FANTASY BOOK TITLES TIER LIST! 

Daniel Greene hope you are alright! And i could never mind one of your awesome tier lists :D

You should rank the first words of books, or just the best quotes.

I don't mind at all, I really enjoy these :D Take your time to relax.

totally not Jeff could do the first line of rhe book, but that’s Jim Butchers forte. How can you beat “ The building was on fire, and it wasn’t my fault”?

The funny thing about "The Return of the King" is it was NOT the title Tolkien wanted for the 3rd book, because it tells you what happens and he thought that was a bad idea. He wanted to call it "The War of the Ring" but the producer overruled him.

loool it is tho

Don't forget how he bumped it down to Eh^^

He should've said “I don't think anything from ASOIAF is going to go below solid”

Which is crazy because Fire & Blood is amazing

Fire and Blood sounds like an 80's Kung Fu movie

Miara Mck it implies the aftermath of a storm of swords that is kind of a large war battle and political battle, where A feast for crows just tells you that this is the consequences of the actions before because you know crows come after battles! So very poetic.

@@thedeadnightking9975 also crow is a nick name for a member of the nights watch. a feast for crows should have 100% been in poetic.

OH SHIT, I’m a dumbass, never caught on, yeah that titles awesome

@@Ub3rSk1llz except that the night's watch aren't in affc. They're only in it for like one chapter.

@@thallan But think about it, criminals are often sent to the wall to live out the rest of there lives serving the realm blah blah blah, so in a way, although much of this conceptual and literal feast for crows is dead, many are also prisoners of war. Pretty cool when you think of it like that I feel

LegendOfZia you’re wrong it’s drow and gif

Tolandruth no it drow and gif idiot

It's "Drow" like "bow", not "Drow" like "bow".

drow like "how now brown cow?" not "row row row your boat..."

English everyone!

That title format is a fantasy trope in its own right

Robert Winslade It is also a real point of criticism for the english language, where the preposition “of” is way overused. As an example: “The Dawn Of the Planet Of the Apes”

@@Faish09 It doesn't sound much better in German. Die Dämmerung des Affenplaneten or Die Dämmerung des Planeten der Affen. In my opinion, that sounds awkward and cumbersome.

@@chrismath149 On the other hand it disappears in languages like Polish, where we have noun forms for that. Name of the Wind - Imię Wiatru The Way of the Kings - Droga Królów Return of the King - Powrót Króla Etc

I'm just going to start calling them "Epitome of Generic."

I really thought the Blade Itself sounded poetic, and that was before I knew it came from an epic poem, I feel validated.

Before they are hanged comes from a German poet as well

"The Blade Itself" quotes the fricking Odyssey, but I guess Homer is not poetic enough for Daniel! :D

Love this, nice insight

Omg

Certainly a poetic-tier title. The arrangement of words is rare. It is never been heard without the usual terms as A, An, of and The.

I was actually waiting to see that and was disappointed when it wasn't on the list. It's one of my favorite book titles

@@shirashmu2188 Hey Daniel Greene what happened to our homie Joe Abercrombie's Before They Are Hanged?

It is my favorite Joe Abercrombie title for sure

@@mustachedpikachu7454 Me too. Never I heard the word Hanged in a title.

It literally says it in the freaking book as well!!!!!!!!!!! I have feelings about this tier list!!!

Holy hell that's awesome and actually really makes me want to read it

now i want to read it..

@@Al-nj8ow you should. It starts a bit slow but it's do worth it to push through that (let me rephrase, it starts amazing, page 5-100ish are a bit slow, after that it gets better and better)

Taragon Leaf he didn’t like Return of the King either, iirc.

Taragon Leaf based on that, I am assuming that Tolkien didn’t really know what he was going to call the three books separately. He had the name Lord of The Rings planned from the beginning, but when he had to split them up he wasn’t sure what to name the separate parts.

@@lordofdarkness4204 that's exactly correct. Tolkien never wanted to separate the Lord of the Rings into three volumes. That was a publisher decision because they thought it was going to flop and making three volumes instead of one giant book would mitigate some of the loss. Tolkien rushed this title "the two towers". He actually didn't even know what it meant. Contrary to popular belief it doesn't necessarily refer to orthanc and barad dur. In actuality the "two towers" could refer to pretty much any combination of the six towers in the book.

I think it's fantastic. The focus shifts to Orthanc, while Barad-Dur remains a threat. I just don't really know what else you'd call it.

@@tommyscott8511 The two towers are Orthanc and Minas Morgul.

