Does anyone else have a favorite series that you've read several times through?
Mine is Isobelle Carmody's Obernewtyn series. I discovered it on a foray to the library roughly 12 years ago, when I was randomly trying books that looked good and authors in alphabetical order(this strategy worked for the Sci Fi/Fantasy section years before), and was instantly pulled into the series. I was no stranger to post-apocalyptic literature, which is an overused plot point in YA books, and yet I couldn't dismiss the series as unimaginative drivel. The overarching storyline and the talking animals are tied for the biggest hook for me. There are surely better stories out there but I am forever enthralled by the adventures of Elspeth Gordie and the Misfits of Obernewtyn. Second place goes to Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller series, which takes place in the Four Corners world that will be expanded in further novels and probably the Kingkiller TV show that is being made.
Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy. The thing I enjoy most in fiction is world-building, and I have yet to read a series that does it better (although The Stormlight Archive might top it by the time it is done, judging by the first one). Robinson also manages to make the massive cast of characters all completely distinctive and very human. No matter how many times I read them, I always feel somewhat disappointed at the end because I won't get to spend any more time learning of their lives.
(I must confess that I read Obernewtyn years ago as a teenager and didn't much enjoy it, as I recall. It took me two attempts to get through it, and I quickly gave up again near the beginning of the second book, the name of which I can't even recall.)
The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud will forever hold a very dear place in my heart, as it was one of the first big fantasy novels that I every read, and it paved the way for my personal journey in to Fantasy literature as a whole.
To this day, it remains my most beloved Fantasy series (the fourth book was not nearly as good as the original three, and I obviously don't hold it in as high regard as the others). It was the first novel that a truly got engaged in, and by the end of the third novel, I was taken aback at how attached I became to the characters, and I actually was sad that I finished the trilogy. I've since read the trilogy again, when I was anticipating the release of the fourth book (released in 2010), and the emotional impact was similar to the first time.
The Dark Tower Cycle. At the time, I had no idea how malleable the fantasy genre was. Throwing out the elves and dwarves for mutants, vampires, robots and demons gave the series a different kind of aesthetic than the other fantasy I'd read up to that point (Potter and Rings). I felt as if I really knew Roland, Eddie, Susannah, Jake and Oy. I especially liked how dysfunctional Roland's fellowship was in The Drawing of the Three.
I've only read Harry Potter once. I grew up with this series; I do not intend to reread this series anytime soon. I want to keep those good memories of going through it the first time. I will read the books with my children, and hopefully there'll be just as much magic in there for them as there was for me.
I really enjoy Asimov's Foundation universe. I love how his characters seemingly find a way to solve the major problems of the galaxy with intelligence rather than force. I'm also a sucker for a story that takes place over hundreds or thousands of years.
Hmmmm, so many ways I would classify them: Nostalgia: The Belgariad by David Eddings. It is cliche, uses tired depictions of archetypes, and more than a little obvious, but it was the first fantasy series that I chose and could not put down in my young life and I will always love reading it for this reason alone. I get highly emotional when I read it, not because it is so evocative but because I got so emotional when I read it when I was 12. While most of Eddings women are pretty stereotypical, he somehow did such a great job with the Polgara character in making her strong, thoughtful, funny, maternal, political, and fleshed out with genuine emotions rather than tropes. The Malorean, which follows this series, does much the same for me, but since it is almost the exact same story so it is really only for the hard-core fan.
The Second series that I go back to is Lloyd Alexander's, The Prydane Chronicles. This was actually largely read to me at a time when I was not all that interested in reading all that much on my own. The last two books I read on my own and served to really push me to seek out fantasy novels. Going back and reading them again later in life I was really drawn to all the images and characters that were taken out of Welsh mythology, which serve to push me into researching that more.
Genuine love of craft: The first that comes to mind from a series point of view is Neuromancer and it's subsequent novels, by William Gibson. These are not so much a series as books that take place in the same universe, and oh what an amazing universe it is. Gibson's more near-future works are for the most part quite good too, and his prose has evolved into something that is not read as much as experienced, but I will always go back to the short novels that got me into reading cyberpunk.
The other series that I have not re-read nearly as much as some of the others is the Earthsea Trilogy, by Ursula K. LeGuin. I was turned on to this in my teens because she is an Oregon writer, but kept reading because she did such a wonderful job of creating a wonderful world.
