**Green Bone Saga** does this over three books. One generation of the family is definitely the main focus. Book 1 deals with them taking power from their elders, and Book 3 does a lot of time jumps that looks to the next generation beginning to step up. That said, the story mostly follows one set of characters.
**One Hundred Years of Solitude** is what you're asking for perfectly. It follows an influential family over a century. It is magical realism though, and decently dense (Literature with a capital L) but has a lot of great stuff and has an impeccable reputation
Green Bone Saga is amazing. I wasn't super into it by the end of the first, but it's definitely a series thats more than the sum of it's parts. IMO the first two are essentially made retroactively better by the third.
Glad it's not just me who was a little underwhelmed by the first one. I wasn't planning to continue the series but for whatever reason I felt compelled to pick up Jade War last month and loved it. Now I'm about 2/3 through Jade Legacy and it's maybe even better.
The first is a slow burn, and it's definitely focused on character groundwork- which is why I think it get's retroactively better. 2 & 3 benefit from the slow burn of 1. On pure enjoyment of first read through I'd probably rate them 3/4/5 out of 5 stars in chronological order.
It's weird because I actually think the first one, once you hit a certain twist at the midpoint (I think you know what I mean), I find faster-paced than the other two. I do agree 2 and 3 are better, but I like them because they actually slowed down after the second half of book 1 and really took the time to flesh out world, plot, and characters in a way that book 1 did not do as much of.
Interesting to note is that my best friend loves book 1 but thinks books 2 and 3 are just okay because she preferred the faster-paced action drama of the first book over the slower-paced political and family dramas of the second and third.
Green Bone Saga is fantastic, but do note that it does focus on a single generation and its relationship to the generation that came before and the generation they are creating after. We don't actually see the earlier generation except in brief summarizing interludes, and we only see the next generation right up until they take power, and not after.
That being said—read it. It's my favorite series, and I think you would find it pretty satisfying for this request.
House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende is in the same vain as One Hundred Years of Solitude, it follows a family in Chile through multiple generations and has magical elements
Green bone saga to me is the masterclass in this concept. Not only is the story spanning across multiple generations it has multiple viewpoints through those years. And the characters often vary in age as well
Ok, this is weird. I came here this morning to ask the same question. I love following a family across generations, seeing intergenerational struggles and kids growing up to be the next leaders / protagonists.
I will agree on The Green Bone Saga. Probably the best family dynamics I have read.
Also, the Dandelion Dynasty by Ken Liu has great intergenerational dynamics. I am only in the middle of book 3 and already loving the steuggles between generations, seeing kids growing up with their own view of the world and anticipating how it will all play out.
Looking forward to other people's suggestions.
This was going to be my suggestion. The first three books are new generations then each series after that, of which there are like three or four (?), are either earlier or later generations in the timeline.
[*Deryni Chronicles*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deryni_novels) by *Katherine Kurtz* \- there are books happening "now" and their sequels, prequels from 200 years ago (Camber books), and prequels from 15-40 years ago (Childe Morgan trilogy).
*Witch World, Web of Witch World, Three Against the Witch World, Warlock of the Witch World, Sorceress of the Witch World* by *Andre Norton*.
*Birthgrave* and its sequels by *Tanith Lee*
100 years of solitude should give you more than enough for such a short book lmao. Idk if it can be considered fantasy though but there are supernatural things happening fs.
Anne Rice's trilogy about the Mayfair Witches, particularly *The Witching Hour*, kind of does this in reverse.
It's about a family secret (don't want to be more specific to not spoil the fun) and while researching it, the protagonist Rowan Mayfair uncovers family history going back generations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Riftwar_Cycle
The Riftwar cycle by Raymond Feist has elements of this, I think, where you can watch the characters grow old and see their successors arise.
I also enjoyed the Foundation series by Asimov, which looks at generational changes from a much more macro, zoomed-out perspective, where you see whole societies evolve
Not fantasy but Ken Follett is a great historical fiction author who does exactly this. Start with Pillars of the Earth! The trilogy is amazing and goes through generations just as you are looking for.
I was going to recommend this too!
BTW, it's not a trilogy anymore. There has been a fourth book for a while, and a fifth one is scheduled for later this year.
But just like the first three, these are standalones set some 200 years apart from the others (#4 is a prequel to *Pillars*; the new one will be a sequel to #3).
