Hello Tildes! I often find myself intimidated by authors of great sagas, trilogies upon trilogies, and dozens of standalone novels. How do I know which book (or series) to read first?

I've been recommended Terry Pratchett and Brandon Sanderson recently. I've read zero novels by either author. I've also been warned that there is a definitive best place in the canon to start, "and it's this one!" But then someone else interjects and says, "no, it's this one!" followed by passionate reasoning. Okay. If it is really worth starting somewhere in particular, where should I begin?

I'm unlikely to read an author's entire corpus. I just have too many books to read and not enough time. But I'm not opposed to reading longer series if they're really fun. I'd appreciate any input about these authors in particular and this problem in general. Thanks!

Sibling topic: What long book series is worth its page count?

What short series does such a good job that it feels long and substantial? What short series punches above its page count?

Just like last time, I won’t put a qualifier on “short” and leave that open to interpretation.

I'm interested to know what are some series you think are worth reading all the way through -- especially if someone is less likely to start them because of how long they are in the first place.

I'm going to leave series length completely up to interpretation and not set a specific minimum number of books/pages/words. If you think it's long but worth a read all the way through, then it's worth sharing here!

Forget highbrow literature and critics for a moment. What's a book series that stayed engaging and enjoyable throughout?

Bonus points if you don't have to provide a disclaimer for those one or two books in the series that are "a bit of a slog but still really good!"

My top nominations are:

1. Red Rising: Never read anything quite like it. As an ADHD haver, reading something more than once is the bane of my existence. Not for this series. Endlessly re-readable and highly engaging throughout. Starts out as Roman hunger games in space, turns into peak Game of Thrones in space. God, it's so good.

2. Harry Potter: Not sure I need to explain this one. Plenty to hate about this series and the author, but they aren't popular for no reason. I find the world to be magical, whimsical, and the story to be very engaging. The later books are particularly good.

3. The Bobiverse: this is the most fun series on my list. The name and premise will turn most people away from this one and it's a real shame. I could not stop reading these and I'm dying for more. If this story went on forever and maintained its current quality, I don't think I'd ever get bored of hearing it on audiobook.

American here. Wife and I have seen every American film and TV show we would ever want to watch. Broadening our horizons lately.

Not a huge fan of super abstract/art house type of stuff (usually). Big fan of sci-fi and moody/dramatic stories, but I also appreciate most of the truly great stories from any genre.

So far I've seen:

Dark (German series) - Absolutely loved it.

Parasite (Korean movie) - Amazing

Squid games (Korean series) - Amazing

The Wandering Earth (Chinese movie) - Interesting and visually appealing but objectively a terrible movie. Couldn't suspend my disbelief at all.

Still Game (Scottish series) - Hilarious and comforting. Endlessly rewatchable. This show does for me what friends does for my wife.

Kim's convenience (Canadian series) - Funny and easy to watch.

Derry Girls (British/Irish series) - Love it. Hilarious. Much like the office, you have to cringe through an episode or two before you actually get it.

I left out most of the British stuff like Month Python and Black Mirror because they're pretty well-established in American culture.

What else would you all suggest?

I missed the Witcher, Harry Potter, and Game of Thrones boats-- what's the next big fantasy series that's starting right now? Like one book's been recently released and it was a shock how good it was, and all of its readers want more?

I want to hop on a train that'll take me into a fantasy land when the getting's good.

Just finished The Wise Man's Fear, and I'm blown away by the massive amounts of world building interspersed by hella awkward sex scenes. Anyone else eagerly awaiting the next Kingkiller Chronicle addition?

You know the kind I'm talking about - a series of fiction novels (generally falling into urban fantasy/sci fi/straight fantasy) based around a main character (or small group of characters), nothing overly serious, though they may sometimes touch on serious topics. Fun, fluffy reads with engaging characters that leave you wanting more. The main drawback of a lot of these series is that the starring characters can turn into Mary Sues REAL FAST (Looking at you, Harry Dresden), but I'm ok with that.

A few examples:

• Jim Butcher - The Dresden Files
• Kim Harrison - The Hollows

What series have you enjoyed?