The reading order for every great book series

Browse 66 series across 36 genres

• Epic Fantasy

  A Song of Ice and Fire

  George R.R. Martin

  Noble families clash for the Iron Throne while an ancient threat stirs beyond the Wall. The basis for HBO's Game of Thrones.

  5 books · Ongoing

• Contemporary Romance

  Abby Jimenez

  Abby Jimenez

  Abby Jimenez writes laugh-out-loud contemporary romances with genuine emotional depth, set across two interconnected worlds: the Friend Zone trilogy and the Part of Your World / Yours Truly connected universe.

  11 books · Ongoing

• Cozy Mystery

  Agatha Raisin

  M.C. Beaton (continued by R.W. Green)

  Retired London PR exec Agatha Raisin moves to the Cotswolds expecting a quiet life — and instead becomes an accidental amateur detective with a talent for stumbling into murder. M.C. Beaton's beloved cozy series blends sharp wit, village charm, and genuine suspense across nearly 40 novels.

  36 books · Ongoing

• Thriller

  Alex Cross

  James Patterson

  Washington D.C. psychologist and homicide detective Alex Cross hunts the most dangerous serial killers in America while protecting the family he loves. One of the longest-running detective series in crime fiction.

  32 books · Ongoing

• Crime Mystery

  Ann Cleeves

  Ann Cleeves

  Ann Cleeves is the award-winning creator of four beloved British detective series — Inspector Ramsay, Vera Stanhope, Shetland's Jimmy Perez, and the Two Rivers Matthew Venn — spanning four decades of atmospheric, character-driven crime fiction.

  32 books · Ongoing

• Middle Grade Fantasy

  Artemis Fowl

  Eoin Colfer

  Twelve-year-old criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl discovers a hidden underground civilisation of fairies and pits his wits against them.

  8 books · Complete

• Religious Text

  Books of the Bible

  Various

  The 66 books of the Protestant Christian Bible, spanning the Old and New Testaments, written by dozens of authors over more than a millennium. Together they form the foundational scripture of Christianity, encompassing law, history, poetry, prophecy, letters, and apocalyptic vision.

  66 books · Complete

• Espionage Thriller

  Brad Thor (Scot Harvath)

  Brad Thor

  Former Navy SEAL and Secret Service agent Scot Harvath is America's most lethal covert operator. Brad Thor's ripped-from-the-headlines series is the gold standard of post-9/11 action thrillers, with a new installment almost every year since 2002.

  24 books · Ongoing

• Action Adventure

  Clive Cussler (Dirk Pitt)

  Clive Cussler / Dirk Cussler

  Dirk Pitt is NUMA's swashbuckling special projects director — part adventurer, part action hero, entirely unstoppable. Clive Cussler's flagship series set the template for the modern adventure thriller, mixing high-seas action with historical mystery and globe-spanning intrigue across more than five decades.

  27 books · Ongoing

• Espionage Thriller

  Daniel Silva (Gabriel Allon)

  Daniel Silva

  Israeli intelligence operative and master art restorer Gabriel Allon navigates the shadowy intersection of geopolitics, terrorism, and Old Masters paintings across 25 novels of elegant, ripped-from-the-headlines espionage fiction.

  25 books · Ongoing

• Women's Fiction

  Danielle Steel

  Danielle Steel

  Danielle Steel is one of the bestselling fiction authors of all time with over 800 million copies sold — her 190+ standalone novels span romance, family drama, and historical fiction across five decades of prolific publishing.

  50 books · Ongoing

• Thriller

  David Baldacci

  David Baldacci

  David Baldacci has built one of the richest thriller universes in American fiction — multiple series starring agents, investigators, and assassins, united by relentless pacing and Washington D.C. intrigue. His first novel was adapted into a Clint Eastwood film.

  52 books · Ongoing

• Legal Thriller

  David Rosenfelt (Andy Carpenter)

  David Rosenfelt

  New Jersey defense attorney Andy Carpenter would rather watch football and play with his golden retriever Tara than take a case — but when he does, he tends to unravel conspiracies reaching from the courtroom to the highest levels of power. The funniest legal-thriller series in American crime fiction.

  25 books · Ongoing

• Crime Thriller

  Dexter

  Jeff Lindsay

  Dexter Morgan is a Miami blood-spatter analyst with a secret: he's a serial killer who only targets murderers. Jeff Lindsay's darkly comic series balances forensic procedural with pitch-black character study across eight novels.

  8 books · Complete

• Children's Fiction

  Diary of a Wimpy Kid

  Jeff Kinney

  Jeff Kinney's illustrated novel series follows middle-schooler Greg Heffley's hilariously disastrous attempts to survive school, family, and adolescence — all recorded in his own handwritten diary. One of the bestselling children's series in history with over 250 million copies sold.

