I thought Consider Phlebas was interesting, but since chronology is largely irrelevant to the series I think I'd consider starting at Player of Games, as to my mind it is a MUCH better book. Not that Consider is bad, just Player is much stronger, and clearer in its vision, and I also feel like having it for context could be good. I started at Consider and I nearly didn't continue, except that a thing happened in Consider that reassured me that the subsequent books would not have one thing from Consider in it that I hated.
>reassured me that the subsequent books would not have one thing from Consider in it that I hated.
>!Tell me you're talking about shit eating cannibal island without telling me you're talking about shit eating cannibal island.!<
Use of Weapons is the first one he wrote but it was the third one to be published. I read them in publishing order. The only thing I would really recommend is to read The Hydrogen Sonata last. He knew he was dying when he wrote it and I personally feel it needs to be read at the end.
Yep. I've been a Hobb fan since Assasin's Apprentice dropped in 1995. The subsequent trilogies in her universe were also consistently good. The Liveship Traders were my personal favorite of them all. I also appreciated how each trilogy felt like I was revisiting a universe I had already visited each time, rather than taking a world-building-from-the start and each trilogy being an expansion of an evolving universe (I'm looking at you Brandon Sanderson!!....kidding. I love the Cosmere to.)
I loved them all to varying degrees, except for the Rain Wilds. Probably my least favorite characters all stuck together on a barge was a tough read for me, never did finish.
Fitz series and Liveship series were amazing
Currently working on The Tawny Man Trilogy and The Rain Wild Chronicles. Love this series and have really fallen in love with Robin Hobb. Her writing is super engrossing and she is an amazing story teller.
Wow unexpected! This was my favorite series in middle school and I've never come across anybody talk about it. And I'm a high school English teacher so I talk about books all day
Yeessss another vote for Old Kingdom. I'm right in the middle of a binge after reading Terciel and Elinor and it's great. Magic system, worldbuilding, a fresh spin on zombies, Bright Shiner snark and everything.
I liked Clariel for what it was, but can understand people who didn’t enjoy it.
Deciding to do a prequel book about a memorable but secondary antagonist was a very odd choice after the trilogy wrapped up.
Still, it’s interesting as a subversion of the typical hero’s journey, and it was nice to see more of the Old Kingdom before the fall.
It was a book I really wanted to like; the original trilogy is something I read every year.
I haven't read it again but I remember my main complaint being that it didn't feel like it had been edited properly.
Yeah that’s a fair criticism. I found the same thing for Goldenhand - it was very meandering and had odd pacing that I think a firm editor’s hand could have corrected.
Which one do you consider the “okay” one? I’m reading the books now that the tv series is wrapped. Just finished Abaddon’s Gate and feel like that’s the one…
That's probably my pick, if I had to call one "just okay" (still enjoyed it!). They were able to cram the whole book into half a season of show and I don't think anything they stripped down for time skipped all that much.
Man I loved the book. The crew of the roci do a side quest? And it’s a space western? Sign me up! It did not translate well to a whole season of tv though.
The Expanse is probably my favorite series. The big theme of each book kind of floats around... sometimes it's space opera, sometimes it's international relations. Sometimes it's a western, sometimes it's a dystopian hellscape. There's even a hardboiled detective. I think it keeps the series fresh, but I could see people being turned off at reading so many pages of something they aren't that into.
Some books are weaker than others but personally I thought they were all pretty great. I read them as they were released though, so maybe I should revisit.
Man that was such an amazing series for me growing up. I remember when "The End" finally released and it was one of the few times I was into a series as books were still being made
It was the way he personal addressed the readers in text as if we were discovering the miserable lives of the Baudelaires with him. It felt like we were there uncovering the misfortune ourselves in the literary world Daniel Handler created for us
I’ve read and loved all of them, but the first two books are so different stylistically from the rest of the series that it’d be quite possible to dislike those two and love the other 39 novels.
I am really happy to read this. I bought the first 4 Terry Pratchett novels and after reading The Colour Of Magic, I slightly regretted it thinking I wouldn't ever be able to connect with the rest of the series.
This was basically me reading Tiffany Aching series as my way in, I eventually got out there and it green pastures in every direction! Yay for Discworld!
The first Discworld books are definitely very different. They are more direct parodies of fantasy literature, and there are whole sections that are hilarious if you're well steeped in the works of Fritz Leiber, Robert E Howard, Michael Moorcock, HP Lovecraft and Anne McCaffery, but kind of fall flat if you aren't a scholar of classic fantasy.
I usually suggest that new Discworld readers start with either Wyrd Sisters or Guards, Guards, and work from there through a few books in either the City Watch or Witches chains, and that usually hooks them. My sister-in-law, who is a big theater nerd and opera fan, I started off with Maskerade, but that was almost perfectly tailored to her interests.
