera gems that you need to read.
Thanks for watching and don't forget to check out my sci-fi books below.
#scifi #spaceopera #underrated
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DELPHINE DESCENDS
After her family is killed and her homeworld occupied, young Kathreen Martin is sent to the distant world of Furoris for re-education. She will live the rest of her life as a serf - to be bought and sold as a commodity of the Imperial Network.
When her only chance of escape is ruined, a chance mistaken identity offers her a new life as the orphaned daughter of a First-Citizen Senator and heiress to a vast fortune.
She vows to claw her way into power to sit among the worlds’ elite. Then, with her own hands, she will reap bloody vengeance on them all.
But to beat them, she must play their game. And she must play it better than them all.
BLACK MILK
Prometheus has the chance to bring his wife back from the dead, but doing so will mean the destruction of Earth.
Spanning time, planets and dimensions, Black Milk draws to a climactic point in a post-apocalyptic future, where humanity, stranded with no planet to call home, fights to survive against a post-human digital entity that pursues them through the depths of space.
Five lives separated by aeons are inextricably linked by Prometheus’s actions:
Ystil.3 is an AI unit sent back in time from the distant future to investigate Prometheus’s discovery...
The mysterious Lydia has devoted her life to finding a planet that the last remaining humans can call home…
Tom Jones (he’s a HUGE fan!) is an AI trapped inside a digital subspace, lost and desperate to find his way back to his beloved in real-time…
Dr Norma Stanwyck is a neuroscientist from 24th Century Earth whose personal choices ripple throughout time...
Prometheus must learn the necessity of death or the entire universe will be swallowed by his grief.
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The Gap Cycle by Stephen R. Donaldson is definitely an underrated gem of a series.
It is very good.
And there's no actual good, hero, protag. They all are just despicable in various ways.
I have read that series more times than Foundation. My favorite.
One of my Favorite Space Opera Series is The Deathstalker Series by Simon R. Green!
House of Suns by Alistair Reynolds is brilliant. Fallen Dragon and a Fire apon the Deep were amazing too. I'll check out the other 3
A Fire Upon the Deep also does a huge amount of exploration into parallel processing computing architectures (the Tines). Vernor Vinge (RIP) was a professor of Computer Science at UC Irvine. He even DEDICATED the book to the attendees of the previous year;s International Conference on Parallel Processing!
As someone who went to UC Irvine I know Benford taught physics there but as far as I know Vinge was at SDSU teaching math and compsci
I'm a retired CS professor who used to teach this stuff. The Tines are actually distributed systems, rather than parallel computers, and are one of the most original alien species in all of SF. There's also a lightly-disguised equivalent of the old USENET online discussion forum which I found amusing (though quite dated no of course).
@@patrickocallaghan3429 True! Vinge dedicated A Fire Upon the Deep to the organizers of Arctic ‘88, the iteration of the conference held in Scandanavia. I was at Finger Lakes ‘89, the iteration held at Cornell. I must correct myself that this was not the ICPP. I got mixed up because I also presented at the ICPP around the sane time. So… yes, dustributed systems, not parallel processing.
I do miss Banks' Culture series a lot. Have read them all multiple times and I wish Banks had had time to write more.
Frederick Pohl's Heechee Saga:
Gateway
Beyond the Blue Event Horizon
Heechee Rendezvous
Annals of the Heechee
Also, anything by Alistair Reynolds 😁👍
I always love re-reading the David Brin Uplift books.
Honestly one of my absolute faves remains Teh Vorkosigan Saga. But for me the intimate is an earmark of the cosmic. Plus the REVELATION SPACE series plus EARTHCLAN.
The Skylark of Space is my favorite space opera.
Hardly underrated unless there's been some crazy revisionism going on. That's pretty much the template for classic era space opera
I loved it 45 years ago but find it hard to read now. It’s socially dated and lacks technology so the characters often do strange things.
I actually prefer the Lensmen series.
David Brin’s Startide Rising is one of the best space operas out there and seems to have been forgotten. I was surprised it wasn’t on the list.
That would likely be me having it removed by altering the space time continuum 😂. Couldnt take more than the first book (skimmed to finish) and DNFd the second
@@Joe-lb8qn Funny. I really liked the first and could not could not get into the second.