Comics: Y The Last Man, by Brian K. Vaughan is the strange story of the last man on earth, and the women who are part of his journey. If you have never followed comics, or perhaps you have read and liked Watchmen but never felt like you were comfortable jumping into other graphic novels, then look for this gem that is largely lauded as one of the top 5 the must-reads of the genre. I will admit that the main character can get a little whiny at times, and he seems to take a lot of hits before he ever learns anything, but when his character annoys you the most you still have a lot of other amazing characters to carry you through. For the most part there are no cookie-cutter characters, and the pacing of the story is just enough to keep up the tension without causing fatigue. The art is all top-notch too, which is important for me in a comic (seriously, some don't mind as long as the story is good), and you are not faced with the same idealized female forms that you see in super-hero books (not that I have anything against that at all).
Franchise: I genuinely think that most franchise fiction is utter garbage, and even franchises that I am totally biased towards like Star Wars are lucky to put out readable novels only about 25% of the time. I also judge them on a lower scale, so even the novels that entertain me do not really stack up to things I would consider "literature". That said, I frequently go back to the Thrawn Trilogy (Star Wars), by Timothy Zhan. This was the first forray into what would become the EU (Expanded Universe), and while some of the novels that followed were fine and entertaining enough, very few held a candle to this first trilogy. It is inventive while still staying true to the characters and story styles that the fans were accustomed to. It is set like 11 years after Return of the Jedi, and the progression and evolution of the major players is believable and plays with the idea of what happens when the "good guys" win and have to now be the authority. There are several threads that weave together one cohesive story, but it does not take a flow-chart to keep track of everything. It will never compare all that well to genuine talents of fantasy and science fiction, but if you love the setting and want a fun read, then I think you will enjoy it.
I feel like I have missed something obvious, but I suppose I can amend this list. I have left off single novels because if I didn't I would be typing all day. I also want to point out that I do not limit my reading to sci-fi and fantasy, but they are the genres that lend themselves to series it seems. There are thrillers and mystery characters that carry through many volumes, but they are not really a series in the same way as the Chronicles of Narnia is, so I excluded them too.
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the one I keep coming back to time and time again, comfort read and hilarious. After that I suppose I go for pulp Fantasy, Eddings and Gemmel being the main two, neither literary masterpieces but good easy reads that rollick along.
Outside that I like the Rebus series by Ian Rankin, well written and about my hometown of Edinburgh (drank in a lot of the same bars).
Oh, I loves me some Rebus. Read a bunch of Hamish Macbeth books too when I was younger- lighter for sure, but charming none the less.
If so, probably Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy. Lavish, rich, detailed, and all-encompassing, it's a world created with a great deal of depth and imagination. The third is definitely the weakest of the three, but the florid, slightly schizophrenic world he ventures into makes up for it.
In terms of comics, Junji Ito's Uzemaki really gets to me, one of the best takes on theme-and-variations I've seen in Fantasy. Well, technically, horror, but I always find myself more fascinated than horrified.
If so, probably Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy. Lavish, rich, detailed, and all-encompassing, it's a world created with a great deal of depth and imagination. The third is definitely the weakest of the three, but the florid, slightly schizophrenic world he ventures into makes up for it.
I'm starting Gormenghast soon, hopefully I enjoy it as much as I think I will.
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I'm a pretty huge fan of the Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher. I'd probably describe it as a mix between Harry Potter and a gritty detective series, though definitely R Rated (or higher at times).
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Mine is Isobelle Carmody's Obernewtyn series. I discovered it on a foray to the library roughly 12 years ago, when I was randomly trying books that looked good and authors in alphabetical order(this strategy worked for the Sci Fi/Fantasy section years before), and was instantly pulled into the series. I was no stranger to post-apocalyptic literature, which is an overused plot point in YA books, and yet I couldn't dismiss the series as unimaginative drivel. The overarching storyline and the talking animals are tied for the biggest hook for me. There are surely better stories out there but I am forever enthralled by the adventures of Elspeth Gordie and the Misfits of Obernewtyn. Second place goes to Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller series, which takes place in the Four Corners world that will be expanded in further novels and probably the Kingkiller TV show that is being made.
(I must confess that I read Obernewtyn years ago as a teenager and didn't much enjoy it, as I recall. It took me two attempts to get through it, and I quickly gave up again near the beginning of the second book, the name of which I can't even recall.)
To this day, it remains my most beloved Fantasy series (the fourth book was not nearly as good as the original three, and I obviously don't hold it in as high regard as the others). It was the first novel that a truly got engaged in, and by the end of the third novel, I was taken aback at how attached I became to the characters, and I actually was sad that I finished the trilogy. I've since read the trilogy again, when I was anticipating the release of the fourth book (released in 2010), and the emotional impact was similar to the first time.
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I've only read Harry Potter once. I grew up with this series; I do not intend to reread this series anytime soon. I want to keep those good memories of going through it the first time. I will read the books with my children, and hopefully there'll be just as much magic in there for them as there was for me.
