10: "Wayward Pines" by Blake Crouch 9: "The Strain" Guillermo Del Toro & Chuck Hogan 8: "Ender's Game" by Orson S Card 7: "Vampire Hunter D" by Hideyuki Kikuchi 6: "The Three-Body Problem" Cixin Liu 5: "Valis" by Philip K Dick 4: "1Q84" by Haruki Murakami 3: "The Book of the New Sun" Gene Wolfe 2: "Dune" Frank Herbert 1: "The Gunslinger" Stephen King
Series that I've really enjoyed are: Red Rising by Pierce Brown -Political intrigue, action, scheming sci-fi story based on a genetic caste system Discworld (especially Guards! Guards!) by Terry Pratchett -fantasy comedy with clever writing and incredible world-building
What I truly enjoy about your videos is your passion for the books you love. I don’t align often with your choices or criticisms but your honest passion is really fantastic and definitely gives new life to old ideas.
The dark tower series is my favorite book series ever......period. I cant imagine anything coming close because, like you, this series expanded my love of reading to the upmost. great video my guy
The Dark Tower Series is my all time favorite! I clicked this video hoping it was on your list! Kings character develop is so detailed and unmatched! Every time I start a new book that has a great concept but flat characters I try to think how King would write them just to make it through the book. I’ll sub for that ranking alone!
I love deep thought provoking books but sometimes I just need something fun that’s not complicated at all. The Murderbot Diaries is perfect for that. Does not belong on anybody’s top 10 of anything, but it’s perfect for a light fun read.
The Expanse series sticks the landing better than any series i’ve finished - the last two books, in particular Tiamat’s Wrath, is the best genre thing i’ve read like, period
That’s good to hear because I’m on Cibola Burn, and it has been a roller coaster for me so far in terms of how much I’ve enjoyed them. It’s generally great but is a huge time investment.
While watching this got to numbers 2 and 3, and you hadn't said the Dark Tower series yet. I finished it for the first time earlier this year and couldn't agree more with you. Its perfect, the characters, the worlds, and the ending... it's so good! I didn't know how to feel when I first finished it. But after a couple of months of thought, I love it.
I started reading The Book of New Sun and it was so confusing but yet promising- definitely will go back to it! thanks for praising it so high, it made me want to read it again!
I finally found a youtuber with similar book tastes?! Also I kept laughing while watching this video. You're so entertaining. Thanks for the great review!
I haven't been watching your channel for that long so it's possible you've talked about this series and I just haven't seen that video yet. However, the Earthsea Cycle by Ursula Le Guin is awesome and worthy of being included in this list in my opinion.
I could not put the dark tower anywhere near the top of a best series list, largely because only the first 3 books were really good. The whole thing fell apart after Wizard and Glass. But I will agree that the ending is fantastic, absolutely perfect for this series, and the Gunslinger is the best book King ever wrote. My top 10, ordered merely by my level of enjoyment, would be; 10 The Ex-heroes series by Peter Cline 9 The Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis 8 The James Reece series by Jack Carr 7 The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien 6 The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson 5 The Mistborn Series by Brandon Sanderson 4 The Cronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. 3 The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher 2 The Licanius Trilogy by James Islington 1 Wheel Of Time by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
Thank you for this, after he mentioned The Strain, my thoughts went Directly to this series, but as I read it nearly 30 years go, I could not remember either the title or the author, I was going through variations of Speaker to the dead or dead speaker, try to see if it sparked anything in my brain... Edit. Just went to Amazon to get the series, and was shocked to find there were now 16 novels in the series!
When you said Dune was your second favorite series in your favorite series video I just KNEW your favorite series was going to be DT and I love you for it because alllllll these years have gone by and nothing can beat DT for me either
My favorite series are The Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews, Graphic Audio is currently rereleasing the audiobooks with full cast and sound effects, The In Death series by J.D. Robb, The Night Side series by Simon R. Green, think adult Harry Potter, The Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell, some of the best space-combat ever, and Solo Leveling by Chugong, this series has a complete manhwa (Korean comic) and has a season of anime adapted, each version has subtle changes to it that are fun to spot and I feel further refine the story with each retelling in a new media. Special bonus goes to Damn Reincarnation, I haven't finished this one as it's not really a book series it's a Korean web series with over 600 chapters last I saw. I've found translations for up to chapter 543. There is a manhwa (Korean comic) with 81 chapters you can find scans of.
The dark tower is in my humble opinion the greatest heroes journey ever written (at least as a series ) . The mixture of genres , the humour and all the small sidesteps in different directions that creates the whole story or saga are so enjoyable. And I really do not mind not everything getting completely solved or explained, because that is in certain ways the whole nature of this story.Not everything is meant to be understood in this complex universe and Roland certainly does not.
I know that Gunslinger has been a favorite of so many for so long, but I've never been able to get past the first book. Something about it, about the writing, just made it a hard barrier of entry for me, that I've never gone back to try again. It's also a one of those that *because* it's so popular, my head goes "Nope" and goes back to L.E. Modesitt and Robin Hobb.
Wheel of Time is fantasy, not sci-fi. Either way, it suffers from the same disease as Mission Earth. It starts off very good, but by book five is desperately trying to recreate what made it so good originally.
