# Favorite novel series **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [December 6, 2023, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-novel-series/994191 "2023-12-06T19:04:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2023, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-novel-series/994191/62 "2023-12-07T20:34:19Z")
Also do Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy count? I think Arthur Dent is the central character. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2023, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-novel-series/994191/63 "2023-12-07T20:35:04Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > She also did a good job of slowly developing the character of Kinsey over the 25 books. I was so sad she passed away before writing the Z book. Interestingly, years ago I bought a bookend that was the letter Z carved out of a book (an old Reader’s Digest Condensed Book – no great loss), so I’ve used it as a bookend for my Kinsey books. I especially liked this series for its local color. I can picture the scenes in and around Santa Barbara so clearly while I’m reading the books. Along those same lines, I enjoy Elly Griffiths’ Ruth Gillespie series. The series is set in Norfolk, which is an area I’m _not_ familiar with, so I like learning something about it. Gillespie is an archaeologist at a local university who has been involved in murder because of her specialist knowledge. It can get a bit soapy at times, but I don’t mind that too much. > [@ShadowFacts](#): > > Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch: very funny urban fantasy about a young constable in London who discovers the magical world lying just under the surface and becomes a kind of magical apprentice cop Ooooo, this sounds right up my alley! ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2023, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-novel-series/994191/64 "2023-12-07T20:52:13Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Where he and the Doctor lease a house “on fine gravel”, and they meet Diana? That is indeed the first part of Post Captain. But later in the novel, they travel to France because there’s a warrant out for Jack’s arrest due to him taking improper prizes. War breaks out again, and they have to escape to Spain, with Jack dressed as a bear. They attempt to return to England from Gibraltar on the Bellone, but are captured by a privateer. They do eventually make it back, where Jack is given command of the horribly designed sloop Polychrest. After that sinks (but they capture several ships in the battle), Jack is made Post and assigned as acting Captain of the Lively. At a minimum the final half of the book takes place at sea. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2023, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-novel-series/994191/65 "2023-12-07T21:03:58Z")
Season 2 of _Reacher_ debuts on the 15th and is based on novel #11 _Bad Luck and Trouble_. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2023, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-novel-series/994191/66 "2023-12-07T21:15:32Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > Ah then the only ones that come to mind are the Stainless Steel Rat series. Though I’ve not read them as an adult, I suspect they probably don’t hold up so well as they did as a teenage boy. I’m re-reading them now (age 71) while pedaling a stationary bike at the gym and as light entertainment they still do pretty well. For unmentioned series I would include the _Honor Harrington_ SF series by David Weber, the _Nero Wolfe_ mysteries by Rex Stout (dated but still intriguing), and the _Hospital Station_ SF series by James White, also a bit dated but with a marvelous premise well-developed, _1632_ is also on my bookshelves, I’m sad theat I’ll never know how the invasion of Lebanon, the English rebellion, and the Caribbean Conflict turned out… ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2023, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-novel-series/994191/67 "2023-12-07T21:44:12Z")
Carl Hiaasen - not really a series but some characters appear in multiple books. Easy reading. They are a tough critique of Florida politics, ecological destruction and humor rolled into one. Pillars of the Earth is one of my all time favs and I recently read The Evening and the Morning. I’ll have to look into the others. ---
**Author:** ![f.coli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eada6e/32.png) [@f.coli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/f.coli)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2023, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-novel-series/994191/68 "2023-12-07T22:21:16Z")
I have only read three of John Sandford’s “Prey” series with Lucas Davenport, but they were very good. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2023, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-novel-series/994191/69 "2023-12-07T22:28:14Z")
I thought of another author who has two different series that I really liked. Charlie Huston _Henry Thompson 3 book series_ from 2004-2006. Henry is a down on his luck bartender, and former college baseball player. Add a curmudgeon cat, the mafia and a whole lot of cash, and Henry trying to figure out what to do. Charlie Huston _Joe Pitt Casebooks_, 5 novels from 2005 - 2009. Joe is an unaffiliated vampyre living in modern day New York doing small jobs for the various vampyre clans in exchange for blood and his freedom. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2023, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-novel-series/994191/70 "2023-12-07T22:45:14Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > (I still quote Philip Jose Farmer quoting Sam Clements when the occasion merits it) Do tell! ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2023, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-novel-series/994191/71 "2023-12-07T22:46:00Z")
I’m not sure if Heinlein’s Lazarus Long counts, but there are multiple books with him as the main protagonist. Some are good, some not so much. Methuselah’s Children Time Enough For Love The Cat Who Walks Through Walls To Sail Beyond the Sunset I like the first two books, am ‘meh’ on the last two. He’s also in maybe half of “The Number of the Beast”. But I wouldn’t call them a ‘series’, as the plots and styles of the books are quite different… ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2023, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-novel-series/994191/72 "2023-12-07T22:49:07Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Season 2 of _Reacher_ debuts on the 15th and is based on novel #11 _Bad Luck and Trouble_. That book is one of the best of the series, IMO, so I hope they don’t deviate too much/fuck it up. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2023, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-novel-series/994191/73 "2023-12-07T23:44:57Z")
