I think putting LOTR in honourable mentions is very smart. You will never be happy where you put it in a top 10 but it goes without saying that it will always be regarded as the father of all fantasy, you cannot compare it with any other series.
Thanks for the recommendations. One critique of your presenting is that you say the titles so fast that it comes out as a mumble and even after hearing you say it multiple times, I still don’t understand a word in some of the titles.
Malazan book of the fallen...top 3 for me. Expansive world building , amazing nuanced protagonists and antagonists. So many amazing characters. Maybe time for another reread.
@@krriztinI'm an avid fantasy reader but I have found it so hard to to start. I have started the first book 4 times and finished once. I think I got maybe 25% of the way into book 2 before getting distracted with something else. I really want to read it and it seems most people who do read it love it but I have found it so hard to get into
@@andrew56964 I finished the first book without problems, but only to realize I had no interest in discovering how the story or its characters were going to end and so didn't bought any other book of the series.
@@andrew56964 I had the exact same problem because I had no idea what was going on, then I read some article where they said that you will really start to understand whats going on only after the 4th book, so I kept reading, trying not think about the large complicated plot too much, got to the 4th book and everything suddenly clicked and now it has become prob my favourite fantasy series of all time. And its not that the first 3 books are unenjoyable, I think getting past the 1st is most important, then it is a smooth ride.
You don't need to watch this video. Here you go: 10 - The faithful and the fallen - John Gwynne 9- Farseer - Robin Hobb 8- Mistborn - Brandon Sanderson 7- The Stormlight Archive - Brandon Sanderson 6- The Liveship Traders - Robin Hobb 5- Age of madness - Joe Abercrombie 4- The Green Bone Saga - Fonda Lee 3- The Dark Tower - Stephen King 2- The Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan 1- The Dandelion Dynasty - Ken Liu
I was afraid to see Sanderson listed here… not surprised… 😢 I enjoyed Mistborn but the Stormlight Archive was too much. I finished A Way of King on p 952 and I still had no idea where we were going with the story. Too many flashbacks. Characters that appear and disappear. I enjoyed Kaladin’s and Dalinar’s arcs, but the constant interruption to their storylines, and the lack of pacing toward resolution turned me off to the series.
@@asrgelpi_author I doubt a random stranger on the internet encouraging you to pick it back up would be that convincing, but the avalanche of surprises at the end makes it so worth it, in my opinion. I will say, I didn't actually take issue with the pacing or flashbacks. I feel like I enjoyed every stage of this book, and due to the length, I expected and really needed the ebb and flow from the multiple storylines. I can't remember what part pg 952 is at and don't want to spoil anything. But even after the final climactic action scenes of the book, the ending chapters as the characters put pieces together blew my mind. I have generally heard Mistborn is more enjoyable to a wider range of readers, perhaps because of the length, but I haven't picked it up yet, so I can't really compare them. Maybe listening to the audiobook for the rest of TWoK would be worth it, just to see where the series is actually headed?
@@Vanessa-fs7oz Thank you for reaching out. Some of the best tips have come from "random strangers." I googled the ending because I wanted to know what happened, especially to Kaladin, but couldn't bring myself to finish the remaining 300 pages. There were things I enjoyed about the book, don't get me wrong, but I found the constant flashbacks jarring, taking me out of the story. I can see why Brandon was selected to finish Jordan's Wheel of Time series, and I enjoyed Mistborn, but I couldn't get into this series. I recommend Tress of the Emerald Sea. A fun read for me.
@@asrgelpi_authorI was also enthralled by the first book but I gotta say I didn’t initially enjoy how much time was spent on reinforcing things we already know like kaladin being depressed etc. I would say however, if you’re going to stop reading the stormlight archive you should atleast finish way of kings and start words of radiance. Words of radiance was much more exciting and had a lot of amazing/memorable moments. I think its worth reading just for those moments (which happen more often than in way of kings)
Why would you put a series where the author has written himself into a corner and decided to sellout for TV rights instead of actually finishing it, on a list of best anything? It's a good series, that crumbled under its own success, and thats all.
The fantasy books that are never on one of these lists are the books by Raymond E Feist Starting with Magician, published in 1982, first in a trilogy of books called the Riftwar Saga , there are 30 books in the entire series and I have read them all more than once. A must read for any fantasy fan.
The problem with the feist books is that whilst magician is amazing (and the mara of the acoma series is amazing) the rest of the books are not that good imo. There are some great characters but the overall quality of the books is not that good.
@@andrew56964 I agree that Magician and the 2 books that follow it are great. The Mara of the acoma trilogy is fantastic also, but the quality does go down from there, which is a shame.
Magician was my favourite fantasy book until I read the first 2 Stormlight books (imo far better than the last two). Feists other books are fun but nothing that really stays with you, unlike the scene at the Imperial games where pug really shows what he is capable of.
Have you read N K Jemison's Broken Earth trilogy? Since you have grimdark on this list and you called out how Hobb writes trauma I think you should definitely consider picking up The Fifth Season!
Great video. I've read a couple of these and plan to read most of the others. Very surprised A Song of Ice and Fire isn't on this list...It is my favorite. But I get that its subjective. I finally decided to give Wheel of Time a try - bought the first two books to give it a try. Dark Tower is probably a no-go for me but I will watch more reviews for it and decide. Thanks!
Try these: The Riddle-Master Trilogy by Patricia McKillip, the Earthsea series by Ursula LeGuin, The Chronicles of the Deryni by Katherine Kurtz, The Mabinogion Tetralogy by Evangeline Walton, The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander, Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Steven Donaldson, THe Amber Chronicles by Roger Zelazney, The Shannara books by Terry Brooks, The Elric Saga by Michael Moorcock, The Conan series by Robert E Howard, The Crystal Cave series by Mary Stewart, The Gormenghast series by Mervyn Peake, The Belgariad by David Eddings, The Riftwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist, The Redwall books by Brian Jacques, Dragonriders of Pern books by Anne McCaffrey, The Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook, The Witch World series by Andre Norton, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series by Fritz Leiber, The Narnia series by CS Lewis, The Song of Ice and Fire books by George RR Martin, The Kingkiller Chronicles by Rothfuss, The Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling, The Way of Shadows books by Brent Weeks, The Jirel of Joiry books by C.L. Moore, The Witcher books by Andrzej Sapkowski and The Dagger and the Coin series by Daniel Abraham.
While I loved A Song of Ice and Fire there is no way I would recommend it to anyone. I started it with the expectation it would be finished and no questions remaining. At this point it will remain unfinished, unless you want to take the utterly shit rendition from the TV series as canon (and no-one does). GRRM has made it clear he doesn't care to finish it so i cant recommend an unfinished story that looks like it will remain that way.
@@D4narchy I thought the ending of the television series was just fine (though likely not what Martin would have done). I heartily recommend A Song of Ice and Fire.
The TV show diverged so much from 2nd season on in terms of cutting characters and people being in the wrong place that by the time of the last couple books even some of the broader strikes of the story were changing.@@captainnolan5062 Id probably not recommend Brian Jacques redwall either as the pacing/action is so different (although I loved that series when I was a youngster). Would personally recommend malazan books of the fallen by Stephen Eriksson for gritty epic fantasy.
I'm so jealous of all those who are going to read the Wheel of Time for the first time! It's like the first time you do something-so vivid and memorable, with fantastic world-building. I love this series so much. The video is awesome, too. I have to check out some of the series I have not read. Thank you.
I'm about to start The Wheel of Time for the firsts time. I put it off for a long time due to all the talk of the slog and that its not worth it..but it's such a legendary fantasy series that I feel as a fantasy fan, I have to at least give it a try..so I bought the first two books and will see how it goes. I hope I love it as much as you do.
I am on book seven. It has been an epic journey so far! People say I am going into the slow section of the series but I really am not worried. After the end of book 6 there are so many plotlines I am itching to see what happens. The world has been amazing and I get so excited when they go to a new city because I can't wait to learn about their culture and ways of life.
@@knotslip8862 It's an amazing and very expansive series. Yes, there will be a bit of slow down from book 8 but the story continues to be interesting. The last book Jordan has written and the three last books by Sanderson will make it all worthwhile.
@@gigglingchicken8444 Yeah, it will get slower in the next few books but mainly in book 9 and 10 which are slower than the rest, but I would not call them negative books. So I can say from my own reading experience: - Books 1 - 8: Very positive - Books: 9 & 10: Average compared to the rest - Books 11 - 14: Very positive
@knotslip8862 If it helps even my 16 now 17 year old son is obsessed with The Wheel of Time. I hope you finish the series, you will be SO GLAD you did! It's also my number 1.