YES, I was " who's ending and why? " and started reading

I think so too! That the first book is called the final empire just makes it more interesting, because it does not follow the usual logic. It would be super generic as the last book, but for the first one it's very intriguing.

Now I'm just thinking of Final Fantasy. The first game was already final, but it has sequels in the double digits.

Yeah it’s a title I would think would be for a last book, not the first. Arguably, you could reverse the title sequence of the trilogy and that would make more sense, if you don’t look at the actual content. Very intriguing.

its pretty much an obvious spoiler. is there anyone who doubted that Aragorn will become king at the end?

Because I really don’t think it is. Aragorn is made known to us pretty early as the king who needs to return to his kingdom. The title just says that he went, not what happens because he did, or his journey there.

It is a spoiler but it's one the series is building toward and hinting to throughout the entire thing, so it's also not really a spoiler

Wonder if he changed his mind about how to end the series at some point, seeing how the last book was originally titled "A Time for Wolves"? Maybe he just thought it was too spoilery, idk

@@arjunmanoj2155 well I believe the series was originally supposed to be a trillogy: a game of thrones -> a dance with dragons-> a time for wolves. Perhaps he felt that the vibe he was going for with a time for wolves was done well with a feast for crows.

Poetic and Solid if not Perfect

they thought american's couldn't handle the word philosopher

This is where a portal stone would come in handy. You could go to an alternate reality where the only difference is the US version was called Philosopher's Stone and see if it sold less copies. And then it would turn out that in that reality the Nazis won WWII or something.

@@naughtscrossstitches More importantly, they thought American *schools* couldn't handle philosopher

I accidentally watched the US version of the movie the other day. It was jarring.

Normally I'm more annoyed than offended whenever a European country does something like that because they think Americans are stupid, but that one really irks me.

As he has said a lot of times, get over it.

Every book of A song of Ice and Fire has an "A (something something)". I understand why people always omitted the "A" of the title, but it just doesnt sound the same without it.

@@pretendtheresaname9213 it just sounds better to me. I was just commenting on it because I thought it was interesting that it makes a difference to me. I'm not sure why, maybe it changes the tone of the title slightly.

ikr!

Yeah because "A Game of Thrones" implies an event in motion that starts to captivate you instead of presenting you with an idea of "Game of Thrones" which you can dismiss at face value if you so choose.

ooh that would be awesome! kingkiller has an appeal to it that name of the wind probably doesn't

@@mariaslm8 I agree! Name of the Wind is kind of poetic, but Kingkiller just sounds badass. Here's hoping book 3 follows suit!

'A Song Of Ice And Fire' as a series name is just beautiful. Sounds poetic, conveys the themes of the story, makes you want to read on. Much as i love The First Law, as a series name it's always struck me as a bit too generic, especially compared to the individual book titles

🤘

Seconded, what takes this title to perfection level is the fact that it's a lie in itself. (Locke's not his real name.) It's good as a title you'd see for the first time. But the story just transcends it to god-tier level.

It makes me want to read it, something titles dont usually do for me

Yeah, it really strikes up cool ideas in my head.

I was so confused hahaha i thought that I picked the final book

just sounds like a shitty faceless/generic faction from star wars to me

@@olliepugh3926 i feel that it works well in context

Lol

A little?

Loool

They've actually been shockingly civil so far

That’s a shame; semiautomagic sounds so much better IMO

That’s an amazing title. I always confuse the titles of the Dresden file novels with each other. Semiautomagic would have stood out no question.

Tomorrow Never Dies

... due to the word Lies followed by two capital Ls. I would like it even more if the word The is omitted.

@@deanryanmartin that's literally what they said : the alliteration

Heirofbooks DRM was just saying that removing ‘The” makes the alliteration more satisfying. I don’t know what the vague animosity is about.

@@UltimateKyuubiFox Yep. Lies of Locke Lamora makes a more painful punch to your gut. It sounds more direct and quick to read. Lies of Locke Lamora takes about 3 seconds to read while The Lies of Locke Lamora takes about 4 seconds.

@@deanryanmartin both those things take less than a second to read. 'The' provides emphasis to 'lies' which makes the rhythm of the title flow, is what gives it impact, and tells the reader what the book is about. Cutting 'the' would make the title weaker in every way and would just be awkwardly poor language usage...

Huh, in my edition it's titled "The Departure of Boromir", which I thought was terribly clever

@@joshual3486 now I want to know if death or departure was the original reading

"The Departure of a Friend"? "Finding a Fallen Brother"? "The Horn of Gondor"? No?

There are a lot of differing chapter names… hell, there are at least two titles for each of the six LotR books

Just for reference Tolkien did not name the books for publishing and was upset when they named it Return of the King, the chapter names have switched based on publishers too so hard to nail down all that.

well, co complaints here. They're fun to watch.

@@elessar6950 And easy to produce.

Yet here I am watching them every time! Haha

they are entertaining

Gotta milk that shit

If it sounds generic in english, I tend to just get the spanish title, as it sounds more epic to me for some reason. El Camino De Los Reyes. No, I am not a master of spanish, and am a bit lost on some of the stuff there. But as a student of it, I am trying to get there. And I love the Cosmere, so one of my ultimate goals/benchmarks is to get the audio and text of that version, and understand it from both sources. I think I am about halfway there in comprehension. It should help that I have already flown through and understood the english version several times. o.O

If it would not have been recommended to me by an excellent clerk at my bookstore, I would've never picked Sanderson up.

I think the words themselves are generic, there are a lot of titles with "way" and "king(s)" in them. But put together it raised the question (at least for me) "Ok, so what is the way of the Kings?" How does the author interpret kings and their actions? It suggests, that all kings have a specific part in common regarding how they rule. And that is quite intriguing, I think

@@adrianbundy3249 Are you telling me that they had the option of naming it El Camino Real in Spanish and didn’t do so? Talk about missing an oppertunity.

A Little Hatred and A Feast for Crows I think deserve perfection.

I would have preferred Crow's Feast.

ikr! I love The Name of the Wind's title

The name of the wind is such a unique name. If any its nothing but generic

On it! Edit: The first chapter of Fifty-two Elves can be found here: www.wattpad.com/story/253332879-fifty-two-elves and here: www.booksie.com/643540-fifty-two-elves

And don't you guys have the myth, as well? I mean, I'm Portuguese, we have the same concept. It was translated as "Harry Potter e a Pedra Filosofal", which is the exact same thing as the original. If they had decided to go with Sorcerer's Stone the title would have lost all of its appeal. Harry Potter e a Pedra do Feiticeiro, pfft. No one would pick it up. I still don't get it

pipitameruje I mean, yes, kind of. It’s definitely less known than other myths and legends though. So I know that’s the logic. “Oh those Americans won’t know what philosopher means, so let’s just change the meaning to help them out.” 🙄🤦🏻‍♂️

They changed it to 'Harry Potter and the Wizarding School' in French, which is... Even worse...

@@danlafferty1222 except that it was the American marketing team that changed the title, so it’s not anything to do with British people talking down to Americans.

@@laurelelasselin Which they apparently did because the French would be _too_ familiar with the Philosophers Stone myth and the story would be spoiled because of it. Which doesn't even make sense because the story wasn't even about discovering what the stone did.

Next list: Ranking fantasy books's first sentences

@@hristol7537 red sister is going to be S tier on that list

…lockdown was three years ago? Oh my gods

This is very random but it makes me think of Brothers in arms by Dire straights - it always stood out for me in the lyrics 😊

super generic

Baptism of Fire is super generic and The Name of the Wind should be in poetic!

I've had to go through no less than six title iterations so far for my current book, mostly because my earlier titles were the same as other works of fiction, but I'm really happy with how the current title came out. I ain't gonna share it here though, for fear of it being stolen before I can publish :D.

Specially how The Name of The Wind is a big driving force for the main character.

They are fairly the same. The Name of The Wind sparks more curiosity in me. The choice of words for Winds of Winter is simple, intriguing as why it has to be a wind in a winter season, still it is simple.

He literally addressed this in the video: it's nothing special if you haven't read the books, if you have it's an incredible title.

I fully agree with this. But my point is - even as a standalone title (with no context from the story), I believe it should be swapped with Winds of Winter. All of this is subjective fun, and it's just my humble opinion :).

I think his justification was that The Name of the Wind is the first book in a series and that title looks generic if you are just going in, Where Winds of Winter is just as generic but its a late book in a series and by the time you are getting to it, you fully understand why that title is powerful.

The Expanse is the best modern sci-fi series you will read.

The sword of the dragon king Done

@@erikcarp9359 The King of Dragon Swords

The Dragon Sword of the Dragon King

The Sword King of the Dragon.

The Dragon in the King's Sword

I know. It probably tops every other one of Brandon Sanderson's titles IMO. Also, just in case you didn't know, there's no "the." Looking only at the first letters, it's deliberately the reverse of Words of Radiance. He's going for a bit of a palindrome with his titles, and even said he's probably revising the title of book 5 to fit the pattern.

