Burgerchamp's Recommendations for Book Series and Books in a Series
In my yearly (or more frequent) recommendations, I tend to stay away from book series because of the implied investment. Plus, who wants to be recommended number 22 in a series? It can be daunting. So, here is the first entry in a series about a series of recommended book series for you to maybe think about giving some serious thought to. If you have recommendations for book series you enjoy or you need a recommendation for a series in a certain category or a recommendation comparable to something you like, let me know (comment below or reach me in the Polymedia Discord, patreon.com/polykill).
Mysteries With a Neat Gimmick
Series: Jessica Blackwood/Theo Cray
Author: Andrew Mayne
Number of books: 9 (10 if you count a very brief cameo)
Let’s kick this off with a series that is really two series that have merged into one. It started with a series about Jessica Blackwood, daughter in a long line of world-famous stage illusionists, who puts aside fame and fortune in the family business to join the FBI. She uses her skills as a performer and her outside-the-box thinking to unravel seemingly unsolvable mysteries.
Next came a series about Theo Cray. Cray is a brilliant statistician that deals in biological patterns and has an affinity for algorithms. He and his team hunt serial killers specifically by using their patterns against them. I won’t lie, the last couple of these get pretty dark. It’s a neat take on forensic crime solving.
Now Jessica and Theo have converged and work together to hunt the worst of the worst and outsmart the greatest criminal minds.
Books in the series:
Jessica Blackwood
Angel Killer
Name of the Devil
Black Fall
Theo Cray
The Naturalist
Looking Glass
Murder Theory
Dark Pattern
Blackwood and Cray
Mastermind
Final Equinox
Goofy Pulp Military Fantasy
Series: Monster Hunter International
Author: Larry Correia
Number of books: 8 primary books with some short story and collaboration collections.
This is just a silly series about the state of modern monster hunting in the private sector. When an ordinary man survives a monster attack, he’s recruited into the biggest private monster hunting firm in the business, Monster Hunter International. The stories are silly but have complex characters with real consequences. The humor is tongue in cheek (gnomes are gangsta wannabes, trolls are hackers that literally troll the internet, etc.). As the cast of characters grow, the books hop from colorful character to colorful character, giving you backstory and motivations for all your favorites and some of your least loved.
If you’re looking for a fun turn off your brain and let a guy kill monsters, I highly recommend.
Books in series:
Monster Hunter International
Monster Hunter Vendetta
Monster Hunter Alpha
Monster Hunter Legion
Monster Hunter Nemesis
Monster Hunter Siege
Monster Hunter Guardian
Monster Hunter Bloodlines
Historical Fiction Zombie Yarn
Series: Dread Nation
Author: Justina Ireland
Number of books: 2
Imagine, if you will, a world where the American Civil War was interrupted by the dead returning to life on the battlefield, which results in slaves becoming highly trained and highly regarded bodyguards for society’s elite. Living in elaborate city strongholds, they protect their wards from dangers human and previously human. When all hell breaks loose, they must venture through dangerous country to a fabled zombie free city for protection.
This is a fun pair of zombie books with a neat historical twist. They have a fair bit of humor to lighten the mood sprinkled about and a great couple of main characters make for a solid read.
Just Plain Weird Stoner Comedy Science Fiction
Series: John Dies in the End
Author: David Wong (Jason Pargin)
Number of books: Soon to be 4. I can’t wait.
I have loved David Wong (real name Jason Pargin, which the fourth book will be credited to) since he was a staff writer for Cracked.com ages ago. This series is a trip! Literally, mostly a drug trip. After taking a mysterious drug called “soy sauce”, Wong (as the main character) and his slacker, stoner, idiot friend John realize they can see what others can’t: beings and such from other dimensions that exist among us. What happens after that is a collection of utterly fucked up, violent, and downright stupid adventures through time, space, and any number of realities.
You have to really like the stupid sense of humor in this series to get into it, but if it clicks with you, it’s pedal to the medal all the way. And yes, John does, in fact, die at the end of the first book.
Books in series:
John Dies at the End
This Book is Full of Spiders
What the Hell Did I Just Read
If This Book Exists, You’re In The Wrong Universe
Modern Day Urban Sherlock Holmes
Series: IQ
Author: Joe Ide
Number of books: 5
Do you like detectives that use deduction? Noir? Urban fiction? This series finds a way to combine all these things into one genius (literally) character. Isaiah Quintabe has always been different from other kids. Orphaned at an early age and raised by his hero older brother, he’s always been obsessed with knowledge in all forms: science, engineering, machines, martial arts… he a human encyclopedia. That’s why everyone calls him IQ. But when his brother is killed in a hit and run, it’s up to his book smarts, and the skills and shady connections of the streetwise Watson to his Sherlock, Dodson, to figure out who killed him and why, turning him into the de facto private investigator for the entire neighborhood.