Someone needs to make a 'lesser known/uncommon' top 10 best fantasy series list. Every video i see with this topic, it's always the same books over and over. Makes me roll my eyes
thing is when it comes to these lists most people havent read all of them already. So for me personally its very interesting to compare different lists and see what they have in common and what not and what i should read next. So i think its fine really, although im sad that so many people see ASoIaF not even in their honorable mentions. I read a few series and so far nothing comes even close to it.
@@alexl1518 ASoIaF suffers from being an unfinished book series, and the horrendous ending we were given from the show. IF Winds is ever published we should start seeing it pop up in these types of videos again. But if we never see the end, it will largely go down as a series that was great while being published, but ultimately disappoints due to no real conclusion, especially as we get further away from the publication.
Do you have any plans to read the A song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin? Everytime i watch your videos the lack of mention for this series always seems like such a glaring omission seeing as how iconic and beloved the books are
He won't finish the damn series. He's been working on next book in series for many years and is not close to finishing. AND he just mentioned there will be another that he hasn't started. And he is close to 80 years old. Guess my point is although the series is terrific I just don't feel it's worth it to enjoy a series and never have an ending. I've read first 3 and they are terrific but I won't continue until there is a series finale.
@@fredflintstone1485 well that's difference in opinion, i definitely think the series is worth reading even though it's not finished and might never be. And the first three books have a satisfactory ending and can be read as a trilogy if one chooses to, so there's that option as well! I just think any book youtuber focusing on fantasy that has read the amount that this guy has but that refuses to read ASOIAF is not one that i would trust to take recommendations from! ASOIAF is a seminal piece in the history of fantasy literature, so it's a big omission to make
Honestly one the coolest things about ASOIAF is the crazy amount of theories the community come up with either because the series is not finished or because the world is so rich that it's fun to just find hidden connections, even on events long before past
Try these: The Riddle-Master Trilogy by Patricia McKillip, the Earthsea series by Ursula LeGuin, The Chronicles of the Deryni by Katherine Kurtz, The Mabinogion Tetralogy by Evangeline Walton, The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander, Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Steven Donaldson, THe Amber Chronicles by Roger Zelazney, The Shannara books by Terry Brooks, The Elric Saga by Michael Moorcock, The Conan series by Robert E Howard, The Crystal Cave series by Mary Stewart, The Gormenghast series by Mervyn Peake, The Belgariad by David Eddings, The Riftwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist, The Redwall books by Brian Jacques, Dragonriders of Pern books by Anne McCaffrey, The Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook, The Witch World series by Andre Norton, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series by Fritz Leiber, The Narnia series by CS Lewis, The Song of Ice and Fire books by George RR Martin, The Kingkiller Chronicles by Rothfuss, The Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling, The Way of Shadows books by Brent Weeks, The Jirel of Joiry books by C.L. Moore, The Witcher books by Andrzej Sapkowski and The Dagger and the Coin series by Daniel Abraham.
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You poor child. I am sorry you have missed so much of the best fantasy, likely because you live in a different time and have more modern tastes but: Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever series by Stephen Reeder Donaldson. (the first three books are much better than the later ones) . The "Tales of the Flat Earth" By Tanith Lee (actually almost any of her books are great though, say, "The Birthgrave" , is not a series, "The Zimiamvian Trilogy" by E.R. Eddison, antedated the LOR and shaped much of modern fantasy. Then there are the "Pern" books, the first ones are high fantasy, the later ones mediocre SF; "Titus Groan" et. al. a fabulous, deep series, and as a single from the deep origins of fantasy there is "The Well at the World's End" by William Morris (pub 1896) . George Mcdonald is a harder read but the father of many of Tolkien and Lewis' themes.
I tried to get through Oathbringer 3x and gave up and now that I hear ROW is worse I just gave up completely on Stormlight Archive. I think it’s a series he won’t be able to finish
Yeah it is odd how every time I see a video listing the top fantasy series, its generally the same ones. Makes me wonder if some are paid to promote certain series. I have read a ton of fantasy books and series too, and some of the best rarely get metioned. How about John Carter of Mars... the Gor novels were hugely popular, and good if you can ignore the D/s psycho-babble. Lord Foul's Bane and the Thomas Covenant series kicked ass. But my absolute favorite series is Spellmonger.
Hi, the list really looks intriguing. I already read Mistborn and I’m happy it made it in to the list. I have The Dark Tower at home but I started House of Leaves yesterday and I’m not sure yet wich of my newer books I’ll read next. However I intend to look into these series after that. Thank you very much.
10) F&F - just started Wrath yesterday 9) Farseer ✅ 8) Mistborn- cued up after F&F 6) Stormlight- 2025 tbr 5) Liveship- also in my 2025 considerations 4) Age of Madness ✅ 3) Green Bone ✅ (need to read the novellas) 2) The Dark Tower✅ (my 1st epic series) 1a) The Wheel of Time✅ 1b) The Dandelion Dynasty- I’ll get there eventually!!! Love these lists to keep me motivated!
I agree with so many of your choices! With WOT, Jordan painted such an incredible, detailed world, that I could recreate his map from memory. The Green Bone Saga would also be in my top 5, and Hobb's Liveship Trader series is my favorite from her. I'm excited to read the Dandelion Dynasty later this year...(Just waiting on those awesome Broken Binding editions) - Cheers!
Have you read Guy Gavriel Kay? The Sarantine Mosaic (2 book series) The Lions of Al Rassan (1 book) Tigana (1 book) The Fionavar Tapestry Triology, Under Heaven He’s incredible- just amazing I’m also surprised that Roger Zelazny’s The Chronicles of Amber wasn’t mentioned Ty for the list though very much- I will check out a few from it- I like hobb and Abercrombie too. Disagree w Robert Jordan I mean ugh how many times can she tug her braid.. stopped at book 10 I think but if was a trilogy then wheel of time first 3 books great Long/short read Kay he’s the man Also I totally concur w King’s Tower opus he’s incredible
I've read Tigana and found it hard to get into due to a lot of world history near the beginning, it took me three attempts to get through it, its a bit of a slow burn, however the ending ties it all together so nicely it was a very rewarding read in the end
great book I love are Words of Radiance, Mistborn, Wizards First Rule, Dawnshard, Lord of Chaos, The Name of the Wind, Otherland, Malice, Earth Awakens, Tale of 2 Cities, Fablehaven, Brisngr, Beyonders, The Rythmatist, The Eye of the World, The Shadow Rising, Rondevous with Rama, Dune, Speaker for the Dead, Stone of Tears
@@merismisan it’s very possible he doesn’t want to read it because it’s not finished. 👀 but idk I have started reading the first book and although I don’t really like sex in my fantasy books, there’s not a lot of it in the first book and I can just skim over it. His writing is so so good and the story is very captivating. I think he’s missing out if it doesn’t check it out
ASOIAF is never going to be finished, at least not by martin. It's looking pretty likely that we won't even get the next book. Kind of a depressing series to start given this information
I'm just now getting into the literary world. I've only really heard of a few of these series, the ones that have been made into films/television shows. But the way you talk about these books with so much enthusiasm and joy has me ordering some of these immediately.
Oathbringer has one of the strongest flashbacks from all Stormlight imo. Dalinar's backstory was insane. It's hard for me to compare Stormlight books but I guess 2 -> 3 -> 4 -> 1 (first being probably the best technically, a brilliant setup, but at the time I did not enjoy it as much because I was not aware what is setting up)
its kinda shocking out of all these lists on youtube they omit classics writers, like Edgar Rice Burroughs, Fritz Leiber, Karl Wagner, Poul Anderson, Michael Moorcock and Robert e Howard. you should read Robert E howard's Conan the Cimmerian, Solomon Kane and Kull of Atlantis, because alot of fantasy tropes trace back to Howard. Howard and Tolkien are the fantasy genres foundation, without Howard, fantasy would be a very different genre. Howard's "The Shadow Kingdom" from 1929 can be said to be one of the first proper fantasy/sword and sorcery stories.
I started The Wheel of Time and gave up at about book seven for reasons mentioned in your video. Now 20 years later (Yeah I know) I am back starting over at book one (up to #4 as I write this). It seems so fresh and epic. This time I'll force myself though 7 to 10 so I can get that amazing end game! Thank you for making me look forward it this time!
I remember books 6-10 being an absolute slog and Rand was such a moody little brat I couldn’t stand him, but it does pull itself out of its tail dive. Think I was reading them about 09-12’.
I'm currently rereading WOT and while I was having a blast, I approached the dreaded books 7-10 that made me quit while reading it the first time. Now reading it a second time, simply glossing over boring repetitive or uneventful passages really made me love books 7-9 a lot more; all of the frustration was simply gone and I felt like you missed nothing of the story. There are simply a few storylines in those books that are unimportant or tedious, but the overarching ones with Rand and Mat are very good. Book 10 is still awful because not much seems to be going on, but the setup for book 11 (and from then on it's a truly epic ride) is worth it. Good luck :D
I has an avid Fantasy reader in my youth, stopped reading in my 20’s, not I am in my 50’s. Starting to relive my past through Audio books. Good news is I have not read or heard of 8 series mentioned. Have some new content! In no particular order my favorites from my youth. Riftwar Cycle (Raymond E Feist), The Belgariad ( David Eddings), Shannara Series ( Terry Brooks), Mordant’s Need (Stephen Donaldson), and Iron Tower (Dennis L McKiernan).
