Good Book series (I need suggestions)

L

lordxixor101

CAGiversary!
Well, the title says it all there. I am looking for some good book series (looking to get into another book series) to start reading (probably start over the weekend). Right now, I am finishing up the Harry Potter series (which I have amazingly liked, so please no spoilers). In the past, I've read several Star Wars series, the LOTR, Many of Tom Clancy's books (Been reading for 20+ years, can't really list every book I've ever read here). Really, I lean towards Sci-Fi/Fantasty reading, but I really enjoy most genre's.

My only other "requirement" is that I would like if the series was complete, so I could read through the whole thing without having to wait for the next release.

So, what have you enjoyed?
 
[quote name='lordxixor101']Well, the title says it all there. I am looking for some good book series (looking to get into another book series) to start reading (probably start over the weekend). Right now, I am finishing up the Harry Potter series (which I have amazingly liked, so please no spoilers). In the past, I've read several Star Wars series, the LOTR, Many of Tom Clancy's books (Been reading for 20+ years, can't really list every book I've ever read here). Really, I lean towards Sci-Fi/Fantasty reading, but I really enjoy most genre's.

My only other "requirement" is that I would like if the series was complete, so I could read through the whole thing without having to wait for the next release.

So, what have you enjoyed?[/quote]

I just read the 'His Dark Materials' trilogy and with the first movie (the Golden Compass) coming out in decemebr you might like it.
 
Terry Pratchett's Discworld series? It's brilliant British satire/comedy with a decidedly fantasy bent. A friend finally convinced me to read one of his books this summer (I'm not a fantasy reader), and I became hooked. I've only read 4 of his books, but it seems to me there is not so much "order" in the series. As you read more and more of the books, you are familiar with the characters at given points in time, and find that each book puts you down at a different snapshot of something going on in their world. It may be possible to read them chronologically, but it is not vital to the series at all.
 
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - it's a 5 volume trilogy. (Though it wouldn't surprise me at all if you'd already read these.)

I've just started reading the Discworld series as well. Good stuff.

If you are looking for some straight fantasy check out R. A. Salvatore. He has several trilogies and other series. Pretty much all are very easy reads. I'd suggest starting with The Dark Elf Trilogy.

And Dune is a classic. Herbert wrote further volumes and his son is still writing stuff in that universe if you really get hooked.

The Bond novels are fun.
 
I would suggest checking out the Pendragon books and the Hungry City Chronicles since you like fantasy/sci-fi books.
 
Hmm... so, so many I could suggest, but I don't want to scare you off!

My favorite is the Dune series by Frank Herbert. It's a sci-fi/fantasy set that revolves around a desert world, a drug found there, religion, and politics. It actually can sound pretty un-appealing when described outright, but it is one of the most intelligently written works I've had the pleasure of reading. It's 6 books, each a different size/length, and then his son along with Kevin J. Anderson have written probably 8 in the past 10 years, based off of Frank Herbert's notes and unfinished drafts (very much like Tolkien's son did, but these books are actually enjoyable).

My other suggestion is more the hardcore fantasy type, with no sci-fi. The author is Carol Berg, and there are currently two finished series under her belt to choose from. The first is the Rai Kirai Trilogy, based around a man named Seyonne that essentually can enter people's souls to remove "demons." The other is a quartet, called The Bridge of D'Arnath, which has a similar feel to the Rai Kirai, but the protagonist is female, and the time span of the set is much more broad, allowing for further characters later into the series.

If nothing else, at least go look these books up on amazon and see if they appeal to you. I've literally built a library room into my home, with 3 walls lined floor to ceiling with books, and these are my very best recommendations. I hope if you do find them interesting enough to try, that you get half the enjoyment out of them that I did!
 
I'm suprised nobody has suggested Robert Heinlein's books to you since you said you like Sci Fi.

You should really, really check out "Stranger in a Strange Land." Its not a series but there are commonalities between this book and his other works. It is a great read and changes you.
 
Okay.. here is my lists of recommended sci-fi/fantasy....

First and foremost is Gene Wolfe's Books of the New Sun. Probably my favorite book series ever. Anything by Gene Wolfe is great great great.

