What book series should I read next? Each press answers with three, drawn from the list of best-selling book series and the Hugo Award for Best Series, with the number of books, the years and whether the story is finished.
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Choose a commitment, not just a title
Press Pick 3 new series and three appear, each with its author, the number of main books where the source states one, the years it ran and a line on the story. Finished means you can read to the end today. Still running means the author is not done.
Narrow it by genre and length
The first menu filters by genre: fantasy, science fiction, mystery and crime, historical, children's and teen, or classics, meaning a first book before 1960. Choose More filters in that menu for Length (two or three books, four to seven, eight or more) and for finished or still running.
Tips
Short on time? Choose Two or three books under Length: a trilogy is weeks, not a year.
A long children's series rarely needs reading in order. Start with whichever book the library has.
The list is by rule, so thrillers for adults sit beside picture books. Read the line first.
Questions and answers
What book series should I read next?
Press the button and take the first of the three whose line pulls you in. Every series here either sold in the tens of millions or was listed for the Hugo Award for Best Series, so each has earned its readers.
How do I find a series that is finished?
Choose More filters, then Finished. Those cards carry the years the series ran, so no ending is left hanging. Still running lists the series that are still gaining books.
Why is a famous series missing?
A series must be in Wikipedia's table of best-selling book series, or have won or been a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Series. Comics, non-fiction and series written only for adults are left out, and no author has more than three.
Can it pick one book and not a whole series?
This page deals whole series. For one title, use the random book generator, which draws single books by prize and genre.
A Certain Magical Index by Kazuma KamachiSince 2004. Still running. A high school student in a world where espers have supernatural abilities.
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer11 books, 2001–2021. Finished. Eleven novels in two cycles about members of the Fowl family.
Between Earth and Sky by Rebecca Roanhorse3 books, 2020–2024. Finished. Epic fantasy inspired by pre-Columbian American cultures.
The Burning Kingdoms by Tasha Suri3 books, from 2021. Epic fantasy set in a world inspired by ancient India.
The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis7 books, 1950–1956. Finished. Children play central roles in the history of a realm of talking animals.
The Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone6 books, 2012–2017. Finished. Urban fantasy that begins with Three Parts Dead.
The Daevabad Trilogy by S. A. Chakraborty3 books, 2017–2020. Finished. Fantasy inspired by Middle Eastern folklore, beginning with The City of Brass.
The Dark Tower by Stephen King8 books, 1982–2012. Finished. A gunslinger and his quest toward a tower.
Discworld by Terry Pratchett41 books, 1983–2015. Finished. Fantasy comedy on a flat planet carried by four elephants and a giant turtle.
Show all 118 series (109 more)
Fantasy, continued
The Divine Cities by Robert Jackson Bennett3 books, 2014–2017. Finished. A world where near-omnipotent divinities once ruled a continent.
The Founders Trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett3 books, 2018–2022. Finished. A thief in a city where merchant houses rule by magical inscription.
The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee3 books, 2017–2021. Finished. Jade City, Jade War and Jade Legacy, set a generation after a great war.
Guin Saga by Kaoru Kurimoto150 books since 1979. Still running. A warrior with no memory and a leopard mask fixed to his head.
Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling7 books, 1997–2007. Finished. A young wizard and his friends at a school of witchcraft and wizardry.
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman3 books, 1995–2000. Finished. Two children come of age as they wander through parallel universes.
InCryptid by Seanan McGuire14 books since 2012. Still running. Generations of a family of cryptozoologists protect supernatural beings.
The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini4 books, 2002–2011. Finished. A teenage boy and his dragon struggle to overthrow an evil king.
The Kingston Cycle by C. L. PolkFrom 2018. A murder mystery in Aeland, a nation where magic is stigmatized.
The Locked Tomb by Tamsyn Muir3 books since 2019. Still running. Science fantasy that begins with Gideon the Ninth.
The Merchant Princes by Charles Stross9 books, from 2004. Members of one bloodline can travel between parallel versions of Earth.
October Daye by Seanan McGuire19 books since 2009. Still running. A half-fae changeling and reluctant hero of the realm.
Percy Jackson & the Olympians by Rick RiordanSince 2005. Still running. A 12-year-old boy learns he is the son of the Greek god Poseidon.
Rainbow Magic by Daisy MeadowsSince 2003. Still running. Children's books following Kirsty Tate, Rachel Walker and their friends.
