Science Fiction

Two obvious suggestions are Frank Herbert’s “Dune” series, and Issac Asimov’s “Foundation” series.

Both are sci-fi classics (Dune is still the best selling sci-fi book of all time I believe) and are space operas of a massive scope.

They are also some of my personal favorites.

No love for Iain M Banks? The Culture series looks like it will tick all your boxes and instead of following a single protagonist the Culture itself is the protagonist so each book has it's own cast of interesting characters.

Dan Simmons - Hyperian ~~K~~Cantos. Four books in the series, well worth a read imo... I loved it

Adrian Tchaikovsky - Children of Time / Children of Ruin / Children of Memory (not read the third but am sure it'll be as good as the first two)

A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge. I liked the prequel, A Deepness in the Sky even more.

Reality Dysfunction, Hyperion, Red Rising, Dune, The Expanse, Foundation, The Mote in God's Eye

Pandora’s Star and the sequel Judas Unchained by Peter F Hamilton

Alastair Reynolds - Revelation space i.e. Inhibitor sequence

Peter F Hamilton - Void trilogy in the Commonwealth universe

It's not one of the Culture novels, but The Algebraist by Iain Banks is one of my favorite one book cover to cover operas.

Children Of Time Trilogy.

Amazing books that explore topics like Consciousness and Intelligence from angles you wouldn't expect

John Scalzi's Old Man's War series was a long and pretty interesting read.

Premise starts out as a "humanity vs the stars" kind of story, but instead of sending young people to their deaths, the futuristic human society instead recruits old people who have already lived full lives. You can enlist towards the end of your natural life to transfer your mind to a (photo)synthetic purpose-built humanoid super soldier body. If you survive a period of time (5 years?), you earn another shot at life and can elect to become a colonist for far away worlds. Most don't get that far.

Your usual "long-term relationship tensions," "humans are always bad guys," "what will technology think of next?" tropes apply.

Revelation Space.

Niven's Ringworld series

Foundation?

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy 🌌 . Probably not what you’re looking for.

The Damned trilogy by Alan Dean Foster Hyperion by Dan Simmons The Culture series by Iain M Banks

If you like Star Wars (original trilogy, that is), I'd recommend Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn. I can also recommend his Conquerer's trilogy and Cobra series.

I liked The Lost Fleet, personally. The space battles are excellent, and they're quick reads. Agreed about the plot, though, it takes a while. Worth it overall IMO.

You might consider the Iron Druid series, too. It's written in a lighter tone than the Dresden Files, but it's got a similar vibe.

You might check out Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison, too. It's another urban fantasy with an interesting world premise. I struggle a little to recommend it -- I lost interest fairly quickly, but if you don't mind some romance in your urban fantasy, you might like it more than I did. And if you do like it, it's a long series, over a dozen books!

I really like Neal Asher's books. Sprawling long series (what is the plural of series?) and so good.

Was recommended the Children of Time books, am halfway through the first and WOW. I love it.

Even if you don't think you're into Warhammer 40k you should check out the books. There's 100's of them and are actually very good. I put them off for a long time because i thought they'd just be battle porn. They are well written with compelling narratives, great characters, a sprawling galaxy full of different aliens and factions, and of course the aforementioned war porn.

If you are hesitant like i was, i recommend starting with the first three books in the Horrus Heresy. There's like 40 something of them but the first three you could read and put down satisfied without continuing if you wanted.

I always list the three books out for people because there's so many it's easy to get lost looking for them.

Horrus Rising, False Gods, Galaxy in Flames

As for a non-opera book, I highly recommend Seven Eves. I don't think i saw it in your post. But you had a long list so forgive me if i missed it. It's one book, pretty long though and one of my GOATS.

If you're looking for genuine space opera, I quite enjoyed the Final Architecture series by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

You would typically be the person I would go to for book suggestions, not the other way around.

Sorry I can’t help more :/

What? No love for the Pern books by Anne McCaffrey? I love em. Gotta love genetically engineered dragons.

Third vote for Dune!

Simon R. Greens Deathstalker series is pretty much what you're describing. Very much space opera, melodramatic and big on action. They're not incredibly well written but lots of fun.

The Imperial Radch Trilogy by Ann Leckie

How about the Uplift series by David Brin? Start with Sundiver

You could try Altered Carbon by Richard K Morgan. It's the first book in the trilogy. The book was better then the Netflix series.

Starship Trooper