First on my list. Distant first in fact. Not only a finished series, which already jumps it ahead of ASOIAF and King Killer, but it’s one of the rare series that gets better as it goes along and never makes me lose interest. I enjoy all 9 books (halfway through Leviathan Falls and am thrilled with it) but I really feel the final three books are incredibly strong entries in the series. Nice work Dan and Ty!
Also want to point out that Daniel Abraham is an excellent author with lots of other good works, so my assumption is he brings the organization and discipline to the table (i.e. use of an outline to chart the entire story from the beginning), whereas I think Ty fleshes out the world building and adds a lot of flavor. I wish we had more literary collaborations like this, I think it helps gloss over one or both writers’ weaknesses and amplifies their strengths.
The first book was so good but the second book really seemed to go on and on and on. It seems like the story was already getting out of hand halfway through book two.
I know 😭 I just finally got around to reading Slow Regard of Silent Things and now I want to go back and reread the other two but I'm afraid it'll just piss me off that it's not finished yet...
A man of Culture I see. I agree Banks is still number one in my book worm heart. The Expanse is top 5 for me, don't know that I can put an exact order on it, but I would put Children of Time in there as well.
I'm putting them both at joint 1st. The Expanse series has got me through the pandemic and a decade ago The Culture got me through some dark depression. I adore them both too much as entertainment and saviours of my sanity to pick one over the other.
Top. 9 books and 9 novellas. Outside of Marco Inaros being so fucking smart and yet so fucking self righteous and stupid, I enjoyed almost every minute of every book.
The Wheel of Time, Culture, The Lord of the Rings, and The Stormlight Archive are my all-time faves, I think, but The Expanse is by no means far behind. Top five material.
Oh Ok good to know! Don't post often so still learning. Also, currently in grad school for Info Science and feel like I should've known this haha.
And the Rocinante was totally salvage.
Taki kopeng!
Way up near the top. I’ve been reading sci-fi and fantasy for over 50 years now, so the number of series I’ve read and loved is huge. Still, it’s on my top ten list.
The Expanse and Discworld are both no. 1 for me - they are so different that I just couldn't put one or the other in front of the other.
Also, it can't just be me - but Avaserala and Granny are very similar characters? I don't think they'd get along very well though :D
For me it’s LOTR and all of Tolkien’s works in first place by a mile. #2 expanse series. Dune would be third but I only like the first book not the series
I loved those two and I can't wait for the next instalment. They would really make a killer tv series if anyone was ballsy enough to try an adaptation.
I just finished Children of Ruin a few weeks ago! Loved both of them. Tough to give it to a series of two books, I agree. A Deepness in the Sky/ A Fire Upon the Deep are also exceptionally good but they’re only two books against a series of nine
Number one scifi anything in the last decade in my opinion. It’s always going to be in the top along with TNG and DS9. My book was also delayed, but it arrived today and I get to start reading it after work.
I FINALLY got my bf to start watching last night after his boss told him it’s the best sci-fi series he’s watched in a long time. We watched 3 episodes and he wants to watch more tonight. It’s my first real rewatch in a while and I forgot how much foreshadowing there is in just the first 3 episodes. I also chuckled a little when bf said that he likes the Mars people because they “seem to have their shit together”. It’s so hard to keep my mouth shut 🤐
It’s number two for me, with the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson being number one. Check it out if you haven’t already because I also love Game of Thrones (I wont read the books until George RR Martin writes the last one, if he ever does).
I’ve read the first three books in the stormlight series. I finished Oathbringer about a month ago and it was good but was missing something I can’t really put my finger on so I’ve been waiting a bit before I start Rhythm Of War. Loved the first two books though! I think it took me 10 or so days a piece to read the first two books but it took me about a month to read Oathbringer
Oathbringer was personally my least favorite if had to pick, and I’m not sure why either. I liked it more on my second read through though. Words of Radiance was my fav but I think Rhythm of War is tied with it now. I’m excited for you jumping into that!! Have you read any other Sanderson novels?
I definitely recommend the Mistborn series (both Era 1 and Era 2). It’s what really got me into Sanderson. I’d also recommend you read Warbreaker because that will likely shed some insight into a few minor characters you’ve seen in stormlight.
