Audiobooks discussion

I am a big fan of series books. Have not seen another post regarding a series so will ask. If you follow a series what is your favorite?

I follow many but my all time favorite is the In Death series by J D Robb

Outlander by,Diana Gabaldon

Harry Bosch by, Michael Connelly

Bloody Jack by,L.A. Meyer

Mercy Thompson & Alpha & Omega by, Patricia Briggs

The Parasol Protectorate by, Gail Carriger

Thursday Next by, Jasper Fforde

Hitchhikers Guide by,Douglas Adams

Cycle of Fire by,Janny Wurts

Three Pines/ Gamache by,Louise Penny

Stephanie Plum by, Janet Evanovich

The Belgariad by,David Eddings

Sevenwaters by,Juliette Marillier

D.D. Warren by, Lisa Gardner

just to name a few of my favorites ;)

I don't read many series, but I do like the Her Royal Spyness series by Rhys Bowen.

I second Bloody Jack and Stephanie Plum. I will add in Agatha Raisin, Goldy Bear Mysteries, Iron Druid Chronicles, Georgia Nicholson, Parasol Protectorate series, Fever series, and the Curse Workers series. Of course Harry Potter is one of my most favorite all time series on audio.

Vicki wrote: "I am a big fan of series books. Have not seen another post regarding a series so will ask. If you follow a series what is your favorite?

I follow many but my all time favorite is the In Death ser..."

Love this new thread! Thank you for starting it!

Agree with above-named series from J. D. Robb (and the incomparable Susan Ericksen), Patricia Briggs, Gail Carriger (both of them), the one-and-only Douglas Adams, and, to some extent, Harry Potter and Outlander (can't seem ever to get through more than 2-3 of them).

May I add:
Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien, read by Rob Ingles; (or Stephen Frye if you're in Europe)
Brother Cadfael mystery series by Ellis Peters, read by Stephen Thorne or Patrick Tull;
Miles Vorkosigan sci-fi series - Lois McMaster Bujold, read by Grover Gardner;
Modern Witch series and offshoots (a cozy paranormal series) - Debora Geary, read by Martha Harmon Pardee;
Discworld series - Terry Pratchett, read by Nigel Planer and Stephen Briggs;
Phryne Fisher and Corinna Chapman (two mystery series) - Kerry Greenwood, read by Stephanie Daniel and Louise Siverson, respectively

I also enjoyed Thursday Next and Bloody Jack. Here are a few others I especially enjoy on audio:

Chet and Bernie mysteries by Spenser Quinn, read by Jim Frangione (starts with Dog On It)

Riyria Revelations & Riyria Chronicles fantasy by Michael J Sullivan (whole series was written at once, so no annoying waits for the next book) read by Tim Reynolds (starts with Theft of Swords)

Aubrey/Maturin historical novels on sailing in the age of Napoleon, read by Patrick Tull (starts with Master & Commander)

In a lighter vein, I enjoyed the Shopaholic series read by Emily Gray (same narrator as Thursday Next and the Parasol Protectorate)

I always listen to the Iron Druid Chronicles and the Mercy Thompson series in audio. The narrations of those two series make them must-listens as soon as they come out. I've also started listening to the Dresden Files instead of reading them because an Audible credit (platinum) is less than the $14.99 they charge for the ebook when it comes out.

I follow so many series that I've had to break them down into categories. First up, Paranormal/Fantasy:
Jim Butcher: The Dresden Files
Kevin Hearne: The Iron Druid Chronicles
Ben Aaronovitch: Peter Grant
Larry Correia: Monster Hunter International
Benedict Jacka: Alex Verus
Naomi Novik: Temeraire
Anne McCaffrey: Dragonriders of Pern
Orson Scott Card: Ender/Shadow Saga:  

The last two are technically Sci-Fi but I'll not quibble.

A second category of favorites, Mystery:
Louise Penny: Chief Inspector Gamache/Three Pines Mysteries
M. C. Beaton: Hamish Macbeth
Rhys Bowen: Royal Spyness Mysteries
Cleao Coyle: Coffeehouse Mysteries
Jacqueline Winspear: Maisie Dobbs
Tarquin Hall: Vish Puri, Most Private Dtective
Laurie R. King: Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes
G. M. Malliet: Max Tudor
Craig Johnson Walt Longmire Mysteries
Robert Galbraith aka J. K. Rowling: Cormeran Strike
Denise Swanson: Scumble River Mysteries

A subdivision of either Paranormal or Mysteries:
Paranormal Mystery
Juliet Blackwell: Witchcraft Mysteries
Victoria Laurie: Abby Cooper/Psychic Eye
Victoria Laurie: Ghost Hunter Mysteries
Molly MacRae: Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries
Bailey Cates: Magical Bakery Mysteries

Of course I follow some Paranormal Romance
Patricia Briggs: Mercy Thompson
Patricia Briggs: Alpha and Omega Series
Molly Harper: Half-Moon Hollows Series (includes Nice Girls Don't...)
Molly Harper: Naked Werewolf Series
Suzanne Wright: Phoenix Pack
J. R. Ward: Black Dagger Brotherhood
Christine Feehan: Dark Carpathian Series
Sherrilyn Kenyon: Dark Hunter World
Jeaniene Frost: Night Huntress World

I follow even more other series, but this is enough for now.