Man, I loved those when I read them decades ago.
I have read the Vinge books and loved them. You just added more to my ever growing list! Thanks Darrel and keep them coming.
Instant thumbs up for mentioning A Fire Upon the Deep. The entire Zones of Thought series is some of the best sci-fi I've ever read. Easily my favorite space operas.
I just started reading Light, I’m liking it so far. I’m not sure if this is considered sci-fi opera but On Basilisk Station is one of my favorites.
David Weber is such a great author! I love the Honor Harrington books. I'm also quite fond of the Legacy of the Aldenata (John Ringo). Great sense of humor in those books.
Stephen R. Donaldson, the Gap series. Am I the only person who has read these novels?
Y E S !
Just kidding! :D
They were indeed awesome!
You’re not alone! I loved the Gap series, and, of course, the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.
I've already read all of these except for the Neal Asher book, but my favorite Space Opera so far has to be Dan Simmons' Hyperion.
Gridlinked and the first few books in that series feel like they were published before they'd fully baked... they're great books, but Neal Asher had become a noticeably FAR better author by a few books into the series. Reading the first few after reading his later stuff and you can really see that he was still learning his craft and finding his voice. It's a bit of a petty quibble, because they're still excellent books, just that what comes after is even better and you don't usually get to see authors "learning on the job" like that.
Hyperion can't be called underrated, It is very famous.
Moments ago I was recommending Nova by Samuel R. Delany to someone else. And I recommend it here too. There is so much in that book, totally worth a reread too.
Without Delaney there’d be no Culture books imo
I second this one
@@JazzGuitarScrapbook I totally agree. Delany didn't get near enough respect!
@@lisagulick4144 I think he was very highly rated in the 60s and 70s, won plenty of awards etc. it’s more that a lot of those older writers are a bit overlooked today unless it’s the Big Names like Asimov, Herbert etc
Adrian Tchaikovsky's series starting with Children of Time is my favorite from recent works, and David Brin's Uplift novels from the older side. I'm also going to read anything by Alistair Reynolds or Lois McMaster Bujold.
After reading all of The Culture series, I used Asher's, Ian Cormac series as my methadone treatment for withdrawal. Earth Central, the AI in Gridlinked is a little similar to the culture's AI ship minds.
Nice to see Neal Asher's Polity series getting some attention. I'm old fashioned enough to see space opera as being a series of books at least beyond a trilogy. Asher's work has evolved way past this level. Maybe not the most innovative, nor the most polished writing. However when an Asher book drops I'm not available for for several hours till it's been devoured. A similar series is Marko Kloos' Frontlines book sit well within my conception of Space Opera, and is highly recommended.
Fire upon deep is a must read! Highly recommended!
You, can add Piers Anthony's Bio of a Space Tyrant, David Webber's Honor Harrington Series. The Undying Mercenary Series by BV Larson, or The Omega Force by Joshua Dalzell, and Jim Butcher's The Furies of Calderon. I could go on but I'd have to refer to my authors list. At present Rick Partlow's Tahini Books are such.
Bio of a Space Tyrant is literally the worst series I have ever read.
Dang I thought I was the only one that read omega force 😳. I loved that series till about book 10 then it lost the fun. Try the lost starship series , I thought those were fun.
To me, these stand out:
Weber - Honor Harrington
Weber/White - Starfire Series (which includes the incredible 'In Death Ground').
Ringo - Legacy of the Aldenata
Michael Z. Williamson - Freehold Series/Universe
I've read a ton of early scifi also (I'm in my 60s). My father was a huge fan and I picked up the bug. A.E. Van Vogt, Heinlein, Asimov, E. E. Doc Smith, Clifford D. Simak, Poul Anderson, Fritz Lieber, Arthur C. Clarke and Frank Herbert (these are just the ones that come immediately to mind.. there are many many more I've read over the years).
The Honor Harrington series is pure awesomeness. #1 On Basilisk Station is the only book that has ever had me literally on the edge of my seat. Starfire was good but wasn't re-readable. I'll give Legacy of the Aldenata and Freehold a look!
Love space operas! Thank you for your recommendations, and the artwork.