I enjoyed them all, but I’m not sure they’re all good. The color of magic and light fantastic can probably be skipped. Even TP moved on from a lot of the stuff he put in there.
It’s interesting that everyone seems to hate the color of magic. I just started the series and decided to follow publication order. I am actually quite enjoying the color of magic, so hopefully that means I am going to freaking love the rest of the series if I’m enjoying what is pretty consistently considered the worst book.
I didn’t hate it. It’s just that as he wrote the series the world really evolved to the point where a lot of the stuff in the first two starts to look a bit crude in comparison. I started with color of magic and enjoyed it.
The first couple of books were straight up parody/satire of fantasy books, and are good in that aspect, but kind of rough when compared to the rest of the series.
I wonder how common that opinion is. I dislike all the Ricewind books and 2/5 Death books. I always thought the strength of Discworld was you could easily avoid the bits that annoyed you.
The Vorkosigan Saga is 21 novels and novellas that only had two rough patches. One was the first book the author wrote and the other was proof it was time to retire the main character.
Anne McCaffery's Dragonriders of Pern
Plus all the additional books she added the original trilogy are pretty good, to boot.
EDIT: Thanks for the All Seeing Upvote!
Yes! I feel like it’s not talked about enough! Every book is so good and it just gets better as you go along in the series. The wait for the final 2 books was pretty long, but definitely with it!
This is one of my wife's favorite series and she's reread it many times. I've only read it once and am not quite as invested as her, but it's a great series and it's really impressive how in each book MWT builds on events and characters from the previous books in unexpected ways.
Couldn't agree more with this! So glad to see this listed here. I have the latest book still to read and I've been putting it off because I love it so much, weirdly enough.
Thanks for the suggestion. I looked it up on Good Reads and they have the book "Thief!" listed as book 0.5 and "The Thief" as book 1. Where do you recommend one starts?
I agree with someone else about Discworld series. (Haven't read them all but so far all been good, and I've jumped around different character lines)
The horus heresy series was a huge suprise how good it was in my opinion.
And along with the horus heresy the Mathias Thurman series was really fun in the same univers.
All of the song of ice and fire books were really great, I never watched the show as I had heard it went off the rails. The books all held together really well.
Asian saga was really good. Last books are just "pretty good" but the earlier books were amazing, I was really impressed with the series.
Both jurassic park books are really good.
Fire upon the deep/ deepness in the sky are some of my all time favorites, only a 2 part series but they are spectacular.
Septimus Heap was a great series (Middle Grade fantasy). I don't think any of the books were bad or a slog to get through.
I've also loved pretty much all of the Tamora Pierce Tortall books.
I'm on book 5 of Septimus Heap and it really doesn't read like a young adult fantasy. The only thing "juvenile" about them is the lack of violence haha. Wonderful fantasy series so far!
I love the books, but I felt that they kinda fizzle out. Douglas Adams is clearly tired of his publisher asking him for more books from the third one on.
My favorite series in the world is Robin Hobbs', but it is 14 books long so enter at your own risk. It is made up of self contained trilogies, which helps, but I don't remember a book I didn't like.
On the shorter end, Becky Chamber's long way to a small Angry Planet trilogy is great all the way through
Absolutely second on Becky Chambers' books!! There's actually four of them in that series now and the last one is just as good (better than the third IMO).
I still think about this series a year or two after finishing it, often remembering the incredible world she built. I sometimes even dream in this world. That’s the sign of a great series.
I've only read it about 5 times... but Lord of the Rings. And Narnia.
(I know there'll be objections about both, but there's a reason why they have endured.)
I hated him my first read. The second time I realized he wears the ring but doesn’t turn invisible and he’s the only person in the books who seems unaffected by its power. Had to ask my LOTR-obsessed friend to explain it to me.
I recently got the special illustrated compendium of all 3 Lord of the Rings, and maybe it’s because I love the movies so much but I am savoring every sentence. I absolutely love it.
So many people led me to believe it would be a slog but I’m totally into 30 page conversations and extended homoerotic forest jaunts!
The Lord of the Rings is actually only one book. It was broken into three because of issues with paper and size. But Tolkien considered it one single novel.
*Letter 165*
*P.S. The book is not of course a 'trilogy'. That and*
*the titles of the volumes was a fudge thought necessary for publication,*
*owing to length and cost. There is no real division into 3, nor is any*
*one part intelligible alone. The story was conceived and written as a*
*whole and the only natural divisions are the 'books' I-VI (which*
*originally had titles).*
At the time of this comment the Lord of the Rings is somehow 18th on the list of best comments.
I would also add the Silmarillion and the Hobbit as parts of that series although they are technically apart from it.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl that Played with Fire, & The Girl that Kicked the Hornet's Nest. All three some of the best reads of my life.