WOT is the series that has me asking: was it worth it? At some point it's better to just cut your losses. I tried and 11 books in I've dropped it, at no point did I find anything exceptional.
bro!!! I have similar copies of "Dune" and "Dune: Messiah": hard bound, 1st year, book club editions. I found them at a local thrift store for $5/each! That same day, same store found a 1st year, hard bound, book club edition of "Children of Dune". I really love the series. I am up to "Heretics of Dune"
Philip Pullman's "his dark materials" and "the book of dust" (unfinished) are both fantastic, inhabiting the same world. Although, technically young adult science fiction.
The Dark Tower is one of the few series i've read and for good reason: i knew it was great. It's the only one on your list i've read. LOTR is absolutely my top, though, esp/if one decides to include The Hobbit.
@@BensSoZen What I mean is that the Lord of the rings i only one novel, not three. It was only published first in three parts because there was a shortage of paper in England in the 1950s and publishing a book with that length would have been too expensive. Not because it was written and intended by Tolkien to be published as three novels. Let me quote the first sentence (after the impressum) in my edition of The Lord of the Rings (In a chapter called "Note on the Text": The Lord of the Rings is often erroneously called a trilogy, when it is in fact a single novel, consisting of six books plus appendices, sometimes published in three volumes." So The Lord of the Rings does not qualify as a series.
@@BensSoZen I do have it as one book paperback, actually. It's 1008 pages main story + ~140 pages of appendices + index. Pretty much exactly like Shogun. Shogun has like 4 pages more.
#1 for me in Sci-fi and I know it's a bit like bubble gum for the brain is Area 51, all my favorite stuff in 1 series but for an action series my #1 is the Jack Reacher books..
I would also add Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy to your list. There are other great book series I love. Like Discworld from Terry Pratchett (more easy reading), Arthur Doyle's multiple cases with Sherlock Holmes, Jules Vernes or H. G. Wells adventure/si-fi novels. And other lesser known non-english books (I'm from Switzerland and German speaking). But those are just on my personal list and I would not recommend them to everybody ;-)
Solid list and now that you're getting into Fantasy I'm hoping you take on The Malazan Books Of The Fallen this year (which Stephen Erickson has finished, by the way). Hopefully it will end up high on next year's list.
Actually, I came across Gardens of the moon a few weeks ago at the local half price books and picked it up. But with everything else I'm reading currently it might be a few months before I get to it.
@@rammelbroadcasting Gotcha. Just so you know, and as you’ll find out, it’s not everyone’s favorite of the series. Not anything like The Blade Itself just being a 300+ prologue, but you might need to strap in for the long ride.
Have you read Piers Anthony's "Apprentice Adept" or " Mode" series? How about "The Chronicles of Amber" by Roger Zelazny? "The Circle Trilogy" by Ted Dekker? I would love to hear your thoughts on those.
I have tried The Dark Tower several times but I can’t get into the first volume. People who know me keep telling me to plow through it because I’ll like it better and better as I go along. I haven’t given up - I’ll probably try again, maybe for my 75th birthday next year. 😂
I'll have to watch more of your videos since I really liked your reeves. My number one series would be Dune. Yes I loved book 5 and 6. Have you read the Riftwar Saga? I'm a big fan of the first 4 books but have only read one of his following books because I really didn't care the political intrigue stuff.
Murderbot sucks. Made me stop believing in certain booktubers. I also personally didn’t really like 3 body that much. Some aspects were good, but I had no desire to keep going after the first book.
The Gunslinger is probably my favorite book of all time, and I firmly believe that the coda to the last book is THE single best thing S.K. has ever written. The rest is good enough, definitely by the end it gets a little boring, but as a series, definitely top of the list.
Try the Black Water series by Michael McDowell... it's a kind of like a southern Gothic tale with elements of horror. I'm not sure if it's your thing. Just a suggestion. 🙂
Yes, the Dark Tower books! I was blown away by those. Loved them so much that the ending super disappointed me and I was compelled to write my own ending to satisfy me. So...I disagree with you there, but otherwise, yes!
You have only just begun. And even though Steven Erikson and Cameron Esslemont themselves would tell you that they have an idea how to do it, I really think that Malazan Book of the Fallen cannot be adapted into a TV series unless you want to do 10 seasons of 100 episodes each. If you reduce it to a lot less (I think the "focus approach" is the only one possible), it's not going to feel like the saga *at all*.
My favorite series and the books better than any movie James Clavell’s Asian Saga (Shogun is one of the books) Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs and nothing like the movies, etc, also his Mars series ( John Carter) And Foundation by Isaac Asimov Have read the books more than once
You lost me at ender. The series was fine, but top ten? And CLASSIC SCI-FI? Ya, i dont know what classic scifi you have read, but it seems you may have missed a lot. Edger Rice Burroughs? H Beam Piper? Isaac Asimov? Just a few classic scifi authors who blow the ender series out of the water, there are many more. Your number 3 on the list does intrigue me. Gonna have to check that out.
You've never read F. Paul Wilson... James Blish? Phillip Jose Farmer? Stephen R Donaldson (the Amnion will frighten the hell out of you)? I know, I know... There's just so much out there! I've been a reader for 60+ years, and I'm still playing catch-up!