My top four have to be: 4: second Apocalypse by Bakker 3: MS&T by Williams 2: Dark Tower by King 1: LOTR by Tolkien My most underrated honorable mention is Sword of Shadows by JV Jones and Crown of Stars by Kate Elliott
R Scott Bakker Prince of Nothing trilogy is brilliant. I need to read the last two books of the follow on trilogy again I was travelling when I first started reading them & kinda preoccupied so I didn't pay the proper amount of attention necessary to Scott's books.
No mention whatsoever about Malazan Book of the fallen? It has so many complex characters and diverse magic system alongside with dragons, gods and different type of creatures!
B'cos its full of fluff and terrible ending. Don't get me wrong when it was good it was great, sadly the great moments were drowned out but rambling excess that could of been condensed very easily.
Can’t take any more of these “Top Fantasy Books” of all time when none of them have the “Drenai Saga” by David Gemmell in them? Druss is one of the greatest fantasy Characters of all time! 🪓
I just stumbled on this video and its the first of yours I've had recommended so I don't know your reading history. I'm curious about certain books/series that were not included on the list and whether they were omitted because you believe these 10 series are better or because you haven't read them. The ones I'm curious about include A Song of ice and Fire, The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Kingkiller Chronicle, Earthsea, Tigana)
Where is Malazan by Steven Erikson :)?? Epic is the best word for this series.. Now i am on WOT. Its a fantastic to but a lot easier to read then Malazan
Most favourite is brandon sanderson and then My next top 10 are:- 1. Discworld - terry pratchett 2. Elderlings - robin hobb 3. Game of thrones - r.r.martin 4. Tlotr, hobbit - tolkien 5. Dark tower and the rest - stephen king 6. Kingfisher chronicle - patrick rothfuss 7. Jade books - fonda lee 8. Narnia books (7x) 9. Harry potter books 10. Malazan series - steven erikson More 😂 Nevernight chronicle - jay kristoph The sandman series - Neil gaimen Berserk - Kentaro Miura
It's Pratchett without a doubt, I think it's the second longest running series of all time and all the Canon and lore is connected. Moreover the entire series is encased in humor, and comedy as we know is about the hardest thing you can do. So yes it's discworld number one by miles
I think John Gwynn is only good if you like constant action/pacing, regardless if its good or not. All of his POVs are one-note and bland. It's very hard to differentiate any of them. And then his world is a very thin and empty shell, there's hints of old world, but it's very much teleporty from 1 place to another with very few descriptions of the world... And then his combat is very much, "I shoved him and he fell, my ax on his throat." - which is the only combat worse than The Wheel of Time's "The otter exits the bush at night," shenanigans .
I read The Wheel of Time in full and honestly I didn't really enjoy it. To me all the characters were hollow and lacking any depth of character, with their behaviours and motives being predictable and sterotypical. The over-arching story is also dull and tired, consisting mostly of evil is bad and good is good so here comes a prophecised hero to defeat the evil, but oh he's just a guy and is struggling to do what has been foretold, but don't worry this is Disney and he will prevail in the end. Just my opinion, and one im aware isn't shared by many.
I am glad ASOIAF was not on the list. Frankly the series fell apart in book 3 ans will never be finished. I am sorry, i won't wait 12 years for a book. I gave up. However, for me some of the books on the list were not that good. Some of my favorites are the Dragonriders of Pern, the Dragonlance/Forgotten Realms, Xanth, and recently the Spellmonger series which is soon to release book 17 (plus several side books). It just gets better and better.
LotR is kind of in a category of its own. The honorable mention placement was appropriate. We all know it and love it, it’s the grand-dad of everything we love as modern fantasy readers. Everything Tolkein wrote is so big- both commercially and artistically- that it’s very hard to rank against anything else.
Read: -Harry potter -Percy jackson -blood of oly.pis -divergent -hunger games -maze runner -a series of unfortunate events Reading: -Lord of the rings -chronicles of narnia Terrible: -twilight 🤮
Hello friends! Are there any historical and/or fantasy novels with a hero or heroine who is an archer? I'm desperately looking but can't find any! Thanks a lot!
Objectively speaking LotR should not be on any top lists of "The Best fantasy Books" anyway It's the most influencial book but the quality of writing has far surpassed it and frankly had a long long time ago. people took Tolkien and ran with it and frankly I think the great man would be over joyed to see what his work has resulted in. It's a book very much of it's time and has some very serious flaws. (in particular Chapters B1 6-8, B2 Ch1 B4 Ch 5-7 B5 Ch 2)
I am currently on the Wheel of Time Book Ten, doing the audio books and YES! The slump is REAL!! I have literally been shouting in my car at the books to get on with things! I don't need to know what the embroidery on everyone's shirt looks like! I don't need this crap with the bowl of the winds that went nowhere, I don't need 90% of these Characters, at this point I don't care about the world building, I just want PROGRESS! UGH! SO many anti-climaxes and following plotlines and characters that we are not interested in. WOT should have been 10 books, not 14. Maybe even 8. What makes me sad is that if books 4-10 were another series, they would rightly be titled "The Magical Elaine and Nynaeve show with their vast supporting cast of boss-bitches who will endlessly try to out-boss-bitch all the other boss-bitches by being insufferably cruel, stuck-up and prideful, with Special Appearances by a few guys." I am on Book 10 and EVERY society is being ruled or bossed over by some cantankerous women in some form or another: Women's Circles, Wise Ones, Aes Sedai, Queens with Daughter Heirs, Emperesses with Duaghter Heirs, First of Mayenne, Windfinders, Kinsfolk blah blah blah. NOTHING is wrong, especially in fantasy, with queens, tough babes and female heroes, but it's just WAAAYYYYYY over the top here. By book ten, the ONLY kings are either Lan who has no kingdom, or are all off-page and run away from trouble. Need some variety here. I think Robert Jordan would have been better off writing parallel series where the Characters interact between series but each series focuses on a different set of our main characters as they move towards the last battle.
I read that book many many years ago, and it's what brought me into the genre. But, ha, yes, those first 100 pages. Simon in the dark cave... Tough sledding, that. I still need to pick up the Witchwood Crown.
300 fantasy books? ok, well, try catch on every fantasy serie and keep on WARHAMMER 40.000 at the same time. I have fun every time (as a fantasy reader) when people tell me: oh, brandon sanders.....so many boo... DUDE, last time i read a serie was 54 book, ok?, not everything was worth my time, but not everything of everithing is worth anyones time, otherwise we would be talking about tolkien . And yes, tolkien is papa, is daddy, is god, and stop the argument, he is...well. try Bloodlines. Ill probably not see this text ever more in my life but. hey dude, i've listen to you once. thats cool, but how whimsical can youtube be? well, fuck this shit. keep reading. who the fuck cares except you. (K) nice video, great effort, very nice recomendations. Just another random in your feed. I hope love and books to your life.
I wish I could read a version of Wheel of Time that didn't have the women all written to be insufferable nags. Every character individually is great, but any time Robert has a man and woman interact it's suddenly "Wow men/women are so mysterious I'll never understand them!" and "I'm going to be mad because of a misunderstanding or simply being stubborn" from every character involved. It wouldn't be so bad if it was like, just one major relationship but it's all of them. I'm 94% of the way through Shadow Rising and have dropped the series several times for this reason. I'd love to read about the world and things happening without literal bickering being the only way men and women interact. Please tell me this gets better without having to go through like 3 more books to get there. He says that 7-10 are slow but I can handle slow as long as it's well written.
I clicked on this video pretty much at random. For context I read a whole lot of fantasy and sci-fi until the age of 30 or so. Not nearly as much in the last 20 or at least "serious" fantasy and I thought I'd investigate a bit what I've missed. Honestly, I was a bit surprised to see most of your list is stuff I had read in the old days (robin hobb, wheel of time) or more recently (first law). Some great series obviously but you do seem pretty reluctant to go much into the warts. For example you gush about Hobb and her emotional writing which is of course true but dear lord is she slow. Calling the end of the Dark Tower series simply controversial is quite controversial for mine. Lastly, from the perspective of a fairly old dude who read the first and last books of Wheel of Time the years they came out, I very definitely put the last book down with a giant surge of disappointment. Haven't touched any of them since and this is from someone who read the early "good" books many times and even the later Jordan books a few. That final book was the final confirmation that there was never a good way to close out the series even if Jordan did get that final book he wanted or even the three that Sanderson wrote. Too many plot lines that ended unsatisfactorily or didn't get an end. Too many mysteries that occupied a decade or more of my thoughts which did the same. I'm not angry about it, just sad that Jordan like most of us won't didn't get to choose when to go.
