Reader Rayna

Hello! I hope you’re doing well this week and reading something you’re enjoying!

Today I wanted to talk about some series I want to read this year. Now, this can mean series that I start and finish, or series that I start but don’t end up finishing, and you’ll see why because one of them is reeeaaally long. But also, some series are still continuing, so it’s kind of hard to complete those when all of the books aren’t out yet, you know?

There’s no particular order for these in terms of priority or importance when it comes to starting and finishing them. I also plan on reading a lot more series than this this year, but I wanted to just chat about a few for now, otherwise my list will be a mile long.

Click on a cover to go to its Goodreads page!

The Realm of the Elderlings

Told you this was a much longer one lol Though this longer overall series is broken up into five separate trilogies/quartets, The Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb is an undertaking and one I want to for sure start this year. I know I won’t be finishing it this year, but I want to definitely begin my journey through this world.

My hope is to be able to read both The Farseer Trilogy and The Liveship Trader trilogy by the end of the year. At the minimum I would like to have the Farseer trilogy read by the end of the year. I think that will be very doable, though we’ll see where I fit these books into my TBRs as the year progresses.

Empire of the Wolf

The Empire of the Wolf by Richard Swan is a dark fantasy horror trilogy that I had started last year and just never finished. I was reading the first book and it was very much giving Bloodborne/Elden Ring vibes, which I was vibing with, honestly. I just didn’t continue because I wasn’t in the mood to read it at the time, but I am interested to see where the story goes and what happens next. I can see the religious and political themes bubbling under the surface and I want to see how it all coalesces later on.

Afterward I want to jump into the continuation series that starts with Grave Empire and continues into Steel Gods, as I have both of those books, as well. Though those books can be read separately from the Empire of the Wolf trilogy, they do take place in the same world, so I feel like I’ll have a lot more context if I read this trilogy first before diving into the second story.

Arc of a Scythe

Arc of a Scythe by Neal Shusterman is a young adult trilogy where all diseases have been cured and people just kind of don’t die, so some people are given a job – Scythe – to kill others to cull the population to make sure there’s not too many people and all of that. It’s kind of messed up, especially when you realize that teens are doing this job.

Anyway, I’m really excited to read it! lol I love the ramifications that come with this kind of story, and the moral dilemmas that can come with taking another person’s life. It asks a lot of questions, and I’m curious how Shusterman does it.

The last book, Gleanings, is just a collection a short stories and isn’t part of the main trilogy, so I’m not counting it toward the goal of completing the series, per say, but it will be read at some point as part of the overall goal of counting the series done. (Though there is more to come from this world, confirmed by the author himself! Hence why I also want to start reading it this year lol)

The War of Lost Hearts

The War of Lost Hearts by Carissa Broadbent kind of just popped into my radar at some point, and now I just want to read this trilogy. I don’t really even know what it’s about necessarily, and I don’t mind keeping it that way. I will say, though, that I love these covers a lot. I think they’re very artfully designed, so I hope that I enjoy the content inside as much as I do the outside!

The Broken Earth

The Broken Earth by N. K. Jemisin is a trilogy that I’ve owned for a long time now and I still haven’t read yet. Why? Because I’m intimidated by it, that’s why. I feel like it’s up on a pedestal for some reason and I’m so far below it that I can’t reach it. But also, what if I don’t like it? I want to like it! I know this is literally just a me thing and I haven’t even tried it to give it an actual fair chance yet, but I definitely want to start this trilogy this year at the very least, and maybe even finish it this year, too.

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And there you have it! Five series I’d like to read by the end of the year! I honestly could have kept going because I have soooo many books on my shelves that features series of various kinds that I want to get to, but I figured I’d mention at least five for now. As the year progresses, hopefully there will even be some updates and checkmarks next to these books as I strike them off of my TBR! That would be nice, wouldn’t it?

Have you read any of these books? Do you have any series you’ve been slacking on reading that you want to really start this year? Share in the comments!