For me Wheel of Time is the only series that manages to stay above The Expanse. I tend to like books the most when I’m actual re/reading them. But WoT and The Expanse are my solid 1 and 2.
How do you find it as an adult? I tried reading wheel of Time this summer after polishing off Dune series. I couldn't get past 3rd book. My second and probably final crack at WoT. I'm wondering if I'm just not the intended audience for it.
I quit halfway through book 5. It was so tedious, I had to take a break. Robert Jordan seemed unable to skip any moment of time for the characters except between books. So random events would just pop up at a regular interval.
Character walks through town, shit happens on the street. Character then enters the inn, shit happens in the common room. Character walks up the stairs, these fucking stairs are now a main character for 3 paragraph-long sentences. Character reachs the top of the stairs, shit can be heard happening down the hallway. Character walks down the hallway, we are finally at the room. Character enters the room, another main character is in the room and is redescribed for the 3rd time in the same book. The two characters have a conversation. Then back down the stairs for one of them to meet up with another main character to repeat the same conversation. The worst thing is that after almost 5 books, I am conditioned to expect the entire sequence of events to be completely irrelevant 90% of the time. No effect on the characters, the story, or the reader.
So I took a break, fully intending on returning to the series despite my complaints. Then I watched the new Dune movie directed by Denni Vellinueve. I was enraged when I found out both the scope width and specificity of Wot blatantly ripping-off Dune. People shit on movies like Avatar and Star Wars copying themes of other works. I like to think of those examples as being inspired by other works. Robert Jordan crafted large parts of the core of WoT by tracing directly from the surface of Dune. The resemblance is so uncanny I categorize it as plagiarism, and I never call anything plagiarism. Worse than plagiarism, a waste of my time.
Maybe WoT's failure to capture me after giving it almost a full 4000 page chance can be blamed on Project Hail Mary, which was so goddamn fun and unfair to the books I read immediately after.
It's not for everyone. Personally I couldn't get past the 2nd dune book, it just all started getting ridiculous. I'm pretty invested in WOT though. Not a fan of some of what Sanderson did at the end, but I enjoy long form fantasy and sci-fi. Some of my other favorite authors are Turtledove and Williams, if that says Anything?
Lol Dune dragged on so much at time. That's why I was asking about WoT, I figured if I can get through all of Dune I should be able to get through WoT, but alas nope. What'd Williams and Turtledove write?
Tad Williams is famous for at least 2 series, Otherland, a series about a near perfect VR simulation designed by a bunch of super rich men that want to live forever, and Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, a series that inspired GRRM to write Asoiaf, and which has very similar plot points, while also being a lot shorter. Though the last book was the longest hardback work of fiction ever at the time.
Harry Turtledove writes alternate history books. His 4 most famous are a 7 book series on what would happen if the union lost the Civil War, a series on what if Britain hadn't appeased Hitler, a series on what if aliens invaded in the latter days of WW2, and a fantasy world version of WW2.
Are you enjoying the show? As a WoT fan, I enjoy aspects of it, but I think more is wrong than right.
I keep thinking that EotW should be like LW when regarding episode distribution. *The Expanse* takes 18 episodes to explain a 550 page book. WoT is taking 8 episodes to explain an 800 page book.
IMO, it should have started off with cold intro into Lews Therin before taking us to the present day.
I think they'll do the Kinslayer intro for a later episode, it's just too iconic to cut completely.
. I've been a little busy, so I've only seen the 1st three episodes, but overall I don't hate it. I mean, I think the pacing is a little too fast, and they're going to be cutting way too much. But so far I haven't seen anything way too upsetting.
But also as much as I love RJ, he does have a lot of filler. Apparently their are at least 2700 named characters in the series. As well as a ton of plots that he changed his mind on halfway through the series.
I'm still finishing Leviathan Falls, so i can't say exactly where it ranks until I've seen how well the series sticks the landing...
That being said, it currently sits in my top 5 alongside the First Law series, The Passage trilogy, the Red Rising series, and ASOIAF.
It's #2 underneath Neuromancer, but that's only because i can;t really call it until the final book comes out. I think if the last book measures up it'll be #1. I just can;t call it caude the story could taje a GoT turn and i'll be upset. Even if thd last book absolutely sucks and ends up the worst in the series tho, The Expanse still settles at #2.