  21 books · Ongoing

• Dystopian YA

  Divergent

  Veronica Roth

  In a future Chicago split into five virtue-based factions, Beatrice 'Tris' Prior learns she belongs to none of them — and that this makes her a target.

  4 books · Complete

• Children's Graphic Novel

  Dog Man

  Dav Pilkey

  Dav Pilkey's laugh-out-loud graphic novel series follows Dog Man, a crime-fighting hero with a dog's head and a police officer's body, as he battles villains and wins hearts. The series is beloved worldwide for turning reluctant readers into book lovers.

  13 books · Ongoing

• Science Fiction

  Dune

  Frank Herbert

  On the desert planet Arrakis, the only source of the universe's most valuable substance, noble houses scheme and a messianic figure rises.

  6 books · Complete

• Women's Fiction

  Elin Hilderbrand

  Elin Hilderbrand

  Elin Hilderbrand, the Queen of the Beach Read, has written 30+ sun-drenched novels set on Nantucket Island — including the Winter Street quartet, the Paradise trilogy, and dozens of beloved standalones.

  30 books · Ongoing

• Contemporary Romance

  Elsie Silver

  Elsie Silver

  Elsie Silver is a Canadian bestselling author known for her spicy small-town romances — the Chestnut Springs series and the Gold Rush Ranch series are her signature interconnected worlds.

  10 books · Ongoing

• Contemporary Romance

  Emily Henry

  Emily Henry

  Emily Henry writes witty, emotionally rich contemporary romances that read like literary fiction — every book is a standalone, starting with Beach Read (2020).

  6 books · Ongoing

• Science Fiction

  Foundation

  Isaac Asimov

  Mathematician Hari Seldon foresees the fall of a galactic empire and founds a colony to shorten the coming dark age.

  7 books · Complete

• Psychological Thriller

  Freida McFadden

  Freida McFadden

  Freida McFadden is one of today's most popular psychological thriller writers, known for devastating twists, unreliable narrators, and domestic menace that escalates to the final page. Her standalone thrillers — led by global phenomenon The Housemaid — have collectively sold tens of millions of copies worldwide.

  14 books · Ongoing

• Fantasy

  Harry Potter

  J.K. Rowling

  A young wizard discovers his magical heritage and battles a dark sorcerer across seven school years at Hogwarts.

  7 books · Complete

• Military Thriller

  Jack Carr (Terminal List)

  Jack Carr

  Navy SEAL James Reece returns from a mission where his entire team was killed — and discovers the conspiracy goes all the way to the top. Written by a real former SEAL sniper, this is military thriller fiction at its most authentic.

  7 books · Ongoing

• Thriller

  Jack Reacher

  Lee Child

  A former US Army Major drifts across America with nothing but a toothbrush, stumbling into trouble and dispensing rough justice. Recent entries co-written with Andrew Child.

  28 books · Ongoing

• Christian Fiction

  Jan Karon (Mitford)

  Jan Karon

  Jan Karon's Mitford series follows Episcopal priest Father Tim Kavanagh in a cozy North Carolina mountain village — fourteen novels of faith, community, humor, and the quiet drama of an ordinary life lived with grace.

  14 books · Complete

• Futuristic Crime Thriller

  JD Robb (In Death)

  J.D. Robb

  Nora Roberts writing as J.D. Robb puts hardboiled NYPSD lieutenant Eve Dallas and her impossibly wealthy husband Roarke in a near-future New York — over 60 books and counting, the gold standard of romantic crime fiction.

  64 books · Ongoing

• Crime Thriller

  Jesse Stone

  Robert B. Parker

  Alcoholic ex-LAPD detective Jesse Stone rebuilds his life as chief of police in Paradise, Massachusetts, where trouble follows him anyway. Robert B. Parker's most introspective hero, continued by Michael Brandman and then Reed Farrel Coleman.

  24 books · Ongoing

• Legal Thriller

  John Grisham

  John Grisham

  America's best-selling legal thriller writer turns courtrooms, law firms, and small-town justice into edge-of-your-seat page-turners. Most novels are standalone; several recurring characters and settings anchor his most beloved series.

  45 books · Ongoing

• Children's Fantasy

  Keeper of the Lost Cities

  Shannon Messenger

  Shannon Messenger's middle-grade fantasy series follows twelve-year-old Sophie Foster, a Telepath who discovers she belongs to a secret elven civilization called the Lost Cities and must unravel dangerous secrets about her own origins. An epic, emotionally intense saga praised for its complex characters and propulsive plotting.

  11 books · Ongoing

• Women's Fiction

  Kristin Hannah

  Kristin Hannah

  Kristin Hannah has written 26 emotionally powerful novels spanning three decades — from early romances to sweeping historical epics like The Nightingale and The Four Winds.

