“Freedom is not the absence of commitments, but the ability to choose - and commit myself to - what is best for me.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Zahir

With so many books available to us and so little time on this planet, it's no small thing to choose to commit to a multi-book series. To be sure, many series on this list have been published over the span of decades—a span of time longer than many modern marriages. If an author is going to appeal to a reader to choose their series, to stay invested—to commit—they are going to have to put everything they've got into it to make the commitment worthwhile. If the series on this list are any indication, the writers we love, well, they are doing their job, giving us the gift of their imaginations and the power of their words, churning those elements into truly epic stories worth showing up for and worth recommitting to with every new work in their particular universe. 

As always, these top ten lists are not meant to be all-inclusive or definitive, but give a great finger on the pulse of our communities interests and favorites. Want to see who missed out? Here's the original nomination list from the blog.

Without further ado, based on the combined nominations and votes here on the Discover Sci-Fi blog and the Facebook group, here are your top choices for the best multi-book sci-fi series of all time.

10. Ender's Saga by Orson Scott Card

Is anyone surprised to see Ender's Saga on this list? The wildly popular Ender’s Saga by Orson Scott Card is cited by many as having been their gateway into science fiction. Ender's Game, the Hugo Award winning first book, is excellent as a standalone, but once you dive in, you're definitely going to want to devour the entire series.  

The first book, Ender's Game, follows the story of a boy, Ender, who is selected to go up into space for a the training program, Battle School. He, and other boys, are put through a variety of technically challenging “games” during which Ender's prowess as an analyzing and creative leader is revealed. Battle School prepares them to fight the war against the “Buggers,” an undergoing war which they might be close to losing…

Read the first book Ender's Game  here on Amazon.

9. Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan

In ninth place on our list is the much beloved Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. One of the best-selling series of all time, readers are sucked into a richly detailed and compelling epic filled with magic. Originally plotted to be six books, the series ended up spanning fourteen volumes.

The series takes place about three thousand years after "The Breaking of the World", a global cataclysm that ended the "Age of Legends", a highly advanced era.  

Read the first book, The Eye of the World  here on Amazon.

8. Expanse Series by James S.A. Corey

As of 2019, The Expanse is made up of eight novels and eight shorter works – three short stories and five novellas by James S. A. Corey, the joint pen name of authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. The first novel, Leviathan Wakes, was nominated for both a Hugo Award and a Locus Award, and the series as a whole was nominated for the Best Series Hugo Award in 2017. Further speaking to the popularity and truly epic nature of the series, it was picked up by Amazon and brought to life on the screen as a Prime Original series.  

Leviathan Wakes introduces Captain James Holden, his crew, and Detective Miller. When they are confronted with a case of a single missing girl they realize it leads to a solar-system-wide conspiracy.

Get your copy of Leviathan Wakes  here on Amazon.

7. Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold

The compelling epic, the Vorkosiagan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold is a series of science fiction novels and short stories set in a common fictional universe. Works in the series have received numerous awards and nominations including five Hugo award wins – one being for Best series in 2017. Fans of the series cite the comprehensiveness of the work and the fine hand with which McMaster Bujold has drawn and developed her characters, as well as the grace and perspective she has when touching on topics like politics and religion—staples themes of multi-book sagas—as being what makes her work stand out.

At present there are sixteen books plus six short works in the series. There is a little bit of debate about the best order in which to read them, however the author recommends reading the books in order of the internal chronology so we'd suggest that is what you do, too! 

Get your copy of Free Falling, the first book in the internal chronology of the Vorkosigan Saga, Here on Amazon

6. Dune by Frank Herbert

Barely edging Vorkosagian Saga out of 6th place, is Frank Herbert's Dune . Dune  is a forever favorite, making an appearance almost every poll we put forward, and almost always placing in the top ten. And as if the stamp of approval from Discover Sci-Fi readers isn't enough, Dune has won both Hugo and Nebula awards, solidifying its status among the best works of science fiction.  Should it be any surprise it made this list?  

Herbert wrote the first book, Dune, and five sequels before his death in 1986; his legacy is carried on by his son Brian Herbert and science fiction writer Kevin J. Anderson, who have continued to add to the Duniverse.

