Freedom and Necessity by Emma Bull and Steven Brust is a terrifically fun mystery/historical fantasy. It’s set in 1840s England and is chock-full of intrigue, swashbuckling, politics, and magic. I can’t recommend it highly enough, especially if you’re a history buff.
While Dune is certainly the better of the 6, I must say that technically you are wrong. The second book, Dune: Messiah IS a sequel. It tells the story of what happens to the prophet, which is what the first book is about. The Third book Children of Dune, of course, relegates Paul as a minor character, thus suggesting that it is starting a NEW series, rather than continuing the old. (many parts of Children of Dune were written before Herbert even finished Dune, so it was planned from the start to go where the first three books went)
They are all good, though you can tell in later books that Herbert gives up continuity for a good yarn, a mistake many otherwise good authors make. I feel that keeping inconsistencies out of the books is more important than simply telling a story. Inconsistencies make the believability factor of a story plummet. Some nitpickers go too far though, and try to say because there are inconsistencies that those books that contain them are not really part of the series. To them I say: :rolleyes:
Doh, should have previewed. Oh well.
Just wanted to add, that the Dune Chronicles should be split into three Duologies. Dune and Dune: Messiah follow Paul. Children of Dune and God Emperor of Dune follow Leto II, and Dune: Heretics and Chapterhouse: Dune follow… Well, the Bene Geserit/Atradies line, but If I had to pick the key element, I would say it would be the Duncan ghola.
Oh and lawrence blocks “burgular” series aka bernie rohdenbarr series
These are so popular that he writes one every year or so so his fans dont drive him nuts
In a preface of the burgular who traded ted williams he wirtes “If everyone who ever asked me if bernie was ever coming back buys one of these books I’ll be a millionaire”