The second best author for epic Sci-Fi/Fantasy is hands down Dan Simmons. His Hyperion Cantos and Illium/Olympos duology rank up there as some of my favorite books ever. Excellent stuff that I can't recommend enough.

Dark Tower series by King. Good stuff. Some people dislike the direction the series took towards the end. I can't say I totally disagree with them, but its still one of my favorite collections.

Robin Hobb's FarSeer series. It's a total of 9 books spanning three trilogies. Very good stuff.

An earlier poster mentioned Heinlein Stranger in a Strange Land. I think that it is probably a book that was much more meaningful 40 years ago. I just couldn't get into it, care for the characters, or agree with the comments or beliefs of some of the characters (weather or not that was the author's opinon). I'm sure it was cutting endge in 1961, but it feels slow and draggy now. I would highly recommend Heinlein's Starship Troopers though.

On a side note... my favorite stand alone book is To Stand on Zanzibar by Brunner. The book really speaks of the problems today even though it was written 40 years ago.
 
I second the Dune suggestion. Best sci-fi available, IMO.

The original series (Frank Herbert) contains 6 titles: Dune, Dune Messiah, God Emperor Dune, Children of Dune, Heretics of Dune, and Chapterhouse Dune.

Frank has since passed, and his son (together with Kevin Anderson) has written 2 prequel trilogies (House Atreides, House Harkonnen, House Corrino; The Butlerian Jihad, The Machine Crusade, and one more I can't remember), and recently published a sequel that goes onto the end of the original 6 books, entitles Hunters of Dune.

You'll love 'em.
 
One of my all-time favorite series is Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber. This is hands-down one of my top favorite series of sci-fi fiction. It is told in two parts, the first five books are from the perspective of Corwin, who wakes up in a hospital with anmesia and the reader discoveres everything with him as he slowly recovers his memory. The second five books are that of Corwin's son, Merlin.

A few years ago they released a compilation soft-cover version with all 10 books.

Another under-rated series if you like classic pulp-era sci-fi is the Martian Chronicles of Edgar Rice Burroughs (the guy who created Tarzan). Disney bought the movie rights to these books a few years ago, and Pixar just annouced about a month ago that they were working on doing three movies based on this series. They are in pre-production now, and the first isn't planned to release until 2012.
 
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Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Please keep them coming. And, for Dunvane, I definitely plan to look up several of the series mentioned here.
 
[quote name='Vampyre611']I just read the 'His Dark Materials' trilogy and with the first movie (the Golden Compass) coming out in decemebr you might like it.[/quote]

Seconded, great series. I'm not sure how the movie will hold up after reading the books, but we'll see.

Brak, that Choose your own Adventure book takes me back a few years.:) I used to love those books back in the day.
 
I haven't seen anyone suggest the Ender's Game books. I've only read Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow but enjoyed both a lot.
 
The Ender's Game series from Orson Scott Card is simply the best Sci-fi ever.

Also the Hyperion is series is pure awesomeness.
 
[quote name='xmrblondex']Asimov's foundation series, and any of the robot books he wrote. Great stories.[/QUOTE]


Foundation is a great series that I don't think really gets mentioned since it is probably overshadowed by all of Asimov's other works.

One of my favorite series (though I'm not sure if it's complete) is the Recluse Saga by L. E. Modesit. Takes a really, really different slant of good and evil in a fantasy universe.
 
[quote name='darthbudge']The Ender's Game series from Orson Scott Card is simply the best Sci-fi ever.

Also the Hyperion is series is pure awesomeness.[/QUOTE]

I actually read Ender's Game, not the other 2. I was forced to read it for a Science Fiction class in high school, and I absolutely loved it. It was amazing. At the time, I had finals and other books to read, so I couldn't read any further at the time, and I never went back to finish it. It might be time.
 
Neither of these is really a series, but you should really check out if you want to give SciFi a rest and try some really good fiction:
Shogun by James Clavell
Power of One Bryce Courtenay
or read the Red Dwarf books by Grant Naylor. WAY better and funnier than the TV show.
 
