Space Opera Fans discussion

The Aug/Sept 2025 Limited Pick is Rising Storm by Miles Phoenix. Please use this thread to post questions, comments, and reviews, at any time.

Official Description -

The Lightning War No 1 - Rising Storm
An Epic Tale of Resilience, Betrayal, and Survival Among the Stars

In the distant Hyades Cluster, the small but fiercely independent colony of Polonia Prime holds a alien technology that could reshape the galaxy. But their discovery has made them a target of the ruthless Zenith Caliphate, an unstoppable force armed with stolen secrets and driven by conquest.

Captain Maria Roszak, commanding the destroyer Błyskawica, must lead her crew in a desperate struggle to protect their home. As fragile alliances fray and spies threaten from within, Maria must rally a fractured coalition against overwhelming odds. But survival has a cost, and every decision could tip the balance between freedom and annihilation.

The Lightning Rising Storm is the explosive first chapter in a gripping space opera series. Perfect for fans of Honor Harrington and The Expanse, the war for the Hyades Cluster has only just begun...

The Blurb on Amazon is similar -

On the edge of human space, the aging destroyer Błyskawica is a symbol of Polonia Prime’s resilience – a forgotten colony just trying to survive. But when a routine patrol led by junior officer Maria Roszak stumbles upon a derelict alien starship, they uncover a secret that will ignite a war: the "bubble drive", a revolutionary FTL technology that holds the key to the future.

Suddenly, Błyskawica is the most important ship in the galaxy, and Polonia Prime is a target. The ruthless Zenith Caliphate will burn worlds to possess their discovery, while powerful allies plot to control it for themselves.

Caught between overwhelming enemy forces and treacherous politics, Maria must transform from an untested officer into the commander her people desperately need. With the fate of her ship and her home on the line, she will discover that the price of independence is paid in fire and steel.

Perfect for fans of David Weber's Honor Harrington series, The Lost Fleet, and Battlestar Galactica. Rising Storm is an action-packed military sci-fi adventure that you won't be able to put down.

Its interesting that on Amazon the average review ratings across the four books in the series stay fairly consistent (4.4/4.5/4.7/4.6). Has anyone in the group read the entire series? (I'm looking at you, Teresa.....)

I don’t think I’ve read any of this author’s books.

Sorry Teresa - I'd thought that from the "fans of Honor Harrignton series" comment, it might have been one you'd read. (Although these comparisons are often meaningless - how many times have the more mature among us heard people described as "the next Bob Dylan"??

I've now downloaded a copy of Rising Storm and I'm hoping to start reading it tonight (taking a hopefully brief break from Red Mars which is excellent so far).

I'm about 15% in and so far it seems to be strictly military. All battles. No backstory. No relationships. No character development. And I'm a fan of the Honorverse, so I have a high tolerance for military minutia. But again, I'm only 15% in. So it could get better.

John wrote: "the aging destroyer Błyskawica"

How is that pronounced?

Trike wrote: "John wrote: "the aging destroyer Błyskawica"

How is that pronounced?"

Googling says it is Polish for Lightning and the pronunciation is

bwɘs.kaˈvi.t͡sa

I'm about 25% of the way through and at the moment its pleasant enough but very standard fare. Based on its reviews and ratings, I'm hoping it will pick up soon.

I'm now past the 30% mark, so I've made an effort, but this one is going in the bin. Its a debut novel, and gets loads of good reviews, so many readers must enjoy it. Therefore I'm not going to rubbish it, but for me, it is literary Muzak - bland and unoriginal.

It may be that it does get better, or the further books in the series improve drastically, but life's too short to waste it on this, and I doubt if I'll be tempted to to return to this series, or this author. I'm going back to Red Mars.

I do understand where John is coming from here, unfortunately this title doesn't seem to have much oomph, no tension, no humour, it is easy going though so lets see where it goes I am only 20% in.

I finished this, but it was a big disappointment. Here is my review.

