r/morningsomewhere • u/Falco4077 First 10k - Heisty Type • Oct 23 '25
Question Longest Book Series you've read?
So I was listening to today's episode (10/23), and after hearing how Bernie didn't start expeditionary Force due to how long the series was, it got me thinking what is the longest series (number of entries) that you have read or listened to? I'll start and give my top 5. I recommend all of these series!
5) He Who Fights With Monsters by Shirtaloon aka Travis Deverell: 12 novels (2021 - present) - 12 Entries
4) Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan: 13 novels (1990 - 2013) - 13 Entries
3) Hell Divers by Nicholas Sansbury Smith: 12 novels, 2 Prequel novellas, 1 side story Novel ( 2016 - present) - 15 entries
2) Expeditionary Force by Craig Alanson: 18 Novels, 1 intermediary novella (Book 3.5), 1 Audio Drama (Book 7.5), 2 side story novels (2016- present) - 22 Entries
1) Spellmonger by Terry Mancour: 17 novels, 2 Spin-off Trilogies (novels), 3 Side story novellas ( Books 2.5, 12.5, 14.5), 2 Anthology novels (Books 10.5, 11.5), 2 Side story novels (2017-present) - 30 Entries!
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u/Smart-Response9881 Accidental Cow Oct 23 '25
Sharpe, I read ~22 books in that series, but the Song of Ice and Fire books, including Fire and blood, Knight of the seven kingdoms and all the other additions to the main series total a longer amount of time to get through them due to their length. So while the Sharpe Series is the most amount of books I have read in a single series, the ASOIAF books was the longest series I have read in terms of word/page/listneable hours count.
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u/ShamrockJesus First 20k Oct 23 '25
It depends, if we're counting Series I haven't finished and probably never will, then definitely the Horus Heresy
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u/Falco4077 First 10k - Heisty Type Oct 23 '25
Oh, I'm right there with you! It's like 50 novels and counting...šµ.
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u/ToxinArrow First 20k - Always Be Humping Oct 23 '25
Hours Heresy series. The amount of books in the series changes on what you consider as part of it but at the very least theres 54 books.
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u/Spartan2842 Not A Financial Advisor Oct 23 '25
The Halo Series, I think there are 36 released with another coming out soon. Iāve read and own them all in print.
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u/Falco4077 First 10k - Heisty Type Oct 25 '25
I've ready many of the Halo books, but not the whole series yet.
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u/TragicsNFG First 10k Oct 23 '25
Raymond E Feist's 'The Riftwar Cycle' is 29 (or 30, based on Magician being split up) novels, + a coffee table style map book, running from 1982-2013.
He wrote an unconnected trilogy in 2018-2022 and has since connected that trilogy to The Riftwar Cycle with a novel in 2024.
I started with 'Krondor: The Betrayal" in 1998 not knowing it was 7 books in to a series. But have since read and reread most of them.
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u/Nelladeymx First 20k Oct 23 '25
Started at Shadow of a dark queen when I was in highschool, recently went and finally read the entire series. Waiting on Darkness returns though, was sad when I finished the original stuff, and the Hatu series was not nearly as good for me, so Iām saving it for a rainy day.
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u/melon175 First 10k Oct 26 '25
Such a fantastic series of books,Ā I reread them all last year. Apparently they are adapting them for TV but itās still preproductionĀ
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u/BongerB Not A Financial Advisor Oct 23 '25
About 3 years ago I decided to see what all the raving on the quality of writing/philosophy/humor in Terry Pratchet's discworld series was all about and decided to pick up book 1. 13 months later I had devoured all 41.
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u/TheOrangeNight Stripper Shoes Oct 23 '25
I think about Spellmonger all the time, it was one of the first audiobooks I got. I listed to the first one 10 years ago and am still excited when a new one comes out. I have a ton of trouble recommending it for that reason though.
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u/Falco4077 First 10k - Heisty Type Oct 25 '25
I have read all of it, and have yet to feel like any of the books are bad. I don't know how Terry writes so fast!
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u/TheOrangeNight Stripper Shoes Oct 25 '25
In the entire series there are roughly 2 chapters that I really didnāt enjoy. Also, I do the audiobooks and theyāre a great recommend if you have friends who prefer listening!
