05. The first book in a series that you have not started

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

With reading challenges, it's easy to get caught up in short, standalone books in an effort to complete the challenge. This prompt is going to help you break out of that cycle and start a series! It can be any series you want, as long as you haven't read any books in it yet!

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Suggestions:
Book Riot's 100 Must Read Trilogies and Series
Fantasy Series for Adults
YA Series by Genre
Adult Series by Genre
8 Completed Book Series
Listopia: Best Series

ATY Group Listopia

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Optional Questions
1. What are you reading for this category?
2. Do you often read books in a series?
3. Are you planning on reading the next books in this series? Why or Why not?

[Nadine in NY]

I read a lot of series, and I think I added a bunch of books to our Listopia for this one. Right now, I'm most excited to try a book by Mike Carey that's not Lucifer or zombies or one of his new standalones: The Devil You Know, book 1 in a paranormal mystery series. I'm so excited that I may end up reading this book this year haha!

[Johanna]

I am really enjoying books by Lisa See right now and so I am going to continue reading her. She has a couple of series (I think) but I'm going to start with Shanghai Girls.

I will continue reading a series if I enjoy the first book, so I do have a number out there that I am interested in continuing.

Dreams of Joy is the 2nd book in the series, so if I enjoy the first as much as I have enjoyed her other books, then I will go ahead and read it as well.

[Dana]

I've been wanting to start the Walt Longmire series, so I am planning to read The Cold Dish. I will likely continue the series, as I find it hard to stop series once I start! :)

[Anabell]

I've wanted to read A Court of Thorns and Roses for a long time. This might be the year I finally get around to it.
I love series so I will most likely continue the series.

[Lauren]

1) I will most likely read Age of Myth, the first book in the Legends of the First Empire series. I'll also be reading some of Michael J Sullivan's other books for next year, so if that's too much of one author for a year (unlikely) then I have Katanagatari 1 as a back up.

2) I read mostly fantasy with long series, so yeah I read a lot of series haha. I start way too many of them without finishing them though, so it's a bit of a problem...

3) I do plan on reading more in the series. I love Sullivan's writing style in his other works, so I doubt I won't like this series too.

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

I'm really good at starting series, but I'm so bad at finishing them (especially if they haven't finished being written yet lol). Johanna, I didn't realize that some of Lisa See's books were series books... I've been wanting to read her work, so this may be a good time to slot it in.

[Chinook]

My plan is to read Dreadnought.

I love series, but generally I’m bad at keeping up with them. In theory, it’s a personal goal to work through Christie’s Poirot, Lousie Penny and Discworld right now, but I’m terrible at it and keep being tempted by other things.

I’m best with a trilogy, those I can get through.

[Jill]

I am looking forward to reading Into the Wilderness. I am a huge Outlander fan and I heard that a couple characters from Outlander make an appearance in this series.

[Steve]

Emily wrote: "I'm really good at starting series, but I'm so bad at finishing them (especially if they haven't finished being written yet lol). Johanna, I didn't realize that some of Lisa See's books were series..."

Emily, have you ever read Laurie Halse Anderson's "Seeds of America" series? The first one is Chains. I think you might like that one. It's YA following a young black servant girl in the time of the American Revolution. I taught it a few summers ago to 5th/6th graders in my gifted summer program Heroes and Villains class and they loved it.

[ladymurmur]

Dana wrote: "I've been wanting to start the Walt Longmire series, so I am planning to read The Cold Dish. I will likely continue the series, as I find it hard to stop series once I start! :)"

I just listened to the audiobook of The Cold Dish a few weeks back - and it was really enjoyable. Definitely planning to continue the series. :-) Hope you enjoy it, Dana!

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Steve, I have had Chains on my shelf for ages and did not realize it was a series! I may just use it for this prompt!

[Pam]

I have quite a few options but I want to finally read LOTR and slot The Fellowship of the Ring in here. My 2nd & 3rd choices are Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley, a noir mystery I heard recommended on a podcast, and The Pillars of the Earth.