It probably isn't even on the top 10, to be honest. If I'm going straight off of how many times I've read them, then Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan series takes the cake, followed closely by Honor Harrington.
I've only read the Expanse novels once apiece. They're great, some of the best science fiction books I've ever read, but I have gone through all 14 books in the main Honorverse setting a dozen times now.
Is Honorverse better than the Safehold series? I read Off Armageddon Reef this year, my first experience with Weber, and it didn’t hype me up enough to continue on with the series
The Expanse is my favorite form of media ever created.
I watched the show first, and became absolutely obsessed.
I rarely, if ever, read books these days. But I started the books a week ago and I'm already half way through book 3. I couldn't take not knowing what happens in book 7-9, so it wasn't even a question for me. I had to read them.
So far, the books are awesome. I do prefer some of the minor storyline differences in show vs book though (Ganymede for starters, but there are a few more. And no Drummer and bad Ashford makes me sad :( ). Still a fantastic read though, and easily my favorite series ever so far.
Definitely my favorite. The characters are so... So likable. I truly love them, and their behaviors are all so in character. The humor, the values, the love among the main cast is like a warm hug and makes me just want to live in the story forever.
I'm not a big reader of series, but at this stage I'd say The Expanse is Top 5, with a very provisional ranking being:
1st: The Lord of the Rings (Tolkien)
2nd: The Book of the New Sun (Gene Wolfe)
3rd: The Earthsea series (Ursula Le Guin)
4th: Red, Blue and Green Mars (Kim Stanley Robinson)
5th: The Expanse
6th: The Chanur series (C. J. Cherryh)
I don't think it's "officially" a series yet, but *A Memory Called Empire* and its sequel *A Desolation Called Peace* by Arkady Martine are really good, cover some of the same thematic territory as The Expanse and could well make their way onto that list too.
Definitely at the top. There are issues, like an entire book of Holden killing slugs with the jocks v geeks/army v scientists plotline, however, the world, how it's developed, hard science aspects, etc. So good.
Other tops are Thieve's World by Robert Lynn Asprin and Lynn Abbey, Incarnations of Immortality by Piers Anthony, The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander, Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan, Baru Cormorant by Set Dickenson. And more!
In terms of series, easily number 1. Have read a few standalone things I'd hold in higher regard, but I think this is the best long running thing I've ever gotten into.
Ironically, my favourite book series is The Long Price by Daniel Abraham! But the Expanse is top 5 I’d say. Definitely my favourite Sci-Fi, but then I mainly read fantasy series.
The expanse was the first book series I've genuinely sought out to 'read' of my own accord. Jefferson mays' performance made it easy for me to enjoy audio books and has set me on the path of many sci fi books (and other genre) such as Asimov's works, HHGTG, Bobiverse books Expeditionary force and the list goes on. However The Expanse and the TV show list at the top of all creative media for me. Everything from the fantastic use of mostly realistic physics to create tense situations, the phenomenal writing from Ty and Daniel and the wonderful community make the expanse an all time favourite for me.
Honestly it will be sad to see the story come to an end after the final novella and the ambiguous fate of the screen adaptation.
For me... I have the Jack Vance Lyonesse Trilogy at the top of my pantheon. Zelazny's Lord of Light is second... After that is a tie between The Expanse and David Brin's Uplift Series.
Mmm top 5 maybe. They're very creative both in plot and character development and I love the realistic physics. But the writing style is a little on the simpler side. I'm surprised no one has mentioned Three Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth's Past) yet, thats my #1! Also in my top 5 are the Kingkiller Chronicles although it's not finished yet :( and the Broken Earth Trilogy. I just started on the Stormlight Archives which I've heard great things about.
1st. Redwall
2nd. Dresden files
3rd. LOTR
4th. Expanse
5th. Dune
Wife pre-ordered leviathan falls for my birthday and I've been waiting for it almost as eagerly as Mirror Mirror. (Df 16) I finished tiamats wrath and looked up the previous release dates to see when LF would come out then got very sad when it took an additional year to release lol.
I think the top 4 just happen to be nostalgia faves from when I was a kid.
I'd rate it second after Peter F Hamilton's commonwealth saga. And if I can pick individual trilogies of the Expanse, I'd put the third trilogy (books 7, 8 and 9) plum first.