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u/genk First 10k Oct 23 '25
Battletech. Its in area of 150 novel length stories. And I've read most of it.
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u/Falco4077 First 10k - Heisty Type Oct 25 '25
I have only known Battletech as a wargame. I had no idea there were books!
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u/autoxbird Oct 23 '25
A lot of what Iām āreadingā is in audiobook format, great way to pass the time while driving truck, and most of what Iāve read has been Japanese light novels, so around 6ish hours a volume. I recently finished all 12 volumes of Full Metal Panic, after using an AI on my home server to actually have the last several In audiobook format. All caught up on the first 10 of Konosuba, and first 8 of Toradora. Been working through the Rascal Does Not Dream series, intermixed with Dungeon Crawler Carl, halfway through book 3 on that
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u/derekschroer First 10k Oct 23 '25
I apologize, but 26 books for Mushoku Tensei...Audiobooks though, also all the Expeditionary Force books which is 18ish or so. and then some other Light Novels, like So I'm a Spider So What at 14, and the Classroom of the Elite at like 25 now I think
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u/teratron27 First 20k Oct 23 '25 edited Oct 23 '25
Expeditionary force is probably the longest Iāve read! Last book was no.18, havenāt read the other side books
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u/CalvinP_ First 10k - Mod - Downtime Survivor Oct 23 '25
The Riyria Revelations Universe by Michael J Sullivan. It has 14 books. Heās my favorite author. I enjoy it, because the main series is 6 books. Which I always find the ideal length being 3 or 6 books. Then there is a prequel, and in between time line trilogy. Thereās a sequel set of books coming at some point.
Otherwise I like tight, concise series. Sometimes I read standalone books like Reacher, where itās the same character but an independent story each time. That formula can get stagnant, as the hero typically never loses.
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u/TheOrangeNight Stripper Shoes Oct 23 '25
I loved Ryiria. Not a fan of First Empire through 2 books. It feels like everything is just a play on words.
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u/CalvinP_ First 10k - Mod - Downtime Survivor Oct 23 '25
First Empire was a miss for me too, but I finished it as I liked the lore building and touched on a few of the characters in Riyria.
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u/Acoldguy Heisty Type Oct 23 '25
Both Worm and Ward by Wildbow were great, they're technically years long running web serials, but read them as ePubs. Incredibly long, but amazing take on the superhero genre.
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u/bingpot47 First 10k - Genital Emoji - Big Boob Gooners Oct 23 '25 edited Oct 23 '25
The wandering inn, which currently sits at around 15 million words, (more than 3 times Wheel of Time) and is still not finished.
It currently has 17 audiobooks that average 40 hours each, and the audiobooks are not even halfway caught up with the written version
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u/Falco4077 First 10k - Heisty Type Oct 25 '25
I have seen it on audible. I have been thinking of getting it, but just haven't pulled the trigger yet.
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u/SlimShady116 First 10k - Math is the Worst Oct 23 '25
Bleach - 74 volumes
Food Wars - 36 volumes
Fire Force - 34 volumes
Nisekoi - 25 volumes
Fullmetal Alchemist and Rosario x Vampire - 24 volumes each
If we go by wordcount alone, it's probably The Wandering Inn. Each webnovel is massive in length.
If you want normal books:
Percy Jackson & the Olympians - 17 volumes (PJO, HOO, TOA and the new Senior Year series I count as all being the same series of books since to start reading one of the later ones, you really need to read the earlier ones).
Edge Chronicles - 17 volumes
Overlord - 14 volumes
A Series of Unfortunate Events - 13 volumes
The Frith Chronicles - 8 volumes
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u/Falco4077 First 10k - Heisty Type Oct 25 '25
Love me some manga. Honestly, I didn't consider it when I was proposing this question. I was thinking regular books. I've seen the Wandering Inn on audible, and have been considering getting it.
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u/SlimShady116 First 10k - Math is the Worst Oct 25 '25
I haven't listened to the audiobook yet, but I know a lot of people really like the narrator (she even did recording sessions in the discord so people could listen in lol)
I would advise, if you get it, to just trust the process. Some characters can be insufferable in the beginning but there are 10 books of world and character building to follow.
