The Riftwar series was the first of many fantasy series to be written by author Raymond E. Feist and easily one of the best and most influential fantasy series ever.
Through magical means a rift is opened between the two worlds Midkemia and Kelewan. The home world of the orphan Pug, Midkemia, is invaded by the Tsurani. Pug, who is thought to have minor magical abilities, is transported to Kelewan and becomes a great magician.
As the series continues the rift is closed but it turns out that Midkemia faces a far greater enemy: the moredhel led by the evil Murmandamus. Together with his friend Tomas, who becomes a great warrior during the series, and prince Arutha of Krondor, Pug has to stop Murmandamus from taking an ancient artifact that will make him all-powerful.
Books in the series
1982 Magician
1985 Silverthorn
1986 A Darkness at Sethanon
The Riftwar saga 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. Besides the Riftwar series, Feist has written several other fantasy series set in the same universe which are also definitely worth reading.
Written between 1977 and 1983 by Stephen R. Donaldson, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant tell the tale of a leper who is despised in real life and very frustrated with himself.
After an accident Covenant 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 wil he does take upon himself the role of defeating The Despiser.
The story takes place in a fantasy world which is very well created and often regarded as of the same level as Tolkiens Middle-earth. However, the story itself and the characters are not that comparable to Lord of the Rings.
The main character, Thomas Covenant, is an unstable, bitter man and the story is dark and psychological, with deap meanings and moral issues. This might scare away the average, casual fantasy reader but at the same time it will grip the attention of many. I believe it is a series that should definitely be read.
In the late seventies and early eighties Stephen R. Donaldson wrote two Covenant trilogies, the first being “The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever” and the second aptly called “The second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant”.
“The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant” is currently in the making. Donaldson has written and published first three books and one more is still to come.
After the genre became well-known and accepted/ respected during the second half of the twentieth century, the question was how fantasy would develop after the year 2000. Had it reached it’s top and would the genre settle down again or would it remain strong and continue to strenghten it’s position in literature and on the screen?
Authors
The authors that were big in the nineties, like George R.R. Martin, Robert Jordan (who regretably passed away in 2007), Raymond E. Feist and Robin Hobb, continued to write and dominate the world of fantasy literature. Most of them are still working on series that are far from finished.
However, new talents also have emerged. There have been quite a few newcomers, one more successful than the other, but for me the most notable are Steven Erikson (The Malazan Book of the Fallen) and Patrick Rothfuss (The Name of the Wind).
Old and new authors combined, I would say that the genre still is thriving and that we can be assured to have great new fantasy books and series for years to come!
Movies and television series
Many high profile fantasy movies have been made during the first decade of the new millennium. Of course there was the Lord of the Rings trilogy brought out between 2001 and 2003. Also the Harry Potter movies were released from 2001 onwards. Other fantasy movies worth mentioning aar The Chronicles of Narnia movies (2005 and 2008), The Golden Compass (2007) and Pan’s Labyrinth (2006).
Besides the successful movie releases, several new fantasy television series were produced between the year 2000 and 2010. Examples of these are Legend of the Seeker (cancelled after season 2), True Blood and BBC’s Merlin.
Not all movies and TV series have been of the utmost quality and/ or successful but from the perspective of movies and TV series, I think we can say the new millennium started out pretty good!
We have seen that fantasy remained a force to be reckoned with over the last ten years and managed to find the general audience better than ever but what is the current state of the fantasy genre and how will develop in the future?
After having discussed the origins of fantasy earlier, here is a short overview of how the genre developed during the second half of the twentieth century and positioned itself as a genre to be taken seriously.
Authors and their works
After publishing The Hobbit in 1937, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings was published in 1954-1955. The books became very popular and influenced the whole genre. Around the same time C.S. Lewis wrote The Chronicles of Narnia and not long after, during the late sixties and early seventies, Ursula K. Le Guin wrote her Earthsee novels. Soon after, several other influential authors entered the scene. Most noticeble were Terry Brooks (Shannara) and David Eddings (Belgariad) who wrote their fantasy series mainly in the late seventies, the eighties and the early nineties.
