Article: Big Books and Series for Lockdown

As the lockdown continues, many readers are taking the time as an opportunity to get lost in a big book, or catch up with books they’ve been meaning to read, but never had the time to.

It got me thinking about turning a negative into a positive – with this time, what would SFFWorld suggest to read?

First of all – series or stand alone?

Many have picked up The Lord of the Rings – sales in the UK have by all accounts increased since the lockdown began, for example. I would also suggest Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series of 15 books to date (new books soon!), and there are fans who would make a strong case for Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series (before the TV series starts), Andrej Sapkowski’s Witcher series, and for the hard-core, Steven Erikson & Ian Cameron Esslemont’s Malazan books. (There is an ebook version containing all ten of Erikson’s Books of the Fallen if you’re interested – approximately 11 200 pages!)

Crossing the genres, this might be the time you’ve always needed to tackle Stephen King’s ambitious (and some might say challenging) Dark Tower series!

In SF I’m sure that Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan series (24 books and stories to date) or C.J. Cherryh’s Union/Alliance books – I liked Downbelow Station and 40,000 at Gehenna but you can also add  Cyteen, and its sequel Regenesis, and  or her Foreigner books (20+ and counting.)

Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun series would keep many readers entertained. Older readers might like Jack Vance’s Complete Dying Earth. And for those who want a challenge there’s always Samuel R. Delany’s Dahlgren, which I found unreadable, but I know has its champions.

But you may have noticed that I haven’t included George RR Martin’s A Game of Thrones series, even though it is undeniably popular. This is because it is an unfinished series, and I think readers want a certain degree of resolution in their reading.

In the same way, as tempted as I am to include Matthew Ward’s Legacy of Ash (just out in paperback) I haven’t, because, as good as it is, it’s only the first book of a trilogy – the next book’s not out until November.

So, what I’m really thinking of here are books in one volume, that readers can immerse themselves in but at the end come to some sort of resolution. As a nominal marker, I’ve gone for books that in the main are about 500 pages or more – and usually more.

However, as these are often part of, or lead to, bigger series, at the end I’ll make some suggestions afterwards on series to try.

Some are classics, others rather left-of-field. There are suggestions here for those looking to try the genres for the first time and some choices for those who have read a bit. Not all are my personal favourites, but I’ve included them because they are well-liked by others.

Let’s begin! First off, stand-alones, in author-alphabetical order:

Helliconia by Brian Aldiss

Originally three books, now one omnibus edition of 1328 pages. I tend to think of this slow-burner as ‘cross-genre’, dealing with an imaginary world’s history but involving a wide range of aspects – the world’s flora and fauna, its social and historical development and even in the end elements of science fiction. I reviewed it here for SFFWorld. Gloriously meandering, I didn’t know what to make of it at first, but the trilogy is one I keep coming back to.

Imajica and Weaveworld by Clive Barker

I generally find Clive’s Horror stories at the grimmer, nastier and more blood-drenched end of the Horror spectrum. But for those of a mind, these are the two I would suggest you try, being imaginative and slightly less gory. If you like these, there are others. Weaveworld (c. 720 pages) is an imaginative tale of a magical realm inside a tapestry, which is more adult than that description suggests! Imajica (1100 pages) is one of Barker’s own personal favourites, a story of parallel worlds, involving sex, gods and magic.Definitely ones for adults.

Evolution by Stephen Baxter.

As the one-word title suggests, this is a big standalone book (670 pages), grand in scale about how life develops on Earth over 565 million years, both in the past and into the future. As is typical with Stephen’s work, the book is big on ideas if a little limited on the characterisation. For those wanting a Baxter series nearly as ambitious in its scale, there’s his Xeelee series (8 books and counting), and I also like his trilogy of alternate history NASA series (Voyage/Titan/Moonseed).

