Best Fantasy Series
Here you will find an overview of what I believe to be the best and most influential fantasy series ever written. When starting this list I intended to make a Top 10 Fantasy Series. However, I came up with more than ten series I really liked and wanted to include so it has become a Top 12. I have decided not to limit the number of series in this list which will allow me to update and extend it if I feel I need to.
Note that I created this list firstly based on my opinion of these series and secondly on my view on how influential the series are or have been. Of course I haven’t read all fantasy series out there and my preference for high (or epic) fantasy will have influenced my selection. Many of you will be hardcore fans of one of these series and claim it should be number one while saying that other series shouldn’t even be on the list. If you do not agree with my views or if you have additions, please leave a comment and perhaps I will use your feedback to update this list!
1. The Lord of the Rings
Wizards, Elves, Dwarves and Orcs: Lord of the Rings has it all and has defined the genre. It is the well-known story about the Hobbit Frodo who finds himself in the possession of the one ring that will rule them all. Against all odds, but with the help of a fellowship, Frodo will have to destroy the ring to prevent the evil lord Sauron from ruling the world, while at the same time the forces of good are fighting Orcs and Uruk-Hai in huge battles to distract Sauron.
Perhaps it is not the best written fantasy series and but LoTR is definitely the most influential series ever written. Millions have read this masterpiece of J.R.R. Tolkien and a whole new generation has gotten known the trilogy through the movies. Fantasy as we know it today wouldn’t be the same without this series.
Read more about The Lord of the Rings.
2. A Song of Ice & Fire
Politics and warfare, in a world where no one is free of doubt and everyone has a dark and/or weak side. The most powerful Houses of Westeros are fighting for the throne, while at the Wall in the north long-forgotten, mythical enemies gather for invasion. At the same time, on another continent, a young girl – the righteous queen of Westeros according to some – prepares for an invasion of her own. And she will bring some interesting pets to battle…
Fantasy does not have a prominent place in A Song of Ice & Fire, certainly not in the beginning of the series, while politics do play a large part. George R.R. Martin’s writing skills, together with many, interesting plots, unexpected turns and incredible characters, make this series a masterpiece. An interesting note is that HBO has recently given the go ahead for a television series based on the first book of the series (A Games of Thrones). If only Martin had a bit more “writers testosterone” and would focus his attention on completing the next books in the series.
Read more about A Song of Ice and Fire.
3. The Malazan Book of the Fallen
Being a soldier is probably never easy but being a Bridgeburner in the armies of the Malazan Empire really sucks. Incredible powerful wizards, demons, Ascendants and even Gods are fighting their wars and playing their games with you right in the middle. On the other hand, no one in these series seems to be without some kind of ability and gods are probably more afraid of mortals than the other way around.
Fantasy to its extreme, epic, overpowering, almost more you can handle. It can be a bit over the top but personally I love it and especially the last 100 pages of each book are fantastic. Everyone is special and everyone is flawed. A character in a book of Steven Erikson will have no clue as to what will be waiting for him around the next corner as is the case for you as a reader.
Read more about The Malazan Book of the Fallen.
4. The Wheel of Time
Every Age goes through the same struggle between good and evil. Each time the Dragon stands against the Dark One but is unable to utterly defeat him. This Age, sheepherder Rand al’Thor is the Dragon Reborn and with the help of many, many friends, he just might pull it of.
The Wheel of Time is a great and influential series with the cliché story of a simple boy who turns out to be the great hero, but it is well written. A lot of attention is given to the personal issues of the main character but the series is often considered to be a bit too extensive and having too many characters. Author Robert Jordan passed away in 2007 before finishing the 12th book of the series. Hopefully Brandon Sanderson can write a satisfying end to the series.
Read more about The Wheel of Time.
5. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (the Unbeliever)
A leper who is despised in real life and not too happy with himself, enters a magical Land (possibly in his own mind) where he is healthy again and is considered a hero destined to defeat an evil lord. Covenant struggles to believe the world is real and tries to prove it is not, while against his will he does take upon himself the role of defeating The Despiser.