The likes of Raymond E. Feist, Robert Jordan, George R.R. Martin, Robin Hobb and Robert Jordan joined the genre throughout the eighties and nineties, helping to make fantasy into a mature genre.
Movies in the eighties
Not only the world of literature picked up and started to accept fantasy, Hollywood also stepped in. Many great fantasy movies were produced of which several were big hits with mainstream audiences. Everyone has heard of movies like The Neverending Story, Conan the Barbarian, Legend and Willow, and probably can name a few more they remember from those days. Together with the new fantasy books and series that were coming out, these movies helped introduce fantasy to the masses and make it allright to like the genre: people no longer needed to feel embarressed to read or watch fantasy.
This is how a genre that started out as myths told over camp fires and children’s tales, became a mature literature and movie genre, read and watched by many millions.
Next time, I will go into the developments during the first decade of the new millenium.
What can I tell you about this series that you haven’t heard before? Probably nothing. However, I felt that I had to dedicate at least one post on The Lord of the Rings so that perhaps one day, someone completely new to the genre of fantasy might visit this website and stumble upon it. For that person here is a short review of the series.
The Books
In 1954 J.R.R. Tolkien published his fantasy book The Lord of the Rings. The book was split up in the following three parts and became extremely popular over the years:
1. The Fellowship of the Ring
2. The Two Towers
3. The Return of the King
The series is considered by many (including myself) to be the best and most influential fantasy series ever made.
It is a classic story about good against evil. Against all odds, but with the help of a fellowship, the Hobbit Frodo has to destroy a magic 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-Haiin huge battles to distract Sauron.
The Movies
Between 2001 and 2003 the three books of the series were made into movies by director Peter Jackson. It became a brilliant trilogy of movies. With a great cast of both well-known and unknown actors, the LotR movies became a huge hype and very popular and won many Oscars. According to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) the movies are all among the 30 best movies of all time.
Millions have read this masterpiece of 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.
I have always found it difficult to form a decent opinion about the Harry Potter series: somehow something has never felt completely right.
As you may have seen they are not on my list of best fantasy series and the movies are placed 7th on my list of best fantasy movies but mainly because of their huge popularity. On the one hand I appreciate the books and enjoy watching the movies but on the other hand they just do not seem to be able to catch my attention.
Not my type of fantasy?
I can think of several reasons why Harry Potter is not my thing. Sure, the story itself is pretty good, the characters are quite well established and the magical elements often are cool and original. However, it just not be the type of fantasy I am into. The series is not particularly epic in scale nor is it mysterious or dark and it lacks the humor I like. Therefore, the series simply lacks the qualities I appreciate in fantasy.
Generation gap?
Another reason for not being a fan of Harry Potter is the fact that I don’t fit in the target age group. Many will say that the series can be read by young and old but I feel that the books but especially the movies are focused on a specific ‘age bandwidth’. The first movies are aimed at very young teenagers and book by book the content and style of the series gradually changes to match this group. Given that I am not a teenager anymore, Potter always appears just a bit childish to me. The Halfblood Prince was even ‘snoggy’ at times.
Conclusion
I can think of other reasons, like Harry Potter being too commercial for its own good but in the end I know that I shouldn’t complain to much. To be honest, we have to be grateful to J.K. Rowling for providing a very nice introduction to fantasy for a couple of million young people. Looking at it like this, she did the entire genre a favor and not just her bank account. However, the series has been quite one-dimensional and personally I believe it to be a good thing that the series is finished and that movies are also coming to an end.
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.
You may expect the list of best fantasy authors to consist of those brilliant minds that created the Best Fantasy Series. And guess what: you are right. However, you will see that order of this list is somewhat different.
I did take into account the influence of the author on the fantasy genre and the number of books written but my main focus was on writing style and skills. So please judge me too harshely right away when you find out that the great Tolkien is not number one in this list…
