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What long book series is worth its page count?
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!
I would recommend anything by Brandon Sanderson, but especially the Mistborn series or The Stormlight Archive. Both are long, but very much worth the read IMO.
It's worth noting that Sanderson's convention for the launch of Stormlight 5 just concluded and this book is quite literally as long as possible with the current book binding technology.
He literally had to find a new company to handle the printing, his regular one couldn't do books that big :D
Calling both Mistborn and Stormlight Archive "long" books feels like calling both Cleveland and NYC "big" settlements haha. It's technically true, but one is on a whole other level of size.
Ha, yeah I meant more that both series are comprised of quite a few books, so can seem daunting. But yes agreed that the scale is quite a bit different between the two. :D
I can second these as I'm about a 3rd of the way through them combined. Been slowly working through them over the last 2 years and enjoying them. I will say I felt burned out at the end of the first mistborn trilogy, but the second mistborn series is much lighter and very fun. If I'd known that initially I probably would have picked the series up again sooner after finishing the third book. I will say, the first mistborn book is one of the most fun books I've read by far. None of the others have matched it's experience for me, but I've enjoyed them all the same.
I had the opposite impression of Era 2 at first. I found the switch pretty jarring, and nearly quit partway through the first book. I stuck with it though, and I'm glad I did. Era 2 really grew on me, and I love how Sanderson works with some of the limitations that were imposed on the powers of the main characters.
I can definitely see that angle too. I just desperately needed a change in tone. I also liked the shift in limitations but also the introduction of mixing feruchemy and allomancy. Thought that was a fun new dynamic as well.
Really? I read Way of Kings, and while I did enjoy it, it felt desperately in need of a stricter editor. At least 200 pages could have been shaved off and nobody would have noticed.
I think Brandon has a writing style that results in smooth, accessible, easy to read prose. It's so easy to just keep going that I think it's more of a question of whether people would have felt negatively impacted if there had been 200 pages more. I think a lot of fans want to spend longer in these worlds, and on the other hand Brandon is always thinking of the bigger "Cosmere" picture when writing Cosmere stories. You might find characters, places or bits of lore unexpectedly referenced in later stories (often in disguise) or that they are actually references to past stories. Some people like this. Some people dislike it. If you find the Cosmere exhausting, you might like to try a non-Cosmere novel - or a standalone novel with a smaller profile and fewer ties to other works.
Stormlight is my favorite series, but I admit that I listened to the graphic audio versions of the first few of the books because I had a long commute at the time. Listening helped me get through some of the slower bits, but I absolutely think those extra pages are important because I think I missed a lot of the finer details. At some point I think I'll need to reread to catch it all.
For sci-fi/fantasy:
VALIS trilogy by Philip K Dick
LOTR/Hobbit/Silmarillion by Tolkien
A Song of Ice and Fire/A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by Martin. (Even if it never ends, it's been worthwhile for me)
Malazan Book of the Fallen/Novels of the Malazan Empire/Kharkanas trilogy by Erikson and Esslemont
New Crobuzon trilogy by Miéville
The Second Apocalypse series (Prince of Nothing trilogy and The Aspect-Emperor 4-vol series) by Bakker
New Sun series by Wolfe
Redwall series by Jacques
Chronicles of Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander
Illuminatus! by Shea & Wilson
Tales of Earthsea by LeGuin
...
Other literary fiction:
Seven Dreams series by William T Vollmann
In Search of Lost Time/Remembrance of Things Past by Proust
All Pynchon's novels (not a series)
All Faulkner's novels (kind of a series)
...
Not all will be your cup of tea, but all were worth the read for me, and each had something unique and unshakeable that sank in over time. I'm sure there are more, but these readily came to mind. Clearly male-dominated, too, but I can't think of many forbiddingly long series by non-male writers. That's probably on me for not looking into it.
While Redwall is a really great series, I personally wouldn’t say it’s all “worth the page count”. I remember thinking (as a late teenager) how many of the books felt like just re-tellings of previous entries. Main characters with tragic or idyllic backstories, struggle against a tyrant, journey across the wilderness, vast hordes of evil enemies… all fantastic and enjoyable as a kid but a tiny bit repetitive once I recognized the pattern.
yeah I would most def not recommend Redwall for an adult. They also feel very uncomfortably racist with more perspective imo, with certain animals automatically being evil and some automatically being good, not really the kind of thing I want to be reading.
That does make sense. It may just be that I read them at a younger age. Now that you mention it, I did find the stories a little repetitive. I also suspect I have a relatively low bar for "worth the page count". I'm kind of a wallowy reader.