10) Harry Potter - J.K Rowling (Everyone knows this...She gets on here for creating a unique world with little derivative material) 9) A Song of Fire and Ice - G.R.R. Martin (This might have been higher had he finished the series...I expect a better ending from him than I got from HBO) 8) Spellsinger Series - Alan Dean Foster (College rock star wannabe gets whisked away to a world where animals talk and act like people, and he can sing magic) 7) Ender's Game - O.S. Card 6) The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever - Stephen R. Donaldson (Man from our modern world is transported to a place where magic is real) 5) The Dresden Files - Jim Butcher (Modern day wizard with an attitude takes on the evil supernatural forces in Chicago and elsewhere) 4) Foundation Trilogy - I. Asimov (most know of this one...surprised it didn't make your list) 3) Dune - F. Herbert 2) The Dark Tower - S. King 1) LOTR - J.R.R. Tolkien
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen Donaldson. The Chronicles is three books, The Second Chronicles is three more books, and The Last Chronicles is four books, for a total of ten books. Superb storytelling. And to top it off, a good and satisfying ending.
Eh the story was good but really the guy seems to have a compulsion to use the longest word he can find in every sentence, and it started to get to me after a while.
Best fantasy not mentioned: Wheel of Time, Suneater & Red Rising (both fantasy in space), Dragonlance chronicles, Dragonriders of Pern, Farseer, Dresden Files, Discworld, LotR, First Law, Sword of Truth, all the Brando Sando things, Kingkiller, Sookie Stackhouse, and the GOAT Malazan.
Dont read the Brian Herbert Shit... it ruins the Dune universe, But i have only read the Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune so im no expert on his work but i do regret reading those 2 books...
The Brian Herbert remind me of shared world series like Warhammer 40,000. Their readable but forgettable. They do add to the lore but it's my understanding that Brian Herberts lore didn't come from his father.
I read 1Q84 years ago and I’ve loved and touted this book for years, but I never found anyone who had read these books, so I’m super happy you included them. I love, love, love these books.
Foundation, I absolutely agree. To not have a single thing by Asimov is insulting to the sci-fi community. However, wheel of time and LotR are fantasy, not sci-fi. Different genre
Just a few more series that are delicious in case you haven't read them and want some suggestions. Wool His Dark Materials The Space Trilogy Vampire Earth
Great video. Agree to disagree about the Dark Tower ending. I still don't like it and probably never will. Love the series as a whole, though. Especially books 1-4. Roland is one of my favorite characters in all of literature.
I had stop the video after the reveal of n1 cause im in the middle of book 4 and i'm afraid of spoilers. Can i suggest you to tell which sections of your videos are spoiler free and which are not? Beacuse you already spoiled me a good chunk of Sidonia i would like to watch your videos with mu guard lowered. That said, i only know Sidonia because of your video so i Guess It evens out :)
I'm sorry about that I'll try to be clearer in the future. You would be fine here I try to avoid spoilers for these types of list videos. I do also have dedicated videos for those books on the channel and those are spoiler heavy. Just a heads up.
Man, I'm so disappointed that you chose The Gunslinger as your number one. The ending of Dark Tower was so god awful that I swore off King for good. I even read most of the ancillary titles, just to find the Crimson King mentioned in passing in many of them. I didn't read that newer entry (Keyhole something?) because of how shit everything after Wizard in Glass was. Please read F. Paul Wilson's Repairman Jack series. It is action. It is horror. It is a fast-paced thrill ride from start to finish. The RJ series consists of roughly 15 (ish) books that are actually part of a greater "universe" of books that make up "The Secret History of the World". They are horror, drama, action, and if you continue through his LaNague Chronicles (not officially part of Secret History, but are connected nonetheless) are science fiction in the vein of Heinlein. Amazing series. Over 30 books, a dozen short stories, and every one of them are just plain fun. Also, any series by David Eddings is great, but the Belgariad books are especially so. Also, Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion books (especially the Elric books) are great as well.
Iain M. Bank’s The Culture series books would be up there for me… Waiting on Henry Cavill making ‘The Player of Games’ into a movie when he’s a bit older…😅
Dark Tower just didn't work for me. I thought the ending was cheesy. As it got closer I thought please don't end with the sentence I think you're going to end with. I enjoyed the first 2 or 3. They got my hopes up, but the longer it went, the more it became a chore. If I read them when they first came out, I would have been pissed with the one book's ending. Can't remember which one it was, but it seemed like King got to a word count that worked for a complete novel, had a deadline, and didn't want to think of a way to resolve the current scene. I think it was mid riddle or something. And putting himself in the story made me roll my eyes. I love Dune. The first book at least. Book 2 was completely forgettable. 3 got interesting. 4 got weird. 5 kept getting weird. Haven't read 6 yet. I will likely reread book 1 before I end up getting to 6. Read the first of The Book of the New Sun. It didn't grab me, but I might need to reread, or continue. I can see it going that way. I enjoy PKD, so I'll have to give Valis a try. Three body Problem didn't work for me. I know a big part of it is the whole idea of any sufficiently advanced species will absolutely try to take over any time there is a hint of another species. It just feels excessively pessimistic. Don't tell my wife. I've read Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead. Loved the first, still not sure about the second. I enjoyed it, but not sure I would ever reread it.
Imo, you've created a paradox: you call yourself a science fiction fan, you made a Top 10 book series list, and the Hitchhiker's Trilogy is never mentioned... you clearly don't know where your towel is...
Call me Plebian but “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy for me is #1. I cannot believe that it did not make the list. The first couple of Dune books were good but I found them dull after that. King’s “Gunslinger” was readable but not the best. Frankly, reading and liking a book is subjective. I may not agree with you but there is no right and wrong.