Oops, I forgot the most important ones, completed series that are also my absolute favorites:
J. R. R. Tolkien: Lord of the Rings
J. K. Rowling: Harry Potter
Agatha Christie: hercule Poirot
Rex Stout: Nero Wolfe
Arthur Conan Doyle: Sherlock Holmes
Patrick O'Brian: Aubrey/Maturin
Ellis Peters: Brother Cadfael
Charlotte MacLeod: Peter Shandy

Monster Hunter International
Ender's Game

1) Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)

All of the following in no particular order are also favorites of mine: (author - series character)

- C J Box - Joe Pickett
- Craig Johnson - Walt Longmire
- Vince Flynn - Mitch Rapp
- Rhys Bowen - Her Royal Spyness
- David Rosenfelt - Andy Carpenter
- Jacqueline Winspear - Maisie Dobbs
- Spencer Quinn - Chet & Bernie
- Dane Stabenow - Kate Shugak
- Michael Connelly - Harry Bosch & Mickey Haller
- David Baldacci - Camel Club/Oliver Stone
- Daniel Silva - Gabriel Allon
- Harlan Coben - Myron Bolitar
- C J Sansom - Matthew Shardlake

I second Chet & Bernie and Three Pines :)

I have 20 books on my "series to continue" shelf, so that is 20 series! Will I ever complete any of them. Favorites of them are:

- Matthew Corbett series, by Robert R. McCammon, narrated by the wonderful Edoardo Ballerini

- Harry Hole series, by Jo Nesbø. Not all audiobooks have been available to me, so this is a mix of formats.

- All Souls, by Deborah Harkness

- Pendergast, by Douglas Preston andLincoln Child

- Dublin Murder Squad, by Tana French

Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunters; J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood; Harry Potter; Christine Feehan's Ghostwalker series; there could be more but these are the ones that stand out. My interests have changed over the last few years though.

Javasapien wrote: "1) Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)

All of the following in no particular order are also favorites of mine: (author - series character)

- C J Box - Joe Pickett
- Craig Johnson - Walt Longmire
- Vinc..."

Almost all of these are ones I also read. Exceptions are Her Royal Spyness & Maisie Dobbs

Also Like Elvis Cole and Jack Reacher

This discussion makes me think I should take up more books in a series! Part of it is just having the energy to keep track of their order, whether I can get them from my library or interlibrary loan, etc.

If there are any fans of historical mysteries on this thread, I'd like to recommend a wonderfully atmospheric series: the Liebermann Papers by author Frank Tallis set in fin-de-siècle Vienna. It was my pleasure to record 5 of the six full-length installments (plus one novella) of the adventures of The brilliant young psychiatrist Max Liebermann and his friend, the portly Detective Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt. Tallis's knowledge of Vienna and its culture is fantastic, and the books have been extremely well reviewed both In print and in audio. Woven into his murder mysteries, Tallis captures the cafe society (ohh, the pastries!), the decline of the Empire as well as the rise of anti-Semitism, psychiatry, forensic medicine, women's rights, and more. Well worth discovering and enjoying, if you haven't already!

Larry Correia's Grimnoire series - one of my favorites.

I'm in the minority here, though - just couldn't listen to one minute more of Iron Druid after the third (DNF the fourth). Though the narrator is fantastic.

Series I have loved
Vorkosigan series by Bujold, Nar. Grover Gardener is my most recent favorite and, also by
Bujold,The Curse of Chalion, Nar. Lloyd James, and sequel,Paladin of Souls, Nar. Kate Reading
Past favorite series, still loved:(wonderful narrators)
Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes by Laurie R. King, Nar Jenny Sterlin
Kate Martinelli, San Francisco detective, also by King, Nar. Alyssa Bresnahan
Dragon Riders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey , Dick Hill and others
Amelia Peabody series(Egyptian archeologists) Nar. Barbara Rosenblatt.
The Bean Trees and sequel,Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver (only2) Nar. C. J. Critt
Navaho detectives, Joe Leaphorn and buddy by Tony Hillerman, Nar. George Guidall
Phryne Fisher , by Kerry Greenwood, Nar. Stephanie Daniels
Napoleon Bonaparte, Australian detective by Arthur Upfield, Nar. Peter Hosking
and, yes,
Harry Potter, by J. K. Rowling, Nar. Dick Hill—Stephen Fry may be even better but I’ve never heard him and I’m happy with Dick Hill’s reading.
The Narnia stories by C. S. Lewis, read long ago when my sons were young. I see that there are now some very distinguished narrators listed on Audible.
A Wrinkle in Time and it’s sequels by Madeleine L’Engle. Read first on paper then cassettes. I didn’t note the narrators but I was happy with them. I would guess aimed at middle schoolers but I enjoyed them as an adult.

