The best space opera books that mix myth and history

“Holy--! Like Star Wars, only for adults,” I thought when I read this book at fifteen. I immediately identified with the young protagonist growing up in a world infused with dark forces beyond his control who must master his powers to survive. I keep coming back to read Dune to discover something new, whether it’s in the feudal culture clashing with an oppressed indigenous population, or its themes of ecology, myth/religion, colonialism, and the dangers of charismatic leaders. This book grounds its strange, interstellar universe with a mixture of real-world history and politics, then packages it into a classic monomyth that belies its dark and subversive undertones. Great as allegory relevant to modern geopolitics or just as a sci-fi adventure yarn, Dune is one of the all-time great science fiction reads. 

“Damn! He did it better!” was my reaction reading Pierce Brown’s Red Rising while I was working on my debut novel. Brown’s writing is epic, fast-paced, and keeps the reader on the edge of their seat. Set in a not-too-distant future, Darrow, a young hell-diver of the “Red” caste helps to terraform Mars but is transformed by a secret rebellion into an overseer “Gold” when his young wife is murdered and he learns the truth: that Mars was terraformed long ago and his people have been enslaved by the lie. Red Rising is a fascinating adventure tale. Brown’s story rises above others in the genre by putting a new spin on the evolution of humanity that mixes in themes of Eugenics, Roman culture, and Greek mythology seamlessly. 

“Mythology, Shakespeare, Cthulhu, oh my!” Not as well-known as his most famous sci-fi work, Hyperion, Dan Simmon’s Ilium is just as impressive. The book bounces back and forth between characters of Greek myth reenacting the events of the Trojan War on the Martian plains, humans reawakening to their purpose on a post-apocalyptic Earth, and a pair of philosophizing robots, all in the shadow of a dark god coming to devour them all. The first in a duology, Ilium weaves its disparate storylines to a climax where readers solve the riddle of how it is that Lovecraft’s monsters are living alongside Shakespeare’s characters and Homer’s epic poem in a world that has suffered a mysterious cataclysm. Any reader of mythology and literary allusion in their speculative fiction will hungrily devour this book. 

“The war against heaven? Awesome!” Diving into The Golden Compass, the first in Philip Pullman’s epic His Dark Material’s series is diving into a twisting and turning dimension-hopping thriller. Starting in an alternate universe where magic exists, humans have animal soul representations known as daemons, and an evil Church known as the Magisterium hunts down young Lyra Silvertongue and her daemon Pantalaimon, the Golden Compass mixes fantastical elements with steam-punk suspense for a page-turning adventure. Beware, Pullman plays on John Donne’s Paradise Lost to create a religiously subversive young adult speculative fiction steeped in a sort of steam-punk world but may be viewed as a direct counterpoint to CS Lewis’ blatant religiously indoctrinating Chronicles of Narnia series. However, this book is smart, powerful, and has a strong female main character. 

“Growing up is hard. Growing up while leading the war against aliens that want to annihilate Earth is cool.” A little departure from the other stories on my list, Ender’s Game is a bit lighter on mythology and literary allusions but has become a sci-fi classic. Ender grows up in a future under siege by aliens and is sent to battle school to rise through the ranks and become Earth’s head commander. The grandaddy of a sub-genre that features young adult protagonists going off to “school” to become adept in their special abilities, Ender’s Game is a fast, gripping read. It’s also dark and disturbing, carrying a deeper message about the dangers of lack of communication and understanding that is combined with humankind’s innate propensity toward xenophobia and violence.