I had considered myself an avid reader of fantasy, and I don't know any of the series, with the exception of Lord of the Rings. I've seen the Wheel of Time on the shelfs of my local bookshop though. Apparently, I live in a parallel universe.
Don't know if it's ignorance or the lack of translations. But I feel sorry for anglocentristic fantasy fans who only know writers from English speaking countries. I mean, you've probably heard of this polish series about the Witcher, but there is a whole world out there, you just have to open your eyes and minds.
Another shout for Malazan, but also, criminally in my opinion no David Gemmell or Stephen Donaldson (I think Donaldson's books are far better than King's, as they share similar themes).
Wow, wheel of time is... Not good. Writing is bad, pacing is absolutely terrible, character development is terrible, story is highly highly derivative and in many ways just straight up ripped off from other books. And don't even get me started on Sanderson, utter borefest of some of the worst fantasy I've ever had the displeasure of reading.
The Farseer trilogy was great…until the resolution in book three. Its like Robin Hobb finally just had to finish it up and threw out all of the loose threads that she had been building up in a whole trilogy and then just scribbled down in like five pages. I was so massively disappointed after such a beautiful storyline that I immediately stopped recommending it after getting there. I'd still want to give her another shot with the Liveship Traders trilogy, but have so far not dared spending time on them if Id reach the same disappointment again. Anyone feeling the same way about the Farseer books? Should I give RH another shot?
I'm surprised everyone has so high regards for the Wheel of Time series.I couldn't even bare to finish the first book let alone bear through 7 to 10.The characters are really not interesting at all to me and the story is needlessly slow paced so much for it's little building.Nothing ever happens except for the same thing all over again which is a trolloc attack.I've got to admit I'm impatient for the reward but the story just didn't click.I guess I'm not really a fan of Robert Jordan's style?I
I love every book of the wheel of time and couldn’t disagree more with you saying you could cut out those middle books. Especially when you give such great props to the dark tower which was probably the worst series I ever pushed myself to finish and one of the least satisfying endings ever. Meanwhile I am on my second go through with the WoT in the last 3 years. I think storm light is probably my number one.
No Earthsea, no Song of Ice and Fire... another pointless list meant just to stir controversy and get people angry. Does this even work any more? I'm pretty sure people stopped caring about this crap ages ago. I know it's youtube but still...
Wheel of Time is the most overrated book series ever. Dark Tower is pretty meh compared to other, non-fantasy, King's books and many other fantasy series alike. In my opinion.
So I tried reading the grace of kings and was super disappointed with the first 100 pages or so. The dialogue and prose is absolutely horrible in my opinion. Like laughable almost. The pacing hasn’t been great either. I gave up and got bored twice.
Hey just found out your channel, great stuff mate. Just 1 thing, can u list all the book+author names in the description for quick google or buy? Thx a lot!
Everyone loves assassin's apprentice series. 1st book is great, after that there is 0 movement. The main character even says he can't do anything and to be honest the lack of movement bored me a bit.
I will highly highly HIGHLY recommend the Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks. Beautifully written story with twists thatll make you cry. Loved all 3 books
Tad Williams books are slow until you get to the end. Then they go too fast and it felt, to me, unsatisfying. The world building is great and the writing is lyrical though
I would love to see a list of the 300 plus books you've read. I totally agree with your Tad Williams comments. I read slow and To Green Angel Tower was so massive. It's the only book that I think I was actually scared of.
Wonder where you fall on The Sword of Truth series and any series written by R.A. Salvatore. Those were the books that I grew up reading, and I haven't read a book now in almost 15 years! Looking for new books now, and wondering if my taste aligns with yours.
I'm in the same boat as you. My first ever fantasy book I ever read was The Legend of Huma, which is part of the dragon lance series. They may not be the best fantasy books ever written, but they are still some of my favorites to date, and there are a lot of them. After that I discovered Salvatore and I read at least 25 of his books. Then I read sword of truth and the wheel of time series. If you haven't read it yet, Jim Butcher has a 6 book series called The Codex Alera that I really enjoyed as well. Another one to mention is the King Killer Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss, but the 3rd book isn't out yet.
I have a question, what is the name of the purple book over your left shoulder on the shelf? It has been starring at me this whole video and I need to know
You haven't read To Green Angel Tower??!!?? It's all the payoff of the slog through the first two books and it's so great. Go read it right now. Can't stand John Gwynne's writing style. It's like he's watching his kids play video games and trying to describe the moves blow by blow. It's been years since I read the Assassin trilogy. I remember it fondly but it had a lot of annoying things in it. The whole weird sickness thing was an annoying distraction, even though it was supposed to be this extra mysterious and interesting thing driving the plot. I tried to reach Ship of Magic, etc. but it was so boring. I'm currently listening to the first Mistborn audio book. I get that there's an interesting story going on underneath but omg the writing is atrocious. I dare you to open it to any page and count how many times someone "paused" or "turned". I have no idea how it got past his editor. The superficial story is also so painfully juvenile with the most cringy dialog ever. I'm only suffering through it to find out about the supposedly great plot twists. Love Joe Abercrombie (except for Wisdom of Crowds which is an awful turd of a book). Best Served Cold is so good. Keep hearing so much praise about Jade Bone Saga, but I've heard the same sort of praise about Fate of the Fallen and Mistborn, so not buying into the hype. Oh goodness. The Gunslinger is amazing, but the rest of that series is so awful. I wish I'd never wasted the time reading it. Jake is the most annoying character in any book I've ever read. It turned me off from Stephen King forever. Anyway, I appreciated your enthusiasm even when I didn't agree.
I think putting LOTR in honourable mentions is very smart. You will never be happy where you put it in a top 10 but it goes without saying that it will always be regarded as the father of all fantasy, you cannot compare it with any other series.
It is
But it can be compared
Thanks for the recommendations. One critique of your presenting is that you say the titles so fast that it comes out as a mumble and even after hearing you say it multiple times, I still don’t understand a word in some of the titles.
Malazan book of the fallen...top 3 for me. Expansive world building , amazing nuanced protagonists and antagonists. So many amazing characters. Maybe time for another reread.
Came to comment about this. I am really surprised that people have not discovered Malazan.
@@krriztinI'm an avid fantasy reader but I have found it so hard to to start. I have started the first book 4 times and finished once. I think I got maybe 25% of the way into book 2 before getting distracted with something else.
I really want to read it and it seems most people who do read it love it but I have found it so hard to get into
@@andrew56964 I finished the first book without problems, but only to realize I had no interest in discovering how the story or its characters were going to end and so didn't bought any other book of the series.
@@andrew56964 I had the exact same problem because I had no idea what was going on, then I read some article where they said that you will really start to understand whats going on only after the 4th book, so I kept reading, trying not think about the large complicated plot too much, got to the 4th book and everything suddenly clicked and now it has become prob my favourite fantasy series of all time. And its not that the first 3 books are unenjoyable, I think getting past the 1st is most important, then it is a smooth ride.
You don't need to watch this video. Here you go:
10 - The faithful and the fallen - John Gwynne
9- Farseer - Robin Hobb
8- Mistborn - Brandon Sanderson
7- The Stormlight Archive - Brandon Sanderson
6- The Liveship Traders - Robin Hobb
5- Age of madness - Joe Abercrombie
4- The Green Bone Saga - Fonda Lee
3- The Dark Tower - Stephen King
2- The Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan
1- The Dandelion Dynasty - Ken Liu
I was afraid to see Sanderson listed here… not surprised… 😢 I enjoyed Mistborn but the Stormlight Archive was too much. I finished A Way of King on p 952 and I still had no idea where we were going with the story. Too many flashbacks. Characters that appear and disappear. I enjoyed Kaladin’s and Dalinar’s arcs, but the constant interruption to their storylines, and the lack of pacing toward resolution turned me off to the series.
@@asrgelpi_author I doubt a random stranger on the internet encouraging you to pick it back up would be that convincing, but the avalanche of surprises at the end makes it so worth it, in my opinion. I will say, I didn't actually take issue with the pacing or flashbacks. I feel like I enjoyed every stage of this book, and due to the length, I expected and really needed the ebb and flow from the multiple storylines. I can't remember what part pg 952 is at and don't want to spoil anything. But even after the final climactic action scenes of the book, the ending chapters as the characters put pieces together blew my mind. I have generally heard Mistborn is more enjoyable to a wider range of readers, perhaps because of the length, but I haven't picked it up yet, so I can't really compare them. Maybe listening to the audiobook for the rest of TWoK would be worth it, just to see where the series is actually headed?