Redwall by Brian Jacques22 books, 1986–2011. Finished. Children's fantasy named for the abbey in its first book.
The Riftwar Cycle by Raymond E. FeistSince 1982. Still running. Books that revolve around the fantasy worlds of Midkemia and Kelewan.
Rivers of London by Ben AaronovitchSince 2011. Still running. Urban fantasy novels, also known as the Peter Grant series.
The Scholomance by Naomi Novik3 books, from 2020. A dangerous magical boarding school for wizards.
The Shadowhunter Chronicles by Cassandra Clare17 books since 2007. Still running. Humans with angel blood, in a world where mythologies are real.
Shannara by Terry Brooks1977–2020. Finished. Magic and primitive technology in the Four Lands, long after the Great Wars.
Slayers by Hajime KanzakaSince 1989. Still running. A teenage sorceress and her companions journey through their world.
The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson5 books since 2010. Still running. High fantasy planned for ten novels, set in the author's Cosmere universe.
Temeraire by Naomi Novik9 books, 2006–2016. Finished. The Napoleonic Wars reimagined with an air force of dragons.
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer4 books, 2005–2008. Finished. A teenage girl moves to Forks, Washington, and falls in love with a vampire.
Vampire Hunter D by Hideyuki Kikuchi58 books since 1983. Still running. A vampire hunter wanders a far-future Earth after a nuclear war.
Warriors by Erin HunterSince 2003. Still running. Clans of feral cats survive in a forest.
Wayward Children by Seanan McGuire11 books since 2016. Still running. A boarding school for children who came back from magical lands.
The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson14 books, 1990–2013. Finished. High fantasy planned as a trilogy that came to span 14 volumes.
Winternight by Katherine Arden3 books, 2017–2019. Finished. A girl in a medieval Russian village can see and speak with its creatures.
The Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski9 books, from 1990. Geralt of Rivia, a monster hunter given superhuman abilities.
World of the Five Gods by Lois McMaster Bujold4 books, from 2001. Four novels and eleven novellas, first called the Chalion series.
Science fiction 26
Animorphs by K. A. Applegate54 books, 1996–2001. Finished. Six main characters take turns narrating a story of war and growing up.
Children of Time by Adrian TchaikovskySince 2015. Still running. Spiders evolve a civilization on a terraformed planet as a human ark ship nears.
Divergent by Veronica Roth3 books, 2011–2013. Finished. Young adult dystopia set in a post-apocalyptic Chicago.
The Dune Chronicles by Frank HerbertFrom 1965. A noble house is sent to rule a desert planet of enormous importance.
The Expanse by James S. A. Corey9 books, 2011–2022. Finished. The crew of a gunship over four decades of plots, wars and an alien mystery.
The Final Architecture by Adrian Tchaikovsky3 books, 2021–2023. Finished. Humans fight the mysterious Architects, who destroy inhabited planets.
The Foundation series by Isaac Asimov1951–1993. Finished. First known as a trilogy; it won a one-time Hugo for Best All-Time Series in 1966.
Haruhi Suzumiya by Nagaru Tanigawa13 books since 2003. Still running. A student who wants a normal life befriends an eccentric schoolgirl.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas AdamsFrom 1979. The adventures of a hapless Englishman after the destruction of the Earth.
The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins5 books since 2008. Still running. A teenager and an annual battle royale in a post-apocalyptic country.
The Interdependency by John Scalzi3 books, 2017–2020. Finished. A space opera that begins with The Collapsing Empire.
Lady Astronaut by Mary Robinette KowalSince 2018. Still running. A meteorite strikes the East Coast of the United States in 1952.
The Laundry Files by Charles StrossSince 2004. Still running. An I.T. consultant turned occult field agent for a British government agency.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes by Yoshiki Tanaka1982–1989. Finished. Two interstellar states in a never-ending war, and two rival commanders.
Luna by Ian McDonald3 books, from 2015. Five families control industry on the Moon; the story follows one dynasty.
Machineries of Empire by Yoon Ha Lee4 books, 2016–2019. Finished. Space opera following a young infantry captain.
The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells8 books since 2017. Still running. A cyborg security unit that has hacked its own controls tells the story.
Old Man's War by John Scalzi7 books, from 2005. Science fiction that began in 2005 with the novel of the same name.
Planetfall by Emma Newman4 books, from 2015. An engineer in a colony on a remote planet beside a large alien structure.
Remembrance of Earth's Past by Liu Cixin3 books, 2008–2010. Finished. Humanity discovers and prepares for an alien invasion force.
