We carefully keep track of new series releases. We also listed the biggest and most popular series, and added a few boxed sets that make good presents.

What makes Science Fiction and Fantasy series so successful?

First, many classics of the genre such as Dune or Foundation span several volumes, creating a precedent of quantity and quality. These memorable stories needed much space as they delved deeply into a vast breadth of topics. The grand scheme of things would need hundreds if not thousands of pages to fully bloom. We got hooked at the age of 11 or 12 by Tolkien's Lord of the Rings or Vance's Planet of Adventure and became forever different, still carrying these books in our minds and hearts with a fond memory and sparkling eyes.

Then there's our tendency as scifans to want more of a good thing. If the first 500 pages were so good, we could use another 1,500, couldn't we? We want to know more of a world's history, we crave for more action or deep thinking from our favorite characters. And what writer would refuse an easy entry on the market for another volume following the first book success?

Most of times we are just happy with it, but still be wary of lesser-quality sequels that are just ... more of the same, but lost the spark of novelty and freshness. Even great series like Silverberg's Lord Valentine trilogy are sometimes followed by second-rate books like The Mountains of Majipoor. The readers' reviews you'll find at Amazon.com will help you separate the wheat from the chaff.