We've got 18 books and series we highly recommend, so there's something here for all kinds of readers - and at the end of the episode we rank our top 3 to bring you the best of the best.

What is space opera? Books with big characters and a bigger world - they usually even come with big 'ol wordcounts. Space opera is often multi-pov, with interstellar travel and the fate of the galaxy at stake.

No spoilers anywhere in this episode.

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This episode is sponsored by indie sci-fi publisher Lil' Factory

All the books we recommend, plus timestamps:

• 00:00 Intro
• 00:36 Sponsor - Lil' Factory
• 1:24 What is a space opera?
• 2:58 The Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
• 4:45 The Expanse - James S.A. Corey
• 6:38 Hyperion - Dan Simmons
• 9:51 House of Suns - Alistair Reynolds
• 11:32 Children of Time - Adrian Tchaikovsky
• 13:11 Fire Upon the Deep - Vernor Vinge
• 15:04 The Culture - Iain M. Banks
• 17:17 Peter F. Hamilton's whole discography
• 20:19 Embassytown - China Mieville
• 21:45 A Memory Called Empire - Arkady Martine
• 23:34 Dune - Are you happy now?
• 24:47 Ancillary Justice - Ann Leckie
• 26:34 Downbelow Station - C.J. Cherryh
• 26:05 The Mote in God's Eye - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
• 29:24 Startide Rising - David Brin
• 31:16 The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet - Becky Chambers
• 33:01 Foundation - Isaac Asimov
• 35:22 Rankings: 3rd best Space Opera
• 37:27 Rankings: 2nd best Space Opera
• 38:50 Rankings: 1st best Space Opera

This might be the best sci-fi book out there about nanotechnology. But Stephenson has so many good ones that this one isn't his best book - some of the characters lose their way, and it drags in the middle.

Oh, and one more good recommendation we forgot while we were recording - check out Blood Music by Greg Bear if you want a biological twist on nanotech!

• Join the Hugonauts book club on discord
• Or you can watch our episodes on YouTube if you prefer video

As always, no spoilers until the end when we get into the full plot explanation and discussion.

Similar books we recommend:

• Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
• Neuromancer by William Gibson
• Cory Doctorow
• Prey by Michael Crichton

This episode is sponsored by Har Megiddon by Ron Bennett.

If you want to jump around, here are the timestamps for the episode:

• 00:00 Intro
• 00:47 Book setup
• 1:49 Sponsor - Har Megiddon
• 2:22 Our review 3.25/5
• 3:53 Great sections - and stinkers
• 4:47 Incredible technology
• 7:33 Hard to visualize?
• 9:38 Dances with Wolves
• 10:17 Labor saving devices
• 13:59 Neal's infodumps
• 19:25 Book structure
• 25:47 Sponsor - Har Megiddon
• 26:08 Similar books we recommend
• 28:40 Spoilers section - book summary
• 31:30 Spoilers section - discussion

From Sumeria, to Greece, to India, to the depths of the dark ages we explore the stories that have inspired everything that came later with a professor of mythology and medieval literature. This particular professor also happens to be Cody's mom, so this is also a great episode to explore Cody's psyche, for those brave enough to explore a dark and twisted place.

• Join the Hugonauts book club on discord
• Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video

If you want to do some reading, here are our suggestions on the best translations of these myths (and even a couple great graphic novels):

• Epic of Gilgamesh, trans. Andrew George, Penguin Classics
• The Odyssey, trans. Robert Fagles
• The Odyssey, Gareth Hinds graphic novel
• The Iliad, Penguin Classics
• The Aeneid, trans. Robert Fagles Penguin Classics
• Age of Bronze Series, Eric Shanower (series of graphic novels on Trojan War)
• Hercules, Fred Van Lente
• Monkey, trans. Arthur Waley
• Beowulf, trans. Seamus Heaney
• The Popul Vuh, trans. Michael Bazzett, Milkweed Editions
• The Nibelungenlied, trans. AT Hatto, Penguin
• Chretien de Troyes, Arthurian Romances, trans. William W. Kibler, Penguin
• Le Morte D’Arthur, Sir Thomas Malory, Penguin Classics
• Tales from the Thousand and One Nights, trans. N.J. Dawood, Penguin Classics
• Sindbad and Other Stories from Arabian Nights, trans Husain Haddowy
• Sinbad the Sailor, Penguin Classics
• The Ramayana, Abridged and Translated by Arshia Sattar, Penguin Classics OR any children’s/YA book to get started. There are hundreds

If you want to jump around, here are the timestamps for all the books we talked about:

• 0:00 - Intro
• 1:45 - The Epic of Gilgamesh
• 6:35 - The Odyssey
• 10:12 - The Iliad
• 12:09 - The Aeneid
• 14:12 - Hercules
• 15:53 - Monkey (Excerpts from Journey to the West)
• 21:00 - Beowulf
• 25:25 - The Popul Vuh
• 28:23 - The Nibelungenlied
• 33:21 - King Arthur Myths (Malory, De Troyes)
• 36:56 - Tales From the Thousand and One Nights
• 41:40 - Sinbad the Sailor
• 45:10 - The Ramayana
• 49:55 - Our Top 3 favorite myths