Southern Reach by Jeff VanderMeer5 books since 2014. Still running. Named for the secret agency that is central to the plot.
Sword Art Online by Reki KawaharaSince 2009. Still running. Two protagonists play through various game worlds in the 2020s.
Terra Ignota by Ada Palmer4 books, 2016–2021. Finished. After three centuries of near-utopia, a minor crime unravels the world.
Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold16 books since 1986. Still running. Science fiction novels and short stories set in one fictional universe.
Wayfarers by Becky ChambersFrom 2014. A file clerk joins the multi-species crew of a ship called the Wayfarer.
The Wormwood Trilogy by Tade Thompson3 books, 2016–2019. Finished. A psychic agent investigates a mysterious alien dome in Nigeria.
Mystery and crime 12
Alex Cross by James PattersonSince 1993. Still running. A Washington, D.C. detective and father confronts threats to his family and city.
Erast Fandorin by Boris Akunin1998–2023. Finished. A 19th-century Russian detective.
The Hardy Boys by Franklin W. DixonSince 1927. Still running. Teenage brothers Frank and Joe solve cases that stump the adults.
Harry Bosch by Michael Connelly24 books since 1992. Still running. A veteran homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department.
Harry Hole by Jo NesbøSince 1997. Still running. A brilliant, obsessively driven Norwegian detective.
Jack Reacher by Lee Child30 books since 1997. Still running. A former military police major drifts across the United States.
James Bond by Ian Fleming14 books, 1953–1966. Finished. A British Secret Service agent, in twelve novels and two story collections.
Kurt Wallander by Henning MankellFrom 1991. A Swedish police inspector in and around the town of Ystad.
Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene175 books, 1930–2003. Finished. A teenage amateur sleuth solves mysteries.
OSS 117 by Jean Bruce1949–1992. Finished. A secret agent from Louisiana, known by his codename.
Perry Mason by Erle Stanley Gardner82 books, 1933–1973. Finished. A defense lawyer clears each client by finding the real murderer.
Precious Ramotswe series by Alexander McCall Smith26 books since 1998. Still running. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and its sequels, set in Botswana.
Historical 2
The Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder9 books, 1932–1971. Finished. Children's novels based on the author's childhood in the American Midwest.
Onihei Hankachō by Shōtarō Ikenami19 books, 1968–1990. Finished. Historical novels following Heizo Hasegawa in the Edo period of Japan.
Children's and teen 31
A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket13 books, 1999–2006. Finished. Three orphaned siblings flee a villain who is after their inheritance.
Anpanman by Takashi Yanase1973–2013. Finished. A superhero with a bean paste pastry for a head protects the world from a germ.
Arthur by Marc BrownSince 1976. Still running. An aardvark in the third grade, his family and his many friends.
The Baby-Sitters Club by Ann M. Martin1986–2000. Finished. Friends in a Connecticut town run a local babysitting service.
The Berenstain Bears by Stan and Jan BerenstainSince 1962. Still running. A family of bears learns a lesson in the course of each story.
The Bobbsey Twins by Laura Lee Hope72 books, 1904–1979. Finished. The adventures of two sets of twins in one family.
Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey12 books, 1997–2015. Finished. Two fourth graders hypnotize their principal into a comic book superhero.
Choose Your Own Adventure by various authors184 books, 1979–1998. Finished. Gamebooks in the second person: the reader's choices decide the plot.
Clifford the Big Red Dog by Norman Bridwell91 books, 1963–2015. Finished. An 8-year-old girl and her gigantic red pet dog.
Curious George by H. A. Rey and Margret ReySince 1941. Still running. A good little monkey who is always very curious.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff KinneySince 2007. Still running. A middle-schooler illustrates his daily life in a diary he insists is a journal.
Dork Diaries by Rachel Renée RussellSince 2009. Still running. A 14-year-old's daily life in diary entries, doodles and comic strips.
Fear Street by R. L. StineSince 1989. Still running. Horror for teenagers, set in the fictionalized town of Shadyside.
Geronimo Stilton by Elisabetta DamiSince 1997. Still running. The memoirs of a mild-mannered mouse who keeps landing in faraway adventures.
Goosebumps by R. L. StineSince 1992. Still running. Children's horror: young teens land in frightening, often supernatural scenarios.
Junie B. Jones by Barbara Park31 books, 1992–2013. Finished. An almost six-year-old and her adventures in kindergarten and first grade.