Can agree with this one. Others (I read/tried to read probably half of mentioned series) unfortunately not my cup of tea.
Seconding Malazan Book Of The Fallen. One of the best high fantasy series I've read.
Lot of great recommendations here! Malazan, ASoIaF, and LoTR are excellent of course. But I'd also strongly recommend The Expanse. If you like Star Trek and Firefly, it's somewhere in between the two. Very lovable central cast.
James SA Corey's latest series is also excellent, though there's only a single novel and novella out. Hard to say if it will wind up with the same lovable cast, but after landing a 9-book series, I'm liable to trust that author duo with just about anything.
Side note, song of ice & fire is absolutely not worth the page count assuming you like your books to come with endings.
I watched the Expanse TV series and really enjoyed it. How closely does it follow the books? The thing I'm worried about when it comes to reading the series is not being surprised at anything if I already know what's about to come from the show. Usually I prefer to read the book first and then watch the show/movie after.
The TV series is one of the more faithful adaptations in recent times, but there are still some significant differences. Various characters were combined or shuffled around, some events either happened differently or not at all, and of course the books have more time to get into details about everything. The biggest difference though is that the show only covers the first two thirds of the series, and the last three are a big change to the story. Definitely still worth reading.
I actually think the series improves upon the books. It was written by the authors, and from interviews they explain that they took the opportunity to edit and improve story & characters. Camina Drummer, for instance, is an amalgamation of a few book characters to create a much stronger character (although a lot also comes down to the great performance).
I think you could probably pick up and start on the last three books - there's a 30 year time jump, so I don't think it will be too confusing going in straight from the show.
I think it'd be confusing just to pick up on Book 7, having only watched the show. As you say, TV Drummer is an amalgamation of other book characters so it would be quite a big whiplash. Not to mention the other big difference between the show and the books.
TV Season 5 spoilers
The death of Alex due to the actor being fired.I personally found the books quite a light read, easy to get through them in a short space of time to get to the same point in the show. You'd also miss out on some of the novellas (such as The Churn), which deserve to be read too.
To be honest, I thought I would love the book series after watching the first few seasons of the show. But they seemed slow, ponderous, and long, with few redeeming qualities. The first and second book had almost the same plot and antagonists. I think I quit after getting most of the way through caliban’s war. I might give them another go at some point, but maybe they just aren’t for me.
The Deverry Cycle by Katharine Kerr, 15 books written from 1986 to 2009, starting with Daggerspell. (There is a more recent 16th book which starts a new trilogy in the series, but there's no word on the rest of the trilogy so far. The 15th book comes to a good overarching conclusion for the whole series to date.) This is a fantasy series that's heavily inspired by Celtic legend and historical views on magic (not Neo-Druidism, despite how that sounds). I find it to be a real page-turner, and I love how it often focuses on the common and practical details of living in a medieval-style world, without taking away from the narrative. And despite following the lives of different characters over centuries, it's easy to follow in my opinion, especially since newer characters are usually reincarnations of older ones.
The Temeraire series by Naomi Novik, 9 books from 2006 to 2016, starting with His Majesty's Dragon. What if the Napoleonic Wars, but dragons? There's no magic, so the dragons are the only fantastical element. The series focuses on a British sea captain and the dragon he accidentally bonds to, requiring him to join the air force. Both captain and dragon are very appealing characters and their relationship is lovely to see develop, even as the series navigates many difficult topics like loyalty, colonialism, cultural differences, and slavery and the rights of sapients. There's a lot of great military action, with a lot of thought put into how air forces made of dragons would affect the tides of war. It does get a little grim at times, so I recommend taking a break between each book or two and reading something lighter. Despite this, it's very gripping and there are a lot of high notes as well.
Discworld, by Terry Pratchett. It hardly needs any introduction, but I see some people now and then say that they are too daunted to start the series because of how many books there are. The beauty of Discworld is that, largely, the books are standalone, although there is background progression that happens over the course of the series. There are, of course, reading guides out there, but if anyone wants an even simpler recommendation, I'd say start with Mort. It's an early enough title not to miss a whole lot, and I feel it's where the series really starts to come into its own. After getting your foot in the door, one can either start reading the rest of the Death books, or read in series order, or jump to Guards! Guards!, which is another oft-recommended starting point and starts the City Watch books. (At the risk of making things a little too complicated -- don't sleep on the Witches books either, but I think you can start this either from Equal Rites [which comes before Mort, but doesn't need to be read before it] or Wyrd Sisters, which is a better start in my opinion.)
The Red Mars trilogy. They are LLOOOONNGGGG but absolutely worth it.