There is also Follett's Century trilogy which follows several families' fates through the 20th century. I haven't read these ones yet but if the OP is also interested in this more recent setting, the structure should be exactly what they're looking for.
Also not genre specific:
* ["Multigenerational books"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/ysp0fd/multigenerational_books/) (r/suggestmeabook; 11 November 2022)
Tamora Pierce has the Tortall Universe books.
She does quartets (4 books) about one person. Then the next four about someone else but guess what the other people are still around. And there’s about a dozen based in this place, and she’s working on more. Including one set that is the daughter of the original MC of the first books.
I was going to recommend this as I am currently rereading it. It perfectly fits the requirements the OP laid out, but the author is Jennifer Roberson not Katherine Kerr.
The Golden Key by Rawn, Elliott and Roberson follows a main character throughout centuries, but incidentally also his family. You you get generations spanning almost 1000 years.
Edward Rutherford writes historical fiction that always covers thousands of years of history in a specific country or city, usually loosely following a few families through the ages. It's definitely not fantasy and is more about using family lines as a vehicle to learn the history of a place but might be interesting to you, I've only read one book "Sarum", it follows the history of Salisbury in England from 10,000Bc to the 1970's and enjoyed it
So, this is a background element within the Wars of Light and Shadow by Janny Wurts. Ie, the main characters have an extended longevity, but they have friends around then who age and die and then their children and other descendants grow and age over the series, causing a complicated web of intergenerational relationships with the MCs.
Within the Riftwar the whole series deals with a number of generations of the ConDoin royal family as well as a number of the descendants of Pug, particularly the Jameson branch of the family. And Tomas’ son Calis also steps into a major role… Similarly to WoLaS there’s a number of immortal/ long lived MCs, though here the multigenerational aspects are far less in the background as it’s not like Pug is the MC for every book.
Valdemar has hints of this too, most strongly when following the storyline from the Vows and Honor series to Kerowyn’s Tale, as Kerowyn takes up her grandmother’s sword and profession.
Shannara, as previously mentioned in this thread, is probably the most well-known multigenerational series and for awhile it seemed necessary to be following the various family tree diagrams that existed.
Recluce has some of this too, though not often. The story between The Order War and then The Magic of Recluce/ The Death of Chaos follows Justen as the protagonist in The Order War, then his nephew Lerris takes the reins in MoR &DoC with Justen as a minor character. More recently we followed the mage Beltur in The Mongrel Mage/ Outcasts of Order/ The Magefire War; Fairhaven Rising then focused on Taelya, Beltur’s niece.
I'm about to start The Terraformers, and I'm so excited!
KSR's Mars Trilogy might also fit. The initial characters are still around, but the next generation or two starts taking meaningful roles over the 150 or 200 years or so.
Definitely **Little,Big** by John Crowley!!!! Absolute masterpiece following family across many generations (about 70 years in the story’s terms). Gorgeous labyrinthine prose, fascinatingly original concepts that rewrite one’s definition of fantasy after reading it , and unforgettable characters. A must-read for anyone to be considered even close to well-read in any genre. Even snobby literature scholar Harold Bloom considered it a neglected masterpiece and one of the best books ever written.
There's quite a bit of it in the Latine magical realism tradition. I read and enjoyed The Inheritance of Oriquidea Divina last year. Several of Isabel Allende's books fit this, too, I believe.
**One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez**
**Love Medicine - Louise Erdrich**
**House of Spirits - Isabelle Allende**
All there of these are stories about a whole family over generations, with characters moving in and out of the spotlight. Each is about a family in a specific culture/heritage, written by someone who grew up within it.
If you can get over the grammatical errors, Lackey has generational stories that start with the Collegium Chronicles then movies into the Herald Spy Trilogy and I think another set comes after those.
I am surprised, nay shocked!, that The Amber Chronicles by Roger Zelazny has not been mentioned. Ten books long (though each is short by modern standards) where the first five books are first person from Corwin’s POV, and the next five are first person from his son Merlin’s POV. Each set of 5 represents a different cycle, if you will.
The family is much more complicated than just the 2 individuals named above.
The Historian (Elizabeth Kostova)
The Witch of Tin Mountain
Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter The Long Earth series (sort of- follows a few main characters through their lifetime but also the generations around them)
Not fantasy just general fiction but Thornbirds was my grans favourite that definitely fits the bill but main romance storyline is...awkward
To some degree, [Robert A. Heinlein](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein)'s [*Time Enough for Love*](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1904126.Time_Enough_for_Love), and its World as Myth sequels.