  26 books · Ongoing

• Contemporary Romance

  Laurie Gilmore (Dream Harbor)

  Laurie Gilmore

  Laurie Gilmore's Dream Harbor series is a cozy BookTok sensation — low-angst, autumnal small-town romances set in a fictional New England village full of charm, community, and swoony love interests.

  6 books · Ongoing

• Crime Thriller

  Linda Castillo (Kate Burkholder)

  Linda Castillo

  Former Amish woman Kate Burkholder polices the small Ohio town of Painters Mill, where her dual cultural identity gives her unique insight into crimes touching the Amish community. Dark plots, beautifully rendered landscape.

  17 books · Ongoing

• Crime Thriller

  Lisa Gardner

  Lisa Gardner

  Lisa Gardner is one of America's premier thriller writers, spinning four interlocking series — from FBI profiler Pierce Quincy to Boston detective D.D. Warren to wandering searcher Frankie Elkin — relentlessly paced and psychologically sharp.

  27 books · Ongoing

• Crime Thriller

  Longmire (Walt Longmire)

  Craig Johnson

  Wyoming sheriff Walt Longmire solves crimes against breathtaking high-plains landscape, Cheyenne culture, and bone-dry humor in Craig Johnson's beloved series — basis for the hit Netflix show.

  27 books · Ongoing

• Crime Thriller

  Lucas Davenport (Prey)

  John Sandford

  Minneapolis detective-turned-U.S. Marshal Lucas Davenport hunts serial killers and organized criminals across one of crime fiction's most durable franchises. One book a year since 1989, no signs of slowing.

  36 books · Ongoing

• Contemporary Romance

  Lucy Score

  Lucy Score

  Lucy Score's Knockemout series is a viral BookTok sensation following the complicated Morgan brothers and the women who love them in a small Virginia town — start with Things We Never Got Over.

  3 books · Ongoing

• Historical Mystery

  Maisie Dobbs

  Jacqueline Winspear

  Maisie Dobbs — working-class nurse turned private enquiry agent in interwar Britain — investigates cases that illuminate the lasting wounds of WWI and the shadow of a second war. Jacqueline Winspear's richly atmospheric series is as much literary fiction as mystery.

  18 books · Complete

• Crime Fiction

  Michael Connelly

  Michael Connelly

  Michael Connelly's Los Angeles crime universe — anchored by detective Harry Bosch, defense attorney Mickey Haller, and detective Renée Ballard — is the most critically acclaimed crime series of the past thirty years. Gritty, psychologically deep, meticulous in its procedural detail.

  38 books · Ongoing

• Epic Fantasy

  Mistborn (Era One)

  Brandon Sanderson

  In a world of ash and mist, a street thief learns she is a Mistborn, capable of burning metals for magic, and joins a heist to topple a god-emperor.

  3 books · Complete

• Espionage Thriller

  Mitch Rapp

  Vince Flynn

  CIA counterterrorism operative Mitch Rapp hunts terrorists without mercy and without apology — one of the most viscerally satisfying action thriller series ever written. Created by Vince Flynn and continued by Kyle Mills and Don Bentley.

  24 books · Ongoing

• Action Thriller

  Orphan X (Evan Smoak)

  Gregg Hurwitz

  Evan Smoak was raised off the grid by a covert government program and trained as a lethal operative. Now rogue, he uses his impossible skills to help the desperate — while staying one step ahead of those who want him dead.

  11 books · Ongoing

• Historical Romance

  Outlander

  Diana Gabaldon

  A WWII nurse touches a standing stone in 1945 Scotland and is transported to 1743, where she meets Highlander Jamie Fraser.

  9 books · Ongoing

• Mystery

  Paul Doiron (Mike Bowditch)

  Paul Doiron

  Maine game warden Mike Bowditch patrols some of the most remote wilderness in the eastern US — and keeps finding himself at the center of murder investigations. Paul Doiron's award-winning series is among the finest in American regional crime fiction.

  18 books · Ongoing

• Middle Grade Fantasy

  Percy Jackson and the Olympians

  Rick Riordan

  A twelve-year-old discovers he is the son of Poseidon and is pulled into a modern world where Greek gods still meddle in mortal lives.

  5 books · Complete

• Horror

  Stephen King

  Stephen King

  The master of modern horror's complete novels in publication order — from supernatural dread to dystopian thriller, with the Dark Tower epic threading through it all. Includes works published as Richard Bachman.

  65 books · Ongoing

• Crime Thriller

  Stuart Woods (Stone Barrington)

  Stuart Woods

  Stone Barrington is a former NYPD detective turned Manhattan attorney whose jet-set lifestyle keeps colliding with crime and powerful enemies. Stuart Woods wrote prolifically until his 2022 death; Brett Battles continues the series.

