Space Opera reviews from Reddit
Summary
We analyzed 218 Reddit reviews across 14 subreddits and 32 posts to rank the best Space Opera brands recommended by redditors, including communities like r/printSF, r/scifi, r/audible, r/Vorkosigan, r/Fantasy. Top-rated brands include Alastair Reynolds (4.8/5), Iain M. Banks (4.7/5), Lois McMaster Bujold (5.0/5).
Stats
Reviews218
Subreddits14
Posts32
Brands72
Products90
218 reviews from
and
By Brand
/By Product
#1
Alastair Reynolds
4.8
(16)
"Revelation Space. But read the whole series in chronological order so you can see the development of human interstellar civilization without FTL, starting with the short story The Great Wall of Mars."
"Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds. Interstellar travel is done by a select few who use 'light-huggers', ships that travel very near to the speed of light."
"Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds"
"Surprised House of Suns by Alistair Reynolds isn't mentioned here. It's epic and a surprising murder mystery."
"I'm a huge fan of the author Alistair Reynolds. Give it a try, his opening trilogy is excellent and if you like it you can branch out to his other works. Search "Revelation Space"."
"You'll binge read it until your fingers hurt from holding the book"
"Most of his other books are space opera too."
"Easily my favourite book in this genre since Hyperion Cantos."
"Revelation space series by Alastair Reynolds."
"Space opera with a dystopian feel: Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds."
#2
Iain M. Banks
4.7
(12)
"The Culture series, by Iain M Banks."
"Sound like just what you’re after."
"Surface Detail, Iain M Banks. This one has the benefit of being stand alone AND also part of a group of books (The Culture books)."
"Check out Iain Banks. He has a bunch of novels set in the Culture universe. Some are smaller stories in the universe but many are set against the background of a larger war. Highly recommend."
"The war raged across the galaxy."
"Here to add another Iain Banks vote, I'm just getting into his Culture series."
"Iain Banks’ Culture series."
"Have you read any of the Culture books?"
"The Algebraist Ian bank's"
"The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks"
#3
Lois McMaster Bujold
5.0
(11)
"Lois mcmaster and her incredibly entertaining Vorkosigan Saga."
"Multiple Hugo award winner."
"It’s a fantastic space opera series."
"Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan series."
"The Vorkosigan saga is pretty great."
"The Vorkosigan Saga is exactly what you’re looking for."
"They are actually my favorite 2 of the whole series and I have read them all."
"If you like romance, start with *Shards of Honor*. If not, start with *The Warrior's Apprentice*."
#4
Peter F. Hamilton
4.6
(12)
"It's definitely a space opera. And it has some of the most 'alien' aliens I've read about."
"Start with these then get obsessed with his other work."
"Anything from Peter F Hamilton's commonwealth universe, - (L'Étoile de Pandore - L'Intégrale) is a good place to start"
"Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton"
"Fallen Dragon - Peter F Hamilton"
"Is legit space opera."
"Nights Dawn, Salvation trilogy and Commonwealth saga by Peter F. Hamilton are sublime!"
"Fallen Dragon by Peter Hamilton"
"Nights Dawn Trilogy by Peter F Hamilton."
"Night’s Dawn trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton."
#5
Vernor Vinge
4.9
(9)
"A Fire Upon the Deep, and A Darkness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge"
"A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge"
"A fire upon the deep and a deepness in the sky are not standalone, they're continuing the same story. But don't let that get you down about them; they're incredible."
"A fire upon the deep - Vernor Vinge"
"A fire upon the deep by vernor vinge."
"A Fire Upon the Deep."
"My favorite space opera is *A Fire Upon the Deep* by Vernor Vinge."
"*A Fire Upon the Deep* by Vernor Vinge is pure space opera with an added deep dive into how a pack intelligence might work."
"*A Deepness in the Sky*, its loose prequel is also good."
#6
Elizabeth Moon
4.4
(8)
"I clicked intending to recommend Vatta's war! Moon is a great writer!"
"Read the Serrano series Moon wrote, too."
"The series *Vatta's War* by Elizabeth Moon is a very good space opera story."
"I quite like the Heris Serrano and related books."
"I just read the first book in the Vatta's War series by Elizabeth Moon, and it felt quite similar to the Vorkosigan Saga to me."
"Any of Elizabeth Moon, CJ Cherryh or Lois McMaster Bujold’s books as mentioned by others above."
"Vatta's war."
"After you read Weber's Honor series, you should try Elizabeth Moon (just in general). She hits high notes for space opera/sci-fi and fantasy/epics."
#7
James S.A. Corey
4.8
(6)
"Have you heard of our lord and savior *The Expanse*?"
