Recommend me a trilogy

[ljlee]

Next month I will have three credits available on Audible (yeah yeah, I'm behind--I'm making an effort, though!), and I figured I'd spend the three together on a trilogy. Three is my favorite number, after all, and trilogies always seemed to me a good way to tell a story that's longer than a novel but doesn't run on indefinitely

Comments

[zandperl]

Phillip Pulman's "His Dark Materials" is an interesting series, and I think it's a trilogy. I read it in audiobook, though not on Audible. They use different voice actors / readers for the different characters. The only drawback to that is one of the main characters, the reader changes in the third (I think) book.

Not trilogies, but I highly recommend the readers for anything Orson Scott Card and Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series.

[ljlee]

Oh, I'd forgotten about His Dark Materials. I remember reading the first book, The Golden Compass, and while it didn't particularly grab me I know the series is popular and well-regarded, so I'll keep it in mind.

I enjoyed Ender's Game back in the day, though looking back on it now I'm kind of creeped out at the lengths it went to [spoiler]absolve a mass murderer of all blame. That, plus my strong disagreement with Card on homosexuality, kind of soured me on his work.

[zandperl]

Yeah, I really don't like Card's politics either. I've seen the arguments that Ender's Game is really just Mein Kampf in space (Godwin's Law FTW!), but IMO because Ender feels guilt at the end I don't really feel there's a strong parallel between him and Hitler. (Not that I've read Mein Kampf, so I could be mistaken on the parallels.) FWIW I'm planning to watch the film on opening night, and then donate money to the Human Rights Campaign.

I don't actually like most of the Enderverse sequels (too much politics), though I do like Ender's Shadow and the short stories set in Battle School. The Alvin Maker series is also interesting, though I don't feel as much empathy with the main character, and there are some gender issues (though appropriate for the setting, and he gives women a different type of strength/power/influence, so he doesn't entirely sideline them).

[ljlee]

'I'm planning to watch the film on opening night, and then donate money to the Human Rights Campaign.'

I like the way you think! :D I think I read an Alvin Maker short story in a collection years ago, and it seemed like an interesting world.

Re protagonist-centered morality in Ender's Game, I agree the Godwin essay was overreaching. A different essay, Creating the Innocent Killer, makes much better points IMO.

[kiwirazzi]

Personally, I loved reading the "Night Angel" trilogy by Brent Weeks. The books - "The Way Of Shadows", "Shadows Edge" and "Beyond The Shadows" - are all around 800 pages each (if I remember correctly), but I loved them. Grabbing story, pageturners, well concepted fantasy. A bit brutal at times, yes, but that only added to it (it's not that it's gore or overly graphic, but then again, I like my fantasy novels when they're a bit darker). I am not sure if they're available as audiobooks, though, I do, however, know that there is an extra story about one of the characters which is only available for kindle.
But yeah, that trilogy definitely gets my vote.

[ljlee]

Ooh, a fantasy series I didn't know about! It sounds interesting, thanks for the rec.

[kayiscah]

If you liked the original Star Wars movies, I would strongly recommend the Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn:

Heir to the Empire
Dark Force Rising
The Last Command

There are a lot Star Wars book that are so-so, but those were excellent.

[ljlee]

Noted--and they're on audiobook, too! Incidentally when I was

[kayiscah]

The Star Wars franchise and I broke up after they killed too many of my favorite characters, but there are some excellent books in the mix.

Shatterpoint is a prequel era novel, and I didn't get into those very much. But the Thrawn Trilogy is what inspired me to pursue a career as a writer. So I have special love for it.

The "Truce at Bakura" is another I'd recommend, though it's a standalone. And pretty much anything by Aaron Allston. The X-Wing: Wraith Squadron series was wonderful.

Star Wars had its ups and downs, but overall it had much better continuity than other franchises I've attempted.