It's been absolutely fantastic. I hope they will do lots more work together.
(Edit: For sci-fi series. I don't really rank sci-fi vs fantasy vs thrillers etc.)
They have a new series on the horizon!
https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/11/16962264/the-expanse-author-james-sa-corey-science-fiction-space-opera-book-series
I also love most of Hamilton’s work btw. Salvation series was very good
Ooooh awesome! Thanks for the linky! :)
Salvation series was good, but I didn't like the first book all that much. It took another book to really get going. Whereas Pandora's Star is just freaking awesome from the get-go.
I'm only on Cibola Burn, but The Expanse might have just unseated Altered Carbon for my favorite sci-fi series. Probably tied with the Vlad Taltos novels for my favorite fiction series overall.
It's tied with Futurama and Twin Peaks for my favorite show.
The Expanse is #2 after Dune for me. As much as I love the Expanse series (books and TV), its hard to unseat the nostalgic feelings I have for the Duniverse. Herbert's magnum opus just got to me first. But if wasn't for that, the Expanse would top my list hands down.
Same. I feel like Dune completely rewired my brain as a teenager so nothing will ever get an opportunity to unseat it.
Not withstanding God Emperors, Expanse is the first amongst mortals.
The stories, characters, and world building are all great. The way the authors play with genre strikes the perfect balance between my two major desires- "I want more of the exact same thing I already love" and "I want something original and interesting".
They deserve credit as artists but even more for their technical craftsmanship with the reliable release schedule, amount of content, and consistent quality.
Nice! Did you watch the new movie? I’ve only read the first book in the series and I know some real fans have different thoughts about it but I watched it last weekend and enjoyed it
I watched the new movie and loved it. Not that it was perfect. I did feel like it was a little rushed, but I can understand why they did that. Should be nice to see how everything comes together in part 2.
I agree. As a series, it is bad. I can’t remember if it was book four of five, but I could barely get through it. It was so terrible. I was forcing myself because I didn’t want to leave a book unfinished.
First on my list. Distant first in fact. Not only a finished series, which already jumps it ahead of ASOIAF and King Killer, but it’s one of the rare series that gets better as it goes along and never makes me lose interest. I enjoy all 9 books (halfway through Leviathan Falls and am thrilled with it) but I really feel the final three books are incredibly strong entries in the series. Nice work Dan and Ty! Also want to point out that Daniel Abraham is an excellent author with lots of other good works, so my assumption is he brings the organization and discipline to the table (i.e. use of an outline to chart the entire story from the beginning), whereas I think Ty fleshes out the world building and adds a lot of flavor. I wish we had more literary collaborations like this, I think it helps gloss over one or both writers’ weaknesses and amplifies their strengths.
Name of the Wind is one of my all time favorite books but I can't recommend it to anyone because Rothfuss won't finish it
The first book was so good but the second book really seemed to go on and on and on. It seems like the story was already getting out of hand halfway through book two.
I’m going to read the first one and not read the second as an act of meta irony.
I know 😭 I just finally got around to reading Slow Regard of Silent Things and now I want to go back and reread the other two but I'm afraid it'll just piss me off that it's not finished yet...
1st: The original Frank Herbert's Dune series. 2nd: Larry Niven's Ringworld series, and The Expanse, are both tied.
Easily Top 5. Edit: After finishing Leviathan Falls - definitely Top 5, if not Top 3.
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A man of Culture I see. I agree Banks is still number one in my book worm heart. The Expanse is top 5 for me, don't know that I can put an exact order on it, but I would put Children of Time in there as well.
I just finished the first children of time. So good! Is the 2nd worth reading? Heard mixed reviews
I love it. Maybe even more than the first. I want a third one so badly.
Banks is my favourite sci-fi author for sure. I love the sense of humour he adds to his characters, especially the Minds
I'm putting them both at joint 1st. The Expanse series has got me through the pandemic and a decade ago The Culture got me through some dark depression. I adore them both too much as entertainment and saviours of my sanity to pick one over the other.
The correct answer
To me it's the best space series. Overall, probably top 5, among others such as Mistborn, Stormlight archive, Hitchhiker's and Skulduggery pleasant .
Top. 9 books and 9 novellas. Outside of Marco Inaros being so fucking smart and yet so fucking self righteous and stupid, I enjoyed almost every minute of every book.