@@Vanessa-fs7oz Thank you for reaching out. Some of the best tips have come from "random strangers." I googled the ending because I wanted to know what happened, especially to Kaladin, but couldn't bring myself to finish the remaining 300 pages. There were things I enjoyed about the book, don't get me wrong, but I found the constant flashbacks jarring, taking me out of the story. I can see why Brandon was selected to finish Jordan's Wheel of Time series, and I enjoyed Mistborn, but I couldn't get into this series. I recommend Tress of the Emerald Sea. A fun read for me.
No David Gemmel, that's a bit sad to see
@@asrgelpi_authorI was also enthralled by the first book but I gotta say I didn’t initially enjoy how much time was spent on reinforcing things we already know like kaladin being depressed etc. I would say however, if you’re going to stop reading the stormlight archive you should atleast finish way of kings and start words of radiance. Words of radiance was much more exciting and had a lot of amazing/memorable moments. I think its worth reading just for those moments (which happen more often than in way of kings)
This is the first best fantasy list I’ve ever seen that didn’t even mention ASOIAF.
WHAT? ASOIAF ISN'T NO.1??
So, It's a shitty list.
Thank God
@@andreiarshavin4488 agreed
Why would you put a series where the author has written himself into a corner and decided to sellout for TV rights instead of actually finishing it, on a list of best anything? It's a good series, that crumbled under its own success, and thats all.
The fantasy books that are never on one of these lists are the books by Raymond E Feist Starting with Magician, published in 1982, first in a trilogy of books called the Riftwar Saga , there are 30 books in the entire series and I have read them all more than once.
A must read for any fantasy fan.
Was thinking exactly the same. Or Goodkind he is one of a kind.
The problem with the feist books is that whilst magician is amazing (and the mara of the acoma series is amazing) the rest of the books are not that good imo.
There are some great characters but the overall quality of the books is not that good.
Magician is my favourite book.
@@andrew56964 I agree that Magician and the 2 books that follow it are great. The Mara of the acoma trilogy is fantastic also, but the quality does go down from there, which is a shame.
Magician was my favourite fantasy book until I read the first 2 Stormlight books (imo far better than the last two). Feists other books are fun but nothing that really stays with you, unlike the scene at the Imperial games where pug really shows what he is capable of.
Have you read N K Jemison's Broken Earth trilogy? Since you have grimdark on this list and you called out how Hobb writes trauma I think you should definitely consider picking up The Fifth Season!
Great video. I've read a couple of these and plan to read most of the others. Very surprised A Song of Ice and Fire isn't on this list...It is my favorite. But I get that its subjective. I finally decided to give Wheel of Time a try - bought the first two books to give it a try. Dark Tower is probably a no-go for me but I will watch more reviews for it and decide. Thanks!
Try these: The Riddle-Master Trilogy by Patricia McKillip, the Earthsea series by Ursula LeGuin, The Chronicles of the Deryni by Katherine Kurtz, The Mabinogion Tetralogy by Evangeline Walton, The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander, Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Steven Donaldson, THe Amber Chronicles by Roger Zelazney, The Shannara books by Terry Brooks, The Elric Saga by Michael Moorcock, The Conan series by Robert E Howard, The Crystal Cave series by Mary Stewart, The Gormenghast series by Mervyn Peake, The Belgariad by David Eddings, The Riftwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist, The Redwall books by Brian Jacques, Dragonriders of Pern books by Anne McCaffrey, The Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook, The Witch World series by Andre Norton, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series by Fritz Leiber, The Narnia series by CS Lewis, The Song of Ice and Fire books by George RR Martin, The Kingkiller Chronicles by Rothfuss, The Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling, The Way of Shadows books by Brent Weeks, The Jirel of Joiry books by C.L. Moore, The Witcher books by Andrzej Sapkowski and The Dagger and the Coin series by Daniel Abraham.
While I loved A Song of Ice and Fire there is no way I would recommend it to anyone. I started it with the expectation it would be finished and no questions remaining. At this point it will remain unfinished, unless you want to take the utterly shit rendition from the TV series as canon (and no-one does). GRRM has made it clear he doesn't care to finish it so i cant recommend an unfinished story that looks like it will remain that way.
@@D4narchy I thought the ending of the television series was just fine (though likely not what Martin would have done). I heartily recommend A Song of Ice and Fire.
The TV show diverged so much from 2nd season on in terms of cutting characters and people being in the wrong place that by the time of the last couple books even some of the broader strikes of the story were changing.@@captainnolan5062
Id probably not recommend Brian Jacques redwall either as the pacing/action is so different (although I loved that series when I was a youngster).
Would personally recommend malazan books of the fallen by Stephen Eriksson for gritty epic fantasy.
I'm so jealous of all those who are going to read the Wheel of Time for the first time! It's like the first time you do something-so vivid and memorable, with fantastic world-building. I love this series so much. The video is awesome, too. I have to check out some of the series I have not read. Thank you.
I'm about to start The Wheel of Time for the firsts time. I put it off for a long time due to all the talk of the slog and that its not worth it..but it's such a legendary fantasy series that I feel as a fantasy fan, I have to at least give it a try..so I bought the first two books and will see how it goes. I hope I love it as much as you do.
I am on book seven. It has been an epic journey so far! People say I am going into the slow section of the series but I really am not worried. After the end of book 6 there are so many plotlines I am itching to see what happens. The world has been amazing and I get so excited when they go to a new city because I can't wait to learn about their culture and ways of life.
@@knotslip8862 It's an amazing and very expansive series. Yes, there will be a bit of slow down from book 8 but the story continues to be interesting. The last book Jordan has written and the three last books by Sanderson will make it all worthwhile.
@@gigglingchicken8444 Yeah, it will get slower in the next few books but mainly in book 9 and 10 which are slower than the rest, but I would not call them negative books. So I can say from my own reading experience:
- Books 1 - 8: Very positive
- Books: 9 & 10: Average compared to the rest
- Books 11 - 14: Very positive
@knotslip8862 If it helps even my 16 now 17 year old son is obsessed with The Wheel of Time. I hope you finish the series, you will be SO GLAD you did! It's also my number 1.
Someone needs to make a 'lesser known/uncommon' top 10 best fantasy series list. Every video i see with this topic, it's always the same books over and over. Makes me roll my eyes
"most underrated fantasy books" - hundreds of videos. No need to complain under this video
thing is when it comes to these lists most people havent read all of them already. So for me personally its very interesting to compare different lists and see what they have in common and what not and what i should read next. So i think its fine really, although im sad that so many people see ASoIaF not even in their honorable mentions. I read a few series and so far nothing comes even close to it.
@@alexl1518 ASoIaF suffers from being an unfinished book series, and the horrendous ending we were given from the show. IF Winds is ever published we should start seeing it pop up in these types of videos again. But if we never see the end, it will largely go down as a series that was great while being published, but ultimately disappoints due to no real conclusion, especially as we get further away from the publication.
Great! Make your own.
@@ViperRT99 not really, I just think the kind of people that make these lists specifically avoid it due to its popularity.
Do you have any plans to read the A song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin? Everytime i watch your videos the lack of mention for this series always seems like such a glaring omission seeing as how iconic and beloved the books are
He won't finish the damn series. He's been working on next book in series for many years and is not close to finishing. AND he just mentioned there will be another that he hasn't started. And he is close to 80 years old. Guess my point is although the series is terrific I just don't feel it's worth it to enjoy a series and never have an ending. I've read first 3 and they are terrific but I won't continue until there is a series finale.
@@fredflintstone1485 well that's difference in opinion, i definitely think the series is worth reading even though it's not finished and might never be. And the first three books have a satisfactory ending and can be read as a trilogy if one chooses to, so there's that option as well!
I just think any book youtuber focusing on fantasy that has read the amount that this guy has but that refuses to read ASOIAF is not one that i would trust to take recommendations from! ASOIAF is a seminal piece in the history of fantasy literature, so it's a big omission to make
I agree 100%
Honestly one the coolest things about ASOIAF is the crazy amount of theories the community come up with either because the series is not finished or because the world is so rich that it's fun to just find hidden connections, even on events long before past
@@fredflintstone1485 I would stop where you are because book 3 is a peak Martin doesn't come close to matching again.
So, 300+ books boils down to generally the same list as everyone else's top 10 lists. Huh...
