#BEST SPACE OPERA SERIES SERIES#
Essentially the books document a series of skirmishes in this never-ending Cold War. The forces of evil - basically, Cthulhu-style extradimensional monsters - maintain their half of the world in a truly hellish state where everyone is always trying to enslave and/or eat everyone else. They’re so obscure that Amazon doesn’t even list the titles correctly.īut they’re amazing books! The setting is a Tolkienesque world that’s locked in a sort of fantasy Cold War, where the human world is guarded by powerful beings called Hasturs (a name cribbed from the works of the far more popular Marion Zimmer Bradley, who was the author’s sister) and various magical warriors. They came out in the early 1980s (the best fantasy decade!), and basically sank into instant and complete obscurity. These books are probably the most obscure items on the list - I’m not sure I’ve ever met anyone else who has even read these (other than my mom, who recommended them). The Dark Border series, by Paul Edwin Zimmer It also has a fun sci-fi tie-in (no spoilers!), and it also manages to pull off that most elusive of feats - a highly satisfying ending. The Cycle of Fire is great because it has everything a fantasy series ought to have - a beautifully fleshed-out world, protagonists you can really sympathize with, a creative magic system, breathless fast-paced action, looming evil that’s about to destroy the world, dastardly antagonists, and so on. Since one of those wizards has recently died, humanity is in trouble, and the next generation of super-wizards must be discovered and trained. The basic plot is that humanity is constantly under siege by a whole lot of demons and their various henchmen, and our only real defense is the powers of a very small number of extremely powerful wizards. And one of the very best is Janny Wurts’ Cycle of Fire series. The 80s were really the best decade for fantasy, in my opinion you can find so many hidden gems just by going back and reading 80s stuff. But make sure to read Borders of Infinity and Mirror Dance, which together are the peak of the series. Start with either Barrayar or The Warrior’s Apprentice. Most speculative universes are places I enjoy reading about Bujold’s is one I would actually want to live in.
#BEST SPACE OPERA SERIES TV#
This is perhaps the most idealistic, optimistic science fiction I’ve ever read - basically this series is to books what Star Trek: The Next Generation is to TV shows. What sets the Vorkosigan saga apart is not just the unique characters (Tyrion Lannister is almost certainly loosely based on Miles Vorkosigan), the fleshed-out world, and the extremely well-paced plotting. But it also features quite a lot of exciting space adventure, since when the protagonists aren’t trying to advance the cause of gentle 90s-style liberalism, they’re gallivanting around the galaxy foiling the evil plots of star empires and mercenaries and gangsters and terrorists. The Vorkosigan saga is basically the story of a liberal family on a conservative planet (loosely based on Russia), trying to reform their society from within. It’s time to rediscover it (and to adapt it into a Netflix series). And yet despite this flood of acclaim, and a decent number of book sales, the Vorkosigan saga is still massively underrated, because as of 2022 our culture seems to have largely forgotten that this series existed. If you want to get to know us, come visit us and interact as a READER.This is a weird one to start with, because it’s literally one of the most decorated sci-fi series of all time. You will quickly find yourself blacklisted from people's reading lists if you act like a jerk, so please be polite and follow the rules.
#BEST SPACE OPERA SERIES UPDATE#
just visit our community to find the right 'fit' for your Space Opera sweet tooth.ĪUTHORS: these listopias are a pain-in-the-butt to update (requires grovelling to Goodreads administration), so you will not endear yourself to the very small and intimate community of avid sci-fi readers you hope to reach if you are a jerk and spam this list with irrelevant crap. We maintain MANY listopias in many space-opera sub-genres. This listopia is maintained by the Space Opera Fans community. NO EROTIC-ONLY BOOKS! MUST HAVE A HEA GOAL! Please only add books which are appropriate or they will be deleted. Appropriate pairings include M/F M/M F/F, human/alien or HEA polyamorous pairings. Space Opera is defined as a rollicking good romp through the galaxy to defeat an overarching foe. This is for Space Opera themed EROTIC ROMANCE.