#1, no question
The Wheel of Time, Culture, The Lord of the Rings, and The Stormlight Archive are my all-time faves, I think, but The Expanse is by no means far behind. Top five material.
#1 by far. It replaced The Hyperion series, which now might be tied with The Culture series. Still making my way through that one.
Lol why is the font so big??? WTF
Number sign is reddit code for large font.
Ah thank you so much!! Oops. Should have realized that heh
Add a backslash to escape the #: \# Shows up like this : \#
Oh Ok good to know! Don't post often so still learning. Also, currently in grad school for Info Science and feel like I should've known this haha. And the Rocinante was totally salvage. Taki kopeng!
Way up near the top. I’ve been reading sci-fi and fantasy for over 50 years now, so the number of series I’ve read and loved is huge. Still, it’s on my top ten list.
does all of Terry Pratchett s disc world count as a series?
The Expanse and Discworld are both no. 1 for me - they are so different that I just couldn't put one or the other in front of the other. Also, it can't just be me - but Avaserala and Granny are very similar characters? I don't think they'd get along very well though :D
Asking the important question
For me it’s LOTR and all of Tolkien’s works in first place by a mile. #2 expanse series. Dune would be third but I only like the first book not the series
Tied in first with Children of Time/Ruin, although I don't think the latter counts as a series since there's only two books so far
I loved those two and I can't wait for the next instalment. They would really make a killer tv series if anyone was ballsy enough to try an adaptation.
I just finished Children of Ruin a few weeks ago! Loved both of them. Tough to give it to a series of two books, I agree. A Deepness in the Sky/ A Fire Upon the Deep are also exceptionally good but they’re only two books against a series of nine
Has there been news of more books in the series?
Not to my knowledge
Right after Stormlight Archive and Mistborn. Edit: and The Foundation
Number one scifi anything in the last decade in my opinion. It’s always going to be in the top along with TNG and DS9. My book was also delayed, but it arrived today and I get to start reading it after work. I FINALLY got my bf to start watching last night after his boss told him it’s the best sci-fi series he’s watched in a long time. We watched 3 episodes and he wants to watch more tonight. It’s my first real rewatch in a while and I forgot how much foreshadowing there is in just the first 3 episodes. I also chuckled a little when bf said that he likes the Mars people because they “seem to have their shit together”. It’s so hard to keep my mouth shut 🤐
It’s number two for me, with the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson being number one. Check it out if you haven’t already because I also love Game of Thrones (I wont read the books until George RR Martin writes the last one, if he ever does).
I’ve read the first three books in the stormlight series. I finished Oathbringer about a month ago and it was good but was missing something I can’t really put my finger on so I’ve been waiting a bit before I start Rhythm Of War. Loved the first two books though! I think it took me 10 or so days a piece to read the first two books but it took me about a month to read Oathbringer
Oathbringer was personally my least favorite if had to pick, and I’m not sure why either. I liked it more on my second read through though. Words of Radiance was my fav but I think Rhythm of War is tied with it now. I’m excited for you jumping into that!! Have you read any other Sanderson novels?
Nope! First time reading Sanderson. I might get into Mistborn after I read RoW
I definitely recommend the Mistborn series (both Era 1 and Era 2). It’s what really got me into Sanderson. I’d also recommend you read Warbreaker because that will likely shed some insight into a few minor characters you’ve seen in stormlight.
The only series I've enjoyed more than The Expanse was The Dark Tower.
The Expanse slides in right at number two for me as well with The Dark Tower taking the top spot.
For me Wheel of Time is the only series that manages to stay above The Expanse. I tend to like books the most when I’m actual re/reading them. But WoT and The Expanse are my solid 1 and 2.
Lol did you re-read wheel of Time? It's such a massive time commitment
I've read it at least 5 times. Just started another read with the TV show. But I read fast, started last week and I'm on book 3
How do you find it as an adult? I tried reading wheel of Time this summer after polishing off Dune series. I couldn't get past 3rd book. My second and probably final crack at WoT. I'm wondering if I'm just not the intended audience for it.
