Summer is upon us, which means we book nerds finally have time to read all those great series we have been meaning to get around to. On the list below, you'll find 11 newly finished book series you can marathon-read this summer, so if you're looking for something fresh and new to read on vacation, look no further!
If you're the type of person who likes to wait for a series to be finished before you read it, consider this your cheat sheet. The series below all published their final volumes in the last 12 or so months, so you can pick them up in full from your favorite bookseller and skip the long waits between installments. And because none of these series is more than three volumes long, you'll definitely have time to read them to completion during the hot, lazy days ahead.
As a heads up, this list skews heavily toward science fiction and fantasy, simply because those genres produce more book series than others. If you're not the type to read and enjoy sci-fi or fantasy, you might think there's nothing on this list for you, but I would still encourage you to try out one of the book series below. They're pretty great, after all.
Check out my recommendations for your summer marathon-reading below:
The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin
Born with the ability to control the movements of the earth around her, Essun has hidden her powers, and those of her children, for years. But when, upon learning that his son and daughter are not "normal," Essun's husband kills one and kidnaps the other, N.K. Jemisin's heroine must set out to rescue her surviving child as a Fifth Season — a cataclysmic, seismic event — plunges her world into disarray.
Books in series:
Remembrance of Earth's Past by Cixin Liu
First published in China in 2008, The Three-Body Problem won the 2015 Hugo Award after it was translated by author Ken Liu (The Grace of Kings). Each installment of this sci-fi series centers on a different protagonist, but all three books revolve around a classic genre concept: What happens when humans first make contact with an alien race?
Books in series:
Shades of Magic by V.E. Schwab
As one of the Antari, Kell has the power to move between four different worlds with four different versions of London. Smuggling items from one London to another is strictly forbidden, so A Darker Shade of Magic really kicks off when Kell is forced to take a dangerous artifact out of Black London — which fell to destructive, deadly magic years ago — and must team up with a pirate from Grey London — the 18th century version of the city in our mundane world — in order to return it safely.
Books in series:
The Themis Files by Sylvain Neuvel
Told in an oral history style, Sylvain Neuvel's Themis Files centers on Rose Franklin, a little girl who falls into a hole in the ground — and into a metal hand. Years later, no one knows where the hand came from or what it was for, but Rose has become an expert physicist, and is now deeply involved with answering the questions that have lingered since her childhood.
Books in series:
The Machineries of Empire by Yoon Ha Lee
In a political system governed through consensus reality, the disgraced Captain Kel Cheris leads a charge to reclaim Fortress of Scattered Needles and restore her good name, but she can't do it alone. Cheris allies herself with Jedao, the centuries-old ghost of a mass-murdering general, in order to get the job done.
Books in series:
Ruined by Amy Tintera
Emelina Flores' sister has been kidnapped, and the magic users from her home country, the Ruined of Ruina, are in threat of extinction. Em doesn't have magic, but she does have a plan. To infiltrate Lera, the country where she believes her sister is being held, she kills another land's princess and takes her place in marriage to Lera's prince . . . and that's just in the first book.
Books in series:
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
Binti's family doesn't want her to leave home, but she's been offered the opportunity to study at Oomza University, an elite, interplanetary school. So she does what any girl in her position would do: she runs away. Aboard a spaceship taking her to her new home, Binti is the sole survivor of an attack by an alien race, who accuse Oomza University of colonizing their home planet, and who intend to slaughter anyone who gets in their way.
Books in series:
The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
The source material for everyone's favorite fashion movie, Lauren Weisberger's Devil Wears Prada series centers on Andrea Sachs, who stumbles into a fashion career as an assistant to Runway magazine editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly.
Books in series:
The Peacekeeper Trilogy by Tanya Huff
A spin-off of Huff's Confederation series, Peacekeeper follows Torin Kerr, a space marine who left the military after growing disgusted with the idea of the war. Now a secret operative, Torin assembles a crack team to take on top-secret missions for the Confederation.
Books in series:
The Waning Moon Duology by Leena Likitalo
If you ever went through a phase of Romanov obsession, you need to check out Leena Likitalo's Waning Moon Duology, which draws inspiration from the last days of Imperial Russia to tell the tale of five sisters whose way of life is threatened by a Thinking Machine.
Books in series:
Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
In Victoria Aveyard's wildly popular Red Queen series, Mare — a Red, or member of the lower class — is scraping by as a thief when she's unexpectedly thrown into the world of Silvers and is granted a home in the palace of the king. Unlike other Reds, Mare has powers that rival those of the Silvers — and behind the walls of the palace, she plans to use those powers to plot a revolution.
Books in series:
