What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

I'm looking for fantasy (preferably YA but any really) series with three or more books where the plot is continuous throughout all the books. Like it takes a long time and at least couple books for any one plot or storyline to resolve.

Er, example: Seven Realms series

I'm not looking for (at least in this thread) series where the first book could stand alone and the second and third books are expanding on that world.

Example: Lumatere Chronicles, Abhorsen series (Which I both loved! Just not looking for right here.)

Basically if I can set the series down after the first book and be mostly satisfied things are gonna be okay, it's not what I'm looking for right now.

Bonus points for:
~ Slow burn / long game
~ Female protagonist or at least one female POV

The Girl Genius novelizations are up to three volumes, covering the first nine comic collections. Volume 15 of the comic is currently being serialized (officially Act 2 Volume 2), so I'd expect several more novelizations in the future. Most of the plotlines are still ongoing (as of volume 13, at least; I'm about a hundred pages behind on the updates).

1st novelization:
Agatha H and the Airship City

Original comics:
Girl Genius Omnibus Volume One: Agatha Awakens (book)

Girl Genius Online (free online archive, page 1)

(The color in the first volume fluctuates from black and white to bright, to indicate the extent that Agatha's cognition is depressed. This stops in volume two.)

I don't know if you wanted urban fantasy or not but I highly recommend the Morganville Vampire series. Each book leaves off on a cliff hanger and storylines are continuous. To me I feel like I am reading one gigantic book just split up. The romances have lots of build up as well. Based on what your looking for I think you'll really enjoy the series.

The Throne of Glass series is awesome and continuous. The fourth book comes out September 1st.

The Daughter of Smoke and Bone series

The Grisha series

The Elemental Trilogy book 3 comes out in October.

Also second the Daughter of Smoke and Bone, my review.

The Throne of Glass still lingers unread on my Kindle (the first book), the others I will check out.

From me:
These two series are just starting, so not sure, how the series will be.
But I liked these books a lot (and reviewed them):
The Girl at Midnight, not sure, how many books it will be, I think 3 was mentioned, but am not sure, also this may change.
Review is not really long, I planned to flesh it out, but forgot, sorry:
Girl at Midnight

And this is planned to be 7 books, so it will be epic:
The Bone Season
my review
with the second book already published:
The Mime Order
my review.

As these are all newer, there is a certain risk regarding the unpublished sequels, but these I can highly recommend.

For a series, where all books are published, I suggest Mara Dyer, a trilogy, starting with:
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer.
Still have to think about how I will review the third book, as I did not like the ending and it was too obvious.
And all in all, there was too much romance, but that may just be me.
Review:
Mara Dyer 1
Mara Dyer 2

These books I reviewed are all solid 5stars from me.

Most other series I read are more like 1 book 1 closed story and a different story-arc for the series, but that is not as significant or as epic.

Once again here to recommend my old standby the October Daye series, which starts with Rosemary and Rue. Not sure if it's continuous enough for you, though. Each book has a main plot that is resolved, but there's always something big left unresolved--usually it's the main character's past and her family, and various villains who escape. And it's still going! Next book out in a few days!

And I know everyone's read it, but A Game of Thrones is like this too.

Sorry I don't know how to link to books but Tad Williams books, Memory, Sorrow & Thorn are awesome, all time fave. Juliet Marilliers books, Sevenwaters, start with Daughter of the Forest. I love all of her books. J V Jones, the Book of words trilogy & the Sword of Shadows saga. Raymond E Feist & Janny Wurts trilogy, start with Daughter of the Empire. Love all of Raymond E Feist books, start with the Riftwar Trilogy: Magician, Silverthorn, A Darkness at Sethanon. He has a few trilogies leading on from that.

Robert Jordan's fantasy series, The Wheel of Time. It spans over 14 books plus a prequel.

The Sevenwater series is spread over generations, so each book has a new story line but they are related. Beautifully written and captivating, I think.

The Bridei Chronicles by Juliet Marillier. The Dark Mirror, Blade of Fortriu & The Well of Shades.

Shadowfell trilogy, Juliet Marillier

An adult (reading age, as opposed to XXX rated) series that spreads over 8 books is the Fisher and Hawk series. Definitely fantasy, but down on the darker end of the spectrum.

