Someone recommended Honor Harrington to me. I couldn't stand the masturbation over the military, how perfect the space British Empire is, and how perfect the main character is. Is there anything a bit better than it?
>>47568425
It's not exactly a war story, but I'd recommend Vatta's War, starting with Trading in Danger. There is a major war situation involved, but I'd classify more as a political thriller.
The Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell is a cool space opera inspired by Xenophon's ten thousand.
Dread Empire's Fall is a great hard sci-fi space opera about an oppressive space empire that has subjugated and assimilated multiple races (including humanity) into an inversion of the Star Trek federation and the turmoil surrounding its end. All the ships are named funny things like "The bombing of New Dehli" or "Nuking of San Francisco"
>>47568425
might be a little different that what your looking for but the Lost Fleet is pretty good
>>47568498
Yes, I hear Jack Campbell is a good author.
I liked David Drake's RCN series
>>47568425
Read Dune and Children of Dune....and no further. It gets weird the farther along it goes.
>>47568915
Heretics is okay, though, comparatively speaking. Beyond that, read at your own discretion.
>>47568890
>>47568498
Better than the Lost Fleet series (though it's pretty good and I do recommend it) is his sequel series. Beyond the Frontier isn't quite as good as Lost Fleet, I think, but Phoenix Stars is better imo. Lots of... I heard it described as 'south american politics', but generally has a very... maybe post-soviet feel? People who have only known corrupt capitalist dystopias that keep you in line with threats of orbital bombardment trying to see if there is literally anything else that works better.
>>47568425
It might be a tad autistic, but I really want to see these two get into a pissing match.
>>47568425
>Star Carrier series by Ian Douglas.
Humanity is about to reach a technological singularity but an advanced alien conglomerate doesn't want us to. Cue Space War. It's mostly military sci-fi but it gets good at that if that's you're thing.
>The Looking Glass Series Books 2-4 by John Ringo
The first book is a bog-standard alien invasion story, the books after that describe humanity's first forays into space using technology they gained from he first book. It's less of a war story and more like Right-wing Star Trek, but there is lots of shooting and action.
>The Last Angel by Proximal Flame
It's a web story where Humanity is defeated by an alien Compact and earth is utterly destroyed, with the exception of an experimental AI-controlled dreadnought. Flash forward 2000 years into the future and what little remains of humanity is indoctrinated into the Compact and they are treated as second-class citizens, but said AI ship has other plans.
>>47568425
Mutineer's Moon.
>>47569437
>Star Carrier
Hmm carriers...
>The Looking Glass
Interesting.
>The Last Angel
Very interesting.
As for my own contributions I hear Forever War is a good vietnam esq. infantry read, if that fails try Hammers Slammers.
>>47568498
>>47568890
>>47568949
I found the Lost Fleet intolerable, and Beyond the Frontier even worse. Unlike Weber, his Space Democracy isn't some perfect utopia, but the characters in the Fleet feel really fake and artificial to me. A lot of the "antagonist" captains are completely stupid, and act illogically at the best of times, and as obvious plot devices in the worst. The Syndicate is no better, and the "aliens" simply frustrate me because they're blatant Mcguffins. And in terms of combat, I think Weber does a better job at painting huge space battles, even though they all end up being good for Manticore, even when they lose.
Ender's Game Quartet is really one of the best Space Operas in the Western lexicon. That's Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind. Ender's Game is an especially good war drama, while Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide is more like a sci-fi space version of the colonization of Mexico, and Children of the Mind starts out and ends as a sci-fi space war opera but fills the time in between with theology and romance. Everything else in that universe is kind of crap.
>>47569496
Oh, and Black Fleet, which is self-published by the author on ebook markets like Nook and Kindle, is probably a better example of what Lost Fleet was trying to be. It's still not that great; it felt rather juvenile in its approach to worldbuilding and especially the political "intrigue" that it made so essential to the universe, but the battles were interesting and the characters pretty well-written, except for the token racist. If Typical 20th Century Earth Nationalitities But In Space doesn't bother you, you might enjoy it.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes was recently published in English. I haven't read it yet, but the infamous review has made the rounds.
