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Series You Can Spend A Decade Reading
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here is another series that i am taking an awfully long time to finish, despite loving it a lot: The Culture series by iain banks. i really think this is scifi at its greatest: intense world-building, galactic span, incredibly weighty themes and ideas, plot lines that are multi-leveled, etc etc. it also has a lot of wit. but despite that, i'm in no rush to finish it. i wonder if it is because each book is such a big endeavor, one that makes me have to think a lot more deeply than i usually do with a series. iain banks also deals with some tough ideas that are not always pure pleasure to contemplate. it is a thrilling series though and i also love how each book is self-contained.
so far i've read The Player of Games (awesome), Excession (pretty good), The State of the Art (pretty awesome), and Look to Windward (my favorite so far). i'm about to embark upon Consider Phlebas. i've been putting it off because it looks like a tough one - lots of torture apparently. still, it is supposed to be seminal.
I read a series that has close to 100 novels attached to it, the novel line of the Battletech wargame. The first novel, Decision at Thunder Rift: Book One of The Saga of the Gray Death Legion was published in 1986, and it just went from there. I've read maybe half of them.
For those unfamiliar with it, the main story line takes place in the 31st and 32nd centuries, a military sci-fi/space opera that has various factions fighting each other with Battlemechs, 10 meter tall walking tanks with tons of weapons and armor. Some of the books might focus on one person, though quite a few are multi-novel story lines that have a broad view of the happenings of the Inner Sphere, which is the area of space that was colonized over the past 1000 years.
Some other interesting things about this "universe" is that there are no intelligent aliens, instantaneous travel between the stars is limited to 30 light years at a time at most, then the "jumpships" have to recharge the FTL drive, which could take a week, and in-system travel is limited to fusion powered dropships that could take a week to get in system from the jump point, so prosecuting a war can be a time consuming affair. And, at the beginning of the series, the interstellar powers pretty much blew each other back to the stone age, so resources were scarce, some high tech items couldn't be replaced easily or at all (like jumpships), and some worlds were at 19th-20th century levels of technology.
I could go on about it all night, it's one of my favorite series (and the game as well) and the backstory that they created is very detailed and long.
For those unfamiliar with it, the main story line takes place in the 31st and 32nd centuries, a military sci-fi/space opera that has various factions fighting each other with Battlemechs, 10 meter tall walking tanks with tons of weapons and armor. Some of the books might focus on one person, though quite a few are multi-novel story lines that have a broad view of the happenings of the Inner Sphere, which is the area of space that was colonized over the past 1000 years.
Some other interesting things about this "universe" is that there are no intelligent aliens, instantaneous travel between the stars is limited to 30 light years at a time at most, then the "jumpships" have to recharge the FTL drive, which could take a week, and in-system travel is limited to fusion powered dropships that could take a week to get in system from the jump point, so prosecuting a war can be a time consuming affair. And, at the beginning of the series, the interstellar powers pretty much blew each other back to the stone age, so resources were scarce, some high tech items couldn't be replaced easily or at all (like jumpships), and some worlds were at 19th-20th century levels of technology.
I could go on about it all night, it's one of my favorite series (and the game as well) and the backstory that they created is very detailed and long.
Though its fantasy, The wheel of time is the series Ive been reading my entire adult life. It is so endless that the author died and had to appoint someone to finish the work for him. The series started in 1990. Waiting for the "last" one to be written.
This thread needs more pulpy trash novels. There are two eternal pulp series I like to read every now and then. One is The Destroyer also known as Remo in some countries like mine. Its a mix of sci-fi and fantasy set in a secret agent/assassin framework. Its very humorous so to me it never gets old.
Its almost 150 novels long. Obviously written by several different authors. I've enjoyed all the once Ive had the pleasure of reading, but thats only about 10 or so. Theres also an old comicbook based on it which is fairly close but has less humour in it (still plenty of it)
And then there is Deathlands. Much more straight up sci-fi of the post-apocalyptic kind. Straight up action adventure stories in a very fleshed out world. Its about 100 novels but I grew kinda tired of it after 13 or so books. Ofcourse I think it might have had something to do with the last one I read being the worst of the bunch. I intend to pick it back up sometime.
Both of these are still ongoing with a few books released each year (3 on average I think).
Dont expect any mindblowing and original hard SF theorizing from these, just fun adventures.