There is a prequel that is totally different from the rest of the series and that was written after they were, then the 6 that comprised the "original" series, and finally a postquel (or whatever you call it when you write another book to tie up more loose ends.)

Hawk & Fisher the the first book published, but Beyond the Blue Moon is the prequel (but again, it's the 7th book that was written.) with the final book being Once In a Blue Moon. I know that you can get the 6 original books in omnibus form, with I think it's 2 books per, but it's been a while since I saw one of those, and it could be 3 to a book.

Not sure that it's "spread over the whole series) quite enough for you, but it's still a good fantasy series.

I've only read the first book in the Silvermay trilogy, but I really enjoyed it Silvermay. 2nd is Tamlyn and 3rd is Lucien. Not sure about books 2 & 3, but the first is definitely female protagonist and POV. There is definitely an overarching plot that goes beyond the first book.

This is a tough one for me to answer because I generally can't stand series where each book doesn't stand alone to at least some degree. I mean, I like ongoing stories, but get annoyed when it feels like book 1 ends in the middle of a sentence that's finished in the beginning of book 2.

All that said, I second the recommendation of the The Wheel Of Time. What you're looking for is a common criticism of the storyline.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy would also qualify, I think. It was never intended to be broken up into three parts.

My other recs are the first books in series where each installment wraps up enough plotlines to satisfy but still leaves enough open that you feel like you have to read the next book:

Thirteenth Child by Patricia Wrede. A young girl grows up in an alternate, magical Earth where the US has only spread to the Mississippi river by about 1850. I really liked this one, can't recommend it highly enough.

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. The world as we know it ended when super-powered individuals started appearing. Unfortunately, they are uniformly evil, and no superheroes have come forth to counter them. Steelheart is the invincible tyrant who rules what used to be Chicago. The main character is a young man who was there when Steelheart first appeared, and is the only one who ever saw him bleed.

Beguilement is the first book in the Sharing Knife series by Lois McMaster Bujold. A young woman becomes involved with a much older man who's a member of the Lakewalkers that protect humanity from evil magic Malices.

I'm a huge fan of the Belgariad and Malloreon series by David Eddings and Leigh Eddings. I started reading them in junior high and still re-read them today. Both series center around Garion. The Belgariad starts with Garion as a small boy and continues until he is roughly 16/17. The second series, the Malloreon, continues where the Belgariad left off with Garion as a young man into adulthood.

The Belgariad:
Pawn of Prophecy
Queen of Sorcery
Magician's Gambit
Castle of Wizardry
Enchanters' End Game

The Malloreon:
Guardians of the West
King of the Murgos
Demon Lord of Karanda
Sorceress of Darshiva
The Seeress of Kell

There have also been a few other books related to these:
Polgara the Sorceress
Belgarath the Sorcerer
The Rivan Codex: Ancient Texts of the Belgariad and the Malloreon

Okay I recommend the tiger's curse series, the Gatekeeper's son's series, and pretty much anything by Amanda Hockings or Jennifer Armentrout.

I read the Throne of Glass series and loved it! I'm going to check out more of these soon -- most of them sound really good.

If anyone has any more suggestions, feel free to add them. I'm always hungry for more recs!

Hey i love reading paranormal romance with strong female characters and i thought you might like a few of these collections..... High demon series, god wars series and the blood destiny seies all by Connie Suttle. The saw bear series, The grey back series, and the lowlander greyback all by T.S Joyce. Paranormal dating agency series by Milly Taiden. Alpha girl series by Aileen Erin.

Kate wrote: "I'm looking for fantasy (preferably YA but any really) series with three or more books where the plot is continuous throughout all the books. Like it takes a long time and at least couple books for..."

Don't listen to all those Throne of Glass people. They're decent, and the heroine, Celaena, is awesome, but they're a romance/fairy tale retelling series disguised as a fantasy series. It's got a love triangle that eats the plot. Look for Mistborn, His Dark Materials, the Farasala Trilogy, The Keys to the Kingdom, Abarat the Books of Pellinor or Beyonders instead. For an urban fantasy suggestion, Daughter of Smoke and Bone is great, for sci-fi, you should totally check out the Chaos Walking Trilogy and for adult fantasy, you can't go wrong with Game of Thrones or The Wheel of Time.