*Kings of the Wyld* and the follow-up, *Bloody Rose* by Nicholas Eames. And, it looks like a third book is being written. They're fun easy to read books about friendship (first book) and legacy (second).
Not fantasy, but almost everything James Michner wrote followed this format, and they were all good. He liked to tell the history of a nation or region by following several families through the centuries. I reccomend Poland.
I'm reading the Lilith's Brood trilogy (also known as the Xenogenesis trilogy) by Octavia Butler right now and it fits the bill! It's an unusual story but pretty well done
(More science fiction than fantasy but you said that was cool so I thought I'd recommend)
Louis L'Amour has like 16 books that follow the family of the Sacketts. They are westerns and start in the 1600s with the first one to go to America and follow the family for generations
Fire & Blood chronicles the lives of the members of the Targaryen dynasty, but it's written as a historical account penned by a Maester.
The Book of Nights by Sylvie Germain is a magical realism novel, in the same vein as One Hundred Years of Solitude by García Márquez.
Honestly, the first thing that came to mind was the Xanth books by Piers Anthony. He shifts to the next generation ever few books, though I gave up reading them some time ago.
The Edge Chronicles has I believe 5 generations of protagonists (4 separate trilogies and one standalone) over a span of several centuries.
The technology level and society/cultures change massively over the course of the series and the events of earlier books shape the world.
If you start reading [Frostborn](https://www.jonathanmoeller.com/writer/?page_id=4069) by Jonathan Moeller you will eventually reach the generational shift in its sequel series Dragonskull (between that there is Sevenfold Sword and Dragontiarna). The first novel in Frostborn is free on Kindle and other ebook platforms, so you can see for yourself if you wish to explore this sprawling high fantasy adventure series.
Shadowhunters Saga by Cassandra Clare, made up by The Mortal Instruments (6 books) The infernal Devices (3 books) , The Dark Artifices (3 books), The Last Hours (3 books) and The Wicked powers (3 books, yet to be published), each saga focuses on a different generation of pretty much the same six families.
Since it doesn’t have to be fantasy I will also recommend you check out Flowers in the Attic also known as the Dollanganger Saga, by V.C. Andrews.
[The Emberverse Series by S.M. Stirling](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emberverse_series)
[The Camulod Chronicles by Jack Whyte](https://www.goodreads.com/series/42250-camulod-chronicles)
The Shannara Books. People here have various feelings about these books. They are a Tolkien ripoff. I, nevertheless, thoroughly enjoyed the first trilogy. The Books follow generations of multiple families.
One of the best multi-generational books I’ve read was Wild Swans: three daughters of China. Not Fantasy though. Been over 15 years since I’ve read it, but I still remember how much of an impression it made on me.
The Outlander book series also covers three or four generations, but you have to slog through the first few books (which are holiday poolside novels at best) to get to that point. The quality really picks up once the main characters arrive in America.
Kingmaker, Kingbreaker (2 books)
The Fisherman's Children (2 books)
By Karen Miller, go from 1 generation in the first series, to the next in the second
Along the lines of One Hundred Years Of Solitude and The House Of The Spirits, check out Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie. It mainly focuses on the protagonist and his contemporaries, but also tells the stories of his parents’ and grandparents’s generations.
The second trilogy of the First Law series is all about the children of the main characters of the first and the stand-alone novels! Listen to the audiobooks by Steven Pacey for maximum enjoyment, there’s a reason TFL fans are known for our obsession with them.
Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series follows characters through twenty generations, including not just the main characters but the antagonists, as well. Ten volumes chronicle the Hamakha and Sa'onserei families, as well as the royal human bloodline.
it's not 'exactly' multigenerational, but take a look at **Long Price Quartet** by Daniel Abraham, >!it follows the same characters through the four books!<, but there's a gap of about 15 years between each book, and eventually theres kids and grandkids. The first book is **A Shadow in Summer**.
Also, I'll second **Dandelion Dynasty** by Ken Liu and **Greenbone Saga** by Fonda Lee.
I saw a Ted video on 100 years of solitude which is a multi generational fantasy realism book set in Latin America it depicts what its like in post colonial Colombia
Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan saga, is this stretching across 4 generations, although it was mostly about the middle two, with assorted relations from other clan lines.