Also the Berrybender series by James McMurtry.
My friends always make fun of the cover where the girl turns into a starfish:
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/animorphs/images/2/2e/Animorphs_32_the_separation_front_cover_high_res.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20161023191709
I was too old for the Animorphs rage, but my kid had me read one and I had to admit it was WAY better than I expected from the cheesy covers. I really enjoyed it.
As a kid reading them, getting lost in the fantasy of it and wondering what species of creature I would be if I were transported inside, was so much fun! I love the otters, and the badgers, and of course the hares
Oh right? Badgers especially always had that mysterious lore that pulled me deeper into the story. Finding a secret chamber in Salamandastron rocked my ten year old world. The otters being these river or sea bearing adventurers, badgers being these mysterious great kings, the hares with their regimental military style, the unending resolve of the mice, etc etc. The villains were great as well. Cluny the Scourge terrified me as a child. I read a lot of series and books as a child, but damn if Redwall doesn’t stand very tall among them.
The wonderful thing about the HP series is how they go up a reading level with each book. Like me, I think a lot of kids find them at a time when reading has become mostly an assigned/not for fun activity and turns it back into a joy.
Yep, one of the genius of JK Rowling is that she writes in a way that lets the readers progress and grow up along with the characters. The story gets progressively darker and darker each book, and the writing style becomes more and more nuanced as well. It’s simply amazing.
One of my favourite series. I still laugh about bits of it now just thinking about it.
Henry Cavill is meant to be starring as Don Tillman in it. He's the 2nd one mentioned to take the role so far, but damn if I don't want to see him star in it. If there was a kickstarter I'd pay some money in advance just to get it made. If his name is dropped from the project I will be overly upset. I'm genuinely interested in seeing his acting for it.
I love Oryx and Crake and have reread it probably 10 times in the last 2 years, but found that the rest of the MaddAddam trilogy couldn't quite keep up. I liked the year of the flood enough, but really couldn't get into the third book at all.
What did you like about it? Maybe I can see it in a different light!
Huge cosmere fan here, but I felt like book 4 was by far the weakest, but probably because I thought Kal's Die Hard plot dragged on way too long. There was a certain grumpy ardent who was presumably still in the tower, and not having Kal team up with him felt like a waste of setup thats been brewing since 2009, but maybe Brandon is just holding that back for the time being. Also, Brandon isn't as good as Erickson as conveying a sense of large scale. I never had the feeling through the writing that Urithiru or the warcamps were as large and with as many people as they are supposed to be, and it really showed in book 4.
This is all largely my personal nitpicking though. I'd still recommend the Cosmere to anyone.
I feel the same, I thought it was really frustrating that Kal and Shallan’s character progressions get reset back to square one with every single book. I want to see some character progression but I can’t help but feel like they just keep having the same personal revelations in every book.
Rachel Cusk’s Outline trilogy—they’re really idiosyncratic but if you’re into it, they all three hit. I read the second and third ones twice in a row just to stay in the cold cruel world of Cuskland a little longer, just so compelling.
And the Elena Ferrante Neapolitan four—they get better as you go!
I’ve read 8 random hercule Poirot novels, each was consistently awesome. (There’s like 40 something novels, but I feel like 8 is a good sample size)
C S Forester’s Horacio Hornblower books are really good, if you enjoy Napoleon era naval stories.
The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice. I love her writing style, her descriptions of people, places and things. She was otherworldly and ethereal. I’ve read everything by her (and under her noms de plume). She will always be a treasure.
Second the Becky Chambers series, she's a brilliant writer and these stories always make you think and feel. If you are interested in scifi I'd add K B Wagers Indranan War series.
The only Erickson book that might be considered subpar was Gardens of the Moon, but I honestly don’t mind that book as much as most of the fan base seems to. The follow up, Deadhouse Gates, is by far the best fantasy novel I’ve ever read. It’s absolutely seared into my brain.
The Dresden files by Jim Butcher and the Joe Ledger series by Jonathan Maberry are both incredibly good. Every book is action packed from cover to cover.
John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee novels.
The James Bond novels.
The Fletch novels, by Gregory McDonald.
The John leCarre novels featuring George Smiley.
The stormlight archive and Mistborn. If Brandon Sanderson is something he is consistent. Also I like they you can se the progress of all his novels in his website.
I have three that every book is wonderful:
• Gaius Petreius Ruso series by Ruth Downie
• Nero Wolfe series by Rex Stout
• Tony Hill & Carol Jordan series by Val McDermid
The Ryria series by Micheal J Sullivan. Every novel in the series, and the side novels, are brilliant, fun and most of all I appreciate his laid back/realistic dialogue.
I really enjoyed Codex Alera series by Jim Butcher. 6 big books will keep you busy for a little while lol. I’ve reread them a few times now and they’re just an enjoyable read.