@@groceryliszt3346 I really liked one of the working titles he had before, Stones Unhallowed if I remember correctly.

@@groceryliszt3346 i knew that at some point, slipped my mind. Yes i noticed the palindrome before tWOK WOR O ROW wonder what book 5 will be

ikr. I love the title. Suits the story perfectly too

Exactly. And it has great context. And its not even that generic when you think about it, tbh most of the things he put in solid sound more generic than that, except for the blade itself ofc and baptism of fire. I mean lets be honest, 1000 orcs? Is it possible to come up with a more "is this walmart lotr?" kind of title?

@@berserker8884 I actually like the title A Thousand Orcs. It sounds like a fun, unassuming read. The Blade Itself is another one I consider poetic

@@taylor_green_9 good for you!

Years later, I just find his titles just as pompous as the author himself. No respect for his readers.

Ok we have to get this comment higher so he sees it😑

so meta, I want to see this.

This ones going to F for me lol. Hard disagree on most of the ranks, but some were okay and I could agree with.

orcanimal I really like that too, currently about halfway through the Blade Itself and I really like the chapter title ‘ Tea and Vengeance’ . Those two just go so well together, quite scrumptious 😋

@@nasteho6614 Wow, you are in for a ride if you're just starting Abercrombie. A couple of useful notes for you: The trilogy books serve as act I, act II, and act III of their overall story. However, the standalones (Best Served Cold, The Heroes, Red Country) are each self-contained (and for my money even better than the trilogy, which is fantastic). But only read the books in publication order, to avoid spoilers, as the standalones, though focused around different characters (with lovely surprises), do see consequences of previous books play out in the world. I envy every person who's only starting on Abercrombie. The standalones, in particular, are some of my all-time favorites.

That makes me want to put his titles into poetic tbh

I think "the blade itself incites.." is from the odyssey but yeah cool titles, cool influences. "Before they are hanged" is my favorite. comes from the German poet Heinrich heine

@@ItalianStallionBDM for some reason I always think of The Iliad as the overall title for the two books. But I'll change it, thanks.

Rhythm of War is actually my favorite stormlight title. After learning about the listeners/singers and the rhythms, that title just feels so imposing and cool. like "shit is about to go down"

It reminds me of an old school love song the first time I read The Name of The Wind. You know that song that goes like this "The will of the wind, you feel it and then , it will pass you blowing steady, it comes and it goes and God only knows, you must keep your sails on ready, so when it begins, get all that you can, you must be friend, the will of the wind"

A classic as a similar title: The name of the rose. Came out in 1980. Umberto Eco wrote a masterpiece. Rothfuss is a good writer, although not in the same league as Eco. Considering, using a title like The name of the Wind does feel generic. Not considering Eco, other authors also used The name of the X before. Plus the Wind as an image is overused.

@@acheneniwae2362 Achene Niwae So according to you, I propose a downgrade to generic of the Winds of Winter, also of the Eye of the world because of the Eye of Darkness by Dean Koontz (1981), and Promise of blood because the term blood is so overused in fantasy and The way of kings, because of the Return of the King by Tolkien which is a classic

@@gaspardg119 I would put it in Good. It's generic if we're talking poetry. But still, that title is what made me read the book. Depends what you're going for, looking at his other works, he's going for something poetic. Haven't read the book, but like you mention, Promise of blood, blood is overused, yes, but is it used as a medium for something deeper or are the words what they are? That title is enticing nonetheless, like The name of the Wind. Simply put, my point might have more to do with Daniel Greene using poetic in contrast to an A from another list. Poetic should be a sub category. When it comes to it, the judging parameters are very different from the rest. Like the Winds of Winter, it's a good title if you've read the entire series. Winter is coming, now it's there. I also don't thing it belongs up there if we take it as a standalone. The ways of kings, wouldn't say it's because "king" is overused, it's probably one of the most used word in fantasy titles. Look at what Brandon Sanderson is going for with his titles. It's full of cliche. He's not going for anything poetic. That's why I think "poetic" should not be used as a category in a list like this.

@@acheneniwae2362 The problem, I have with the list is that it's biased by Dianel's opinion on the books and not strickly on the title. I think that other tier list could be funier than this one. I find it pretty useless because of the lack of objective criteria to compare the titles

I love the title A Memory of Light. It just sounds so powerful to me. I've not read it, nowhere close to it yet, but its an awesome title.

