Top Five Book Series - #1

#1 - Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett

My love of fantasy rekindled after reading the Dragons of Autumn Twilight, I began looking around for what else was out there and stumbled across The Colour of Magic. This 'comedy' seemed to be the latest thing in fantasy so I bought it, read it, chuckled at the jokes (especially when the camera imp ran out of pink paint) and then bought The Light Fantastic, the next in the series, to read the rest of this two part story. I also lent the books to a couple of my friends who also enjoyed it, which helped to build my interest in these books.

However, to be honest, the first two Discworld novels are probably the worst of the series. Since then they have steadily improved and the recent novels are far different beasts to those earlier works. Now the books skip along, telling exciting stories but still with Pratchett's wit and thinly-veiled comments on modern society.

It has become something of a ritual where, every Christmas, I will gratefully receive a new Terry Pratchett novel from my in-laws. I think I have all his Discworld books and love them all to bits. They are the books that I do not hesitate to buy - or request as a present - and the books I'm most likely to reread. As such, they are probably my favourite series of books (at least at the moment!).

Top Five Book Series - #2

#2 - Dragonlance Series by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Whilst at high school I wasn't particularly interested in reading. The books we had to read for English Literature class were boring (To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, etc) and the school library's collection was lacking. Then, when I was around 15 years old or so, whilst in the local computer game shop I spotted a book that caught my eye. The shop had a small corner devoted to RPGs and board games and the book I saw was the Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Weis and Hickman. I'd seen ads for this in magazines saying it was a fantasy book based on AD&D gaming sessions (which turned out to be something of an urban myth). It sounded interesting - and the wonderful cover art by Larry Elmore didn't hurt either - so I bought it.

And my love of fantasy books and reading in general was shocked back into life.

Sure, I'd read the Hobbit, Lord of the Rings and perhaps one or two other fantasy books before then, but I never really found them that interesting. LotR has always been a tough read for me. Conversely, Dragons of Autumn Twilight was wonderfully fresh and easy to read. It's full of adventure, magic, combat, dragons (etc) and reads like a dramatised account of an actual gaming campaign (even if it wasn't). It was like a breath of fresh air amongst the stuffy, cloying atmosphere of the other novels I was reading.

Since then I've read the Chronicles, Legends, War of Souls, and Lost Chronicles trilogies (ah, fantasy novels and their trilogies!). I've read some of the short story collections and other bits and pieces. But, it should be stressed, only the stuff by Weis and Hickman; the other Dragonlance authors never seemed to do much for me.

I've also read some of the others non-DL works by Weis and Hickman like the Deaths Gate Cycle, Rose of the Prophet, and Darksword series but they were never quite as good as Dragonlance. Tanis, Sturm, Caramon, Flint, Tasslehoff, Goldmoon, Riverwind, Raistlin and the rest will always be my favourite group of typical fantasy characters - and it's amazing how they got us to 'care' for an evil character like Raistlin!

Top Five Book Series - #3

#3 - Wild Cards by George R. R. Martin et al

Superhero novels not based on existing comicbook properties (owned by companies such as Marvel and DC) are unfortunately quite rare. And, actually, the Wild Card mosaic novels - collections of short stories by a group of authors set in a shared world and interleaved together - aren't really superhero novels. Although they feature a version of our world which includes superpowered people, these "aces" as they are called are not generally heroes and don't wear brightly-coloured spandex costumes.

Inspired by a Superworld RPG campaign, the stories are generally grim and gritty, and reflect a certain degree of realism in dealing with superpowered aces and hideous jokers afflicted by the DNA-altering "Wild Card" virus. In certain ways, the stories are quite adult, involving a degree of sex and violence that was something of an eye-opener (especially for a series of superhero novels) when I first read them towards the end of the 1980s.

I can't seem to remember right now how I came to buy the UK version of Wild Cards, the first book in the series, with its wonderful cover by Brian Bolland. This book is perhaps not the strongest as it covers about 40 years of altered American history, jumping from one event, and one set of characters to another slightly haphazardly. Still, it sets up a fantastic background and a number of interesting, varied characters for the next umpteen books.

The series has undergone a few changes and is still being produced; the next book Fort Freak is due out later this year. Many of the books between the first 6 and the last 3 are very difficult to get hold of and I don't actually have many of them. Tracking these down at a decent price is something I still occasionally pursue.

Top Five Book Series - #4

4. Mordant's Need series by Stephen Donaldson

By now it should be obvious that I'm a big user of my local library. One of the many books I once borrowed was The Mirror of Her Dreams by Stephen Donaldson (his best known fantasy series being the Thomas Covenant books). It was one of the few books where, once I'd read it, I had to read the second - and final part - of the series straight away. The library didn't have the second book yet and the paperback wouldn't be out for months, so I bought the hardback version of A Man Rides Through. Of course, that meant for a while I only had the second half to the series on my bookshelf (I eventually bought The Mirror of Her Dreams - probably the only time I've bought a book I've already read).

Of course, consisting of only two books this isn't really much of a 'series'. But I wanted to include it anyway because of its fantastic characterisation and its marvellous fantasy thriller-like story. I also love the unique "imagery" magic system used within the book. You see, on the world of Mordant magic is all done with mirrors - literally. Mages have to construct large, warped mirrors which then act as magic doorways allowing them to conjure items, elements or monsters from other realms or transport objects or people to these other places. It's a fascinatingly limiting method of conjuration put to great use in summoning monsters, fiery lava and unusual champions - such as Teresa, the passive protagonist of the book.

I remember really getting caught up in the story - a lighter, easier-to-read offering than Donaldson's other books (I found his Thomas Covenant books a bit dark and difficult to get into) - wishing that Teresa would stop falling for the manipulative Master Eremis' charms and become the hero she was meant to be. It was a thoroughly gripping read and one I still fondly remember.

Top Five Book Series - #5

I thought I'd do a new, occasional feature here at PRN looking at my top five things in certain categories that just come to mind. For the first list, I'm going to look at my favourite series of novels (single books would make it too difficult to limit to just 5, or even 15). I should point out that the order is somewhat fluid depending on my feelings at the time.

Anyway, let's start with...

5. Felix Castor series by Mike Carey

I almost went with Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden books as my fifth choice. Both those and Mike Carey's Felix Castor books are similar, in that they both concern investigators of the supernatural, are written in the first person and feel like pulpy detective novels. And, of course, both are highly entertaining and most definitely recommended.

However, the first Felix Castor novel - The Devil You Know - was my introduction into the modern urban fantasy genre of books, is set in England (specifically London) and is by a writer of X-Men comics. Hence, it makes the list ahead of the Dresden Files! Admittedly, I only read Carey's book first because Storm Front (the first Dresden book) wasn't available at the library but hey, it's my list.

In a way, these books blend bits of the horror genre - ghosts, zombies, werewolves and demons feature - with a little bit of magic regarding exorcists abilities to control and banish these creatures and sets them in the modern day world. What I like about the Felix Castor books is that the existence of the supernatural are known by everyone. They're not common, and most people tend to want to ignore the existence of ghosts and the like, but they're not hidden, secretive phenomena known only to a very small number of people. There's even mention of the government bringing about laws concerning the returned souls.

Overall, the Felix Castor books are a fantastic read, as I stated in my review of the first book. They certainly rank up there at the top of the urban fantasy books.