Welcome back, space fans! Let’s talk about space operas. One of my favorite books of 2025 is Slow Gods by Claire North. You’ve probably seen me mention it here and talk about it on All the Books! a few times. I love to recommend it. It’s a wild epic, set across the galaxy, with drama, battles, spaceships, and more. Space operas are a great time!
In celebration of space operas, I wanted to recommend five more for you to pick up. These are recent-ish releases that have amazing, character-driven stories out in the universe, with high stakes, space shenanigans, adventures, interstellar conflicts, human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria. (Okay, those last few are from Ghostbusters, but these novels all still have really great stories.) Let’s meet them!
The Photonic Effect by Mike Chen
Captain Demora Kim and her crew return from a decade-long mission, fighting battles in the sky, only to discover a civil war has broken out on their planet. After all that time away and all the fighting, the last thing they want to do is get involved in more battles. But unless they can come up with a solution, that’s exactly what will happen.
The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei
This exciting novel includes heist hijinks! Maya Hoshimoto used to be a very successful thief, stealing back artifacts stolen from alien civilizations and returning them. Now, she’s a graduate student of anthropology, trying to keep a low profile. But when she learns of an artifact that needs to be found in order to save an alien civilization from extinction, Maya rounds up a crew for one more job.
All Access members, read on for three more great space operas.
Radiant Star by Ann Leckie
This brand-new stand-alone adventure is set in the same universe as Leckie’s award-winning Imperial Radch series. The Radch want to get rid of the Temporal Location of the Radiant Star, but the people of Ooioiaa wish for it to remain. The two sides eventually come to an agreement about the site, but the decision will have an affect on all parts of the city.
The Blighted Stars by Megan E. O’Keefe
This is the start to an epic trilogy about conspiracies, corruption, and humanity’s survival! Revolutionary Naira Sharp is set on exposing the Mercator family and all the destruction their empire is causing across the galaxy. But when her plan for sabotage goes wrong, she ends up stuck on a dead planet with the enemy, Tarquin Mercator, the heir to his family’s business. And while trying to figure out how to get back, they uncover a huge conspiracy.
Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh
And finally, there’s this Hugo Award winner! For her whole life aboard an enemy space station, all Kyr has thought about is getting revenge on the majoda, who destroyed the planet Earth. A highly skilled warrior, when she grows up, Kyr is instead assigned to the Nursery to have children. Spoiler: This doesn’t go over well. And once she puts together a ragtag crew, Kyr’s going to make everyone very, very sorry.
Okay, star bits, now take the knowledge you have learned here today and use it for good, not evil. If you want to know more about books, I talk about books pretty much nonstop (when I’m not reading them), and you can hear me say lots of adjectives about them on the Book Riot podcast All the Books! and on Instagram.
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