Try these: The Riddle-Master Trilogy by Patricia McKillip, the Earthsea series by Ursula LeGuin, The Chronicles of the Deryni by Katherine Kurtz, The Mabinogion Tetralogy by Evangeline Walton, The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander, Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Steven Donaldson, THe Amber Chronicles by Roger Zelazney, The Shannara books by Terry Brooks, The Elric Saga by Michael Moorcock, The Conan series by Robert E Howard, The Crystal Cave series by Mary Stewart, The Gormenghast series by Mervyn Peake, The Belgariad by David Eddings, The Riftwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist, The Redwall books by Brian Jacques, Dragonriders of Pern books by Anne McCaffrey, The Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook, The Witch World series by Andre Norton, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series by Fritz Leiber, The Narnia series by CS Lewis, The Song of Ice and Fire books by George RR Martin, The Kingkiller Chronicles by Rothfuss, The Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling, The Way of Shadows books by Brent Weeks, The Jirel of Joiry books by C.L. Moore, The Witcher books by Andrzej Sapkowski and The Dagger and the Coin series by Daniel Abraham.
@@Slater2113 You bet! Which series looks most appealing to you?
@@captainnolan5062finally some love for Riftwar.
@@abigailslade3824 Indeed Abigail. Indeed.
Generally a reason for that
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You poor child. I am sorry you have missed so much of the best fantasy, likely because you live in a different time and have more modern tastes but: Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever series by Stephen Reeder Donaldson. (the first three books are much better than the later ones) . The "Tales of the Flat Earth" By Tanith Lee (actually almost any of her books are great though, say, "The Birthgrave" , is not a series, "The Zimiamvian Trilogy" by E.R. Eddison, antedated the LOR and shaped much of modern fantasy. Then there are the "Pern" books, the first ones are high fantasy, the later ones mediocre SF; "Titus Groan" et. al. a fabulous, deep series, and as a single from the deep origins of fantasy there is "The Well at the World's End" by William Morris (pub 1896) . George Mcdonald is a harder read but the father of many of Tolkien and Lewis' themes.
I tried to get through Oathbringer 3x and gave up and now that I hear ROW is worse I just gave up completely on Stormlight Archive. I think it’s a series he won’t be able to finish
Deja vu, I feel I've seen that video title ten thousand times in the past 2 years.
More like the past three months
Yeah it is odd how every time I see a video listing the top fantasy series, its generally the same ones. Makes me wonder if some are paid to promote certain series. I have read a ton of fantasy books and series too, and some of the best rarely get metioned. How about John Carter of Mars... the Gor novels were hugely popular, and good if you can ignore the D/s psycho-babble. Lord Foul's Bane and the Thomas Covenant series kicked ass. But my absolute favorite series is Spellmonger.
Hi, the list really looks intriguing. I already read Mistborn and I’m happy it made it in to the list. I have The Dark Tower at home but I started House of Leaves yesterday and I’m not sure yet wich of my newer books I’ll read next. However I intend to look into these series after that. Thank you very much.
10) F&F - just started Wrath yesterday
9) Farseer ✅
8) Mistborn- cued up after F&F
6) Stormlight- 2025 tbr
5) Liveship- also in my 2025 considerations
4) Age of Madness ✅
3) Green Bone ✅ (need to read the novellas)
2) The Dark Tower✅ (my 1st epic series)
1a) The Wheel of Time✅
1b) The Dandelion Dynasty- I’ll get there eventually!!!
Love these lists to keep me motivated!
I agree with so many of your choices! With WOT, Jordan painted such an incredible, detailed world, that I could recreate his map from memory. The Green Bone Saga would also be in my top 5, and Hobb's Liveship Trader series is my favorite from her. I'm excited to read the Dandelion Dynasty later this year...(Just waiting on those awesome Broken Binding editions) - Cheers!
Awesome! I hope you'll love The Dandelion Dynasty!
Have you read Guy Gavriel Kay?
The Sarantine Mosaic (2 book series) The Lions of Al Rassan (1 book) Tigana (1 book) The Fionavar Tapestry Triology, Under Heaven
He’s incredible- just amazing
I’m also surprised that Roger Zelazny’s The Chronicles of Amber wasn’t mentioned
Ty for the list though very much- I will check out a few from it- I like hobb and Abercrombie too. Disagree w Robert Jordan I mean ugh how many times can she tug her braid.. stopped at book 10 I think but if was a trilogy then wheel of time first 3 books great
Long/short read Kay he’s the man
Also I totally concur w King’s Tower opus he’s incredible
I've read Tigana and found it hard to get into due to a lot of world history near the beginning, it took me three attempts to get through it, its a bit of a slow burn, however the ending ties it all together so nicely it was a very rewarding read in the end
great book I love are
Words of Radiance, Mistborn, Wizards First Rule, Dawnshard, Lord of Chaos, The Name of the Wind, Otherland, Malice, Earth Awakens, Tale of 2 Cities, Fablehaven, Brisngr, Beyonders, The Rythmatist, The Eye of the World, The Shadow Rising, Rondevous with Rama, Dune, Speaker for the Dead, Stone of Tears
Malazan??
Have you read/do you plan to read A Song of Ice and Fire?
Came here to ask the same thing, it's such a glaring omission on all of the lists that this youtuber makes
@@merismisan it’s very possible he doesn’t want to read it because it’s not finished. 👀 but idk I have started reading the first book and although I don’t really like sex in my fantasy books, there’s not a lot of it in the first book and I can just skim over it. His writing is so so good and the story is very captivating. I think he’s missing out if it doesn’t check it out
The storm light archives isn't finished and is in this list
@@NoelleD.
@@gmbp1983 yeah but martin will not finish his series before dying and storm light archives are really really close to the end
ASOIAF is never going to be finished, at least not by martin. It's looking pretty likely that we won't even get the next book. Kind of a depressing series to start given this information
thanks Viking for doing this!! your honorable mentions are so amazing!
I'm just now getting into the literary world. I've only really heard of a few of these series, the ones that have been made into films/television shows. But the way you talk about these books with so much enthusiasm and joy has me ordering some of these immediately.
I know it’s cliche but no ASoIaF?
very unfinished series with little hope. i wouldnt recommend it to anyone because of this
@@user-sn2cx7fb5wbut what we have so far is still great, no? You have 5 massive books full of greatness, thats enough for me to recommend imho
i'm really tired of seeing Asolaf and Lotr in every fantasy list i've seen, we already know they are great but yeah as you said it's a cliche
Oathbringer has one of the strongest flashbacks from all Stormlight imo. Dalinar's backstory was insane. It's hard for me to compare Stormlight books but I guess 2 -> 3 -> 4 -> 1 (first being probably the best technically, a brilliant setup, but at the time I did not enjoy it as much because I was not aware what is setting up)
The flashbacks are definitely the best part of Oathbringer!
its kinda shocking out of all these lists on youtube they omit classics writers, like Edgar Rice Burroughs, Fritz Leiber, Karl Wagner, Poul Anderson, Michael Moorcock and Robert e Howard. you should read Robert E howard's Conan the Cimmerian, Solomon Kane and Kull of Atlantis, because alot of fantasy tropes trace back to Howard. Howard and Tolkien are the fantasy genres foundation, without Howard, fantasy would be a very different genre. Howard's "The Shadow Kingdom" from 1929 can be said to be one of the first proper fantasy/sword and sorcery stories.
They haven’t read the classics except for a couple
I started The Wheel of Time and gave up at about book seven for reasons mentioned in your video. Now 20 years later (Yeah I know) I am back starting over at book one (up to #4 as I write this). It seems so fresh and epic. This time I'll force myself though 7 to 10 so I can get that amazing end game! Thank you for making me look forward it this time!
Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn, The Stormlight Archive, Elantris) wrote the last three books after Robert Jordan died.
I remember books 6-10 being an absolute slog and Rand was such a moody little brat I couldn’t stand him, but it does pull itself out of its tail dive. Think I was reading them about 09-12’.
It picks back up in the best way after book 10. Stick with it
I'm currently rereading WOT and while I was having a blast, I approached the dreaded books 7-10 that made me quit while reading it the first time. Now reading it a second time, simply glossing over boring repetitive or uneventful passages really made me love books 7-9 a lot more; all of the frustration was simply gone and I felt like you missed nothing of the story. There are simply a few storylines in those books that are unimportant or tedious, but the overarching ones with Rand and Mat are very good. Book 10 is still awful because not much seems to be going on, but the setup for book 11 (and from then on it's a truly epic ride) is worth it. Good luck :D
Try it as an audiobook maybe that will help. The whole series is done so well.
isn't anyone else sick to death of the "____ of ____and _____" titles? srsly I wouldn't open one if someone gave it to me for free at this point.
I has an avid Fantasy reader in my youth, stopped reading in my 20’s, not I am in my 50’s. Starting to relive my past through Audio books. Good news is I have not read or heard of 8 series mentioned. Have some new content! In no particular order my favorites from my youth. Riftwar Cycle (Raymond E Feist), The Belgariad ( David Eddings), Shannara Series ( Terry Brooks), Mordant’s Need (Stephen Donaldson), and Iron Tower (Dennis L McKiernan).
