Help with series'!

Hello all,

I'm very new to LT, and I must say I'm absolutely loving it!

I've been lurking and reading so many wonderful books on your suggestions, I'm in heaven!

But now I must ask for your help...

I'm a HUGE fantasy fan, and I hear you all speak of so many authors I just know I'd love! But they all write trilogies or series', and I'm just so anal (can I say that word?) when it comes to my fantasy books, I MUST have all the books before I start reading the first one!

In a two-part request, I'd love it if you could post your absolute favourite series here, naming all the books in the series in order!

And second, I've heard so much about Hobb, Sara Douglas, Lackey and Stephen R. Donaldson, it would be a great help to again post in order the series I should read by these authors.

Thanks so much!

Hi,

I'm new to LT too, my fave series would be Robin Hobb's Liveship Traders, obviously you've already had recommendations to read her work but I'll add mine anyway :) I havn't read her new series yet, but the other 3 trilogies are all in my top ten, they each make sense on their own, but they do tie in together, the best order to read them in is The Farseer Trilogy (Assassin's Apprentice, Royal Assassin & Assassin's Quest), then The Liveship Traders (Ship of Magic, The Mad Ship & Ship of Destiny), then The Tawny Man (Fool's Errand, The Golden Fool & Fool's Fate).

My second fave series would probably be Karen Miller's Kingmaker/Kingbreaker duology (The Innocent Mage & Innocence Lost).

If you like something light & easy to read, I'd also recommend Anne McCaffrey's Dragons of Pern series. There are a lot of books in the series but I dont think it really matters what order you read them in.

There are so many other authors & series that I could recommend, but these were the first to come to mind… If you do read any of them, I hope you enjoy as much as I have :)

I strongly disagree with #2 - Pern really does need to be read in order. Dragonflight, dragonquest, dragonsong, dragonsinger, white dragon, dragondrums are the first several in order. I've most of the rest in order in my catalog. View by tags to have a look - this is true for all the series I've mentioned.

Stephen Donaldson very very different. Start with Lord Foul's bane illearth war power that preserves the wounded land one tree white gold wielder are the first six of the most famous Thomas Covenant chronicles. Some of his other writing is better in my opinion.

C J Cherryh - Fortess in the Eye of time fortress of eagles fortress of owls fortress of dragons and the latest fortress of ice is her fantasy series but she's written a lot of crossover and sf works all of which are excellant.

Lastly I've only time for a quick mention of Janny Wurts who's standalone hell's chasm we're group reading now, and who has written series' too.

As far as Mercedes Lackey goes, she recommends that her Valdemar books be read in the order they were published:

The Heralds of Valdemar Trilogy:
Arrows of the Queen
Arrow's Flight
Arrow's Fall

Vows and Honour Trilogy*:
The Oathbound
Oathbreakers
Oathblood

The Last Herald-Mage Trilogy:
Magic's Pawn
Magic's Promise
Magic's Price

By the Sword (stand-alone)

The Mage Winds Trilogy:
Winds of Fate
Winds of Change
Winds of Fury

The Mage Wars Trilogy+:
The Black Gryphon
The White Gryphon
The Silver Gryphon

The Mage Storms Trilogy:
Storm Warning
Storm Rising
Storm Breaking

The Owl Trilogy/Darian's Tale:
Owlflight
Owlsight
Owlknight

Brightly Burning (standalone)
Take A Thief (standalone)

And two books concerning Alberich the weaponsmaster; I don't know if there's a formal name for this subseries:
Exile's Honor
Exile's Valor

*these aren't strictly Valdemar books, since they take place quite a bit to the south, but they overlap somewhat.

+these also aren't strictly Valdemar books, since they take place in the distant past, but the events do influence some things in the present. The Black Gryphon is probably the only one that's more or less essential.

From your list I'd go 1. Hobb, 2.Donaldson, 3. Douglas just to mix up styles and story types a bit. I haven't read Lackey yet so no comment there.

For other completed good series, someday take a look at Gene Wolfe's books too. The more time goes by the more I appreciate them. The Book of the New Sun comes first with The Book of the Long Sun second, but they're not very related so you could start with The Book of the Long Sun first which is more accessible.

Is two a series? Could something be a series even if it's not published as such?
I'm thinking of Guy Gavriel Kay and the books Sailing to Sarantium & Lord of Emperors. Those two are a duology - The Sarantine Mosaic.

Very good, I ordinarily don't enjoy all these swords'n'sorcery, dragons'n'fairladies and... swineherd boys gets to be princes and faieries and gnomes and... but with the exception of Last light of the sun he writes really good nonconventional fantasy stories.

Thanks for the help and suggestions so far!

Katherine Kurtz has written a number of books in her Deryni world/milieu.
The 1st three: Deryni Rising, Deryni Checkmate, High Deryni. A self-contained story line.
Then she jumps back a couple hundred years in that world for Camber of Culdi, Saint Camber, Camber the Heretic. Another self-contained story-line.
Kurtz later had another trio of books that returned to the story line of the first trio: those are the Histories of King Kelson; the Camber trilogy was followed by the Heirs of Camber trilogy. And then there has been another Kelson books, etc. This all started with Deryini Rising in 1970! A long-standing series/world. I would try either of the first two trilogies, if you like them, we can run down all the list - or see this we site http://www.deryni.net/derynihome.html

I'll add Tad William's Trilogy: The Dragonbone Chair, Stone of Farewell, To Green Angel Tower

Sara Douglas and her double Trilogy:

The Axis Trilogy: Battleaxe, Enchanter, StarMan
The Wayfarer Redemption Trilogy:Sinner, Pilgrim, Crusader

Try Fiona McIntosh's 'The Quickening
Start with Myrren's Gift, lood and Memory and then Bridge of souls. A little bit different but once it catches your attention, you won't be able to put them down.