So, I have strong feelings about the sci-fi genre. I think many “sci-fi” stories are actually what I call science fantasy. Functionally they are fantasy books that have a futuristic setting instead of a magical setting. They can be fun stories, but they are mostly just for entertainment. Books like Ready Player One fall into this category. I like that book, but I don’t consider it sci-fi.
Where sci-fi really shines is when it uses a futuristic setting to explore the human condition in a way that isn’t possible in present day fiction. Books like Speaker for the Dead fall into this category. The futuristic science is absolutely there, but the story isn’t about exploring cool science toys. It’s about people. It is philosophy, societal dynamics, etc. It’s about humanity, not science. This category of stories is what I consider true sci-fi.
Kim Stanley Robinson is a master of this type of sci-fi. Red Mars is a near future story (year 2061 to start, and still a plausible achievement for our current technology). It’s about a colony founded on Mars and the resulting society that they develop. It addresses societal dynamics, politics, economic systems, the clash between industrialism and environmentalism, mental health, interpersonal dynamics, and so much more. Absolutely fantastic, and well worth the read. And unlike some trilogies, it doesn’t seem to fall off at the later books. I personally think Blue Mars, the last book, is the best in the trilogy (although it is certainly slow).
Second your thoughts. There are so many other enjoyable Kim Stanley Robinson works as well. I think the Science in the Capital series is up there on the slow developing enjoyable story list. Not as good as the Mars trilogy, but still in his vein and enjoyable.
I really liked Aurora, and believe it or not, desperately enjoyed The Ministry for the Future. That being said, I never finished The Years of Rice and Salt.
If you are interested , you would be welcome to discuss ministry for the future with the Tildes book club at the end of January.
I'll try to stop by. Thanks for the invite!
Second for this. Complex characters, complex politics, interesting diversity in the cast.
https://www.aeon14.com/aeon14-books
I'm reading my way through all the Aeon 14 books in timeline order. There are around 130 books set in the universe, split into ages, eras, and within those, some standalone books, and many mini series. I was drawn in with hearing of the Sentience Wars and the rise of AI.
Example I'm reading the "Perilous Alliance" mini series from the "Age Of Orion War"
I never thought I'd get so invested, and keep going. At the point I'm at, I'm book no. 82 now "Decisive Action". Which is itself the 4th book in the 7 book Perilous Alliance mini series.
The books do link up and have recurring characters throughout.
I think I have to put The Wheel of Time out there.
14 books and an (optional) prequel. 4.4 million words. For reference, LotR is 400k, so about 11x that. The series drags a little in books 7 and 8, but I think it's well worth the pages.
The scope of the story is vast, and there are some plot arcs that span the entire series. The cast of characters is also vast, but often you will see characters you thought were "one off" make another appearance, and even gain "main character energy". The books are written in a way that supports making connections to previous appearances without feeling overly "recap", so I think the scope is manageable. In the end, I loved the characters. Each book ends, "The end of the nth book of the Wheel of Time", and thinking about it still stabs me to the heart every time.
The Eye of the World (#1) stands pretty well on its own, so you could read it, and if it speaks to you, you're probably good for the rest of the series.
The audiobooks are excellent. The whole series is narrated by Michael Kramer and Kate Reading, who are married in real life. RJ's penchant for unusual name spelling and the fact that the books were recorded over a period of many years means there's some drift in pronunciation, but it's fun to imagine them arguing over the names at dinner. They also co-narrate Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight novels.
James Rigney Jr aka Robert Jordan wrote the first 11 novels and the outline for what was supposed to be the final novel, A Memory of Light. Before he could finish, he succumbed to cardiac amyloidosis. After some time, his wife and editor, Harriet McDougal, chose Brandon Sanderson to finish the final novel. In the end, AmoL was going to be 900,000 words, so they decided to make it into three novels, which were released over the next three years.
From interviews and posts after the release of Knife of Dreams (#11 and RJ's last novel), I honestly think he knew he needed more than one novel to finish, but also knew he didn't have time for more than one, so he was trying to cram it all in. It is bittersweet that he was not able to finish his life's work, but I think McDougal and Sanderson did an amazing job honoring his legacy in the way they finished the series.
My own commentary on the final three books is that Sanderson managed to honor both his own style and the characters and world that RJ built, and they stand up to any of the RJ's novels for quality. So don't have any qualms about the ending.
I can't second this enough. It's a huge commitment for sure, but (if it's your jam) it's extremely worth it, "favorite series of all time" territory for me despite its flaws.
