# Need new series of books to get into **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 5, 2010, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-new-series-of-books-to-get-into/523759 "2010-01-05T16:22:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![otternell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecc23a/32.png) [@otternell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otternell)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-new-series-of-books-to-get-into/523759/1 "2010-01-05T16:22:21Z")
Hey Dopers! I am a reading fool and seriously need a new series or author to follow. I would like to hear some suggestions, please, so have listed some of the stuff (in some cases drivel) that I like to read. (Please don’t be too mean, I have very simple tastes and read for escapism.) I like Stephen King and Dean Koontz, but am not really in the mood for horror right now. Just finished Under the Dome, and that was enough for the moment. Raymond Feist: Riftwar, SerpentWar, and all those series - freaking loved 'em. Anything along these lines would be super! Mercedes Lackey is a delightful writer IMHO. Loved the Valdemar series. Anne McCaffery - loved Dragonriders, and a couple of her other series, though they are a touch old now. I did like the Harry Potter books, interesting, moved along and a pleasant way to escape the real world. I have not named everything I have read, just some big themes to make it easier to make suggestions. So let’s hear it! What good books / authors am I missing? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-new-series-of-books-to-get-into/523759/2 "2010-01-05T16:24:11Z")
The [Sten](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sten_Chronicles) series by Alan Cole and Chris Bunch. [Discworld](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discworld) ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-new-series-of-books-to-get-into/523759/3 "2010-01-05T16:27:47Z")
Do you have a problem with historical novels? If not how about Patrick O’Brien’s Aubrey & Maturin novels. Brilliant and lots of them. Not the same as the ones you list but I like many of those AND I like O’Brien. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-new-series-of-books-to-get-into/523759/4 "2010-01-05T16:39:30Z")
The [Dresden Files Series](http://www.amazon.com/Storm-Front-Dresden-Files-Book/dp/0451457811/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262709319&sr=8-1), by Jim Butcher, about a wizard in modern-day Chicago. Very engrossing and funny. I think there are twelve of them now? ---
**Author:** ![otternell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecc23a/32.png) [@otternell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otternell)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-new-series-of-books-to-get-into/523759/5 "2010-01-05T16:39:42Z")
> [@MarcusF](#): > > Do you have a problem with historical novels? If not how about Patrick O’Brien’s Aubrey & Maturin novels. Brilliant and lots of them. Not the same as the ones you list but I like many of those AND I like O’Brien. I’ll give it a shot! I am totally tapped out - have read everything in the house, and its cold in Iowa, so I don’t anticipate doing anything outside for a couple of months! ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-new-series-of-books-to-get-into/523759/6 "2010-01-05T16:44:25Z")
> [@otternell](#): > > I’ll give it a shot! I am totally tapped out - have read everything in the house, and its cold in Iowa, so I don’t anticipate doing anything outside for a couple of months! Or try Naomi Novak’s Temeraire series. It’s Patrick O’Brien meets Pern. Every book is better with dragons! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-new-series-of-books-to-get-into/523759/7 "2010-01-05T16:45:47Z")
For sf, there’s John Scalzi’s great _Old Man’s War_ series, set in a distant future with humanity fighting various alien races to settle habitable worlds. Funny, smart, with great action. If you liked Heinlein’s _Starship Troopers_ or Haldeman’s _The Forever War_, you’ll love this. For fantasy, I highly recommend George R.R. Martin’s _A Song of Ice and Fire_ series, which is about a globe-spanning dynastic war on a world slipping into a long winter. A great mix of action, adventure, court intrigue, moral dilemmas, dragons, zombies and magic. ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-new-series-of-books-to-get-into/523759/8 "2010-01-05T16:51:47Z")
If you like detective fiction, you can’t beat the Elvis Cole series by Robert Crais. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-new-series-of-books-to-get-into/523759/9 "2010-01-05T16:55:31Z")
Terry Pratchett. If the “Discworld” series seems like an awful lot to take on, start with a couple stand-alones and see what you think. I suggest _The Bromeliad Trilogy_ and _Wee Free Men_. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-new-series-of-books-to-get-into/523759/10 "2010-01-05T17:08:32Z")