"Fantastic."
"Obligatory recommendation of The Expanse."
"I liked The Expanse series a lot."
"The Expanse."
"The expanse by James SA Corey is pretty low hanging fruit."
#8
David Weber
4.8
(6)
"Three space war stories in the same universe by a master of milsf."
"Weber's Honor Harrington series (skim the iconically long descriptions of missile tech)."
"David Weber's Honor Harrington books, Mutineer's Moon"
"Thirding the Honor Harrington series! There is so much character progression on all sides from the MC, to allies, and enemies too."
"David Weber's Honor Harrington Series is great space opera."
"The Honor Harrington series."
#9
John Scalzi
4.1
(7)
"The first book is *The Collapsing Empire*."
"The whole trilogy is great, as is the Old Man's War series."
"I really enjoyed John Scalzi’s “The Interdependency” trilogy."
"Old Man's War series by John Scalzi is a good fit."
"Start with 'Fallen Dragon', a standalone work."
"Unless you mean 'no more Scalzi for me, thanks'."
"Scalzi Old Man's War series."
#10
Jack Campbell
4.5
(6)
"Spaceman wakes up a few hundred years in the future just in time to inherit command of a fleet stuck far from home and surrounded by enemies."
"A strong recommendation for 'The Lost Fleet'."
"My favorite military sci fi focuses on space naval combat."
"I really enjoy The Lost Fleet series (which should also be called a saga at this point)."
"The Lost Fleet by Jack Campbell. Really strategic, with some political drama here and there and really interesting thought-provoking ideas regarding other races."
"The Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell."
#11
Adrian Tchaikovsky
4.5
(6)
"Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky"
"Lots of other Adrian Tchaikovsky books, cos he’s got loads of great stuff."
"The best current space opera is *The Final Architecture* trilogy by Adrian Tchaikovsky."
"It is more Humans + some aliens against other more powerful aliens."
"*Children of Time* by Adrian Tchaikovsky."
#12
James S. A. Corey
5.0
(5)
"The Expanse is really excellent. The characters are fantastic, the setting is rich and complex, and the story itself is so good I have trouble putting them down."
"The Expanse does meet those other requirements, especially as you get further into the series."
"The Expanse by James S.A. Corey"
"The Expanse series of books, audiobooks and the TV series are amazing"
"The expanse for sure. nine book epic."
#13
David Brin
4.8
(5)
"What a great novel. The Uplift War (it's sequel) is fantastic too, if you find you enjoyed Startide Rising."
"David Brin, Uplift series"
"Startide Rising, by David Brin"
"David Brin's Uplift books have this. Start with "Startide Rising.""
"David Brin’s world building is amazing. But his writing can sometimes be problematic. That said, I’ve read all his books."
#14
Cristopher Ruocchio
4.4
(5)
"Has been my jam these past few months."
"I’ve been reading The Sun Eater series."
"The first book is a bit slow for some folks."
"The really good horror starts in book 2."
#15
Dan Simmons
5.0
(4)
"Hyperion - Dan Simmons"
"Hyperion Cantos Dan Simmons"
"Hyperion"
"Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons is god tier level."
#16
Arkady Martine
5.0
(4)
"A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine"
"Teixcalaan series by Arkady Martine. Really good space opera, top 10 for sure."
"A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine"
"Courtly politics mixed with a buddy road trip across a massive planet."
#17
E.E. Smith
4.5
(4)
"The *Lensman Series*, by E.E. “Doc” Smith."
"Everyone should read the Lensman series by EE "Doc" Smith. The original space opera."
"Books 3-6 are the real series."
"The granddaddy of space operas."
#18
Ann Leckie
4.5
(4)
"Ann Leckie's Imperial Justice etc."
"Ancillary Justice."
"Starts out a little confusing but for a cool reason."
"Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch series is solid too."
#19
Pierce Brown
4.3
(4)
"It's the game of thrones for space opera."
"Would also recommend Red Rising as a solid series 🙂"
"Hands down the best match in my opinion is red rising. Be warned though it is pretty graphic."
"Starts slow and gets better and bigger, it’s an easy read."
#20
Frank Herbert
5.0
(3)
"Dune (stop at Heretics of Dune) - world building, exploration, ethical and cultural and military issues, character development"
"Dune is really good..."
"Don't want to state the obvious - but yeah, Dune is the obvious pick."
#21
Kate Elliott
4.7
(3)
"Unconquerable Sun and Furious Heaven by Kate Elliott are pretty great books."
"The main character is a female Alexander the Great."
"Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliot came out last year and is basically everything I want in a space opera."
#22
Stephen Donaldson
4.7
(3)
"Is an excellent series."