Your message gave me a huge grin :)
For anyone not in the know, there is a character named Lews Therin Telamon in The Wheel of Time. So I think that @LewTherinTelescope 's username is the strongest recommendation they could make :)
(You meet LT in the prologue of Book 1, so not a spoiler).
For me The Wheel of Time series was great, but I feel like I wouldn't recommend anyone to read it since it is sooooo like long. Might be easier now that the whole series is out, but I remember waiting for the next bookbin the series, pick it up when it got out and then literally having to go back and reread the previous books just to get my bearings again :) That said it is a really epic series. That Sanderson finished it up is probably the greatest/kindest thing he has done as an author.
The thing that is amazing to me is that The Eye of the World (#1) was released in 1990, when Sanderson was ~15 years old, so he basically grew up with the series. I remember him saying that Robert Jordan was on of the reasons he became a writer. So for him to finish the series is a kind of real-world parallel to the turning of the Wheel of Time.
It's definitely an easier rec now that the series is finished. I came to the series late, so I think I only had to wait for six of them this way, including the three Sanderson co-authored. I can't imagine having done it for 20 years.
To be fair, I have felt that way with Sanderson's Stormlight books as well, so he is following in RJ's footsteps in more ways than one.
Yes, this is my life now. At some point I think I need to reread at least the last book or so to remember what the hell is going on.
I like all of Neal Stephenson's books, but it depends on how much you like history.
Diamond Age, Snow Crash and Seveneves are all cool, near future books of his.
Snow Crash is a great novel. Anyone who can give their main character the name "Hiro Protagonist" and play it straight for an epic SF novel has my vote.
My favorite Neal Stephenson though is Anathem. It is among my top novels of all time. It's pretty long (330k words to Snow Crash's 162k), so a good fit for this thread.
My wife read that - right after the other 3 book series about different time periods.
Is that The Baroque Cycle? I tried but I could not get into it. Historical fiction is not really my thing though.
I love the Baroque Cycle and have read it three times. It is by far my favorite of his novels.
The first part is a slog, though, because it follows a character who is very timid and kind of depressed, and it's just not a very fun read. You do come to appreciate him in time, but it's hard to care about his story before you get to know him as a character.
Later, the two other main characters make an appearance, and they offer all the heart-beating thrill and mastermind flare that you expect from a Neal Stephenson novel.
I'll have to put it back on my (practically infinite) TBR list.
Yeah - that's it. She said that it started slow but that the audiobook was quite hilarious and interesting by the end of the first book. It's her favourite by him and she's read a lot, so if you're looking for something to listen to during your next road trip...
The Dark Tower by Stephen King. And frankly most of Stephen Kings work...The Stand (uncut) is almost as long as all of the LotR novels, and the Dark Tower clocks in at 3x the LoTR novels....sitting on the order of 1.5 million words.
It's a Spaghetti Western. It's Sci-fi. It's Fantasy. It did multi verse before multi verse was cool.
It's quite literally the nexus of most of King's work. Once you read the tower, you'll pick up subtle and not-subtle breadcrumbs scattered throughout everything else.
I cannot reccomend highly enough pairing a read with The Kingslingers podcast. It's like a digital bookclub, one that taught me more about literary analysis more than any formal education. Their main focus was going through the series, one of them a King newbie and the other a constant reader. Each episode covers a handful of chapers, and they just help slow you down to catch all the details.
I'm stuck on book three. I just haven't gotten through it and it's been on the shelf a year.
The first book and the second book blew me away.
I'm sure I'll get back into it fully at some point and blow through it.
The second half of Book 3 is one of the most memorable bits. You'll get there.
Worst case switch to the audiobook. Frank Mueller's reading is amazing.
I don't want to make assumptions but there's some unpleasant stuff in book 3 that I can see turning a lot of people off. I got past it and I found most of the story very enjoyable. Some weaker bits closer to the end, nothing major.
Yea there is the one scene in particular that I consider the low part of the series. It makes sense in broader context, but it definitely isn't pleasant.
Series spoilers obviously.
I'm pretty sure you're referring to the demon rape scene. That is the cringiest scene (as King generally does not write sex well, which does not help), and was the one I was most concerned turning away my wife.
It helps that King brought it full circle later with the Roland -> Demon -> Susanna -> Mordred payoff. But even more than that...
Sex/lust magic is a pretty core part of the tower's lore, specifically the red/pink evil magic. As opposed to the White. So in some ways I think that scene (as well as some of the others that jump to the forefront) fit in to the arc broadly, but yea they can be hard to read. In the broad strokes of things, I think nothing is inherently worse than some things found in DotT, just different-bad.
I had to admit, I feel like The Stand uncut is worse than the original version. More is not always better, and Stephen King benefits from having an editor in his longer works.