Noun of Noun titles are generic, they get a bit better with concepts/verbs/etc

@@shawn6745 Eye, World, Memory and Light are all nouns. I don't mind X of Y titles personally, just saying.

he hates the books...he hates the sex and the poetic vibe to the second book, also he doesent know what name of the wind entails in the title

@guitarknees Greene really does not like the series

So true...😓

German titles of The First Law books are laughable. The first book has the word 'blade' (Klinge in German) in it, so lets name every book like that. For example: Best served cold gets translated to "Racheklingen" (Revenge-blades) or The Heroes "Heldenklingen" (Heroblades). The worst title tho, is the translation of A little Hatred. Its called "Zauberklingen" (Magic-Blades)! WHAT. THE. FUCK

@@Earls_sweaty_shirt German translations are overall subpar to the original work, both in literature and TV. In both cases, accents often get lost in translation as most translators use that horrible Bundesdeutsch so that everyone understands it and I want to strangle whoever is in charge of translations. English authors don't seem to worry that much about this.

@@Earls_sweaty_shirt they are calling the entire thing "Klingen-Saga" (Blade saga) and you can wonder, if this has anything to do with the actual story... But nice to see, that I am not the only one, who has problems with this topic.

Tbh I hate when they do that, the majority of titles sound so weak when translated into German, I just can't get myself to take something like "Seltsam der Träumer" seriously

agreed. Not to mention "return of the king" doesnt even really spoiler him becoming king, it only say he "returns" aka arrives in gondor. And that one is really not much of a spoiler at all

ikr :( i love name of the wind's title

The difference is that the name of the wind is the first book, so a new reader had no context for the title. The winds of winter is the 6th book in a series, so we n though it hasn't been released yet there is a lot of context for the title that pulls it up to a solid title. Having said that, I do think Daniel shortchanged the name of the wind, and it's appeal to mystery. Why does the wind have a name?

Good idea. Ill use that one. Ill be so original

The most generic title is "The last Battle" from Narnia lol

As much I love the series, I agree, it’s a pretty generic fantasy name.

Rhythm of War sounds way better than The Way of Kings. If not for the reputation of Brandon Sanderson, I have no plans of getting The Way of Kings.

Pretty sure Daniel was taking into account what the name meant in world or for the story. Not saying it isn't generic, but the in-world book ties in beautifully

Agreed

It does seem like a concluding book title not the first book kind of title, I'll give it that!! I had to check to make sure I had them in the right order

“Gardens of the Moon” isn’t metal - it’s deliberately deceptive. It sounds like a sweet fairy tale.

@@timswabb Its probably the best fantasy title I've come across. Its full meaning isnt apparent until later in the series when you hear the poem/story its based on, but it also takes a literal meaning when you think of one of the main plotpoints in the story "moons spawn". My least favorite book in the series, but a great title.

Shawn Boudreau Oh yes, I love it. And misdirection is everywhere in the series.

@@timswabb That one is the least metal for sure, but look at the others. "Deadhouse Gates" "The Bonehunters" "Reaper's Gale" "The Crippled God"

@smuckfuzzer Well yes, the cat was out of the bag after the first one.

Yep the title intrigues me. Incredible book, read it. You won’t regret it.

Kinda

"Lackluster Lies of Locke Lamora" would be a better title more fitting the content of the book. And even more alliteration for people enticed by it.

Daniel appears intent on making an enemy of Anomander Rake ! :D

This is become a trope of the channel at this point lol

some of them re quite odd like Toll the Hounds or the Bonehunters. others are absolutely great like The Crippled God or Gardens of the Moon

But guys The Malazan series is called "the book of the fallen" And Steven Erikson once said to "name none of the fallen"

Yeah it was supposed to be war of the ring, but the publishers decided it gave too much away

@@bookschocaholic I agree that The Two Towers is better that War of the Ring. First of all War of the Ring is simply to simmilar to Lord of the Rings. Secondly wed o get introduced two the towers in question in the first book so we know kinda what it’s a reffering to before we read, but it still give little away.

Don't get me started on Tieflings....

And tier list titles of the 15 Wheel of Time books.

hard agree!

Veloce I think most of a song of ice and fire titles are pretty much perfection.

It is known

Sam Burns Clash of Kings is a definite eh.

I think A feast for crows might top that one. Those are the two best from the series for sure though

Is he actually have a book names like that?

@@shamsulhaqramzi378 nah its just a meme hahahah

The First Law and Age of Madness trilogies have good titles, but the three standalone books in between belong in eh tier. Best Served Cold, The Heroes, Red Country.