The main character is an unstable, bitter man and the story is dark and psychological, with deep meanings and moral issues. This might scare away the average, casual fantasy reader but is at the same time a series you should definitely read. Also because the fantasy world described by Stephen R. Donaldson is very well created and often regarded as of the same level as Tolkien’s Middle-earth.
Read more about The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (the Unbeliever).
6. Discworld
A whole bunch of fantasy stories happening on a world carried on the backs of four elephants, standing on the back of a turtle… need I say more. The stories are not all connected, although many characters and groups of characters feature in more than one story. Many different topics and themes are discussed in the Discworld novels but always they are looked at from a humoristic point of view.
Not only are the stories brilliantly thought up and extremely funny, Terry Pratchett has also written them very well. It is high-class comedy in a world that is almost too fantastical too believe and that’s what I love about it. It is fantasy making fun of fantasy: simply hilarious.
7. The Riftwar saga
Through magical means a rift is opened between two worlds and the home world of the orphan Pug is invaded. Pug, who is thought to have minor magical abilities, is transported to the world of the enemy and becomes a great magician. As the series continues it turns out that Midkemia faces a far greater enemy.
It is high fantasy as it should be. Magician, the first book of the Riftwar series, was my introduction to the fantasy genre and just for that the Riftwar saga has earned a spot in this list. The story is not too complicated and characters are not that developed but Raymond E. Feist has an easy writing style and the series has more than enough interesting, new ideas to make it a great read.
Read more about The Riftwar Saga.
8. The Dark Tower
Fantasy meets spaghetti western. The gunslinger Roland is on a quest to find the Dark Tower. Along the way he picks up several friends who share in his destiny and through many amazing, strange adventures, both on Mid-World and our own world, Ronald comes nearer to the tower.
Definitely an odd one out on this list. The Dark Tower is not at all the typical high fantasy that characterizes the rest of the series in this list and it will prove to be a difficult read to many. However, it is so good that I simply couldn’t leave out and probably should have placed it higher if it had some elves and dwarves in it. Written by the legendary Stephen King, it is dark, mysterious, and disturbing: what more could you wish for?
Read more about The Dark Tower.
9. The Farseer Trilogy
A young boy, bastard son of a prince, is taught to be an assassin. He finds out he has incredible Skills and amazing Wits. Power struggles within a kingdom, invading raiders, and in the middle of it all a young royal assassin wanting revenge and struggling to save the kingdom and the people he loves.
The Farseer series may not be very action-oriented, but it has great plot twists and very solid character building. Robin Hobb, perhaps because she is a woman, puts a lot of emotion in her writing and the main characters in her books really come to life and develop themselves throughout the series.
Read more about The Farseer Trilogy.
10. The Sword of Truth
A boy turns out to be legendary hero, destined to face evil enemies with incredible powers and of course he gets help from an old wizard and a beautiful girl. It is a clear cut story of good versus evil containing a lot of morality. The story must sound somewhat familiar by now but it is well constructed and there are some interesting new forms of magic in the series.
Some love it, some hate it: let’s say that it is not exactly my cup of tea. The first couple of books were pretty good but I have to admit that I stopped reading after 5th Book. It became a bit too romantic and tedious for my taste (not what I am looking for when reading a fantasy book). On the other hand, millions have read Terry Goodkinds books and it is on of the few fantasy series of which a quite successful television series has been produced.
Read more about The Sword of Truth.
11. The Belgariad
Garion finds out he is a descendant of a powerful sorcerer and goes on a quest to find and protect an orb that has the power to rule the world. As foretold by an ancient prophecy, Garion, together with his friends and family, has to battle the followers of the evil god Torak and even will even have to face the god himself.
It is a nice read but definitely not ground-breaking in any way. The overall story is quite straightforward and the characters are not very complex. Simplicity is not always a bad thing and as many people have read the series and like it, Belgariad has been quite influential but it is not a series I will read for a second time.