>>47569549
There's an book of the anime?
>>47569549
Oh dear, LoGH has had some translation troubles in the past, I hope this one holds up better.
>>47569579
>space combat on a 2d surface.
>>47569579
The anime was adapted from a 16-novel series, I think?
>>47569581
This is an officially-licensed publication by Viz Media's Haikasorou sci-fi imprint, which is dedicated to bringing Japanese sci-fi to America. Previous publications include Yukikaze, All You Need Is Kill (Edge of Tomorrow), and Lord of the Sands of Time.
I completely lost track of them as a publisher since their initial burst of titles though.
>>47569632
Well, we shall see, I want to be excited, but I have a feeling this will end in dissapointment.
>>47569608
>>47569579
A lot of the battles rely on 3D maneuvers in actuality. This is the battle between the 13th and 11th Fleets during the Alliance Civil War. The issue is that if you're a junk admiral with weak captains, you can't maneuver your fleet over vast areas of space without exposing your strategic reserves, weakening your concentration of firepower, or spreading out your shields and broadside defensive weapons and weakening your defensive abilities.
>>47569655
No, that'll be the anime. Sentai, of low-budget dubbing fame, licensed it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmEESOXQJso
>>47568425
"Jack McKinney"'s Robotic nocell are actually pretty dope. I highly recommend them.
Hyperion of course.
The Centauri Device.
Neale Asher wrote a bunch of stuff that is similar to Ian M. Banks with slightly less Culture wank. You still have awesome but flawed AI in charge but they're far less utopian or moral.
C.J. Cherryh's Faded Sun trilogy is also fantastic especially for her ability to truly write aliens with alien values and concepts. Chanute novels are alright too.
If you haven't read the Foundation series that's also a great place to start.
>>47569692
OP wanted Space War Operas. I don't think Foundation counts.
>>47569666
Ah yes, I see now, a screening/volley manouvre.
It's so simple it forces the enemy to fight that way.
>>47569676
Oh...
>>47568915
You're skipping Dune Messiah there. Personally, I say read Dune and call it a day. Dune Messiah is a decent book in its own right, but doesn't live up to the awesomeness of Dune. I was so disappointed in Children of Dune that I stopped like two-thirds of the way through. It was meandering and silly and had none of the gravity or depth of Dune.
>>47569496
Yeah, the characters could sometimes feel a little fake, but I didn't find it to be anywhere close to intolerable and they were fun reads.
Contrast this with David Weber, whose characters are all completely ridiculous. He inserts contemporary political figures he doesn't like into his books with thinly veiled names (the archvillain of his latest series is named CLYNTHON), then kills them.
>>47568915
>>47568945
Screw that, read all six.
Dread Empire's Fall is legit really well written and a hidden gem, however.
>>47569897
>(the archvillain of his latest series is named CLYNTHON)
That's amazing. Is it Bill or Hillary?
>>47569917
Bill.
>>47569932
...this is for the rust belt...
>>47569897
>the archvillain of his latest series is named CLYNTHON
What? That's fucking hilarious. I liked his spoofs for Harrington though, like Rob S. Pierre. They were fun in-jokes. And sometimes Weber gets close to getting things right, even though he's free of editors now and usually fumbles it at the finish. Some of the Solarian intrigue was well-wrought, at least to start with.
>>47570026
the only constant in Weber's characters is that none of them feel anything like real people at all.
>>47568425
I found Exodus of the Phoenix and its direct sequels to be very enjoyable, but can't recommend the last book in the series
No Culture? Seriously?
>>47568425
I'm going to suggest this thing I saw recently called Star Wars. It appeals to a relatively a niche audience, but try it out. See if you like it.
