July 2023 SFFKit: Series & Trilogies

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As so many of us are trying to concentrate on series/trilogies this year, this is the perfect month to take a look at your Science Fiction and/or Fantasy series. I know that if you are a reader of these genres you will have a series or two that you are following but you don’t have to read long-standing series if you don’t want, you could also start some new ones.

I am not going to bother listing any series or authors as the choices are unlimited. From hard science to historical fantasy, apocalyptic fiction, space opera, urban fantasy, fairytale retellings – it’s all up to you! Enjoy reading about robots, spaceships, fairies and wizards.

Whatever you choose to read, please let us know here what your choices are. And, please, don’t forget to add your reads to the Wiki: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2023_SFFKIT

I am planning on reading The Last Colony by John Scalzi, the third book in his Old Man's War series. I am also going to read Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland, the second book in her Dread Nation duology.

I have some big, thick books that would fit and have been hanging round on my virtual and physical TBR shelves, such as:

The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu
A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin and
The Scar by China Miéville

But if I chicken out, then I will try 14 by Peter Clines

I have TONS of series on the go - will need to decide which one!

>4 JayneCM: LOL - I think a lot of us have TONS on the go! :)

If I manage to get them before end if July, either magic claims or sweep of the Heart. otherwise I have just started a new series, Red sister, which so far is promising enough that I might continue with book two.

Years ago, I started Libriomancer (Magic Ex Libris #1 by Jim C. Hines) but didn’t get very far. I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind for it; but I want to give it another shot!

I'm sure I can fine SOMETHING to fit!

ETA: Found it: Prince Valiant, Vol. 10: 1955-1956 by Hal Foster

I have completed my read of Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland, this book continued the story of Jane McKeene and Katherine Devereaux as they travel through 1880s America killing zombies.

I just finished The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea, which is first in a series.

I'm currently listening to Orson Scott Card's The Gate Thief, the second in his Mither Mages series, and loving it. There's one more after this and I'll probably move right into it!

Finished sweep of the heart and started magic claims, both part of long running series/worlds by ilona andrews

>12 amberwitch: I really enjoyed Clean Sweep and must continue with this series.

>13 JayneCM: I enjoy this series a lot, although this latest entry suffered a little more from fan service than any of the other Innkeper books.

I just read and loved The Shadow of Albion by Andre Norton and Rosemary Edghill, which is alternate history plus political intrigue plus romance. It's also book one in the Carolus Rex duology, and I'm excited to read the sequel (Leopard in Exile) next month!

I've not picked up Prince Valiant, yet, but am reading Protector by CJ Cherryh, #14 in the Foreigner series!

I started & finished Libriomancer (Magic Ex Libris #1; by Jim C. Hines) over the weekend! Isaac Vainio is a libriomancer-- a person who can extract power from texts and make manifest items that are described within. Currently exiled to a small library in Michigan as a cataloguer, Isaac's rather mundane routine is interrupted when vampires, in full fury, raid his library on a mission find out who has been targeting their community.... Secret societies, automatons, a dryad and, Johannes Gutenburg himself make their appearances as Isaac strives to unravel this urban paranormal mystery. However interesting the story and magic are and, however fun and intriguing the world-building, the characters themselves nonetheless seem rather boring and lacking in dimension outside of their respective powers. This first-in-series suffers in comparison to The Dresden Files (by Jim Butcher) and in the end, while not bad, not that great either— so this is a series I’ll not be following.

I think I’ll pick up Life, the Universe and Everything (Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy #3; by Douglas Adams) next :-)

Starting The Wolf At The End of the World by Douglas Smith, part of The Heroka Stories. I'm not sure how the series fits together as this is described in the subtitle as Book 1, but on the series page it is described as Book 4.

This challenge fits perfectly with my current reading stack! First up is Island of the Mighty by Evangeline Walton that completes her re-telling of the Four Branches of The Mabinogion. Also up is Jinx High to complete the Diana Tregarde trilogy by Mercedes Lackey.

COMPLETED The Heroka Stories by Douglas Smith. The series consists of 3 short stories and one novel, with another novel said to be in the works. The series is set in the world of the Heroka, were-creatures from Ojibwe legend. The first short story and the novel are linked and the two middle short stories are also linked.

I reread several of C. J. Cheryh's Foreigner series in June. I'm looking forward to a new one coming out this fall.

I finished The Great Cities Duology by N. K. Jemisin with The World We Make. I liked the first one better than this one. The ending felt very anticlimactic.
I'm working on Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky, book 2 in the Children of Time series. I've heard this one isn't as good as the first, but so far I am enjoying it.

>21 markon: I read the first three when they were originally published, but got busy with babies and Real Life, and lost track of the series. Now I'm working through the rest of the books, loving them.