Existence by David Brin

Another one-word title that suggests the book is about BIG THINGS, this is a science fiction novel (about 600 pages) about the meaning of existence on Earth once alien contact has been made. It was a welcome return to novels for this author after five years. I’d also recommend his 1200-page Uplift Trilogy series, (Sundiver/Startide Rising/The Uplift War) which is available as an omnibus edition. I’ve been meaning to re-read this series myself, although I’ve never managed to get far with the second (and quite different) trilogy in that series.

Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner

An older choice here. Perhaps a more approachable alternative to Delany’s Dhalgren, but no less ambitious. A New Wave novel from the 1960s that has elements that still hold true today. Stand on Zanzibar is a dystopian novel whose style consists of interrelated yet disparate narrative. Clever, but like I find most of New Wave material, often a case of style over content. About 670 pages.

The Chronicles of Morgaine by C J Cherryh

I’ve mentioned C J Cherryh already, but this is my personal favourite – a set of Fantasy-style stories but set with a science fictional background that I loved. Morgaine is someone tasked with closing a number of space-time gates that connect to different planets, but on her travels is seen by many of those in regressed worlds who see her as a witch with unusual powers. Like Ash, this is available in one big 830-page omnibus edition (I know – I have cheated a little by including this one.)

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

A big dense Fantasy novel at over 1000 pages of small print – magic and mystery in Napoleonic England. This might be a good time to get to grips with this behemoth before the latest in this world appears later in the year (coronavirus permitting). It is engrossing and very detailed, but I found had to be read in small but frequent doses for best effect.  The footnotes themselves are a marvel, often drifting off into sub-stories of their own.

Magician by Raymond Feist

Known as Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master in the USA, this first book in the Riftwar Saga and the beginning of the lengthy Midkemia series (approximately 30 novels) is perhaps one of the best. In its extended ‘Directors Cut’ version, this is about 860 pages, and a great Fantasy wallow. It involves young teenagers (though not too many females), magic and epic battles. The series continues after this one, and I’ll mention it later, though Magician is not a bad one to read as a standalone.

ASH: A Secret History by Mary Gentle

Regular readers of SFFWorld will not be surprised to see this one on my list. It is one of my favourite books of all time – a book that reads like a historical story and yet goes into places that are stranger – Ancient Ones, even artificial intelligences and quantum universes. It is violent – the author’s surname is about as inappropriate as you can get here – and I’m still not entirely sure I’ve understood it all, twenty years after first reading it. Yet, it is memorable.

Please note: in the US it was published as four separate books, whilst here in the UK it was one large, (small printed) omnibus of over 1100 pages in 2000. So, I have cheated a little (again) by including this one. But in my opinion, it is worth it.

Fallen Dragon/Great North Road by Peter F. Hamilton

The person at the moment I most associate with big books and science fiction. Perhaps Peter’s biggest stand-alone novel is Great North Road, a big sprawling future detective novel of 1100 pages, which I really liked, though many said it dragged in the middle. It also gains kudos here by naming one of my SFFWorld colleagues as a character!

But my suggestion to try would be Fallen Dragon, a standalone that at 816 pages is fairly short in Peter’s body of work but nicely self-contained. It’s one of my colleague’s favourites of Hamilton’s, (Rob’s review from 2003, Mark’s review from 2020) though I was slightly less enthusiastic about it myself. It’s a heist story concerning planetary colonisation, a quest for treasure and big corporate shenanigans. It shows a lot of Peter’s strengths without getting too complicated.

Dune by Frank Herbert

This one may be a bit of a no-brainer, as it is perhaps the big science fiction book that even non-genre readers know. The first book in the series is a little shorter than many in this list, at a mere 600 or so pages (including Appendices) but now might be the time to read this one before the big movie comes out around Christmas (virus permitting.) I know I’ve had a number of colleagues at work, who have never read it before, decide that this is the book they’re going to read during lockdown.

Normally I would recommend the first book only in this series, but a few years ago I had a Damascus-ian moment which caused me to radically reassess Dune Messiah (link). Consequently, my advice now would be to probably stop after the first three Frank Herbert novels, then – that’s Dune, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune. The other three books written by Frank are hard work and not for everyone. However, the later Brian Herbert & Kevin Anderson prequel and sequel books are very different, though they have their fans! That’s still approximately 950 pages for the first three books.

Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay 

Literary, epic High Fantasy in a Renaissance Italy-type setting. It is no coincidence that Guy’s first job was as an assistant editor for JRR Tolkien’s The Silmarillion. This has the pedigree of High Fantasy – Italianate provinces, conflict, unusual religions and magic – but is more accessible than most of JRR’s work.  There are other books and series of Guy’s that you might want to try if you like this one, but I’m recommending this one as a big (c. 800 pages) stand-alone.

IT and The Stand by Stephen King

As well as the Dark Tower series (already mentioned), there’s also IT (1088 pages) and The Stand (1344 pages in its longer form, already mentioned HERE) which I would suggest as big standalones. Loved IT, right up to the dreadful ending. The Stand’s due a reread here.

Almost making the list was The Shining (512 pages) and Salem’s Lot (470 pages), but I felt that they, like most of the King I’ve liked weren’t quite long enough to qualify. However, Desperation at c. 700 pages and Insomnia at c. 900 pages were long enough, but I felt not good enough to recommend!

Earthsea by Ursula K leGuin

Recently made available as an 1000-page omnibus edition (The Books of Earthsea) with illustrations by Charles Vess, these are children’s classics that are still worth reading today. The text is concise yet precise, the story of Ged and how he grew up to become a wizard. Would again recommend the original trilogy – A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan and The Farthest Shore – with the others being optional extras. You can see the influence of these books in so many other author’s work.

Swan Song by Robert McCammon

Here’s an older book with that post-apocalyptic, Stephen King vibe. At 960 pages it definitely counts as a big book, weight-wise, although there is a Kindle version. Published in 1987, it is perhaps unfairly overshadowed by its better-known counterpart, The Stand, which was published in its original form in 1978. However, Swan Song is one of Rob’s favourite books of all time, which, although slightly dated in some of the details, remains a powerful novel.

This time around the evil is running rampant on the Earth after a nuclear apocalypse. There’s a broad range of characters, a moderate amount of gore and  I think that it is a great example of what was around in the Horror boom of the 1980’s. Given the current popularity of Stranger Things, I think that this might appeal to fans of that series, as it is of that time.

I would also add McCammon’s A Boy’s Life myself, another weighty tome of 625 pages that reminds me of King’s Americana moments.

Middlegame by Seanan McGuire

A recent book from a writer at the top of her game. It scrapes into the big book category at 528 pages in paperback, but is included here because of its epic ideas and as a recent example of a good book to read. Middlegame is perhaps her magnum opus to date, an ambitious novel that blends science fiction and myth so well, a deserving 2020 Hugo Award nominee. Rob said in his favourite books of last year that Middlegame was “part pseudoscience (alchemy), part fantasy, part horror, with dashes of metafiction but all thrilling and engaging. It is the story of twins separated at birth who share a more intricate bond than perhaps any other twins in history (fictional or real). It is an apocalyptic tale with gothic overtones and beginnings, and a wonder to read that demands multiple readings.”

Jerusalem by Alan Moore

Whilst we’re talking of huge books in small print, we have this left-of-field suggestion that’s an epic prose novel from a writer best known for his work in graphic novels (Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Halo Jones). I will be honest and say that I’ve only managed a few pages of this dense, complicated and florid prose myself, but I’m told that if you can get to the end of its 1200 pages, it’s worth it. It took Moore a decade to write and is clearly a labour of love, being a historical epic of Moore’s home town of Northampton, with elements of social history, genealogy and even the supernatural. I suspect that it’s the genre equivalent of War and Peace – many have tried to read it, but few have finished it. But now might be the time to try – and it is available as a slightly less heavy e-book edition.