Well there's the Honor Harrington series by David Weber. I think I am about 5 books behind, but it's always interesting.On Basilisk Station
Bo wrote: "This thread needs more pulpy trash novels. There are two eternal pulp series I like to read every now and then. One is The Destroyer also known as Remo in some countries like mine. Its a mix of s..."
Hello Bo, If you like Remo (I do too) you might like to try the Mack Bolan stories, written by Don Pendleton, about a Vietnam vet who returns to the US and takes on the Mafia using his knowledge and skills as an Executioner (sniper, and special ops).
Bo wrote: "This thread needs more pulpy trash novels. There are two eternal pulp series I like to read every now and then. One is The Destroyer also known as Remo in some countries like mine. Its a mix of s..."
I discovered the Honor Harrington novels through a chat on TBD website they are very good, but difficult to find in the UK.
Thomas wrote: "Bo wrote: "This thread needs more pulpy trash novels. There are two eternal pulp series I like to read every now and then. One is The Destroyer also known as Remo in some countries like mine. Its..."
Yeah Ive heard those two being mentioned in the same sentence. How do they compare other than that starting premise? Like what about humour? I feel the thing that makes Remo work after so many books is that it doesnt take itself too serious.
mark wrote: "is anyone reading series that seem almost endless? i am! i just can never get to the end of them, probably because the ones that i've been reading for over a decade are series in which each novel i..."I tried a couple of the Darkover books several years ago and just couldn't get on with them. Presumably I was trying some of the 'miss' ones.
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Catharine Asaro's Skolian Empire series is pretty long, and once again you can finish a novel without needing to go right into the next one, or start one without having read the previous one (they were written out of order).The series is about 2 empires: the smaller Skolian empire which has a large group of telepaths amongst the ranking members of society which operate an advanced communications system that spreads throughout the universe that the larger enemy empire cannot crack because it is based on a telepathic computer interface technology where the 3 highest standing members of nobility each hold a key position maintaining the telepathic network throughout all of spacetime as the most powerful telepaths the Skolians have. This allows the Skolians to take advantage of superluminal lightspeed combat tactics which keeps the balance with the larger enemy (Provider?) forces.
The main reasons the two empires are enemies is because the Providers feed on the pain signals generated by the telepaths of the Skolian empire which they therefore keep as personal slaves that they use for torture whenever they can. The Skolian is the key that fits into the perverse mind of the Providers.
Great characters and great hard science considering Catherine has at least one PhD in Physics, and is known for the first novel, Primary Inversion which describes FTL travel through complex mathematics. She uses FTL combat in such a mindblowing way that I have never seen or imagined it in anything else.
It will probably be many years before I get through these books as I will be reading a lot of other stuff in between.
If you want to check it out I would recommend starting with Primary Inversion like I did.
I've been reading Orson Scott Card's Ender series for over a decade -- because he keeps adding to it! I not sure he intended when he wrote Ender's Game for it to be the first in a series.
GRR Marin's Fire and Ice Series, half a decade now and he is still not finished. Book 6 is supposed to come out later this year.Bernard Cornwell, and his Saxon Chronicles, or his Archer series.
Ann McCaffrey, even though she is no longer with us, her Dragon Riders of Pern series, kept me entertained for well over a decade.
Andre Norton, another who passed away too soon. Her Witch World series and its various spin offs kept me entertained for over two decades.
Robert Jordan and his Wheel of Time series. Well, I sort of lost track of the series as the books tended to drag on and on and the time between them grew, but he did have a huge following.
Another vote for Orson Scott Card's Ender Game series. He's not done yet folks...
Just ordered my first Darkover novel, the World Wreckers. I've heard its not the most liked of hers, but it came recommended to me.
Nick wrote: "GRR Marin's Fire and Ice Series, half a decade now and he is still not finished. Book 6 is supposed to come out later this year."A Game of Thrones was published in 1996, so it's been quite a bit more than a decade already. ;) Book six most definitely won't be out this year, although GRRM has given a tentative release date of late 2014, but he also said that we all know how good his estimates usually are. I'm convinced I'll wait longer for the conclusion of ASOIAF than I did WOT, and I've been waiting over 20 decades for WOT to wrap up. Then again, at the end of the day, as long as the writing's good and he doesn't keel over before he's finished, I'm happy.
I really should get around to reading Andre Norton though, maybe that can keep me occupied while I wait. And wait. And wait.
S.M Sterling's 'The Change' series. Currently being shamelessly ripped off by the new NBC series "Revolution".
A sudden change in the physical /chemical laws on Earth stop all forms of electicity and explosives - including firearms. In an instant the world is forced back to the Middle Ages.
