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!
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.
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”.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
They need to add Malazan book of the fallen. Easily my fave fantasy series.
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.
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 bitch, 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.
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 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.
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.
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.
I don’t understand the love that the Dresden Files gets. Great idea with terrible execution. Butcher’s writing is just clumsy with bad dialogue and weak world building. The series was originally recommended to me because I was lamenting that Gibson had moved away from noir after Neuromancer and a friend thought Butcher would fit the bill.