Nostalgia: The Belgariad by David Eddings. It is cliche, uses tired depictions of archetypes, and more than a little obvious, but it was the first fantasy series that I chose and could not put down in my young life and I will always love reading it for this reason alone. I get highly emotional when I read it, not because it is so evocative but because I got so emotional when I read it when I was 12. While most of Eddings women are pretty stereotypical, he somehow did such a great job with the Polgara character in making her strong, thoughtful, funny, maternal, political, and fleshed out with genuine emotions rather than tropes. The Malorean, which follows this series, does much the same for me, but since it is almost the exact same story so it is really only for the hard-core fan.
The Second series that I go back to is Lloyd Alexander's, The Prydane Chronicles. This was actually largely read to me at a time when I was not all that interested in reading all that much on my own. The last two books I read on my own and served to really push me to seek out fantasy novels. Going back and reading them again later in life I was really drawn to all the images and characters that were taken out of Welsh mythology, which serve to push me into researching that more.
Genuine love of craft: The first that comes to mind from a series point of view is Neuromancer and it's subsequent novels, by William Gibson. These are not so much a series as books that take place in the same universe, and oh what an amazing universe it is. Gibson's more near-future works are for the most part quite good too, and his prose has evolved into something that is not read as much as experienced, but I will always go back to the short novels that got me into reading cyberpunk.
The other series that I have not re-read nearly as much as some of the others is the Earthsea Trilogy, by Ursula K. LeGuin. I was turned on to this in my teens because she is an Oregon writer, but kept reading because she did such a wonderful job of creating a wonderful world.
Comics: Y The Last Man, by Brian K. Vaughan is the strange story of the last man on earth, and the women who are part of his journey. If you have never followed comics, or perhaps you have read and liked Watchmen but never felt like you were comfortable jumping into other graphic novels, then look for this gem that is largely lauded as one of the top 5 the must-reads of the genre. I will admit that the main character can get a little whiny at times, and he seems to take a lot of hits before he ever learns anything, but when his character annoys you the most you still have a lot of other amazing characters to carry you through. For the most part there are no cookie-cutter characters, and the pacing of the story is just enough to keep up the tension without causing fatigue. The art is all top-notch too, which is important for me in a comic (seriously, some don't mind as long as the story is good), and you are not faced with the same idealized female forms that you see in super-hero books (not that I have anything against that at all).
Franchise: I genuinely think that most franchise fiction is utter garbage, and even franchises that I am totally biased towards like Star Wars are lucky to put out readable novels only about 25% of the time. I also judge them on a lower scale, so even the novels that entertain me do not really stack up to things I would consider "literature". That said, I frequently go back to the Thrawn Trilogy (Star Wars), by Timothy Zhan. This was the first forray into what would become the EU (Expanded Universe), and while some of the novels that followed were fine and entertaining enough, very few held a candle to this first trilogy. It is inventive while still staying true to the characters and story styles that the fans were accustomed to. It is set like 11 years after Return of the Jedi, and the progression and evolution of the major players is believable and plays with the idea of what happens when the "good guys" win and have to now be the authority. There are several threads that weave together one cohesive story, but it does not take a flow-chart to keep track of everything. It will never compare all that well to genuine talents of fantasy and science fiction, but if you love the setting and want a fun read, then I think you will enjoy it.
I feel like I have missed something obvious, but I suppose I can amend this list. I have left off single novels because if I didn't I would be typing all day. I also want to point out that I do not limit my reading to sci-fi and fantasy, but they are the genres that lend themselves to series it seems. There are thrillers and mystery characters that carry through many volumes, but they are not really a series in the same way as the Chronicles of Narnia is, so I excluded them too.
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I will always firmly stand by the belief that Magic is a game first and a collectable second.
I'm assuming we're talking Sci-Fi / Fantasy only?
If so, probably Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy. Lavish, rich, detailed, and all-encompassing, it's a world created with a great deal of depth and imagination. The third is definitely the weakest of the three, but the florid, slightly schizophrenic world he ventures into makes up for it.
In terms of comics, Junji Ito's Uzemaki really gets to me, one of the best takes on theme-and-variations I've seen in Fantasy. Well, technically, horror, but I always find myself more fascinated than horrified.
UTeferi, Temporal ArchmageU's prison: blue is the new orange is the new black.
Mizzix Of The Izmagnus : wheels on fire... rolling down the road...
BSidisi, Undead VizierB: Bis zum Erbrechen
GTitiania, Protector Of ArgothG: Protecting Argoth, by blowing it up!
GYisan, The Wanderer BardG: Gradus Ad Elfball.
Duel EDH: Yisan & Titania.
In Progress: Grand Arbiter Augustin IV duel; Grenzo, Dungeon Warden Doomsday.