My Top 10 Favorite Series! (2024)

every year in January when I get all the uh end of the year videos done I like to redo my all-time favorite series list um the goal the hope the expectation for me is that I will continue to pick up series that just blow me away to the point that I have to keep revising the list because new series you know become favorites and so far every year for the past like four years I've been able to do this and that includes this year I actually have several new additions to the list to the point that narrowing it down to just my top 10 was actually extremely difficult but before I get into my favorite series list I want to tell you about this really cool project that I got to be a part of this campaign is happening with five booktubers myself included where we have designed five unique enamel pens to reflect ourselves and our channels the pin design that I worked with them on is this amazing pirate ship you might not know this about me but I love like nautical things specifically nautical books no just everything nautical actually but I love a story about fictional Pirates or just anyone sailing the Seas and this pin reflects that it's a book and the pirate ship sailing over the pages I love it so much the pins are black and white hard enamel on gold plating and they look amazing alone or together there's a double clasp on the back to stop them from falling out with a backfill logo just to make them pop even a little bit more these are $15 individually plus a small amount on shipping and handling and only $10 each if you buy all five the bundle pack also comes with a bonus Bookworm pin that's not only exclusive to this project but also serialized so that it's Unique to you the pins are discounted on the campaign so it is the best time to get them there will also only be one run so once they're gone they are gone these pins look so good so whether you're interested in the bundle or just one if you're interested in just one by mine I want to beat Daniel so follow the link in in my description to check it out and now back to the favorite series but I did it and I'm proud of myself so kicking off the list with number one my top favorite my very best series in all of the land it's gentleman bastards that shelf if there's not enough weight on this side it Slants cuz I didn't build it right um so the gentleman bastards the first book is called the lies of L lamora the second book is called Red Seas under red skies and the third book is the Republic of Thieves I reread these three books in 2023 I didn't even plan to but someone on my Discord was like Hey we're going to read it for the first time do you want to reread and how do you turn that down so I reread them and I love them more than ever Li of L loraa follows uh a group of of Orphan boys who have been sold to Father chains he raises them up to be Thieves and Nells swindlers and conmen and women to to uh to pull off elaborate well it's really not supposed to be elaborate to pull off schemes to uh just you know get by in life there trials you got you got everybody's got to eat but we have lock who I love so much and he's so he's so smart but he's just so stupid um he he has a flare for the dramatic you could say his introduction to the story is the the um Thief maker is selling lock to chains and he's like the kid steals too much if he were dying of a of a slit throat he would steal the needle and thread from the physic the the doctor and die laughing I think that that is the perfect that's the funniest introduction to a character I have ever read that he steals so much that he would choose to steal rather than have his life saved and then die happy about it like that I just I love it so much so he's all the time getting into trouble because he has a simple job you were asked to do a simple thing and he always just goes too far with it he likes to go wild to go too dramatic he has a flare for the theatrics and um and it just gets them into trouble sometimes because then there are consequences because people freak out or because it it sets off this this wider scale anyway whatever book one is Heist book two is we're now being blackmailed to be Pirates and we're very bad at it but hey we're at Sea we don't have a choice and don't forget your cats and um and then red uh Republic of Thieves is they are being again forced to rig a political election that's how I want to say it plus there's also they're participating in a play because that's what the cover shows a lot of people have picked up these books because of me and I have and they have returned to me with very mixed opinions some people love them as much as I do some people don't I as much as I want to redo this video every single year and always have new series to tell you that I love I hope that this series always stays my number one my number two slot though the series that is in my number two is not only not the series that was number two last year but it's new to the list in 2023 I read the age of Madness this is Joe ABI he's one of my all-time favorite authors if I were to give you a favorite author list I think Abie would probably tie with Frederick Bachmann who's a literary fiction author uh all of his books are right over there can you see him no okay so anyway ABY I've read his original trilogy I've read three of his Standalone I've read his ya Trilogy and now I've read these and I love them so much they're easily my favorite abomi book this is the second generation of the first law so the characters that we know and we love from first law these are their kids and I hate this concept second generation is almost always dissatisfying because you have it feels cheap to me you have the characters that you've already built up and that the fandom already loves and then you're like well they're still here but they're just in Parental roles and we're following the kids and it it just it always it never works out if you finish a series let the series be done don't kill it yourself by continuing to add on to it cuz you can't let it go and then you drive it into the mud I don't have any specific series that I'm thinking about as I say that ABAC proved to me that it can be done so well that it can surpass the