Your favorite series of books.

[Justin D.]

We hear all the time about series of books like Harry Potter, Dune, Wheel of Time, Rucka's Atticus Kodiak books, Discworld, and other well-known series. But what about the others? There are a lot of other series of books out there that don't get discussed as often. Here's one of my favorite series of books.

The Orion series by Ben Bova

* Orion (1984)
* Vengeance of Orion (1988)
* Orion in the Dying Time (1990)
* Orion and the Conquerer (1994)
* Orion Among the Stars (1995)

A fun read about a strong character that jumps around from ancient Egypt to futuristic space fights. Then again, I haven't read this in years and it might be possible I'm remembering through some sort of rose-tinted lenses. I remember really looking forward to finding each new book. Not all were equal in quality. I may try rereading them soon after I finish what I'm reading now.

Hmm.. this seemed more rambling that I intended it to be. Anyone have recommendations for a good series of books?

[Jay]

Hmm, a few of mine -


-Sea of Fertility Tetraology by Mishima Yukio

Spring Snow
Runaway Horses
The Temple of Dawn
The Decay of the Angel

-Empire of the Sun by J.G. Ballard

Empire of the Sun
The Kindness of Women

-Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake

Titus Groan
Gormenghast
Titus Alone

-Viriconium by M. John Harrison

The Pastel City
A Storm of Wings
In Viriconium
The Floating Gods
Viriconium Nights


-New York Trilogy by Paul Auster

City of Glass
Ghosts
The Locked Room


-Well Built City trilogy by Jeffrey Ford

The Physiognomy
Memoranda
The Beyond

-A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin

A Game of Thrones
A Clash of Kings
A Storm of Swords
Feast for Crows
A Dance with Dragons (forthcoming)
Winds of Winters (forthcoming)

-Aeygpt Tetrology by John Crowley

Aegypt
Love and Sleep
Daemonomania

-The Prince of Nothing by R. Scot Bakker

The Darkness That Comes Before
The Warrior-Prophet
The Thousandfold Thought (forthcoming but excelent)

-Dune by Frank Herbert

Dune
Dune Messiah
Children of Dune
God Emperor of Dune
Heretics of Dune
Chapterhouse: Dune

-Cornelius quartet - by Michael Moorcock

The Final Programme
A Cure for Cancer
The English Assassin
The Condition of Muzak

-Between the Wars quartet (aka Pyatt quartet) by Michael Moorcock

Byzantium Endures
The Laughter of Carthage
Jerusalem Commands
The Vengeance of Rome (forthcoming)

-Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson

Gardens of the Moon
DeadHouse Gates
Memories of Ice
House of Chains
Midnight Tides
BoneHunter (forthcoming)
Dust of Dreams (forthcoming)
Hounds Toll (forthcoming)
Reapers Cale (forthcoming)
Crippled God (forthcoming)

-Fredrica quartet by A.S. Byatt

The Virgin in the Garden
Still Life
Babel Tower
A Whistling Woman

-The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe

The Shadow of the Torturer
The Claw of the Conciliator
The Sword of the Lictor
The Citadel of the Autarch
The Urth of the New Sun

-Cities of the Night by William Burroughs

Cities of the Red Night: A Boy's Book
The Place of Dead Roads
The Western Lands


-Rondua by Jonathan Carroll

Bones of the Moon
Sleeping in Flame
A Child Across the Sky

- Last Call by Tim Powers

Last Call
Expiration Date
Earthquake Weather

-The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson

Quicksilver
The Confusion
The System of the World

-The Jerusalem Quartet by Edward Whittemore

Sinai Tapestry
Jerusalem Poker
Nile Shadows
Jericho Mosaic


-Culture by Iain M. Banks

Consider Phlebas
The Player of Games
The State of the Art
Use of Weapons
Excession
Inversions
Look to Windward

-New Crobuzon booka (technicaly ntoa series busame setting) by China Mieville

Perdido Street Station
The Scar
Iron Council

-Hainish sequence by Ursula Leguin

Planet of Exile
Rocannon's World
City of Illusions
The Left Hand of Darkness
The Word for World Is Forest
The Dispossessed

Border Trilogy by Cormac Mccarthy

All the Pretty Horses
The Crossing
Cities of the Plain

The First Chronicles of Amber - Roger Zelazny

Nine Princes in Amber
The Guns of Avalon
Sign of the Unicorn
The Hand of Oberon
The Courts of Chaos

Hyperion Cantos - Dan Simmons

Hyperion
Fall of Hyperion
Endymion
Rise of Endymion

[Chiasm]

Hyperion Cantos - Dan Simmons

Hyperion
Fall of Hyperion
Endymion
Rise of Endymion

This is my all time favorite series. I've never read anything that comes even close to how much I enjoy it. Although I liked the first two books better than the second two.