>>47570400
The only war space opera in that series was the first one, Consider Phlebas, and that was more of a prolonged heist movie, and Excession. Excession was the only good Culture novel.
>>47569733
Everyone is recommending Dune, and no wars in space happen there.
Foundation definitely has space battles between empires at different levels of technology though.
Trying to remember an old novel. The ships were like sailing ships with "masts" that stuck outside of a protective force field and caught hyperspace "currents". Ships fought with boarding actions and the characters used guns that shot "force" or "thrust" out at each other.
Fuck it was a while ago that I read it though.
>>47570400
not really space opera, and not really war, unless you count OU avatars showing you a slowed-down recording of the fleet they just wiped out in 3 milliseconds.
>>47568425
Old Man's War.
Awesome military science fiction if you don't mind weird aliens and a lot of mucking about with genetically enhanced troopers.
>>47570616
>Excession was the only good Culture novel.
Oh god, remember the bit where that one Culture Ship tries to work out how the fuck something effectively teleported it so many light years in less than a pico-second?
Or the actual analogy of what the term "Excession" actually means?
Or that one comic relief guy who tries going without his head-computer for charity (I think) and spends most of the book going "Oh shit, what was her name? You've just slept with her you need to remember this shit!"
>>47571367
I haven't read that book in almost 20 years and I still remember this shit.
Six years of high-school maths though? Gone forever. Like tears in the rain. Never coming back.
>>47570648
But wars take place in space.
Foundation only had, what, four actual wars in it? Anacreon Province wars between the Four Kingdoms, the Korellian War, the Bel Riose invasion, and the Mule War, right?
Should we recommend the Horus Heresy series? It is a Space Opera, even if most of the battles are hand to hand.
>>47570999
Too bad the sequels were utter shite.
The Forever War is a great space war novel. By making it Space Vietnam.
Fall of Hyperion has some cool space war.
>>47568425
Recently I've read the Cobra series by Timothy Zahn. Books past the first are space opera adventures as fuck. The first one is a bit of a cheap Starship Troopers, it's alright. But the rest is just raw space opera, plenty adventure and aliens and space and stuff. Pretty nice overall.
I would recommend the merkiarri wars series, I have read the first three books, waiting on a sale for the forth. And they were fantastic IMO. It about humanity exploring space after been attacked by an alien race known as merkiarri. They find another race and it's about them joining up and starting an alliance, check it out.
Omega force is another good one, it's about the A-team IN SPACE!
>>47572176
Second this.
I also really liked some of the ground fights.
>>47569917
>>47570026
>>47569897
It's Clyntahn and it's supposed to be because the english language has changed over the 900 years on the planet in question. And beyond the name I really think you are projecting there with the whole "this is Bill" thing. The character is nothing like even the most retarded right wing caricature of Bill.
>>47569496
>Everything else in that universe is kind of crap.
I mean, first your recommending xenocide, which is popularly loathed, and then you're telling me the Ender's Shadow chain, the only thing other than the original book I could stand to stomach, is kind of crap?
4/10, m8, might have been honest but can't be condoned.
There's one where a police detective from a future Earth occupied by a Hegemony of squid-like aliens discovers a graveyard of lost golden age era Human Empire spaceships and becomes captain of the former flagship of the legendary admiral Von Grippen.
He also gets a ex-slave bioroid boyfriend and forms a ragtag rebel coalition of the mostly furry style alien civilizations who are also vassals to the Hegemony. The author of the series seems to have mainly done non-SF gay coming of age novels and romance/drama stuff previously.
But some of the stuff with the two different aspects of the old Human empire (the golden age of science and exploration as exemplified by Admiral Von Grippen, and the oppression and enslavement of alien races as exemplified by the Emperor's champion, Kardiac) is legitimately neat.
>>47570717
Assuming it wasn't too long ago, and wasn't space-oriented, Jim Butcher's Aeronaut's Windlass (book one of his new series, a 630 page doorstopper) it like, post-apocalyptic steampunk, *sorta*, and the airships kinda match those descriptions.
