Types of Series

Jo Walton divides series up into 4 types:

• A single novel that happens to be published in multiple volumes, e.g. Lord of the Rings
• The volumes have individual arcs, but there is also an overarching story which relies on the books being read in order without gaps. This is what I most often think of when I hear the word series.
• The volumes are largely independant—and can be read out of order—but have common threads, e.g. the Vorkosigan Saga. I like the term “saga” to refer to these.
• The volumes are entirely independant, sharing only setting and theme elements, e.g. Guy Gavriel Kay’s historical-ish fiction. I often find this kind of series called “world” or “universe”.

It’s worth noting that series of a looser type may contain subsets that form a stricter type of series. For example Bujold’s type 4 World of the Five Gods contains both the Penric books, which are a type 2 series, and the Chalion books, which are a (small) type 3 saga.

I’ve found myself using this classification a bunch, and figured it was easier to reproduce the essentials here than to keep linking to a blog post with the idea buried in the middle of it.

Changelog

• 2025-06-02: First published