The end of the year seems like a good time to update progress on the Great Series Read Project that I joined earlier in 2020. It’s a way to keep me at least a little bit accountable to follow through on reading projects.
Following such formidable bloggers as Caitlin, Lisa and imyril, I will soon have a page dedicated to tracking the series I am reading, but in the meantime here is an updated list. I have made some changes, removing some series that just aren’t my personal priority right now (or that have been so extensively reviewed that I really had nothing to add) and adding others that I stumbled into. I swear that’s not cheating! Rather I’m getting to know myself better as a reader and reviewer. You can compare this list to my original Great Series Read post.
One more thing about lists and resolutions to read and review. I think they should be treated as guidelines, not rigid rules. So many great and unexpected new series start up each year that you need to make allowances for those wonderful surprises and not get bound into prison-like confines that limit the imagination. So I’m striking a balance here between accountability and going for all the shiny new things that come my way. Sometimes that leads me to review a whole series in one post, other times to forego titles that I should read but just don’t really warm to. I’m feeling my way along in this blogging world. What else can I do?
- Rebecca Roanhorse: The Sixth World duology
- Derek Kunsken: Quantum Evolution series
- Tade Thompson: The Wormwood Trilogy (Rosewater, Rosewater Insurrection, Rosewater Redemption)
- Linda Nagata: Inverted Frontier series (Edges and Silver)
- Emma Newman: Planetfall series
- Essa Hansen: The Graven series (Nophek Gloss)
- Kacen Callender: Islands of Blood and Storm Series (Queen of the Conquered, King of the Rising)
- Christopher Brown: Dystopian Lawyer series
- Kate Elliott: The Sun Chronicles trilogy (Unconquerable Sun)
- Sue Burke: Semiosis duology
- Liz Williams: Comet Weather series (Comet Weather)
- Gareth L. Powell: Embers of War trilogy
- Yoon Ha Lee: Machineries of Empire trilogy
- Ada Palmer: Terra Ignota quartet
- Rita Carla Francesca Monticelli: Red Desert series
- Karl Drinkwater: Lost Solace series
- Arkady Martine: Teixcalaan series
- William Gibson: The Jackpot Trilogy (Agency)
- Becky Chambers: Wayfarer series (Record of a Spaceborn Few)
- Peter F. Hamilton: Salvation trilogy
Here are the series I have completed but will never be done with because I learn more each time I look back at them. They are all must re-reads, but comprised a large part of my reading before I started blogging about science fiction. I’m not at all sure how many I will try to review here, but they are so important in forming my ideas about the sff field that I’m sure to review at least a few of them in the next year.
- Iain M. Banks: Culture Novels
- Linda Nagata: Nanotech Succession series
- Ursula K. LeGuin: Hainish Novels
- Octavia Butler: Xenogenesis trilogy
- NK Jemison: Broken Earth trilogy
- C.J. Cherrjh: Alliance Universe series
- Doris Lessing: Canopus in Argos – Archives series
- James S.A. Corey: The Expanse series
- Ian McDonald: Luna trilogy
- Alastair Reynolds – Revelation Space series
- Jeff VanderMeer – Southern Reach trilogy
- Ann Leckie: Imperial Radch trilogy
- Cixin Liu: Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy
- Malka Older: The Centenal Cycle trilogy
- Stephen Baxter: Xeelee series
- Isaac Asimov: Foundation series
- Frank Herbert: Dune series
- Douglas Adams: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series
Clearly, I’m much more into science fiction, especially space opera, than fantasy, but Liz Williams, N.K. Jemison and Jeff VanderMeer, among others, write such amazing books that I’ve gotten hooked on their work. What can you recommend?
Thank you for mentioning my series. Merry Christmas! ^_^