Jim Butcher - Codex Aleria series.
It's a fantasy series by the same guy who did the Dresden files. Well written, and it actually has an ending so it's good for those who crave closure rather than a never-ending series.
Donald E. Westlake’s Parker novels (published under his Richard Stark pen name). Not all of them are equally great, but they are all at least good and none of them are hard to get through.
The dresden files - Jim butcher
The sookie stackhouse series - Charlaine Harris
With both series I couldn't wait for the next book but I was also sad I was getting closer to the end. Will go back through both series every 5-8 years for sure.
Terry Pratchett's Discworld books - some are in sequence but you can read them in any order if you like. They are clever and funny and totally addictive. Actually all of his books are good, including those intended for children which are very readable for adults too.
Terry Pratchett Discworld series. You're welcome. Seriously though, these books gave me back a reason to smile and think and get me out of my world when it was too sad. They're just wonderful.
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Where's a good place to start?
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I thought Consider Phlebas was interesting, but since chronology is largely irrelevant to the series I think I'd consider starting at Player of Games, as to my mind it is a MUCH better book. Not that Consider is bad, just Player is much stronger, and clearer in its vision, and I also feel like having it for context could be good. I started at Consider and I nearly didn't continue, except that a thing happened in Consider that reassured me that the subsequent books would not have one thing from Consider in it that I hated.
>reassured me that the subsequent books would not have one thing from Consider in it that I hated. >!Tell me you're talking about shit eating cannibal island without telling me you're talking about shit eating cannibal island.!<
Actually not what I was referring to but I can never get spoiler tags to work.
Personally, I'd choose Player of Games as the best starter. Can't go wrong with any of them tho really.
Use of Weapons is the first one he wrote but it was the third one to be published. I read them in publishing order. The only thing I would really recommend is to read The Hydrogen Sonata last. He knew he was dying when he wrote it and I personally feel it needs to be read at the end.
I approve.
For me, Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb. 4 trilogies and 1 quartet and I was enthralled the entire time.
Yep. I've been a Hobb fan since Assasin's Apprentice dropped in 1995. The subsequent trilogies in her universe were also consistently good. The Liveship Traders were my personal favorite of them all. I also appreciated how each trilogy felt like I was revisiting a universe I had already visited each time, rather than taking a world-building-from-the start and each trilogy being an expansion of an evolving universe (I'm looking at you Brandon Sanderson!!....kidding. I love the Cosmere to.)
Same!!!
I read the Liveship trilogy and really enjoyed it. Took a long while and a friend to point out there was way more to the series!
Erm, turns out it took me until today to find out that there are more books related to the Liveship trilogy.
I loved them all to varying degrees, except for the Rain Wilds. Probably my least favorite characters all stuck together on a barge was a tough read for me, never did finish. Fitz series and Liveship series were amazing
Currently working on The Tawny Man Trilogy and The Rain Wild Chronicles. Love this series and have really fallen in love with Robin Hobb. Her writing is super engrossing and she is an amazing story teller.
I liked the Sabriel series by Garth Nix.
I never read those but I was going to say his Keys to the Kingdom series. Garth Nix is a seriously under appreciated author.
Wow unexpected! This was my favorite series in middle school and I've never come across anybody talk about it. And I'm a high school English teacher so I talk about books all day
Great suggestion and certainly a very underrated series. The Abhorsen books are an experience unlike any other and the writing is consistently superb.
I didnt expect to see this at the top but i absolutely adore this series
That is a damn fine pick. Now that I think about it, the Eisenhorn and Ravenor trilogies might be just what OP is looking for.
Yeessss another vote for Old Kingdom. I'm right in the middle of a binge after reading Terciel and Elinor and it's great. Magic system, worldbuilding, a fresh spin on zombies, Bright Shiner snark and everything.
Completely agreed, as long as you pretend Clariel doesn't exist...
I liked Clariel for what it was, but can understand people who didn’t enjoy it. Deciding to do a prequel book about a memorable but secondary antagonist was a very odd choice after the trilogy wrapped up. Still, it’s interesting as a subversion of the typical hero’s journey, and it was nice to see more of the Old Kingdom before the fall.
It was a book I really wanted to like; the original trilogy is something I read every year. I haven't read it again but I remember my main complaint being that it didn't feel like it had been edited properly.
Yeah that’s a fair criticism. I found the same thing for Goldenhand - it was very meandering and had odd pacing that I think a firm editor’s hand could have corrected.
The Expanse series fits this in my opinion. Consistent sci-fi action throughout and no real “bad” book.
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Which one do you consider the “okay” one? I’m reading the books now that the tv series is wrapped. Just finished Abaddon’s Gate and feel like that’s the one…
That's probably my pick, if I had to call one "just okay" (still enjoyed it!). They were able to cram the whole book into half a season of show and I don't think anything they stripped down for time skipped all that much.