Read more about The Belgariad.
12. Shannara
Set in the distant future, after the destruction of the world as we know it, several races (men, elves, dwarves and trolls) fight each other for world domination. A group of people (the Druids) tries to prevent war and defeat evil as do members of the Shannara family.
With a storyline and races based on The Lord of the Rings, some say this series is a simplified copy of LoTR. To me, the series it is a nice and easy read but that is about it. Than again, Shannara has a lot of fans and has been an introduction to fantasy for many so I felt I had to include it in this list.
Read more about Shannara.
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There it is: my list of best fantasy series. If you are not familiar with one or more of these series, I hope this list will help you decide which series to read next!
As indicated before, this list is just based on my opinion complemented with my view on the mark the series made on fantasy/history. If you don’t agree, please share your opinion with the rest of us!
February 28th, 2013 at 04:58
Thanks for the list. Am reading Sword of the Truth at the moment. Would definitely check out the other books.
December 20th, 2012 at 07:17
I’ve checked out quite a few different top 10/20/100 best fantasy series lists, and I think this list is reflecting some pretty solid taste. I’ve only read 6 of these so far, and just ordered the Riftwar series as well as the first few books of the Malazan series (which is on every list out there so it better be awesome). I completely agree (w the list author)about the Sword of Truth series, and quit reading it around book 5 or 6 due to me wanting to seriously hurt Goodkind for wasting so much of my time with fluff characters and extended torcher scenes without actually advancing the plot at all. Eddings is an entertaining author for new readers, but is too simple for the advanced reader imo. Shannara is crap once you’ve been exposed to a good author. My recommendations would be to include The Night Angel trilogy (Brent Weeks) here, and to make sure that you NEVER include The Inheritance Cycle (Paolini) or Memory Sorrow, and Thorn (Tad “bore my ass off” Williams) on your list cause they will ruin it completely imo.
October 5th, 2012 at 04:02
Great list, keep updating it.
Some suggestions
1. Inheritance cycle (first got me to read fantasy)
2. The Legend Of Drizzt
Otherwise great books, but please… DO NOT ADD HARRY POTTER… that book is one of the biggest disgraces to fantasy ever!
August 12th, 2012 at 02:01
I DOnt know what is happen! Guns, smoke! The whole world is explode! We are just running! Running very fast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
August 12th, 2012 at 01:59
SEA OF TROLLS¡!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OMG where is sea of trolls that’s like the best book I’ve ever read seaoftrollsseaoftrollsseaoftrollsseaoftrolls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sea of trolls is absolute genius what is this!
June 4th, 2012 at 20:55
I’m glad to see you included the Belgariad. I cut my teeth on the fantasy genre with this series many years ago. A highly entertaining series which I’ve gone back and read several times.
It’s a great read especially for younger readers or if your not looking to give yourself a headache keeping track of a bazillion characters.
Other Eddings’ series are also very entertaining, especially the Elenium which has a thicker plot with more political undertones. The lead character is priceless too…
May 27th, 2012 at 03:58
great list but you missed these
1.mist-born- by Brandon Sanderson
2.Conan- by E Howard
3.amber series- by roger zealny
4.black company- by glen cook
April 13th, 2012 at 08:29
great list!
i’m just getting back into reading and have just read riftwars. great start to get back into, and now i have some recommendations for future reading.. cheers
April 2nd, 2012 at 22:31
Just a little helpful criticism. Why don’t you toughen up! Don’t add a series you don’t like just because you get a bunch of people bitching about it. Jeez! You don’t really think Shannara or Sword of Truth are that good but you add them because of pressure from other people. Take them off and put something else that you like. If you let everyone affect your decisions on your own site it’ll get boring fast. Trust me.
Besides, half the fun of these lists comes from reading comments written by idiotic kids/non-readers bitching about how they think something like Harry Potter should be on a Best Fantasy Series list. By non-readers i mean they hopped on the Harry Potter bandwagon with little or no prior reading experience.