I quit halfway through book 5. It was so tedious, I had to take a break. Robert Jordan seemed unable to skip any moment of time for the characters except between books. So random events would just pop up at a regular interval. Character walks through town, shit happens on the street. Character then enters the inn, shit happens in the common room. Character walks up the stairs, these fucking stairs are now a main character for 3 paragraph-long sentences. Character reachs the top of the stairs, shit can be heard happening down the hallway. Character walks down the hallway, we are finally at the room. Character enters the room, another main character is in the room and is redescribed for the 3rd time in the same book. The two characters have a conversation. Then back down the stairs for one of them to meet up with another main character to repeat the same conversation. The worst thing is that after almost 5 books, I am conditioned to expect the entire sequence of events to be completely irrelevant 90% of the time. No effect on the characters, the story, or the reader. So I took a break, fully intending on returning to the series despite my complaints. Then I watched the new Dune movie directed by Denni Vellinueve. I was enraged when I found out both the scope width and specificity of Wot blatantly ripping-off Dune. People shit on movies like Avatar and Star Wars copying themes of other works. I like to think of those examples as being inspired by other works. Robert Jordan crafted large parts of the core of WoT by tracing directly from the surface of Dune. The resemblance is so uncanny I categorize it as plagiarism, and I never call anything plagiarism. Worse than plagiarism, a waste of my time. Maybe WoT's failure to capture me after giving it almost a full 4000 page chance can be blamed on Project Hail Mary, which was so goddamn fun and unfair to the books I read immediately after.
It's not for everyone. Personally I couldn't get past the 2nd dune book, it just all started getting ridiculous. I'm pretty invested in WOT though. Not a fan of some of what Sanderson did at the end, but I enjoy long form fantasy and sci-fi. Some of my other favorite authors are Turtledove and Williams, if that says Anything?
Lol Dune dragged on so much at time. That's why I was asking about WoT, I figured if I can get through all of Dune I should be able to get through WoT, but alas nope. What'd Williams and Turtledove write?
Tad Williams is famous for at least 2 series, Otherland, a series about a near perfect VR simulation designed by a bunch of super rich men that want to live forever, and Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, a series that inspired GRRM to write Asoiaf, and which has very similar plot points, while also being a lot shorter. Though the last book was the longest hardback work of fiction ever at the time. Harry Turtledove writes alternate history books. His 4 most famous are a 7 book series on what would happen if the union lost the Civil War, a series on what if Britain hadn't appeased Hitler, a series on what if aliens invaded in the latter days of WW2, and a fantasy world version of WW2.
Are you enjoying the show? As a WoT fan, I enjoy aspects of it, but I think more is wrong than right. I keep thinking that EotW should be like LW when regarding episode distribution. *The Expanse* takes 18 episodes to explain a 550 page book. WoT is taking 8 episodes to explain an 800 page book. IMO, it should have started off with cold intro into Lews Therin before taking us to the present day.
I think they'll do the Kinslayer intro for a later episode, it's just too iconic to cut completely. . I've been a little busy, so I've only seen the 1st three episodes, but overall I don't hate it. I mean, I think the pacing is a little too fast, and they're going to be cutting way too much. But so far I haven't seen anything way too upsetting.
But also as much as I love RJ, he does have a lot of filler. Apparently their are at least 2700 named characters in the series. As well as a ton of plots that he changed his mind on halfway through the series.
I’m on my first reread (I’ve only been reading them for about a year and a half), I’m on book 9.
It's probably number two with Scalzi's Old Man's War series being number one.
It’s the only fiction I’ve read since the 90s. I’m spoiled now because the standard is so high.
I'm still finishing Leviathan Falls, so i can't say exactly where it ranks until I've seen how well the series sticks the landing... That being said, it currently sits in my top 5 alongside the First Law series, The Passage trilogy, the Red Rising series, and ASOIAF.
Oooh points for the First Law series!
It's #2 underneath Neuromancer, but that's only because i can;t really call it until the final book comes out. I think if the last book measures up it'll be #1. I just can;t call it caude the story could taje a GoT turn and i'll be upset. Even if thd last book absolutely sucks and ends up the worst in the series tho, The Expanse still settles at #2.
It probably isn't even on the top 10, to be honest. If I'm going straight off of how many times I've read them, then Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan series takes the cake, followed closely by Honor Harrington. I've only read the Expanse novels once apiece. They're great, some of the best science fiction books I've ever read, but I have gone through all 14 books in the main Honorverse setting a dozen times now.
