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Collecting and collating information about series I love made me think hard about what draws me to books, series and standalones alike. I think there are a few things that make a book or a series five star for me.

The first is good world building, whether this is the Middle Earth of Tolkien’s books or the Whitby of Mark Richards’ series. (See today’s list.) Maps of fantasy worlds are a constant delight, and maps of our world are interesting. Series set in it should ring true – I don’t mind the occasional fictional village or town but it needs to be realistic. Various books are pretentious in their overuse of flowery phrases to describe their worlds. I think all authors have secret designs on purple prose but the best manage to restrain themselves or perhaps edit before they publish. I need, I think, to be able to imagine myself in the location whether it’s Tolkien’s Middle Earth or Phil Rickman’s Herefordshire. All the authors I have recommended in this set of posts make locations live. Sometimes they’re even another character in the story.

The second is character. Within a few pages I have to feel invested in the outcomes for at least one main character and preferably a couple of minor ones too. For this to happen, the characters have to be ‘real’ – people I can imagine meeting and talking to. They need to have flaws, yes, because people do, but not carefully invented flaws that bow to some publishing trend that says detectives have to have sad home lives or fantasy heroes have to come from a humble background. In all the books I have mentioned I care deeply about the fates of the people in them and they tend to live in my head long after I have closed the cover or shut down my e-reader. If I don’t find a character deserving of my interest within a few pages I tend to abandon the book. If a book starts with unexplained explicit sex I will definitely abandon it.

Thirdly, the writing needs to be consistently good. I can mention a couple of series about young wizards which are written in an almost flat manner, and whilst I dislike purple prose (or for that matter constant references to what everybody is wearing) I also dislike a complete lack of description. Another example of ‘flat’ writing is in the latest volumes in the Dragonriders series mentioned below.  

In this respect, good editing is also a must. Most books have the occasional typo – nowadays more than in ‘classic’ times –  but I find inconsistent vocabulary, spelling or grammar hard to forgive. That could be the ex-English teacher speaking but I think other readers also notice but are less likely to articulate exactly what is wrong.

I frequently abandon books because the style or the ‘world’ doesn’t appeal (not always a criticism of the author but because I personally don’t like horror stories, college settings, most time travel or too much explicit sex) or because I couldn’t care less what happens to the major players.  I hope you’ve enjoyed my journey through series I do love and recommend and that you’ll both follow me into their pages and share your thoughts with me. As I said in my first post I am bound to remember something I adored once I have finished posting. However, I’m sure you get the picture of what I enjoy and why!

I realised I had given a total miss to series I adore that do not have romance as their primary or even secondary theme. There are a number of ‘classic’ fantasy series in this category. These probably need no notes from me.

The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan (and finally by Brandon Sanderson after Jordan’s death). I’m currently watching the Prime Video series and discussing that and the books on Dreamwidth.

Game of Thrones by George RR Martin. And no, he hasn’t actually finished it yet and might never do so but I found the film series (in which he was heavily involved) very satisfying.

Dragonriders of Pern by Ann McCaffrey. I love the dragons even more than their riders, but was disappointed by the writing when the author’s son took over the series.

Discworld by Terry Pratchett. This is comfort reading for me and I can re-read for ever.

The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien plus assorted linked books. I’m in good company because this was a ‘winner’ in a BBC poll. I must have read the main books at least six times.

Memory, Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams. This was meant to be a trilogy but became a quartet and was then followed by The Last Kings of Osten Ard series which I haven’t finished yet.

Although the above do contain romances they are primarily world building, politics great and small, and adventure, all set in fantasy worlds.

There are also crime series in our own world that I enjoy and I would like to mention one in particular:

The Michael Brady series by Mark Richards. This is a police procedural  set in and around Whitby but it is also a family drama and an exploration of character. Wonderful work and sadly Mark died last year. His daughter, also a writer, finished his sixth book but says there won’t be any more. The six are well worth reading.

My next post will be my winter 24/25 reading and viewing reviews and recs.