Sometimes, picking up a standalone novel, doesn’t quite hit the spot. Maybe all you want is to lose yourself in an intricate fictional world and pursue the same high you once experienced after reading a book series you stumbled upon years ago.
༒Well, the good news is you can experience that high again. The sheer number of brilliant multi-book narratives out there, especially in genre fiction, can provide you with a steady supply for your next fix. Still, knowing what to pick up next based on your preferences is just as important as the willingness to commit to these large literary tomes.
In this article, we’ve decided to put together a list of some of the best book series to read for adults, whether they belong to speculative offshoots like epic fantasy and sci-fi or even great works of drama from the classic back ca♑talog and anything in betw♏een.
There have only been a handful of great sci-fi stories following the genre’s golden age in the 20th century, and by James S. A. Corey is definitely among them. The story takes place in a not-so-near future, where humanity has colonized the Solar System. The book is about the political and interplanetary conflict that arises between these different factions leading humankind while opening the avenue fo🍰r mysterious alien artifacts heralding long-lost technology.
The Expanse is what you’d call “hard science-fiction,” paying attention to intricate scientific details and trying to adhere to them as much as possible. There is also great characterization, and the worldbuilding is some of the best we’ve seen in genre fiction over the past two decades. And unlike many other contemporary book series, The Expanse is actually finished, and you can b﷽inge-read it in its entirety right no🍷w.
Centering around the adventures of Geralt of Rivia, series by Andrzej Sapkowski has left a lasting impact on fantasy literature. Grimdark, brutal, and pessimistic, the books may at first come off as a far cry from the best-selling and acclaimed video game, but the spirit of the tale and its world are the same. Sapkowski has some of the best character monologues in all of fantasy and perhaps even literature as a whole. If you’re a fan of character-centric fantasy books and have played The Witcher games, then do yourself a favor and p♏ick up the book series that spawned them in the first plac♉e.
Now let’s take a step away from the speculative landscape for a little bit. Often touted as one of the most ambitious sociolinguistic works in history, La Comédie Humaine paints the most extensive and detailed image of French society in the 19th century. To say that Balzac was prolific is a criminal understatement, and the 90 finished works comprising are but a small testament to that.
It might take you a while to get through it all, and not everything in the collection is an inspired piece of writing, but overall, for many history and drama enthusiasts, it is as raw and as detailed as it gets. There are dozens of novels in The Human Comedy, which you can read through in ꧑the order of their release.
Recommending feels like telling people to watch a classic movie that they’ve already heard about many times before, and perhaps even seen the remakes. Such is the importance of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s work that reading through it almost feels like a rite of passage for people who love literature, specifically detective stories. Sure, I could’ve also included Agatha Christie and her Poirot books on this list, but there’s something about how Conan Doyle so deftly weaves a narrative together and writes about the human condition that even Christie — one of his innumerable admirers herself — fails to capture. The Sherlock Holmes canon consists of four novels and dozens of short stories, starting with 1887’s A Study in Scarlet and ending with 1927’s short story The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place.
Boasting one of the most ambitious narratives in all genre fiction, by Steven Erikson is a 10-book epic fantasy series that deals with a host of compelling characters and their respective tales in the world of Malazan. It’s difficult to put the story in a simple premise, but we can say with a measure of certainty that Malazan Book of the Fallen will be studied many years fro𝐆m now as a pinnacle of literary achievement.
The books are difficult and confusing to get into, and many genre enthusiasts have come to jokingly refer to them as the “Dark Souls of lite🃏rature,” a quip that’s certainly not lost on members of our community, buဣt if you bear with them, they will turn into some of the best books you’ve ever read.
These days, most people’s go-to author for dark fantasy is George R.R. Martin, mainly known for his subversion of expectations in the face of J.R.R. Tolkien’s traditionalist approach. What many of them fail to realize is that someone is doing it better than Martin, and had his work garnered the attention of Hollywood moguls and got a television adaptation like Game of Thrones, it would already be more popular and beloved than the entirety of A Song of Ice and Fire.
is cynical, brutal, witty, and character-driven. But perhaps his greatest strength, which has immortalized these books in my mind, is his mastery of scene-bu𒈔ilding and dialogue, unparalleled by any contemporary writer.
Isaac Asimov’s Foundation trilogy is the cornerstone of science-fiction literature. Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy took major influence from Asimov, while Frank Herbert basically wrote Dune as a commentary on Foundation. The story follows the twilight of a Galactic Empire, where a scientist invents a branch of mathematics that can help him predict the 💮future.
The tale is epic, the concepts are innovative (on account of Asimov himself being a scientist as well as one of the pioneers of hard science-fiction), and the nonlinear story keeps you on your toes all the way through to the end. is an essential read, even for people who don’t care much at all about science fictionꦍ.
No fantasy book series is as pleasurable and fulfilling to read through as Terry Pratchett’s timeless . If you’re out in the book market looking for 🌄a work that doesn’t take itself too seriously yet is still packed with layered storytelling and satire that still manages to pack an emotional punch, then Pratchett’s unique prose and style of comedy is just right to scratch that particular itch.
