I’ve written many times about how bad I am at keeping up with serialized stories. Episodic television (especially shows that continue on in perpetuity) and long-running book series have been very difficult for me to keep up with.
This is partially because my memory is so weird that I will forget whole entire groups of characters but remember tiny moments of a character pulling burned fabric roses out of his pocket or something. Whenever I picked up the newest book in a series, sometimes I would have no idea who was who and what they were doing, and I’d be overwhelmed with the idea of having to start over to refresh my literary memory.
But brains are weird, and lately mine has been surprising me by…craving series.
And craving nothing but series, one after another, sometimes multiple series concurrently where I switch from book four of one series to book two of another.
What the heck?!
Who AM I?
My theory is that I remember restfulness more acutely, and re-entering an established world is a lower impediment to my own immersion in the story. In other words, the initial construction of the world is done once and then expanded in subsequent books. In the series I’ve been diving into for the past little while, all the books focus on the same set of central characters, so I don’t have to meet new folks. I’m hanging out with the same few people.
Side note: is there a word or a term for a series that has new couples and new central protagonists with each installment, versus a series where the same leads continue through multiple stories? Is there a term for each type?
Is this one of the dividing lines between genres, where romance series often feature new protagonist pairings forming New Courtships And Commitments, while, say, mystery or fantasy features the same characters meeting Yet Another Murder or Dragon or Possibly Both?
Anyway, my brain has been craving the kind of series where we hang out with the same characters through multiple adventures, and see the collection of characters growing and evolving as people. I want expanding depth and nuance in each book for each character, and I want puzzles and plots and emotional maturity – and lucky for me I’ve found a bunch.
Here are some series I’ve been really enjoying:
The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael by Ellis Peters
They’re in Kindle Unlimited, and in Hoopla, and there are so many of them. I’ve written about this series before, and how the pace (no one moves quickly in medieval Wales) and the setting (medieval Wales) are so restful, even if there’s murders all over the place, poor dude.
Psy Changeling and Psy Trinity series by Nalini Singh
This series features different couples, but they all interconnect and show up in each other’s stories as the Changeling packs and Psy and human collectives have to learn to get along.
Again, I’ve written about what I discovered while re-reading this series and it’s a fascinating example of not only character evolution and worldbuilding strength, but also the evolution of paranormal romance character archetypes over 20+ years.
The Peter Grant series by Ben Aaronovich
I love listening to these because Kobna Holdbrook-Smith is brilliant as a narrator, and because the world grows with each book. Peter learns more magic, and more complicated problems result from the increased knowledge. And I especially loved the novella What Abigail Did That Summer.
Penric and Desdemona by Lois McMaster Bujold
Again, I’ve mentioned this series before and I interviewed the author on the podcast (Ep. 461) (cue inner 13 year old NOT being cool).
Episodic mysteries and puzzles combined with deepening relationships and character growth (including all 14 personalities inside Penric’s head, poor dude) are one of the hallmarks of this world and I love reading, re-reading, and listening to the novellas in this series.
The Kat Holloway series by Jennifer Ashley
All of the above, plus food. NOT COOL, BOOK SERIES.
No, really, very cool. I love these books. They’re thoughtful and delicious.
The Crown Colony Series by Ovidia Yu
I love the time period, the cultural details, and the very precise observations of the sleuth heroine, SuLin, who navigates between different groups of people in Singapore in the 1930s.
The Wrexford and Sloane series by Andrea Penrose
Historical mystery series seem to be the most likely location for me to find all the narrative elements I’m craving, and this series features a slowly growing romance, which, of course, I like a lot.
This one and the next series also frequently feature the “foggy dude in a great coat” cover motif.
The Sebastian St. Cyr Series by C.S. Harris
This series is extremely atmospheric, and the covers often match the tone of what’s inside: misty, sometimes gloomy, often maudlin and melancholy mysteries, with a hero (St. Cyr) who I want to wrap in a blanket and have him sit in a comfy chair until he sorts his angst out. I can’t mainline these because the melancholy gets to me, but wow, do I enjoy them.
There are so many more I can mention – Veronica Speedwell, Lady Darby and hooray!
And! And! And! There’s a new Charlotte Holmes book out, too!
