21st Century Literature discussion

With no limitations on publication date or genre, what do you consider some of the best book series? Which are your favorites? Do you tend to read series or did you read them at any time in the past?

The Mortal Engines series by Philip Reeve kept getting better and better until it arrived at a beautifully elegiac ending. i read it first as an adult and i was so surprised by it.

I was a big reader of series as a child - happy that much loved characters were going on to further adventures.
I haven’t read anywhere near as many as an adult. Prosewise the only example that springs to mind is the Patrick Melrose series by Edward St. Aubyn. I read them as separate novels, starting the next as soon as I finished each one. Not my usual fare, I found them compelling - not pleasantly so.
I’ve read more graphic novel series. The two standouts for me - leaving aside Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History & its sequel Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began - are Keiji Nakazawa’s 10 volume series Barefoot Gen which covers the period from the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945 to the withdrawal of American troops in 1953. Focusing on the experiences of Gen Nakaoka - a child at the time of the bombing. It’s a series I wish were better known & one I’d highly recommend to anyone.
The second is Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series, which will be familiar to most.

Bit different medium, but I was blown away by the Attack of Titan manga and all the moral and ethical topics it touches upon, including a complete inversion of how you see the main characters, from a very violent and a bit stereotypical start of the series. The Three Body Problem trilogy by Liu Cixin, which does something rare in how each novel gets better and the Terra Incognita series of Ada Palmer are some of the series I truly cherish.

I avoid book series as the plague nowadays. LOTR doesn't count, as it was written as one book. So my favourite must be The Winter King

Interesting to see how each of us defines "series"... I certainly have genre series that I quite enjoyed, but originally what came to mine as favorites were:
- The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street (Naguib Mahfouz
- The Neapolitan series (Elena Ferrante)
- The Border Trilogy: All the Pretty Horses, The Crossing, Cities of the Plain (Cormac McCarthy)
- (Fosse comes close to making this list)

SciFi/Fantasy picks for me would be:
- Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy (Jeff VanderMeer)
- The Broken Earth Trilogy (N.K. Jemisin
- Three-Body Problem Series Collection - the Dark Forest, Death's End (Liu Cixin
- Saga (graphic novel series)
- Walking Dead (graphic novel series)

Marc wrote: "Interesting to see how each of us defines "series"... I certainly have genre series that I quite enjoyed, but originally what came to mine as favorites were:
- The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk,..."</i>

You're so right on this! Series is such a broad topic. I had collections and collections of manga. My favourite manga series are:
[book:RG Veda, Vol. 01
Berserk, Vol. 1
Gravitation, Vol. 1

Graphic novels are:
John Constantine: Hellblazer, Vol. 1: Marks of Woe
The Sandman, Vol. 1: Preludes & Nocturnes

I'll add a big "me too" to Marc's choices of The Southern Reach Trilogy (now quadrology), The Broken Earth Trilogy, The Border Trilogy, and Remembrance of Earth's Past. And also a "me too" to Carl's choice of the Sandman series (whose author turned out to be such as garbage human it will be awhile before I can bring myself to read them again).

Trying to pick just a few from my other favorite series, I have to go with:
The Yoknapatawpha series by William Faulkner
The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny
Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons
The Dark Tower series by Stephen King
All three of Octavia Butler's series (Parable, Patternest, and Xenogenesis).
And The Harlem Cycle by Chester Himes

Love Broken Earth, Saga and the Dark Tower as well. Interesting how in the science fiction and fantasy department series seem to work best. I do sometimes yearn for a standalone fantasy novel, since committing to series is a lot. Quite hard to find them unfortunately.

Last year I read A Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell , at a book a month ..can recommend it as a time capsule portrait of the slow decline of the aristocracy in England as well as the persistent hold the same people have on power .

Also both Trollope's six work series ( Barchester and Palliser) still have a lot to offer contemporary readers .

I also loved The Cairo Trilogy and can recommend both The Balkan Trilogy and The Levant Trilogy by Olivia Manning along with The Aubrey Trilogy by Rebecca West and The Orlando Trilogy by Olivia Colgate .