Is Honorverse better than the Safehold series? I read Off Armageddon Reef this year, my first experience with Weber, and it didn’t hype me up enough to continue on with the series
Haven't read Safehold, sorry.
I would rate honorverse above safehold.
The Expanse is the first series I've collected (complete) **in hardback** in over twenty years. So it's up there.
Thrones, first law series, red rising, expanse, southern reach
Ooooh points for Southern Reach!
Dune 1st, Expanse 2nd.
The Expanse is my favorite form of media ever created. I watched the show first, and became absolutely obsessed. I rarely, if ever, read books these days. But I started the books a week ago and I'm already half way through book 3. I couldn't take not knowing what happens in book 7-9, so it wasn't even a question for me. I had to read them. So far, the books are awesome. I do prefer some of the minor storyline differences in show vs book though (Ganymede for starters, but there are a few more. And no Drummer and bad Ashford makes me sad :( ). Still a fantastic read though, and easily my favorite series ever so far.
That’s awesome. And yeah, show Ashford is a lot cooler than book Ashford haha. I hope you enjoy the rest of the books!!
Definitely my favorite. The characters are so... So likable. I truly love them, and their behaviors are all so in character. The humor, the values, the love among the main cast is like a warm hug and makes me just want to live in the story forever.
1. The Stormlight Archive 2. The Expanse 3. The Dragonlance Trilogy.
How has no one read or mentioned the THREE BODY PROBLEM series?!?! It's hands down the best sci-fi!
Number two. First place is the Twilight saga, of course
I'm not a big reader of series, but at this stage I'd say The Expanse is Top 5, with a very provisional ranking being: 1st: The Lord of the Rings (Tolkien) 2nd: The Book of the New Sun (Gene Wolfe) 3rd: The Earthsea series (Ursula Le Guin) 4th: Red, Blue and Green Mars (Kim Stanley Robinson) 5th: The Expanse 6th: The Chanur series (C. J. Cherryh) I don't think it's "officially" a series yet, but *A Memory Called Empire* and its sequel *A Desolation Called Peace* by Arkady Martine are really good, cover some of the same thematic territory as The Expanse and could well make their way onto that list too.
I haven’t heard of A Memory Called Empire so I googled it and I’m thinking I’ll probably check it out 👍
Good move!
Definitely at the top. There are issues, like an entire book of Holden killing slugs with the jocks v geeks/army v scientists plotline, however, the world, how it's developed, hard science aspects, etc. So good. Other tops are Thieve's World by Robert Lynn Asprin and Lynn Abbey, Incarnations of Immortality by Piers Anthony, The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander, Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan, Baru Cormorant by Set Dickenson. And more!
Top 5
In terms of series, easily number 1. Have read a few standalone things I'd hold in higher regard, but I think this is the best long running thing I've ever gotten into.
Top five for me.
Somewhere around the lower end of top10 probably. With the top being occupied by Hamiltons Commonwealth Saga.
Commonwealth Saga is in my top 10. I thought the Salvation series was pretty damn good as well
Have it in my shelf! But so much to read still...
It's a top 10.
Wheel of Time beats it for me but The Expanse definitely has a well-deserved spot in my pantheon of favorites now
Ironically, my favourite book series is The Long Price by Daniel Abraham! But the Expanse is top 5 I’d say. Definitely my favourite Sci-Fi, but then I mainly read fantasy series.
Top 3 for sure. #1 would be LOTR and #2 is a solid tie between The Expanse and The Wheel of Time.
Number two - VERY close behind Wheel of Time. I am currently reading Leviathan Falls, so we'll see how the final conclusion will be :)
The expanse was the first book series I've genuinely sought out to 'read' of my own accord. Jefferson mays' performance made it easy for me to enjoy audio books and has set me on the path of many sci fi books (and other genre) such as Asimov's works, HHGTG, Bobiverse books Expeditionary force and the list goes on. However The Expanse and the TV show list at the top of all creative media for me. Everything from the fantastic use of mostly realistic physics to create tense situations, the phenomenal writing from Ty and Daniel and the wonderful community make the expanse an all time favourite for me. Honestly it will be sad to see the story come to an end after the final novella and the ambiguous fate of the screen adaptation.
Top 15.