I also loved the Throne of Glass series. If you liked that, you might like these series by Maria V. Snyder:
https://www.goodreads.com/series/44007

Also, these series are good:
https://www.goodreads.com/series/57803
https://www.goodreads.com/series/119513
https://www.goodreads.com/series/44457

I agree with the suggestions of Daughter of Smoke and Bone.

I recommend the series by:
Mindy Klasky (Glasswright)
Maria V. Snyder (Study, then Glass)
Tamora Pierce (check out her author page for the complete lists)
Ursula K. Le Guin (Annals of the Western Shore)
Mercedes Lackey (all of them, but especially everything Valdemar.)
Patricia C. Wrede (Frontier Magic)
Shannon Hale (Books of Bayern & Princess Academy)
Megan Whalen Turner (Queens Thief)
Janice Hardy (Healer's War)

I'm reading the sequel to Monette's Mélusine right now and no resolution in sight. It's a densely enjoyable yarn in which the main characters are a wizard and a thief.

Bonnie wrote: "I also loved the Throne of Glass series. If you liked that, you might like these series by Maria V. Snyder:
https://www.goodreads.com/series/44007

Also, these series are good:
https://www.goodread..."

The Mortal Instruments are great.

Cinder series is amazing, the final book comes out soon- cyborg Cinderella, Rapunsel trapped in a spy satellite, etc. There in also a short story in between each book to give another perspective to supporting characters. They feature a different character in each book as part of a continuous story. Each book leaves you hanging.

I also enjoy the Woodcutter Sisters books by Alethea Kontis. Each sister has something to do with the days of the week they were born on that corresponds to the nursery rhyme, "Monday's child is fair of face...". Each book resolves fairly neatly but still leaves a few mysteries that compel you to read the next book.

Also any of Brandon Mull's series. You really have to read the whole series to get a resolution. My favorite so far is The Five Kingdoms.

Farworld series by Savage is exciting and full of puzzles about a boy and girl from different worlds who are switched at birth.

Brandon Sanderson has a hilarious series, The Alcatraz series, where magic is real and science and libraries are tools used by the evil Librarians who rule the world (in secret).

Septimus Heap is a long series I got tired of reading, though I did enjoy the books.

There are 7 books in the wonderful Dreamhouse Kings series by Robert Liparulo starting with ~

I've recently discovered the Mapmaker Trilogy by S. E. Grove. The first is called The Glass Sentence. Fascinating world, and while the books each come to a conclusion of sorts, the overall story continues through the series. I just finished The Golden Specific, the second in the series, and now have to wait patiently for the third to come out to see how the story ends...

The kingkiller chronicles by Patrick rothfuss.

Courtney wrote: "The kingkiller chronicles by Patrick rothfuss."

I was about to recommend this as well, but just keep in mind if you start this series that the third book is still unpublished.

The Name of the Wind is the first book. It's a really enjoyable read.

all of Robin Hobb's books come in at least trilogies .
I particularly loved the series of 4 about the dragons but all of her books belong to one universe albeit a different part each tome

The Pellinor series by Alison Croggon.
The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud.

The Green Rider series is pretty awesome.

the fifth one is coming out next year

The Witches of Eileanan Series

The Grey Wolves series bt Quinn Loftis is enjoyable but can be on the more mature end of ya

Falling kingdoms by Morgan rhodes

I'm reading the Lady Trent Memoirs by Marie Brennan. It's about a lady scientist set in a victorian style world. She studies dragons. There will be five books total, with four published right now.

I love the cover art . This is the first.

Courtney wrote: "I'm reading the Lady Trent Memoirs by Marie Brennan. It's about a lady scientist set in a victorian style world. She studies dragons. There will be five books total, with four published right now. ..."

The Lady Trent Memoirs is a fantastic series! I've given every book in that series 4 stars.

A Shade of Vampire this series has 30 books so far with 2 spin off trilogies.

The Study Books by Maria Snyder (posting first book covers only) Poison Study

The Walker series by C.E. Murphy Urban Shaman

Children of Blood and Bone? It's very action packed and it actually reminds me of Avatar the Last Airbender in terms of the Zuko plot line