I always see a new year as a clean slate for my bookish dreams.
I tend not to set specific reading goals, other than keeping up with the books I buy and the never-ending ARCs waiting to be read.
But where I do like to plan ahead at the start of a year is with my series reading. A new year represents a chance to tackle a series that I’ve been wanting to get to. For me, series are most enjoyable when I can read all (or at least, a bunch) of the books in a row, or at least within a few months of each other.
Bearing in mind that none of this is written in stone, since my reading plans change with my changing moods…
In 2020, my priority series to read will be:
The Glamourist Histories by Mary Robinette Kowal – a completed five-book series:
The Interdependency Series by John Scalzi – the 3rd book in the trilogy will be released in April, so this might be a good time to get started!
The Expanse by James S. A. Corey: I’ve read books 1 – 3 already, and need to get back into the story! Watching season 4 of the TV series is helping a lot with my motivation! Next up for me is:
And who knows, maybe I’ll keep going. There are 8 full novels in the series so far, all over 500 pages, so I have my work cut out for me.
Poldark by Winston Graham – 12 books in all, and I’ve read 7. My understanding is that book #8 jumps ahead quite a bit and takes place after the events of the complete TV series, so I’ve been less eager to move forward with this one. Still, I really should see how it all works out!
Folk of the Air trilogy by Holly Black – I just bought myself a copy of The Cruel Prince, and assuming I like it (and why wouldn’t I?), I’ll want to read all three books!
That’s it for my 2020 priority list… but wait, there’s more!
I still have my eye on a bunch of series/trilogies/what-have-you that I intend to read… eventually. Maybe 2020 will finally be the year… and maybe not. My will-get-to-at-some-point list of series includes:
- Kitty Norville urban fantasy series by Carrie Vaughn
- Parasitology trilogy by Mira Grant (because even though the subject is totally icky, I think these are her only books that I haven’t read yet, which is unacceptable!)
- Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness
- The Last Policeman trilogy by Ben H. Winters
- Wayward Pines books by Blake Crouch
- Inheritance trilogy and/or Broken Earth series by N. K. Jemisin
Are you planning to start any new series this year? If you’ve read any of the series on my “priority” list, let me know what you thought!
Bookshelf Fantasies 
Thank you for sharing Lisa, I have always wanted to read the Polark series…….maybe I will start it this year.
It’s worth reading! I enjoyed the first several books very much.
thank you so very much for letting me know Lisa! 🙂
I have never heard of some of these books or series, and some of them sound really interesting. I think Polark series seems to be up my street! Great post, I hope you get to read them all.
Thanks! Did you watch the Poldark TV series? If you enjoyed that, you might like the books!
I got to book 2 of The Expanse… I may get back into it at some point. We’ll see.
The books are so huge that they feel a bit daunting to get into… but I’m feeling pretty motivated at the moment to keep going.
I love this list! And you listed lots of series I’d love to read as well, especially The Expanse and The Last Policeman😁 Looking forward to your reviews!
I’m pretty psyched to continue with the Expanse right now, having just finished the newest TV season (which corresponds to the next book that I need to read). It’s really a great series!
I’ve been meaning to start The Folk In the Air series as well. But I wanted to get copies of all the books before I start binge reading it. ☺️
That makes sense! I suppose I’m waiting to read the first one before taking the plunge and buying the rest. 🙂
ooh hope you enjoy folk of the air!! I had a lot of fun with that series 😀
I’m really excited to start it!
So, The Expanse. I read Leviathan Wakes, loved it but didn’t think I’d keep going. Then I read Dana Stabenow‘s review of Nemesis Games (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1669331496) and I knew I needed to get to that book, and she’s right! I have been listening to these (#1 – 5) on audiobook (at 1.25x speed) and they’re fantastic, Unfortunately my library doesn’t offer #6 and #7 on audio so reading those in ebook format. Just started watching on Prime as well. Series is good, but am really enjoying immersive experience of the books. Enjoy!
I love Dana Stabenow’s reviews — makes me happy to see this one! I hadn’t even thought about listening to these audiobooks, but that sounds like a great idea. Isn’t hard to keep track of the details though? I’m reading a couple of the novellas this week, and I’m thinking I’m going to start book 4 next week, but now you’ve given me a different idea. Although, if I went the audio route, I might want to start again from the beginning… Love the series on TV!
Dana’s reviews are great! Found several good books and series from her page (Tanya Huff’s Confederation series for example, not something I would have thought I’d like but Dana’s reviews convinced me). The Expanse narrator is excellent (love his Chrisjen Avasarala) and I don’t have any trouble with following the details. Because they’re library loans, long, and I mostly listen on my commute, I find playing at 1.25x is perfect , takes just a minute or so to adjust. I’m so sad that I can’t listen to the last 3, but reading them is pretty great too. 😉 Cant go wrong with audio starting at 4 or going back to 1. I’m binge-watching the series this week, halfway through season 2, hooked!
I started the Golden Compass Trilogy this year! I’m going to spread it apart to give myself thinking time, but I’m always in the need for a new series so this was very helpful! good luck to your reading challenge for this year
Thank you — you too! I hope you enjoy The Golden Compass! It’s such an amazing book (and trilogy). I’m revisiting the last book he released (Book of Dust – La Belle Sauvage) which came out in 2018 (?), and then need to read the newest one!
I definitely want to read that series by Kowal, too!! I dunno if I’ll get to them this year, but I’ll be curious to hear your thoughts if you do!
Happy 2020! Here’s to reading good books!
Happy 2020! I’m going to make the Kowal series a priority… to start at least, but hopefully to read it all!
I definitely need to read it!
*glances at TBR pile, where this series hasn’t made even made it to yet*
Yep, yep, definitely still need to read it! 😛