A sudden change in the physical /chemical laws on Earth stop all forms of electicity and explosives - including firearms. In an instant the world is forced back to the Middle Ages.
Nick wrote: "GRR Marin's Fire and Ice Series, half a decade now and he is still not finished. Book 6 is supposed to come out later this year.Bernard Cornwell, and his Saxon Chronicles, or his Archer series...."
You are so right about GRR Martin's Fire and Ice Series! I'm afraid either he or I will die of old age before it's finished!
If you like GRRM, try Bernard Cornwell. Martin is a fan of his as well...
Nick wrote: "If you like GRRM, try Bernard Cornwell. Martin is a fan of his as well..."Unfortunately Cromwell didn't work for me at all. :/
Evilynn wrote: "Nick wrote: "If you like GRRM, try Bernard Cornwell. Martin is a fan of his as well..."Unfortunately Cromwell didn't work for me at all. :/"
Sorry to hear. What book/series did you try?
Arghh, Cornwell, not Cromwell, sorry! I slugged through The Winter King, alas it was not for me (and I'm usually a sucker for Arthurian fiction). Too much battle and I didn't get any sense of why anyone would fall for Guinevere IIRC, although it was quite a few years ago by now.
The Arthur series, while good, is a little weak on Arthur and Guinevere stuff. They are not the typical Arthur/Merlin story we grew up with. Though I have to say, I really got a kick out of Merlin, and Nimue was as bad as I thought she was in legend.A better series to try is the Saxon Chronicles, especially if you like Viking era stories.
Oh, I usually never like Guinevere, she just seemed more pointless than usual. ;) I usually *do* like The Lady of the Lake, so maybe it was the Nimue version I didn't get along with.Despite (or maybe because of it) me being Swedish I'm not overly fond of Viking stories (it might fall under "too much battle"), since most of what I've read aren't about Vikings, but rather the people they fought, so they end up as one dimensional berserks with bad hygiene.
The Saxon chronicles by Bernard Cornwell are a lot different than your typical viking stories. I actually liked the viking/Danes more than most of the English characters.And because Cornwell writes in the Historical Fantasy genre, he includes so much history, setting, and realism in his works, without bogging the stories down, that I felt as if I knew the characters and the places they lived and travel within.
But if Cornwell did not work for you, so be it. There are many, many excellent writers with long series that are worth investing in...
I read most of the Darkover series in succession while I was doing my Masters degree. It helped to stay in one universe I was familiar with, so I didn't have to think too hard. I love Darkover, but there definitely are some early stinkers in the series. I still have a few left, but it's been 10 years since I read one. I think I pretty much burned myself out, reading so many in a row.
Doc SavageXanth
Gor
The many, many Conan books
Star Wars and Star Trek...with no end in sight.
The Miles Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold. The never ending stories where Romance novels merge with Science Fiction novels.
Andre Norton's Witch World series is virtually endless, an early prototype of the author-can't- remember-what-he/she-wrote-in-the-early-books-and- later-contradicts-herself/himself fantasy series. I still have a weakness for it.
I've read Darkover, Xanth, started Honor H (moved to Tanya Huff and Eliz Moon), McCaffery (Pern, Rowan, Freedom, Ship Who Sang, etc). I read a few Remo and Gor, and moved on to John Ringo's Ghost series. I've read Asaro (try Ava Grey), and the occasional ST/SW, mainly if I like the author (Peter David, Kristine Smith). I liked Stirling's early CHange books, but then they became a bit repetitive. Never got into Miles Vorkosigan, GRRM, or other heavy fantasy.My addition to the list is CJ Cherryh (yeah I know, I should get paid by her). Her Foreigner series is endless and fascinating. Her older Union/Alliance books and Chanur series were good too. Cyteen was almost a series in one book - by its length!
If you want a long series try the Perry Rhodan series, though to read it in its entirety you will need to read German. It has been published weekly since 1961 and there are now well over 2000 installments. There was a version published in English but it only went to something like 130 books. It was published by Ace Paperbacks but was cancelled by a new SF editor who refused to continue publishing it even though it was making money (which a lot of Ace SF didn't).
I'm kinda curious about Warhammer 40k universe, but I don't know where to start...