"Is great."
"Almost literally space opera."
#23
Walter Jon Williams
4.7
(3)
"Right up there with the Praxis series by Walter Williams."
"I highly recommend you check out the Praxis 6 novel set by Walter Jon Williams. It's high space opera with fantastic prose, great ship to ship and armada to armada combat, well-realized alien civilizations and complicated heroes and villains."
"Upvote for the Dread Empire's Fall series. I don't see it recommended on here enough and if you've already read all the usual Reynolds, Hamilton, Banks, etc. it's worth a try."
#24
Poul Anderson
4.7
(3)
"+1 for High Crusade!"
"Go dig up Poul Anderson's "The High Crusade" from the distant past."
"This is not quite what you're looking for, but Poul Anderson's *Tau Zero* is set on an interstellar spaceship which travels near lightspeed, without the necessity of any sort of stasis/cryo-sleep dodge;"
#25
Bruce Sterling
4.3
(3)
"*Schismatrix* by Bruce Sterling."
"Schismatrix, by Bruce Sterling. A stone-cold classic."
"Scismatrix Plus is polarizing but I think it's required reading."
#26
Glen Cook
4.0
(3)
"The dragon never sleeps, glen cook. possibly in french, some of his work is"
"The Dragon Never Sleeps by Glen Cook. Unusual in that it's a standalone novel (by publisher mandate) from an author known for his series."
"Check out *The Dragon Never Sleeps* by Glen Cook."
#27
Alfred Bester
5.0
(2)
"The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester"
"Sort of an space opera, more of a psychothriller."
#28
The Sojourn
5.0
(2)
"Great writing, voice acting, sound design, music, and world building."
"This show has heart like nothing else I've listened to. The writing is stellar."
#29
C.J. Cherryh
5.0
(2)
"C.J. Cherryh's Alliance--Union books might be a good fit."
"Cherryh probably writes the best soft space opera out there."
#30
Catherine Asaro
5.0
(2)
"The Saga of the Skolian Empire by Catherine Asaro. My favorite space opera series. Start with book one, Primary Inversion."
"Heavy on drama, politics and diplomacy."
#31
Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
5.0
(2)
"Try the Liaden Universe books by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, they have humour and romance but also conflict, secrets and alliances."
"Liaden Universe books by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. I started with the first ones published, Conflict of Honors and then Agent of Change and Carpe Diem."
#32
Richard Russo
4.5
(2)
""Ship of Fools" Richard Russo Fucking magnificent,deranged,probably the most likely scenario seed ship novel Ive ever read"
"You might try Ship of Fools."
#33
Isaac Asimov
4.5
(2)
"I'm reading the Sun-Eater books. Very melodramatic, honestly maybe a bit too much for me, but it does give me TI vibes a bit."
"The foundation by Isaac Asimov"
#34
Charles Stross
4.5
(2)
"Neptune's Brood was brilliant. He has some really cool ideas in there about how an interstellar society could function without FTL, and I really enjoyed the story as well."
"Neptune's Brood by Stross."
#35
Kevin J. Anderson
4.5
(2)
"Saga of The Seven Suns by Kevin J. Anderson is fantastic."
"I loved the Saga of the Seven Suns by Kevin J. Anderson."
#36
Robbie MacNiven
4.5
(2)
"Empire Falling (Robbie MacNiven) is a TI Novel (easily the best of the novels so far), and is definitely recommended."
"The Twilight Wars Novel: Empire Falling by Robbie MacNiven is pretty good for this and it’s in universe!"
#37
Evan Currie
4.0
(2)
"Odyssey One/Evan Currie and Expeditionary Force/Craig Alanson."
"Evan Currie’s Odyssey One"
#38
Simon R. Green
4.0
(2)
"If you want great “B movie” style over the top space opera, Deathstalker series by Simon R Green"
"I'll throw in a recommendation for Simon R Green's Deathstalker series. Pretty pulpy space Opera but it feels more like a love letter to the genre."
#39
Craig Alanson
4.0
(2)
"Expeditionary Force. Very fun, humans tossed into intergalactic wars/politics with a twist."
"Odyssey One/Evan Currie and Expeditionary Force/Craig Alanson."
#40
Dennis E. Taylor
4.0
(2)
"The Bobiverse — character development, shines hard on this series."
"Try the Bobiverse series by Dennis Taylor, too."
#41
Wil McCarthy
4.0
(2)
"Also Wil McCarthy's Bloom."
"Wil McCarthy's *Bloom*."
#42
Neal Asher
4.0
(2)
"Neal Asher"
"Cowl - Neal Asher"
#43
Peter Watts
4.0
(2)
"Peter Watts' Sunflower cycle is a great underrated setting that deals with this."
