Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks
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I'm long overdue on getting to the Culture novels, I know, I know. But, wow, what an opening to a series!
Biological essentialist shapeshifter spies, holy warrior dinosaurs, space pirates, fugitive AIs, and interventionist luxury communists collide (sometimes literally) in a tautly written, action packed, gory, and semi-comedic space story.
It does observe some genre conventions and doesn't fall off a cliff into erudition like, say, Neal Stephenson tends to do, but the ideas, dialogue, and plotting are all excellent. There are also some first-rate quasi-literary stream of consciousness segments. But it's first and foremost a Science Fiction novel, and, within those parameters, it's really all-killer, no-filler.
Recommended if you enjoy sci fi or Iain Banks at all.