**Dresden Files** **Sime~Gen** series by Jacqueline Lichtenberg and Jean Lorrah **Mine!** (But I’m biased :D) ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2023, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-novel-series/994191/74 "2023-12-08T00:37:40Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Do tell! Well, the classics you know These are probably not exact, being back translations from books I read in spanish decades ago but for example: “Suppose you are an idiot an also a member of congress, but I repeat myself” “First God created idiots, that was for practice, then He created boards of education” (I adapt that one, because there are no boards of education here, things are far more top down. Sadly the first one still applies) I’ve also called dumbass persons “Culoaznos” that being the translation of Joe Miller saying “Dumbazz” ---
**Author:** ![jadielyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jadielyn/32/8808_2.png) [@jadielyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jadielyn)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2023, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-novel-series/994191/75 "2023-12-08T04:48:56Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > > [@MrDibble](#): > > > > Banks’ Culture books > > Interesting choice. I’ve read two, “Consider Phlebas”, which I really didn’t like, and “The Player of Games”, which I liked a lot. I’m torn as to whether to read more of the series. It’s not been that long since I read most of the Culture novels and strangely enough I had much the same feelings towards those two! Some research suggests that most fans’ experience - not all! - is that “Consider Phlebas” is not the best starting point but rather the “The Player of Games” instead. The one bit about CP is it’s one of the few stories that tells of the Culture almost entirely from an outside perspective rather than from from the inside. That being said, they can be challenging reads, and of my personal preference I would suggest either “The Hydrogen Sonata” (what happens when a civilization ascends to another plane of existence? no-one knows but this novel is concerned with how other civilizations react to the prospect. The Ship Minds have some entertaining interactions in this one) or “Surface Detail” (some civilizations prefer a virtual afterlife for their deceased, but is it moral to condemn individuals to a digital Hell? conflict both real, virtual, and personal revenge is on full display). “Use of Weapons” was a somewhat difficult read overall and “Matter” … had its interesting points, but more the worldbuilding and the ending than the journey for me. I have no opinion on “Excession” or “Inversions” as it’s not currently available on Kindle as of yet… ---
**Author:** ![jadielyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jadielyn/32/8808_2.png) [@jadielyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jadielyn)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2023, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-novel-series/994191/76 "2023-12-08T05:02:31Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > always happy to see another Brust fan! I’ve been sad recently that my old, worn paperback copies of the first 6 books have become so degraded that I can no longer read them due to age and time. So I’m probably going to treat myself to a digital copy for Hanukah. Cheers! I’ve been repurchasing in digital as well since they became available. It feels like every year or two I end up rereading the entire series and to think I grew up with these novels and now the end is in sight, I think we have only _Lyorn_, _Chreotha_, and _The Final Contract_ left to go. Not that I’ll object to any additional “historical romances” of Paarfi’s, should the gods look upon us favorably in that respect. 🙂 > [@ParallelLines](#): > > My copies of the Wildcards shared universe anthologies are still fine you’ll be happy to hear. I’ve also been reacquiring these in digital, and you might be interested to learn that some of the earlier novels have had a handful of stories added to them in the meantime … usually centering around the “Fort Freak” cops of Jokertown. I kind of suspect that has something to do with the various television adaptations they have been promising for a few years now. I wouldn’t say they’re worth repurchasing for the additions alone but were a nice little surprise to discover amongst the old favorites. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2023, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-novel-series/994191/77 "2023-12-08T05:42:07Z")
🤞 🐇 🦶 ✊ 🪵 We can only wait and hope, and the above to avoid the jinx of other series upthread, where the author passes before we readers are done with the characters! ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2023, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-novel-series/994191/78 "2023-12-08T15:14:23Z")
“Player of Games”, “Use of Weapons” (my favorite) or “Look To WIndward” are the best at exposition about the Culture. The biggest problem with UoW as a first book is it has a weird structure involving jumping around of time - so dealing with that plus all the new data about the Culture is difficult. But it does include Zakalwe, the best character Banks has written. “Excessions” is excellent, but not a great starting point because there’s a ton of dialog/communication between Minds, so you need to be familiar with them to understand it. “Inversions” is barely a Culture book - it’s about two Culture members (likely SC but never confirmed) working in 2 different countries on a pre-industrial planet. There are a few references to their life in the Culture, but 90% of it takes place on that planet. I wouldn’t suggest “Hydrogen Sonata” as a starting point at all, for the simple reason that the ending really feels like an ending to the series. Maybe Banks knew he wasn’t long for this world when he wrote it (or Contact had already recalled him, as I prefer to think). All IMHO of course. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2023, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-novel-series/994191/79 "2023-12-08T15:37:56Z")
I’m 75% of the way though. Love them all, and they don’t seem to have a predictable formula. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2023, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-novel-series/994191/80 "2023-12-08T16:03:27Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > “Player of Games”, “Use of Weapons” (my favorite) or “Look To WIndward” are the best at exposition about the Culture. _State of the Art_ (the novella in the eponymous collection) might be the best place to start, as it deals with the Culture in relation to modern (well, 70s) Earth. And is a sorta prequel to _Use of Weapons_. ---
**Author:** ![Galactus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galactus/32/3581_2.png) [@Galactus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galactus)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2023, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-novel-series/994191/81 "2023-12-08T17:07:57Z")
The Reality Dysfunction series by Peter F. Hamilton. (really, anything by Hamilton) The Harry Bosch series by Michael Connelly. (same with Connelly) The Jack Daniels series by J.A. Konrath. The Lucas Davenport series by John Sandford. (also, anything by Sandford) The Sandman Slim series by Richard Kadrey. The Perilous Order of Camelot series by A.A. Attanasio. The Firestar series by Michael Flynn. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-novel-series/994191.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-novel-series/994191.md?page=5)