>>47574313
Are we talking about Weber or Ringo?
I mean, I don't remember anything of the sort from Ringo off the top of my head, but I could definitely BELIEVE it of him.
Spaceopera-wise, you might try the Starship: Mutiny, Starship: Pirate, SS: Mercenary, : Rebel, : Flagship series by Mike Resnick. It doesn't have a huge focus on the mechanics or hardware of the battles, space is always the medium of the story for him rather than the point, but he's a good author, pretty amusing, and has a nice larger-than-life vibe to his work.
Santiago and Return of Santiago by the same author is space western as fuck.
>>47575309
After playing Rebel Galaxy Space westerns appeal a lot to me, I will check them out.
>>47569437
>John Ringo
>>47575309
>>47575347
Oh yes, Santiago's fucking great.
>>47575347
Everything in his Birthright Setting is full of larger than life characters who cast shadows parsecs long. One of the coolest bits of Return of Santiago/Santiago (imo) was that there's a poet in-setting who just bums his way across the Inner Frontier writing down a ballad and always adding a few verses about colorful characters he encounters along the way.
>>47575424
>fucking aaah forgot to finish my train of thought
...so each chapter often starts off with a little stanza from said ballad about one of the characters involved, or locations, or what have you.
Also, how's Rebel Galaxy?
>>47575454
A fun little game, the music is fucking beautiful the combat is 2d tough, very age of sails like. It reminds me a bit about Pirates or patricians going with your capital ship fighting and trading. IT needs some more options to be top tier tough, like more options for escort ships.
>>47568498
>>47568949
>>47569496
Yep, characters and motives feel a bit shallow or vague except when the plot requires it but I find it acceptable and I just tell myself that Geary other things to do than micromanaging his subornates and paying too much attention to their more indepth personalities and agendas. They have a military leader/subornate relation and such connections are often superficial.
What I really loved about the series was the physics. I mean, how many scifi books actually concider the speed of light so indept when receaving sensor information, observing the events and communicating orders and use it as a main factor in the events, expecially when moving at fractions of lightspeed?
All in all the books feel a bit shallow and the plot is't all too great but I like the combat
>>47576833
Man, I don't know. Even if you dislike the characters, I find Anabasis an excellent blueprint. Especially for stringing together successive combats, if that's your strong suite.
>>47576923
I don't dislike them, I just said that they lack depth which is just fine since they aren't the main point. The long journey in enemy territory is.
>>47576833
>I just tell myself that Geary other things to do than micromanaging his subornates and paying too much attention to their more indepth personalities and agendas
You're right, because Geary literally muse over this at times.
>>47569437
Yes, the Looking Glass series is great if you're not too politically sensitive. The first book is mostly setup and education on particle physics so the rest of the books make sense.
>>47568425
Sector General?
![MOBILE-SUIT-GUNDAM-THE-ORIGIN-HC-VOL-01[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/2qEh0tQ.jpg "MOBILE-SUIT-GUNDAM-THE-ORIGIN-HC-VOL-01[1].jpg")
>>47568425
Not a novel but this really fits the bill.
>this thread
I love this board. I've been wanting a large list of stuff to read though.
>>47579246
>That batasuni hairdo.
Eww.
>>47579266
You know you love it.
>>47579246
>>47579277
Post link to full pics.
>>47579296
Katka H. The rest is up to you.
>>47568425
Please OP, do me a favour and read the Aubrey-Maturin novels. They rank among my favourite novels of all time and they really deserve more love. They may not be science fiction, but if you're looking for quality military/naval literature, these rank among the best.
>>47578991
Man that setting had some nice ideas regarding why there were giant robots running everywhere. That subsequent mecha shows never really properly address as well.
>Why is combat line of sight and not fought over bajillions of kilometers over the horizon?