Nick wrote: "GRR Marin's Fire and Ice Series, half a decade now and he is still not finished. Book 6 is supposed to come out later this year."4 years passed and the 6th book was not released.
mark wrote: "is anyone reading series that seem almost endless? [...]DARKOVER by marion zimmer bradley. sometimes i feel like i've almost outgrown this series, the quality can be so hit or miss."I read a couple Darkover novels when I was in my teens, not long after they were originally published. My impression then was that the novels were some of the strongest character-centered work I had ever seen. I'm not sure why I stopped after just two or three. The ones I read were definitely Science Fiction rather than Science Fantasy. They reminded me of the Star Trek series, but were even more into the characters and the stories of their arcs and personal growth as people.
I was also at that time reading my favorite series of all time, Andre Norton's Witch World, which is so Science Fantasy that you really have to stretch to make an argument to say it's Science Fiction at all. After a steady diet of Andre Norton, any Science Fiction author would come across as hard Sci Fi. Witch World. Talk about a long series you never make it through!
I'm currently working on an entirely different Marion Zimmer Bradley set of works, her Sword and Sorceress anthology series, which focuses on women heroes, but includes authors of both genders, female a little more than male. She only edited these stories, wrote an introductory essay for most of the volumes. I am amazed at the quality of writers she was able to obtain. The no names write well, I can see from a glance, and she pulled in some writers that were to later really make it big, including Charles de Lint, Diana Paxson, Mercedes Lackey, Elizabeth Moon, C. J. Cherryh, and Laurell K. Hamilton. While I am only two stories into the first volume, written way back in 1984, both are excellent. I particularly liked "Severed Heads" by Glen Cook, an author I'd never heard of before, but whom I'm curious to know more about. MZB edited twenty of these in the last fifteen years of her life. Then other authors took over the editing chores. This annual series still comes out and is now past 30. Here's the Wikipedia article on it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_a...
also how about The Eden Paradox by Barry Kirwan and Fortunes Pawn Rachel Bach
I'm unable to reply tk comments directly on here for some teason.
Can the Darkover books be read in any order? I just randomly picked up The Heritage of Hastur but I don't know if I will be lost if I try to read it without any of the others.
The Darkover myth is was not written in any particular order, so there is no special point in trying to read it in one
Scott wrote: "Can the Darkover books be read in any order? I just randomly picked up The Heritage of Hastur but I don't know if I will be lost if I try to read it without any of the others."I recall wondering why Bradley had written a Cthulhu Mythos novel when I first saw that title.
Yeah, I was a little disappointed to see that Hastur was a person.
Will wrote: "The Darkover myth is was not written in any particular order, so there is no special point in trying to read it in one"Great! Thanks!
I think it would take me ten years to read all Malazan books. And maybe Riftwar Cycle too, but I already abandoned it.
One series I've always meant to read but haven't is the Witch World series by Andre Norton
I've got the first three Witch World books on my shelf, staring down at me!
I looked at all of the series that I have read and the most books I read were:All 10 of the Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny
All 10 of Mission Earth by Ron L. Hubbard
10 of the 16 Pern Novels by Anne McCaffery
9 of the 11 John Carter of Mars Books by Edgar Rice Burroughs
All 7 of the Foundation Novels by Issac Asimov
I guess Pern would be my top one with nine books read.
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On Basilisk Station (other topics)
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DARKOVER by marion zimmer bradley. sometimes i feel like i've almost outgrown this series, the quality can be so hit or miss. i think it really depends on when bradley wrote the particular novel - her skills really deepened over the years. and then - in my opinion - declined in more recent years, although there's still a lot of good there. the novels in her early years are fun pulp, but they don't really stick with me. i love her rich middle period the most, although sometimes they can come across as a little wordy and a fairly histrionic. they have "adult" themes - as in they deal with sexuality, and in the 70s, i suppose that would be considered ADULT. sort of funny, especially when considering how sexual relations are a regular part of most modern science fiction. also funny to think about when comparing her to someone really radical and graphic, like samuel r. delaney. bradley often comes across as almost quaint in comparison. still i love this emphasis on so-called Adult Themes, i love the understated and rarely strident feminism, and for some reason i just find Darkover's ban on distance weapons to be....cute. ah, Darkover, such a harsh but cute society!
i've been reading the Darkover books for so long, its like Darkover is almost a second home to me - a really wintry, medieval one. it also could probably be classified as Science Fantasy, which is one of my favorite subgenres. the Darkover novels that i love the most would be The Heritage of Hastur, The Forbidden Tower, Hawkmistress!, Stormqueen! and Sharra's Exile.
i still have a handful of Darkover novels to read and i've been reading the series since the early 90s!