 Lyonesse by Jack Vance

Available as one volume. A big 1400 page volume, originally three separate books but mercifully available as an e-book. Perhaps Jack’s finest fantasy, with florid yet accessible language and one of the wildest fairytale Fantasy stories I’ve ever read. An influence on many of the authors mentioned already here – George RR Martin, Tad Williams, Raymond Feist and others. I reviewed it HERE for SFFWorld.

Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

I’ve mentioned this one before – another post-Apocalyptic tale that was reviewed as ‘an instant classic’ by Rob last year and was his favourite book of the year. Try this one as a more up-to-date version of Stephen King’s The Stand or Robert McCammon’s Swan Song (both mentioned elsewhere in this article.)

Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis

The author’s Doomsday Book I’ve mentioned before, and I would recommend that you start there (at 600 pages, it’s actually big enough to be counted in this list on its own!) but then follow it up with this longer duology, mainly set in London in World War 2.  Again, this story is a bit of a cheat, being a duology, but I’ve reconciled that with myself as it is really one book split into two. At about 1400 pages for the two books, it is perhaps a little too long, but I enjoyed this set of time travel books a great deal, a story like most of Connie’s, where characterisation is important.

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To finish, here’s some suggestions of series that you might want to consider. Of course, they are not definitive, and are usually three or more books.

Fantasy and Horror

Long Price Quartet by Daniel Abraham  

Let’s start with an underrated series. Daniel these days is best known for being one of the partnership that writes the Expanse SF novels. However, Daniel’s underrated series of A Shadow in Summer, A Betrayal in Winter, An Autumn War, and The Price of Spring is one which many do not know of, but it is a Fantasy series well worth reading. I liked it for its Asian-like setting, which has become much more popular in Fantasy since these books were published. Rob reviewed A Shadow in Summer for SFFWorld HERE and The Price of Spring HERE in 2012. Now available in two omnibus editions, totalling 1312 pages.

Also worth trying is The Dagger and the Coin series (5 books, approximately 2500 pages) which is longer, but loses some of its impact for it, I think.

Shannara series by Terry Brooks

This is a series that gets better as it goes along, though one of the most famous Fantasy series around. There are about 40 books in the series, though most are conveniently divided up into trilogies. Originally written as an attempt to write a contemporary Lord of the Rings, but without so much of the poetry and songs. I quite enjoyed the first few, though my interest in the series has lapsed with time. A recent read of the first of the so-called ‘final books’ in the series regained my interest, though. Terry can write. Rather like Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, however, the first book (The Sword of Shannara, 670 pages) is not the best and you need to keep going to get to some of the better books. Don’t let the recent television series put you off, either.

First, Second, and Third Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson

Onto more challenging stuff. Like Alan Moore’s Jerusalem, these books are not for everyone. The language is deliberately obtuse, but the scale is epic and the impact of the first trilogy (Lord Foul’s Bane, The Illearth War and The Power that Preserves) on Fantasy in the 1970’s and 80’s, like Dune in the 1960s and 70s, cannot be denied. Despite its challenges, the series also has its champions. The first trilogy is about 1100 pages, the second about 1200 pages and the Third Chronicles of four books about 2800 pages.

Midkemia by Raymond Feist

I’ve mentioned Magician already but for those who want to delve deeper there are about 30 books after Magician. These vary in quality but there are some quality nuggets in there that can be read as almost-standalone trilogies. In my opinion, it is a great series to start reading Fantasy novels with, more accessible than say Jordan’s Wheel of Time or Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series, although female characters (at least to start with) are a little thin on the ground, as was often the case when it was first published.

Might also be worth mentioning co-writer Janny Wurts here. She co-wrote with Ray the three Riftwar novels, three of the stronger Midkemia books in my opinion (Daughter of the Empire, Servant of the Empire, Mistress of the Empire) which tell of Midkemia from the other side of the temporal rift.

Some books in the series were co-written with Janny Wurts, whose 10 volume Wars of Light and Shadow series may be worth a try. I must admit though that I found them too sluggish for my taste. Nevertheless, the first volume of the series is Curse of the Mistwraith  which at c. 850 pages alone counts here, but the series may be worth a try.