original these the the the old characters are present but they're not domineering they don't they don't take too much space from the story The new generation is extraordinary they have their own personalities they have their own plights they have their own drama there are elements ments of the world that you can actually see you can you can see how the effects of the first Trilogy has shaped the world and how the time that's passed in between these two things the world has continued to move and even things in the standalones that have directly affected the world if not these particular characters it's just and then the characters themselves I adore there are certain characters I was I was so attached to and rooting for and defending there were other characters that I defended for a little while and they let me down there characters that I just want nothing but goodness for their life I loved this Trilogy so much and ay has a book coming out probably in 2025 that looks like it's going to be really good as well it has his trademark humor and his trademark grit but it looks like it's going to lean a little bit more into humor than grit this time I'm so excited I'm so excited for anything ababi writes number three on the list is also new to the list I read such good books this year sorry I know I'm dial it back I know last year I read good books last year series number three is going to be the dandelion Dynasty I agonized so much of the over the the order of how I would rank these books um but this is where it is this is my number three favorite series I think the dandelion Dynasty follows a a collection of Island countries that have now been United under one Banner uh an emperor has come and and they're now his kingdom and with that a lot of their culture and their personal um their languages their their way of life is being pushed down for the sake of unity and anyway very early on in the first book that Emperor dies and then we start the revolution because they want they want their stuff back they want their their Independence back the first book The Grace Of Kings is told kind of in a series of vignettes um it has a lot of very small arcs that kind of go over the course of a dynasty over the course of an epic span of time and then books 2 three and four are Le they're not told in that manner they're told in a more traditional storytelling style so it's almost like this is the history that got us to the main story and it's brilliant it's a true epic we follow so many people from so many places and it's it's the way War has affected them it's cultures trying to unite and the fact that that's not easy and it's not done overnight it's people with perseverance and persistence people with tenacity and they refuse to stop fighting for what they believe in and they have this thread of hope that kind of carries them and guides them and then other characters that are also fighting for what they believe in but they're doing it at the cost of everyone around them um there's characters that we get to see rise up and become all that they could be and characters that we watch fall uh it's just it's it's brilliant it's brilliant the the action is wonderfully written the characters are are so incredible and you just you feel their pain and their personal values and what they're willing to sacrifice um it's it's even the first book as I said is more of um like it's it's like the prologue to the series which I know that's not very comforting um but the whole series is written in a way that is unique to Kin Leu but he's an author that I've learned that I can trust I can trust him absolutely so when he starts going off into this random cooking competition I know that these characters are going to matter and the cooking competition is going to be entertaining I just I love it so um I would say that wall of storms book two is my favorite in the quartet and then um speaking bones is my second favorite this is probably the best conclusion to a series I have ever read everything felt intentional everything felt like it was needed everything felt planned out and like it came to the perfect conclusion Bittersweet sometimes tragic sometimes beautiful sometimes a mix of both but everything got its conclusion and it was it felt like we were we were always we were always coming here then Grace of Kings then the veiled throne but I love them all so dearly number four is an oldie bit a gdy it's been on all of my lists it's the Lord of the Rings I adore this Standalone slash series it was published in three parts so I'm going to go ahead and call it a series probably I don't need to tell you about this probably you've heard about it but I grew up watching the movies and I loved them so much and when I read the books I was really nervous that they wouldn't live up to it and the first book the first time I read it I did have a hard time with it but on reread I I Adore the first book but anyway it's a classic story that holds a whole lot of nostalgia for me but I just I love it I just love going on this journey with with these people I think that it's I think that it's so magical number five The Hitchhiker Guide to the Galaxy um books one and two are my favorite and I did reread these in December of 2023 and then I still really enjoy book uh three and then I just kind of don't talk about the other two I love these three books so book one I'll just tell you how it starts off book one um we follow Arthur Dent whose house is about to be demolished to make room for a high way uh and he is trying to fight back against it but you know they're not really listening cuz the notice was posted at a in a locked filing cabinet in an unused bathroom behind a sign that says Beware of the Tigers so he should have known oh and also was at the bottom in the basement of the of the building where it should have been posted he should have known it's on him so anyway he's going to have his house demolished but before he can have it before it does get demolished the Earth is demolished to make room for an Intergalactic highway but that actually well I'll leave it there this is ridiculous the series is so funny it's not just the fact that it's satirical it's not just that it's a funny story it's