I Understand Space Opera Very Well

A Human Element, by Donna Galanti
One by one, Laura Armstrong’s friends and adoptive family members are being murdered, and despite her unique healing powers, she can do nothing to stop it. The savage killer haunts her dreams, tormenting her with the promise that she is next.
Determined to find the killer, she follows her visions to the site of a crashed meteorite in her hometown. There, she meets Ben Fieldstone, who seeks answers about his parents’ death the night the meteorite struck. In a race to stop a madman, they unravel a frightening secret that binds them together…
If you’re preparing for a highly anticipated performance aboard an interstellar cruise ship, this is the book for you. Even if it doesn’t help you figure out the location of your contact onboard the ship, you’ll still lose yourself in the layers of human emotion that make up the quick-moving plot. 

Into the Still Blue, by Veronica Rossi
The race to the Still Blue has reached a stalemate. Aria and Perry are determined to find this last safe haven from the Aether storms before Sable and Hess do—and they are just as determined to stay together. Within the confines of a cave they’re using as a makeshift refuge, they struggle to reconcile their people, Dwellers and Outsiders, who are united only in their hatred of their desperate situation. Meanwhile, time is running out to rescue Cinder, who was abducted by Hess and Sable for his unique abilities. Then Roar arrives in a grief-stricken fury, endangering all with his need for revenge…
This book is the conclusion to Rossi’s fantastic Under the Never Sky trilogy. Read all of them as you consider where you should hide the four elemental stones given to you by an ancient race of intergalactic peacekeepers! Your hiding place should probably be as fluid as the prose, as gutsy as the main character, and as inaccessible as the Still Blue itself. I guarantee that you’ll find inspiration in the emotional highs and lows of the story to inspire your next techno-aria.

This Savage Song, by Victoria Schwab
Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to a divided city—a city where the violence has begun to breed actual monsters. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father, who lets the monsters roam free and makes the humans pay for his protection. All August wants is to be human, as good-hearted as his own father, to play a bigger role in protecting the innocent—but he’s one of the monsters. One who can steal a soul with a simple strain of music. When the chance arises to keep an eye on Kate, who’s just been kicked out of her sixth boarding school and returned home, August jumps at it. But Kate discovers August’s secret, and after a failed assassination attempt the pair must flee for their lives.
As an unofficial diplomat described by Ruby Rhod as an outstanding performer, you’re already familiar with the pressures of trying to navigate politics in a corrupt society. You’ll probably strongly identify with both Kate and August’s flight from the monsters pursuing them through no fault of their own, and with the way music shapes their lives. Don’t worry too much about the whole :intersection between music and death” thing that pops up throughout. That part is probably not relevant to you at all.

These Broken Stars, by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
Luxury spaceliner Icarus suddenly plummets from hyperspace into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive–alone. Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a cynical war hero. Both journey across the eerie deserted terrain for help. Everything changes when they uncover the truth.
This story might stress you out a little, since it’s about a disaster on a luxury spaceliner, much like the one onto which you’ve recently smuggled four elemental stones. But don’t worry! Nothing will go wrong on the luxury spaceliner. You’ll be able to hand off those four elemental stones with just one easy, invasive abdominal surgery. You’ll recover faster because of the healing power of Lilac and Tarver’s story, which is as beautiful and heartrending as a well-sung space-aria.
Hope these all help! Have a great trip, and remember: you’re in your element here. It doesn’t matter what the critics have to say about your performance–it’s what’s inside you that really matters.
Love,
Sarah