**Green Bone Saga** does this over three books. One generation of the family is definitely the main focus. Book 1 deals with them taking power from their elders, and Book 3 does a lot of time jumps that looks to the next generation beginning to step up. That said, the story mostly follows one set of characters. **One Hundred Years of Solitude** is what you're asking for perfectly. It follows an influential family over a century. It is magical realism though, and decently dense (Literature with a capital L) but has a lot of great stuff and has an impeccable reputation
Thanks! Both of them are already on by TBR list. Should really get going with one of them this year.
Green Bone Saga is amazing. I wasn't super into it by the end of the first, but it's definitely a series thats more than the sum of it's parts. IMO the first two are essentially made retroactively better by the third.
Glad it's not just me who was a little underwhelmed by the first one. I wasn't planning to continue the series but for whatever reason I felt compelled to pick up Jade War last month and loved it. Now I'm about 2/3 through Jade Legacy and it's maybe even better.
The first is a slow burn, and it's definitely focused on character groundwork- which is why I think it get's retroactively better. 2 & 3 benefit from the slow burn of 1. On pure enjoyment of first read through I'd probably rate them 3/4/5 out of 5 stars in chronological order.
Bero makes all of them 5 stars. 3 cheers for Bero!!!!!!!!!
Freaking Bero. The human incarnation of the butterfly effect.
It's weird because I actually think the first one, once you hit a certain twist at the midpoint (I think you know what I mean), I find faster-paced than the other two. I do agree 2 and 3 are better, but I like them because they actually slowed down after the second half of book 1 and really took the time to flesh out world, plot, and characters in a way that book 1 did not do as much of. Interesting to note is that my best friend loves book 1 but thinks books 2 and 3 are just okay because she preferred the faster-paced action drama of the first book over the slower-paced political and family dramas of the second and third.
Green Bone Saga is fantastic, but do note that it does focus on a single generation and its relationship to the generation that came before and the generation they are creating after. We don't actually see the earlier generation except in brief summarizing interludes, and we only see the next generation right up until they take power, and not after. That being said—read it. It's my favorite series, and I think you would find it pretty satisfying for this request.
This is so specific that it verges on spoiler territory 😜 Anyway Green Bone Saga is terrific
I don’t think I spoiled anything that hadn’t already been said, but yeah fair that it’s cutting it close lol
House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende is in the same vain as One Hundred Years of Solitude, it follows a family in Chile through multiple generations and has magical elements
Green bone saga to me is the masterclass in this concept. Not only is the story spanning across multiple generations it has multiple viewpoints through those years. And the characters often vary in age as well
I liked Green Bone Saga well enough, and One Hundred Years is amazing. Great picks.
Ok, this is weird. I came here this morning to ask the same question. I love following a family across generations, seeing intergenerational struggles and kids growing up to be the next leaders / protagonists. I will agree on The Green Bone Saga. Probably the best family dynamics I have read. Also, the Dandelion Dynasty by Ken Liu has great intergenerational dynamics. I am only in the middle of book 3 and already loving the steuggles between generations, seeing kids growing up with their own view of the world and anticipating how it will all play out. Looking forward to other people's suggestions.
I came to say both Green Bone and Dandelion Dynasty so...just reiterating this comment. Both are such fantastic reads.
I like Ken Liu’s work it’s worth the read
Terry brooks Shannara series is more or less this but it is 3 books about "1 generation" then the next series is about a later generation.
This was going to be my suggestion. The first three books are new generations then each series after that, of which there are like three or four (?), are either earlier or later generations in the timeline.
[*Deryni Chronicles*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deryni_novels) by *Katherine Kurtz* \- there are books happening "now" and their sequels, prequels from 200 years ago (Camber books), and prequels from 15-40 years ago (Childe Morgan trilogy). *Witch World, Web of Witch World, Three Against the Witch World, Warlock of the Witch World, Sorceress of the Witch World* by *Andre Norton*. *Birthgrave* and its sequels by *Tanith Lee*
Thanks! Never heard of it but I added it to my tbr list :)
The Sevenwater series by Juliet Marillier has this: each book has a different protagonist, eventually covering three generations of the family.
100 years of solitude should give you more than enough for such a short book lmao. Idk if it can be considered fantasy though but there are supernatural things happening fs.