Its unfortunate that so many great novels don't get the attention they deserve.
Well my TBR grows evermore, thanks for the great list!
All the best.
Mine will be unfinished when I die.
The Requiem for Homo Sapiens by David Zindell.
The Golden Oecumene by John C. Wright.
Nice to see you have nearly 35K subscribers now! Well deserved.
Fallen Dragon is IMHO an absolute masterpiece. The ending at the very last is particularily revelatory and extremely cool. Oh and I have read it four times in the last 10 or so years.
Totally agree...and the ending is just...perfect. what an amazing book. However, I'm NOT getting into his Salvation series..
Wow , I always recommend this and until now never heard it feature
@@BonesFrielinghausWhy not? Not as good as Commonwealth (nothing is ;-) !), but has its merits. I'm starving for new Hamilton btw
Good Idea, re-read FD. Thnx!
Then Mandel trilogy after long time again.
Peter F Hamilton vibes with me very well in general.
Books mentioned:
1:07 Fallen Dragon, Peter F. Hamilton
2:42 Light, M. John Harrison
4:19 Gridlinked, Neal Asher
5:25 The Icarus Hunt, Timothy Zahn
7:04 A Fire Upon the Deep, Vernor Vinge
Ty
I think Currently Underrated might be a better title for this list, I remember all of these titles and have read 4 out of 5 them. We have to remember these books were published 20+ years ago now and the filter of time is setting in for books of this age, after 15-20 years even the award winners fall off. Thinking back, it may be my personal golden age of reading 1990 - 2010ish, with so many mid-list writers and a strong short story market.
* personal Favorite: Pandora's Star by Peter F Hamilton, well maybe the whole Common Wealth series
Vinge is great! Both Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky.
The Dark Beyond the Stars is another criminally underrated space opera. It's a standalone novel by Frank M. Robinson from 1991.
The 6-book series of the Galactic Center by Gregory Benford, read them all multiple times! This series is outstanding!
Me too! And best hard science fiction series too. Benford is a physics professor after all. And yet nobody ever mentions it. The only reason I can think of is that it is from the eighties and for most people that is too long ago
Galactic Center?
The name reminded me of Core Space. A series of miniatures board games. :)
Just saying...
There's lots of varied sci-fi out there.
Even tho Space Opera is my favorite Genre, I never heard of those before and they all sound like exactly up my ally!
Thanks for the recommendations! I will check them all out!
What are your favorites/recommendations in the genre?
@@wwbit My Favorites are well known I guess. Foundation, Hyperion, The Bobiverse.
I liked Enders Game and always wished there were more Starship Troopers books.
The first Dune book is obviously the best still.
Gordon Dickson Dorsai books in Childe series.
For some reason this brings to mind W. Michael Gear's Warriors of Spider trilogy.
His Forbidden Borders trilogy is good too--but annoying about the border. Too much cave bear stuff with the wife for a follow-up trilogy I guess.
Anyway you might like those too; circa 1990.
Ironically, "Fallen Dragon" is the only space-opera I know of which starts out with a character learning that the whole concept of space-opera is utterly ridiculous.
Don't be put off by that -- Hamilton makes it work.
A Fire Upon the Deep is one of the most beautiful sci fi novels I've ever read.
I'm sold anytime someone calls a science fiction book beautiful. ❤
@@greywaren621
LOL!
I had read "A Deepness in The Sky" first, and I was gratified to see the return of a memorable character.
@@jefff3886 How is "A Deepness in The Sky" compared to A Fire Upon the Deep?
@@Ambient_Scenes Thank you for your question. This is strictly subjective, but "Deepness" is every bit as complex and layered as "Fire." However, I found "Deepness" to be a darker novel, with some disturbing imagery near the end. Don't misunderstand, I think it's an excellent novel, but it stayed with me for days after I finished it. But then again, some art is meant to make one uncomfortable, and to get one to think about new things, or to look at things in a different way.
I read "The Icarus Hunt" as a random read several years ago, and I loved it!
Thanks for the great recommendations. I will definitely look for Zahn's Icarus Hunt
🙏💯
After reading The Culture series by Banks and the Revelation Space series by Reynolds I've been hard pressed to find anything matching the level of these writers. I fear my life is going to become an endless saga of re-reading. I have tried the Polity books and Light plus Vinge but they seem like hard work for minimal reward. Thank you for some more suggestions, I'll definitely give them a go.