I was surprised when I started writing this post how many series immediately sprang to mind that I really enjoy. Looking back at my reading history over decades, there were a few series I kept up with for years, like Sweet Valley High, for example. But now, I’m hopping across series back and forth and happily grabbing the next one in each.
So maybe I’m not as bad at series as I thought I was. Or my reading tastes are continually changing.
What about you? Are there long running series you love? Which ones, Which type (central protagonists through each book, or new protags in each installment?) and why?
I’ve read a lot of series – SF/F, mystery, & romance – and it’s always for the same 2 reasons: I enjoy the author’s writing style and world-building and/or I love hir way with characters. I don’t read a lot of M/F romance these days so I’m not hip to what the big names are doing. In historical, I have trouble suspending disbelief about the huge happy extended families in which all the marriages are perfect and people only die from old age. I also don’t read a lot of ‘cozy’ mystery (there are so many of these series!), because I can’t suspend disbelief about completely unqualified people investigating crimes.
When I started writing my series (interconnected or same-universe, not same characters as MCs each time out) I didn’t know it was going to be a series. New characters emerged as part of the world-building. No man is an island, no woman lives in a vacuum; there are jobs and hobbies and neighbors. Because I’ve seen a lot of people say ‘I hate when side characters are only there as Obvious Sequel Bait’ I try very hard to avoid that. My series now comprises 18 novels and a slew of novellas. Some M/F, some M/M, revolving around entertainers, legal professionals, whoever. I never know which character is going to stand up and say ‘write about me next.’ 🙂
My gateway series was Poldark, because I was addicted to the 1970s series. I haunted used bookstores for years to hunt down all the books in the series. Hated the 2015 television version, since they cut out so much of the historical context that made the novels so immersive.
Like many who have posted, I started reading series or linked books as a child. I still have my copies of the Oz books by Frank L. Baum, and most of Louisa May Alcott’s books (Little Men, Little Women and Jo’s Boys are linked and Eight Cousins & Rose in Bloom are more of a series). The Bobbsey Twins, Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew are long gone — probably sold in a garage sale.
When I was a teenager, I discovered Mazo de la Roche, a Canadian author who wrote a series set at Jalna, an estate that was owned by a British army officer and his Irish wife, who named the estate after his posting in India. It was written in the 1930s and 1940s and I guess would be called a family saga.
I like historical series and mystery series, but usually find my way to them because I liked the author’s first book.
I used to be a completist, but as I’ve gotten older, I find that in some instances I’m less interested in the next installment and will wait to read reviews and decide whether the book is a must read or a maybe.
I think that most of my favorite current series have been listed, by either Sarah or the other posters. They include the Sebastien St. Cyr and Inspector Gamache. I am still a fan of Elizabeth George, although like another poster, I took a break for awhile after she killed off a favorite character!
I continue to enjoy Lexi Blake’s books, both her books that are set in and around Bliss, Colorado and the ones involving Ian Taggart and his brothers, business associates and others. There is lots of character cross-over between the books and its always a delight to see a familiar character pop up for a scene or two.
More recently, I discovered the Lakeshore Chronicles by Susan Wigg and am also enjoying that series, although I’ve only read the first 4 or 5 and I think that there are 11 or 12 in total.
I’m a sucker for a series, but I don’t tend to read them all in a row. I’ve been reading the In Death series for upwards of 20 years now. I like hanging out with the characters, although in recent years, there have been variations in quality. I’m also a loyal reader of the Harry Dresden series. I love me some Harry Dresden, but I’ll be the first to say that the most recent books, Peace Talks and Battle Ground. Yeah, they didn’t need to be two books and they made for disjointed reading as a result. Other series that I’m still working my way through include The Trials of Apollo by Rick Riordan, Sebastian St. Cyr by C.S. Harris (I’m up to book 7 there), the Lady Sherlock series by Sherry Thomas, the Reluctant Royals by Alyssa Cole, Orphan X by Gregg Hurwitz (which I turned my dad on to, and now he’s read further into the series than I have), and Seanan McGuire’s October Daye and InCryptid series. I like getting deep into my fictional worlds, which is what you get when a series has been around forever.
@Moriah thanks for the lovely mention of the Malcolm & Mélanie Rannoch Fraser Mysteries. I’ve always loved series as a reader and a writer because I love to sink into a world and stay there. As a writer my brain works that way, moving around the same world and building new stories rather than creating a whole new world. And as a reader, I love returning to friends.