Radar jamming MacGuff- sorry - MINOVSKI particles.
>Why are people using highly inefficient giant robots for a ground war
Because they were SUPPOSED to be just for a space war, where a human form made it difficult to guage the proper size and distance of the target. But then things escalated and that was LITERALLY all Zeon had to fight a war with, so they had to use all their Mobile Suits.
Seriously. They didn't even have fucking planes or naval units at the start of the ground war. They literally came up with and mass produced those things in less than three months.
>So, why did the Federation build Mobile Suits then?
Because General Revil thought it would be cool. Plus it was a good testbed for a lot of other technologies as well.
>>47568465
My person of a non-distinct ethnicity.
>>47568425
Space opera war series that aren't military masturbation?
I assume you mean besides Dune.
It's tough. You might try Jamie McFarlane's Privateer series (first book is free on Kindle atm, I believe). Or Ann Aguirre's Sirantha Jax series (starts with Grimspace).
Sarah King's Outer Bounds (starts with Fortune's Rising).
If you can stomach less space opera-y more hard science fiction-y milfic, Nick Webb's Constitution is a good read.
Jennifer Well's Fluency is an amazing read, but it has basically nothing to do with milfic.
L.E. Thomas' Starrunners is solid, if cliched, YA space opera in the vein of The Last Starfighter.
>>47568425
Redshirt is a good book for this
>>47569676
I'm just glad it got licensed by a dubbing studio instead of someone buying the IP to do a new anime, which would almost certainly have the original's political depth removed to suit the ADHD generation.
Trying to watch 100+ episodes of subtitles is suffering.
Has anyone here read or seen "the expanse"? I just finished the tv series and for a space opera set only in the sol system, it holds up pretty well
>>47578991
There is actually a novelization that Tomino wrote that takes place entirely in space.
>>47580389
It's alright. The tv show doesn't connect the audience enough to the characters, imho.
>>47579867
The idea that a mobile suit can use its mass/arms & legs to control their rotation in space like an astronaut also makes sense.
>>47580977
Yeah, what was the technical name for that they had?
Man, I know Zeonquest has been a while, but I should still remember this.
>>47575309
They were talking about the Safehold series by Weber.
The character in question is The Grand Inquisitor of the global church in the series and is pretty much the pinnacle of corruption in the church. Very smart guy, very zealous guy, and not very nice.
Children of time is a good space opera. It's about a small group of humans trying to find a new planet to live on after a war that nearly ended the entirety of the human race. Mainly told from a staggered perspective as the mc wakes from cryosleep, ranging from 10years to 100s. Very good and I recommend it, I would say more about another plot point but that would spoil it. I went in with little idea and was pleasantly surprised.
Pic is for fun
>>47575171
Xenocide is the most interesting story of the Ender Quintent. We get a resolution to the Bugger Queen, we see Ender struggling to adapt to civilian life, we have some really interesting things going on with Jane. Why do people dislike it?
Ender's Shadow is just too much the Bean and Achilles show. Peter is kind of intriguing, but I never cared much for him andmarrying Petra felt like he was just wrapping up loose ends.
>>47581013
http://gundam.wikia.com/wiki/Active_Mass_Balance_Auto-Control
>>47581209
Don't forget the sequel, Infinite Space.
>>47581175
Oh, that.
I didn't think that was any kind of take-that (thoughi hands read that he died? Stopped reading that series years ago). Iirc, there were lots of aggressively generic 'modern' names with bastardized spelling as a specific aspect of the setting; explained and justified in the books
>>47581304
AMBAC, that was it.
>>47575309
>I don't remember anything of the sort from Ringo off the top of my head, but I could definitely BELIEVE it of him.
after the paladin of shadows series, i believe anything about ringo
Are there no more good space operas?
>>47584612
>thread full of them
>"are there no more?"
I just can't.
>>47568425
I would recommend Ancillary Justice/Sword/Mercy by Anne Leckie.