Sorry that should have been Blood and Memory!

Deverry by Katherine Kerr

The Deverry Quartet:
Daggerspell
Darkspell
Dawnspell aka The Bristling Wood
Dragonspell aka The Dragon Revenant

The Westlands Cycle:
A Time of Exile
A Time of Omens
A Time of War aka Days of Blood and Fire
A Time of Justice aka Days of Air and Darkness

The Dragon Mage:
The Red Wyvern
The Black Raven
The Fire Dragon
The Gold Falcon (aka The Silver Wyrm Book 1)
The Spirit Stone (aka The Silver Wyrm Book 2)
A forthcoming untitled conclusion

Also recommended - Katherine Kerr's stand-alone sf-fantasy Snare, which has nothing to do with Deverry, but is very engrossing.

Here are the series by Stephen R. Donaldson

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
Lord Foul's Bane - 1977
The Illearth War - 1977
The Power that Preserves - 19

The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
The Wounded Land - 1980
The One Tree - 1982
White Gold Wielder - 1983

The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
The Runes of the Earth - 2004
Fatal Revenant - 2007
. Against All Things Ending - not yet published
~unnamed finale~
=====================

Mordant's Need
The Mirror of Her Dreams - 1986
A Man Rides Through - 1987
=====================

Max Axebrewder/Ginny Fistoulari series
The Man Who Killed His Brother (as Reed Stephens) - 1980; (as Stephen R. Donaldson) - 2002
The Man Who Risked His Partner (as Reed Stephens) - 1984; (as Stephen R. Donaldson) -2003
The Man Who Tried to Get Away (as Reed Stephens) - 1990; (as Stephen R. Donaldson) - 2004
The Man Who Fought Alone - 2001
=====================

The GAP sequence
The Gap into Conflict: The Real Story - 1991
The Gap into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge - 1991
The Gap into Power: A Dark and Hungry God Arises - 1992
The Gap into Madness: Chaos and Order - 1994
The Gap into Ruin: This Day All Gods Die - 1996

I read a lot of children's/young adult fantasy, so I'm not sure if that's of interest to you. However, a few that I recommend to adult fantasy lovers as well as children:

The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede:
Dealing with Dragons
Searching for Dragons
Calling on Dragons
Talking to Dragons

The Attolia books by Megan Whalen Turner:
The Thief
The Queen of Attolia
The King of Attolia

Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan:
The Lightning Thief
The Sea of Monsters
The Titan's Curse

I'll stop with those.

Just a warning (and nothing against the writing, which is good) but the Covenant series is VERY dark. Possibly even depressing, given personality and reading circumstances.

Just an FYI before you plunge into the whole set.

If you like huge tomes, and don't mind waiting for a not-yet-published sequel, The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss, is very nice.

I second the Valdemar books, but I prefer another trilogy by her - The Obsidian Trilogy (set in an alternate universe than Valdemar)

The Outstretched Shadow
To Light a Candle
When Darkness Falls

and a second group, of which only the first is out yet... (set about 150 years after the first three) The Enduring Flame (trilogy? set?)

The Phoenix Unchained

I agree with RowanTribe -- Donaldson's writings in general are a bit on the dark side. I found the first book of the GAP sequence particularly over-the-top with brutality, and therefore at this time have not read the rest of the series. Others have said that the rest is fairly tame and the series is actually very good.

As for the Thomas Covenant books, I just read his last two over the past couple of months. I'm a slow reader, and somewhat inconsistant, so it took lunger than I planned. Having said that, I am entirtely exhausted from the effort. Donaldson will finish the series with the fourth book of The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant in a few years; he's currenetly working on #3. His imagery of battles, the sheer intensity of the characters and their complex personalities, the weaving of the story over the span of several millenia, and the depth of the anguish and sacrifices of the people of The Land -- and yet, there's always hope; there's a verve among the characters that affects you to the marrow. Tolkien runs a far second as a Fantasy writer. Donaldson should be wearing the crown, in my opinion, but for some reason, remains entirely underappreciated.

If you don't mind ongoing series, I'm going to add Janny Wurts's Wars of Light and Shadow:

Curse of the Mistwraith
Ships of Merior - this one in the hardback American version includes the next book, which is
Warhost of Vastmark
Fugitive Prince
Grand Conspiracy
Peril's Gate
Traitor's Knot
and Stormed Fortress

And also Michelle West's Sun Sword series. Start by reading the duology Hunter's Oath and Hunter's Death, then

The Broken Crown
The Uncrowned King
The Shining Court
Sea of Sorrows
The Riven Shield
and Sun Sword

George RR Martin has crossed genres over the years but I think his best known, most recent series is A Song of Ice and Fire.

The following are in the series:

1. A Game of Thrones
2. A Clash of Kings
3. A Storm of Swords
4. A Feast for Crows

Also just out:

1. Dreamsongs Volumes I and II.