I'll say something that hasn't been said about dune. It doesn't hold a candle to Lord of the rings on any level. The first vid i watched of yours was good "10 movies better than the book". Now I'm not really interested in the channel. Even if you would have left it at 10, I could disagree and be like all right. I'll stick around but that's just stupid to leave it out....... Heck, princess of Mars should be in dunes place considering it's the inspiration for the entire genre
Dark Tower has the best start and worst finish of maybe anything I’ve ever read. To me, it’s the “shower scene” from Dallas. I truly think King was afraid to die and leave it unfinished and just slap dashed an ending on it. Ruined the whole series for me.
Completely disagree. I think people don't like the ending because it doesn't fit into their expectation but the more I sit with it, the more I like it.
@@Hekilikaua It’s the ending a 4th grader would write. And it’s the most negative ending possible - his characters are trapped in an endless loop of futility. All of the noble character sacrifices are totally pointless and in vain - as there’s no escape from their pointless, endless, repetitive destiny. King’s characters are stuck in purgatory.
Wheel of Time series not on a best of list of book series reminds me that these lists are 100 subjective by a person who hasn't read near enough books.
Wheel of Time series, although good, is not great enough to be on a top ten, and I could say that your suggestion of not reading enough books also applies to anyone who would consider this a top ten series. Like many series, I'm looking at you overhyped Song of Ice and Fire, it gets lost and becomes meh after a while, it just doesn't hold the interest anymore. I'm not a big Stephen King fan, and i agree that it's not that well written but the Dark Tower series did hold my interest till the end, but that might be because I was picking up books that were influenced or inspired by the Robert Browning poem Childe Roland to the dark tower came, and it's surprising were this poem shows up...
First, to have King on a top list of anything but plagiarized stories is insulting. Any reasonable search through the last century will find the source of virtually every story he has written already created by someone else. Besides, Dark Tower is fantasy not Sci-fi. If you don’t know the difference you have no business proposing a list of the greatest of either. Second, like your other videos, this list continues to demonstrate your recency bias. If it is the best list you can come up with, you need to update your library card. To not have a series by Doc Smith, Asimov, Heinlein, Harrison, Burroughs, or even Adam’s is insulting. Hell, Asimov arguably wrote two of the greatest series of all time and you have neither on the list. WTF!?!
@@EliasuSan Only the first 4 books can be considered Originals, call me cynical, but I firmly believe Heretics and Chapterhouse were written to capitalize on the increased awareness due to the David Lean mess of a film (released in the same year as heretics). I firmly believe that Frank Herberts BuSab universe is far superior to the Dune books, not that Dune was bad.
10: "Wayward Pines" by Blake Crouch
9: "The Strain" Guillermo Del Toro & Chuck Hogan
8: "Ender's Game" by Orson S Card
7: "Vampire Hunter D" by Hideyuki Kikuchi
6: "The Three-Body Problem" Cixin Liu
5: "Valis" by Philip K Dick
4: "1Q84" by Haruki Murakami
3: "The Book of the New Sun" Gene Wolfe
2: "Dune" Frank Herbert
1: "The Gunslinger" Stephen King
Series that I've really enjoyed are:
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
-Political intrigue, action, scheming sci-fi story based on a genetic caste system
Discworld (especially Guards! Guards!) by Terry Pratchett
-fantasy comedy with clever writing and incredible world-building
First one is kinda slow in the middle imo but after that it's all gas no brakes💨💨
Discworld! The Truth. Nightwatch. Going Postal. Discworld is great.
This was so good.
What I truly enjoy about your videos is your passion for the books you love. I don’t align often with your choices or criticisms but your honest passion is really fantastic and definitely gives new life to old ideas.
The dark tower series is my favorite book series ever......period. I cant imagine anything coming close because, like you, this series expanded my love of reading to the upmost. great video my guy
all the main characters in that book live with me after reading the series
@@BradCynical Great series. The ending is one of the best in literature.
When I read the first 4 novels back in the 90s, I loved them. When the Wolves of Calla came out, I had lost the narrative thread 😢
The Dark Tower Series is my all time favorite! I clicked this video hoping it was on your list! Kings character develop is so detailed and unmatched! Every time I start a new book that has a great concept but flat characters I try to think how King would write them just to make it through the book. I’ll sub for that ranking alone!
I really appreciate you opinions, they are not derivative of any other Booktuber, imo. They are helping to shape my TBR, honestly. Thank you.
Thank you
I love deep thought provoking books but sometimes I just need something fun that’s not complicated at all. The Murderbot Diaries is perfect for that. Does not belong on anybody’s top 10 of anything, but it’s perfect for a light fun read.
The Expanse series sticks the landing better than any series i’ve finished - the last two books, in particular Tiamat’s Wrath, is the best genre thing i’ve read like, period
That’s good to hear because I’m on Cibola Burn, and it has been a roller coaster for me so far in terms of how much I’ve enjoyed them. It’s generally great but is a huge time investment.
Tiamat's Wrath is by far my favorite in the series. Sooo good, Persepolis Rising and Caliban's War are up there too.
While watching this got to numbers 2 and 3, and you hadn't said the Dark Tower series yet. I finished it for the first time earlier this year and couldn't agree more with you. Its perfect, the characters, the worlds, and the ending... it's so good! I didn't know how to feel when I first finished it. But after a couple of months of thought, I love it.
I started reading The Book of New Sun and it was so confusing but yet promising- definitely will go back to it! thanks for praising it so high, it made me want to read it again!
If you want a good dark grim series, try Elric of Melnibone by Michael Moorcock. Sometimes known as the Stormbringer series.
I finally found a youtuber with similar book tastes?! Also I kept laughing while watching this video. You're so entertaining. Thanks for the great review!