The trilogy has some interesting writing as its written from the prospective of a warship AI
pic related, the trilogy in question has pretty art that lines up to make a bigger pretty picture
>>47568970
>giant flying death-cathedral vs one of Manticore's space rolling pins
It would be a very short novel.
>>47584921
I think the character interaction would be a strength.
>>47579737
THIS X100000000. I read the first one while waiting for GRRM to finish Winds of Winter and I was hooked. After that I started on Hornblower and the rest is nautical history.
>>47584890
>its written from the prospective of a warship AI
Well, I'm interested. Too few things write from the point of an AI. It's why I was always a sucker for Bolos and now I'm wasting time on The Last Angel. (Which actually seems to be quite good.)
>>47584921
One mary sue vs another. :^)
>>47584799
It's called a bump you dip.
>>47584921
Yeah, Imperial Ships can do like ten Gs tops. A lumbering SD can pull more than 400 Gs, Torpedoes can pull 80,000Gs and have ranges measured in light seconds. Moreover Sidewalls will stop macrocannon shells dead.
Those Space Cathedrals don't stand a chance.
>>47585024
I am not familiar with the honorverse.
From what I do know they don't have much protocal for ramming or boarding actions.
>>47585043
Dear God, they are rolling pins...
>>47585058
If they try ramming their ship into a sidewall they'd end up being torn to atoms by the sidewall. They'd probably burn out the sidewall, but the RMN ship would survive.
As for boarding, the same would happen to boarding pods which would go into the sidewall. Even if they got through however the RMMC has powersuited soldiers of their own.
>>47585174
I'm not familiar with the sidewall, do go on.
Looking at how gravely Honor ships are out tonned I can;t imagine it matters.
Also, navy armsmen vary greatly in terms of arms and armor, could be pikes, could be power armor and bolt guns, and pray they aren't marines.
>>47585174
From what I've read the sidewall is a gravitic force, and is not impervious.
>>47569549
with its overwhelmingly male-dominated story and shallow female characters. It's really hard to find a place for this series amongst the west's more nuanced SF.
This is the world The Boss died to protect.
>>47585081
LOL told ya.
Overall, the Honorverse isn't...too horrible, though some of Weber's books are definitely worse than others (avoid War of Honor like the plague, for example). It's decent light reading for the most part. Nothing compared to Hornblower or Aubrey-Maturin of course.
>>47569482
fuckyea slammers
I think i heard about it on /tg/
halfway through the second volume
10/10 great shit famalam
>>47575366
Alright, I'll bite. What wrong with him / his writing?
>>47584890
I keep meaning to pick it up.
>>47584979
I read the first book and kind of enjoyed it. Then I read Hornblower and thought that was fun but too simple. Then I went back and devoured most of AB-M until I got to book 12, when Aubrey wasnot in the Navy anymore.It's a shame that Book 21 costs like twice as much as the standard paperbacks but is only half the length, if that.
>>47585081
I've always called them vibrators.
>>47580272
>instead of someone buying the IP to do a new anime
But Japan is already making a new LOGH anime series. They said it'll be different because it'll be more faithful to the books than the original OVA, by which they probably mean Dusty is kill because he's an anime-original character.
>>47569897
>>47570026
The pudgy, philandering Guillermo Rodham that Weber put into one of the earlier HH novels was a little less subtle about things. He might even have survived his ship's capture by Honor's crew.
>>47580238
I think I saw that, the blurb premise looked interesting - some sort of conspiracy in a star trek-esque world, right?
>>47568425
Try he Seafort Saga by David Feintuch. Kind of age of sail in space where the main character mostly just gets lucky and everyone else thinks they are awesome, sending them just a bit crazy because they are really a bit of a fuckup and no one seems to believe it.
>>47580272
ADV actually did license the rights to Mutineer's Moon but they never did anything with it and then died.