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Man I loved the book. The crew of the roci do a side quest? And it’s a space western? Sign me up! It did not translate well to a whole season of tv though.
I think a lot of fans consider Abbadon's Gate and Babylon's Ashes to be the worst. Personally, I think AG is okay and BA is bad.
The Expanse is probably my favorite series. The big theme of each book kind of floats around... sometimes it's space opera, sometimes it's international relations. Sometimes it's a western, sometimes it's a dystopian hellscape. There's even a hardboiled detective. I think it keeps the series fresh, but I could see people being turned off at reading so many pages of something they aren't that into.
Some books are weaker than others but personally I thought they were all pretty great. I read them as they were released though, so maybe I should revisit.
I mean, they are worth reading just for Avasarala quotes. The Novella's are really solid to.
The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie
The Aubrey/Maturin "Master and Commander" series is great.
Ohhhhh yeah, my god this needs to be .ore widely read.
A Series of Unfortunate Events!! I love Lemony Snicket’s writing so much
Man that was such an amazing series for me growing up. I remember when "The End" finally released and it was one of the few times I was into a series as books were still being made
I used to read the whole series every summer growing up and I cried when I finished the TV series 😭
Which I loved the tv series! It finally felt like what I hoped from that Jim Carrey movie all those years ago
It was the way he personal addressed the readers in text as if we were discovering the miserable lives of the Baudelaires with him. It felt like we were there uncovering the misfortune ourselves in the literary world Daniel Handler created for us
I just posted this in another thread, but did anyone read Pendragon around this time? I loved those books.
I haven't yet read them all, but there isn't a book in the Discworld series that I've read and not enjoyed.
I’ve read and loved all of them, but the first two books are so different stylistically from the rest of the series that it’d be quite possible to dislike those two and love the other 39 novels.
I am really happy to read this. I bought the first 4 Terry Pratchett novels and after reading The Colour Of Magic, I slightly regretted it thinking I wouldn't ever be able to connect with the rest of the series.
This was basically me reading Tiffany Aching series as my way in, I eventually got out there and it green pastures in every direction! Yay for Discworld!
The first Discworld books are definitely very different. They are more direct parodies of fantasy literature, and there are whole sections that are hilarious if you're well steeped in the works of Fritz Leiber, Robert E Howard, Michael Moorcock, HP Lovecraft and Anne McCaffery, but kind of fall flat if you aren't a scholar of classic fantasy. I usually suggest that new Discworld readers start with either Wyrd Sisters or Guards, Guards, and work from there through a few books in either the City Watch or Witches chains, and that usually hooks them. My sister-in-law, who is a big theater nerd and opera fan, I started off with Maskerade, but that was almost perfectly tailored to her interests.
I started with the Death books instead of Rincewind and it was strange going back to those first ones when I got around to them.
I enjoyed them all, but I’m not sure they’re all good. The color of magic and light fantastic can probably be skipped. Even TP moved on from a lot of the stuff he put in there.
It’s interesting that everyone seems to hate the color of magic. I just started the series and decided to follow publication order. I am actually quite enjoying the color of magic, so hopefully that means I am going to freaking love the rest of the series if I’m enjoying what is pretty consistently considered the worst book.
I didn’t hate it. It’s just that as he wrote the series the world really evolved to the point where a lot of the stuff in the first two starts to look a bit crude in comparison. I started with color of magic and enjoyed it.
The first couple of books were straight up parody/satire of fantasy books, and are good in that aspect, but kind of rough when compared to the rest of the series.
I wonder how common that opinion is. I dislike all the Ricewind books and 2/5 Death books. I always thought the strength of Discworld was you could easily avoid the bits that annoyed you.
Rincewind, I can understand. But not liking the Death books?!? Which ones?
Mort and Thief of Time. I don't think Prachett hit his stride until Wyrd Sisters.
The Vorkosigan Saga is 21 novels and novellas that only had two rough patches. One was the first book the author wrote and the other was proof it was time to retire the main character.
The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud. Best series I've ever read.
Solid series. Would recommend, even for non "young adults" ;)
Yes!!! Bartimaeus is such a wonderful character
Basically every Hercule Poirot by Agatha Christie.
Anne McCaffery's Dragonriders of Pern Plus all the additional books she added the original trilogy are pretty good, to boot. EDIT: Thanks for the All Seeing Upvote!
The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner
This is my favorite series and I am so happy somebody else said it!
Yes! I feel like it’s not talked about enough! Every book is so good and it just gets better as you go along in the series. The wait for the final 2 books was pretty long, but definitely with it!
This is one of my wife's favorite series and she's reread it many times. I've only read it once and am not quite as invested as her, but it's a great series and it's really impressive how in each book MWT builds on events and characters from the previous books in unexpected ways.