Dune explores the multi-layered interactions of politics, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion, as the factions of the empire confront each other in a struggle for the control of Arrakis and its spice.

Get your copy of Dune here on Amazon.

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5. Honor Harrington by David Weber

We've reached the top five! In fifth place, we have  David Weber's cult favorite, the military sci-fi epic, Honor Harrington, also known by fans as The Honorverse. Most of the more than 20 novels and anthology collections cover events between 4000 and 4022 AD. Much of the series' political drama follows that of Europe's political scene from the 1500's to 2000's.

The series is centred on the space navy career of the principal protagonist Honor Harrington, following her through her life and career, during a time of extreme interstellar change and tension.   

The series opens with Commander Harrington exiled to the Basilisk, humiliated, her crew disgruntled. This posting was meant to be punishment, an out of the way assignment intended to send a message, but that outpost soon proves to be a powder keg, and it's up to Harrington and the Fearless crew to thwart the aggressive plans of the Haven Republic. 

Start the adventure with book one, On Basilisk Station here on Amazon.

4. Pern by Anne McCaffrey

Anne McCaffery made history with her series, Pern, when she became the first woman to win a Hugo or Nebula award. Well deserved wins they were! The series is broad in scope covering over two and a half millennia. Multiple stories feature the same events from different viewpoints. Some stories feature travel between times, even across centuries. Indeed, it is a masterpiece, a true example of the kind of masterful storytelling that not only gets readers interested, but keeps them invested in a multi-books series; no small feat for a series of over two dozen books.

The first book, Dragonflight takes place in the far future in a beautiful world called Pern where an ancient way of life is about to come under attack from a myth that is all too real. Lessa is an outcast survivor—her parents murdered, her birthright stolen—a strong young woman who has never stopped dreaming of revenge. But when an ancient threat to Pern reemerges, Lessa will rise—upon the back of a great dragon with whom she shares a telepathic bond more intimate than any human connection. Together, dragon and rider will fly . . . and Pern will be changed forever.

Get your copy of Dragonflight  here on Amazon.

3. Expeditionary Force by Craig Alanson

Perhaps one of the most sure signs of the quality of a series is the passion and loyalty it inspires in its fans; by these metrics, best selling author Craig Alanson's Expeditionary Force is a sure standout. Alanson's legion of fans of turned out to vote for his outstanding series, earning Exforce a place in the top THREE!

From book 1… We were fighting on the wrong side, of a war we couldn't win. And that was the good news.

The Ruhar hit us on Columbus Day. There we were, innocently drifting along the cosmos on our little blue marble, like the native Americans in 1492. Over the horizon come ships of a technologically advanced, aggressive culture, and BAM! There go the good old days, when humans only got killed by each other. So, Columbus Day. It fits.

Pick up the first book, Columbus Day here on Amazon

2. Liaden Universe by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

Here in second place, we have a series that is notable because it almost failed to take flight, and probably would only be three books long had it not been for the Internet. Sharon Lee and Steve Miller had written the first three books (Agent of Change, Conflict of Honors, Carpe Diem) but were told that sales were not sufficient to justify continuing.  Regardless, the books caused quite a stir on a science fiction related Usenet group, and upon gaining internet access, the authors were surprised to find so many people looking for the next book in the series.  They set to work and the rest is history.  

The series is ongoing as of 2019, with twenty-one novels and numerous chapbooks and short stories, and a number of new novels contracted to be written.  It can be intimidating to drop into such a big story, but fans will tell you, it is well worth it.  Ready to dive in?

Start with book one, Agent of Change, here on Amazon

1. Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov

And finally, in first place—the series you voted the best multi-book series of all time—we have Isaac Asimov's Foundation.  For over 70 years Asimov's Foundation series has set the standard by which everything after has been judged, so it should be no surprise to see it at the very top of this esteemed list. 

Foundation won the one-time Hugo Award for “Best All-time Series” in 1966, and has clearly stood the test of time.  The focus of the books is the trends through which a civilization might progress, specifically seeking to analyze their progress, using history as a precedent.  It’s a marvellous read in it’s own right and, some might argue, an essential series for any serious science fiction fan.  