There are 41 novels in the Discworld universe, but don’t let that number intimidate you because most of them are barely novel-length (barely pushing past 200 pages), unlike many other thick doorstop fantasy book series out there.
Speaking of amazing science fiction books that you shouldn’t miss out on, by Martha Wells definitely deserves a shout-out here. The story follows a half-human, half-robot cyborg who manages to override his programming and gain independence, but it primarily use❀s that independence to consume media. In time, the cyborg comes to develop feeliജngs and emotional connections, which it finds rather inconvenient.
The books are short, witty, and unbelievably compelling. Martha Wells has garnered a lot of acclaim and won many trophies for The Murderbot Diaries, turning her work into one of the most important sci-fi book series of the past few decades, especially when it comes to AI and human interaction with artificial intelligence. Reading and thinking about this concept in 2024 ❀(what, with the advent of creations liꦓke ChatGPT) is more important than ever.
I already warned you that this list was going to incorporate every possible combination of genres, so I figured, why not have a detective story set in modern-day Chicago but featuring magic and supernatural elements? by Jim Butcher is a series of highly-acclaimed mystery urban fantasy cen💙tering around Harry Dresden, a wizard who works as a private investigator.
At first, you might thi🦂nk, “How on earth would any of these tropes work together?” But then, you’ve not read Jim Butcher. Trust me when I say The Dresden Files features some of the best detective storytelling we’ve seen recently, and despite all the incongruities of its numerous components, it all works in the context of Butcher’s narrative. There have been 17 entries in the series so far, most of them novel-length, but the story of Harry Dresden is still unfolding, getting more and more epic with each installment.
Now, this next pick might not exactly be recognizable as a series, but its second novel, The Last of the Mohicans, is among the most popular books in American literature. by James Fenimore Cooper are set in the eighteenth century and deal with the upheavals of that period in the New World. The depiction of Native American culture and history, not to mention Uncas as the “last of the Mohicans,” the sole survivor of an honorable ethnicity, is among the unmitigated stre﷽ngths of Fenimore Cooper’s narrative.
There are many great historical fiction book series (like the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O’Brian or Outlander by Diana Gabaldon) but The Leatherstocking Tales rarely gets the attention it deserves. If you liked Michael Mann’s 1992 classic movie The Last of the Mohicans, then you should give the book series a read.
This critically acclaimed fantasy trilogy by Philip Pullman came out in the form of 1995’s Northern Lights (known in the United States as The Golden Compass), 1997’s The Subtle Knife, and 2000’s The Amber Spyglass. In a lot of ways, is a coming-of-age story of its main heroine🍌, Lyra Belacqua, who lives in a world where everyone has a talking animal⛎ companion who represents their inner selves.
Pullman’s worldbuilding is exquisite and believable, and his story explores complex themes like religion, individualism, freedom, and morality. If you love Harry Potter, then His Dark Materials is the substitute you’ve been ༒looking for🦂, though many of its most ardent fans would argue that Pullman writes the better story by far.
While many would categorize Pierce Brown’s as science fiction, I’d describe it as a space opera more in the vein of Star Wars. Th🎐e story takes place in a world where humanity has colonized its star system, and society has been segre꧂gated into different colors. The Golds, for instance, are at the top and rule with an iron fist, while the Reds are little more than slaves.
We follow Darrow, who is a Red working in the dark caverns of Mars. Darrow believes in the idea that things will eventually get better for his class, but things go awry when Darrow’s wife, Eo, is executed for singing a rebellious song. Darrow is then recruited into the Sons of Ares, who want to topple the government. Red Rising is one of the most compelling and acclaimed book series of the past two decades, so don’t let that seemingly 𒆙tired premise throw you off.
Scott Lynch’s spiraling fantasy series, beginning with , takes place in a fantasy world but the story puts a unique spin on the genre. We follow Locke Lamora, a con artist planning a grand heist in the city of Camorr, inspired by re🦩al-life Venice. The series is known for its intricate narrative, flowery prose, and extremely charismatic protagonist.
Many fantasy enthusiasts compare Scott Lynch to Patrick Rothfuss and his Kingkiller Chronicle. It’s easy to see why, but just like his fellow author, Scott Lynch seems to be taking his sweet time writing the next installment in the series. So dive into it with the knowledge that you might be left hanging for quite a while. Still, the series, consisting of The Lies of Locke Lamora, Red Seas Under Red Skies, and The Republic of Thieves, 𒅌is so brilliant that we can’t help but recommend it, even if the next book never gets released.
Lastly, we have to find a spot for due to its far-reaching influence on fiction. The sci-fi quartet is celebrated for several reasons, but none more than its deep philosophical themes that even go into poetry and mythology. The story takes place in the distant future, where humanity has spread across the galaxy and established an empire called the Hegemony of Man. The first novel, Hyperion, is similar to the famous Canterbury Tales, w💃ith seven pilgrims visiting the titular planet and journeying to the Time Tombs, a mystifying structure that moves backward in time.
This list has a bit of everything for everyone. But barring some obvious and popular choices that were purposefully excluded, there are no doubt many other great book series out there that we might have overlooked, so don’t hesitate to share them with us and the rest of the readers in the comments.
Published: Sep 13, 2024 01:46 pm