The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson

I debated whether to include this series here but did so in the end, because unlike GRR Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire, this one has been completed, albeit by another writer. All the things you expect from a Fantasy series, but with added braid-tugging (which is not a euphemism for anything else, I understand.) Thirteen books and over 12 000 pages.

Honesty time (again), although I’ve mentioned this before – I really enjoyed the first three or four books, but despite a number of repeated tries have not yet managed to complete the series. They REALLY slow down in the middle. Nevertheless, with the television series on the way this may now be worth a try – or, in my case, another try.

October Daye series by Seanan McGuire

I’ve mentioned Seanan already in this article. This is an urban fantasy series that may give Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files a run for his money. They concern the titular October Daye, a Changeling born in San Francisco where the modern lifestyle overlaps and intertwines with the mythical world of Faerie. October/Toby was carried to the Faerie Summerlands by her pureblood mother when she was just a child and is now seen as a half-breed misfit trying to survive in both worlds. There are thirteen books to date, with a fourteenth due later in the year. The series begins with Rosemary and Rue, which is the best place to start.

Mervyn Peake’s The Gormenghast Trilogy

This is another series that divides readers but may be worthy of effort. Peake’s books show an undeniably vivid imagination (the character’s names are written as if from a subversive Dickens!) and have an interesting publishing history, but like Donaldson’s books, their often baroque vocabulary means that they can be a challenge. They do have their many fans though, Michael Moorcock and Sting (yes, really!) amongst them. But do bear in mind the three books end on a bit of a cliffhanger that is unlikely to be ever resolved. Worth getting the illustrated edition, if you can. Approximately 960 pages.

Discworld by Terry Pratchett

Here’s one included because of the length of the series rather than the length of the books. Each book in the Discworld series is 3-400 pages, which is typically average. Where the series scores is that there are over 40 Discworld books. For those who don’t know they are light comedic Fantasy, involving elements as disparate as wizards and witches, librarians, Death, assassins and football/soccer. Most people start with The Colour of Magic, although it is one of the weaker books in the series.  Accessible to read, but the humour is not for everyone.

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

Perhaps the most obvious candidate currently for writing big books. Of course, all of his books are in the same Cosmere universe. Although they are VERY big books, I haven’t included The Way of Kings series in this summary, for the same reason as the Game of Thrones series. However, the Mistborn Trilogy is to my mind both fairly stand-alone and the ones I’ve found more enjoyable than the ongoing series (so far, anyway.) The three books there in the trilogy are Mistborn (renamed The Rise of Empire), The Well of Ascension and The Hero of Ages, totalling 2200 pages.

I guess that one of the most recent advocates of big, challenging genre novels other than Sanderson would be Neal Stephenson. His Baroque Cycle combines historical events with metaphysical ideas of religion, philosophy and quantum science. The three books (Quicksilver, The Confusion, The System of the World) together total about 2600 pages. However, most of Neal’s books are on the epic scale.

Further stand-alones to try would be Cryptonomicon (930 pages), Anathem (1000 pages) and Seveneves (880 pages), all of which are big, immersive (and mindbending!) stand-alones, rather more science-fictional in their content.

Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, by Tad Williams.

Not a surprise, this one. I have been a fan of Tad’s work for a long while and Tad’s original trilogy are still recommended. They total approximately 2800 pages, with the last book in the trilogy being split into two in the paperback editions. They are now seen as fairly traditional High Fantasy with dragons, magic, and courtly shenanigans, but on their first publication in the 1980’s were quite original. They still have a few surprises along the way, though! The original trilogy have been proclaimed to have been an influence on George RR Martin, although I wouldn’t read too much into that – similar ground, different style.

Good, but less successful for me was Tad’s The Shadowmarch Quartet, which are also great Epic Fantasy stories. His Otherland series, set in a number of virtual realities (including the land of Oz!), are also liked by many.