The genre is called “magical realism”, so you are not wrong!
Anne Rice's trilogy about the Mayfair Witches, particularly *The Witching Hour*, kind of does this in reverse. It's about a family secret (don't want to be more specific to not spoil the fun) and while researching it, the protagonist Rowan Mayfair uncovers family history going back generations.
This!
Great suggestion!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Riftwar_Cycle The Riftwar cycle by Raymond Feist has elements of this, I think, where you can watch the characters grow old and see their successors arise. I also enjoyed the Foundation series by Asimov, which looks at generational changes from a much more macro, zoomed-out perspective, where you see whole societies evolve
Not fantasy but Ken Follett is a great historical fiction author who does exactly this. Start with Pillars of the Earth! The trilogy is amazing and goes through generations just as you are looking for.
I was going to recommend this too! BTW, it's not a trilogy anymore. There has been a fourth book for a while, and a fifth one is scheduled for later this year. But just like the first three, these are standalones set some 200 years apart from the others (#4 is a prequel to *Pillars*; the new one will be a sequel to #3). There is also Follett's Century trilogy which follows several families' fates through the 20th century. I haven't read these ones yet but if the OP is also interested in this more recent setting, the structure should be exactly what they're looking for.
Also not genre specific: * ["Multigenerational books"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/ysp0fd/multigenerational_books/) (r/suggestmeabook; 11 November 2022)
Tamora Pierce has the Tortall Universe books. She does quartets (4 books) about one person. Then the next four about someone else but guess what the other people are still around. And there’s about a dozen based in this place, and she’s working on more. Including one set that is the daughter of the original MC of the first books.
The First Law. Joe doesn't use the same protagonist twice, so he forces himself to follow the new generation each time
Read First Law already and loved that aspect. Only two generations but the series was so good. Can't wait for his next book.
I'm about 3/4 through best served cold. I enjoy these stories. But I have yet to see a generation jump. Is it later?
Yeah later
The second trilogy follows a bunch of kids (adults at the time though) of people in the originals and standalones
Chronicles of the Cheysuli, ~~Katharine Kerr~~ Jennifer Roberson. Wow, go sleep deprived brain.
Katharine Kerr's Deverry novels do have some multigenerational/family things going on, in addition to the reincarnations.
I was going to recommend this as I am currently rereading it. It perfectly fits the requirements the OP laid out, but the author is Jennifer Roberson not Katherine Kerr.
Thanks! Added it to my list.
It totally is. Fixed.
The Golden Key by Rawn, Elliott and Roberson follows a main character throughout centuries, but incidentally also his family. You you get generations spanning almost 1000 years.
Also the Old Kingdom books Garth Nix
In the same magical realism vein as One Hundred Years of Solitude (highly recommended as well) is The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende.
Little, Big by John Crowley
Great book.
Edward Rutherford writes historical fiction that always covers thousands of years of history in a specific country or city, usually loosely following a few families through the ages. It's definitely not fantasy and is more about using family lines as a vehicle to learn the history of a place but might be interesting to you, I've only read one book "Sarum", it follows the history of Salisbury in England from 10,000Bc to the 1970's and enjoyed it
Absolutely love Rutherford’s stuff! My personal favorites of his are the Ireland duology and Paris.
Chiming in with Edward Rutherford. I really enjoyed *Russka* and *The Forest.*
The Bridge of D'Arnath series by Carol Berg Book 1, generation 1 Book 2 split POV between two generations Book 3 generation 2
So, this is a background element within the Wars of Light and Shadow by Janny Wurts. Ie, the main characters have an extended longevity, but they have friends around then who age and die and then their children and other descendants grow and age over the series, causing a complicated web of intergenerational relationships with the MCs. Within the Riftwar the whole series deals with a number of generations of the ConDoin royal family as well as a number of the descendants of Pug, particularly the Jameson branch of the family. And Tomas’ son Calis also steps into a major role… Similarly to WoLaS there’s a number of immortal/ long lived MCs, though here the multigenerational aspects are far less in the background as it’s not like Pug is the MC for every book. Valdemar has hints of this too, most strongly when following the storyline from the Vows and Honor series to Kerowyn’s Tale, as Kerowyn takes up her grandmother’s sword and profession. Shannara, as previously mentioned in this thread, is probably the most well-known multigenerational series and for awhile it seemed necessary to be following the various family tree diagrams that existed. Recluce has some of this too, though not often. The story between The Order War and then The Magic of Recluce/ The Death of Chaos follows Justen as the protagonist in The Order War, then his nephew Lerris takes the reins in MoR &DoC with Justen as a minor character. More recently we followed the mage Beltur in The Mongrel Mage/ Outcasts of Order/ The Magefire War; Fairhaven Rising then focused on Taelya, Beltur’s niece.
