1. Hunger Games
I had heard about this series several years ago, while it was still in some obscurity, but it was not until freshman year that I was able to obtain a copy. The book blew me away. I stayed up late into the night itching to see what would happen to Katniss next. Teachers would yell at me to put it away so I could pay attention. The fact that I was hooked to these characters, their situation, and to the general enviroment of Panem, gives this book a very high score.
2. Percy Jackson/Kane Chronicles
Again, only a series I started reading recently, but another one that's had me hooked. I really enjoy the writing style, the quirkiness of the characters, and the tying in of Greek and Egyptian mythology. However, the series had a huge flaw, in that it becomes too predictable after a while: end of the world in X days, assemble some demigods, meet some divine creatures and gods, get in trouble (usually because the divine creature turns out to be serving the villain) and barely escape with their lives, conveniently preventing the apocalypse in the process.
3. Animorphs
This series is a little different from the others, in that I've been reading this series since I was in third grade. It consists of 54 short novels, instead of 6-8 dictionary-sized books. The benefit of this series that that once you read the first 13 books, you could read the rest in pretty much any order until you reach book 45, which is where you want to pick up reading them chronologically. For years, I would beg and beg to go to the library so that I could pick up another book and continue the adventure. I remember that it was intense, but fairly light-hearted until the last few books, when everything took a VERY dark turn. It became a little scary at points, and I remember even crying as I read the last book. This series has and continues to hold my imagination.
So you've heard my input on several book series. Of course, this is not my whole list, so here's others that I really like but felt to lazy to review:
The Inheritance Cycle
Twilight
Anything written by Tamora Pierce
Maximum Ride
The Green Rider books
And now for the big one, that you're probably expecting, and for the exact reasons that you're probably expecting, but here it is, my all-time favorite:
Listen: this was a series I truly grew up with. Animorphs was completed before I started reading it, but Harry Potter was something I counted down to for each book AND movie release. Unlike Percy Jackson, I never knew where Rowling was going with her books. Also, though both series involved their protagonist growing up with each book, PJ had the severe disadvantage of being completed before I read it, so I didn't grow up with Percy the way I grew up with Harry. The Hunger Games had the flaw of losing its suspense - it's biggest strength - once I finished the books. Once I put down Mockingjay, that was it. I was only a little interested in re-reading the series. With HP, I could not stop reading, even after the pages reached its end. I read it over and over again and never got tired of it. I always kept a copy of the book within reach. The persistence and the lessons of this series are what give it a special place in my heart, and that labels it as my all-time favorite series.
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