More recently I've read The Wolf Hall Trilogy and Regeneration Trilogy but perhaps my favourite of all remains Toni Morrison's Beloved Trilogy .

Being a bit naughty I could also recommend The Bible ....not necessarily as a spiritual piece, but has to be the most fascinating book series ever written , albeit by many authors .

Lots of good ones mentioned so far... definitely love Wolf Hall, Border Trilogy, and Neapolitan series.

I'd also mention:
-Vilheim Moberg's "The Emigrants" series
-Mary Renault's Theseus series ("The Bull from the Sea"/"The King Must Die") - I've also heard her Alexander the Great series is great, too

in sf/f
-Tad Williams's Osten Ard saga (high fantasy)
-Fonda Lee's "Green Bone" trilogy (Asian fantasy/gangster trilogy)
-Ada Palmer's "Terra Ignota" quartet

Jon Fosse's Septology is the first one that comes to my mind, though I believe he initially intended to publish it as one long book. Some books seem to be assigned to series retrospectively just because the author decides to reuse characters, and it is arguable that the works of (say) Sebastian Barry, Elizabeth Strout and David Mitchell are all linked to each another at least tangentially.

I’d forgotten about Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell trilogy until Hester mentioned it. It would make my list, too.

I just finished watching the second season of Wolf Hall....so sad...

I am curious now about the Cairo Trilogy...

At the moment my favorite series is Calculation of Volume...part five just came in at my library!

I am also enjoying Asta Olivia Nordenhof's Scandinavian Star septology.

Yes loved Wolfhl and Calculation of Volume is so weirdly addictive, really curious how it will end!

Does anyone else feel tremendously let down after you see a book you loved as a stand-alone get retro-named "#1" in a series, when the author, a few years later, and having nothing better to do, decides to write about the same characters again?

e.g.

https://www.goodreads.com/series/4104...

Lark wrote: "Does anyone else feel tremendously let down after you see a book you loved as a stand-alone get retro-named "#1" in a series, when the author, a few years later, and having nothing better to do, de..."

I loved Bunny too, so I choose to be uncharacteristically optimistic that the author had an inspired idea that led her to write a sequel. Although there was nothing about this book that said 'sequel, please' to me.

Whitney, YES!!!! (Re: Jamesin & Faulkner).

Just saw there’s going to be an experimental 5th book for Southern Reach.
https://bsky.app/profile/jeffvanderme...

Oh really, didn’t know that. I didn’t extremely like part 4, but part of the appeal of series is seeing if they can redeem themselves or at least cast a new light on the other instalments.

What Marc and Whitney have said. But I have more of my other favorites to add.

The Book of Morgaine followed by Exile's Gate

The Pride of Chanur the whole series.

Sandman Slim gonna toss this in as well.

Marc wrote: "Whitney, YES!!!! (Re: Jamesin & Faulkner).

Just saw there’s going to be an experimental 5th book for Southern Reach.
https://bsky.app/profile/jeffvanderme..."

This looks like it could be completely amazing. More of an experience than a sequel. I am willing to spend some coin on this, and I'm a notorious cheap skate.

I rarely read series, but my ultimate comfort books are the audios of The Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith. 10 books and about 30 prequels and novellas and short stories and graphic novels. The characters are always a delight even when the story is just okay. I'm not surprised that Aaronovitch has written episodes of Dr. Who.

Whitney wrote: "This looks like it could be completely amazing. More of an experience than a sequel. I am willing to spend some coin on this, and I'm a notorious cheap skate...."
Definitely sounds like a printed object worth experiencing/owning directly.

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Was sitting near one of our bookshelves the other day and spotted two more series I adored, but didn't think of previously:
- Your Face Tomorrow: Fever and Spear / Dance and Dream / Poison, Shadow, and Farewell (Javier Marías)
- Gilead series (Marilynne Robinson)

Oh yes to Gilead. Excellent.

The Dublin books by Tana French. My faves: The Likeness and Broken Harbor but they are all good (except for the 6th).