If you are like me, then you are a huge fantasy fan. It is easily my favorite genre and I have to force myself to read to read other books. But for this list, we will be staying with this genre as we share our list of the 21 must read fantasy books of all time!
Here’s the list from the article:
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien
A Song of Ice and Fire Series by George R.R Martin
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
Mistborn Series by Brandon Sanderson
The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan
Dune by Frank Herbert
The Night Angel by Brent Weeks
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The First Law series by Joe Abercrombie
The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Discworld by Terry Pratchett
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1 by Patrick Rothfuss
Temeraire by Naomi Novik
For me a lot of these are solid, but some are pretty questionable. I regret the time I spent with Night Angel, for example, and found Hunger Games to be entertaining, but not substantial enough to get past the first book.
Hunger games also isn’t fantasy, it’s Sci-Fi.
The fact that it’s on the list and not something like Spellmonger tells me the person who made this article isn’t really all that passionate about fantasy books and likely based their research off various google results for “popular fantasy series”.
I don’t know Spellmonger; I’ll have to check it out
Haven’t you been to a bookstore/browsed books online? They’re the same thing, that’s why they’re in the same category! /s
Nothing to say about a list that ranks Dresden files above earthsea and discworld!
Temeraire? Im reading those now, they are okay but not THAT good.
Is Hunger Games fantasy? I haven’t read them but the movies makes them seem more like a futuristic dystopia, scifi.
Thanks for the summary. I can agree with each deserving its place…
Except First Law. Couldn’t get into that one, but may give it another try.
I would recommend not. The ending was extremely frustrating for me. Throughout the series all the characters grow and then in the last two pages they all revert back to who they were at the start and go back to doing exactly what they were doing before
These lists are subjective. I’m glad my favourite one is in there (see user name) but it’s weird to me that Robin Hobb and Codex Alera aren’t on there
Also, stop putting Patrick Rothfuss on these things. His series will never be finished and we should stop getting people stuck on book 2
That and G. R. R. Martin. ASOIAF is never going to be finished.
I mean he has other stuff, but him completely ignoring finishing his biggest series is frustrating.
It’s really irresponsible to include Rothfuss and Martin.
Nah, Martin still has a place. He’s written a ton beyond A Song of Ice and Fire. The Wildcards series has been going on for over 30 years.
Rothfuss wrote 2 books (I refuse to call whatever the hell is novellas were “books”) and has spent the time since going to conventions, playing board games, and raising bees. Which isn’t a problem, seems like a pretty chill lifestyle. What is a problem is his continued promises that he’s working on the book, getting angry at fans when they ask him about it, and his insistence that he’s a modern author despite not putting out a real book for over 15 years now.
And where’s Raymond Feist?!
Magician: Apprentice was my first foray into fantasy and the subsequent series made me a huge fan of the whole genre. It’s definitely on my list to reread.
Raymond E. Feist is the only author that made me “understand” why dnd is popular. (I did not have a group growing up to play it with.)
His early works are great–although I am less impressed by his later ones which got very repetitive.
But the collabs with Janny Wurts were wonderful.
Yeah Rothfuss is what, 10 years late on the final book now? Has he addressed that at all recently?
Crippling anxiety and depression, plus an overwhelming fear of disappointing his entire fan base by not living up to their expectations of his finale.
He reinvested his time into world builders and probably won’t come back to writing any time soon
He’s already disappointed us. Just put the darn book out already.
Disappointing us on schedule is different from writing something bad and disappointing us
It won’t? I just got sucked into the first audio book by accident and enjoyed it quite a bit.
I’m always sad to see Codex Alera not get the respect it deserves. Granted, considering its origin, it doesn’t deserve much respect, but the end product is just so good imo.
Also never see Embers of Illeniel make the list either. Mageborn is an alright fantasy romp but the Embers prequel series really steps into interesting territory for me. It’s that perfect level of fantasy setting meets Sci fi concepts. Like ye Olde battlefield earth.
Granted, considering its origin, it doesn’t deserve much respect
Can you elaborate on that?
Codex Alera started as a drunken bet between Jim and another party that he couldn’t write a series on just two wildly disparate concepts. They were “pokemon” and “the lost Roman legion” lmao idk about your feelings but book series founded on foolish drunken bets probably don’t deserve much respect. This is a wondrous exception to that rule.
Lmao, never knew that. Honestly, that makes it even more impressive to me
That list reads more like a “21 books that I’ve read–with a few girl authors I heard were good or famous or black thrown in”.