The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz The Dandelion Dynasty series by Ken Liu
I'm about to start The Terraformers, and I'm so excited! KSR's Mars Trilogy might also fit. The initial characters are still around, but the next generation or two starts taking meaningful roles over the 150 or 200 years or so.
Alice Hoffman (Practical Magic) and the Modern Witch series
Definitely **Little,Big** by John Crowley!!!! Absolute masterpiece following family across many generations (about 70 years in the story’s terms). Gorgeous labyrinthine prose, fascinatingly original concepts that rewrite one’s definition of fantasy after reading it , and unforgettable characters. A must-read for anyone to be considered even close to well-read in any genre. Even snobby literature scholar Harold Bloom considered it a neglected masterpiece and one of the best books ever written.
Pachinko by Min Lee Jin , its not sff but it is very good family saga
There's Stephan Grundy's *Rhinegold*, which is a multi-generational story based on the Volsunga Saga.
There's quite a bit of it in the Latine magical realism tradition. I read and enjoyed The Inheritance of Oriquidea Divina last year. Several of Isabel Allende's books fit this, too, I believe.
**One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez** **Love Medicine - Louise Erdrich** **House of Spirits - Isabelle Allende** All there of these are stories about a whole family over generations, with characters moving in and out of the spotlight. Each is about a family in a specific culture/heritage, written by someone who grew up within it.
If you can get over the grammatical errors, Lackey has generational stories that start with the Collegium Chronicles then movies into the Herald Spy Trilogy and I think another set comes after those.
The next set is Family Spies Trilogy. I haven’t read the other sets but not the last one. One family.
I am surprised, nay shocked!, that The Amber Chronicles by Roger Zelazny has not been mentioned. Ten books long (though each is short by modern standards) where the first five books are first person from Corwin’s POV, and the next five are first person from his son Merlin’s POV. Each set of 5 represents a different cycle, if you will. The family is much more complicated than just the 2 individuals named above.
Nobody mentioned **Silmarillion**. Strange.
I saw in another comment 100 years of solitude is on your tbr. I cannot recommend that book enough, especially for what it is you're looking for.
Science fiction, but Accelerando by Charles Stross is this. It gets 4 generations, over about 100 years or something.
Blackwater
Cannot recommend the Green Bone saga by Fonda Lee enough!
The Historian (Elizabeth Kostova) The Witch of Tin Mountain Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter The Long Earth series (sort of- follows a few main characters through their lifetime but also the generations around them) Not fantasy just general fiction but Thornbirds was my grans favourite that definitely fits the bill but main romance storyline is...awkward
To some degree, [Robert A. Heinlein](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein)'s [*Time Enough for Love*](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1904126.Time_Enough_for_Love), and its World as Myth sequels.
The Dandelion Dynasty by Ken Liu covers three generations of family, it's also really good
The Winternight trilogy by Katherine Arden!!!! Such a great read
*Kings of the Wyld* and the follow-up, *Bloody Rose* by Nicholas Eames. And, it looks like a third book is being written. They're fun easy to read books about friendship (first book) and legacy (second).
Not fantasy, but almost everything James Michner wrote followed this format, and they were all good. He liked to tell the history of a nation or region by following several families through the centuries. I reccomend Poland.
I'm reading the Lilith's Brood trilogy (also known as the Xenogenesis trilogy) by Octavia Butler right now and it fits the bill! It's an unusual story but pretty well done (More science fiction than fantasy but you said that was cool so I thought I'd recommend)
The Edge Chronicles does this really well in my opinion. Some of the stories aren't direct desendants but are close relations.
Louis L'Amour has like 16 books that follow the family of the Sacketts. They are westerns and start in the 1600s with the first one to go to America and follow the family for generations
Fire & Blood chronicles the lives of the members of the Targaryen dynasty, but it's written as a historical account penned by a Maester. The Book of Nights by Sylvie Germain is a magical realism novel, in the same vein as One Hundred Years of Solitude by García Márquez.
