I think all the really good SFF is basically novels about Something which happen to be set in space/have dragons/etc. Which doesn't mean that there isn't also room for the fluffy stuff.

When I read The Warrior's Apprentice I thought Miles was like Francis Crawford in space, and the first quarter of Mirror Dance actually felt a lot like the bits of Dunnett I felt I wanted to read with my eyes shut (if you see what I mean). Which is not something I dislike, but just wasn't what I was expecting!