Brent Weeks is not a great author, and while Jim Butcher is consistent in his output (barring the few years where his RL went to shit on him) his Craft suffers in his non-urban fantasy series. (He coasts a LOT on Harry Dresden’s voice and charm and culture references, and doesn’t get that crutch in his other series and it shows.) I LIKE Jim Butcher, but there’s tons of authors that can write circles around him. His career is based on completing books and getting them out the door, not creating masterworks.
Where’s Robin McKinley? Robin Hobb? Kate Elliott, who was writing and COMPLETING her Crown of Stars epic fantasy series at the same time Martin and Jorden were writing (and never completed their series)? Lois McMaster Bujold, whose Challion series is just as good as her Vorkosigan series? Jacqueline Carey? And if we’re including YA, which the Hunger Games suggests (although as one person pointed out, those are sci-fi), where’s Tamora Pierce? Patricia C. Wrede?
The person who wrote that list reads a very specific part of the genre and leaves a LOT of the greats out.
Robin Hobb
Ugh, I disliked the Assassin’s Apprentice series. It’s written like his mentors have some sort of plan for dealing with Royal, when really the entirety of their plan is “let him do whatever he wants, up to and including getting everyone killed and selling out the entire country”. That was the most disappointing, limp-dicked arc to a story I’ve read among books that are considered good by some people. I kind of enjoyed the first book or two while reading it, but I very much wished I had read something else by the time I was done.
Bro Jim has chops I don’t think a lot of people respect. I hated BG/PT more than most and am still pretty vocal about how blatant a cash grab it was, but that’s just the latest Dresden drip. Go back and look at Codex Alera again. The complexity of plot, the subtle politics and character relationships, and the over the top large scale action. Imo it’s pretty great all time fiction work, and it’s genesis was a drunken bet about Pokémon and the lost Roman legion. I’m honestly hopeful for the Olympian Affair, as the Cinder Spires series had a very promising start.
These lists are so subjective. For example, The Dresden Files have been around for a while, but I wouldn’t consider them to be the top of the fantasy genre. Also, no Robin Hobb?
I don’t dislike Dresden Files but I’m liking it less as it veers further & further from its initial premise. Book 1 and book…er, 16? the latest one…are so tonally different. Power creep, yeah, is part of it, but also it went from “fun noir throwback starring Detective Hard-Boiled” solving things cleverly (and without spellslinging ALL the time) to “what if a Jedi with the power of God and pop culture references on his side fought Irish folklore kaijus while Bigfoot was watching”.
Like… I’m strapped in for the ride and enjoying it besides but the series seems to have gotten a lot less intellectually stimulating and than before and is now “big powers do a fighting”.
Just me?
I gave up after book 3 so I don’t have much valid input here. :)
I agree on this. I’m enjoying it none the less and I like the direction its going in. To me, it’s like going to see a movie like “Nobody”
You know what you’re getting into. You know you’ll be entertained. You know it won’t be too long. And you know it’ll never make a list as one of the greats or win any awards.
The “oh so nerdy” references weren’t quite so ubiquitous earlier in, were they? The question popped into my head the other day but I don’t feel like going back to check.
They need to add Malazan book of the fallen. Easily my fave fantasy series.
Getting through that first book was sheer willpower
Because of first book most people quit. Thats Malazans biggest weakness. Author throws you in this world without explaining anything and you need to get hold of everything. Gardens of the moon shines in re-read. If you have will try to continue!
I felt very similar about The Eye of the World, even with the glossary. But I am so happy I stuck with it.
I’ve tried both more times than I care to admit and I can’t do it. Malazan I think is doable if it hits me at the right time in my life but Eye of the World drives me right up the wall. Mat is my least favorite literary character in any series I’ve ever read, bar none. I have never wanted to reach through a book to strangle words more strongly than I did when I read Eye of the World and Mat starts up his stupid whiney dumb moronic mouth breather idiot horseshit.
He does get better and there is a reason for it all if that helps.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t. The fact that Mat becomes the authors favorite or whatever does not help me stomach the walking sack of drippy garbage he is in the first book. The fact that a lot of people say it doesn’t really pick up till book 5 or so doesn’t help either. I probably wouldn’t have been able to stick with stormlight archive if the first 3 books were as punishing to read.
The series doesn’t pick up until 5? Or Mat being garbage? The first I don’t really agree with. Egwene’s experience in the second chills and the battle was really great. The third grants Rand his title and
spoiler
Tells Rand who he really is and he starts to embrace it. And sets up his people.
Things do ramp up starting with 5, but I wouldnt say it “picks up”. For the second part, I do agree. Mat is kinda a little removed, but in 5 he does have an experience that is an awakening or turning point for him.