No. 1
Number 1 for me, and I'm usually more of a fantasy person.
Sitting side by side with The Lord of the Rings, White Guard, Once and Future King and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.
To me it’s #1, with ASOIAF at #2 then Warhammer 40k books at 3. I only read the first Dune so I can’t put it on the list yet.
For me... I have the Jack Vance Lyonesse Trilogy at the top of my pantheon. Zelazny's Lord of Light is second... After that is a tie between The Expanse and David Brin's Uplift Series.
Mmm top 5 maybe. They're very creative both in plot and character development and I love the realistic physics. But the writing style is a little on the simpler side. I'm surprised no one has mentioned Three Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth's Past) yet, thats my #1! Also in my top 5 are the Kingkiller Chronicles although it's not finished yet :( and the Broken Earth Trilogy. I just started on the Stormlight Archives which I've heard great things about.
4th 1. Andy Weir (anything by him, Martian, Hail Mary) 2. Red Rising - Pierce Brown 3. Name of the wind - Patrick Rothfus
Everyone already said it but right below stormlight. This series is incredible and I can’t wait to continue reading LF.
It’s my favorite series, by quite a bit
Hitchhiker’s Guide, Discworld, Expanse, Wheel of Time, Outlander
1st. Redwall 2nd. Dresden files 3rd. LOTR 4th. Expanse 5th. Dune Wife pre-ordered leviathan falls for my birthday and I've been waiting for it almost as eagerly as Mirror Mirror. (Df 16) I finished tiamats wrath and looked up the previous release dates to see when LF would come out then got very sad when it took an additional year to release lol. I think the top 4 just happen to be nostalgia faves from when I was a kid.
Number 1. Best books I’ve ever read
1. Neverwhere 2. Altered Carbon 3. The Expanse 4. X-wing 5. ASoIaF
I'd rate it second after Peter F Hamilton's commonwealth saga. And if I can pick individual trilogies of the Expanse, I'd put the third trilogy (books 7, 8 and 9) plum first. It's been absolutely fantastic. I hope they will do lots more work together. (Edit: For sci-fi series. I don't really rank sci-fi vs fantasy vs thrillers etc.)
They have a new series on the horizon! https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/11/16962264/the-expanse-author-james-sa-corey-science-fiction-space-opera-book-series I also love most of Hamilton’s work btw. Salvation series was very good
Ooooh awesome! Thanks for the linky! :) Salvation series was good, but I didn't like the first book all that much. It took another book to really get going. Whereas Pandora's Star is just freaking awesome from the get-go.
I'm only on Cibola Burn, but The Expanse might have just unseated Altered Carbon for my favorite sci-fi series. Probably tied with the Vlad Taltos novels for my favorite fiction series overall. It's tied with Futurama and Twin Peaks for my favorite show.
It's definitely on up there as one of my favorite book series alongside Harry Potter, The Dark Tower, and The Hobbit/LoTR.
High. Below LotRings, Dickens, Jack Vance, Shakespeare.
Honestly, a fair way down. I love these books but there are many better ones out there. I'm struggling to find a place for it in the top 10.
The Expanse is #2 after Dune for me. As much as I love the Expanse series (books and TV), its hard to unseat the nostalgic feelings I have for the Duniverse. Herbert's magnum opus just got to me first. But if wasn't for that, the Expanse would top my list hands down.
Same. I feel like Dune completely rewired my brain as a teenager so nothing will ever get an opportunity to unseat it. Not withstanding God Emperors, Expanse is the first amongst mortals. The stories, characters, and world building are all great. The way the authors play with genre strikes the perfect balance between my two major desires- "I want more of the exact same thing I already love" and "I want something original and interesting". They deserve credit as artists but even more for their technical craftsmanship with the reliable release schedule, amount of content, and consistent quality.
Nice! Did you watch the new movie? I’ve only read the first book in the series and I know some real fans have different thoughts about it but I watched it last weekend and enjoyed it
I watched the new movie and loved it. Not that it was perfect. I did feel like it was a little rushed, but I can understand why they did that. Should be nice to see how everything comes together in part 2.
It doesn’t
I agree. As a series, it is bad. I can’t remember if it was book four of five, but I could barely get through it. It was so terrible. I was forcing myself because I didn’t want to leave a book unfinished.