Great review, Betsy - absolutely spot-on.

John wrote: "Great review, Betsy - absolutely spot-on."

Thanks.

Its not been a great response to Rising Storm so far; but we're a broad church in this group and cover a range of tastes and interests. Other than John, Betsy and Paul, have any other group members started reading this one yet? If not, please let us know what stopped you from at least attempting the book - it may help us improve our nominations for future months.

I liked Betsy's description that this could be described as "warrior porn" - has space opera consisting largely of battles and conflict become old hat? Are our space opera tastes now more nuanced? All answers will be gratefully received!

John wrote: "Its not been a great response to Rising Storm so far; but we're a broad church in this group and cover a range of tastes and interests. Other than John, Betsy and Paul, have any ot..."

I'm mostly trying to avoid buying new books unless I already enjoy a particular author. Or unless it looks truly outstanding. I think my to-read pile will keep me going until age 350, if not longer. LOL

I know exactly what you mean, Audrey. For our October READER or LIMITED nominations why not nominate something from your TBR pile? Most of us have hefty TBR piles and might share some of yours - and its an opportunity to reduce the pile!

Paul wrote: "I do understand where John is coming from here, unfortunately this title doesn't seem to have much oomph, no tension, no humour, it is easy going though so lets see where it goes I am only 20% in."

Did you finish the book Paul, and what was your opinion of it?

In answer to your question, John, I didn’t pick it up because the back cover copy didn’t seem to offer anything I hadn’t seen in a thousand other cookie-cutter military SF stories. Maybe that’s harsh, but I read a lot and I like stories that at least recombine ideas in an interesting way and/or have intriguing characters and worlds.

I don’t mind a well-worn plot if the characters are vivid either, but there is nothing in the blurb that tells me why I should care about Maria and her crew.

You made a wise choice Caitlin, none of us liked this book. Betsy, Paul and myself read it because it had been chosen as a monthly choice. Also, the series got fairly good reviews on Amazon - not for the first time I wonder who writes these reviews and if they've even read the books they're commenting on.

It must be even more frustrating for other authors such as yourself; dross like this must put readers off trying out new/unestablished authors.

John wrote: "...has space opera consisting largely of battles and conflict become old hat? Are our space opera tastes now more nuanced?"

I don't believe military sci-fi is old hat, but it has to be believable and it has to be more than just battles. Like Caitlin, I will tolerate a lot if the plot is creative and engaging and if the characters are real and relatable. There are a lot of examples out there. I'm currently reading another military sci-fi -- Columbus Day -- for our group September Reader selection. Although it has it's problems (more on that when I review it), it does a much better job than the Phoenix book.

Betsy wrote: "Although it has it's problems (more on that when I review it), it does a much better job than the Phoenix book.."

That's good to know Betsy, I'm just about to start Columbus Day.

John wrote: "You made a wise choice Caitlin, none of us liked this book. Betsy, Paul and myself read it because it had been chosen as a monthly choice. Also, the series got fairly good reviews on Amazon - not for the first time I wonder who writes these reviews and if they've even read the books they're commenting on.

It must be even more frustrating for other authors such as yourself; dross like this must put readers off trying out new/unestablished authors."

Since I still consider Goodreads to be a site that is first and foremost for readers, my policy is not to comment on books here.* But as someone who may return to writing space opera in the future, I do try to keep up on what's new and popular. These days I read far more reviews than books.

In recent years we've seen an explosion in popularity of books categorized as Gamelit or LitRPG, so gamers are clearly a sizeable segment of readers now. While I don't consider myself to be a gamer, I'm speculating that someone who is looking for that type of experience in a book might not care quite as much about things that matter to the more traditional audience—character development, back story, and world building might be seen as things that just bog down and delay the start of the game/experience. Rather than being a downside to self-published authors, I think this exemplifies the fact that we can reach an audience that no one knew existed before, and which the big publishers never would have tried to appeal to.