I think he even said in the intro to the Unabridged that this was mostly just for his own amusement, for people who wanted more. He even mentioned that even the uncut version has stuff that was left behind for good, and it deserved to stay there.
I think everyone benefits from a good hard cut, which is why Lucas's last 3 star wars movies were terrible. It forces the hand to choose what's really the best for things, it even shows with things like deckbuilding games...often cutting all of the not-best items makes a deck better.
Nobody benefits from being surrounded by yes-men.
I'll sing it from the rooftops until I die, the Hyperion Cantos.
Four books telling a centuries-long story of sects of interstellar humans on the verge of war, a religion built around some ancient time-bending tombs (which offer a form of immortality) and their teleporting blade-demon protector, and factions of AI pulling most of strings while a pseudo-prophet works to untie them.
The first pair of books follow a small group of people as they make a pilgrimage to the Tombs (the first in a Canturbury Tales style), and the second pair follow up with the next phase of the story ~300y later. A+, wish I could read for the first time again.
If you get to sing that from the rooftops, I will sing from the rooftops that the first book is the best one, and it works completely fine as a standalone story. If you get to the end of it, feel free to just stop there and treat the ending as being open-ended. I would argue it's the best way to enjoy the books.
I found none of the rest of the books lived up to the first one, and they didn't necessarily add much, either. They explain more of what's going on behind the scenes, and explore more of the AI stuff - if you want that stuff, feel free to read them, but I think other authors have done it better. But the first book is a really tight miniseries about the need for change and the dangers of stagnation.
Yes! I pretty much say the same every time I recommend Hyperion. I love the series. But I very much understand why others wouldn't. Read the first. If you aren't absolutely jonesing for more, just leave it at that.
I feel the exact same way about King's Dark Tower series as well.
As someone else has said, Discworld, although I recommend someone dipping their toe in to see if they like it to start with a late book like Going Postal or the Wee free men.
Patrick O'Brian Master and Commander and sequels,
Vatta's War series by Elizabeth Moon. (Deed of Paksenarrion by the same author is part of a larger series but I think the quality is uneven. Deed of Paksenarrion is a trilogy worth reading).
I read all the Vorkosigan series but I think the later books are uneven in quality.
My favorites so far from Discworld are the Death series: Mort, Reaper Man, Soul Music, Hogfather, Thief of Time
Reaper man and thief of time are in my top ten list.
I think my top five include Night watch, the truth, lords and ladies, the fifth elephant and witches abroad.
My list changes.
As someone who's read much of the fantasy/sci-fi recommended in this thread, my answer to the original question would be it really depends on your taste... Except for Discworld, definitely read that!
Split the difference and say Small Gods? ;-)
I just love how there's almost no wrong answer. I guess it depends on the reader; I tend to think the people who are overwhelmed with the number of books are also likely to be the people with a "perfectionist" mindset, who might have the desire to read it in something close to publication order. But maybe I'm just projecting, there. I also have a lot of nostalgia for novels from that era, but your recs would probably sit better with someone who doesn't have that.
I mean, heck, maybe the ideal starting point is Eric: very short and a definite recognizable parody in Pratchett's signature style, plus Rincewind at his most Rincewind. There are too many good ones to choose from, and I'm jealous of anyone who has yet to experience the series for the first time.
Thanks for the tildes book club nod lol.
When I am choosing a Discworld gateway drug book, I like to know something about the person. But without further information, I choose a book where the parody and humor are about life or some subject that most people are familiar with even if not fantasy nerds.
I don't think I saw it mentioned elsewhere, and that seems fine-enough. Since the beginning of November, I've been focusing on further excising political media out of my life. One of the tacts that I've taken is re-reading the Harry Potter series for the first time in the better part of two decades.
I'm sitting midway through the fifth book. And I've slowed myself down to reading it a bit more slowly and enjoying it.
I still find it a good read. I'm sure I wouldn't care much if I hadn't read it when younger. But I remember when my Nana gave me the first book about 1.5-2 years after it came out and made it's ways to the United States. I didn't read it when given, and only picked it up a few months later and ended up enjoying it.
I think they're such fantastic books to read as a child largely because the characters and stories grow as you grow. I particularly remember reading the later ones as they came out, and they always fit my age so well.
Yes, they're probably not the best example of fantasy, but they're very good boarding school stories with a fantastical element, and while they might have certain elements that are politically misguided, the core philosophy of fighting injustice and evil wherever you see it is important, and I know a lot of people who find the books, and quotes from it, very aspirational in that sense.
Along similar lines to HP, I'd recommend the Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy.
