One of my favorite series of fiction books that I’ve read in the last few years has been The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey – which is actually the pen name of two collaborating writers, Daniel Abraham and Ty Frank.

The series can be justifiably classified as Space Opera – there’s space ships and space stations and social unrest and political machinations and a group of people who get thrown into great adventures. So yes, space opera, but good space opera. Those of you reading this may have seen the TV series on Syfy based on these books; the series is one of the very few that I’ve encountered where the TV version is as good as the books. So I guess I’m recommending the TV series along with the books.

There are six novels, so far – read them in chronological order, or the story will confuse you – starting with Leviathan Wakes. The story is set in the only-a-little-distant future, when humans have spread out through our solar system, and have colonized some of the moons of Saturn and Jupiter, as well as a couple of large asteroids which have been hollowed out and spun to create artificial gravity.

I found that the plot was on the long, complex and convoluted side, but the characters are interesting and complex (in a good way), and Corey does a very good job of very vividly conveying not just the setting but the political tensions and changed social norms from what we know today.

I’m far from the first or only person to be recommending this series, as various books have been nominated for Hugo, Locus and Goodreads Choice awards, but here I’m adding my voice to the chorus – it’s a good series, I recommend you read it.