The Tiffany Aching series by Terry Pratchett. The Wee Free Men (Discworld, #30)A Hat Full of Skyetc. The narrator is wonderful! He can do lots of different accents and the female characters don't sound like drag queens like in so many other books I've listened to. Even though these are "kids" books they appeal to all ages.

Kristie wrote: "This discussion makes me think I should take up more books in a series! Part of it is just having the energy to keep track of their order, whether I can get them from my library or interlibrary loa..."
Kristie, www.fantasticfiction.com is a great web site for finding the order of books in a series. I am a "series junkie" and use this site all the time.

Janice wrote: "Kristie wrote: "This discussion makes me think I should take up more books in a series! Part of it is just having the energy to keep track of their order, whether I can get them from my library or ..."

Thanks Janice! Certainly easier than googling it all the time. :)

Here's another great source for finding series in order, from the Kent District Library: http://ww2.kdl.org/libcat/whatsnext.asp

Unholy Ghosts series. Bahni Turpin does a wonderful job. Gritty urban fiction.

I thought Goodreads does a good job of listing order of a series. Audible does as well, though it seems that Audible has stopped listing the narrators in the series list.

Since I mostly do mystery books I use stopyourkillingme.com for series info.

The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon is my absolute tops.

I also LOVE:

The Hollows by Kim Harrison (a close 2nd for me)
Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne (really great)


I also have Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer and Kate Burkholder by Linda Castillo that I listen to but don't adore.

I find I try to limit the series I listen to because it gets hard for me to keep them all straight! And when you have to wait for the next one to come out I often lost track and forget stuff.....

Over on Librarything in their stats/memes it says I have 526 Series in my library no wonder I can't seem to get caught up on all my series!


And I just finished Rage Against the Dying: A Thriller which is of course #1 in a new series and I really liked it so add another series to the mix.

Dune - Frank Herbert

I really enjoyed the Mistborn: The Final Empire series by Brandon Sanderson The voices were great even though the narrator sounded a bit like Dudley Do-Right when he did Elend Venture. What a great fantasy adventure series.

Catherine wrote: "I really enjoyed the Mistborn: The Final Empire series by Brandon Sanderson The voices were great even though the narrator sounded a bit like Dudley Do-Right when he did..."

Agreed completely. Though I honestly believe that The Stormlight Archive is shaping up to be better than Mistborn. Only time will tell, as we're still missing the final piece of the intial trilogy, but it certainly does have all of the right stuff.

I recently picked The Fall of the Kings up as a sale item at Audible based on its Neil Gaiman Presents label. I had no idea what to expect, but I trust Gaiman. I used my credits to complete the trilogy and was pleasantly surprised. Riverside isn't a bad little series.

Actually, that's an understatement. The quality of the prose is top notch. Ellen Kushner has some serious skills. The plot is a bit less appealing in places, or at least it was to me.

The first book, Swordspoint (narrated by: Ellen Kushner, Dion Graham, Katherine Kellgren, Robert Fass, Nick Sullivan and Simon Jones), was good. It's basically a love story doomed by social class sans the closing suicide ala Shakespeare. A catch for some of you will be that both of the characters are men. I'm inclined to believe that love stories are pretty much all the same. Gender is an inconsequential detail. (My one complain was that some of the sound effects used in the audiobook caused me to think I needed to whirl and deck someone.)

The second book, The Privilege of the Sword (narrated by: Ellen Kushner, Barbara Rosenblat, Felicia Day, Joe Hurley, Katherine Kellgren, Nick Sullivan and Neil Gaiman), was excellent -- big fun IMO. A young woman of the court is forced by her mad uncle to give up her frills and bows in favor of trousers and lessons in swordsmanship. That goes about as well as you'd expect. I enjoyed it much and would highly recommend it.

The third book, The Fall of the Kings (narrated by: Ellen Kushner, Nick Sullivan, Neil Gaiman, Simon Jones, Katherine Kellgren, Robert Fass, Richard Ferrone and Tim Jerome), was a little more 'meh' IMO. It delves into the politics of the court -- the reason this imaginary, feudal society is savagely opposed to the notion of being ruled by a king.

Thing is, each story can be read independently of the others. The plots only mesh together through the inclusion of common characters. And even then, enough time passes that they've changed substantially.