There are some broad strokes similarities like following a young protagonist as they discover magical powers and grow in the community, but setting and characters feel more grounded/fleshed out. He does a good job raising the stakes as the series develops without it descending into Marvel-esque "saving the universe" silliness.
The violence is a bit more visceral, but still intended for a YA audience and not gratuitous or overly gruesome. It was my favourite series as a kid and I even wrote to Landy thanking him for his books (something I think we should all do more of :D).
Some Cold War spy fiction:
So far unmentioned. All sci-fi.
The Night's Dawn series by Peter F Hamilton. Space opera but also zombies. 6000+ pages over three (very hefty) books, I think. Hamilton also has some other massive serieses that are worth reading but The Night's Dawn is my favourite.
Xeelee Sequence by Stephen Baxter. Nine(ish) books which cover... um... kinda of everything. The Destiny's Children series is technically in-universe with Xeelee books but it's also kind of distinct and is well worth reading. Like Hamilton, Baxter has some other serieses that are worth the time if you like his other stuff.
The Culture by Iain M Banks. The best space opera there is. Not technically a series, but a coherent universe in which various novels are set.
Imperial Radch by Ann Leckie. Closest author I've found to Banks since his untimely death. The first 1/3 of Ancillary Justice is a bit slow going and could do with some more enthusiastic editing - but it's worth pushing through with because the series gets very good later on.
Teixcalaan by Arkady Martine. Currently only two books but I believe they are writing more and is worth mentioning because it's so, so good. Gloriously sparkling prose, space opera with a slant towards architecture, city planning and linguistics.
The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. A contemporary urban fantasy series that lets you follow the life of the wizard Harry Dresden over the span of years as he faces different supernatural situations. Harry grows throughout the series and one of my favorite parts is seeing how his relationship with the side characters progresses, and his personal growth.
The first two books are the weakest, and it felt that the series really hit its stride on the third book and never faltered after that. That being said, those first two books are still decent books and do set the bedrock for the series, while I've seen some people suggesting reading a synopsis of them and start with book 3, I found them enjoyable enough and all the books in the series are fairly quick reads.
Series: The Sword of Truth
Author: Terry Goodkind
Genre: Fantasy, Medieval Fantasy
Number of books: 11-17
This is my favorite series. I first got into it as a teenager, then years later after college decided to give it a re-read to see if it still held up or if I was just a dumb kid. I think it does. I even recommended it to my boss at a previous job, a woman ~20 years my senior, and she liked it as well.
I state the number of books as 11-17 because, originally, the series ended at book 11: Confessor. And it was a fantastic ending. Even though the story was over, I was happy. Then, several years later, the author began writing some new material that he originally labeled as being related to the series, but not part of the series. Eventually his stance changed, these new books became part of the sword of truth series. I read them and though they were serious page turners, I sincerely regret it.
Anyway, the original series is 11 books. Wizards First Rule to Confessor and it's fantastic. There are 2 sort of prequel novels, Debt of Bones and The First Confessor that are good reads and, as prequels, don't really affect the story in the original series, which brings us to 13 books. The last 4, The Omen Machine to Warheart...I would strongly suggest not reading.
There was also a short TV series (on ABC maybe?) that covered the first 3 books. It had a noticeably low budget and crammed a lot of story into a short amount of time, things happened out of order, and overall it wasn't a very good representation of the novels, but it exists. Personally I think they spent the entire budget on overly sexy actors.
*Edited for formatting
I'm not trying to put down anyone who likes this series, but I feel it is worth noting that it has a fairly controversial reputation in the fantasy community. Some people love it and some despise it and there seems to be very little in between. Might be worth looking into that a bit before diving in.
I've only ever read the first book and so can't speak to the later ones, but my opinion of that was it was an ok run-of-the-mill fantasy book right up until the BDSM torture cult arc near the end. I was weirded out enough to not continue, and that was before I had heard anything else about the series.
Maybe that's why I didn't like the TV series; there wasn't nearly enough bdsm torture cult.
Seriously though, this is a series that spans 11-17 books. What you're talking about is a small part of one book. I don't know who "the fantasy community" is, but they sound a little overly sensitive to call themselves fantasy fans. Shit gets much weirder than a little leather and torture.
Not just fans; he had a dubious reputation with fantasy authors as well. He was generally disdainful of the fantasy community; people aren't "overly sensitive" when they dislike being patronized for no reason. I remember in his final years when he publicly insulted his own book cover/artist instead of talking it out with his publisher, which is a scummy thing to do; he just had the reputation of being that kind of person.
A lot of people also dislike the strong objectivist component in his stories because they are fundamentally opposed to the ideology.
