I really enjoyed The Hyperion Cantos, and the first few Dune books I read a long time ago (may reread these now). Can anyone recommend some other books (or series) along these lines? Huge stories on an epic scale, space battles, cool future tech, etc.
I think The Expanse is a pretty obvious recommendation.
I also really like the Remembrance of Earth’s Past books by Cixin Liu, but I’m not sure I’d call that a Space Opera. It’s a series, yes, but it is very unlike other long-form space operas.
The Honor Harrington series is great for epic space opera.
The Bobiverse is really good too, though less… grandiose? It felt more personal to me.
The Well of Souls serie(s) are great.
For less opera and more funny the Phule books by Robert Aspirin are good.
Awesome list, thanks! Looks like the first book of Honor Harrington is free on Kindle so I can check it out right away. Should I read that series in publication order?
Alastair Reynolds’s Revelation Space series is fantastic and sounds like what you’re looking for.
2nd this, great worldbuilding in the first books; and the peripheral Inspector Dreyfus books. diamond dogs etc.
IMO the latest book in the series (the final one? maybe?) Inhibitor Phase was disappointing…rehashed characters (somehow, Palpatine returned vibes) & a "grudgingly respect through shared adversities " trope that was hard to overcome.