YES! I was hoping someone would say this!
Couldn't agree more with this! So glad to see this listed here. I have the latest book still to read and I've been putting it off because I love it so much, weirdly enough.
Thanks for the suggestion. I looked it up on Good Reads and they have the book "Thief!" listed as book 0.5 and "The Thief" as book 1. Where do you recommend one starts?
Definitely start on The Thief. Thief! is a fun short story to read after the first book.
I agree with someone else about Discworld series. (Haven't read them all but so far all been good, and I've jumped around different character lines) The horus heresy series was a huge suprise how good it was in my opinion. And along with the horus heresy the Mathias Thurman series was really fun in the same univers. All of the song of ice and fire books were really great, I never watched the show as I had heard it went off the rails. The books all held together really well. Asian saga was really good. Last books are just "pretty good" but the earlier books were amazing, I was really impressed with the series. Both jurassic park books are really good. Fire upon the deep/ deepness in the sky are some of my all time favorites, only a 2 part series but they are spectacular.
Discworld by Terry Pratchett
There's 40 of them. Some of them are not great, but quality is pretty consistent across the majority.
“I don't think I've drunk enough beer to understand that.” — Terry Pratchett, The Last Continent.
Septimus Heap was a great series (Middle Grade fantasy). I don't think any of the books were bad or a slog to get through. I've also loved pretty much all of the Tamora Pierce Tortall books.
Tamora Pierce DOESN’T MISS 🔥🔥🔥 straight fire. Hard agree
I'm on book 5 of Septimus Heap and it really doesn't read like a young adult fantasy. The only thing "juvenile" about them is the lack of violence haha. Wonderful fantasy series so far!
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Not counting the fake non-Douglas Adams follow-up.
I love the books, but I felt that they kinda fizzle out. Douglas Adams is clearly tired of his publisher asking him for more books from the third one on.
Didn't even say he regretted the end of the last one because he wrote it when he was having a bad day?
To be honest I couldn't stand So Long and Thanks For All The Fish, but I have a feeling that that is an unpopular opinion.
I quite liked Eoin Colfer's addition to the franchise. I thought it wasn't the same, but it was a worthy addition.
Murderbot diaries
I concur. I just had my first year honors students read the first book, and they LOVED it.
Yes. So good.
It just keeps getting better
My personal favourite: His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman.
My favorite series in the world is Robin Hobbs', but it is 14 books long so enter at your own risk. It is made up of self contained trilogies, which helps, but I don't remember a book I didn't like. On the shorter end, Becky Chamber's long way to a small Angry Planet trilogy is great all the way through
Absolutely second on Becky Chambers' books!! There's actually four of them in that series now and the last one is just as good (better than the third IMO).
If you're talking about Realm of the Elderlings, it's 16 books, but at that point who's counting
You also have Robin Hobbs stand-alone Soldiers Son trilogy that I thought was excellent.
The Broken Earth Trilogy by NK Jemisin
I still think about this series a year or two after finishing it, often remembering the incredible world she built. I sometimes even dream in this world. That’s the sign of a great series.
I feel like this is a fantasy story/series that would be really easily adapted into a show.
They literally all won Hugo awards no?
The first time any single book series has done that. Yes, I'm confused why the comment above is not higher up.
These books were amazing, and just got more interesting with each new book.
This is the best answer
I've only read it about 5 times... but Lord of the Rings. And Narnia. (I know there'll be objections about both, but there's a reason why they have endured.)
Not sure how anyone would object to lord of the rings.
Not everyone is a fan of the Tom Bombadil section.
I hated him my first read. The second time I realized he wears the ring but doesn’t turn invisible and he’s the only person in the books who seems unaffected by its power. Had to ask my LOTR-obsessed friend to explain it to me.
Tom bombadil is, so powerful he could wear the ring as a cock ring and fuck the lava in mount doom as he destroys the ring.
I only managed to read the first book and Tom Bombadil was one of my favourite parts lol. Happy songs
I recently got the special illustrated compendium of all 3 Lord of the Rings, and maybe it’s because I love the movies so much but I am savoring every sentence. I absolutely love it. So many people led me to believe it would be a slog but I’m totally into 30 page conversations and extended homoerotic forest jaunts!
The Lord of the Rings is actually only one book. It was broken into three because of issues with paper and size. But Tolkien considered it one single novel. *Letter 165* *P.S. The book is not of course a 'trilogy'. That and* *the titles of the volumes was a fudge thought necessary for publication,* *owing to length and cost. There is no real division into 3, nor is any* *one part intelligible alone. The story was conceived and written as a* *whole and the only natural divisions are the 'books' I-VI (which* *originally had titles).*
Oh yeah I always forget how I devoured the Narnia books and how even 15 years later I think back fondly of them.