not just that there's a lot of jokes and gags in there it's the play on words and it's the play on expectations and it's the turn of phrases that we're familiar with but they hold a different meaning when they're used in a different way Douglas 's use of the English language paired with this chaotic silly fun humor I don't get tired of reading these books I each time I read them I just am amazed at how truly brilliant they are not just in the humor but in the literary execution like they're a good laugh but they're also a good study I think uh I think I think these are brilliant what number are we on six 1 2 3 4 5 six okay number six is another new one the remembrance of Earth's past so the first book is called the three body problem then we have the Dark Forest and finally death's end this is a first Contact story but the first Contact is not hopeful it's actually terrifying and a horror so I can't really tell you anything about it beyond that because of the nature of how it's written much like in the dandelion Dynasty book one is all set up for what the story truly is it's getting us to the point to where we can go there so it's hard to talk about this one spoiler-free so what I will say is while this is a very hard sci-fi it's very technological it it expand it pushed my brain that's for sure um it is a series that I cannot get off my mind because just the idea like it's changed my perspective on what first Contact really means and really implies it even pushes your concept of of humanity and of how capable we maybe are and our perspectives on ourselves and on our our significance in the universe as a whole it has some of the most visceral scenes I've ever read while also challenging me as a reader in a lot of ways this is a series that is far smarter than I am but that I loved reading and have recommended my Dad read it and he loved it too though he didn't like the ending I loved the ending and I'm trying to get my brother to read it cuz I think he would love it but he's stuck on Wheel of Time so I'll let him finish Wheel of Time and then then we'll get there number seven is going to be the cosmere I know it's a cheat cuz the cosmere isn't a series and because one of the series that I love so much isn't even in the cosm it's a big old cheat but I it's going to be the way I do it okay okay so we have mbor uh Stormlight and Skyward Skyward doesn't Skyward isn't as good as these two because of the middle two books especially syonic but the beginning in the end I just really love anyway a big reason why people love the cosmere so much is because of all the connections and how everything uh you know you read this book and it and it gives hints about what's going on over here and how everything kind of has become its own like Marvel or DC interconnected web work kind of thing that's not why I read these books I think it's all interesting I think it's cool to listen to people geek out about it's not why I read Sanderson I read Sanderson because I love his character work I love the emotional punches that he hits I think that there are certain characters that their personal Journeys and the the things that they personally go through um are as human as it comes and and that's a big reason why I loved Skyward so much is because spener is teenage Murphy and her personal Arc was just so reflective of mine but characters processing trauma depression self-discovery um self-loathing he folds really intense emotional character arcs within a technically proficient Fantastical world and I love that Sanderson writes very very readable fantasy it's easy to just fly through his books and I always enjoy my experience it's rare it's very rare I guess I shouldn't say always but it's very rare for me to come away from a serson book and not at least say I had a great time number eight I'm questioning myself should eight be number nine and N be number eight I'm going to go with I'm going I'm going to do it I'm going to I'm going to stick with what I wrote number eight is going to be the bear toown Trilogy so we have bear toown us against you and the winners um I personally probably like them in the order of us against you first then bear toown though they're pretty much equivalent and then the winners which is long maybe too long but he did have a lot to kind of bring together with the conclusion anyway I love this Trilogy so this follows a small hockey town in Sweden called bear toown and this town revolves around hockey um it's what the whole Community lives and breathes and book one follows well the whole series follows the whole town we follow kids who are in high school we follow the hockey coach we follow the The Observers who are just fanatic fans and everything goes wrong when um I'm just going to tell you what it is so that you can decide if you want to read it or not everything goes wrong when one of the star hockey players rapes another person and we really see the town react we really see people who um stand by her and people who turn their backs and blame her or ignore the issue for the sake of what the town lives for hockey but it's more than just that one act and it's more than just that one topic it's the whole town and how it lives and breathes and how it handles many many issues Bachman is one of my favorite writers because I think that his words pack such an emotional punch um but also because of his way of kind of challenging thinking and challenging perspectives and leading the reader to think and reflect on the topic themselves bear toown is one of my favorite series however btown is not my favorite of what Bachmann has written that still is one of his shortest books it's a novela and it's called and every morning the way home gets longer and longer if you want to try Bachman just to see but you don't want to commit to all of that try try that Nolla number nine live ship Traders this is again added from 2023 reading what a great year I had ship of Magic the Mad ship and ship of Destiny this is a nautical fantasy it starts out with one family and uh their Figure Head the the head of the household he dies and um the live ship which is a ship made from Wizard wood and it's cient um it is passed on to not who everybody thought it would be