4 series I want to finish before the end of 2024
I used to be a series binge reader, but I’m a changed woman as an adult. With most series’ I get serious burnout reading a series straight through and the only way for me to make it through a series, even a series that I’m loving, is to allocate a book in a series to each monthly TBR.
I live by my monthly TBR lists, even if they’re wildly out of control and completely unachievable. I need to have a TBR list, even if I ignore it or barely read anything on it.
Some series from this year’s plan have gone awry either because I got annoyed, got overwhelmed, DNFed them, or even just took a pause on the series because I took on too much (coughrealmoftheelderlingscough), but these are the ones that have stood the test of 2024 so far.
The Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones
At 13 books the ‘Charley Davidson’ series is pretty long, even for a paranormal romance/urban fantasy series (I still can’t quite decide where this series falls as it’s kind of both, but also kind of not), but it is a finished series.
Charley is an independent private investigator and also the Grim Reaper so she can speak to ghosts which is super helpful when helping her Uncle Bob, a detective, solve murder cases. Her job is to guide lost spirits into the light, when she experiences their lives in a flash as they cross over. One of the spirits that she can’t shake is a mysterious, dark entity that has followed her for her whole life. What does he want with her? And why can she resist him?
I’m 9 books and the story has changed so much since the beginning and I think that maybe it’s gone on a little too long as this point, but I’m still super invested in Charley, Reyes, Cookie and Uncle Bob. While the story has run its course, the characters will have a piece of my heart for a long while, and I will see it through to the end.
The Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs
Another paranormal romance series, but one that’s unfinished, and currently at 14 books with another to follow in 2026. I love this series and I’ve read 12 books since February.
Mercy is a mechanic in the Tri-Cities and she can also shapeshift into a coyote. Her next door neighbour is the Alpha of the local werewolf pack, her former boss is fae, and her closest friend is a vampire. It’s not surprising that that Mercy’s unusual connections are going to get her in a world of trouble…
I adore this series and these characters and even though it’s very long and still going, I’m not fed up with it a lot and it never once feels like the ideas are running dry. The risks to Mercy are always high and from different places and the politics of the world gets deeper and more complex with every instalment. This is a series that I’m glad isn’t ending yet, in fact I’m sad that I’ll have to wait 18 months after finishing book 14 for the next instalment.
Shifters by Rachel Vincent
This is an older paranormal romance series and it hasn’t aged very well, but it’s still a lot of fun and a whole lot shorter than most series of the time at only 6 books. I’m halfway through and I’m enjoying it, even if it makes me cringe at times.
Faythe is a Werecat and she has escaped from her Pride to attend university, but when a tabby goes missing she’s pulled back home while her family hunts down the perpetrator and tries to find the missing tabby alive.
There are some serious issues with sexism, misogyny and the really damaging reinforcement of harmful gender stereotypes, and even though it’s structured as part of the world and the way that the Were society works, at three books in there’s no real change or movement in that. Faythe is constantly undermined, underestimated, reduced to her reproductive potential and generally treated like a child (admittedly she does act like one fairly often, but usually as a reaction to how she’s being treated).
This isn’t necessarily a series I would recommend, but it’s fun and I’m enjoying it.
The Expanse by James SA Corey
This epic sci-fi series has easily become a favourite and while each book takes a little warm up time, I adore these characters and this world. I’m currently reading book seven of nine and I never know where it’s going next.
‘Leviathan Wakes’ starts in a world where humans have colonised Mars, the Moon and the Asteroid Belt and stars James Holden who stumble across an abandoned ship and the universe-changing secret it holds. A secret that could start a war. Detective Miller is searching for a missing girl and when he crosses paths with Holden, it turns out that the two stories may converge.
There’s a lot of POVs and they change in each book with only Holden and the crew carrying from book to book, though familiar faces do pop up regularly and in future POVs. The reach and scope of this series is extraordinary the journey between each book is monumental, let alone the journey from book one to book nine. I’ll be sad to finish this series, but it’ll be such an accomplishment.
What series are you working on finishing before the end of the year?
Written by Sophie