Discover the book that started it all, Foundation, here on Amazon

But that is not the end of the story...

As discussed in a recent  blog post by Discover Sci-Fi Author Jay Allan, it sometimes seems as though the multi-book series is taking over, and there are a multitude of reasons for that, perhaps the most important being—as Jay points out—because most readers love them. Due to a flood of new talent contributing to this trend, a decade from now, this list could look very different. That said, many of these series have held up for decades, and with good reason: knocking one of these masters from the top ten will be no small feat. Only time will tell. For now, visit us  here in our Facebook group to chime in on the debate, and then check out our most recent poll while you're there. Don't have Facebook? Feel free to add to the comments below.

*All book-related copy in this post was pulled from Amazon & Wikipedia, unless otherwise credited.

What a close call!

With hundreds of total votes, our top two titles were running neck-and-neck for the entire voting period! And we had three titles in the middle that ended up four votes apart. Who knew apocalyptic stories were so hard to judge!

To review our proposed definition of apocalyptic stories, they generally revolve around the Earth's technological civilization collapse. Sometimes there are crossovers with the dystopian genre, so a novel could be dystopian as well as apocalyptic. Overall in these votes we leave it up to you readers to determine the parameters beyond that basic definition, and if there are any concerns we love to hear about it in the comments. 

As always, these top ten lists are not meant to be all-inclusive or definitive, but give a great finger on the pulse of our communities interests and favorites. Want to see who missed out? Here's the original nomination list from the blog.

Without further ado, based on the combined nominations and votes here on the Discover Sci-Fi blog and the Facebook group, here are your top choices for the best apocalyptic tales in literary science fiction.

10. One Second After by William R. Forstchen

New York Times best selling author William R. Forstchen now brings us a story which can be all too terrifyingly real...a story in which one man struggles to save his family and his small North Carolina town after America loses a war, in one second, a war that will send America back to the Dark Ages...A war based upon a weapon, an Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP). A weapon that may already be in the hands of our enemies.

Find One Second After  here on Amazon. 

9. Commune by Joshua Gayou 

A fantastic post-apoc series if you haven't checked it out already. Author Joshua Gayou has also posted an reader's guide to beginning the series, as there are a few aspects of the novels that might need some help explaining. 

The series starts with the title opener Commune, with Jake and Billy rescuing two women who are being kept prisoner by scavengers. At the end of their world there's a commune called Jackson, and this is where their story all begins.

Find Commune on Amazon, here.

8. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Here's an example of a dystopian and post-apocalyptic story. While the apocalyptic focus is primarily on the third novel of the series, The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins features a civilization coping with a collapse, a rebuild of a dystopian and classist society, and another collapse.

It opens with the story of Katniss, who steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games, an annual fight to the death on live TV between the segregated districts/classes. But Katniss has been close to death before-and survival, for her, is second nature. Still, if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

Find The Hunger Games trilogy on Amazon, here.

7. The Postman by David Brin

The following three titles were nearly tied, separated by a mere four vote difference! 

Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author David Brin brought us this instant classic, The Postman, a complex cup brimming with the balance of despair and redemption.

We are introduced to Gordon Krantz, who survived the Doomwar only to spend years crossing a post-apocalypse United States looking for something or someone he could believe in again. Ironically, when he's inadvertently forced to assume the made-up role of a "Restored United States" postal inspector, he becomes the very thing he's been seeking: a symbol of hope and rebirth for a desperate nation. 

Find The Postman on Amazon, here.

6. Wool by Hugh Howey

One neat thing about this title is that if you read it on a device, it uses "Kindle in Motion" which features animation, art or video features. For some readers this might be a fun feature!

Hugh Howey's Silo series has taken the hard sci-fi, apocalyptic reading world by storm.

Wool's premise is titillating. It is the story of mankind clawing for survival, of mankind on the edge. The world outside has grown unkind, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple. They are allowed to go outside.

Find Wool and the sequels to it on Amazon, here.

5. Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank

A novel said to have inspired John Lennon, Alas, Babylon, by Pat Frank, has been called a classic of literary and American fiction since shortly after its publication in 1959.