However, I would also suggest Tad’s underrated standalone novel The War of the Flowers, (c. 700 pages) which had the misfortune to be published just after 9/11. Similar events in his novel may have made it a difficult read at the time, but I still think that it is one of his best.

The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny

This is one I have in one BIG omnibus edition (The Great Amber Omnibus, 1280 pages). There are ten books regarded as canon here, though other writers have been tempted to take up the mantle. Of the ten books, I would probably recommend only the first five books. The last five were written after a considerable gap of seven years and follow a different story arc. They are different in style and tone. The first five show Zelazny’s lyrical style, with the idea of Order and Chaos working in parallel universes being particularly enjoyable when first published. Reminds me a bit of Michael Moorcock’s Elric stories, which could also be read.

Science Fiction

Greg Mandel and Hamilton’s Future History by Peter F. Hamilton

I mentioned Peter earlier. As much as I liked Great North Road, though I think his strength is in his more expansive works.

However, I would also suggest that you try one of his trilogies, some of which are connected into a loose future history, of which I make about twelve books to date, including a Handbook. (Just to complicate things, some of those books have been split into two paperback editions in the US.)

For those just dabbling in science fiction, I would suggest the Greg Mandel books (Mindstar Rising, A Quantum Murder and The Nano Flower – about 1500 pages), though this is early and simpler Hamilton writing. Books more typical of his science fiction would be his The Night’s Dawn trilogy – The Reality Dysfunction (1200 pages), The Neutronium Alchemist (1200 pages) and The Naked God (1260 pages) are a good place to start. These three books alone total c.3600 pages. You can then go further into his Commonwealth Universe with The Commonwealth Saga, The Void Trilogy and the duology The Chronicle of the Fallers. His latest trilogy (unconnected to these) is the Salvation Trilogy, but that is not due to finish with the third book until later this year.

The Many-Colored Land books by Julian May

Originally four books, but there are spin-off series such as the Galactic Milieu trilogy that you may wish to continue to read. This was a very popular series in the 1980s. A series that involves what happens to humans who have travelled back in time to the Pliocene. They meet and exotic aliens and battles for dominion ensue, involving metapsychic powers. It’s an intriguing mix of ancient mythology and human/alien relationships, which I really liked when I first read it – its due for a re-read here. The first four books add up to about 2300 pages.

The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson

Already mentioned (HERE), another epic story in scale that uses the resurrection of characters in multiple lives to tell a long alternative history story. A bit too drawn out for my taste, but it is liked by some. 670 pages.

Limit and The Swarm by Frank Schätzing

This German writer is a bestseller in his native Germany but less known outside it. I loved The Swarm when I reviewed it in 2006, (reviewed HERE), an c.900 page eco-thriller of global proportions. His story of alien contact, Limit, is even bigger at about 1250 pages. Might be a more accessible version of Neal Stephenson, perhaps.

Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons

Four books of two halves, this series packs a lot in. God-like icons, religion, artificial intelligences, Terminator-like protagonists, time tombs, FTL travel… even references to poet John Keats. It’s an ambitious and audacious science-fiction series, not to mention an award-winning series, though I am one of the few readers who preferred the personal focus of the last two books (Endymion and The Rise of Endymion) set hundreds of years after the bigger, bolder, flashier first two (Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion). Written initially in a style similar to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion are about 1000 pages together. Endymion and The Rise of Endymion are about 1400 pages.

If you’re looking for BIG standalone Simmons books, then his Carrion Comfort at c. 780 pages may do the trick. It’s about vampires, and intelligently echoes the best of Stephen King.

Well, that should be enough to keep you going!

I’ve tried to make sure that most of these are available as e-books, so you can access them without having to leave your house.

And, of course, there’s going to be favourites that I’ve missed out. If I’ve not mentioned your favourite genre standalone (and I’m sure there will be some!), please feel free to add your own.

 Many thanks to Rob Bedford and Mark Chitty for their assistance with this article.

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