Another for Discworld. Also, the Xanth series by Piers Anthony. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-new-series-of-books-to-get-into/523759/11 "2010-01-05T17:17:50Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > The [Dresden Files Series](http://www.amazon.com/Storm-Front-Dresden-Files-Book/dp/0451457811/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262709319&sr=8-1), by Jim Butcher, about a wizard in modern-day Chicago. Very engrossing and funny. I think there are twelve of them now? The twelfth is planned and coming out this year, I believe. This is what I came in to recommend, too. His _Codex Alera_ series also got a thumbs-up by a friend of mine, too. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-new-series-of-books-to-get-into/523759/12 "2010-01-05T17:21:45Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > For fantasy, I highly recommend George R.R. Martin’s _A Song of Ice and Fire_ series, which is about a globe-spanning dynastic war on a world slipping into a long winter. A great mix of action, adventure, court intrigue, moral dilemmas, dragons, zombies and magic. Oh lord no! Never read these, ever! The series will never be finished, so you will invest days and days and days of time, all for naught. Read Martin’s other work, because he is a great writer, but avoid \*\*Ice and Fire \*\*like the plague. The above warning is void if he ever finishes the series. Or hell, finishes the next fucking book! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-new-series-of-books-to-get-into/523759/13 "2010-01-05T17:21:52Z")
> [@Surly\_Chick](#): > > If you like detective fiction, you can’t beat the Elvis Cole series by Robert Crais. I’ll second this one. The only bad thing is that you will eventually read them all. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-new-series-of-books-to-get-into/523759/14 "2010-01-05T17:24:49Z")
For detective novels, try the works of Kinky Friedman. Start with **Greenwich Killing Time**. If historical fiction is your taste, and you don’t like sea stories, try Bernard Cromwell’s **Sharpe** series. Derring-do during the Napoleonic Wars. Of course, the classic series of historical fiction is George Mcdonald Fraser’s **Flashman** series. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-new-series-of-books-to-get-into/523759/15 "2010-01-05T17:25:21Z")
Some series I like: The Garret series by Glen Cook; a private eye in a fantasy world. _Sweet Silver Blues_ is the first. _The Spellsong Cycle_ by L.E. Modesitt Jr; a trained singer of our world is yanked into another where song makes magic; she rather regrets ever thinking “I’d rather be _anywhere_ than Ames, Iowa!”; the magic required the target be willing, see … Lots of intrigue, war, mass destruction. First book is _The Soprano Sorceress_. _The Chronicles of the Kencyrath_ by P.C. Hodgell; first book is _God Stalk_. Hard to describe without spoilers because the main character starts out amnesiac. She’s a member of a monotheistic race, reshaped and then abandoned by their god who finds herself in Tai-Tastigon, City of a Thousand Gods. The _Young Wizards_ series by Diane Duane; a magic-in-the-real-world series chronicling the struggles of , well, young wizards against the Lone Power, creator of entropy. The younger a wizard is, the stronger they are; which is why they are so prominent in the struggle. Wizardry can get pretty high powered compared to most versions; feats include everything from yanking iron out of the core of a dying star billions of years in the past, to a plot to stop time over a region of many lightyears. First book is \*So You Want to be a Wizard? \* _The Keeper’s Chronicles_ by Tanya Huff. A funny series involving a Keeper named Claire, someone who prevents the supernatural forces of evil from breaking though into the normal world. ---
**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:** [January 5, 2010, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-new-series-of-books-to-get-into/523759/16 "2010-01-05T17:43:48Z")
Anything by Charlie Huston: > **[Charlie Huston | Bibliography](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Huston#Bibliography)** > > 1.Caught Stealing (hc, 256 pages, Ballantine Books, 2004, .mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\\"""\\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output ... ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-new-series-of-books-to-get-into/523759/17 "2010-01-05T17:50:50Z")
I just discovered [Kage Baker](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kage_Baker#Novels_of_The_Company)’s “Company” series. Totally great. Start with _The Garden of Iden._ ---
**Author:** ![MissRancher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71c47a/32.png) [@MissRancher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissRancher)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-new-series-of-books-to-get-into/523759/18 "2010-01-05T18:01:57Z")
Another for Jim Butcher. I LOVE the Dresden books. MrRancher loves the Furies books (by him) but I’ve only read the first one so far. I really loved the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. Especially Wizard’s First Rule. The other books did tend to get more preachy and longwinded, but the first few were epic. I really like all of Simon R Green’s books and Brent Weeks. Also the Mistborn books by Brandon Sanderson. I suppose that’s enough for now - I should just friend you on GoodReads and you can see all my books there 😃 ---
**Author:** ![otternell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecc23a/32.png) [@otternell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otternell)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-new-series-of-books-to-get-into/523759/19 "2010-01-05T18:10:18Z")
Thanks for all the suggestions! Looks like my challenge now is to pick a starting point! ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2010, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-new-series-of-books-to-get-into/523759/20 "2010-01-05T18:18:36Z")
Historical / Adventure Fiction: Wilbur Smith - The Courtney & Egyptian series Bernard Cornwell - Starbuck Civil War series Dewey Lambdin - Alan Lewrie naval adventure series [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-new-series-of-books-to-get-into/523759.md?page=2)