Many thanks for the summary. I've already added them to my wish list.
Go Tines! 😀 Love Vinge. Great recommendations!
My list would have to include
Tiger Tiger - Alfred Bester (still heavily ripped off by everyone haha including Gibson, the Expanse guys and Banks)
Nova - Sam Delaney
The Instrumentality of Man books - Cordwainer Smith (completely mad and wonderful)
And here’s an obscure one - I remember loving The Star Child trilogy by Fred Pohl and Jack Williamson. Good luck tracking that down haha. It’s probably rubbish. But I liked it when I was 15
My parents book collection was a trip
Wow great list! I would add Dread Empire's Fall series as well.
Nice. I have read the first two and last out the 5 and highly recommend. Will check out the others. And added black milk to my reading list… sounds great.
Let us not forget Saberhagen's Berserker series OR E.E."Doc" Smith's Lensman.
Could you someday do a tier list of space operas?
!!!!! THIS COMMENT !!!!!
Foundation series and Dune series are my favorites
Maybe a bit strange but Nul-A and sequel by A.E. van Vogt is space opera
#1 is Startide Rising by David Brin.
#2 is a tie between E.Moon's Trading in Danger series, Raltsbloodthorne's First Contact series, the first third/half of Hambone's Deathworlders series and its surviving offshoots (pre-ring destruct), and H.Harrison's Retief (less space interaction, more swashbuckling).
Saga Of Seven Suns is one of my favourites, highly recommend it.
From Kevin J. Anderson?
@@discobolos4227 That's the one. The reviews for it don't do it justice honestly.
@@epimetheaus1214 If I remember it correctly, the initial reviews had actually been pretty positive and excited across the board, BUT around the fifth book, I think, some critics began to assert that Anderson had begun to either repeat himself or unnecessarily prolong things, that the series had begun to run out of steam, and that the depth of the storyline(s) and of the mythos of the fictional universe did not justify that many sequels.
Just saying...
@@discobolos4227 That wasn't my experience at least. My biggest criticism was for the follow up books. I didn't enjoy the sequel trilogy the saga of shadows. It felt unnecessary.
@@epimetheaus1214
Alright.
I otherwise heard about the sequel Saga.
Very compelling recommendations
Sun Eater Series by Christopher Ruocchio
Yes for all the neal asher books set in the Polity universe. Also a vote for Altered Carbon and its associated follow ons. Not sure if its Space Opera though.
Have you read my favorite, Donaldson's Gap Cycle? Scariest aliens ever.
YES!!!!!!! Finally a Neal Asher book!!!!! Cheers
Did you say "underratedocity"? 😃 I've read Fallen Dragon. I don't remember much about it, but I did like it. Same for Icarus Hunt. A Fire Upon the Deep is one of my top books. I've read it numerous times. Another favorite is the seemingly unknown In Conquest Born by C.S. Friedman.
A fun SO I enjoyed reading is the Spinward Fringe by Randolph Lalonde written in a clifhanger tv type style so good.
It's not just one novel, but C.J. Cherryh's Alliance-Union universe is all one big space opera, and I would say that her Faded Sun trilogy also qualifies.
better known for her fantasy, but an underated sci fi author, downbelow station is one of my favourite books. i can also recommend ancillary justice by ann leckie, subtle and intelligent writing.
Faded Sun is an incredible trilogy. Reread many times.
I have read many in this universe. cherryh was one of my late husband's favorite authors. We would scour library and garage sales to fill our library. Once we had both read a book we would have long discussions on what happened in the story. I did find them a little hard to read though.
@@constancepullen810 I know what you mean. Downbelow Station is not an "exciting" novel insofar as space action and adventure is concerned, but it is fascinating nevertheless, and easy to see why it won a Hugo. I tell people it's more of a political thriller than anything science fiction-y, it just happens to be set mainly on a space station. And Cyteen was one of the most difficult novels I have ever read - and one of the most rewarding. C.J. Cherryh is one of my favorite authors; she builds characters like nobody else.
