‘Dune’ is a classic space opera — let’s talk about other great works in this genre

Ah, the space opera! That “hacky, grinding, stinking, outworn, spaceship yarn,” as science fiction author Wilson Tucker memorably put it when he coined the term in 1941. Science fiction writers (and readers) seem to never get enough of big spaceships, big galactic empires or giant worms. Frank Herbert’s “Dune” may seem like the most epic of these epics, but before him writers such as E.E. “Doc” Smith and Edmond “The World Wrecker” Hamilton were dreaming up sweeping space adventures. Let’s talk about some of our favorites in this action-packed genre.

Silvia: Because of the success of Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” adaptation, many people have been asking me for books that resemble the movie. Although the obvious recommendation is to plow through the many volumes of the Dune series itself, newbies are sometimes fearful of being thrown into the deep end of the pool (the six Dune books penned by Frank Herbert span some 900,000 words). Therefore, I’m not going big, but small, and recommending “Binti” (2015), a novella by Nnedi Okorafor. Like “Dune,” “Binti” has a young protagonist traveling from one distant corner of the galaxy to another, while undergoing a great personal transformation. It’s a coming-of-age tale rooted in African culture, which is continued in two other novellas.

For people looking for fullblown novels, there is Arkady Martine’s “A Memory Called Empire” (2019). A new ambassador arrives at the city of Teixcalaan, intent on investigating the sudden death of their predecessor. It’s heavy on intrigue, politics and court machinations and utilizes the tried-and-true science fiction trope of transplanted memories. An older title that falls into the brick-of-a-book category is “Hyperion” (1989) by Dan Simmons. It borrows the structure of “The Canterbury Tales” and blasts it into space in one massive undertaking.

Lavie: I recently came back from France, where I was really taken with the vibrancy of French space opera. There’s Pierre Bordage, whose “Warriors of Silence” trilogy dates back to the 1990s, and Jean-Claude Dunyach, whose “Dead Stars” (1991) is an important early title. Both are still popular. Joining them are a host of new writers, such as Floriane Soulas, whose “The Forgotten of the Amas” (2021) is a grandly ambitious novel set around a Jupiter that is presented in the true scale of a full space opera. I was also taken with Carina Rozenfeld’s “Terres” (2021), which is not a neat fit but fascinating for its exploration of an entire multiverse. English-language publishers, take note!