Tag Archives: space opera

Acclaimed comics writer Michael Moreci branches out into novel-writing with 'Black Star Renegades,' an homage to 'Star Wars' with a tone a bit more along the lines of 'Guardians of the Galaxy' and 'Firefly.' Fans of the genre will not be disappointed, as Moreci has the conventions of space opera down pat. This is an entertaining adventure from start to finish.

Taken as a whole, the Imperial Radch Trilogy is a refreshing new take on the space opera genre, and Leckie’s vision of a gender-less future illustrates sci-fi's ability to shape worlds free of the inequities of ours. 'Ancillary Mercy' offers surprises up to the very end and successfully concludes this epic saga.

'Ancillary Sword,' is a solid effort but it pales in comparison to the first book in the series. The innovative elements of 'Ancillary Justice' have lost their novelty, and much that remains in 'Sword' lacks the complexity of a great novel.

'Luna: New Moon' is a western that just happens to take place on Earth’s moon in the 22nd Century. Ian McDonald set the debut novel of his epic saga on a dangerous world with its own versions of a gold rush and range wars. This is a classic empire story about rival families looking to out-compete—and out-fight—each other for control of the moon’s natural resources.

Ann Leckie refreshes space opera tropes in 'Ancillary Justice' to create a unique world and genderless future. Not only doe the book succeed in rendering a spaceship human, it challenges our very notion of gender and does so with little more than a clever use of pronouns. Few works of literature boast of a similar achievement.

'Starlight' starts by building pathos for one of Mark Millar's best characters and then takes us on a rambunctious sci-fi pulp adventure. It's wonderful.

Yeah, 'Jupiter Ascending' is pretty bad, but that doesn't mean it isn't also enjoyable.