Hope you don’t take this the wrong way. It’s just a little friendly advice. Adding stuff just because it’s a bestseller means eventually even SHIT like Twilight will make it onto this list, as I’ve seen many stupid tween fan girls bitch about on other sites’ lists.
/Rant
April 2nd, 2012 at 17:57
LOL Harry potter on the Best Fantasy List?? GTFO. Harry Potter is shallow, with a thin plot & characters.
March 8th, 2012 at 18:04
A fairly good list, but putting Lord of the Rings at the top simply because it sparked the genre is not the best reason. True, I have not finished it(because I started Malazan Book of the Fallen) it’s morality seems predictable and not challenging. I have read all of the current Song of Ice&Fire books published and concur that they are verrrrry good and interesting I am currently more wowed by Malazan(I am just now on Memories of Ice) and absolutely love it’s epic scope and the interesting twist in that it is not really much of a bonus to be powerful, because the more powerful you become, the more mortal you also become in a way. The breadth of the world he leaves you in takes my breath away each time he switches continents. But that’s just my opinion
January 6th, 2012 at 21:58
Good list, I don’t agree with all and thing you should mention that you will re-rate “Song of Ice and Fire” as well as “Wheel of Time” after they are finished. I like them both but who knows how they will end. I recommend Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn Trilogy, you won’t regret the read.
December 1st, 2011 at 19:28
Please stop including Jordan’s books in these lists. You wrote that Goodkind was tedious? I actually managed to make it through his series…preachy, but otherwise excellent, with a creative, thought-proving and ultimately satisfying ENDING. Jordan, however, has dragged his bloated encyclopedia collection on and on, giving us every fucking detail of every little fucking thing along the way. Around book forty-seven I found myself saying “Who gives a fuck” several times a chapter, forcing me to just give up on the whole thing. I really don’t care whether Rand defeats the Dark One anymore. In fact I hope he loses and every character in that world gets fucked in the ass for eternity.
November 13th, 2011 at 09:11
“the name of the wind” definitely needs to come on this list it is far more enjoyable than “the belgariad” also maybe the list could be a little longer with sorrow memmory and thorn and dresden files thrown in?
October 16th, 2011 at 06:36
Hi I think Glen cook’s “The Black Company” series should be there somewhere
September 22nd, 2011 at 12:36
Harry Potter really just isn’t that great. It’s enjoyable, for what it is, which is basically just silly fluff fantasy. That’s why it isn’t on the list.
July 27th, 2011 at 07:48
Really Harry Potter should be on top..
June 4th, 2011 at 17:39
Thanks Shaz!
Well, Shanarra is on the bottom of the list and kind of deserves a spot due to its popularity…
June 1st, 2011 at 06:03
The inclusion of Shannara, one of the most derivative and predictable fantasies ever, deals a serious blow to this otherwise excellent list.
I would like to recommend the following too:
The Fionavar Trilogy
Joe Abercrombie’s Trilogy
Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone
May 28th, 2011 at 17:02
Hey jean, Terry goodkind is a man not a woman, no wonder you wouldn’t know a good book if it had to hit you in the face. Best fantasy writer? lol… kids these days…
March 8th, 2011 at 17:09
What a childish remark…
March 1st, 2011 at 05:35
In the teen section where it belongs.
February 28th, 2011 at 00:24
Tkx heaps for this listing as I have just discovered Amazon and am buying like an old lady at a bush fate. Your list helped a great deal pushing my purchases in the right direction.
December 27th, 2010 at 08:19
Nice, thanks for the recent updates. You should also include Earth Sea by Le Guin!
February 26th, 2010 at 16:56
Ice&Fire is the best, can’t wait for the television show! I wish other books would also be made into movies or series, quess it’t too expensive with not enough people watching it?
Jerry
January 22nd, 2010 at 20:16
You should put Sword of Truth higher on the list, it is the best series ever as Goodkind is the best fantasy writer. Her books have much more depth and emotion than the others in this list.
JEan
December 27th, 2009 at 17:17
Great list but where is Harry Potter?