Space Opera Fans discussion

Nina, you might enjoy The Stars Are Legion by Kameron Hurley. There's an all female society centred on large living spacecraft with large scale conflicts, shifting alliances and plenty of mysteries. Sometimes sci fi can be lacking the female perspective, so reading an intricate story about women written by a woman was very refreshing. As far as I know it's a standalone novel, so no big commitment.

D. wrote: "If you have not read Consider Phlebas you should. If you like epic stories and great writing you cannot do better than Ian M Banks. No real graphic violence but epic storytelling. Maybe the Hydroge..."

Hi Ok I think I will be checking Banks out for sure. But I don't understand if they are stand-alone books, why are they called "culture series" and there is 10 books in the Culture Series. First being Phlebas. How connected are all of them together? I really like continuity.

Nina wrote: "Hi Ok I think I will be checking Banks out for sure. But I don't understand if they are stand-alone books, why are they called "culture series" and there is 10 books in the Culture Series. First being Phlebas. How connected are all of them together? I really like continuity. "

"Series" is one of those imprecise words that can trip us up, because it applies to any type of entertainment that falls under a common heading.

Books (or movies or TV shows) which have a single over-arching storyline are best described as serial while ones which belong in the same world but can be taken as standalones or individual tales are episodic.

Complicating this is the fact that stories are usually both episodic and serial in nature, and sometimes you can have serial and episodic stories set within a larger universe, but generally there's a definite distinction between the two.

The TV series Supernatural generally has an overarching story each season, but individual episodes may or may not have anything to do with that story, or perhaps just touch on it lightly. I chose that show because it most closely resembles literary and video game storytelling in that it always focuses on the main characters but they frequently do "side quests" as the nature of their job.

Larry Niven's Known Space novels started out as episodic tales within a shared universe, but as time went on he wrote sequels, thus creating subset serials. Even though they reference the same history and some of the same characters, you don't need to have read Protector in order to understand Ringworld, but you need to read Ringworld before The Ringworld Engineers

The Culture series are mostly standalone stories set in the same universe, but not strictly so. Sometimes a book will make a reference to something that happened in an earlier novel, but it's not plot-dependent. (As far as I recall.) So mostly episodic.

Anyway, some examples of each to illustrate what I mean:

SERIAL
The Lord of the Rings
Harry Potter
The Expanse
Game of Thrones (ASoIaF)

EPISODIC
Dragonriders of Pern
Pathfinder
Most mystery series - Sherlock Holmes, Spenser, etc.
Wild Cards
Becky Chambr's two books
Conan the Barbarian
Asimov's robot novels

Trike wrote: "Nina wrote: "Hi Ok I think I will be checking Banks out for sure. But I don't understand if they are stand-alone books, why are they called "culture series" and there is 10 books in the Culture Ser..."
Wow thank you so much for that great explanation. So basically, The "Culture Series" are episodic books ie stand-alone. Like they happen in the same universe but one story doesn't really have anything to do with the other. Cool Ok!

Well I guess I'll start with Consider Phlebas and I'm also going to check out The Zones of Thought Series which I think are "serials" ;) Thank you so much everyone who recommended stuff. They are all things I want to read. SO much to read SO little time & money lol. Thank you guys!!

Bill wrote: "Have you read the Union Station series Date Night on Union Station. The covers and titles may sound like it's some sort of cheesy Space Opera romance, but I was pleasantly surprised..."

yes, date night series was fun. also read all of ian banks stuff.

thanks

Nina wrote: "Hi Guys,
I'm also looking for some recommendations. ... considering stating the Gap Series, but I've read how it's got a lot of rape/graphic stuff in it, which I'm not sure I'm down for right now... Or Consider Phlebas? ... "

gap is really good - lots of twisted characters. please try to read. ian banks is also very good especially if you like smart ass ai's.

thanks

D. wrote: "... I have a new book coming out as part of a series started last year. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01K7YS6PO ..."

looks good. just got it from amazon.

thanks

Nina wrote: "Hi Guys,
I'm also looking for some recommendations. I just started reading the Evolutionary Void (3rd book in Void Trilogy by Peter Hamilton) and I need to start getting my next batch of books in p..."

maybe try some of: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_Asher

thanks

Budd wrote: "I thought I saw one of Vernor Vinge's "Zones of Thought" books listed for reading a while back, but couldn't find it.
I would suggest the series.
I read the series a year ago, and as often happens,..."

read most of his stuff.

thanks

Brad wrote: "I hear a lot of good about Hyperion. I'll give it another try. I wish the first 15 pages captured me better."

Am reading Hyperion right now, and found myself disliking the first few pages intensely. Kept with it out of sheer stubbornness, and am glad I did. At around 3/4 of the way through now, and am now enjoying it a great deal.

David wrote: "Brad wrote: "I hear a lot of good about Hyperion. I'll give it another try. I wish the first 15 pages captured me better."

Am reading Hyperion right now, and found myself disliking the first few p..."
Thanks. I'll give it another try.

Yes, I read Hyperion recently and wasn't sure about it either. However, I was glad I stuck with it and have today picked up the second in the series, The Fall of Hyperion.

Will be next up after I finish the first Old Man's War book.

I have to say that after reading much of Peter Hamilton and Ian M Banks, Hyperion was a little bit dated. Having said that, once it got going it was well worth reading and I'm looking forward to the next chapter.

Nina wrote: "Trike wrote: "Nina wrote: "Hi Ok I think I will be checking Banks out for sure. But I don't understand if they are stand-alone books, why are they called "culture series" and there is 10 books in t..."

I've read all of Ian M Banks, god bless him, and they are all standalone but some of the tech and black ops, Special Circumstances, appear in more than one.

You will find every one is different, and in some cases very, very, different. For my part I loved Forget Phlebas, and was drawn to the more tech based books like Excession, The Hydrogen Sonata and Matter.

Trike wrote: "Nina wrote: "Hi Ok I think I will be checking Banks out for sure. But I don't understand if they are stand-alone books, why are they called "culture series" and there is 10 books in the Culture Ser..."

Trike - a great explanation with excellent examples.