Oh I love the Belgariad, and the sequel too
Anyone ever read the Belgariad series by David Eddings? I remember reading them a LONG time ago and really enjoying them!
My top four have to be:
4: second Apocalypse by Bakker
3: MS&T by Williams
2: Dark Tower by King
1: LOTR by Tolkien
My most underrated honorable mention is Sword of Shadows by JV Jones and Crown of Stars by Kate Elliott
R Scott Bakker Prince of Nothing trilogy is brilliant. I need to read the last two books of the follow on trilogy again I was travelling when I first started reading them & kinda preoccupied so I didn't pay the proper amount of attention necessary to Scott's books.
No mention whatsoever about Malazan Book of the fallen? It has so many complex characters and diverse magic system alongside with dragons, gods and different type of creatures!
Another top without Malazan, shame
I like your vids but I feel like you keep making the same video over and over…
Have you ever read Malazan Book of the Fallen? It’s hard to top it in my personal opinion
This!
dragonlance was never mentioned....how come:(
The Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson is legendary! Not even an honourable mention 😢
Yep top 3 for me. Maybe my favorite. Up there with sotrmlight/cosmere.
B'cos its full of fluff and terrible ending. Don't get me wrong when it was good it was great, sadly the great moments were drowned out but rambling excess that could of been condensed very easily.
Great list my friend. You make me want to get to so many these right away!!
Thanks, mate!
what about Warhammer ???? do u read anyone of them ?
Can’t take any more of these “Top Fantasy Books” of all time when none of them have the “Drenai Saga” by David Gemmell in them? Druss is one of the greatest fantasy Characters of all time! 🪓
I just stumbled on this video and its the first of yours I've had recommended so I don't know your reading history. I'm curious about certain books/series that were not included on the list and whether they were omitted because you believe these 10 series are better or because you haven't read them. The ones I'm curious about include A Song of ice and Fire, The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Kingkiller Chronicle, Earthsea, Tigana)
i would sign under The Malazan Book of the Fallen
R Scott Bakkers Prince of Nothing trilogy is brilliant. The Malazan books are good & I loved the Earhsea books.
Where is Malazan by Steven Erikson :)?? Epic is the best word for this series.. Now i am on WOT. Its a fantastic to but a lot easier to read then Malazan
I am curious, why does a series like Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files not meet the shortlist?
I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that maybe he didn't like it as much as the others? 😆
Also, it's still a ways of until it's finished.
No one mentions The King killer chronicles - Name of the wind. Isn’t that good?
Very confusing ngl
@@Cardicardi in the video he mentioned he didn’t read it yet :)
Most favourite is brandon sanderson and then My next top 10 are:-
1. Discworld - terry pratchett
2. Elderlings - robin hobb
3. Game of thrones - r.r.martin
4. Tlotr, hobbit - tolkien
5. Dark tower and the rest - stephen king
6. Kingfisher chronicle - patrick rothfuss
7. Jade books - fonda lee
8. Narnia books (7x)
9. Harry potter books
10. Malazan series - steven erikson
More 😂
Nevernight chronicle - jay kristoph
The sandman series - Neil gaimen
Berserk - Kentaro Miura
Kingfisher Chronicles 🤧
@@lavjoshi6170 if you've read it you would know
@@lewys9204yeah it is my #1 series. It is so well written. Not even close imo to #2
Yea, I'm really surprised Discworld didn't get at least an honorable mention, there's else nothing quite like it in the fantasy space.
It's Pratchett without a doubt, I think it's the second longest running series of all time and all the Canon and lore is connected. Moreover the entire series is encased in humor, and comedy as we know is about the hardest thing you can do. So yes it's discworld number one by miles
I think John Gwynn is only good if you like constant action/pacing, regardless if its good or not.
All of his POVs are one-note and bland. It's very hard to differentiate any of them.
And then his world is a very thin and empty shell, there's hints of old world, but it's very much teleporty from 1 place to another with very few descriptions of the world...
And then his combat is very much, "I shoved him and he fell, my ax on his throat." - which is the only combat worse than The Wheel of Time's "The otter exits the bush at night," shenanigans
.
I read The Wheel of Time in full and honestly I didn't really enjoy it. To me all the characters were hollow and lacking any depth of character, with their behaviours and motives being predictable and sterotypical. The over-arching story is also dull and tired, consisting mostly of evil is bad and good is good so here comes a prophecised hero to defeat the evil, but oh he's just a guy and is struggling to do what has been foretold, but don't worry this is Disney and he will prevail in the end. Just my opinion, and one im aware isn't shared by many.
I am glad ASOIAF was not on the list. Frankly the series fell apart in book 3 ans will never be finished. I am sorry, i won't wait 12 years for a book. I gave up. However, for me some of the books on the list were not that good. Some of my favorites are the Dragonriders of Pern, the Dragonlance/Forgotten Realms, Xanth, and recently the Spellmonger series which is soon to release book 17 (plus several side books). It just gets better and better.
Another dandilion dynasty top spot in a tier list. Something is going on, the first book was good, but not that good. Second book was a snooze
LotR is kind of in a category of its own. The honorable mention placement was appropriate. We all know it and love it, it’s the grand-dad of everything we love as modern fantasy readers. Everything Tolkein wrote is so big- both commercially and artistically- that it’s very hard to rank against anything else.
Read:
-Harry potter
-Percy jackson
-blood of oly.pis
-divergent
-hunger games
-maze runner
-a series of unfortunate events
Reading:
-Lord of the rings
-chronicles of narnia
Terrible:
-twilight 🤮
Hello friends! Are there any historical and/or fantasy novels with a hero or heroine who is an archer?
I'm desperately looking but can't find any!
Thanks a lot!
Objectively speaking LotR should not be on any top lists of "The Best fantasy Books" anyway
It's the most influencial book but the quality of writing has far surpassed it and frankly had a long long time ago. people took Tolkien and ran with it and frankly I think the great man would be over joyed to see what his work has resulted in. It's a book very much of it's time and has some very serious flaws. (in particular Chapters B1 6-8, B2 Ch1 B4 Ch 5-7 B5 Ch 2)
I am currently on the Wheel of Time Book Ten, doing the audio books and YES! The slump is REAL!!
I have literally been shouting in my car at the books to get on with things! I don't need to know what the embroidery on everyone's shirt looks like! I don't need this crap with the bowl of the winds that went nowhere, I don't need 90% of these Characters, at this point I don't care about the world building, I just want PROGRESS! UGH! SO many anti-climaxes and following plotlines and characters that we are not interested in.
WOT should have been 10 books, not 14. Maybe even 8.
What makes me sad is that if books 4-10 were another series, they would rightly be titled "The Magical Elaine and Nynaeve show with their vast supporting cast of boss-bitches who will endlessly try to out-boss-bitch all the other boss-bitches by being insufferably cruel, stuck-up and prideful, with Special Appearances by a few guys."
I am on Book 10 and EVERY society is being ruled or bossed over by some cantankerous women in some form or another: Women's Circles, Wise Ones, Aes Sedai, Queens with Daughter Heirs, Emperesses with Duaghter Heirs, First of Mayenne, Windfinders, Kinsfolk blah blah blah. NOTHING is wrong, especially in fantasy, with queens, tough babes and female heroes, but it's just WAAAYYYYYY over the top here. By book ten, the ONLY kings are either Lan who has no kingdom, or are all off-page and run away from trouble. Need some variety here.
I think Robert Jordan would have been better off writing parallel series where the Characters interact between series but each series focuses on a different set of our main characters as they move towards the last battle.
First 100 pages of Tad Williams Dragonbone chair was sooo difficult. But wow was it worth continuing.
I read that book many many years ago, and it's what brought me into the genre. But, ha, yes, those first 100 pages. Simon in the dark cave... Tough sledding, that. I still need to pick up the Witchwood Crown.
300 fantasy books? ok, well, try catch on every fantasy serie and keep on WARHAMMER 40.000 at the same time. I have fun every time (as a fantasy reader) when people tell me: oh, brandon sanders.....so many boo... DUDE, last time i read a serie was 54 book, ok?, not everything was worth my time, but not everything of everithing is worth anyones time, otherwise we would be talking about tolkien . And yes, tolkien is papa, is daddy, is god, and stop the argument, he is...well. try Bloodlines. Ill probably not see this text ever more in my life but. hey dude, i've listen to you once. thats cool, but how whimsical can youtube be? well, fuck this shit. keep reading. who the fuck cares except you. (K) nice video, great effort, very nice recomendations. Just another random in your feed. I hope love and books to your life.
I wish I could read a version of Wheel of Time that didn't have the women all written to be insufferable nags.
Every character individually is great, but any time Robert has a man and woman interact it's suddenly "Wow men/women are so mysterious I'll never understand them!" and "I'm going to be mad because of a misunderstanding or simply being stubborn" from every character involved.