Foundation, Riverworld, Ringworld, Remberance of Earths Past, , Eon, Uplift, Majipoor. Forever War, Silo Trilogy
I haven't been watching your channel for that long so it's possible you've talked about this series and I just haven't seen that video yet. However, the Earthsea Cycle by Ursula Le Guin is awesome and worthy of being included in this list in my opinion.
Another fantastic video! Thank you!
“I’m right in the middle of the Ring books…”
Instant subscribed.
Edit: Somebody mentioning The Strain?! Double subs!
Happy to see Wayward Pines on there! Love Crouch, and that trilogy is gangster 🤙🏻
I could not put the dark tower anywhere near the top of a best series list, largely because only the first 3 books were really good. The whole thing fell apart after Wizard and Glass. But I will agree that the ending is fantastic, absolutely perfect for this series, and the Gunslinger is the best book King ever wrote.
My top 10, ordered merely by my level of enjoyment, would be;
10 The Ex-heroes series by Peter Cline
9 The Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis
8 The James Reece series by Jack Carr
7 The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
6 The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson
5 The Mistborn Series by Brandon Sanderson
4 The Cronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.
3 The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
2 The Licanius Trilogy by James Islington
1 Wheel Of Time by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
Your channel brings me so much joy… if I had more time I’d watch your berserk reviews
Oh books I like were sharp objects and dark places👌
I’ll name more when I can remember
Thank you
Haha idk why I keep watching your stuff. We have very different tastes! Love how you do content I guess
Thanks! TBH, some of my best friends in real life are the ones I disagree with 🤷♂️
Have you read the Necroscope Series by Brian Lumley??? The Cold War, Vampires… etc… it’s awesome
Thank you for this, after he mentioned The Strain, my thoughts went Directly to this series, but as I read it nearly 30 years go, I could not remember either the title or the author, I was going through variations of Speaker to the dead or dead speaker, try to see if it sparked anything in my brain... Edit. Just went to Amazon to get the series, and was shocked to find there were now 16 novels in the series!
When you said Dune was your second favorite series in your favorite series video I just KNEW your favorite series was going to be DT and I love you for it because alllllll these years have gone by and nothing can beat DT for me either
My favorite series are The Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews, Graphic Audio is currently rereleasing the audiobooks with full cast and sound effects, The In Death series by J.D. Robb, The Night Side series by Simon R. Green, think adult Harry Potter, The Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell, some of the best space-combat ever, and Solo Leveling by Chugong, this series has a complete manhwa (Korean comic) and has a season of anime adapted, each version has subtle changes to it that are fun to spot and I feel further refine the story with each retelling in a new media. Special bonus goes to Damn Reincarnation, I haven't finished this one as it's not really a book series it's a Korean web series with over 600 chapters last I saw. I've found translations for up to chapter 543. There is a manhwa (Korean comic) with 81 chapters you can find scans of.
The dark tower is in my humble opinion the greatest heroes journey ever written (at least as a series ) . The mixture of genres , the humour and all the small sidesteps in different directions that creates the whole story or saga are so enjoyable. And I really do not mind not everything getting completely solved or explained, because that is in certain ways the whole nature of this story.Not everything is meant to be understood in this complex universe and Roland certainly does not.
Meh, it’s not even sci-fi. It’s fantasy. And King has never read someone else’s idea that he didn’t like enough to steal
You should read the Leviathan series by Scott Westerfeld.
I know that Gunslinger has been a favorite of so many for so long, but I've never been able to get past the first book. Something about it, about the writing, just made it a hard barrier of entry for me, that I've never gone back to try again. It's also a one of those that *because* it's so popular, my head goes "Nope" and goes back to L.E. Modesitt and Robin Hobb.
wayward pines is one of my favorite shows, when i first saw it, it was so unique
You should try The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan
And The Demon Cycle by Peter V Brett
Wheel of Time is fantasy, not sci-fi. Either way, it suffers from the same disease as Mission Earth. It starts off very good, but by book five is desperately trying to recreate what made it so good originally.
@@TwilightxKnight13 What does Wheel of Time being fantasy has to do with anything? This isn't a list of "Best 10 Sci-fi book series".
WOT is the series that has me asking: was it worth it? At some point it's better to just cut your losses. I tried and 11 books in I've dropped it, at no point did I find anything exceptional.
bro!!! I have similar copies of "Dune" and "Dune: Messiah": hard bound, 1st year, book club editions. I found them at a local thrift store for $5/each! That same day, same store found a 1st year, hard bound, book club edition of "Children of Dune". I really love the series. I am up to "Heretics of Dune"
Philip Pullman's "his dark materials" and "the book of dust" (unfinished) are both fantastic, inhabiting the same world. Although, technically young adult science fiction.
The Dark Tower is one of the few series i've read and for good reason: i knew it was great. It's the only one on your list i've read. LOTR is absolutely my top, though, esp/if one decides to include The Hobbit.
LOTR is only 1 Book though, so you'd have to include the Hobbit and the Silmarillion to make it at least a trilogy.
What do you mean?
There were three novels in the LOTR series, released at different times - Fellowship, Two Towers, Return of the King
@@BensSoZen What I mean is that the Lord of the rings i only one novel, not three. It was only published first in three parts because there was a shortage of paper in England in the 1950s and publishing a book with that length would have been too expensive. Not because it was written and intended by Tolkien to be published as three novels. Let me quote the first sentence (after the impressum) in my edition of The Lord of the Rings (In a chapter called "Note on the Text": The Lord of the Rings is often erroneously called a trilogy, when it is in fact a single novel, consisting of six books plus appendices, sometimes published in three volumes."
