John Scalzi’s Streams trilogy is on the one hand crisp military SF, but on the other hand full of quiet humor and a wink. Anyone who knows and likes Scalzi will find a lot of irony between the lines. Arrogant nobles, smugglers with bad luck… the action takes place against the backdrop of the collapse of the faster-than-light space connections (namely the eponymous streams). The story is not only fun, but also told with a great voice, even if it is a bit long-winded at times. You shouldn’t expect non-stop action and crackling tension here. There is also an abridged reading, but only of volume 1. As will be shown later with another example, this trilogy is actually comparatively compact with a total running time of 30 hours.
Read by Johannes Steck, translation Bernhard Kempen
Space Opera | Catherynne M. Valente
As the name suggests… wait a minute. In fact, the term “opera” has to be taken literally here, as it is about a galactic singing competition. But don’t worry: exotic planets, spaceships and aliens definitely appear. The humor in this work is more than just a wink: instead of subtle irony like in Scalzi’s work, there is a full broadside of linguistic wit, spiced up with disrespectful satire. The style does take some getting used to, because the author tries to make every sentence sound ironic or funny, and she sometimes gets lost in mediocre trivialities that seem to have come to mind at the very moment she was writing. In doing so, she sometimes forgets to move the plot forward. But anyone who goes along with it will be well entertained.
Read by Simon Jäger, translation Kirsten Borchardt
The long road to a small, angry planet/Between two stars/The night beneath us/The galaxy and the light in it
Anyone who thinks of Star Wars or Star Trek when they think of space opera will notice some clear differences in this novel series. It is a few decades more modern and in many ways more sensitive – and that seems like a refreshing treatment for the somewhat dusty genre characterized by classic narrative elements. It was not for nothing that the Wayfarer series won the Hugo Award in 2019.
Chambers focuses on her characters, who all have special characteristics and personalities, not spaceships or good-evil patterns. She draws them lovingly and colorfully, giving them and the readers plenty of time to get to know each other and interact with each other and the environment – that’s modern space opera. The spaceship “Wayfarer” does indeed travel a long way (the introduction of the characters alone takes several hours of listening time), and there is rarely any tingling excitement. But the interaction of the characters, the secrets, the well-thought-out, lively world are worth immersing yourself in.
Above all, however, the Wayfarer is an example of modern, character-focused stories in which the size of the laser cannons and battleship formations is not important, but rather humanism and self-determination. With well over 50 hours of listening time, some of which require intense thought and feeling, one can only speak of an epic work of significance for the genre.
Read by Martha Kindermann, translation Karin Will