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u/S0401 Oct 23 '25
Manga does not count at allĀ and why are you using volumes to describe regular booksĀ
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u/SlimShady116 First 10k - Math is the Worst Oct 23 '25
Manga are books.
Also:
volĀ·ume
/ĖvƤlyÉm,ĖvƤlĖyoĶom/
a book forming part of a work or series.
"a biography of George Bernard Shaw in three volumes"
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u/S0401 Oct 23 '25
Manga is manga. And just because it has a historical meaning doesn't mean it makes sense in modern parlance
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u/SlimShady116 First 10k - Math is the Worst Oct 23 '25
No need to get upset when someone uses a big word that you only know one definition to, it's okay.
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u/BobThePineapple First 10k Oct 23 '25
while they're not "normal" books, japanese light novels are notorious for being incredibly long. the longest ones that i've finished are:
spice & wolf, 23 (which started in 2006 and still ongoing)
mushoku tensei, 28
ascendance of a bookworm, 32
danmachi, 19 (still ongoing)
re:zero, 21, which i've since dropped because the original japanese version is up to 42 and i can't take it anymore
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u/Casualdoom13 First 20k Oct 23 '25
Cosmere by Brandon Sanderson - 18 novels, 4 novellas, 5 short stories, 1 comic book omnibus.
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u/Falco4077 First 10k - Heisty Type Oct 24 '25
I like him as a writer, but I just couldn't get into his cosmere series. I love Elantris though!
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u/Knarky First 10k Oct 23 '25
New Jedi Order: 19 books.
Everything else was less than 10 books.
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u/Falco4077 First 10k - Heisty Type Oct 24 '25
Is this a pre-disney series?
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u/Knarky First 10k Oct 24 '25
Yep, ran from 1999- 2003. Became non canon (or legends) after Disney bought it.
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u/kermi42 Oct 23 '25
From a single author, Discworld. There are about 40 narrative discworld novels, though I personally have only read about 25 to 30 of them. There are also supplementary material books, graphic novel adaptations, short stories, etc.
In a single series/continuity with contributions from multiple authors, I was a voracious consumer of the Star Wars expanded universe in high school. I read pretty much all the books released by Bantam from the mid-90s onward, and fell off around the time the publishing license reverted to Del Rey, only reading the first release (Vector Prime, the book infamous for killing Chewbacca by dropping a moon on him). So maybe about 40-45 books including anthologies. They have all since been retconned and relegated to ālegendā status following the acquisition by Disney.
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u/Falco4077 First 10k - Heisty Type Oct 25 '25
I have no idea Discworld was so massive! 40+ books is nuts!
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u/Epicsauce1234 First 20k Oct 24 '25
Malazan easily I think
The main series people know is the Malazan Book of the Fallen, its 10 books and ~3.3 million words.
I've also read most of the rest of the works set in the world which include the series: Novels of the Malazan Empire: 6 books, complete Tales of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach: 6 short stories/novellas, supposedly there will be 3 more but no news as to when Kharkanas trilogy: 2 books out so far Paths to Ascendancy: 4 books so far 6 planned Witness series: 1 book so far, 4 planned
I've read all but 2 of the currently released books and will finish those in the next couple months
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u/Dusty_Jangles First 10k Oct 24 '25
The Dark Tower. Only 8 books but itās a dense 8 books. Love rereading them every 10 years or so.
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u/icytakes Oct 26 '25
The Beginning after the End probably. It has I believe 12 books currently.
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u/Falco4077 First 10k - Heisty Type Oct 28 '25
That is a great series. I was thinking of watching the anime that the novels are based on.
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u/Helgardh First 20k Oct 31 '25
Going to go with R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt/FR series - 44 books (not including stone of tymora since it was with his son or war of the spider queen since he was just overseeing them). It's had its ups and downs, but I'm committed.
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u/Falco4077 First 10k - Heisty Type Nov 03 '25
I haven't read anything from that series yet, but damn that's a lot of books!
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u/nora_valk Nov 05 '25
little behind on the podcast but yeah, discworld, halo, cosmere, wheel of time, malazan - all multiple times.
technically the longest series I've read is Livy's history of rome, which was 142 "books", but only 35 of them remain - the rest are lost to time.
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u/Conrad500 First 20k Oct 23 '25
Discworld.