These are very good
Chris Wooding, Ketty Jay books, very 'Firefly' data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
I dont know if this applies but there 7 in the series and I really enjoyed the first 3 the first being my favorite book. I bought my mate the first who a fan of Iain M Banks and ended up having to get him the whole saga.
Well World series - Wikipedia
On this now, very good and as you say, narration is excellent.
Loving Skippy data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Have you read all of the Commonwealth Saga?There is the original two then the Void Trilogy and a further two recent ones.His Night's Dawn Trilogy is very good and I also think that the Great North Road is a good standalone book.
I read the first 3 in this series after I read the 3rd there was no more out and took to be the last the first 2 are very good but found the 3rd harder going its like navel officer but taking place in space.
Seafort Saga - Wikipedia
I've listened to the unadbridged versions of the Red Siging series by Pierce Brown. Thought they were excellent. Naturally the books should be just as good!
Books 1-3 are already published, with book 4 out in January. Thoroughly recommend them.
Red Rising - Wikipedia
Something I read recently that reminded me of Iain M Banks is The Dying of the Light by George R. R. Martin
Ian McDonald's Luna series (starting with Luna: New Moon) is very vividly realised. Really carries a sense of what it might be like to live on the moon in the future.
Has a strong mix of characters, too. Great world-building action.
I've started reading sci-fi again after a gap of a few years but I'm not going to update this list again data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7:-
IRobot's Sci-Fi book list
I'm reading Divergent by Veronica Roth. The writing style is more for younger people so won't bother reading any more in the series.