Like you, as an avid reader of science fiction and fantasy, I’m always looking for more. I’m especially happy when I find a new series I can start reading and have regular releases coming every year or so. Better yet sometimes, depending on my available reading time, finding an established series that I can binge-read is fantastic—because I’m a fan.
Sharing Great Stories
One of the benefits of knowing other readers of a genre you like is sharing some of the stories and series you have loved and some you are checking out. This month, the binge-worthy series I want to share is in the genre called Space Opera. Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that, among other genre tropes, usually takes place on a ship or a space station, includes high risk, and has a melodramatic feel.
Space Opera
Obviously, the name invokes “soap opera,” but the stories don’t have to be that formulaic and closed-in. I think of it more as a classic western serial, like Gunsmoke or Bonanza, in space.
An early, genre-defining, example is Flash Gordon. (Oh, those ridiculous, buzzing spaceships with the sparkler sticking out the back… But we loved them.) Since then, the “new space opera” movie and television classics include the Star Trek and Star Wars franchises.
According to Wikipedia… the “new space opera,” the modern incarnation of the genre since the 70’s, is a reaction to the old and “centers on character development, fine writing, high literary standards, verisimilitude, and a moral exploration of contemporary social issues.”
So, let me share one of my favorite space opera novel series.
The Vorkosigan Saga
The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold is a classic space opera series of novels and novellas. I enjoyed them several years ago and then “read” most of them again last year on Audible and Overdrive.
Although the first few entries in the series happen before his birth, The Vorkosigan saga mostly follows Miles Vorkosigan and his family. One of the really enjoyable aspects of the series is the broad cast of viewpoint characters, the people who tell the story, and the other characters who populate the Vorkosigan universe.
Miles was disabled at birth but becomes an ambassador and fleet admiral. He is more than a little bit of a smart-ass, so you can imagine I like that. The series is entertaining in so many ways: great space opera, military sci-fi, mystery, humor, romance, underdog, and more. It takes a versatile storyteller like Lois McMaster Bujold to pull it off, and she does.
I think my favorite novel in the series is Mirror Dance*. It is fairly late in the chronology and has many references to earlier stories, though. So, the best place to start is at the beginning, with Shards of Honor*. Call me old-fashioned, but the original covers were so much better than the latest ones. If these new covers don’t excite you, don’t let that turn you away.
Here are a few Links to help you find the series:
Goodreads (chorological order)
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Cover image by Butusova Elena/shutterstock.com. Used under license from Shutterstock.com.
* Affiliate link