Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
The Best Space Operas Ever Written - the biggest stories and the best characters!
Episode Summary
We've read through the entire library to bring you the best space operas ever written!
Episode Notes
We've got 18 books and series we highly recommend, so there's something here for all kinds of readers - and at the end of the episode we rank our top 3 to bring you the best of the best.
What is space opera? Books with big characters and a bigger world - they usually even come with big 'ol wordcounts. Space opera is often multi-pov, with interstellar travel and the fate of the galaxy at stake.
No spoilers anywhere in this episode.
This episode is sponsored by indie sci-fi publisher Lil' Factory
All the books we recommend, plus timestamps:
- 00:00 Intro
- 00:36 Sponsor - Lil' Factory
- 1:24 What is a space opera?
- 2:58 The Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
- 4:45 The Expanse - James S.A. Corey
- 6:38 Hyperion - Dan Simmons
- 9:51 House of Suns - Alistair Reynolds
- 11:32 Children of Time - Adrian Tchaikovsky
- 13:11 Fire Upon the Deep - Vernor Vinge
- 15:04 The Culture - Iain M. Banks
- 17:17 Peter F. Hamilton's whole discography
- 20:19 Embassytown - China Mieville
- 21:45 A Memory Called Empire - Arkady Martine
- 23:34 Dune - Are you happy now?
- 24:47 Ancillary Justice - Ann Leckie
- 26:34 Downbelow Station - C.J. Cherryh
- 26:05 The Mote in God's Eye - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
- 29:24 Startide Rising - David Brin
- 31:16 The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet - Becky Chambers
- 33:01 Foundation - Isaac Asimov
- 35:22 Rankings: 3rd best Space Opera
- 37:27 Rankings: 2nd best Space Opera
- 38:50 Rankings: 1st best Space Opera