I just finished #14.


Protector by C. J. Cherryh

Things have calmed down enough for the Aiji's heir, Cajeiri, to have special guests at his (at last!) felicitous 9th birthday celebration, or have they? There's a bit more action in this installment, and character growth that is unexpected but welcome.

ETA: Aw, shucks. I had Alliance Unbound cataloged in my library with a 2023 release date, been SO looking forward to it.

I read Old Man's War and am intrigued enough that I'll probably continue with the series.

I finished Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold. No 12 in the series.

Picked up a book from another series and read it all the way through. It's called Controlled Descent and was an impulse by at DragonCon in the Before Times. Loving the humanity of the characters, and the sci-fi/technology aspect of it is not too bad. Fits with the overall story.

Finished with it and starting its sequel Flight Plan, so re-arranging my series reading this month. As you do.

>24 susanna.fraser: Really enjoyed Old Man's War and glad you did, too!

I finished Children of Ruin, 3.5*. Did not live up to my expectations following how much I enjoyed the first one in the series, but not bad. I also finished Lost in the Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire, the latest installment in the Wayward Children series, which I thoroughly enjoyed, 4.5*

I have completed The Last Colony by John Scalzi. This is the third book in his "Old Man's War" series which I am enjoying tremendously.

Finished The long Earth and The long war, the first two books in the Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter collaboration. I would not recommend to the point of 1 star level. There is no plot and no story. The characters lack dimension and depth. It seems the authors got carried away by their world building, and yet the inconsistencies and retconning makes the world unbelievable and inconsistent.

Finished my second Foreigner book for the month, Peacemaker by C.J. Cherryh.

More politics and intrigue with the Atevi and human populations, with more emphasis on the Atevi culture. And I so enjoy Tabini's son, Cajeiri, and his human companions.

I read the second book in the YouSpace series. When It’s a Jar. Entertaining story of the multiverse, unlikely heroes, etc. Didn’t like the cover art.

I finished Furious Heaven by Kate Elliott, second in a trilogy with a gender-bent Alexander the Great In! Space!

>34 susanna.fraser: I read the first one in this series earlier this year and really enjoyed it! Hoping to get to book 2 soon.

I managed to finish four more books for this month:
A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers, 4.5* book 2 in the Wayfarers series
Naamah's Blessing by Jacqueline Carey, 4.5* book 3 in the Moirin trilogy or 9 in the overall Kushiel Legacy series
A Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan, 4* book 2 in the Lady Trent Memoirs series
The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi, 3* book 1 in the Interdependency series

Finished Akata Warrior and absolutely adored it. I can't wait to get to the third book in the series, though I think I'll wait till I can just sink in and do nothing but read for a few days....

Thanks to everyone for participating and I hope you managed to make at least a little dent in your pile of series reading. Of course the possibility of getting hit by a book bullet for a new series is high as well - so on we go!

>37 DeltaQueen50: thank you! I managed to finish two Cherryh's, which is an accomplishment, her books are so dense (but good!).

Despite a bit of a reading slump at the end of July I read a bunch of series books.

Machine Moon by Jeff Lemire, 2nd in the SF graphic novel series Descender
The Battle of the Werepenguins by Allan Woodrow, 3rd and last in the middle grade Werepenguin series
The Sandman, Act I, audio adaptation by Neil Gaiman
Talking to Dragons by Patricia Wrede, 4th and last in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles
Trading in Danger by Elizabeth Moon, 1st in the Vatta's War series
Grave Peril by Jim Butcher, 3rd in the Dresden Files

A nice FSF variety, and I enjoyed all of them. Also, I finished 2 series! (and started another, of course)

I'm counting two titles for July:

Translation state by Anne Leckie (a standalone, but set in the same universe as the Ancillary series)
Loved this one, and it's peek at what Presgar translator education.

A reread of Regenesis by C. J. Cherryh. I think I may need to do a read of the Alliance/Union series in order one of these days. I've read several of them piecemeal, but never in order.

>23 fuzzi: Ah, but at least there is a new Foreigner book, Defiance, coming out this fall.

I was able to finish two, count 'em, 2 series and clean out my TBR pile!

Finished the second in the "Stories of the Restoration" series called Flight Plan by K.M. Herkes, and also finally finally finished the "Mabinogion" series re-told by Evangeline Walton with Island of the Mighty. She wrote this under a different title in 1936 called "The Virgin and the Swine" and then re-wrote it when fantasy became A Thing (and an imprint of Ballantine Books) in the 70's.

Thank you for hosting this month, >37 DeltaQueen50:!

>40 markon: but I don't think I'll be caught up in the series, even by then.

Oh, the agony!