Dream Dancer

The entire Kerrion Empire trilogy is great space opera.

Notes added after a reread
I first read Dream Dancer some thirty years ago. Based on my very positive memory of the book, I gave it five stars when I started entering my reads (those I could remember) in my GoodReads DB.
I am happy to say that Dream Dancer has held up very well and is still a damn good read. Were I reading it for the first time, I would probably give it four stars; however, I will respect the opinion of my earlier self and leave my rating at five stars. (I have become more critical I suppose.)
Dream Dancer mixes SF/F genres somewhat. It is mainly space opera but has some fantasy elements (minor spell casting ability by the main protagonist, which possibly isn't actually magic), but that just makes it a better story.
One thing I noticed this time is that one of the main characters seems to have what we would call “net addiction”, and suffers when cut off. (Much like some present day compulsive smart-phone users.) This was written before there was an Internet (TCP/IP had only just been standardized) – very prescient of Janet Morris.
Good book if you can find a copy.

Note added after another reread a decade later:
The entire The entire Kerrion Empire trilogy is now available in ebook format. (DRM free apparently.)