It wouldn't be so bad if it was like, just one major relationship but it's all of them.
I'm 94% of the way through Shadow Rising and have dropped the series several times for this reason. I'd love to read about the world and things happening without literal bickering being the only way men and women interact.
Please tell me this gets better without having to go through like 3 more books to get there. He says that 7-10 are slow but I can handle slow as long as it's well written.
I clicked on this video pretty much at random. For context I read a whole lot of fantasy and sci-fi until the age of 30 or so. Not nearly as much in the last 20 or at least "serious" fantasy and I thought I'd investigate a bit what I've missed. Honestly, I was a bit surprised to see most of your list is stuff I had read in the old days (robin hobb, wheel of time) or more recently (first law). Some great series obviously but you do seem pretty reluctant to go much into the warts. For example you gush about Hobb and her emotional writing which is of course true but dear lord is she slow. Calling the end of the Dark Tower series simply controversial is quite controversial for mine. Lastly, from the perspective of a fairly old dude who read the first and last books of Wheel of Time the years they came out, I very definitely put the last book down with a giant surge of disappointment. Haven't touched any of them since and this is from someone who read the early "good" books many times and even the later Jordan books a few. That final book was the final confirmation that there was never a good way to close out the series even if Jordan did get that final book he wanted or even the three that Sanderson wrote. Too many plot lines that ended unsatisfactorily or didn't get an end. Too many mysteries that occupied a decade or more of my thoughts which did the same. I'm not angry about it, just sad that Jordan like most of us won't didn't get to choose when to go.
I had considered myself an avid reader of fantasy, and I don't know any of the series, with the exception of Lord of the Rings. I've seen the Wheel of Time on the shelfs of my local bookshop though. Apparently, I live in a parallel universe.
Don't know if it's ignorance or the lack of translations. But I feel sorry for anglocentristic fantasy fans who only know writers from English speaking countries.
I mean, you've probably heard of this polish series about the Witcher, but there is a whole world out there, you just have to open your eyes and minds.
Another shout for Malazan, but also, criminally in my opinion no David Gemmell or Stephen Donaldson (I think Donaldson's books are far better than King's, as they share similar themes).
Wow, wheel of time is... Not good. Writing is bad, pacing is absolutely terrible, character development is terrible, story is highly highly derivative and in many ways just straight up ripped off from other books.
And don't even get me started on Sanderson, utter borefest of some of the worst fantasy I've ever had the displeasure of reading.
The Farseer trilogy was great…until the resolution in book three. Its like Robin Hobb finally just had to finish it up and threw out all of the loose threads that she had been building up in a whole trilogy and then just scribbled down in like five pages. I was so massively disappointed after such a beautiful storyline that I immediately stopped recommending it after getting there.
I'd still want to give her another shot with the Liveship Traders trilogy, but have so far not dared spending time on them if Id reach the same disappointment again.
Anyone feeling the same way about the Farseer books? Should I give RH another shot?
I'm surprised everyone has so high regards for the Wheel of Time series.I couldn't even bare to finish the first book let alone bear through 7 to 10.The characters are really not interesting at all to me and the story is needlessly slow paced so much for it's little building.Nothing ever happens except for the same thing all over again which is a trolloc attack.I've got to admit I'm impatient for the reward but the story just didn't click.I guess I'm not really a fan of Robert Jordan's style?I
I love every book of the wheel of time and couldn’t disagree more with you saying you could cut out those middle books. Especially when you give such great props to the dark tower which was probably the worst series I ever pushed myself to finish and one of the least satisfying endings ever. Meanwhile I am on my second go through with the WoT in the last 3 years. I think storm light is probably my number one.
No Earthsea, no Song of Ice and Fire... another pointless list meant just to stir controversy and get people angry. Does this even work any more? I'm pretty sure people stopped caring about this crap ages ago. I know it's youtube but still...
Wheel of Time is the most overrated book series ever. Dark Tower is pretty meh compared to other, non-fantasy, King's books and many other fantasy series alike. In my opinion.
So I tried reading the grace of kings and was super disappointed with the first 100 pages or so. The dialogue and prose is absolutely horrible in my opinion. Like laughable almost. The pacing hasn’t been great either. I gave up and got bored twice.
Hey just found out your channel, great stuff mate. Just 1 thing, can u list all the book+author names in the description for quick google or buy? Thx a lot!
Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen Donaldson is a great series, albeit a chunk of heavy lifting at the start of book 1.
Everyone loves assassin's apprentice series. 1st book is great, after that there is 0 movement. The main character even says he can't do anything and to be honest the lack of movement bored me a bit.
Hi, I am curious - what's the average time you take to complete reading one book (on average) listed in your list?
MakazanBook of the Fallenis the bestI have ever read. Epic scope, memorable characters; a great read!
The Lord of the Rings is not a series. It's a single novel that is usually published in three volumes.
I will highly highly HIGHLY recommend the Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks. Beautifully written story with twists thatll make you cry. Loved all 3 books
damn i don't even heard of just one of them lol 😂
maybe cause im german speaking but who knows 😂
Tad Williams books are slow until you get to the end. Then they go too fast and it felt, to me, unsatisfying. The world building is great and the writing is lyrical though
I didn't like the thumbnail so I didn't watch
as a non native english speaker person, this man speaks the most understandable english
I didn't like farseer becausse I just kept waiting for pay-off and never received it.
If you read Malazan book of the fallen, you will rearrange your list! Best regards!
Robin Hobb - the soldiers son trilogy
I’m not sure if it’s mentioned in this video, just started
Just klicked on the video to see LOTR on number one. Well...^^
I would love to see a list of the 300 plus books you've read. I totally agree with your Tad Williams comments. I read slow and To Green Angel Tower was so massive. It's the only book that I think I was actually scared of.
Brilliant book the first battle blows the roof off “slow pace”
Wonder where you fall on The Sword of Truth series and any series written by R.A. Salvatore. Those were the books that I grew up reading, and I haven't read a book now in almost 15 years! Looking for new books now, and wondering if my taste aligns with yours.
I'm in the same boat as you. My first ever fantasy book I ever read was The Legend of Huma, which is part of the dragon lance series. They may not be the best fantasy books ever written, but they are still some of my favorites to date, and there are a lot of them.
After that I discovered Salvatore and I read at least 25 of his books. Then I read sword of truth and the wheel of time series. If you haven't read it yet, Jim Butcher has a 6 book series called The Codex Alera that I really enjoyed as well. Another one to mention is the King Killer Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss, but the 3rd book isn't out yet.
No Magician? Can't take this seriously without it, although yes it is subjective.
I'm a little annoyed that the Discworld books weren't mentioned.
Taylor Jeffrey Thompson Linda Anderson Brian
Try the last magician series from Lisa Maxwell it's great 👍👍👍
I absolutly hate the wheel of time. Far too many books. Thanks god sanderson finished the series
hihgly recommend Pattrick Rothfuss, the best is yet to come.
Any thoughts on the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind?
No warhammer novels??? Gotrek and Felix is awesome!
Malazan book of the fallen number 1 for me, have you read it?
Hobb is one of the greatest treasures of our time. Liveship Traders is incredible.
All her universe with the four series are very good, the concept of magic is very interesting I think
I have a question, what is the name of the purple book over your left shoulder on the shelf? It has been starring at me this whole video and I need to know
You haven't read To Green Angel Tower??!!?? It's all the payoff of the slog through the first two books and it's so great. Go read it right now.
Can't stand John Gwynne's writing style. It's like he's watching his kids play video games and trying to describe the moves blow by blow.
It's been years since I read the Assassin trilogy. I remember it fondly but it had a lot of annoying things in it. The whole weird sickness thing was an annoying distraction, even though it was supposed to be this extra mysterious and interesting thing driving the plot. I tried to reach Ship of Magic, etc. but it was so boring.
I'm currently listening to the first Mistborn audio book. I get that there's an interesting story going on underneath but omg the writing is atrocious. I dare you to open it to any page and count how many times someone "paused" or "turned". I have no idea how it got past his editor. The superficial story is also so painfully juvenile with the most cringy dialog ever. I'm only suffering through it to find out about the supposedly great plot twists.
Love Joe Abercrombie (except for Wisdom of Crowds which is an awful turd of a book). Best Served Cold is so good.
Keep hearing so much praise about Jade Bone Saga, but I've heard the same sort of praise about Fate of the Fallen and Mistborn, so not buying into the hype.
Oh goodness. The Gunslinger is amazing, but the rest of that series is so awful. I wish I'd never wasted the time reading it. Jake is the most annoying character in any book I've ever read. It turned me off from Stephen King forever.
Anyway, I appreciated your enthusiasm even when I didn't agree.
I hope to read To Green Angel Tower soon!! Thanks for watching!
Legend of Drizzt?