It's important to mention things like the BDSM torture cult arc when recommending a story with a BDSM torture cult arc, since not everyone will necessarily be into that.
There's also a lot of rape, and the messaging around it is off-putting and might be upsetting to survivors. I used to love these books as a teenager, and I didn't realize how problematic those portrayals were for a long time. It's certainly not an issue which is unique to this series (unfortunately), but it is a factor people might want to take into account. It comes up repeatedly, as well. There's also an instance of beastiality, although I guess since it's a made-up creature it might, technically, be called something else?
But there's also a standoff with an evil chicken in book 5, which is hilarious in hindsight.
I've read Debt of Bones, The First Confessor, and Wizard's First Rule. I deeply wish he had gotten to write more material for Magda because I appreciated the peek into the past.
I'm still working up the nerve for Stone of Tears. These will be the biggest fantasy books I've read (though I have read ASoIaF) and while entertaining, I'm still deciding if they're "worth the page count." I watched the show and enjoyed it as a high schooler, so I was expecting some (but not all) of the "weirder" sequences. Goodkind had a lot of content to get across, and at least his early work had pretty simple writing. I saw a review that mentioned how much time Richard and Kahlan spend crying and now it's hard to unsee that!
I loved this series when I was 18-20. I hated it so much when I was 35 I couldn't finish a full re-read.
I read them in the order they were released (starting with Wizard's First Rule), and I think I'd actually suggest that as well. It sort of gets you into the story before going back to the prequel stuff. But chronological should be fine as well.
I wouldn't suggest the last four books at all. And I'm usually hesitant to suggest the series in general, but it goes into the category I've discussed elsewhere in this post of: just stop reading after Wizard's First Rule and leave it at that if you aren't absolutely dying for more.
I'm halfway through the Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman, after I listened to the first episode of their immersive audio podcast retelling of the first book and was amazed with Jeff Hays ability to portray a range of voices from game show host AI to posh enlightened cat, to pig alien. The story itself is just trash enough to get me interested, where aliens have completely terraformed Earth into a planet sized "Dungeon" that runs off video game logic and forces the survivors to compete and descend it's dangerous depths for glory to become king of what remains of Earth, die in the process, or the equivalent an intergalactic book deal to dip out early. But it's not so trashy that it turns into an Isekai anime power fantasy with women falling over him. It's something of a Hunger Games commentary on top of a Sword Art Online setting, and the two mesh well together.
The Black Company by Glen Cook.
Anything by Alastair Reynolds, but in particular the Revelation space series. Galaxy spanning deep future sci fi that takes place across many timescales and locations with realistic physics (no FTL here) and some of the best world building ever written.
I remember enjoying short stories from him but I've never gotten around to trying any of the long form fiction. Thanks for the suggestion, this is the most interesting to me and I'll definitely consider it the next time I order books.
As a fan of Reynolds, just a word of warning. Use a website that explains which books are in which series and that kind of thing. I know that's a lot more common to do now, but when I started reading Reynolds back in the mid 2000s I read the books in the order they were published. That was fine initially because it gave me the ability to get into something a bit different for a while and then go back to a familiar series, without ever having left Reynold's writing, but as I started reading other things in between the series got a bit jumbled up for me and lost their cohesion.
Also a couple of his longer books are polarizing in the sense that there is some controversy as to whether you should even bother reading after a certain point. Some of his longer stories very much feel like great short stories plus 300 more pages.
Tad Williams' Of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy is everything I want out of fantasy adventure. A scullion boy, an orphan taken in by the head maid of a castle, has lofty dreams of being a brave warrior. The castle's magician has a fondness for the boy and takes him as an apprentice, beginning by teaching him to read and write. Meanwhile, the king's eldest son has been consorting with a mysterious advisor and rumors of near-forgotten evils drift down from the north. There's action! Intrigue! A bunch of appendices for all the names, languages, and other beautiful nonsense fitting an epic quest across many lands! (Plus he's written more in the same setting if it suits your fancy.)
I also really like his "Shadowmarch" series (another fantasy), as well as "Otherland" (a sometimes weirdly prescient VR dystopia science fiction). All of them are four-book-trilogies and worth every page.
Good picks. He does write some ginormous stuff. One of those authors I'm always on a mission to read everything from.
This is probably widely known but he's the bridge between Tolkien and George RR Martin, and it shows.
I haven't read a single one, but based on movies and their popularity, I would bet on Ian Fleming's James Bond series. I'm going to buy one on my Kindle right now and I'm very likely going though a few or most of them in upcoming year. Thanks for inspiration!
