45th Bookworms Carnival - Series

Welcome to the 45th edition of the Bookworms Carnival!

I had picked series as my theme - and I was refering not to a specific series, but to each and every series you can come up with. In case you're wondering why I picked this theme: I have been hosting the Series Challenge for the past 3 years and we're now in the 4th year. In case you want to sign up, it's not too late, even though the challenge has been going for about a month already.

To get everyone in the mood for series, Samantha from Bookworms and tea lovers wrote a wonderful post on her love for series. And I can sign each point she brings up!
On top of this, she also has a post with each of the series she's reading at this point - and keeps adding the links to her reviews.

Let's start the series themselves with some posts on the first books in new series, the books with which it all begins.

Jackie at Literary Escapism submitted a review for Nancy Holzner's Deadtown, a paranormal mystery starring a young demon slayer. The second book is already in the editorial process.
Then, Jackie also sent in a review for The Better Part of Darkness by Kelly Gay, another new urban fantasy series for which the second book is already in the making.
Two other reviews Jackie submitted are for Anya Bast's Wicked Enchantment and for Tiger by the Tail by Kaye Chambers

Jo of Ink and Paper sent in a few books that are first in a series - series which she will continue (so check out her blog later on, for more reviews!). Forgive me if I don't say something to each of these books!
Magic Bites (Kate Daniels Book 1) by Ilona Andrews
The Summoning (Dark Powers Book 1) by Kelley Armstrong
The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan
City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments Book 1) by Cassandra Clare
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
Night Rising (Vampire Babylon Book 1) by Chris Marie Green
Dead Witch Walking (Rachel Morgan Book 1) by Kim Harrison
Fallen by Lauren Kate
The Sweet Scent of Blood (Spellcrackers.com Book 1) by Suzanne McLeod
Wake (Dream Catcher Book 1) by Lisa McMann
Some Girls Bite (Chicagoland Vampires Book 1) by Chloe Neill
Evermore (The Immortals Book 1) by Alyson Noёl
Red-Headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells
Prophecy of the Sisters (Prophecy of the Sisters Trilogy Book 1) by Michelle Zink
And from her YA blog, Once Upon a Bookcase, Jo submitted the review for Split by a Kiss by Luisa Plaja
Wow, that's a wealth of first in series books! Admittedly, I only know one of the books Jo reviewed, City of Bones, and I can tell you it is a great YA series, and I also have a few of the books either on Mt. TBR or on my wish list.

And Monica of Monniblog submitted two first books in a series:
The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs, a series about a group of women of different ages, different backgrounds and very different personalities who regularly meet at a yarn shop on Manhattan's Upper West Side.
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris, a series many of you already know and a book I'm in fact reading right now. Sookie Stackhouse is a psychic who, by chance, gets drawn into the world of vampires and murder.

Of course, the first book in a series is only the beginning of a story. In the later installments we learn even more about the characters and the world created by the author.

Jackie at Literary Escapism sent in a review for Smolder by Melina Morel. This is the third in the series revolving around the Institut Scientifique.

Monica of Monniblog has a review up for the final installment of Terry Goodknd's Sword of Truth series, Confessor.

Swapna Krishna offered up a great review for Small Favor by Jim Butcher, the tenth in the series revolving around Harry Dresden, a wizard who investigates cases that link to the paranormal world.

Beth of BethFishReads has a wonderful review for the 10th installment in MC Beaton's Hamish Macbeth, Death of a Charming Man. This is indeed a wonderful series and if you haven't checked it out yet, do so!

I also got some submissions for full series or bigger parts of series.

Jodie from Book Gazing has reviews for the first two books in the Temeraire series:
Temeraire by Naomi Novick
Throne of Jade by Naomi Novick

Heather from Age 30+ ... A Lifetime of Books reviewed all 8 books of Laurie R. King's Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes series. In order the books are:
The Beekeper's Apprentice
A Monstrous Regiment of Women
A Letter of Mary
The Moor
O Jerusalem
Justice Hall
The Game
Locked Rooms
The Language of Bees

And then Jo of Ink and Paper also sent me a long e-mail with lots and lots of reviews for series she read, and I'm not going to keep any to myself.