Edit: “ramp up” and “pick up” are the same thing… I guess what im saying is I dont think it is slow by any means. At least not at that point. 8-10 is kinda going slowly, but it is cool with me because I have become so invested in the characters.
The huge size scares me tbh.
I found taking a break between each book helped. Refreshed me and made it less of a slog.
I disagree. I think the 300,000 year history is a feat, and the actual world is incredibly diverse, but it’s a huge commitment for what I don’t think has been worth the payoff. I have enjoyed it, but I’d never put it on an essential list.
Here are some of my favorites:
- Cradle by Will Wight
- Mage Errant by John Bierce
- Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
- Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
- The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart by Stephanie Burgis
- Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater
- The Riyria Revelations by Michael J. Sullivan
- Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames
- The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss
- The Sword of Kaigen by M. L. Wang
Legends & Lattes! What a fun little jaunt that was.
If you liked that one I’d suggest checking out The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, which is a very similar vibe as a contemporary fantasy. I put off reading it for a bit because contemporary and witches aren’t normally my thing but it’s really, really great.
Some of my favs chosen there, so I’ll look into your choices I’m not familiar with.
Well, technically it’s 21 series, not books. 😀
Except why just A Wizard of Earthsea. I mean it was a trilogy…
There’s actually 6 books (book 5 is a short story collection that’s really useful before book 6). I just learned it wasn’t a trilogy this year and enjoyed the last few. Definitely a tonal shift though as she’s matured in her preferences.
Oh wow. I’ve got some reading to do! I read them in the late 1970s and there were only the three!
Enjoy the read! And the reread, they hold up great!
What do you mean there’s 6 books?! It was the earthsea quartet when I read it like 25 years ago?!
Yeah! There’s been more released since then! They’re enjoyable. And I’d argue they retain the same audience from back then, discussing and contemplating more advanced ideas, not that the others didn’t.
I don’t get why American Gods is always recommended. Neil Gaiman takes the coolest ideas in principle and finds the most underwhelming ways imaginable to flesh them out. That and Neverwhere were really disappointing to me for those reasons.
I liked American Gods but also can’t find it in myself to disagree with this take.
I think that’s why I can never get through his books, but seem to always like the movies and TV shows made of his work.
Perhaps it’s some artifact of starting in news and comics? Starting out as a writer who collaborates with others? He’s great at that. Just can’t get through his books on their own.
Sounds more like you have a particular preference for big bold YA style narrative ENDINGS vs. real life endings where those that survived soldier on, what does “The End” even mean, and “what was the point of it all anyway?”, style of existential and humanist literature. If you feel this way about Garman’s endings, you should also avoid Kurt Vonnegut, Albert Camus, Milan Kundera, and Ursula K. Le Guin.
I get where you’re coming from, but I don’t think that’s it. The entire book was kinda milquetoast, which wasn’t a deal breaker. It was just underwhelming no matter was going on. I found myself interested in continuing the story, but I just didn’t really care about any of the characters by the end.
Contrast that with something like East of Eden or Crime and Punishment, which are favorites of mine. I’m about a third of the way through blood meridian, which is fantastic so far. I’m actually a huge fan of Vonnegut fwiw.
Good analysis on your part, but Gaiman just falls flat for me.
Fair enough. I liked the sequel, “Ananzi Boys” better. And if I’m being honest, recently I’ve become more a fan of Neil Gaiman reading stories than the actual printed word. And for what it’s worth, I’m also a big Steinbeck fan. Not sure I fully understand how a narrative could be milquetoast, but the protagonist of American Gods certainly was meek and easily dominated throughout.
Has J. K. Rowling been officially cancelled now?
She might be a horrible person, but Harry Potter absolutely belongs on a list like this IMO.
For sake of argument, maybe HP is seen as it’s own thing now. It’s become so ubiquitous it’s sort of general fiction and not thought of as grouped with anything.
Kids books don’t typically get added to lists like this.
That list has multiple kids books, including Wizard of Earthsea, Narnia and Hunger Games.
That list has multiple kids books, including Wizard of Earthsea, Narnia and Hunger Games.
It’s a bit tragic how she’s fallen in with that crowd. I don’t think she bears anyone any ill will herself, she’s just stupidly sought refuge in the wrong place. She never should’ve bothered, not on twitter, the place is too polarised. She started off playing devil’s advocate, but quickly learned there’s no room for ifs and buts on socmed and - fuelled by the shock of being threatened with violence - flew to a bunch of accomodating cunts for reassurance.
I would never suggest someone read all of ASOIAF. It just gets ridiculous in length and complexity for no valid reason, and he’s likely to die before finishing the series. The first 2-3 books are alright though.