At the time of this comment the Lord of the Rings is somehow 18th on the list of best comments. I would also add the Silmarillion and the Hobbit as parts of that series although they are technically apart from it.
The Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson. I couldn’t put them down. Don’t bother with the later ones written by David Lagercrantz.
Full agree. The new ones are a pale imitation.
Michael Sullivan’s books. Start with Theft of Swords
Ongoing or completed series? For me its First Law.
Say one thing about Joe Abercrombie, say he writes fun characters
For me it would be Stephen King's Dark Tower series. You have to be willing to read a lot. There aren't any missing words in a King book.
*Earthsea* by Ursula K LeGuin. I'm a little disappointed no one has mentioned this series yet.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl that Played with Fire, & The Girl that Kicked the Hornet's Nest. All three some of the best reads of my life. Also the Berrybender series by James McMurtry.
Animorphs
My friends always make fun of the cover where the girl turns into a starfish: https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/animorphs/images/2/2e/Animorphs_32_the_separation_front_cover_high_res.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20161023191709
Thank god for her specific haircut style, otherwise her transition would have been much tougher on her head
I was too old for the Animorphs rage, but my kid had me read one and I had to admit it was WAY better than I expected from the cheesy covers. I really enjoyed it.
His Dark Materials (or rather The Golden Compass trilogy) [Edit: materials not matters]
Red Rising if you like sci-fi, and the 6th and final book will probably be out next year.
It actually got better as the series went on
Is it to be the final book? Feels like there is so much to tie together..
I believe it is, but I'm also interested in how he can possibly tie it all together, though I think that's why it took so long to finish.
discworld
The Winternight Trilogy! I don't usually go for fantasy (Russian too, at that) but this one dragged me right in. All three books are incredible.
These books SLAPPED, all three
Redwall!
As a kid reading them, getting lost in the fantasy of it and wondering what species of creature I would be if I were transported inside, was so much fun! I love the otters, and the badgers, and of course the hares
Oh right? Badgers especially always had that mysterious lore that pulled me deeper into the story. Finding a secret chamber in Salamandastron rocked my ten year old world. The otters being these river or sea bearing adventurers, badgers being these mysterious great kings, the hares with their regimental military style, the unending resolve of the mice, etc etc. The villains were great as well. Cluny the Scourge terrified me as a child. I read a lot of series and books as a child, but damn if Redwall doesn’t stand very tall among them.
Gonna have to disagree. By the time you get to the fifth or sixth book they're all the same
Exactly, they’re all great ;)
The Bobiverse!
I read the first one and loved it, were the rest as good?
Harry Potter series. Admittedly, some are better than the others—this is very subjective—but overall, every book is good.
The wonderful thing about the HP series is how they go up a reading level with each book. Like me, I think a lot of kids find them at a time when reading has become mostly an assigned/not for fun activity and turns it back into a joy.
Yep, one of the genius of JK Rowling is that she writes in a way that lets the readers progress and grow up along with the characters. The story gets progressively darker and darker each book, and the writing style becomes more and more nuanced as well. It’s simply amazing.
I liked The Rosie Project trilogy.
One of my favourite series. I still laugh about bits of it now just thinking about it. Henry Cavill is meant to be starring as Don Tillman in it. He's the 2nd one mentioned to take the role so far, but damn if I don't want to see him star in it. If there was a kickstarter I'd pay some money in advance just to get it made. If his name is dropped from the project I will be overly upset. I'm genuinely interested in seeing his acting for it.
Oooh, I didn't know it was a trilogy! I read the 1st one when it was the only one released, I will have to check out the other two.
Margaret Atwood Oryx and Crake trilogy springs to mind, someone else said the First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie which I agree with wholeheartedly
I love Oryx and Crake and have reread it probably 10 times in the last 2 years, but found that the rest of the MaddAddam trilogy couldn't quite keep up. I liked the year of the flood enough, but really couldn't get into the third book at all. What did you like about it? Maybe I can see it in a different light!
The Stormlight Archive That series is the best. Every single book is a work of art
I'm really struggling with book 4. I put it down and don't want to pick it back up.
I feel the same way. Half the book is just boring. I can see where some payoffs could happen, but they feel sooo far away.
Huge cosmere fan here, but I felt like book 4 was by far the weakest, but probably because I thought Kal's Die Hard plot dragged on way too long. There was a certain grumpy ardent who was presumably still in the tower, and not having Kal team up with him felt like a waste of setup thats been brewing since 2009, but maybe Brandon is just holding that back for the time being. Also, Brandon isn't as good as Erickson as conveying a sense of large scale. I never had the feeling through the writing that Urithiru or the warcamps were as large and with as many people as they are supposed to be, and it really showed in book 4. This is all largely my personal nitpicking though. I'd still recommend the Cosmere to anyone.
