Return to the greatest contest in the galaxy in this “beguiling, bewitching” (Seanan McGuire, New York Times bestselling author of the October Daye series) sequel to the hilarious USA TODAY bestseller Space Opera from New York Times bestselling author and finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy and Ursula K. Le Guin awards, Catherynne M. Valente.

The Metagalactic Grand Prix—part gladiatorial contest, part beauty pageant, part concert extravaganza, and part continuation of the wars of the past returns and the fate of the Earth is once again threatened. The civilizations opposed to the humanity have been plotting and want to take down the upstarts. Can humanity rise again?

About The Author

Courtesy of the author

Catherynne M. Valente

Catherynne M. Valente is an acclaimed New York Times bestselling creator of over forty works of fantasy and science fiction, including the Fairyland novels and The Glass Town Game. She has been nominated for the Nebula and World Fantasy awards, and has won the Otherwise (formerly Tiptree), Hugo, and Andre Norton award. She lives on a small island off the coast of Maine with her partner, young son, and a shockingly large cat with most excellent tufts.

Product Details

Publisher: S&S/Saga Press (May 20, 2025)
Length: 384 pages
ISBN13: 9781668063019

Raves and Reviews

"As if Ziggy Stardust went on a blind date with The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, then they got smashed and sang karaoke all night long. Cat Valente is mad and brilliant and no one else would have even thought of this, much less pulled it off."

– New York Times bestselling and Hugo-Award winning author John Scalzi

“SPACE OPERA is a book I really needed in this dour, dire age: Valente’s book contains a story and prose that is both electric and breathless, It has the heart of Douglas Adams and the soul of David Bowie. I loved it and it made me happy.”

– New York Times bestselling author Chuck Wendig

“Space Opera sings its heart out in full technicolor. This book made me giggle, freak out, and reflect on life’s tawdry beautiful pageant.”

– Charlie Jane Anders, Nebula Award-winning author of ALL THE BIRDS IN THE SKY

"This glorious glitterball dream of a book is Valente at her best: beguiling, bewitching, and inexplicably demanding. Are you ready to rock?"

– Seanan McGuire, New York Times bestselling author of the October Daye series

"Valente’s effervescent prose is wildly creative and often funny...[an] endearing, razzle-dazzle love song about destiny, finding one’s true voice, and rockin’ the house down."

– Publishers Weekly

"A wildly comical and cheerfully absurd galactic adventure."

– The Chicago Tribune

* "A wild, weird and witty magnum opus."

– Shelf Awareness, starred review

* "Valente has pulled off another spectacular feat of world building (it’s worth reading just for the descriptions of previous performances) and a story which is uproariously funny, sweet, and hopeful."

– Booklist, starred review

"It's all big ideas written in glitter. It's surprising tenderness on a galactic scale. It's about loneliness and nerdliness and acceptance and making fun of the old, frowsy powers that be. Valente offers up a universe in which the only thing of true value is rhythm. Not guns, not bombs, not money, not power, but sex and love and pop songs.

– NPR Books

"Channeling the giants of sci-fi satire and glam rock into a brilliantly over-the-top burlesque, it’s a novel only Catherynne Valente could write."

– B&N SciFi & Fantasy Blog

“The funniest science fiction novel I’ve read since Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”.

– The Verge