@@robertgrant721 That second novel blew my little mind. Damn she's good.
I strongly recommend The Gap Cycle by Stephen R. Donaldson. It's an incredible 5 book series that begins with "The Real Story."
I'm not entirely certain that it qualifies as a space opera, but since it's based on/inspired by composer Richard Wagner's Des Ring Der Nibelungen music dramas, aka The Ring Cycle, which includes the famous piece The Ride of the Valkyries, I figure it can't be far off.
I’ve read a lot of Peter Hamilton, but NOT “Fallen Dragon”. It is sitting on my bookshelf, so I think I’ll put it next in my queue. Except for Vernor Vinge (I’ve read “A Fire Upon the Deep”, I hadn’t known of the others you highlighted. Thanks for this.
Minor correction -Vinge is pronounced Vin-Gee. Also he sadly passed away recently. But his stories are fantastic. It's rare that a deeply philosophical scifi book is so VISUAL. I can still picture scenes such as the fall of _____, even though it's been over a decade..
But absolutely checking out Fallen Dragon. The Commonwealth saga is an absolute favorite and I really don't understand the hate that series gets.
Thanks for this.
David Weber had some good epics early on, including the Honor Harrington series up to about 8 or 9. I just reread Ashes of Empire and the first two books are solid, interesting books. (Don't much care for book 3, but YMMV).
The Honorverse is a pretty great setting, especially as Manticore's interaction, through the characters, with that universe expands and escalates.
But really "only" the books with Honor in them do much for me. And with so many books, you can see why Weber went for "space vampires from earth vs alien invaders" for more recent new series.
Flinx series and assorted side trilogies in the same universe. Honor Harrington series with sidebar😮 series including short story collections.
Good call, luved all the Flinx stories.
I've been trying to find this Vernor Vinge series forever! I read about half of it 20 years ago and wanted to find it nowadays but I didn't really know what to search for
I've read the Vinge book and it's sequel. Light looks interesting.
Im going to have to read Fallen Dragon - I LOVE Peter F Hamilton. Particularly the Commonwealth books (all 7 of them not just the Saga), but enjoyed the Nights Dawn Trilogy as well - its a lot darker lol. I do need to find more though... Ive been stuck reading either Hamilton or Ian Banks for over a decade lol.
The Well World series by Jack Chalker, or his Soul Rider series or his Four Lords of the Diamond series. All have good ideas and are fun adventures.
I have to confess that I would never have considered anything by Timothy Zahn due to my deep and abiding dislike for his Star Wars books! Love Vernor Vinge's works.
Thank you!
I was weaned on the Lensman series by E.E. Doc Smith. Not literature by any means, and with some out-dated ideas on genetics, these stories fired my young imagination. But I also agree with you that Fire Upon the Deep is a classic, brilliantly written by Vinge.
Throwing Starship's Mage series by Glynn Stewart out there for space opera.
For some reason I can't stop reading Glynn's stuff, and there's a lot of it. Not sure Starship's Mage but for all his various settings.
Rob Perrier's Habitable Worlds Series: Above the Storms and Before the Storms
I will make a point to read all of these, I have read Gridlocked, showing a A.I based future and Fallen Dragon which is really great in that it shows the realistic aftermath and consequence of space travel and galactic colonisation, - that is the overwhelming cost in money, resources and such vs any benefit. Eventual the good times come to an end and space travel is deemed to expensive.
If I had to recommend a space opera series that I don't think gets enough attention, The Unincorporated War (First book is The Unincorporated Man)
I'd rank David Zindell's neverness/Requiem for Homo Sapiens series right up there, imaginative ideas and great characterisation.
I really enjoyed the red rising series on audiobook. I blew through it in less than a week.
So underrated that it didn't even make the video - *Legend of the Galactic Heroes*
Have you heard of the CoDominium series and the Mote in God’s Eye book?
I have indeed. My intro to the CoDominium was a Pournelle short story called "He Fell into a Dark Hole," about a CoDom mission to find a lost ship that has encountered a black hole...a phenomenon about which they know nothing, as that branch of physics is forbidden by the CoDominium!