[quote name='Mr Unoriginal']One of my favorite series (though I'm not sure if it's complete) is the Recluse Saga by L. E. Modesit. Takes a really, really different slant of good and evil in a fantasy universe.[/QUOTE]

I'll second Recluse, it's an excellent overall series. The largest pitfall, though, is that Modesitt pretty much recycles the idea of "coming of power" stories for characters over and over again, so his own books suffer from lack of originality after a while. However, the new one, Natural Ordermaster, that came out in September sounds a little more interesting.

I think I've read through the 12th book. I'll pick up the 13th over winter break and this new one when it hits paperback.

I'll also second the Discworld series. Anything by Pratchett has great humor. Look for the one that deals with the newspaper being set up in Ankh-Morpork (did I even spell that right? it's been a while...), I think the title was The Truth. It has a vampire photographer. Think about that one for a minute. :D

Also, although it starts to get bland and preachy after a whle, the first five or six volumes of Goodkind's Sword of Truth series are excellent. (Whoo, last volume finally comes out later this month!)

For some good, semi-dark modern fantasy, go check out American Gods by Neil Gaiman (also has a sequal, Anansi Boys, which I haven't read), and Good Omens by both Pratchett and Gaiman. Also, look up the Word and the Void trilogy (Running with the Demon, A Knight of the Word, and Angel Fire East) by Terry Brooks.

Man, I need to start reading again. :D
 
[quote name='Dokstarr']Dark Tower series by King. Good stuff. Some people dislike the direction the series took towards the end. I can't say I totally disagree with them, but its still one of my favorite collections.
[/quote]

Great series.
 
i'll be another to throw the dark tower out there, also the bukowski novels that feature Henry Chinaski, i don't know if i'd consider it a true series, and when i was in high school, i tore through some dragonlance books.
 
[quote name='Krymner']One of my all-time favorite series is Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber. This is hands-down one of my top favorite series of sci-fi fiction. It is told in two parts, the first five books are from the perspective of Corwin, who wakes up in a hospital with anmesia and the reader discoveres everything with him as he slowly recovers his memory. The second five books are that of Corwin's son, Merlin.

A few years ago they released a compilation soft-cover version with all 10 books.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the link to that collection. Zelazny wrote one of the best short stories I've ever read (For a breath I tarry) and I've been meaning to get more of his stuff. I'm gonna read the first Chronicles of Amber book and if I like it I'll buy that.
 
Tagging this - also a few repeats/suggestions

I really dug Terry Brooks stuff back in the day - same with David Eddings multiple good series there to go through.

I also really liked Goodkind's sword of truth books but I kinda lost them for a while - since the last one is coming out I need to see where I left off.

The ...Darkness books (Into the Darkness, Through the Darkness, etc) by Harry Turtledove are were a neat combo of fantasy/alternate history of WWII sounds weird but I loved em.

For the person that mentioned Dragonlance stuff I've enjoyed many of the series written by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis
 
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever

3 volume epic fantasy, but with one of the most compelling main characters I've ever read about. He's also a fantastic anti-hero. I can't recommend it enough.
 
As for Hitchhiker's Guide, personally I liked the BBC radio series even better than the books. And yeah, the movie stunk. I wish I hadn't paid to see it in theatres. I wish it haden't been my family's first exposure to HHG.
 
[quote name='Callandor']

Also, although it starts to get bland and preachy after a whle, the first five or six volumes of Goodkind's Sword of Truth series are excellent. (Whoo, last volume finally comes out later this month!)

For some good, semi-dark modern fantasy, go check out American Gods by Neil Gaiman (also has a sequal, Anansi Boys, which I haven't read), and Good Omens by both Pratchett and Gaiman. Also, look up the Word and the Void trilogy (Running with the Demon, A Knight of the Word, and Angel Fire East) by Terry Goodkind.

Man, I need to start reading again. :D[/QUOTE]

2 things:

The Sword of Truth series is way, way up there on the awesome scale; however, there are maybe 2 books out of the whole thing that just don't cut it (the 5th one, Soul of the Fire, and the 8th one, Naked Empire). But, it should be said that if one wanted to, you can read the final three in the series as a stand-alone trilogy. He designed the final three to be the "Confessor Trilogy," so you could read those and then think of a 8-book-long prequel, lol.

And the Word and Void Trilogy was written by Terry Brooks. Terry Goodkind is Sword of Truth series.
 