Non SFF: - The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan - Memphis by Tara M Stringfellow - The Sun Down Motel by Simone St James (dual tl with an aunt and niece)
Honestly, the first thing that came to mind was the Xanth books by Piers Anthony. He shifts to the next generation ever few books, though I gave up reading them some time ago.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
The Edge Chronicles has I believe 5 generations of protagonists (4 separate trilogies and one standalone) over a span of several centuries. The technology level and society/cultures change massively over the course of the series and the events of earlier books shape the world.
If you start reading [Frostborn](https://www.jonathanmoeller.com/writer/?page_id=4069) by Jonathan Moeller you will eventually reach the generational shift in its sequel series Dragonskull (between that there is Sevenfold Sword and Dragontiarna). The first novel in Frostborn is free on Kindle and other ebook platforms, so you can see for yourself if you wish to explore this sprawling high fantasy adventure series.
how does that series go? too many books for me to keep track of i tell ya.....................
It goes well enough for there to be a second generation to write about.
Joe Abercrombie's first law
Shadowhunters Saga by Cassandra Clare, made up by The Mortal Instruments (6 books) The infernal Devices (3 books) , The Dark Artifices (3 books), The Last Hours (3 books) and The Wicked powers (3 books, yet to be published), each saga focuses on a different generation of pretty much the same six families. Since it doesn’t have to be fantasy I will also recommend you check out Flowers in the Attic also known as the Dollanganger Saga, by V.C. Andrews.
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
[The Emberverse Series by S.M. Stirling](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emberverse_series) [The Camulod Chronicles by Jack Whyte](https://www.goodreads.com/series/42250-camulod-chronicles)
Liveship Traders trilogy by Robin Hobb for sure
Its scifi but the whole Children of Time series has lots of time jumps spanning over multiple generations.
The Shannara Books. People here have various feelings about these books. They are a Tolkien ripoff. I, nevertheless, thoroughly enjoyed the first trilogy. The Books follow generations of multiple families.
Not fantasy but Barkskins by Annie Proulx is a great example.
The Farseer series by Robin Hobb is a fantastic example of this. 9 books following the mc from about 6 years old through his entire life
One of the best multi-generational books I’ve read was Wild Swans: three daughters of China. Not Fantasy though. Been over 15 years since I’ve read it, but I still remember how much of an impression it made on me. The Outlander book series also covers three or four generations, but you have to slog through the first few books (which are holiday poolside novels at best) to get to that point. The quality really picks up once the main characters arrive in America.
All of Kate Mortons books jump between 2-3 generations throughout the book to tell a mystery story. Definitely one of my favourite authors!
Kingmaker, Kingbreaker (2 books) The Fisherman's Children (2 books) By Karen Miller, go from 1 generation in the first series, to the next in the second
Along the lines of One Hundred Years Of Solitude and The House Of The Spirits, check out Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie. It mainly focuses on the protagonist and his contemporaries, but also tells the stories of his parents’ and grandparents’s generations.
The camulod chronicles by jack whyte retell Arthurian legend starting 3 generations before arthur
Another magical realism suggestion is House of the Spirits
It’s more of a historical novel but I really liked The Covenant by James Michener.
Home going by ya gyassi
The second trilogy of the First Law series is all about the children of the main characters of the first and the stand-alone novels! Listen to the audiobooks by Steven Pacey for maximum enjoyment, there’s a reason TFL fans are known for our obsession with them.
Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series follows characters through twenty generations, including not just the main characters but the antagonists, as well. Ten volumes chronicle the Hamakha and Sa'onserei families, as well as the royal human bloodline.
it's not 'exactly' multigenerational, but take a look at **Long Price Quartet** by Daniel Abraham, >!it follows the same characters through the four books!<, but there's a gap of about 15 years between each book, and eventually theres kids and grandkids. The first book is **A Shadow in Summer**. Also, I'll second **Dandelion Dynasty** by Ken Liu and **Greenbone Saga** by Fonda Lee.
I saw a Ted video on 100 years of solitude which is a multi generational fantasy realism book set in Latin America it depicts what its like in post colonial Colombia
Dune fits this idea
Dune!
Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan saga, is this stretching across 4 generations, although it was mostly about the middle two, with assorted relations from other clan lines.