One of the earliest and most popular science fiction subgenres, the “space opera” tells a sprawling epic story across multiple planets. Frank Herbert’s Dune series and the Star Wars franchise are among the most famous examples, but other classic book series include the works of Isaac Asimov, Larry Niven, Dan Simmons, and Iain M. Banks. If you’re looking for a new adventure combining space battles and galactic politics, there are plenty of worlds to explore.
The best space operas of the 21st century include standalone novels and long-running series. Like Star Wars and Dune, they can focus on the struggle against a powerful empire and blend science with a bit of magic. If you’re looking for high-stakes action and intrigue that will keep you turning the pages, these are the best 10 space operas to read now.
Peter F. Hamilton, Pandora’s Star (2004)
Image: Del Rey
Pandora’s Star blends space opera with a bit of cyberpunk and cosmic horror. When an astronomer discovers two stars seem to have disappeared, humanity builds its first interstellar ship to go investigate. But as the book’s name implies, the mystery is one that would have been better left unsolved, and the astronauts wind up unleashing a horrifying threat. The sprawling narrative seeds numerous plots, including enigmatic aliens, clones, and AI, but it all comes to an extremely satisfying conclusion in the sequel, Judas Unchained.
James S. A. Corey, Leviathan Wakes (2011)
Image: Orbit
Writing together under the pen name James S. A. Corey, Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck were nominated for the Hugo and Locus awards for the first book in The Expanse series, which was faithfully adapted into one of the best sci-fi shows on television. In a near future where humanity has colonized the solar system, the tense balance of power is threatened by the discovery of mysterious alien technology. Numerous factions fight to control and understand this protomolecule, starting a war and a chain of events with even greater implications for the species and its place in the universe.
2312, Kim Stanley Robinson (2012)
Image: Orbit
Robinson is best known for penning the Mars trilogy in the 1990s, but he moved on to Mercury with his Nebula Award-winning novel 2312. In a world where Earth has been ravaged by climate change, humans have found ways to live around the Solar System. But when the mobile city of Terminator is struck by a meteorite, the destruction reveals a conspiracy involving quantum computing that could endanger the species’ future.
Ann Leckie, Ancillary Justice (2013)
Orbit
The only novel to win the Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke awards, Ancillary Justice introduced the rich world of the Imperial Radch. The empire’s expansion is driven by warships powered by AI distributed across many human bodies. Breq is the only one of these ancillaries to survive the destruction of the Justice of Toren, and her quest for vengeance for her crew reveals a secret conflict at the heart of the empire.
Becky Chambers, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (2014)
Image: Harper Voyager
Very much a journey over destination book, Becky Chambers’ originally self-published debut novel follows Rosemary Harper, a woman from Mars who tries to escape her past by joining the crew of a ship tasked with tunneling wormholes through space. Rosemary learns a lot from the quirky aliens she shares the ship with as they protect each other in this sweet story of found family. It’s one of the cozier entries in a genre that can get pretty dry, a perfect read for fans of Firefly or Farscape.
Yoon Ha Lee, Ninefox Gambit (2016)
Image: Solaris
The first book in the Machineries of Empire trilogy follows Kel Cheris, a soldier tasked with retaking a fortress captured by heretical enemies of the galactic government. That means combining her consciousness with the mind of one of the greatest tacticians of all time, General Shuos Jedao, who was executed after killing a million people including his own forces using a devastating weapon. Cheris has to figure out how much she can trust Jedao and her own superiors to complete the mission and stay alive.
Arkady Martine, A Memory Called Empire (2019)
Tor Books
Lsel Station is trying to avoid being absorbed by the powerful Teixcalaanli Empire when their ambassador Yskandr Aghavn mysteriously dies. Mahit Dzmare is implanted with memories from the last time Yskandr returned to Lsel 15 years ago and sent to investigate the circumstances of his death. Mahit discovers a sprawling conspiracy with huge implications for the entire empire, even as she’s seduced by Teixcalaan and the people she meets there.
Tamsyn Muir, Gideon the Ninth (2019)
Tor.com
The immortal emperor of the star system Dominicus assembles representatives of the Nine Houses to undergo trials to become immortal themselves. Brought to a mansion filled with ancient secrets, the warrior Gideon has to do her best to fulfill her sworn duty to protect the necromancer Harrow as other candidates start dying. The first book in the Locked Tomb series combines humor and horror as mysteries unravel about Gideon and Harrow’s past and the origins of the empire.
Simon Jimenez, The Vanished Birds (2020)
Image: Penguin Random House
Jimenez’s wildly ambitious debut novel weaves together numerous characters whose lives intersect over the course of a millennium through a mix of time dilation and cryogenic sleep. Earth is no longer habitable and humanity has fled to the stars, with corporations turning entire planets into plantations. As characters try to make up for their mistakes and struggle with their destinies, Jimenez emphasizes the power of love and found family to overcome any distance.
James S. A. Corey, The Mercy of Gods (2024)
Image: Orbit
The writers of The Expanse are so good they get a second entry on this list for their new space opera trilogy, The Mercy of Gods. While their previous series mostly used alien technology as a way to explore human nature and geopolitics, The Captive’s War kicks off with an attack by advanced aliens that abduct many human scientists to put them to work. With the entire survival of their species threatened, the prisoners have to learn more about the conflict they’ve been drafted into to figure out the best way forward.