"Alas, Babylon." Those fateful words heralded the end. When a nuclear holocaust ravages the United States, a thousand years of civilization are stripped away overnight, and tens of millions of people are killed instantly. But for one small town in Florida, miraculously spared, the struggle is just beginning, as men and women of all backgrounds join together to confront the darkness.

Find the Kindle reprint version, or one of its many other formats, on Amazon, here.

4. A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.

A classic from 1959, Walter M. Miller Jr.'s A Canticle for Leibowitz was a Hugo Award Winner in 1961 for best science fiction novel, and triggered a whole host of scholarly research based on its themes of religion, recurrence, and church versus state.

We are told the story of a monk order which seeks to preserve the surviving remnants of man's scientific knowledge until the world is again ready for it.

In the depths of the Utah desert, long after the Flame Deluge has scoured the earth clean, a monk of the Order of Saint Leibowitz has made a miraculous discovery: holy relics from the life of the great saint himself, including the blessed blueprint, the sacred shopping list, and the hallowed shrine of the Fallout Shelter.

In a terrifying age of darkness and decay, these artifacts could be the keys to mankind's salvation. But as the mystery at the core of this groundbreaking novel unfolds, it is the search itself—for meaning, for truth, for love—that offers hope for humanity's rebirth from the ashes.

Find A Canticle for Leibowitz on Amazon, here.

3. Hell Divers by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

A near tie with the A Canticle for Leibowitz, Nicholas Sansbury Smith's Hell Divers series passed it by to reach almost the tip top of our list of ten best apocalyptic sci-fi novels. 

This New York Times and USA Today bestselling series opens two centuries after World War III, above a poisoned planet. The final bastion of humanity lives on massive airships circling the globe in search of a habitable area to call home. Aging and outdated, most of the ships plummeted back to earth long ago. The only thing keeping the two surviving lifeboats in the sky are Hell Divers—men and women who risk their lives by skydiving to the surface to scavenge for parts the ships desperately need.

When one of the remaining airships is damaged in an electrical storm, a Hell Diver team is deployed to a hostile zone called Hades. But there’s something down there far worse than the mutated creatures discovered on dives in the past—something that threatens the fragile future of humanity.

Check out the Hell Divers series on Amazon, here.

2. The Stand by Stephen King

We've reached the overwhelmingly top two apocalyptic sci-fi novels of all time, according to our tasteful readers and fans of Discover Sci-Fi. The Stand by Stephen King totalled well over a hundred votes, coming in close with number one.

In 1978, Stephen King published what many believe to be his finest novel. The Stand was originally published in a much shorter form, and has since been published in its complete and uncut edition. Do any of our readers have experience reading both? What did you think of each?

According to The Stand, this is the way the world ends: with a nanosecond of computer error in a Defense Department laboratory and a million casual contacts that form the links in a chain letter of death.

And here is the bleak new world of the day after: a world stripped of its institutions and emptied of 99 percent of its people. A world in which a handful of panicky survivors choose sides -- or are chosen. A world in which good rides on the frail shoulders of the 108-year-old Mother Abigail -- and the worst nightmares of evil are embodied in a man with a lethal smile and unspeakable powers: Randall Flagg, the dark man.

Check The Stand out on Amazon, here.

1. Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

Closing the poll with first place is the joint effort by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, Lucifer's Hammer. So many of you said you had a hard time choosing, but we commend you on your decision. 

Lucifer's Hammer was first published in 1977 and was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1978 and was adapted to comic book 1993. It's only one of several fantastic novels by this formidable sci-fi duo, so if you've already read this one, check out some of their others, like The Mote In God's Eye.

Balancing suspense, humor, and interesting little lectures, Niven and Pournelle create one of the first novels to realistically describe the effects of a comet striking earth. 

Find Lucifer's Hammer on Amazon, here.

Of course, the story doesn't end here, does it?

If we asked you another year from now the literary and political scene will already look different enough that what's termed the "best" apocalyptic science fiction will be considered through a different historical lens. For now, visit us  here in our Facebook group to chime in on the debate, and then check out our most recent poll while you're there. Don't have Facebook? Feel free to add to the comments below.

*All book-related copy in this post was pulled from Amazon & Wikipedia, unless otherwise credited.