My Top 5 Book Series

Following on from my piece on my seven favourite picture books, I decided to put together some writing on my favourite book series. I need to start this by explaining, stressing even, that this is not a review. I am nowhere near qualified enough to critique the writing of these authors, so it is merely an opinion piece and, given that it’s about my five favourite book series, a largely positive one. I love to read and have partaken in a lot of good book series (as well as some mediocre ones), so this was quite a hard list to compile. Nevertheless, eventually, I narrowed it down to the five.

Before I get going, there are some honourable mentions I need to make, with the likes of The Hunger Games, Divergent, His Dark Materials, Twilight (yes, Twilight) and A Series of Unfortunate Events narrowly missing out on the list. I just couldn’t get them all in, or it would threaten to be as long as one of the novels! Shock horror, I have not read Lord of The Rings (it’s on my to-do-list), so that could not feature (please forgive me).

There will be little to no spoilers in this piece, so feel free to read without a hint of a squint; and without further ado, here are my five favourite book series:

A Song of Ice & Fire

My all-time favourite book series at the time of writing. A Song of Ice & Fire is what the popular TV series Game of Thrones was based on (incidentally, Game of Thrones happens to be the title of the first book in the series). The story pulled me in from the very first chapter, the very first page, in truth. Intrigue builds as we wonder who, or what, has attacked the Rangers; then the next chapter pulls us into the real world of A Song of Ice & Fire. There are just so many facets to the story, from the politics and the lust for power to the magic and the fantasy. There’s plenty of love (“the things I do for love”) and the importance of honour for some characters is there for all to see. There’s such detail it would be hard to do the description justice in two or three paragraphs.

The multi-character POV format is one that I enjoy reading in general, and one that I plan to use in the novels that I write. How George R R Martin loops these complex characters together is pretty genius, in my humble opinion; as is the complex relationships between characters (both pre-existing and those developed within the story). Heck, the relationship that characters have with themselves stands out, and the notion of good vs evil does not exist much, if at all (although the show veers more in that direction). There is more of an acknowledgement that most people are capable of good and bad in almost equal measure, and the majority of characters derive both sympathy and dislike at different points in the series. 

My absolute favourite aspect of A Song of Ice & Fire, however, has to be its nod towards history. It’s famously based on various historical conflicts, like the Wars of the Roses, however it’s the history constantly referred to within the books that fascinates me the most. Most of it is tied back to a war that began 16 years before the first page is opened (although they do touch on action from centuries before, too). The war still effects many that are set in the series' present day, and the reader is brought back there many times through the memory of certain characters; sometimes without even knowing it. My love for the series is certainly aided by the fact that it boasts my single favourite book and TV character, Tyrion Lannister, too. As I’ve mentioned, it is, without doubt, my favourite book series so far. I just wish he’d get the next book published.

Harry Potter

I know, not exactly original, is it? This was the book series when I was growing from moody child into moody teenager. I have mentioned it in a previous piece, but I’m going to say it again, Harry Potter was the seed from which my love of fantasy writing grew (hopefully, we’ll see a novel from myself in the future). I’ve re-read the series recently as Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone features on a 100-book bucket list the wife bought me for Christmas (so I had to read the full series), and while I found the writing in the first few books to be slightly juvenile in its over-the-top descriptive nature (they were aimed at the younger generation though, I guess), I found myself plunged back into the world of witchcraft and wizardry, and I was captivated yet again.

For those that don’t know (where have you been), Harry Potter is the story of an orphan (11 years old at the start of the first book) who escapes a life of being mistreated by his aunty and uncle as he discovers that he belongs to the world of magic (not much of a spoiler, is it?). He’s enrolled into what is potentially my favourite book setting, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry; where he continuously makes discoveries about his past and the enemy that had lain dormant for his entire life. The world is nowhere near as complex as that of A Song of Ice & Fire, but it’s one I’d love to visit just as much.

Alongside Hogwarts, with its Room of Requirement, Forbidden Forest and Quidditch, there is Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, The Burrow and so many more that are so intriguing, while I feel great fondness for many of the characters (my favourite almost certainly being Ron, or Hagrid, or Fred and George). They bring so much to the storylines that I find to be fantastic too, even if getting from A to B is quite straightforward for most of the books (bad guy meets good guy at the end of the school year), and the theme of prejudice that undercuts the whole thing adds a sense of realism. I will not get into the controversies that the author has with this subject though, as it is nowhere near the point of the piece.

The Witcher

What, another fantasy book where the past is prevalent? Yes, absolutely. In the case of The Witcher, the past is available through a series of short stories that serve to explain how many of the personal relationships came to be. The short stories I found to be as fascinating as the novels themselves, but I will not digress into them. Witchers are a group of people, deemed mutants by the humans (whose species they used to be a part of), due to the superhuman abilities they possess thanks to a serum they’re injected with. Although the same people that see them as mutants rely on the Witchers to rid their various residences of the supernatural creatures that the humans are not strong enough to take on.

The stories themselves are based around a war (another theme). This time, on the surface, it’s a Nazi-style assault by the much-feared Nilfgaardians on the other nations within the continent – the aim being domination; only this time with wizards, witches, elves and that. If we took the war as a map, however, then the various story plots within act as the different continents, or even countries. There are mages on either side of the war (including one or two stabbing loved ones in the back), we discover who Princess Cyrilla is as she goes, we join Yennifer on her rocky path and we stand side by side with Geralt during the battle with himself and the conflict with other Witchers. This between not taking sides in the war (Witchers are neutral by nature) and keeping Ciri (who the Nilfgaardians are after) safe.

Of all of the series in this piece, The Witcher is probably the one that pulls me in different directions the most and it is the one that takes the most out of me to follow. All in all, though, it’s been a wonderful read (as they all have, to be fair).

The Mortal Instruments

When I think of the plot for The Mortal Instruments, I see a combination of two series to feature on this list (no wonder I like it). There is a touch of the Harry Potter’s in that the unknowing thought-to-be main character, Clary, discovers a supernatural world that she never know existed (although there is not a wand in sight), whereas aspects of The Witcher can be seen in the beings that she finds herself to be a part of. The Shadowhunters, or Nephilim, are beings with heightened abilities (this time due to being part-angel) that are dedicated to protecting humans, or mundanes (another similarity with Harry Potter and the somewhat patronisingly named ‘muggles’).

The similarities to the others are certainly at base level only; The Mortal Instruments is a wonderful series in its own right. There is another theme running through my selections that I hadn’t really realised before writing this, and that is realisation. When it comes to this series, the main focus is on the discovery of her family’s history and the twists, the turns, the are they, aren’t they of it all. I was hooked from the very first book and stayed that way throughout, and I was ecstatic when I found that there was a prequel series set in the same world over a century earlier, where a couple of ancestors can be found, this time in Victorian London (I won’t get into that now, though).

The Chronicles of Narnia

While there are perhaps others that I’d enjoy reading that bit more these days, I had to include this for nostalgic reasons. It is the first book series that I can remember reading, having been introduced to it as I read The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe at school. Having thoroughly enjoyed the book, I insisted that my parents bought the full series for me, and they had no problem obliging. Once they were in my hand, I went about reading them, in chronological order of course (book timeline, not release date) – including a repeat of The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe.

Narnia is a fantasy world, steered by a talking lion named Aslan, full of magic, mythical beasts and talking animals. The series allowed me to follow the realm from its birth to its inevitable demise, through various children enlisted by Aslan to protect it from the various evil forces (well, in every book except for The Horse & His Boy). Narnia is accessed in a number of ways, such as via magical rings and a painting, through a school doorway and a wardrobe (of course). What’s perhaps most wonderful about the world is that the characters can live a lifetime there but, upon their return to earth, they are reverted back to the people they were upon entry and time has not moved on at all.

So, there we have it, my five favourite book series, at least at the time of writing. I hope this piece is 10% as good a read as they have been for me; if so, I’ve done well.

By Calum Dewsbury