"The Freeze-Frame Revolution is the easiest entry point."
#44
Peter Hamilton
5.0
(1)
"Peter Hamilton anything!"
#45
Stephen Baxter
5.0
(1)
"“Timelike Infinity” by Stephen Baxter is as heady as it gets and has all the things you mentioned. If you like that, go onto its sequel “Ring”."
#46
Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
5.0
(1)
"A Mote in God’s Eye by Niven & Pournelle"
#47
Yoshiki Tanaka
5.0
(1)
"Legend of the galactic heroes by yoshiki Tanaka is very very good."
#48
Ray Bradbury
5.0
(1)
"And anything/everything by Ray Bradbury, who could write EVERYTHING."
#49
E. E. "Doc" Smith
5.0
(1)
"The Lensman series by E. E. "Doc" Smith."
#50
Martha Wells
5.0
(1)
"Martha Wells Murderbot series."
#51
Gary Gibson
5.0
(1)
"Gary Gibson' *Shoal Sequence* with its first book *Stealing Light* is definitly what you are looking for!"
#52
Frederik Pohl
5.0
(1)
"Starburst by Fredrick Pohl , picked up the book and couldn't put it down"
#53
Christopher Ruocchio
5.0
(1)
"Christopher Ruocchio’s Sun Eater series might fit the bill. The first one is called Empire of Silence"
#54
Stephen R. Donaldson
5.0
(1)
"The gap series, stephen donaldson. rough content warning first 2 books. spectacular series, this author;s best work imo"
#55
Gardner Dozois
5.0
(1)
"Gardner Dozois, *The New Space Opera* and *The New Space Opera 2.*"
#56
Debra Doyle and James Macdonald
5.0
(1)
"Debra Doyle and James Macdonald- The price of the stars trilogy. An amazing space opera from a dew years ago."
#57
George R. R. Martin
5.0
(1)
"Tuf Voyaging by George RR Martin. Its my favorite space opera."
#58
E.E. "Doc" Smith
5.0
(1)
"Some of the original space opera! They're available for free on Project Gutenberg."
#59
D.J. Holmes
5.0
(1)
"I’ve read 14 of 20 books in a little over a month so I guess you could say I’m a fan."
#60
Cixin Liu
5.0
(1)
"The Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy by Cixin Liu is originally written in Mandarin and has a very good translation."
#61
Andy Weir
5.0
(1)
"Check out “Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir. If you like that, you’ll love the rest of his stuff"
#62
Tobias Buckell
4.0
(1)
"Tobias Buckell’s Xenowealth series has very limited ftl with a gate system that is up and down gate paths that you must follow to transition with the earth gate blocked."
#63
Harry Turtledove
4.0
(1)
"Harry Turtledoves World War series. An alien race sends ships to colonize Earth. They expected to find knights in armor but arrived in the middle of WW2."
#64
Outlaw Star
4.0
(1)
"It uses all the regular races and classes (plus a few in the book) so you don’t have to worry about figuring out how magic works or fits in. And it’s got mecha rules as a variant of the ship rules, so you can pretty easily add grappler arms to any ship for extra Outlaw Star-ness."
#65
Nathan Lowell
4.0
(1)
"I love Nathan Lowell, but no real space battles. It is great Space Opera though. Love the characters"
#66
Nancy Kress
4.0
(1)
"“An alien light” by Nancy Kress."
#67
Harry Harrison
4.0
(1)
"Get the Harry Harrison homage. Carter's Callisto as good or better than Burroughs Mars books which are kinda SO w/ blades"
#68
John M. Faucette
4.0
(1)
"Crown of Infinity by John M. Faucette"
#69
Mage Hand Press
4.0
(1)
"Mage Hand Press's Dark Matter. Sci-fi setting with a touch of high fantasy. Has pretty good starship combat rules, and most of its "magic items" and other equipment are technological."
#70
Drew Williams
3.0
(1)
"I'm reading the Sun-Eater books. Very melodramatic, honestly maybe a bit too much for me, but it does give me TI vibes a bit."
#71
Spelljammer
3.0
(1)
"Spelljammer. At least you will know some of the famous settings in the franchise, sounds fun enough. I heard it lack of rules on piloting things, and ship battles."
#72
Esper Genesis
3.0
(1)
"Esper Genesis would be worth a look."
Discover your audience
GummySearch is an audience research toolkit for 130,000 unique communities on Reddit.
If you are looking for startup problems to solve, want to validate your idea or find your customers online, GummySearch is for you.
Sign up for free, get community insights in minutes.
Tell me more
Get started
