Space Opera Fans discussion

There are some very good books that mostly take place on a colony world that is still a dangerous place to live. Often it was settled by a generation ship or passengers shipped in cold sleep. This may have happened hundreds of years ago, or might happen during the book. The colonists have some technology but when things break they can’t always be fixed.

Starting us off:
Empaths by S.H. Jucha. Generation ship was damaged en route to planned destination, and managed to limp to a different star. The planet has severe issues. Hundreds of years later there are people living in domes on the planet, people living in a space station, and a bunch of small mining ships, as well as the damaged generation ship. I’ve reread this one several times already.

Mirabile by Janet Kagan has a reasonably habitable planet. The generation ships (multiple, traveling together) took damage on the way and they lost part of the knowledge needed. In addition, well meaning folks on Earth decided to add redundant genes to various plants and animals, so a cow might give birth to a buffalo or something. The story takes place a couple of generations after reaching the planet.

One of my favorite comfort reads!

I think the Catteni series by Anne McCaffery is a good one about a struggling colony. The settlers had been marooned there on purpose by the marauding species that had captured their home planets. The first book, Freedom's Landing, does a good job of describing the very first days on a strange planet, what needs to be done to enable them to survive, and how they are able to organize that effort. Subsequent books in the series get into the resistence.

Dinosaur Planet by Anne McCaffrey would be another that fits. In this case it was an unintentional colony. People were left to explore a planet and the mother ship didn’t return. (Not worth rereading IMO)

And Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon would almost fit. In that case the struggling colony was declared a failed colony and evacuated- except for the main character who didn’t want to leave. That’s another of my favorite rereads.

Teresa wrote: "Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon would almost fit. In that case the struggling colony was declared a failed colony and evacuated- except for the main character who didn’t want to leave."

Agreed, Remnant Population is a very good book.

I read the First Colony series by Ken Lozito. The first book was good but the second dropped the ball. The space battles were a bit boring and there was a plot twist that was thrown in for no reason.

Stargate Universe got me into the whole generation ship thing.

The Liaden Universe stories about Surebleak might fit but it’s a bit of a stretch. Surebleak was settled by a company that gave up and evacuated all the upper management but left everybody else to fend for themselves, before finishing the terraforming.

Necessity's Child by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller is a reasonable entry point where most of the action is on Surebleak.

In The Long Way Home by Sabrina Chase (or possibly the second book?) the planet that the main character and her son get stranded on is definitely a struggling colony. I think the name of the planet is Bone. That series is more space opera than the other books mentioned on this thread, since most of the story is not set on a planet.

Exile by Glynn Stewart. Revolutionaries get exiled on a planet far, far away. I just started the book and they weren't struggling but ... something happened ...