# What is the longest series of fiction books you've read? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 6, 2008, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-series-of-fiction-books-youve-read/471419 "2008-11-06T05:41:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-series-of-fiction-books-youve-read/471419/41 "2008-11-06T15:18:53Z")
> [@Just\_Some\_Guy](#): > > I’ve read every Discworld novel so that would be the winner for me. Next runner up is the fourteen books in Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan series. Are you me? _makes sure girly bits are still in place_ ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-series-of-fiction-books-youve-read/471419/42 "2008-11-06T15:28:11Z")
> [@Lanzy](#): > > The Destroyer series, over 130 so far, read 'em all. > and if we were counting comics, Fantastic Four from #1 to yesterday’s. Closer to 150 in the [Destroyer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Destroyer_(fiction)) series. I have them all. Second place will have to be the [Ashes](http://members.tripod.com/~tcrane/johnstn.html) series. A fairly good post-apocalypse set before it died a graceless death at book 35. They’ve started re-releasing them if anyone is interested. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-series-of-fiction-books-youve-read/471419/43 "2008-11-06T15:31:21Z")
Lilian Jackson Braun’s _[The Cat Who…](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cat_Who#Books)_ series. There’s 29 of them published and I’ve read 22 that I can remember. I need to do a massive reread/catch-up sometime. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-series-of-fiction-books-youve-read/471419/44 "2008-11-06T15:31:25Z")
I’ve read every book Robert B. Parker has ever written so far available, and a quick check on Wiki says that there are 36 of the Spenser stories alone. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-series-of-fiction-books-youve-read/471419/45 "2008-11-06T15:44:58Z")
Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series. There are 14 to date, and I know she recently signed a contract for 17 & 18, so I don’t see me stopping any time soon. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-series-of-fiction-books-youve-read/471419/46 "2008-11-06T15:48:22Z")
I’ve read all 20 of Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone novels - and the 8 short stories as well. ---
**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:** [November 6, 2008, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-series-of-fiction-books-youve-read/471419/47 "2008-11-06T15:49:21Z")
Discworld Destroyer series (most of) Glad to see there are other fans of Remo and Chuin out there. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-series-of-fiction-books-youve-read/471419/48 "2008-11-06T15:50:41Z")
> [@sqweels](#): > > [Casca the Eternal Mercenary](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casca_(series)) Yep. > [@Just\_Some\_Guy](#): > > I’ve read every Discworld novel so that would be the winner for me. Next runner up is the fourteen books in Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan series. About half of Discworld. Though all are in the library awaiting their turns. All of Miles Vorkosigan. > [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > Since I can’t use Shadowrun I’ll have to go back even farther and say Zanth. Ditto Shadowrun. Stopped slogging through Xanth many years ago. Depending on how loosely you care to define ‘series’, there’s everything in the Heinlein universe, also Asimov. I have quoted Lazarus Long in more than one post here. 12 books of Flinx in the [Humanx Commonwealth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanx_Commonwealth). 26 if you allow everything in that universe. Yes, I am personally responsible for the demise of more than one tree. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-series-of-fiction-books-youve-read/471419/49 "2008-11-06T16:06:58Z")
Also, it is with no small amount of relief I’ve noticed the absence of L. Ron Hubbard’s 10 books of Mission Earth from the lists here. ---
**Author:** ![Mahna\_Mahna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@Mahna\_Mahna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahna_Mahna)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-series-of-fiction-books-youve-read/471419/50 "2008-11-06T16:11:00Z")
In terms of longest series by the same author, I think it would have to be The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. Eleven books so far, with number twelve still to come. Thankfully, it seems that death put an end to what Jordan could not, unless he pulls a V. C. Andrews or a Tupac Shakur by becoming more prolific in death than he was in the life. Actually, since it seems that the last novel was unfinished when Jordan died and is being finished by a different writer, I suppose the series will be disqualified as far as the OP’s rules go once Vol 12 is published. I also read just about every one of the classic Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew novels, but as per the OP, those don’t count. (I mean, you didn’t think that Franklin W. Dixon and Carolyn Keene are real people, did you?) ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-series-of-fiction-books-youve-read/471419/51 "2008-11-06T16:11:09Z")
