Favorite book series?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by craftEcowgirl

What are your favorite book series? I love series and am always looking for some really must have ones.

If you like historical fiction at all:

Hornblower series by C S Forester
Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell
Poldark series by Winston Graham

Hornblower covers the (British) Royal Navy, 1794-1848
Sharpe covers the British Army, 1799-1821
Poldark covers the Cornish mining industry, 1783-1820

All three are excellent stories with a well researched historic background.

[cocopuff]

Discworld or PG Wodehouse's Jeeves if you want to laugh, plus each series has many books so they keep you from having to find new books for a long time! I just started the Blandings Castle books based off of a rec from this forum and they're excellent so far.

[wayspooled]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

If you like historical fiction at all:

Hornblower series by C S Forester
Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell
Poldark series by Winston Graham

Hornblower covers the (British) Royal Navy, 1794-1848
Sharpe covers the British Army, 1799-1821
Poldark covers the Cornish mining industry, 1783-1820

All three are excellent stories with a well researched historic background.

I just couldn't resist. I fought it but it won.... If you like Sharpe, have you read Allan Mallinson's Hervey - covers the British cavalry, 1808 or so - 1830?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by wayspooled

I just couldn't resist. I fought it but it won.... If you like Sharpe, have you read Allan Mallinson's Hervey - covers the British cavalry, 1808 or so - 1830?

No, but I'm only a quarter of the way through the Sharpe books so far. I'll bear it in mind.

[4691mls]

Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series - police procedurals set in Los Angeles
Harry seems like a real person - he has some flaws but is not so dysfunctional you wonder how he keeps his job, nor does he have near-superhuman skills. He's basically a decent, hardworking guy doing his best at a tough job. The series started in the early 90's and is still going, with Harry aging more or less in real time.

Mary Daheim's Alpine/Emma Lord series - small-town cozy mysteries set in Alpine, Washington
Emma is the editor of the newspaper in the town of Alpine. What I like about this series is that Emma's job gives her a reason to investigate; she's not just the neighborhood busybody. She does have romantic issues but they generally don't overwhelm the mysteries. The books are in alphabetical order so it's easy to keep the series order straight. Although the most recent book was Z (The Alpine Zen), the author's web site indicates she's working on another book to start over at A.
semi-spoiler re the romantic issues:

Spoiler:

toward the end of the alphabet, Emma does finally get herself straightened out and ends up with someone.

I recommend reading this series in order if you want to try to keep track of who's who among the townsfolk.

Christopher Fowler's Bryant and May series - semi-cozy police procedurals set in London
John May and the eccentric Arthur Bryant are elderly detectives who have been working together for decades in the Peculiar Crimes Unit. A few of the books are set earlier in their careers but many of them are modern-day. Most of the members of the PCU are misfits in one way or another. If you enjoy eccentric characters you may like this series.

Timothy Hallinan's Junior Bender series.
Junior is a professional burglar who is hired by other criminals to solve crimes. Neither cozy nor hard-core thriller, there are tough characters and some violence but the mood is lightened by Junior's smart-aleck remarks and penchant for living in cheap theme motels - such as a Christmas theme motel with rooms named after Santa's reindeer. This is a newer series with four books out so far and a fifth due in spring 2016.

[theducks]

I loved many of the series members have listed. (Notice the past tense.)

Great start (and in a few cases, the second book got better. see my add), but then the story gets tired. Same characters doing MOS in each volume. (I mostly blame the Fans and Publishers for this)

McCaffrey (Pern) avoided a lot of that with different sequences in the same setting


I will add in my picks: (at least the first 3 or so books)
Lisanne Norman's Sholan Alliance
Carrie Vaughn's Kitty Norville
CJ Cherryh's Chaunar and Foreigner
MZB's Darkover
LE Modessit's ... (Just too many volumes in most of them)

[JwkOKC]

Originally Posted by Nancy Fulda

All-time favorite? Lois McMaster Bujold's Chalion books. I am still desperately longing for her to release #4 and #5.

Other really awesome series:
Lois McMaster Bujold - Miles Vorkosigan novels
Brandon Sanderson - Mistborn trilogy
David Eddings - The Belgariad
Piers Anthony - Xanth novels
Anne McCaffrey - Dragonriders of Pern
Robin McKinley - okay not really a series but Hero and the Crown + The Blue Sword

I'm with you in being anxious for Chalion #4 and #5; Penric's Demon, released this year, is a good appetizer while waiting. And the latest Vorkosigan is up to her standard; Cordelia continues to conquer.

The Liaden Universe series with its many different arcs has even more than the Honorverse, I think, thanks to Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.

Piers Anthony was great until he began to do far too much copy-and-paste from earlier volumes; I finally quit reading that one, and it's almost the only series I've dropped without getting all the way through.

Wen Spencer's Elfhome series has only four books at the moment but I believe two more are in the pipeline. They're fantasy, but character-driven, and it's easy to suspend your disbelief.

The Joe Grey mysteries by Shirley Rousseau Murphy are interesting, especially for anyone who likes the company of cats. A new volume is promised for February 2016.