[Sanagi]

Tough one, but I guess I'd say Discworld.

[Greg Hatcher]

Bova's Orion got his start in Byron Preiss' Weird Heroes anthologies back in the 70's, you know. The first two sections of the first novel were published there, with illustrations by Craig Russell. Other books that got their start in Weird Heroes were Greatheart Silver by Philip Jose Farmer, The Oz Encounter by Marv Wolfman, and -- my favorite -- Darkworld Detective by Michael Reaves.

Weird Heroes and its spinoffs would actually BE my favorite series, I think. Others:

The James Bond books by Ian Fleming
The Nero Wolfe books by Rex Stout
The Wold Newton tie-in books by Philip Jose Farmer (see the thread elsewhere on this board)
The Kinsey Millhone books by Sue Grafton
The Sherlock Holmes/Mary Russell books by Laurie King
The Gary Seven Star Trek books by Greg Cox (I guess that's a series within a series, though really I think you almost have to call Trek novels a genre now.)

There are others. I read a LOT. And I excluded guys like Robert E. Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs because I enjoy ALL their stuff, not just one series. But those listed above would be the favorites.

[Karl J. Barnes]

Thomas Covenant first two trilogies by Stephen R. Donaldson:

First Trilogy:

Lord Foul's Bane
The Illearth War
The Power That Preseves


Second Trilogy:

The Wounded Land
The One Tree
White Gold Wielder

[Jared H.]

It's flawed in many ways, but it's still my most favorite trilogy:

Jack L Chalker's "Quintara Marathon."

"The Demons at Rainbow Bridge."
"The Run to Chaos Keep."
"The Ninety Trillion Fausts."

Next to that, the Discworld series.

[Calamas]

Greg’s list left the Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre to also dabble in Crime. Well, that’s where I live. However, in Mysteries the series run really long, so I won’t list each entry individually:

“Travis McGee” by John D MacDonald
“Matt Helm” by Donald Hamilton
“87th Precinct” by Ed McBain
“Matt Scudder” by Lawrence Block
“Lew Archer” by Ross MacDonald
“The November Man” by Bill Granger
“Dave Brandstetter” by Joseph Hansen
“Nate Heller” by Max Allan Collins

[Roquefort Raider]

I am shocked, shocked that no one has yet mentioned "The butlerian jihad" trilogy.
















Wasn't there a barfing emoticon somewhere?

[Roquefort Raider]

This is my all time favorite series. I've never read anything that comes even close to how much I enjoy it. Although I liked the first two books better than the second two.

Same here. I found the first one absolutely brilliant and original, the second one brilliant and straightforward, the third one exellent and straightforward, and the last one satifsfyingly good.

I also have a special fondness for the series because I associate it with traveling: I read most of the first one on a very long train journey, and the second and third ones on two different cases of being stuck in transit in an airport.

[Greg Hatcher]

“Travis McGee” by John D MacDonald
“Matt Helm” by Donald Hamilton

I love these two enough that I probably should have listed them, though I have other books by those same authors and I like those a lot too.

[xgeek52]

calamas has the way of it...but i would add spenser, stephanie plum, carol o'connell's mallory and ellery queen... to name a few :D

[Nate C.]

I'm very fond of

The Three Investigators Series

and

Robert Lyn Asprin's Myth Series

[primetime]

its hard for me to stay involved for a whole series...but id go the sci-fi route with the ender series.

[Chevan]

The Redwall series by Brian Jacques - This is more of a children's series, but I was quite fond of it when I was younger. Very entertaining.

Series of Unfortunate Events - Again, a children's series, but I enjoy the style it's written in.

The Wizardy Series by Diane Duane - Same deal; young adult books, but an interesting read.

T.A. Baron's Merlin series - Another childhood favorite.

I guess there's a theme there. Most of the series I remember really well are either ones from when I was younger, or they're the wildly popular ones that everyone's familiar with.