Ground Control to Major Tome: 5 Great Space Operas

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.

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