[Johanna]

Steve wrote: "Emily wrote: "I'm really good at starting series, but I'm so bad at finishing them (especially if they haven't finished being written yet lol). Johanna, I didn't realize that some of Lisa See's boo..."

I read Chains with my son this year and forgot that is the first of series. I love historical fiction, so this may be a good one to continue reading. Thanks for the reminder!

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

So I went through my TBR, and in addition to Chains, I have.. a lot of options..

The Alienist by Caleb Carr
The Secret Life of Violet Grant by Beatriz Williams
The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon
Love, in English by Karina Halle
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta
The Girl with the Red Balloon by Katherine Locke
In the Woods by Tana French
The Lost Queen by Signe Pike
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
I, Claudius by Robert Graves
Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Illuminae by Amie Kaufman
Caraval by Stephanie Garber
The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan
We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia
Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
The Simple Wild by K.A. Tucker

How the heck will I narrow this down?

[Serendipity]

I’ve never read anything by Louise Penny so I may use this prompt to rectify that. Bluebird Bluebird is another strong contender.

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

Emily wrote: "So I went through my TBR, and in addition to Chains, I have.. a lot of options..

The Alienist by Caleb Carr
The Secret Life of Violet Grant by Beatriz Williams
[book..."

I would definitely recommend [book:Illuminae|23395680]. It's so fun and unique. A ton of pages but the format is so quick that you really could probably finish the whole series in the time it takes for a regular novel.

[Laura, Celestial Sphere Mod]

Holy moly, I have a ton of options. Which I was honestly surprised about because I just cleaned out my TBR earlier this week. A lot of the books I didn't even realize were part of the series.

Blackout by Connie Willis
Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke
The Craftsman by Sharon J. Bolton
Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant
Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly
Little White Lies by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Stillhouse Lake by Rachel Caine
Sweet Little Lies by Caz Frear
The Talisman by Stephen King
The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau
*Triptych by Karin Slaughter
*The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
*The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
*Unwind by Neal Shusterman
#Murdertrending by Gretchen McNeil
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
*The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
*The Black Witch by Laurie Forest

I starred my likely reads and the list is still long!

[Emily, Conterminous Mod]

Laura, Illuminae fits so many of my categories this year! I was thinking of slotting it in for the Maximilian Hell category.

I really, HIGHLY recommend The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry for this prompt! I read the second one this year (after reading Harold Fry two or three times), and I really enjoyed it. If you wanted to read The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy (the second in the series), it could totally fit for a book you read in a day. It added a whole new dimension to Harold's story, and both were so poignant and... sigh. I just really loved them.

[Angie]

I have so many options for this it's ridiculous.

A few of the front runners:

Wizard's First Rule
The Name of the Wind
Ship of Magic
And Then There Were Crumbs
The Cuckoo's Calling
Split Second
A Morbid Taste for Bones
The Blessing Way
Old Man's War
The Gunslinger
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

[Ellie]

I've read a lot of first books in series! I have a few options on my TBR though, if I remember not to read them this year:
Just One Damned Thing After Another
City of the Lost
The Calculating Stars
Ancillary Justice

[MaryAnn (EmilyD1037)]

I also have a lot of options but chose Wish You Were Here by Rita Mae Brown. I first chose it for a LGBTQIA+ author but found a book I wanted to read more for the prompt.

I read a LOT of series and generally collect all of them before I start reading them. I have read a few of her other non-mystery books but don't know whether I will continue reading this series … there are a LOT of books to buy for the series. I special ordered this book because it was her first.

[Entropia]

1. What are you reading for this category?
This is what I found on my tbr:


2. Do you often read books in a series?
Not as often as I used to. This year I read entire Witcher series (and stuffed it in my ATY plan), read 2 books of Metro, but I got so annoyed at how bad the second one was that it will take some time to pick up the third one. I tried some other series, but I only plan to follow up on one of them.

