July 7, 2018

My favorite series

I recently finished reading Obsidio and Only Human, the final books in the Illuminae Files and Themis Files series, respectively. Both series were great, which got me to thinking about what my all-time favorites are. So I tried to determine that in a somewhat scientific way by going through my Goodreads ratings to determine which series had the highest average ratings across all of the books in the series. There were several (including Illuminae Files and Themis Files) where I rated all of the books 5.0, and some where the average rating was 4.67 or above.

I picked the top ten for the list below, and they are sorted alphabetically by the name of the series. If you're looking for something to read, it can't hurt to start with one of the books below. You can't go wrong with any of them!


  • Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor - The writing is beautiful, and the story is creative. Laini Taylor is a master story-teller.
  • Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling - How could any favorite series list not include Harry Potter?? Not only did I think the series was great, but these books have influenced reading habits around the world like no other series I know of.
  • Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - Possibly my favorite YA series of all time, and the one that kicked off the YA dystopian wave of the last decade.
  • The Illuminae Files by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff - I'm not sure if it's because I just finished it, but of all the series listed here, this might well be my favorite. A must read for everyone!
  • The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer - This series is not only the best set of fairy re-tellings I've ever read, they're also really good books.
  • Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson - I'm only counting the first trilogy that tells of Vin's and Elend's story, but from what I've read of the second trilogy so far, I don't expect the quality to suffer.
  • Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan - A great series for middle school readers to adults, and my favorite of Rick Riordan's mythology-based MG books.
  • Razorland by Ann Aguirre - This was a rare trilogy where, not only were all three books great, but they got better as the series progressed.
  • Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry - Even if you don't like zombies, you've got to read this series. This was one of the few series where I wished it wouldn't end because I liked the characters and the universe so much.
  • Themis Files by Sylvain Neuvel - A great trilogy for sci-fi fans, and if you happen to like giant robots like I do, you'll love it even more.