Dune - although the first is the best, I thoroughly enjoyed all of the Frank Herbert ones and even slogged through the Brian Herbert ones.

Shadow & Claw / Sword & Citadel by Gene Wolfe are both great books. They are hard to explain and can be a bit dense, but they are just about the best science fiction I have ever read.

Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrel by Susanna Clarke - while this isn't a series it is certainly a long and good book about 2 magicians in 18th century Britain.

The Temeraire series. I'm just finishing up the latest book in this series, and I have loved all of them. They play out exactly like a Patrick O'Brien book (Master and Commander, Far Side of the World, the rest of the Aubrey-Maturin series) except instead of fighting Napoleon at sea, they fight Napoleon on dragons.
 
[quote name='sailorchrono']Choose Your Own adventure books 4tw [/QUOTE]

agree totally
hahaha i remember those!!!!


Hitchhikers Guide is unbelievable. You NEED to read the first one even if you don't think its something that will interest you. The movie isnt as good so if you saw that and didnt like it you should give this a chance...
 
His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. Yeah, I'll be the 4th or so person here to recommend this one.

I was unsure about getting this trilogy, but I bought it anyway and gave it a shot. Book 1 (The Golden Compass) was really good, and the it just got better and better with The Subtle Knife until the awesome conclusion. I

finished the trilogy recently, but I still think about it, as it really left a permanent mark in my mind and heart, and I'll never forget it.(cheesy, but true.)
 
[quote name='Dunvane']2 things:

The Sword of Truth series is way, way up there on the awesome scale; however, there are maybe 2 books out of the whole thing that just don't cut it (the 5th one, Soul of the Fire, and the 8th one, Naked Empire). But, it should be said that if one wanted to, you can read the final three in the series as a stand-alone trilogy. He designed the final three to be the "Confessor Trilogy," so you could read those and then think of a 8-book-long prequel, lol.

And the Word and Void Trilogy was written by Terry Brooks. Terry Goodkind is Sword of Truth series.[/QUOTE]

2 reponses :D :

Yes, Sword of Truth is awesome, I never denied that. Just that I haven't been as satisfied as I was when I first started reading the series. I started around when Temple of the Winds came out, and I've been reading them around release ever since. Confessor will be 23 different kinds of awesome. \\:D/

And my bad on Brooks. I fixed that now. I was a bit out of it at that time.
 
Belgarion series
Death Gate cycle
Redemption of Althalus
Weaveworld
Neverwhere
Dark Tower series
Darksword series

and finally, I don't remember what the series was called, but I remember there was a demon horse (possible called darkhorse) that the main character could summon. Maybe someone can help me out with that.
 
The Dark Tower series by Stephen King, I just finished it and it was one hell of a ride.

Also I will continue to echo other sentiments in this thread with Hitchhikers Guide and the Ender series.
 
Jack L. Chalker, Rings of the masters 4 book series, cant remeber individual book names but that is the series title....a little light, but enjoyable

And yet another vote for DUNE.....amazing series....Read the Main 6 then see if you want to read his son's books after.

And on a fantasy note Dennis L. McKiernan The IRON TOWER trilogy......good stuff
 
[quote name='wubb']If you're gonna do a CYOA book you gotta go with one of those that have you track hit points and inventory with a pencil. I mean you might as well geek out all the way right?

Lone Wolf FTW! http://www.amazon.com/Flight-Dark-Lone-Wolf-Book/dp/0425084361/[/QUOTE]

Wow, didn't think I'd see someone who played these 'games'. This series got me through many car trips, but let's be honest, who didn't cheat like crazy with the die rolls?

Also, I'm surprised to see so much love for Ender. I really, really, really got into the first book, but couldn't get through Speaker for the Dead. Could I skip it and just try the third book?
 
[quote name='Mr Unoriginal']Wow, didn't think I'd see someone who played these 'games'. This series got me through many car trips, but let's be honest, who didn't cheat like crazy with the die rolls?
[/QUOTE]

What, me cheat? ;)

And actually you closed your eyes and poked at a page in the back with the numbers printed out in a grid. (I forgot about that but just read about the series a bit on wiki.) Or if you had a 10 sided die you could have used that. I wonder why he didn't work the system around the common 6-sided die?
 
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