So The Lord of the Rings does not qualify as a series.
@@arnehenkler8391 That would be one fat book, had they published it as such. Maybe bigger than a SHOGUN paperback.
@@BensSoZen I do have it as one book paperback, actually. It's 1008 pages main story + ~140 pages of appendices + index. Pretty much exactly like Shogun. Shogun has like 4 pages more.
#1 for me in Sci-fi and I know it's a bit like bubble gum for the brain is Area 51, all my favorite stuff in 1 series but for an action series my #1 is the Jack Reacher books..
Best not mentioned sci fi: Foundation, Rama, Hyperion, Hitchhiker’s Guide all great.
Guilty pleasure - I really liked the Battlefield Earth series.
I would also add Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy to your list.
There are other great book series I love. Like Discworld from Terry Pratchett (more easy reading), Arthur Doyle's multiple cases with Sherlock Holmes, Jules Vernes or H. G. Wells adventure/si-fi novels. And other lesser known non-english books (I'm from Switzerland and German speaking). But those are just on my personal list and I would not recommend them to everybody ;-)
Solid list and now that you're getting into Fantasy I'm hoping you take on The Malazan Books Of The Fallen this year (which Stephen Erickson has finished, by the way). Hopefully it will end up high on next year's list.
Actually, I came across Gardens of the moon a few weeks ago at the local half price books and picked it up. But with everything else I'm reading currently it might be a few months before I get to it.
@@rammelbroadcasting Gotcha. Just so you know, and as you’ll find out, it’s not everyone’s favorite of the series. Not anything like The Blade Itself just being a 300+ prologue, but you might need to strap in for the long ride.
The Broken Earth Trilogy by NK Jemisin. So great!
Have you read Piers Anthony's "Apprentice Adept" or " Mode" series? How about "The Chronicles of Amber" by Roger Zelazny? "The Circle Trilogy" by Ted Dekker? I would love to hear your thoughts on those.
The Chronicles of Amber by Zelazny is one of my all time favorites. I read the Apprentice Adept books when they came out and enjoyed them very much.
A really fun series starts out with Columbus Day. Military Sci-Fi with a very funny twist. Trust the Awesomeness!
You say true, I say thank ya.
Long days and pleasant nights.
I have tried The Dark Tower several times but I can’t get into the first volume. People who know me keep telling me to plow through it because I’ll like it better and better as I go along. I haven’t given up - I’ll probably try again, maybe for my 75th birthday next year. 😂
I'll have to watch more of your videos since I really liked your reeves. My number one series would be Dune. Yes I loved book 5 and 6.
Have you read the Riftwar Saga? I'm a big fan of the first 4 books but have only read one of his following books because I really didn't care the political intrigue stuff.
I haven't read that.
Murderbot sucks. Made me stop believing in certain booktubers. I also personally didn’t really like 3 body that much. Some aspects were good, but I had no desire to keep going after the first book.
Would love a list of best horror/thriller/sci-fi with no romance storyline.
The Gunslinger is probably my favorite book of all time, and I firmly believe that the coda to the last book is THE single best thing S.K. has ever written. The rest is good enough, definitely by the end it gets a little boring, but as a series, definitely top of the list.
Try the Black Water series by Michael McDowell... it's a kind of like a southern Gothic tale with elements of horror. I'm not sure if it's your thing. Just a suggestion. 🙂
Do you include the Bean books or are they a spin-off series within the Enderverse?
Yes, the Dark Tower books! I was blown away by those. Loved them so much that the ending super disappointed me and I was compelled to write my own ending to satisfy me. So...I disagree with you there, but otherwise, yes!
You have only just begun. And even though Steven Erikson and Cameron Esslemont themselves would tell you that they have an idea how to do it, I really think that Malazan Book of the Fallen cannot be adapted into a TV series unless you want to do 10 seasons of 100 episodes each. If you reduce it to a lot less (I think the "focus approach" is the only one possible), it's not going to feel like the saga *at all*.
From what I understand, Gardens of the moon was originally written to be a movie and then later converted into a novel. Which is just crazy to me.
Have you read The redemption of Althalus by david and leigh eddings?
Its easily the best book I've read.
ive read it atleast three times
No I haven't. I'll have to check it out.
@@rammelbroadcasting A big recommendation here. I dare you to hit the first three chapters and then put it down
My favorite series and the books better than any movie
James Clavell’s Asian Saga (Shogun is one of the books)
Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs and nothing like the movies, etc, also his Mars series ( John Carter)
And Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Have read the books more than once
You lost me at ender. The series was fine, but top ten? And CLASSIC SCI-FI? Ya, i dont know what classic scifi you have read, but it seems you may have missed a lot. Edger Rice Burroughs? H Beam Piper? Isaac Asimov? Just a few classic scifi authors who blow the ender series out of the water, there are many more. Your number 3 on the list does intrigue me. Gonna have to check that out.
Not having The Dresden Files on a Top 10 Book Series list is Heresy lol
You've never read F. Paul Wilson...
James Blish?
Phillip Jose Farmer?
Stephen R Donaldson (the Amnion will frighten the hell out of you)?
I know, I know... There's just so much out there! I've been a reader for 60+ years, and I'm still playing catch-up!
I have not gotten to much into Sci Fi some of these sound good
Have you read any Brandon Sanderson?