@@lisagulick4144 oh, i don’t remember much about that story, except that it featured Sergei Lermontov. My introduction was Peace with Honor but my favorite story is The Mercenary, featuring John Christian Falkenberg
It's interesting to read Niven's discussion of the creative/collaborative process behind "The Mote in God's Eye" in his book "N-Space."
You mention “Mote” but not “The Gripping Hand.”
@@rapid13 i don’t have that much chances to get my hands on many jerry pournelle works as where i got them don’t usually have that many. (I only know Mote, CoDominium and Heorot) but i recently heard about the gripping hand! Thanks!
Edmond Hamilton's *The Star Kings* (1947) fits well in the space opera genre if you don't mind some romance thrown in.
A great plot, characters with believable personal grievances and a bold imagination to blend the largest and smallest structures in the universe makes "Light" by M. J. Harrison by far the most valuable novel in literary terms.
Based on your descriptions, I wouldn't classify all of these as space opera. Try Julian May's Rampart Worlds trilogy published between 1999 and 2001. That flew under the radar but I enjoyed it immensely.
Most criminally under-mentioned space opera has to be Pierce Brown's Red Rising series of books.
Lensman series
Did you ever watch the anime for it
@@TheFallenFaob
The anime was quite OK, but had very little in common with the original book series.
I'll take E. E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman and Skylark series any day.
I find the genre label a bit vague, so not sure if experts would agree these fit the category: The Culture novels by Banks, and _A Memory Called Empire_ by Arkady Martine
Namaste😊, Star Pulse: Cairo Star, The Man Who Met God is an underrated good read.
I'm a massive E.E. doc Smith fan especially the lensman series, where else can you find a planet travelling faster than light used as a missile against a solar system's star?
Thanks for these recommendations. I've read _The Icarus Hunt_ and _A Fire upon the Deep, and own _Fallen Dragon_, but not yet read it. I will have to examine Asher's Polity series. Sorry, but with _Light,_ you lost me with one of the main characgters being a "serial killer."
Do read _Fire upon the Deep,_ but read _Deepness in the Sky_ first, the story is much better (and Pham Nuwen much more tragic) if you don't know _Fire_ when you read _Deepness._
Both are excellent, among the best SF has to offer.
Shout out to Tales of the Phoenix Titan (the most underrated modern space opera IMO)
Some good suggestions. For something a bit lighter and less hard sci fi, give Starship's Mage by Glynn Stewart a try.
I'm tearing my way through Glynn Stewart's books at the moment - they're very reminiscent of the sci-fi I inherited from my parents, and I mean that as a sincere compliment. Also, I very much appreciate the depictions of diversity as sufficiently ubiquitous to pass as functionally unremarked elements of the various cultures, but that might just be my personal preferences.
Another vote for The Gap Cycle by Donaldson
Gridlinked is a good series , but Ashers Skinner trilogy is my favourite of his works. Its set in the same universe, but adds a black slapstick humour and a dash of horror . Sadly he’s since moved away from the humorous element in his novels, but the Orbus (the third in the skinner series) is Asher at his peak,imo.
Bio of a Space Tyrant.
Neal Asher of course isn't underrated Space Opera as he is the biggest name out there. Fire in Upon the Deep is more fantasy in my estimation, but OK it still is great.
Anyhow I would add The Golden Oecumene by John C Wright as truly underrated Space Opera.
Read 3 out of 5 so perhaps I can add yet another John Clute’s Appleseed
EE Doc Smith - the Lensman series
Gridlinked was not very good. I give Asher a bit of a pass as i believe it was his first book, but i think most Asher fans recommend starting somewhere else with him.
Gap Cycle by Donaldson would be my recommendation for this list. Grimdark in space.
The Agent Cormac books are an excellent read. What starts as a kind of James Bond in a future, were everyone is connected to AI, takes a dark turn later on.
A Fire Upon The Deep is a SF must read, there are enough ideas inside for lesser authors to write multiple books.
A entertaining (but less thought provoking) series with good space battles are the Honor Harrington books.
Fallen Dragon was my first read before Commonwealth from Hamilton. All are great.
Light - just weird... I did not really like it. :/ Some parts are interesting tho, but a lot of it felt sometimes too bullshity with pseudo quantum cr@p. :(
A Fire Upon the Deep - well, that was a great read. Very interesting setup.