Anyway, it's among my new favorites, a good, solid little read that's a bit more obscure.

Valyssia wrote: "I recently picked The Fall of the Kings up as a sale item at Audible based on its Neil Gaiman Presents label. I had no idea what to expect, but I trust Gaiman. I used my credits to com..."

I've added them all to my wishlist.

Valyssia wrote: "I recently picked The Fall of the Kings up as a sale item at Audible based on its Neil Gaiman Presents label. I had no idea what to expect, but I trust Gaiman. I used my credits to com..."

Thanks for the comments on this series. I bought the 2nd book some time ago, by mistake for the first one; but it seems like it might be the right choice for me.

CatBookMom wrote: "Valyssia wrote: "I recently picked The Fall of the Kings up as a sale item at Audible based on its Neil Gaiman Presents label. I had no idea what to expect, but I trust Gaiman. I used ..."

Oh, no trouble. Glad to help. Your 'mistake' sounds like the right one. I loved Privilege of the Sword. It was like Arya Stark with something GRRR Martin totally lacks: a sense of humor.

Valyssia wrote: "...Your 'mistake' sounds like the right one. I loved Privilege of the Sword. It was like Arya Stark with something GRRR Martin totally lacks: a sense of humor."

Thanks; funny comment.

I'm an early GOT dropout; I don't think I made it 250pp into the first book. Some people say Lord of the Rings is too long and has too many characters; by comparison to Game of Thrones, it's a novella with a cast that would fit in a minivan.

CatBookMom wrote: "Valyssia wrote: "...Your 'mistake' sounds like the right one. I loved Privilege of the Sword. It was like Arya Stark with something GRRR Martin totally lacks: a sense of humor."

Thanks; funny comm..."

No problem.

I've read them. I was less than impressed. GRRRM is a chess player. He plots and plots and plots, but the pieces are meaningless. They're fodder to feed an engine. I have to have something to hook into, a character I can actually care about. I found just enough of that in Arya Stark to keep me going. *shrug*

Tolkien was better, but still not quite my cup of tea. I totally respect his accomplishment, but honestly, it's not often that I admit I prefer the movies. There's just something kind of flat about his prose. It isn't horrible, but it isn't something I run way, way out of my way to indulge in, especially when in the same time frame we had authors like Heinlein who I happen to love.

*cough* The Moon is a Harsh Mistress *cough* Stranger in a Strange Land

Wait a little and Le Guin and M.Z.B. pop onto the scene. Given a choice I'd much, much, much, much, much rather read The Mists of Avalon again than Rings.

But that's all just personal preference. Take it with a grain of salt. I do totally get what you're saying with the 'minivan.' Tolkien's characters are more dynamic, enduring and interesting than anything created by GRRRM.

since Kingkiller isn't finished I won't add it... but I'll still mention it!

completed series: Harry Potter, Warlord Chronicles, Robot Series(a lite trilogy of Asimov books that hint at the beginning of Foundation), [The Watch series, The Death, and the Tiffany Aching Series] DiscWorld

I have 4 favorite series, two are by Lisa Gardner. I enjoy both her Quincy/Rainy series & her DD Warren series. Those two can be very "dark & twisty" so after I listen to one of them I like to do a "brain cleanse" by listening to the hilarious yet frivolous Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. My favorite "sitting in traffic" series is In Death by JD Robb.

I just finished narrating the Jackrabbit Junction Mystery Series by Ann Charles. The Great Jackalope Stampede (book 3) just went up for sale on Audible.com. I fell in love with the characters. And the stories all include a mystery, romance, and a ton of laughs. We an absolute joy to work on.

Harry Bosch series - Michael Connelly
Nathan McBride series - Andrew Peterson
Elvis Cole/Joe Pike - Robert Crais

Love Elvis Cole and Joe Pike! Have listened to every one that my library carries!

Lisa wrote: "I just finished narrating the Jackrabbit Junction Mystery Series by Ann Charles. The Great Jackalope Stampede (book 3) just went up for sale on Audible.com. I fell in love with the characters. And ..."

I have to check out that series; I lived in Wyoming for several years, home of the Jackalopes. (snicker)

Gail wrote: "Love Elvis Cole and Joe Pike! Have listened to every one that my library carries!"

Me too!

James Lee Burke's The Dave Robicheux series especially the CD's that include Clete Purcell.

The Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley.

Ellen wrote: "James Lee Burke's The Dave Robicheux series especially the CD's that include Clete Purcell.

The Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley."

Love Flavia de Luce - wondering what will happen next.

Wool by Hugh Howey ...
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
and the Diana Gabaldon series, although I'd be lying if I said I've listened or read the entire series. I purchased it on Audible but must admit that I've not listened to the last few....I do think it is possible to take a series too far...does any one else feel the same way?