3. Are you planning on reading the next books in this series? Why or Why not?
It all depends how much I will like the book I will read for this prompt.

[SadieReadsAgain]

I'm not a big reader of series, so I don't have many to choose from in my physical/Kindle TBR...

44
American Gods
Beartown
From the Chrysalis
Ladders to Fire
Night
Noughts & Crosses
The Obituary Society

[Alicia]

The great part about reading the first book in the series, is finding other ways to fit the next books in the series in. For instance A Discovery of Witches for First in Series and then Shadow of Night and The Book of Life for Fantasy book and a Book About Witches.

The Alan Bradley series about Flavia are cute and fun.
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie = First in Series.
The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag = Mystery
A Red Herring Without Mustard = "ing" in title
You could also stick the next one in for the Horsemen for Death. I was trying to figure out how to make them all work but I keep getting logged out.

[Jill]

The author is a Canadian so he would fit number 28 as well

[[deleted user]]

For this prompt I'll be reading Well Met, which is the first book in the Well Met series. I really want to read this one and it's going to be hard to save it till January, lol.

[Stacey]

I think for this category I'll read Angels & Demons. This is the first book in a series I've been wanting to read for a while and I'll read the next one later on in the year as part of this challenge also :)
I do often read series so I am looking forward to starting this one

[Erica]

I have so many to choose from, but I think I’m going to go with finishing An Ember in the Ashes since I think the last book is coming out in 2020

[Stephanie]

I'm reading Naked in Death for this prompt. A friend was kind enough to let me borrow the first two books in the series. I read a lot of series, but they're usually ones that are complete or have several books already published. I'll read the second book as part of the challenge and will probably borrow the rest some other time.

[MN]

I read Dorothy Dunnett, The Game of Kings for this prompt: the first of the six-book Lymond Chronicles. I finished Philippa Gregory's Plantagenet and Tudor series last year (which is excellent) and since Dunnett's series is set in the Tudor period but written with a Scottish rather than English perspective, it promised fill the gap left by Gregory's (15 book) project.

The Game of Kings is superb - so much so, that I've already begun the next volume,

[Tabitha]

My read is going to be:

[Maple]

I read The Life We Bury and really enjoyed this book. I am excited to read further into the series.

[Bryony]

1. What are you reading for this category?
On What Grounds by Cleo Coyle

2. Do you often read books in a series?
Yes, I like having a few series in progress as I find reading a book that’s somewhat familiar to me is a good way of breaking out of a reading slump.

3. Are you planning on reading the next books in this series? Why or Why not?
I haven’t finished this yet but I’d probably read more in the series. Unfortunately I don’t think my library has any more in this series so I might have to wait for them to be on sale sometime as they seem to be quite expensive to buy.

[Jillian]

I love starting new series but this year my goal is to finish series that I have already started so I'm not really liking this prompt (even though I voted for). I've decided to read Seraphina since it is only a duology and I already own it. I can then use Shadow Scale for an author I have only read once if I like the book and that series will be complete.

[Jillian]

Bryony wrote: "1. What are you reading for this category?
On What Grounds by Cleo Coyle
"

My library did not have the first 2 books in the series so I had to buy them used. I have read the first 6 books; they are fast reads. I buy most of my used books online from better world books. They are usually library books that have been pulled even though I live in the US sometime I get books from UK libraries which I think is cool.

[Errlee]

MN wrote: "I read Dorothy Dunnett, The Game of Kings for this prompt: the first of the six-book Lymond Chronicles. I finished Philippa Gregory's Plantagenet and Tudor series last year (which is excellent) and..."

I've read all the Gregory books but have not heard of these - might have to give them a try, thanks!

[Bana AZ]

1. What are you reading for this category?

Cinder by Marissa Meyer
I gave it 4 stars. Here's my review.