I love these characters. They’re grounded with real life problems. Isaiah is the strong silent type and Dodson his near opposite: loud and ready to fight. The arc they got through as the series progresses is a true representation of the highs and lows of friendship.
Books in Series:
IQ
Righteous
Wrecked
Hi Five
Smoke
Hard Science Fiction At Its Best
Series: The Expanse
Author(s): James S.A. Corey (Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham)
Number of books: 9, with a number of short stories and novellas to bridge them
Probably the most well-known series on this list, and for good reason. This is the best modern science fiction series out there. You may have seen the excellent TV series, but let me assure you, the books are (as expected) better. In the far-flung future, man has expanded throughout the solar system, colonizing Mars and building bases in the asteroid belt to mine for precious resources. Mars forms its own government and the Belters form a union. Tensions build in a cold war between Mars and Earth and the belt is stuck in the middle. When the crew of a salvage ship answer a distress call, their ship is blown up, leaving not the crew on the shuttle alive. As they unravel the mystery as to who is behind the attack, they join forces with a Belter detective and discover a weapon that has the potential to change humanity’s role in the universe, for good or ill, forever.
I recently reread all these leading up to the last book. The experience was even better the second time. The story arc is beautifully told with very real characters and very (mostly) real science. You will fall in love with these characters as they become a family of sorts. You will have your mind blown. You will have your heart broken. One of the rare instances where a long running series sticks the landing. Hard.
Books in series:
Leviathan Wakes
Caliban’s War
Abbadon’s Gate
Cibola Burn
Nemesis Game
Babylon’s Ashes
Persepolis Rising
Tiamat’s Wrath
Leviathan Falls
Jack Of All Trades Unravels Mysteries In Big Sky Country
Series: Sean Stranahan Mysteries
Author: Keith McCafferty
Number of books: 8
I love murder books. I especially love murder books that take place in the wide-open areas of western America. Sean Stranahan leaves a broken marriage and failing career as a painter to move to Montana and become a fly-fishing guide. Living off painting commissions and fishing tours, he gets drawn back into a life he left behind; that of a private investigator.
I like that all the mysteries in these books involve hunting, fishing, or general outdoorsy-ness. I also love that the main character is a painter, fly fisherman, tracker, and PI. The books have a great sense of humor about themselves.
Books in series:
The Royal Wolff Murders
The Gray Ghost Murders
Dead Man’s Fancy
Crazy Mountain Kiss
Buffalo Jump Blues
Cold Hearted River
A Death in Eden
The Bangtail Ghost
Very Dark Scandinavian Cold Cases
Series: Department Q
Author: Jussi Adler-Olsen
Number of books: 9 (For now. The tenth and final installment is forthcoming.)
Remember, I like murder books. I also love Danish murder books. They tend to be the darkest of the murder books. Multiple trigger warnings for violence and sexual violence against women and minors, some graphic violence, and some racism (always shown in a bad light, but no less effective if that is a trigger). Detective Carl Mørck is attacked while investigating a case, his partner forever paralyzed. Blaming himself, he returns to work only to be relegated to the basement in the hopeless cold case room. With his team of demoted misfits that have filtered to the bottom of the precinct with nowhere else to go, he begins to dig deep and solve some of the toughest and oldest cold cases out there, all while searching for the person that ruined his career.
All these books are compelling and well written, but the first in the series is unputdownable. The mysteries are challenging, but not impossible to solve on your own and as you get drawn into the characters and their world, you can’t wait for the secrets they keep to come boiling to the surface. One of my absolute favorite mystery series of all time.
Books in series:
(Keep in mind the UK edition may have different titles)
The Keeper of Lost Causes
The Absent One
A Conspiracy of Faith
The Purity of Vengeance
The Marco Effect
The Hanging Girl
The Scarred Woman
Victim 2117
The Shadow Murders
Well, I have to cut myself off there for now. I could go on forever, but I suppose it makes the most sense to make this into a series. If you haven’t ever read a series, or you’re looking for something to eat up a bunch of your reading time, hop onto one of these. Or find a series you might like and give it a go!