  68 books · Ongoing

• Literary Crime

  Tana French

  Tana French

  Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad rotates detectives case-by-case across six novels of unmatched psychological depth, set against an atmospheric Ireland. Her standalones and Cal Hooper series are equally compelling.

  10 books · Ongoing

• Children's Fantasy

  The Chronicles of Narnia

  C.S. Lewis

  Children stumble into the magical land of Narnia, where they meet the lion Aslan and confront forces of evil across centuries of its history.

  7 books · Complete

• Urban Fantasy

  The Dresden Files

  Jim Butcher

  Harry Dresden, Chicago's only practicing wizard for hire, takes on cases involving ghosts, faeries, vampires and worse.

  17 books · Ongoing

• Action Thriller

  The Gray Man (Court Gentry)

  Mark Greaney

  Court Gentry — the Gray Man — is the CIA's most lethal former operative, now hunted by every intelligence agency on earth while working as a freelance assassin with a conscience. Mark Greaney's globe-spanning series is a masterclass in relentless action-thriller plotting.

  15 books · Ongoing

• Dystopian YA

  The Hunger Games

  Suzanne Collins

  In post-apocalyptic Panem, teenagers fight to the death in televised games. Katniss Everdeen volunteers in her sister's place and ignites a revolution.

  5 books · Ongoing

• YA Fantasy

  The Inheritance Cycle

  Christopher Paolini

  A farm boy named Eragon finds a dragon's egg and becomes the first new Dragon Rider in a generation, opposing the tyrant Galbatorix.

  5 books · Ongoing

• YA Mystery

  The Inheritance Games

  Jennifer Lynn Barnes

  Jennifer Lynn Barnes's Inheritance Games universe is a compulsively readable YA locked-room mystery series following Avery Grambs as she inherits a billion-dollar fortune — and a mansion full of dangerous, irresistible Hawthorne brothers.

  6 books · Ongoing

• Fantasy

  The Kingkiller Chronicle

  Patrick Rothfuss

  The legendary magician Kvothe recounts his life — from orphan to university student to fugitive — over three days to a scribe.

  3 books · Ongoing

• High Fantasy

  The Lord of the Rings

  J.R.R. Tolkien

  Tolkien's seminal trilogy follows a fellowship's quest to destroy the One Ring and end the dark lord Sauron's reign over Middle-earth.

  4 books · Complete

• Dystopian YA

  The Maze Runner

  James Dashner

  Thomas wakes with no memory in a glade surrounded by a deadly maze, where teenage boys try to find a way out.

  5 books · Complete

• Urban Fantasy YA

  The Mortal Instruments

  Cassandra Clare

  Clary Fray discovers a hidden world of Shadowhunters — half-angel warriors who hunt demons in modern-day New York.

  6 books · Complete

• Epic Fantasy

  The Stormlight Archive

  Brandon Sanderson

  On the storm-battered world of Roshar, ancient orders of knights begin to return as humanity faces a renewed war with the Voidbringers.

  5 books · Ongoing

• Epic Fantasy

  The Wheel of Time

  Robert Jordan

  An epic fantasy of three village youths swept into a war between Light and Shadow, completed by Brandon Sanderson from Robert Jordan's notes.

  15 books · Complete

• Dark Fantasy

  The Witcher

  Andrzej Sapkowski

  Geralt of Rivia, a monster hunter mutated for the job, traverses a Slavic-inspired fantasy world entangled with destiny and politics.

  8 books · Complete

• Crime Thriller

  Tony Hillerman (Leaphorn & Chee)

  Tony Hillerman

  Navajo Tribal Police officers Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee solve crimes on the American Southwest's high desert in Tony Hillerman's landmark 18-novel series, continued by his daughter Anne Hillerman from 2013.

  28 books · Ongoing

• Paranormal Romance

  Twilight

  Stephenie Meyer

  Bella Swan moves to Forks, Washington, and falls for Edward Cullen, a brooding vampire whose family clashes with rival covens and shape-shifting wolves.

  5 books · Ongoing

• Crime Thriller

  Will Trent

  Karin Slaughter

  Karin Slaughter's Atlanta-set crime series follows Will Trent, a dyslexic GBI agent with a haunted past, and his partner Faith Mitchell as they investigate brutal cases across Georgia. Several entries crossover with Slaughter's Grant County series through the character of medical examiner Sara Linton.

  14 books · Ongoing

• Crime Thriller

  William Kent Krueger

  William Kent Krueger

  Half-Irish, half-Ojibwe former sheriff Cork O'Connor navigates crime and community in the Minnesota lake country, where Krueger weaves Anishinaabe spirituality into richly human mysteries. His standalone novels, including the Edgar-winning Ordinary Grace, are equally acclaimed.

  25 books · Ongoing