Not yet
You should check out the elderling series by robin hobb. It’s great. 13 books
10) Harry Potter - J.K Rowling (Everyone knows this...She gets on here for creating a unique world with little derivative material)
9) A Song of Fire and Ice - G.R.R. Martin (This might have been higher had he finished the series...I expect a better ending from him than I got from HBO)
8) Spellsinger Series - Alan Dean Foster (College rock star wannabe gets whisked away to a world where animals talk and act like people, and he can sing magic)
7) Ender's Game - O.S. Card
6) The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever - Stephen R. Donaldson (Man from our modern world is transported to a place where magic is real)
5) The Dresden Files - Jim Butcher (Modern day wizard with an attitude takes on the evil supernatural forces in Chicago and elsewhere)
4) Foundation Trilogy - I. Asimov (most know of this one...surprised it didn't make your list)
3) Dune - F. Herbert
2) The Dark Tower - S. King
1) LOTR - J.R.R. Tolkien
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen Donaldson. The Chronicles is three books, The Second Chronicles is three more books, and The Last Chronicles is four books, for a total of ten books. Superb storytelling. And to top it off, a good and satisfying ending.
Eh the story was good but really the guy seems to have a compulsion to use the longest word he can find in every sentence, and it started to get to me after a while.
Best fantasy not mentioned: Wheel of Time, Suneater & Red Rising (both fantasy in space), Dragonlance chronicles, Dragonriders of Pern, Farseer, Dresden Files, Discworld, LotR, First Law, Sword of Truth, all the Brando Sando things, Kingkiller, Sookie Stackhouse, and the GOAT Malazan.
Pines by Crouch 👍🏼. The first season of the show did a pretty good job of the trilogy.
Dont read the Brian Herbert Shit... it ruins the Dune universe, But i have only read the Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune so im no expert on his work but i do regret reading those 2 books...
I will read what I plz thank you..... As should he
I've enjoyed every book by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson..........
I completely agree. He doesn't hold a candle to his father.
Tonally, the Brian Herbert books aren't as well written, but they are good. I think they expand the lore of Dune quite well.
The Brian Herbert remind me of shared world series like Warhammer 40,000. Their readable but forgettable. They do add to the lore but it's my understanding that Brian Herberts lore didn't come from his father.
If the Strain made your list, you need to hit up Justin Cronin's The Crossing
I read 1Q84 years ago and I’ve loved and touted this book for years, but I never found anyone who had read these books, so I’m super happy you included them. I love, love, love these books.
So Foundation series, Wheel of Time, and Lord of the Rings aren't on your list at all?
Foundation, I absolutely agree. To not have a single thing by Asimov is insulting to the sci-fi community. However, wheel of time and LotR are fantasy, not sci-fi. Different genre
@@TwilightxKnight13 - He didn't limit it to Sci-fi or Fantasy. Technically, a Tom Clancy / Jack Ryan series could have appeared on the list.
Just a few more series that are delicious in case you haven't read them and want some suggestions.
Wool
His Dark Materials
The Space Trilogy
Vampire Earth
Amtrak Wars by Patrick Tilley.
Finish off all those other series then hit that Malazan.
You should read The Dresden Files.
N-am terminat Amintiri din trecutul Terrei. M-am împotmolit la Capătul Morții. Mi-a plăcut Spațiul Revelației și am iubit The Expanse
Great video. Agree to disagree about the Dark Tower ending. I still don't like it and probably never will. Love the series as a whole, though. Especially books 1-4. Roland is one of my favorite characters in all of literature.
No LOTR?
The Passage by Justin Cronin is also a great trilogy imo
Book 4 of the Dark Tower. Wizard and Glass:)
I had stop the video after the reveal of n1 cause im in the middle of book 4 and i'm afraid of spoilers. Can i suggest you to tell which sections of your videos are spoiler free and which are not? Beacuse you already spoiled me a good chunk of Sidonia i would like to watch your videos with mu guard lowered. That said, i only know Sidonia because of your video so i Guess It evens out :)
I'm sorry about that I'll try to be clearer in the future. You would be fine here I try to avoid spoilers for these types of list videos. I do also have dedicated videos for those books on the channel and those are spoiler heavy. Just a heads up.
Oh, so you stopped the final Dark Tower book when he told you to? ....
Asian saga is solid, taipan & shogun are great - the rest solid.
i guess he hasn't read wind through the keyhole yet....
Man, I'm so disappointed that you chose The Gunslinger as your number one. The ending of Dark Tower was so god awful that I swore off King for good. I even read most of the ancillary titles, just to find the Crimson King mentioned in passing in many of them. I didn't read that newer entry (Keyhole something?) because of how shit everything after Wizard in Glass was.
Please read F. Paul Wilson's Repairman Jack series. It is action. It is horror. It is a fast-paced thrill ride from start to finish. The RJ series consists of roughly 15 (ish) books that are actually part of a greater "universe" of books that make up "The Secret History of the World". They are horror, drama, action, and if you continue through his LaNague Chronicles (not officially part of Secret History, but are connected nonetheless) are science fiction in the vein of Heinlein. Amazing series. Over 30 books, a dozen short stories, and every one of them are just plain fun.
Also, any series by David Eddings is great, but the Belgariad books are especially so. Also, Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion books (especially the Elric books) are great as well.