*For some insights on matters that reflect the current state of the rating system, I'll refer you to this interesting discussion on Robin Hobb's author page: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...

Linn wrote: "John wrote: "You made a wise choice Caitlin, none of us liked this book. Betsy, Paul and myself read it because it had been chosen as a monthly choice. Also, the series got fairly good reviews on A..."

Your points about gamelit are interesting Linn; its very niche but the global gaming market is huge, so I guess the market for related stories is also significant. Most of its authors seem to be amateur, and self-publishing in digital format only, so probably of relevance to Amazon more than anyone else. I'm not particularly a gamer so its unlikely I'll ever read any Gamelit - but if authors are able to serve that market I wish them well.

I haven't yet found any stats on gamelit sales, but an AI search suggested that "it is estimated that the LitRPG subgenre constitutes a significant portion, possibly around 20-25%, of all audiobook sales within the fantasy genre".

Caitlin, you're our most prominent author within the group - is the Gamelit subgenre something that could be of interest to you at some point, or is it too niche?

Hi John,

Like Linn, I’ve watched the rise of the Gamelit or LitRPG genre with some interest, and a little bit of puzzlement as well—mostly because I do play video games, and I feel that I get a very different kind of enjoyment from them than I get from reading books. I don’t quite get the appeal of importing game mechanics or conventions into literary form, but clearly many people do as it’s a popular fantasy/sci-fi subgenre.

As far as what I write, I have enough story ideas in sci-fi and fantasy genres that aren’t Gamelit to keep me at work for literal decades. I don’t genre chase because it’s a moving target: what’s popular today may not be by the time a trend-chasing author publishes.

Its been an interesting discussion of "games to books", but what about the reverse?

I'm thinking that maybe I should give video games a try - does anyone have suggestions for good video games (and ideally ones suitable for a beginner) that are derived from SF or Fantasy books?

John wrote: "does anyone have suggestions for good video games (and ideally ones suitable for a beginner) that are derived from SF or Fantasy books? "

Nobody has come-up with any suggestions (maybe we have no gamers in the group) so this is a list based on quick research -

The Witcher series - based on Andrzej Sapkowski's fantasy books.

Bio-shock - based on a SF story rather than a novel.

Stalker - based on Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky brothers.

Lord of the Rings - self-explanatory

Metro 2033 based on a post-apocalyptic novel of the same name by Dmitry Glukhovsky

I have no mouth and I must scream - based on short story by Harlan Ellison

From that list I've only read Lord of the Rings and Roadside Picnic. Some more research is required before I buy one of these games - if anyone has any advice or knowledge of any of these games, please let me know.

It's interesting that no Space Opera books-to-games came up in my search - yet I would have expected at least one or two games based on military space opera books.

Would you consider Harry Potter or Lewis Carroll's Alice books to be fantasy? I know there are games based on those properties. There may be other examples of games that were inspired by books, but had the serial numbers filed off as they say, so the developer could avoid paying licensing fees.

Before going down the $$$gaming$$$ rabbit hole, you might consider watching some gameplay videos on YouTube to get some idea of what to expect. To bring this thread back on topic a little, here's an example that fans of Rising Storm might be aware of: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp17F...

I second Linn, I would recommend watching some Let’s Plays on Youtube as an easy (and free) way of seeing what these games have to offer and what the experience might be like.

As far as recommendations, Stalker is very popular with good reason and so is The Witcher series, particularly Witcher III. There’s also Cyberpunk 2077, based on a TTRPG rather than a book series. I’ll try to think of other examples.

And for beginner-friendly games I would recommend a narrative game or point and click adventure game to start. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream would be a good pick if you want a literary adaptation, and there are lots more out there.

Thank you Caitlin and Linn for those helpful points.

Linn wrote: " To bring this thread back on topic a little, here's an example that fans of Rising Storm might be aware of.."

That was an interesting point, Linn - I hadn't appreciated that Rising Storm was so closely connected to the Halo franchise, and I probably wouldn't have bothered starting the book if I had.