Robert B. Parker’s Spenser series must be over 25 books by now, and I’ve read them all. At this point, I continue out of sheer bloody-mindedness. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-series-of-fiction-books-youve-read/471419/52 "2008-11-06T16:14:56Z")
I’m another one who read an ass-load of “Doc Savage” when I was a kid, although I didn’t come anywhere close to reading them all or in any kind of order. I’d guess maybe 40 or so. ---
**Author:** ![Redwing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dfb087/32.png) [@Redwing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redwing)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-series-of-fiction-books-youve-read/471419/53 "2008-11-06T16:15:10Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Back in the 70’s I read an assload of the Remo Williams books. > [@silenus](#): > > Glad to see there are other fans of Remo and Chuin out there. Wait, wait wait! These are books? My too read pile seems to have suddenly gotten much deeper. Back to the OP: Discworld. In terms of shelf space, PTerry has more than some genres in my house =D ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-series-of-fiction-books-youve-read/471419/54 "2008-11-06T16:23:14Z")
Steven Brust’s Vlad Taltos novels. The first novel was published in '83 (I came in a bit later, in '90 or so), and there are currently eleven in the series, with a twelfth on the way. If Brust completes his plan, there will be nineteen total. According to the OP’s definition, it might be fair to include the Paarfi romances as well, since several major and minor characters have crossed over. That would bring the total to sixteen volumes as of the current date. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-series-of-fiction-books-youve-read/471419/55 "2008-11-06T16:23:38Z")
All of the books in the “Flowers in the Attic” series by V.C. Andrews. Why, yes, I was a child of the 80s. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-series-of-fiction-books-youve-read/471419/56 "2008-11-06T16:48:53Z")
This is very embarrassing, but I’ve actually read all 10 of L. Ron Hubbard’s atrocious **Mission Earth** series. I was young and foolish. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-series-of-fiction-books-youve-read/471419/57 "2008-11-06T16:52:19Z")
> [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](#): > > All of the books in the “Flowers in the Attic” series by V.C. Andrews. Why, yes, I was a child of the 80s. Shall I teleport you a neuralizer? I assume that there are portions of your memories you’d like edited. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-series-of-fiction-books-youve-read/471419/58 "2008-11-06T16:56:10Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Robert B. Parker’s Spenser series must be over 25 books by now, and I’ve read them all. At this point, I continue out of sheer bloody-mindedness. 36 of them according to Wiki. ahem, post 44. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-series-of-fiction-books-youve-read/471419/59 "2008-11-06T17:04:40Z")
> [@Mahna\_Mahna](#): > > I also read just about every one of the classic Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew novels, but as per the OP, those don’t count. (I mean, you didn’t think that Franklin W. Dixon and Carolyn Keene are real people, did you?) Actually, “Carolyn Keene” for the original series was only two people - Mrs. Strattemeyer and the woman from Indiana whose name escapes me, who was sworn to secrecy. The Strattemeyer Syndicate books had mostly single authors per series. Tom Swift, by the way, was written by the guy who wrote Uncle Wiggly. My wife read the autobiography of his daughter, which was fascinating. A real name doesn’t guarantee real authorship. The Babysitter Club books my daughter likes were originally written by Anne Martin (daughter of cartoonist Henry Martin who was a neighbor of a friend of mine when I lived in Princeton) but the later ones were farmed out. ---
**Author:** ![jehan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f6c823/32.png) [@jehan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jehan)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-series-of-fiction-books-youve-read/471419/60 "2008-11-06T23:36:16Z")
The best historical family series I have ever read is the “Dynasty” series, by Cynthia Harrod Eagles which covers a Yorkshire landowning family from about 1450 on. Originally it was meant to be 12 volumes, each one covering about 50 years of historical happenings, but at about volume 5 she fell in love with the characters and started slowing down. Now at volume 31 she is up to World war 1, and the last few have covered only about a year or so. I am desperately waiting for the next volume, which should arrive any day now from England. I need to know who survives Passchendale. Seriously- these books are incredibly addictive, and well researched. [http://www.cynthiaharrodeagles.com/morland1.htm](http://www.cynthiaharrodeagles.com/morland1.htm) I also love the Poldark series, which was 12 volumes set in late 18th century/early nineteenth century Cornwall. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-series-of-fiction-books-youve-read/471419.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-longest-series-of-fiction-books-youve-read/471419.md?page=4)