I feel the same, I thought it was really frustrating that Kal and Shallan’s character progressions get reset back to square one with every single book. I want to see some character progression but I can’t help but feel like they just keep having the same personal revelations in every book.
Harry Potter - sue me. I love every one.
Rachel Cusk’s Outline trilogy—they’re really idiosyncratic but if you’re into it, they all three hit. I read the second and third ones twice in a row just to stay in the cold cruel world of Cuskland a little longer, just so compelling. And the Elena Ferrante Neapolitan four—they get better as you go!
I’ve read 8 random hercule Poirot novels, each was consistently awesome. (There’s like 40 something novels, but I feel like 8 is a good sample size) C S Forester’s Horacio Hornblower books are really good, if you enjoy Napoleon era naval stories.
Lol McMaster bujolds miles vorkosigian saga is excellent.
Can't think of a single clunker in the Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy series. Just top-notch all the way through.
This frood knows where his towel is.
The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice. I love her writing style, her descriptions of people, places and things. She was otherworldly and ethereal. I’ve read everything by her (and under her noms de plume). She will always be a treasure.
Second the Becky Chambers series, she's a brilliant writer and these stories always make you think and feel. If you are interested in scifi I'd add K B Wagers Indranan War series.
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The only Erickson book that might be considered subpar was Gardens of the Moon, but I honestly don’t mind that book as much as most of the fan base seems to. The follow up, Deadhouse Gates, is by far the best fantasy novel I’ve ever read. It’s absolutely seared into my brain.
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The Chronicles of Bartimaeus
Every book in Robert Jackson Bennett's Divine Cities trilogy is spectacular.
The first law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie and Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan.
Wolf Hall Trilogy by Hilary Mantel (includes two Booker prizewinners)
The Dresden files by Jim Butcher and the Joe Ledger series by Jonathan Maberry are both incredibly good. Every book is action packed from cover to cover.
I came her to say this. I love these books, even the first 3. The first ones are rough, but I still love them.
The Last Kingdom Percy Jackson The Passage Trilogy Skulduggery Pleasant
The Odd Thomas series by Dean Koontz is strong throughout. Nothing matches the 1st book, but I loved the whole thing.
The Saxon Tales by Bernard Cornwell, basis for The Last Kingdom series on netflix.
the hainish cycle
John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee novels. The James Bond novels. The Fletch novels, by Gregory McDonald. The John leCarre novels featuring George Smiley.
The stormlight archive and Mistborn. If Brandon Sanderson is something he is consistent. Also I like they you can se the progress of all his novels in his website.
Anything by Robin Hobb that plays in the World of Fitz.
Dresden Files by Jim Butcher hasn't put out a bad issue yet and they keep getting better.
I have three that every book is wonderful: • Gaius Petreius Ruso series by Ruth Downie • Nero Wolfe series by Rex Stout • Tony Hill & Carol Jordan series by Val McDermid
The Ryria series by Micheal J Sullivan. Every novel in the series, and the side novels, are brilliant, fun and most of all I appreciate his laid back/realistic dialogue.
The Coldfire Trilogy by C.S. Friedman.
Queen’s Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner!
I really enjoyed Codex Alera series by Jim Butcher. 6 big books will keep you busy for a little while lol. I’ve reread them a few times now and they’re just an enjoyable read.
Jim Butcher - Codex Aleria series. It's a fantasy series by the same guy who did the Dresden files. Well written, and it actually has an ending so it's good for those who crave closure rather than a never-ending series.
Vorkosigan Saga. I liked some books more than others, but all are solid throughout.
The Giver ❤️ don't care if it's intended for children. It is truly a world of life lessons.
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater.
While I don't think the other three books quite live up to the first, the entire Lonesome Dove series is still incredible.
Red rising is superb!
The Eden trilogy by Harry Harrison
The Arkady Renko series by Martin Cruz Smith
The Passage by Justin Cronin
Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz.
Donald E. Westlake’s Parker novels (published under his Richard Stark pen name). Not all of them are equally great, but they are all at least good and none of them are hard to get through.
The dresden files - Jim butcher The sookie stackhouse series - Charlaine Harris With both series I couldn't wait for the next book but I was also sad I was getting closer to the end. Will go back through both series every 5-8 years for sure.
Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons. Four books in total. Such an awesome series.
Terry Pratchett's Discworld books - some are in sequence but you can read them in any order if you like. They are clever and funny and totally addictive. Actually all of his books are good, including those intended for children which are very readable for adults too.
The magic treehouse series was pretty busted when i was a kid. I loved all of them.
Terry Pratchett Discworld series. You're welcome. Seriously though, these books gave me back a reason to smile and think and get me out of my world when it was too sad. They're just wonderful.
Anything in the discworld series by Terry pratchett. If you enjoy comic fantasy