2. Do you often read books in a series?
Yup.

3. Are you planning on reading the next books in this series? Why or Why not?
Yes because the first book was really good and I heard that it gets even better.

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My 2020 list.

[MN]

Errlee wrote: "I've read all the Gregory books but have not heard of these - might have to give them a try, thanks!
I've just finished the second book in the series - it's even better than the first. The style is very different from Gregory's - much denser. It took a chapter or two to get used to it.

[Jill]

What are you reading for this category?
I have read Hag's Nook by John Dickson Carr

Do you often read books in a series?
Yes. I have lots of series I am working my way through

Are you planning on reading the next books in this series? Why or Why not?
Yes. Definitely.

[Lisa]

Modern Mrs.Darcy just recommended the Unquiet Dead, first in a series. My library doesn’t own it’s an ebook so I may have to purchase it. Her recommendations are usually spot on!
"From the publisher: "Detective Esa Khattak is in the midst of his evening prayers when he receives a phone call asking that he and his partner Detective Rachel Getty look into the death of a local man who has fallen off a cliff. At first Christopher Drayton's death - which looks like an accident - doesn't seem to warrant a police investigation, especially not from Khattak and Rachel's team, which handles minority-sensitive cases. But it soon comes to light that Drayton might have been living under an assumed name, and he may not have been the upstanding Canadian citizen he appeared to be. In fact, he may have been a Bosnian war criminal with ties to the Srebrenica massacre of 1995. And if that's true, any number of people could have had reason to help him to his death. As Rachel and Khattak dig deeper into the life and death of Christopher Drayton, every question seems to lead only to more questions, and there are no easy answers."

[Joanne]

1. What are you reading for this category?

I read 600 Hours of Edward by Craig Lancaster

2. Do you often read books in a series?

Definitely, but I'm bad about reading a book in a series, then waiting so long to read the next one that I can no longer remember what happened in the first one.

3. Are you planning on reading the next books in this series? Why or Why not?

Yes, I really liked this book and will have to seek out the next books. Unfortunately they're not sold on the Kobo website.

[Joanne]

Lisa wrote: "Modern Mrs.Darcy just recommended the Unquiet Dead, first in a series. My library doesn’t own it’s an ebook so I may have to purchase it. Her recommendations are usually spot on!
"From the publishe..."

This is a really good series, and I highly recommend it.

[Donna]

I'm reading The Program, by Suzanne Young. I'm enjoying it very much.

I don't usually choose a book because it is a series, but I choose it because of the author. A lot of the crime/mystery books I read are part of a series.

I do plan to read more in this series, as I'm very interested in where the story will lead.

[Maple]

Donna wrote: "I'm reading The Program, by Suzanne Young. I'm enjoying it very much.

I don't usually choose a book because it is a series, but I choose it because of the author. A lot of the crim..."

Donna,

I'm interested to know what you think of this when you finish. I would enjoy sharing thoughts with you :)

[Alexx]

1. What are you reading for this category?
I am reading The Word Is Murder by Anthony Horowitz

2. Do you often read books in a series?
I do, yes. Not intentionally, but it seems like not many books I read are standalone books

3. Are you planning on reading the next books in this series? Why or Why not?
So far yes I am, but I'm only 60% of the way through the book so that can change, depending on how it ends

[Kathy]

I read A Great Deliverance by Elizabeth George for this category. It's the first of the "Inspector Lynley" series. I like to read a few different series, especially mysteries like Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot and Inspector Armand Gamache. I already have the next book in this series on hold at the library so I did like it!

[Bethany]

I’ve had the James Bond book series on my TBR forever so I finally started by reading Casino Royale - Ian Fleming! This was my first book of the challenge as I’m not reading the prompts in order this year 😄

[Aine]

What are you reading?
The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCallSmith

Will you read the next book in the series?
I didn't love it, to be honest

[Writingdates]

I am going to read by Stephen King

As a child, I loved to read books in a series so I hope the first volume in this series will take me down the same joyful path