Tuesday 20 June 2017

Top Ten Tuesday | A Series of Failures


Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!


This week's theme is 'Top Ten Series I've Been Meaning To Start But Haven't', which is essentially the story of my life. I'm a bad finisher and I'm impatient, so I'm much better at reading standalones than series because I can't bear the wait. A series has to be very special to captivate me. That being said, I miss that feeling of being captivated by a series and a huge cast of characters the way I was when I was younger, from Harry Potter to The Old Kingdom to Twilight (yep, I went through that phase, too), so here are ten series I'd really like to get to at some point.


Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan: If I'm being honest I don't know if I ever will read this series now, I feel like I should have read them when I was a bit younger because I'm not sure I'll get the sense of humour now that I'm 25 (oh god I'm 25), but I still love the idea of the series. I may get around to it one of these days, maybe it'd be a fun, quick series to blast through over the summer months.

The Memoirs of Lady Trent by Marie Brennan: I actually tried reading A Natural History of Dragons a few years ago but ended up DNFing it, I just wasn't feeling it at the time, but I've heard so many people raving about the series and it ticks so many of my boxes (I love books about ladies in science) that I think I have to give it another chance. I'm going to give the audiobooks a try.

The Bel Dame Apocrypha series by Kameron Hurley: This sounds violent and gritty and so fun. I recently read Hurley's essay collection, The Geek Feminist Revolution, and it's made me want to read her fiction even more. This sci-fi series is set in a world where insects play a large role, I believe, and where the society is inspired by Islam rather than Christianity which sounds super interesting to me.

The Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley: I love me some historical crime, and this series set in the 1950s has a child protagonist who loves science. All the yes. I'm always interested by books written for adults with child protagonists because children can be so difficult to write, so I'm hoping this series will be a good one when I get to it.

The Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo: I should have read this by now, especially as it's only two books long. I've heard fairly mixed things about Six of Crows, but my friend Natalie @ A Sea Change loved it and I really enjoyed Bardugo's story in Summer Days and Summer Nights, so I'm looking forward to getting to it at some point this year.



The Gold Seer Trilogy by Rae Carson: The covers of these books are beautiful and I love the concept, so hopefully I'll at least give the first book a go soon after I received it the Christmas before last from the lovely Mikayla @ Mikayla's Bookshelf.

The Temeraire series by Naomi Novik: This series is essentially the Napoleonic Wars with dragons. What's not to like? Admittedly I'm not actually the biggest dragon fan, I'm much more of a unicorn girl, but I love the idea of including dragons in a well-known historical setting. I struggled a bit with Novik's writing when I read Uprooted (reviewed here) which is why I haven't started this series yet, but I'm hoping I enjoy it.

The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon: I really want to watch the series but I want to read the books first, only there's so many of them and they're all HUGE. It's pretty intimidating.

The October Daye series by Seanan McGuire: Seanan McGuire (also known as Mira Grant) is one of my favourites, and though I'm not the biggest fan of faeries I do really like the sound of this urban fantasy series. There are already ten books in the series, though, so I have some catching up to do!

The Glamourist Histories series by Mary Robinette Kowal: Similar to Temeraire, this series involves slipping something fantastical into Georgian/Regency history. These books are essentially Jane Austen with magic and considering I own the first book, Shades of Milk and Honey, I'd like to start the series this year.

I actually own all but one of these books, The Lightning Thief being the only one I don't have a copy of, so perhaps I should set myself the challenge of reading the first book in the nine other series by the end of 2017...

Which series made your list this week?

24 comments:

  1. Great picks! I haven't read any of those yet either. >_< Why are there so many series out there? Btw, love your header. :)

    Cass @ Words on Paper

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    1. Tell me about it! Way too much to read, way too little time to read it all in.

      Thanks! ^_^

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  2. Awesome list! I want to read most of these as well! I still haven't read Six of Crows but I'm changing that in July! Have a great week and happy reading!

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  3. I love that title! "A Series of Failures" :)
    I've finished two of these series! (Percy Jackson & Six of Crows) but I think Outlander is going to take me years to finish.

    Stacy Renee @ Lazy Day Literature

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    1. Thanks! ^_^

      I know what you mean about Outlander, it's such a big series.

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  4. Six of Crows looks so good, it's been on my list forever!

    Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.

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    1. It sounds great, I do love a heist story so I don't know why I haven't read it yet. =)

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  5. I would be interested to hear your thoughts on Outlander if you get around to reading it! Percy Jackson is a really fun read. I read them when I was either at the end of high school or the beginning of college and still enjoyed the humor and mythical references. I think it's a series to be enjoyed at any age!
    Mallory @ The Local Muse

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    1. I may give the Percy Jackson series a try, soon - I've seen a fairly cheap boxset in The Works so I might just have to power through them and see what I think over the summer. =) I'll definitely share my thoughts on Outlander when I get around to it!

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  6. I fail at so many of these series too, Jess! :-) I hope you get around to them soon.

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  7. I'm 27 and I absolutely love the Percy Jackson books! Magnus Chase is pretty great too. :)

    Thanks for visiting my blog earlier!

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    1. You've twisted my arm, perhaps I'll have to give them a try this year after all. ;) Thanks for stopping by!

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  8. Temeraire and October Daye are both on my list this week! I really do want to start both, although at this point I'm totally wary of getting involved in any more series. I'm a huge Outlander fan, so I say read it!!! At least, read the first book and see how you like it. :)

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    1. I know what you mean! I'm so bad at reading series and I wish I wasn't, because being invested in a great series can be so much fun. I'm just impatient. =\ I'm definitely going to give Outlander a try, and hopefully I really enjoy it!

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  9. There are so many series that I haven't heard of on this list. Must resist the temptation to look them up and add them to my own.. Six of Crows has seen a lot of attention, the people who I seem to like following the most, have loved it, so why not give it a go?

    I'm exactly the same with reading series. My routine is: read the first book, plan to read the second, wait a few years and have to read the first book again. One of those is the Lunar Chronicles. I've owned the last book since Christmas 2015 but I still haven't finished the series! Don't you think they should to a Series I Need to Finish as a topic soon? :D

    Great list! Loving the title btw!

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    1. I'm definitely going to try giving that one a go this year - it's only a duology and it's completed, so I should be able to finish that series no problem. Famous last words...

      Yep, I know what you mean, I'm just too impatient to be a regular series reader. I'm the same with the Newsflesh trilogy! I own and have started the third and final book, but I still haven't read it. I'm such a bad finisher. Haha, that would be a great topic but one that would also probably put me to shame. ;)

      Thanks, Vena!

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  10. I read the percy jackson series in my early twenties and still enjoyed them. I think his writing got better with each series he did. I also enjoy that he tries really hard to have diverse characters in his series. The new series magnus chase has a muslim girl as one of the main characters!

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    1. Hm, perhaps I'll have to give them a try after all - thanks for recommendation, Deanna!

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  11. I love the Percy Jackson series! Granted I read them when I was 14, so more in the target age range, but they're so much fun, I reckon they'd be enjoyable at any age! I still need to read Six of Crows too!
    My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2017/06/20/top-ten-tuesday-112/

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    1. They're clearly very well loved, I'll have to give them a try at some point. =)

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  12. I got more into the Lady Trent books after reading the second book, but you do need to read the first before that so you know the plot, annoyingly!

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