passed on to that causes a lot of inter family turmoil it also causes problem because now this Liv ship is being used for slave trade which is bad for her she she mightily objects we follow one character who thought she would get the ship and her journey now that that's not the future that she's getting we follow a boy who is also being ripped from the future that he wanted as um living in a monastery was he a monk was it called a monk it might not have been called a monk in this series but living in priesthood I think I don't know the terms that they used in the series but that's the the idea as well as well as a young girl who really just wants to grow up too fast and gets herself in all kinds of conundrums in that Journey as well so we follow this family who's going in a lot of different directions and who disagrees on a lot of things and uh gets torn apart we also follow the this town that they're all living in and it's a Trader town it's a town full of people who deal in trade and that too is falling apart and then we also follow a pirate king who sucks so it's this big family Saga all revolving around this one pressure point that kind of boils everything up and all of their different paths and where it takes them and I loved this Trilogy so much I was engrossed in every page I wanted to see every single character where their story would lead them and how they would survive what they were all going through how this town would survive how everything would resolve I have one major qualm with the ending but beyond that this Trilogy was near perfect to me which seems weird cuz it's number nine on my list but trust me these are all really good series and finally number 10 the one series on my list that I have not actually completed everything else on my list I've seen through to the end let me just double check make sure I'm not lying every other tr every other series on this list I've either seen through to the end or I've read everything that I have access to uh the gentleman bastards I don't have access to any more than three books but as soon as Lynch writes more I will be there I will be at his front door ready for the manuscript I won't do that I respect your privacy ien read everything Brandon's everever written but I've read most of it anyway sorry this is the book The One series that I haven't actually read everything that's available to me but I am slowly working through it and this final series is this is just my shelves just aren't going to have books on them anymore final series is malisan um let's see one two three four five six I've read six melan books and I'm currently working on number seven um how do you give a quick description of the series it's an epic you probably know what m an is or maybe you don't you probably have heard about it so I will tell you what I told you last year when it was on the list and what I have said many times reading through it and that's just that this series is one of the most challenging things that I've ever read not because of the scope although the scope you know there there's a lot going on and it can be confusing that's absolutely true but I'm okay with not understanding everything that happens in a series I'm all right with a series being smarter than me it's okay if the series could engage with someone else who understands it better than me I'm fine with all those things it's the emotional toll that these books take that makes me read through them very very slowly but even with that cost the series is astounding the world is unique and elaborate the magic is confusing but explainable but unpr predictable but slightly in some ways knowable the characters are so deep and Ever Changing they are moved and molded by their relationships and by this world there are consequences to the darkness that goes on here and to the decisions that they make the action is brilliantly written the emotions are incredibly visceral and there is a never ending list of things to discuss in every single book I have read through this series slowly and the phandom has been very very kind to me saying it's okay we understand that it takes a lot so you just take your time and just talk to us about it when you get done with a book you guys have been very kind to me it has been easily the most challenging series that I've ever read but it's also been one of the most rewarding that's it those are the books I will mention that every single year I cheat and and uh add avatar the Last Air vendor to this list because it's not a book series but there are graphic novels and I love Avatar so dag on much but I couldn't cheat this year because my list there's just too many great book series that I couldn't I couldn't knock any of these off of the list I was I already had to knock like four series off of my list this year in order to make room for new series that I fell in love with so I had I'm sorry Avatar but you're still my you're still my honorable mention I love you so much there were also some series that I started this year that I really fell in love with that I could see potentially as I read more of them could see potentially possibly making a run for this list um series like torare discor Dresden I think the series is called area X the first book is um Annihilation that's the first book it's down here somewhere I think is it this one I don't know why I needed to get it to show it's not on the list the point is 2024 is looking good for potential to disrupt this order again which I hope is always going to be the case so there you go those are my top 10 favorite series I love them so dearly I would love to continue talking to you about them if you've read any of them or you plan to read them please continue to talk with me about them and don't forget to check out the pens if you're interested they are linked in the description of this video I post videos every Tuesday there's and Saturday on this channnel Mondays and Fridays on the manga Channel which is always Linked In the description I'll see you again soon bye

Channel: Merphy Napier | Books

Views: 116,588

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Id: NczGwCPOtXY

Length: 27min 34sec (1654 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 16 2024