And speaking of James Bond, I would personally recommend Jack Ryan series from Tom Clancy. I have read just a few of the books (the ones that became movies + Rainbow Six, which actually isn't from Jack Ryan series but there are some characters you would recognize) but I believe all are great.
John Clark is way more badass than Jack Ryan anyways. ;) Also, Domingo 'Ding' Chavez is in it too, who is the ultimate badass amongst all the badasses of the Clancyverse.
I completely agree with you! They are both present in (at least) one Jack Ryan novel, but I prefer the commando/spec-ops over the spy/cold war, hence why I have read Rainbow six multiple times over the other books.
But if you (broader audience, not you personally) liked either of the movies, you should at least red the novel it is based on. They are really worth it. I will list the movies as people may not realize which ones I'm talking about, the movie and novel names are the same:
I've read Rainbow Six by far the most times out of all the Clancy books as well. And I also much prefer his spec-ops/commando/counter-terrorism focused ones to the spy thrillers too.
Yeah, it's just called Jack Ryan, and it's on Amazon. I've only watched the first (and maybe 2nd?) season, and I remember it being pretty decent... but not based on any of the Jack Ryan books I remember. And I also remember feeling like the Jack Ryan in the show is more of a combination of Jack Ryan and John Clark from the books. It's admittedly been a long time since I last watched the show, and even longer since I read a Jack Ryan book though.
p.s. For a great show that's more like Rainbow Six, I would highly recommend The Unit. It's awesome.
I just finished book 6 of the Outlander series, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, by Diana Gabaldon. I really hope I feel like these are worth the page count by the end! Historical fiction with a time travel twist. Book 5, The Fiery Cross, has been my favorite so far. They are very character-driven, and sometimes it's hard to see the forest for the trees. While entertaining, I personally wouldn't reread them, but I know people who are consistently reading one or another of these volumes all the time, so whatever floats your boat. I wasn't able to break into them until I started listening to the audiobooks.
The Sun Eater series by Christopher Ruocchio
If you like a queer and feminist LotR-ish world, the Roots of Chaos is really good. Currently only a duology, Priory of the Orange Tree & A Day of Fallen Night. A shorter book is coming soon and a third book is a couple of years out.
I got halfway through priory and stopped. I just didn't enjoy it. The first chapter about the young dragon rider was cool. I wanted that story but got something else.
Totally fair. They sure are really long and not without their problems. Especially Priory has a really long and slow build. Book 1 + 2 are like 500k words total
The author just yesterday (like an hour before my post!) announced that this shorter book is just above novella length at 50k words though, and she says that she hopes it will be a good entry point for new readers. Maybe you will like it if you did enjoy the world building or other aspects of Priory.
Edit: fuck, did I just post this in the wrong thread? LOL
Have you been looking for a well-written, long-form fantasy from a remarkable era (1980s-90s), is written by a woman, has dragons, an interesting magic system[1], and rich character development? I encourage you to give the Dragon Prince series by Melanie Rawn a try. I know I'm not the only one here that likes her work. This series by Rawn weighs in at a little under 600 pages to almost 900 pages each, if I recall.
In terms of plot complexity I put it about midway between LOTR and Game of Thrones. There are a good number of characters, the scheming is not nearly GOT levels but it carries the interwoven plots in a mature way, the world builds over time and really makes you appreciate the depth of the characters as they grow throughout the series, and best of all the series completes its planned story arc in the first trilogy and if you want more you can get into the second trilogy, Dragon Star, which takes place a bit later but with a lot of familiar faces.
The books all have phenomenal cover art by Michael Whelan, a steadfast artist in the fantasy and sci-fi novels of the 80s and 90s. Unfortunately for some, the first book in Rawn's series does have a bit of what might be considered a romance-y cover to it, it's not the He-man sort of cover he's done for other fantasy novels, but they are still dragons battling in the background so that's something. Don't let it scare you off of a great series.
One of my all-time favorite books was actually written by three women: Jennifer Roberson, Kate Elliot, and Melanie Rawn. The Golden Key is 800+ pages of treachery and inter-personal drama with some very dark magic. I won't say more than that. I love it. It did get a prequel a number of years after The Golden Key was published, but I don't know if the two books really make a "series" that fits the criteria of the thread. Just wanted to mention it and rep some female authors who started in the 80s and are still writing or wrote for a long time.
[1] The author is a descendant of a woman at the Salem Witch Trials.
The Neapolitan Quartet by Elena Ferrante. I'm surprised that no one has mentioned it so far. It's easily among the top 3 pieces of fiction I've ever read. Thoroughly deserved all the accolades that it received.