Kaiketsu Zorori by Yutaka HaraSince 1987. Still running. A fox named Zorori travels from place to place with his twin boar apprentices.
The Magic School Bus by Joanna Cole1986–2010. Finished. A class boards a bus for field trips to impossible places such as the Solar System.
Magic Tree House by Mary Pope OsborneSince 1992. Still running. Siblings Jack and Annie go on missions through a magical tree house.
Maisy by Lucy CousinsSince 1990. Still running. The everyday experiences of Maisy Mouse and her friends.
Martine by Gilbert Delahaye and Marcel Marlier60 books, 1954–2014. Finished. Books for children about a girl named Martine, first seen at the farm.
Miffy by Dick BrunaSince 1955. Still running. Picture books about a little rabbit, twelve pages of story each.
Noddy by Enid Blyton24 books, 1949–1963. Finished. A wooden toy who works as a taxi driver in Toyland.
Nontan by Sachiko KiyonoFrom 1976. Picture books about a mischievous kitten who likes to play and learn.
Paddington Bear by Michael Bond29 books, 1958–2018. Finished. A bear from Peru in British children's books.
Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter6 books, 1902–1912. Finished. A mischievous young rabbit who wears a blue jacket.
Pippi Longstocking books by Astrid LindgrenFrom 1945. A red-haired, superhumanly strong girl who makes fun of pompous adults.
The Railway Series by Wilbert Awdry and Christopher Awdry42 books, 1945–2011. Finished. The railways of the Island of Sodor, home of Thomas the Tank Engine.
Ramona by Beverly Cleary8 books, 1955–1999. Finished. Ramona Quimby, her family and her friends.
Sweet Valley High by Francine Pascal181 books, 1983–2003. Finished. Twins Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield and their friends at Sweet Valley High.
Winnie-the-Pooh books by A. A. Milne1926–1928. Finished. A teddy bear created by an author and the illustrator E. H. Shepard.
Classics 3
Doc Savage by Lester DentFrom 1933. A scientist, explorer and detective who rights wrongs: a pulp hero of the 1930s.
Frank Merriwell by Gilbert Patten1896–1930. Finished. The hero of over 300 dime novels.
Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs24 books, from 1914. A child raised by great apes returns to the wild as a heroic adventurer.
Adventure, humor and other 4
Bridget Jones by Helen FieldingSince 1996. Still running. A thirtysomething single woman in London tries to make sense of life and love.
The Destroyer by Warren Murphy and Richard SapirSince 1971. Still running. Paperback novels about a U.S. government operative named Remo Williams.
Dirk Pitt by Clive CusslerSince 1976. Still running. A larger-than-life hero finds adventure with his childhood best friend.
Morgan Kane by Louis Masterson83 books, from 1966. A western antihero, a great success of Norwegian leisure reading.
How this list was compiled: Every series is on the list for a fact that can be looked up, never for anyone's taste. Two rules, read on 2026-10-01 from English Wikipedia: (1) the series is in the table 'List of best-selling book series' of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_books; (2) the series won or was a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Series (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Award_for_Best_Series, 2017 to 2026; Retro Hugos left out). Those two tables link 162 series. This list holds 118: 83 from the best-seller table and 35 from the Hugo table, 9 of them winners. Left out, by rule: comics and manga (they have a list of their own); reference, self-help, diet, puzzle, quiz and history books, and memoirs; entries whose link leads to an author, a franchise, a single book or no article, and not to the series; series the article calls erotic, intended for adults or grimdark, or whose article describes sexual violence; two series built on a living faith; two tie-in lines to a toy and a film franchise; and series whose article gives no account of the story to check a line against. No author has more than three series here. Author, first year, last year and the number of main books come from each series' own article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ plus the title kept in each entry), read through the Wikipedia API that day. A count is printed only where the article states one plainly (71 of 118); 'Finished' or 'Still running' only where the article gives an end or says the series continues (55 finished, 45 running, 18 unmarked). For a long-running children's series the years and count are those of the original run the article describes, so later spin-offs are not counted. The one-line description on each card is ours, written from the article's lead and plot section; every name and number in it was checked against the article text by script. Genre is grouped by us from the article's own genre line; Classics marks a series whose first book came out before 1960. Titles and authors are plain text: no cover art, no links to shops. Each row was compared with the fetched text again by script after this file was written. Review interval: every 12 months, because a running series gains books. Licence: own work