Also, no Hobbit? No Legend of Drizzt? Wtf. RA Salvatore is one of the best.
I strongly disliked RA Salvatore’s writing style. I found it far too flowery which took away from the enjoyment of the story.
That’s fair. It’s not exactly adult level most of the time. If you want D&D stuff though, War of the Spider Queen might be more palatable. He chaired a round table of 6 authors, each of them writing one book in the series, so if you don’t like one style it changes with the next. Post-Drizzt timeline and Drow being Drow. It’s my personal favorite.
With the WOTC nonsense earlier this year I’m a little reluctant to get into more DnD stuff (my group switched to pf2e), though I still wanna know more about the lore. Thanks for the suggestion though, I’ll add that to the list :)
What’s the WOTC nonsense? For the un-initiated.
I’m probably wrong about what they’re talking about, but they made some changes in their push to essentially kill off old content. Sword coast or bust, but they’ve been pushing their world since 3rd edition.
Ah, okay. Thanks for the input!
Oh! I just remembered now. They made some changes to their open gaming license which affects a lot of homebrew folks. That could be what the other poster was talking about.
Caveat: this is not a good explanation, and deliberately avoids most of the nuance.
WOTC licensed the core rules for 5e (a small fraction of what’s contained within the player’s handbook) in a way that allowed third-parties to release content designed for 5e. Then they changed the licence in a way that would require every third-party to pay them significant royalties. They said it wasn’t released and they were gathering feedback, but they were also telling people to sign it. It seems to be a money-grab by the parent company Hasbro (which also owns Magic the Gathering).
Paizo came out with the ORC licence which is held by a trust, is irrevocable, and has community support.
Hmm… getting some gist of the issue.~~ But who is Paizo and what’s ORC? ~~
Nevermind, Pazio is the company that released Pathfinder.
Thanks for the info.
Is Hunger Games considered fantasy? I can’t think of anything fantasy about it, everything is just advanced technology.
Yeah. I see no fantasy elements in HG. It’s more science fiction if any thing.
Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson should be expanded to the entire Cosmere, not just Mistborn. Several other book series in the same universe, and all are very good IMO, e.g. Stormlight Archive, Elantris, and my favorite, Warbreaker.
He has Way of Kings on there as a separate listing, so he’s not ignoring the rest of the cosmere
Granted, it’s generally a weak list. Night Angel was hot garbage, and eclipsed by Weeks own later series lightbringer even in spite of it’s terrible last portion.
Night Angel is maybe the oddest choice on that list. I don’t think it’s hot garbage, but Lightbringer is much better, though probably also doesn’t deserve to be on the list unless we’re talking hard magic systems. If the author needs an assassin book… well I think there’s no shortage of those in the genre.
Some of these books are true must reads, but several are just okay and a couple are downright bad.
Which ones would you leave off?
Patrick Rothfuss because he’s never finishing it. Not that he doesn’t deserve it based on merit, but it’s irresponsible to recommend him. Authors take time and most will eventually finish one day but it’s pretty clear he’s not.
Pet peeve of mine but grouping an entire series together as an entry in a list of individual books is so stupid. So many lists do this all over the net.
At least pick a stand out book from the series or something. Sorry but don’t promise me a list of 21 books then give me trilogies and series all getting their own single entry.
I came here to complain that there’s way more than 21 books on the list.
Discworld is a series of over 40 books!
Lists of book series are way more useful. Book 14 of Wheel of Time is one of the greatest fantasy books of all time. Would I recommend anybody goes off and reads it, hell no.
But that’s pretty much what the OP list is doing by having the whole Wheel of Time series on there. To me it’s more useful and interesting to see your opinion of that one book than yet another generic list of popular series masquerading as a list of specific books.
Read most of these and some I agree with, some I don’t.
Weeks is okay, but I don’t think Night Angel is a “must read”.
I liked the Dresden Files well enough, but I don’t think it is must-read either. They were fun reads, but he wouldn’t be in the top authors even of urban fantasy specifically.
I don’t read them really, but Harry Potter seems influential enough that it should probably be on the list. I might make a case for some Scott Lynch and Robin Hobb to be there too. Sorta surprised neither Terry Brooks nor Terry Goodkind made the cut either, though I haven’t personally read them since I was very young.
Terry Goodkind is prolific and his characters are extremely relatable. His omission from the list and lack of references in the comment section is disappointing
Having read, and enjoyed, everything up to and including Law of Nines he’s repetitive and not terribly spectacular.
There’s a lot of good stuff in his books, which I guess is good because by all accounts he was the black sheep of his family who I’m told are all lovely people.
Relatable? Sorry but I’m not a rapist.