Iain M. Bank’s The Culture series books would be up there for me… Waiting on Henry Cavill making ‘The Player of Games’ into a movie when he’s a bit older…😅
Dark Tower just didn't work for me. I thought the ending was cheesy. As it got closer I thought please don't end with the sentence I think you're going to end with. I enjoyed the first 2 or 3. They got my hopes up, but the longer it went, the more it became a chore. If I read them when they first came out, I would have been pissed with the one book's ending. Can't remember which one it was, but it seemed like King got to a word count that worked for a complete novel, had a deadline, and didn't want to think of a way to resolve the current scene. I think it was mid riddle or something. And putting himself in the story made me roll my eyes.
I love Dune. The first book at least. Book 2 was completely forgettable. 3 got interesting. 4 got weird. 5 kept getting weird. Haven't read 6 yet. I will likely reread book 1 before I end up getting to 6.
Read the first of The Book of the New Sun. It didn't grab me, but I might need to reread, or continue. I can see it going that way.
I enjoy PKD, so I'll have to give Valis a try.
Three body Problem didn't work for me. I know a big part of it is the whole idea of any sufficiently advanced species will absolutely try to take over any time there is a hint of another species. It just feels excessively pessimistic. Don't tell my wife.
I've read Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead. Loved the first, still not sure about the second. I enjoyed it, but not sure I would ever reread it.
Meant to say I read Dark Matter, and it didn't inspire me to seek out any other Blake Crouch books.
Look into dorzi, the final epedia
Imo, you've created a paradox: you call yourself a science fiction fan, you made a Top 10 book series list, and the Hitchhiker's Trilogy is never mentioned... you clearly don't know where your towel is...
Call me Plebian but “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy for me is #1. I cannot believe that it did not make the list. The first couple of Dune books were good but I found them dull after that. King’s “Gunslinger” was readable but not the best. Frankly, reading and liking a book is subjective. I may not agree with you but there is no right and wrong.
Did not make it in the list because Rammel did not finish reading the books
Vampire Hunter D is awesome!!
I'll say something that hasn't been said about dune. It doesn't hold a candle to Lord of the rings on any level. The first vid i watched of yours was good "10 movies better than the book". Now I'm not really interested in the channel. Even if you would have left it at 10, I could disagree and be like all right. I'll stick around but that's just stupid to leave it out....... Heck, princess of Mars should be in dunes place considering it's the inspiration for the entire genre
You’re not a thriller reader? Damn.
Steven Kings books are lean, mean, incredible strong men who overeat and gain 100 lbs of fat
Dark Tower has the best start and worst finish of maybe anything I’ve ever read. To me, it’s the “shower scene” from Dallas. I truly think King was afraid to die and leave it unfinished and just slap dashed an ending on it. Ruined the whole series for me.
Totally agree. You could tell he honestly didn’t care at the end. All his later work sucks golf balls.
Completely disagree. I think people don't like the ending because it doesn't fit into their expectation but the more I sit with it, the more I like it.
@@Hekilikaua It’s the ending a 4th grader would write. And it’s the most negative ending possible - his characters are trapped in an endless loop of futility. All of the noble character sacrifices are totally pointless and in vain - as there’s no escape from their pointless, endless, repetitive destiny. King’s characters are stuck in purgatory.
@PaulRidgeway-h7l yep, it's not wrapped up in a nice little bow and there is more suffering in store until he learns his lesson. Life is suffering.
You look like Pete Townsend.
I kept waiting for the him to say the hardy boys. Just based on how inconsequential the rest of his choices were
comment for the algorithm
Wheel of Time series not on a best of list of book series reminds me that these lists are 100 subjective by a person who hasn't read near enough books.
Wheel of Time series, although good, is not great enough to be on a top ten, and I could say that your suggestion of not reading enough books also applies to anyone who would consider this a top ten series. Like many series, I'm looking at you overhyped Song of Ice and Fire, it gets lost and becomes meh after a while, it just doesn't hold the interest anymore. I'm not a big Stephen King fan, and i agree that it's not that well written but the Dark Tower series did hold my interest till the end, but that might be because I was picking up books that were influenced or inspired by the Robert Browning poem Childe Roland to the dark tower came, and it's surprising were this poem shows up...
@@prc789 Your opinion is of course - your opinion and not reality. Anything you say after that I've automatically tuned out.
@@mygad the same thing applies to you as well
First, to have King on a top list of anything but plagiarized stories is insulting. Any reasonable search through the last century will find the source of virtually every story he has written already created by someone else. Besides, Dark Tower is fantasy not Sci-fi. If you don’t know the difference you have no business proposing a list of the greatest of either.
Second, like your other videos, this list continues to demonstrate your recency bias. If it is the best list you can come up with, you need to update your library card. To not have a series by Doc Smith, Asimov, Heinlein, Harrison, Burroughs, or even Adam’s is insulting. Hell, Asimov arguably wrote two of the greatest series of all time and you have neither on the list. WTF!?!
Ahhh yes….everything is plagiarized.
Yeah totally
Please enlighten me
The Wayward Pines show was shit...
"Most perfect"? If something is perfect, there is nothing better then it. Do you can be more perfect nor most perfect.
The original trilogy for Dune is the only “good” stuff. The rest is a trashy attempt to cash in.
Not all six originals?
@@EliasuSan Only the first 4 books can be considered Originals, call me cynical, but I firmly believe Heretics and Chapterhouse were written to capitalize on the increased awareness due to the David Lean mess of a film (released in the same year as heretics). I firmly believe that Frank Herberts BuSab universe is far superior to the Dune books, not that Dune was bad.
Most perfect ending my ass,could not disagree more with that on TDT because it is the likely second to last cycle and there's no pay off