What are the best fantasy books ever written? I have spent quite some time thinking about this question and have come to the conclusion not to publish a top ten or other kind of list of my favorite fantasy books right now. The main reason for this is that the list would consist almost completely out of books from my Best Fantasy Series list. Any additions to the list would mostly likely be books from other series written by some of the authors in my Best Fantasy Authors list.
I have come to the conclusion that, at this point in time, a list of Best Fantasy Books would not contain much new information and that therefore the creation of such a list would serve no purpose.
Of course there are great fantasy books that are not part of a series. Good examples are Tigana, written by Guy Gavriel Kay, which is a great book that would definitely be on this list, and the brilliant The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Another good book is The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. However, this book is the first in his Kingkiller Chronicle series and, although the rest of the series has not been published yet, should not be seen as a stand-alone book.
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I will examine my bookshelves and try to come up with a list of my favorite fantasy books. Please leave a comment to refresh my memory or to point me in the direction of some great stand-alone fantasy books I haven’t read yet!
In the mean time, if you are looking for good fantasy books to read, you can check out the page containing what I believe to be the Best Fantasy Series .
A short update on the planned television series of Game of Thrones, the pilot that was created, the actors involved and the timeline.
Everyone interested enough in fantasy to visit this website will have heard of and probably have read The Song of Ice & Fire series by George R.R. Martin. It is one of my favourite series and hearing over a year ago that plans were being made to turn it into a television series was fantastic. And when hearing that HBO, involved in many of the best television series ever made, was interested in making it one of their original series, I was in nirvana!
Most of the time, when news is too good te be true it isn’t true. However, by the end of 2008 HBO announced that they had ordered a pilot for A Game of Thrones, the first book of A Song of Ice & Fire.
Actors were cast and several high-profile names were revealed throughout 2009, with the biggest name being that of Sean Bean who plays the role of Ned Stark in the pilot.
For more information, like other actors involved, see IMDB.
In November 2009 filming of this pilot was wrapped in Morocco and now we will have to see if HBO is impressed by it or not. HBO is expected to take the decision on whether or not to order a full season of Game of Thrones around March 2010.
I will keep you updated in case of news. In the mean time, let’s keep our fingers crossed.
Update: Game of Thrones television series confirmed by HBO.
I have added a page discussing the Best Fantasy Series to the site. It is an overview of what I believe to be the best fantasy series ever written. When starting this list I intended to make a Top 10 of fantasy series. However, I came up with more than ten series I really liked and wanted to include so it became a Top 12.
Note that I created this list firstly based on my opinion of these series and secondly on my view of how influential the series 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 fans of one or more of these series and claim they should be higher up the list while saying that other series shouldn’t even be on the list. Tastes differ but let me you if you disagree with the list and I might reconsider.