Weather Wardens Series by Rachel Caine
Ill Wind (Weather Wardens Book 1)
Heat Stroke (Weather Wardens Book 2)

Cassie Palmer Series by Karen Chance
Touch the Dark (Cassie Palmer Book 1)
Claimed by Shadow (Cassie Palmer Book 2)
Embrace the Night (Cassie Palmer Book 3)
Curse the Dawn (Cassie Palmer Book 4)

Night Huntress Series by Jeaniene Frost
Halfway to the Grave (Night Huntress Book 1)
One Foot in the Grave (Night Huntress Book 2)
At Grave's End (Night Huntress Book 3)
Destined for an Early Grave (Night Huntress Book 4)

Wicked Series by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguié
Witch & Curse (Wicked Omnibus 1) - Part 1: Witch
Witch & Curse (Wicked Omnibus 1) - Part 2: Curse

Wicked Lovely Series by Melissa Marr
Wicked Lovely (Wicked Lovely Book 1)
Ink Exchange (Wicked Lovely Book 2)
Fragile Eternity (Wicked Lovely Book 3)

Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead
Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy Book 1)
Frostbite (Vampire Academy Book 2)

Raine Benares Series by Lisa Shearin
Magic Lost, Trouble Found (Raine Benares Book 1)
Armed and Magical (Raine Benares Book 2)
The Trouble with Demons (Raine Benares Book 3)

Shifters Series by Rachel Vincent
Stray (Shifters Book 1)
Rogue (Shifters Book 2)
Pride (Shifters Book 3)

Monica of Monniblog also has reviewed quite some chunks of series.

The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins
The Hunger Games
Catching Fire

Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld
Uglies and Pretties
Extras
Specials

The Tudor Court novels by Philippa Gregory
The Constant Princess
The Other Boleyn Girl
The Boleyn Inheritance
The Queen's Fool

The Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer
Twilight
New Moon
Eclipse
Breaking Dawn

XYZ series by Karen Rivers
X in Flight
Y in the Shadows

Marg of ReadingAdventures wrote one long review for the books in Conn Iggulden's Conqueror series.

Gilion of Rose City Reader also reads a few series:
Cara Black's Aimee Leduc series, which is set in France.
James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux series
Lee Child's Jack Reacher series featuring the famous former military police man turned PI.
John Lescroart's Dismas Hardy series
Martin Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko series (We all have heard of Gorky Park, I believe?)
Julia Spencer-Fleming's Clare Fergusson & Russ Van Alstyne series starring a former army pilot turned Episcopalian priest and the local police chief.

And last, but certainly not least, Beth from BethFishReads has a good review of Chris Grabenstein's John Ceepack series featuring John Ceepak, a fromer MP serving in Iraq who retired from the army with PTSD.

Monica of Monniblog even sent in her answers to the questions I asked along with my call for submissions:

What is it about series you like most?
I think it's the continuation of the story. If it's a good story, you want to know more and more about the characters and continue on the journey with them.

And do you remember the first series you read?
To be honest, the first types of series I fell in love with were movies. I was in love with trilogies as a kid: original Star Wars, Back to the Future, and Indiana Jones.

Do you prefer to have something on the covers that links the books (like the yellow background and the comic-style guy on the “for Dummies” books to give only one example) or don’t the covers matter to you that much?
After studying design, I find that I enjoy a similar style, especially in font. I think that Harry Potter managed this well.

Phew, that's it for the submissions! I hope you enjoyed all the series and maybe even found a few new ones you'd like to try.

Also check out the next editions of the Bookworms Carnival (and maybe submit some reviews):
Edition 46 hosted by: Beth at Beth Fish Reads
Deadline for submission: January 23, 2010
Theme: Books about food or books that feature food (I’d accept culinary mysteries for example or novels centered around food)
To submit a post, email: bfish.reads AT gmail DOT com

Edition 47 hosted by: Jessica at the Bluestocking Society
Deadline for submission: February 12, 2010
Theme: Books to Movies
To submit a post, email: thebluestockingsociety at gmail dot com