Looking for a book series

I'm looking for a book series to read and wanted to know if you guys had any ideas. The only requirement I have is the series has to be complete because I want to read the series backwards. Someone said I should read the Harry Potter series, Which would have been perfect except I've seen all the movies so it would defeat the purpose but something along the lines of those books.
Any Ideas

Ender's Game Series, not exactly complete per say but well along in age. In any case I HIGHLY recommend reading the series.

You want to read the series backwards?????

I loved Ender's Game, awesome, incredible book which influenced me a great deal. Hated each and every one of the sequels. The concepts and implications behind Speaker for the Dead in particular were thought provoking in true Orson Scott Card fashion, but the execution, and I'm thinking of several scenes involving the pig-like natives, left me feeling ... dirty.

If you want a book series that you can read backwards and still preserve the author's intent, I'd go with -

Ursula K. Leguin's Earthsea Trilogy: A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore. This is fantasy par excellence.

Anne McCaffery's Harper Hall Trilogy: Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, Dragondrums. Less fantasy, more sci-fi, but meaningful and memorable.

Other suggestions might include -

Harry Harrison: the Deathworld books
Robert Asprin: the Myth or Phule series
David Drake: Hammer's Slammers
Edgar Rice Burroughs: Caprona/Caspak or Tarzan books

May I ask the purpose of this exercise?

Did you also hate the Shadow series?

I almost like Ender's Shadow as much as Ender's Game personally...

I didn't really care too much for the speaker for the dead and later books but the shadow series felt like good old ender's game to me...

Honestly, I was so turned off by Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, et al that when Ender's Shadow started I gave the whole thing a pass. Card is an engaging writer, but his themes and subject matter are strongly influenced by and heavily promote his Mormon faith, for perhaps the most dramatic example of this, check out his "Alvin Maker" series, starting with Seventh Son.

With the Ender books, it was primarily the sexual content of Speaker for the Dead that turned me off. Xenocide I found far too experimental in technique and more desirous of promoting Card's religious and social agendas than telling a story.

Oh then you're missing out!

I totally agree with you on the later Ender books (they just seemed like totally other stories) to me. Though I did enjoy those.

But the shadow series is just so closely related to the events that happened that it just seems like the continuation of Ender's Game. I Highly recommend that you at least give Ender's Shadow a go.

I'm honestly not much of a reader, but I think my favorite series was the Belgariad by David Eddings. It's classic fantasy stuff, but I really enjoyed it.

mindspike wrote:
May I ask the purpose of this exercise?

I just thought it would be kind of fun to do. I like to do things diffrently from time to time

Rickster wrote:I just thought it would be kind of fun to do. I like to do things differently from time to time

Burn the heretic!!!

For some top notch series that should be read in order:
Weis & Hickman - Deathgate Cycle, Darksword Trilogy
Rick Riordan - Percy Jackson series
Garth Nix - Keys to the Kingdom

For good fiction that need not be read in any order at all:
"Don Pendleton" - Executioner, Mack Bolan, Stony Man
"Alex Archer" - Rogue Angel

Both of these series are ghost written by various authors, and quality varies widely. Some books are really-really good, others are just mediocre, and every now and then you get one that just ... stinks.

Backwards? Backwards?! Talk about rebelling against the norm...

So, now, just to clarify, are you reading the last book first, and then proceeding to the penultimate one, followed along in the same way until you reach the first book, to be read last?

Or...

Are you going to start on the last page of the last book, and read the book from back to front; moving on to the penultimate book next, ect.?

That would be really crazy.

Desert Kris wrote:Backwards? Backwards?! Talk about rebelling against the norm...

So, now, just to clarify, are you reading the last book first, and then proceeding to the penultimate one, followed along in the same way until you reach the first book, to be read last?

Or...

Are you going to start on the last page of the last book, and read the book from back to front; moving on to the penultimate book next, ect.?

That would be really crazy.

I want to read the last book first and go down the chain from there. Mindspike mentioned the Percy Jackson series which would have been perfect except for the fact I saw the movie so it wouldn't be the virgin experience that I'm looking for. As of right now I'm leaning towards the Cirque de Freak series.

This idea of "Reading backwards" is a bit odd. But to each man his own.

What about the Dark Tower Series? Haven't read them, but I'm sure it would be interesting, and a fantastic read.

Also, you could read the "Lost Years of Merlin" series, by T.A. Barrron. It expands the Arthurian universe in a fantastically engrossing way. I loved the new dimension, and the character when I was young.

If you're looking for Arthurian stories, I really enjoyed Mary Stewart's books: The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, and The Last Enchantment. And how could I have forgotten the Tripod stories from John Christopher (The White Mountains, The City of Gold and Lead, The Pool of FIre). I read those during their publication in Boy's Life - they blew me away!

If you can find them... (good luck), several of Douglas Hill's series made lasting impressions on me, including the Colsec and Last Legionary stories.

The discussion about reading backwards reminds me of a joke that was in one of the "Tuesday Next" novels by Jasper Fforde. Something about if you want a Thomas Hardy novel (Tess of the D'urbervilles, Far From the Madding Crowd, Mayor of Casterbridge, etc ... ) to have a happy ending, you start at the end of the book and read backwards.

Tried that with country music...
My wife came home...
My truck got fixed...
My dog lived....