Space Opera Showdown Minus the Corral

September is Space Opera month at the five thousand strong (and growing) SciFi and Fantasy Book Club on GoodReads. Wikipedia offers this definition of Space Opera:

Space opera is a subgenre of speculative fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in outer space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing advanced technologies and abilities. The term has no relation to music and it is analogous to "soap opera" (see below). Perhaps the most significant trait of space opera is that settings, characters, battles, powers, and themes tend to be very large-scale.

Sometimes the term space opera is used pejoratively to denote bad quality science fiction, but its meaning can differ, often describing a particular science fiction genre without any value judgement.

So help us choose from among these excellent contenders and make our September space opera adventure glorious!

September SciFi Space Opera Poll

Leviathan Wakes
A Deepness in the Sky
The Tar-Aiym Krang
Downbelow Station
Pandora's Star
Star Wars: Heir to the Empire

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Book Review: The Mote in God's Eye

The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I should read more space opera, especially when written by Niven and Pournelle. The human Empire (Russian in origin, which seemed odd considering in 1974 when first published, the USSR was Communist not Imperialist) has first contact with aliens from a system referred to as "The Mote." Communication is key, but as expected, truth is the first casualty in diplomacy and war. By the time I reached the end, having had bits of both sides of the story, I kept wishing and hoping ... 'if only' the aliens had divulged the truth behind their species' biological problem, I believe, even a militaristic human society would feel compassion for them and strive to solve what the alien's considered unsolvable or impossible or 'Crazy Eddy.'

Join in the discussion of this book at the Beyond Reality GoodReads book club. 

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Grand Conspiracy

by Janny Wurts

Start date: December 2, 2010

Under Heaven

by Guy Gavriel Kay

Start date: December 1, 2010

The Mote in God's Eye

by Larry Niven

Start date: December 1, 2010

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Book Review: Cryoburn (Miles Vorkosigan Returns)

Miles is on a new (to us) planet, Kibou-daini (settled by people of Japanese heritage). An entire culture mortally afraid of dying (pun intended) to the point where millions, if not billions, of citizens have chosen cryo preservation rather than the more traditional final frontier (i.e. Death). Oddly, since they are not dead, as citizens they still retain their votes in this democracy, albeit by proxy held by ever larger more monopolistic corporations. This sparked quite a few intriguing interpolations both in the characters and my own internal ponderings.

My complete GoodReads review of Cryoburn by Bujold