How in the hell has no one mentioned the Death Stalker series by Simon R Green. Some of my favorite books of all time OP. Wonderful characters, amazing plot, loads of action. Psykers, genetically modified humans who become were wolves, crazy noble families, a planet of necron like beings, fucking a goddamn pleasure planet where stuffed animal robots slaughter all of the inhabitants. Vampire like creatures it's got it all man
>>47584890
>>47584980
>>47585863
>>47568425
The Ancillary series should have been called ‘Fascism Can’t Possibly Be This Cute.’ The whole trilogy is adorable.
In the Radch everyone is referred to as ‘she’ and ‘her.’ The AIs that run the ships can control multiple human bodies, and when they get upset they have the bodies hug one another to feel better. The ships also give relationship advice to their human crewmembers, such as when it’s appropriate to sleep with your subordinates, or how to apologize properly for hurting your girlfriend’s feelings. The soldiers are constantly fussing over their officers, dressing them, bathing them, making them tea, tucking them into bed, and crying or panicking when they get separated on missions. On ships living space is cramped, so it’s also normal for the soldiers to sleep bunched up together in big heaps. Giving and receiving gifts holds vital importance, meaning everyone is constantly obsessing over tea sets, memorial pins, jewelry and clothing. Everyone wears gloves all the time, so getting to touch someone’s bare hand (or god forbid, hold it) is a huge deal.
It creates the impression that the feudal space empire is run by anxious, insecure, perpetually feuding anime schoolgirls. On one page they say something about exterminating solar systems or putting whole planets in storage to thaw the population out as slave labor, and on the next one of the lieutenants interrupts a dinner party to give the captain news, when in reality it’s because she’s 17 years old and wanted to see if she could get any leftovers. Later she gets upset because she had a crush on the horticulturalist and the Fleet Captain forbid her from speaking to her. The protagonist is able to win partially because she’s a legendary badass, and partially because most of the time she seems like one of a few adults in a room full of squabbling, loveable children.
10/10 series, would recommend
>>47586607
As someone who loathes anime, your efforts to sell this series are regressing.
>>47586607
That sounds totally adorkable. I'm going to get it.
>>47586672
I don't post things out of a deep concern for your media consumption habits, famulimus
>>47585308
Sidewalls are gravitic in nature. Things made of matter get shredded and tossed aside. Plasma weapons exist and do more damage than the Gamma Ray Lasers (grasers), but nobody uses them because they are always stopped by Sidewalls. To get through sidewalls you need pure energy weapons, either bomb pumped lasers or ship mounted grasers. Those get through even if they are less effective due to disruption from the Sidewall. To bring down a sidewall you need to destroy the ship's Impeller Nodes.
>>47568425
Babylon 5. Worth netflixing the DVDs
>>47570616
Matter and Player of Games are my two favorite culture novels. Because they focus on people. Does that make it a space opera? I dunno but its damn good reading.
the 20 year gap between publishings is a wonderful journey into banks writing style tho.
>>47587039
OP asked for grand space battle series.
The Culture is more like space politics and spies. They focus on covert interventions.
>>47586562
>Simon R Green
I have to read it at some point because the Nightside and all its related spin offs are good shit. It's a pity he isn't a better writer because his fluff is fucking awesome.
>>47586945
Doesn't sound too difficult for an avatar of the Omnissiah.
>>47587039
>Player of Games
It's awful. It's just smug people smugging at each other.
>>47568425
Bujold's Vorkosigon saga is brilliant. I read them in chronological order, rather than published order, but either works.
Deformed son of second most powerful man on Space Russia hates being thought of as disabled. Uses wits and guile to be a dick to everyone, and has sex with lots of hot space women.Taura deserved a better ending
Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy is really good too, but has a stupid number of characters, and changes PoV each chapter. So if you can handle Space GoT, it's worth going.
Due to space catterpiller dickery, the dead don't want to stay that way.
>>47587613
Isn't that 4chan's favorite thing?
