favorite SciFi series (novels of course)

I think I'd have to put the Hitchhiker's Guide series as my favourite, even though it's not the type of stuff I usually even read. Of the numerous other series I've read, nothing really springs to mind - maybe the original Foundation series. I enjoyed it, even though I have a general dislike of Asimov. Also Dune by Frank Herbert. Some people consider Le Guin's Hainish cycle novels to be a series I guess, I don't, but they are still all really excellent books - she is one of my favourite authors.

Currently reading three series: Vorkosigan's Saga, Vatta's War and Old Wan's War. The last one taking the cake so far by a quite large margin. I'm in the first book still with Scalzi though, and I hope the series doesn't go the way of Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos, where the first book was beyond excellent and the rest felt like they weren't even written by the same author.

Hitchhiker's Guide was a classic series - until the fifth book, which kinda killed the fun IMHO. (I did enjoy Eoin Colfer's sixth book, though it couldn't help feel a slight bit awkward continuing a series that had very definitively and depressingly ended.)

I got a kick out of Scott Meyer's Magic 2.0 series, about modern programmers who discover the data files behind reality and manipulate it to become "wizards." Sort of a Douglas Adams Lite feel to the style.

Tad Williams's Otherland quartet, about the near-future of the internet, was pretty good, though the conclusion felt a trifle shaky. (Romance is one of the author's weak spots, IMHO.)

My nostalgic all-time favorite series, though, would have to be K. A. Applegate's Animorphs. Yes, even with the finale. Fast paced, some great character transformations, and it didn't pull its punches (something even grown-up series do.)

Hi
I would suggest Earthsearch and Pentworth by James Follett . Both were originally written for radio and later rewritten as a series of novels . The Pentworth series is a bit like Stephen kings , The Dome . I don't know if that is just a coincidence ? but I prefer Follett's version . I'm actuly not a big fan of the series , partly because I'm a slow reader, but also the momentum often runs out of steam and the story meanders . Asimov's Foundation is like that , in parts it can become quite dull. A good fast to read alternative, is a book like Parvane by Keith Roberts . A series of short stories .

The Diamond Age, about a girl and a society transformed by molecular printers. Three Body Problem, about an alien invasion and cultural revolution. And Darkwar, a science fantasy about a people trying to escape their doomed planet and culture. Honorable mentions include Ender's Game series, Foundation series, The Gaea Trilogy by John Varley, Left Hand of Darkness, and Dragonriders of Pern (it counts!).

Hi
Sorry , I have miss quoted It is King's Under the dome . I's not actually written as a series, but is thumping big book, over a thousand pages . It has been made into a TV series .

Book of the Long Sun series, Book of the New Sun series, Book of the Short Sun series.

by Gene Wolfe. Nothing else compares to his writing, regardless of genre.


Too Like the Lightning - tetralogy, by Ada Palmer. Not a lot of modern series Ican get behind but this is one of them.


Lord of Light by Zelazny. Cheating because this is standalone, not a series, but... imo it's possibly the best SF novel ever written. Obviously subjective, that.

Dying Earth, Jack Vance. Brilliant, subversive, poetic, landmark.

Philip K Dick (his books are often thematically linked, if not outright same universe).


Usula Le Guin's joined up SF series (can't remember what it's called but same universe as LEft Hand of Darkness).

The Expanse series is great.

The Red Rising books by Pierce Brown are very good.

Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis series, also known as Lilith's Brood (Dawn, Adulthood Rites, Imago).

Mind-bending in the best way possible. Often an uncomfortable read. I couldn't resist asking myself what I'd do under similar circumstances and the answers surprised me. Using sci-fi to bring a fresh eye to the history of slavery and in so doing examine what it means to be human was brilliant. It's an unforgettable story -- stories, really -- all wound together and going off in directions I couldn't have imagined. I should read them again. It's been years.

(At the risk of repeating some series I've name-dropped in the past)

In slavish agreement with Harlequin about Gene Wolfe. I've spent a decent chunk of my adulthood obsessed with this series, bought both Lexicon Urthis and Solar Labyrinth to understand it better. And I think I'm this close to figuring out who Severian's sister is. Might also mention Fifth Head of Cerberus, which is probably not connected but certainly related somehow, and with Wolfe you can never be sure.

Also agree about the LeGuin's Hainish Cycle, and PKD in general, who I've always appreciated for his focus on working class Joes/Joesephines and schmendricks trying to get by as much as the trippy gnosticism.

Also, yes, the Expanse. Proof that solid genre fiction can add up to something monumental.

Kinda science-fantasy, but CS Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy was really amazing, and I don't even like vampires!

Ian McDonald's Luna series is the most recent thing I'm obsessed with, woke and intellectually stimulating but delightfully trashy.

And both of Alastair Reynolds major series, Revelation Space and Poseidon's Children. I still like the Rev Space series better, but massively appreciate Poseidon's Children for the fact that it features flawed people in an imperfect but serviceable utopia.

And then there's the Culture...

Ooh yes good reminders the Banks' Culture novels.

Also Three Body Problem series. Cixin Liu.

Wolfe is very unwell--had heart surgery recently.

Harlequin said:

Wolfe is very unwell--had heart surgery recently.

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Yep. I think A Borrowed Man may be his last book. Didn't read that, did read Land Across, which was even more WTF than usual. I don't know how many other Lupophiliacs there are on this board, but I feel like you and I need to open up a Wolfe thread one of these days. So much to discuss!

Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan series.

Back in the day, I read everything I could find from Larry Niven's Known World universe.

I'm sure there are others that escape me at the moment, though I'm not a big sf reader overall. Occasionally I will find something I like.

C. J. Cherryh's Foreigner series; 18 books, with number 19 out in early January 2018.

I love these. I re-read them once a year in preparation for the next one.