Which is the Best Series or Trilogy or Single?

[*Melody*]

I just finished reading book 2 in this series, and plan to read the rest. At first our library didn't have them, but luckily I am assisstant to the collection development librarian, and she always orders any books I recommend.We now have the whole series in paperback, and I look forward to reading all of them!

Don't you agree that they are those kind of books that you just have to keep reading? I love the second book, but I hope it'll get better and better for every book I read.

 

[Scriven]

The Lord of the Rings gets my vote.

 

[Sibeling]

I voted for LOTR because out of the series mentioned here this is the best. I never really liked Star Wars, Harry Potter is a bit too childish, I haven't read The Song of Ice and Fire , and I thought Dune got boring at the end.

 

[Coolhand]

Hmmm. Personally I'd go for the Takashi Kovach' trilogy for Sci-Fi (just so damn cool) and Discworld series for Fantasy (just so damn funny) though ask me on another day and you'd probably get another answer.

So I voted "other."

As for the vote options:

• Harry Potter is enjoyable but nothing stunning.
• Star Wars was great until George Lucas shot himself in the foot with a Death Star by creating Episodes I, II, and III.
• The Lord Of The Rings made for great films but really dull books. (Arrgh! No! A lynch mob. I must flee....)
• And I haven't read the others. Except Dune. Which I can't remember most of coz I was probably too young to "get" it.

 

[Sathai]

I voted for Harry Potter because everyone seemed so down on him.

But actually, given the choices, I've enjoyed them all.

 

[Connavar]

Funniest thing is i havent read any of those series you can vote for. I plan to read LOTR of course, Dune maybe,SOIF(my brother is a fanboy and almost orders me to read it). Harry Potter and Star Wars no interest at all.


Anyway i voted other cause my fav series is:

Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. Funniest book ever. Almost voted for Foundation books but Adams won out cause Assimov should never have wrote more Foundation sequals after the trilogy. Which sadly ruins alittle of the magic from the first three books.


The best single book i have read is David Gemmell's Legend. Sure its part of Drenai series but its a sort of stand alone.

Of ALL the books i have read none touched me as Legend did, an amazing book. The first book that almost made me go to page one again and start rereading it when i finished it.

 

[Jason_Taverner]

there is plenty of great David Gemmell books he is a fantastic author,

I would seriously recommend you read Dune its a real classic.

 

[Connavar]

Gemmell is the reason i even bother with fantasy.

My first fantasy book was Sword in the storm. Gemmell is by far my fav in fantasy.

I have read 7 books of him so far.

 

[McMurphy]

"Grey Mouser, Gandolf" ; "Gandolf, meet Grey Mouser"

I had voted Lord of the Rings for its grand influence, for better or worse, on the literary fantasy genre as a whole. I dare anyone to find me a shelf in the fantasy section of his local bookstore that doesn't have a least 65% of the novels displayed upon it be examples of Tolkien knock-offs. Perhaps the series in a bit dry by today's standards, but Tolkien was certainly on to something.

If I was going to take the route of "other" and suggest an alternative Best Series based entirely on personal preference rather than genre influence, I would offer up one of Tolkien's contemporaries: Fritz Leiber. The Lankhmar series was great, and it didn't have all the epic ambitions attached.

As for best single book, now that is a bit harder. I am still in love with American Gods, and Neil Gaiman offers wonderful examples of fantasy stories that showcase his voice entirely separate from the mainstream chorus.

 

[Harpo]

Other - Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy

 

[Lirineth]

For me it has to be 'others'.

There are so many series that I like that it would be too long to name.

And then there is also the fact that I am always hoping that the authors of some of those series will see things my way, and keep on writing about them. Yea, I know, fat chance or my other favourite 'hell freeze's over'.

 

[Gothic_Angelica]

The rift war saga, The serpent war saga

 

[2nddan]

I'm a newb here, but I'm an old newb. I voted other, as in Asimov's Foundation series or Kurtz' Deryni saga. I'm also partial to Turtledove's How Few Remain series and Stirling's Dies The Fire series.
As for a single, Golding's Lord Of The Flies.

 

[Timewalker]

I voted for Dune. I've been immersed in that series for the last several months, with the new novels and re-reading the old ones and hanging out on several Dune forums.

Other series I really enjoy:

Darkover (by Marion Zimmer Bradley and others)
The Phoenix Legacy (trilogy by M.K. Wren)
Cyteen & other Union/Alliance novels (by C.J. Cherryh)
Merovingen Nights (shared world series started by C.J. Cherryh)
The Grand Tour (current SF series by Ben Bova)
The Time Patrol (by Poul Anderson)
Majipoor (by Robert Silverberg)
Guardians of the Flame (by Joel Rosenberg)
Dragonlance (by Weis & Hickman and others)

And I'm likely forgetting some...

 

[BattleMage]

Erickson and Feist should definately be in the list. I voted SoIF but thats really just a close second to Erickson's Malazan series.

 

[sci-fi girl]

I voted for the Lord of the Rings, but it was a mutiple choice poll, I would have chose "others" too. There are so many series which deserve to be in the list... Feist, Hobb, Lackey, McCaffrey....

 

[Laerten]

I like a lot of different authors books/series/trilogies. David Eddings book were always my favourites until I read 'The Black Magician' trilogy by Trudi Canavan - this trilogy was one I just couldn't put down until I had finished all 3 books!

 

[that old guy]

I thought the Dune books were some of the most vapid fiction I've ever read, personally. Not horrible but nothing all that special. They seem to be the SF equivalent at least in sheer tedium to the Gormenghast books, which I also didn't like.

...(((puts on asbestos underwear )))...

 

[BAYLOR]

The First Laws Trilogy bt Joe Abercrombie

 

[nixie]

I agree,there are to many different books out there some enjoyable, some that should never see the light off day.I enjoy too many to choice one over the other.Although my favourite will always be The Riftwar Saga by Feist.

Hmm, funny how we change.
Another reason why I'm not a fan of choosing.
Currently my favourite is Erikson's Malazan series