The 6 stages of reading fantasy 

The last stage goes back to Tolkien when you read the Silmarillion

The Tolkien covers are so gorgeous! ❤

Malazan is the final boss of Fantasy

Brandon Sanderson has just suddenly become my favourite author of all time. I read Elantris a few years ago, it was pretty good but for some reason I never followed his other books. I rediscovered him just recently when I happened across Yumi and the Nightmare Painter on Amazon. The cover art was _phenomenal_ and it really drew me in. That was in early January. Fast forward 4 weeks and I have now finished all of his secret projects (except Sunlit Man) and am nearly finished with the first trilogy of Mistborn. No other writer has come _close_ to drawing me into a book this well and I’ve read a _lot_ of books. I can’t wait to start Stormlight! Edit 3/20: I finished The Hero of Ages. Last week I finished The Way of Kings and I’ve now almost finished Words of Radiance. I’m still completely hooked it’s so good! I’d have probably finished all of his books by now if I wasn’t in college (damn you higher education!)

I love not being able to read the captions. Makes for an enjoyable experience!

Then there's me. I never really cared for reading. Then, I decided to try audiobooks last October. Started with a few Star Wars books, then a friend convinced me to give Sanderson a shot in December. Now, after just 2 months, I am close to finishing the entire Cosmere. Just started the Way of Kings. Once I'm done with Stormlight, all I will have left is Sunlit Man and Yumi. Idk what I'm gonna do with myself when I'm done... I feel it's also worth mentioning that in those two months, I've also listened to 3 of the Dune books and the entire Wingfeather Saga. For anyone counting, that's 11 Sanderson novels, 4 novellas, plus 7 novels outside of the cosmere. In just 2 months. For reference, prior to last October when I started getting into audiobooks, I had only read 9 books in their entirety in my entire life. I am 26.

I jumped from Stage 1 in my childhood to The Way of Kings right away in my adulthood 😂 which I do not regret because this series has quite changed my life. Anyway, love your channel! Keep it up 😃

😂 I feel old 😂 I was reading fantasy two decades before your Stage 1 book was published. And when it was published, it wasn't considered adult reading but youth / late primary school-early high school. I don't think we even had the term YA back then

Eragon was literally my first fantasy book . And I did not know It was "the first" for so many people. I simply stumbled upon the movie and it got me interested

I’m between stages 4 and 5. I can tell the subgenres, and I’m also reading both Malazan and Stormlight 😊

I just started with priority of the orange tree and then jumped to Brandon Sanderson way of kings😂

My gateway to fantasy was Lewis. And I had three extra stages between your 2 and 3. After Tolkien, I became obsessed with his influences and contemporaries! So, I devoured George MacDonald, ER Eddison, William Morris and other VIctorian fantasists, Lord Dunsany, fellow Inklings other than Lewis, James Branch Cabell, Mervyn Peakz etc.! 🥰 After that, I read and collected every title I could that was part of Lin Carter's Ballentine Fantasy series! This was followed by a feminist streak (Le'Engle, LeGuin, Robin McKinley, etc). 😊

I don't know where I am on the stages. I kind of just migrated to reading japanese, korean, and chinese fantasy novels.

I am the guy in the corner of the party sneering at my friends who dont read fantasy books.'' They dont know what they are missing ''.

I'm at stage 6 and telling anyone and everyone that Malazan is the most incredible thing ever written 😅

I am older. I started with Tarzan and John Carter of Mars along with the Hobbit. Then, 'Chronicles of Amber' is what really got me hooked on the genre.

I highly suggested eragon for younger teens, I read it when I was younger and loved it.

Stage 7: a true adult, reading Guy Gavriel Kay

I was all about those stories about wizards and magic schools, then I got into some more realistic and grim stuff then I discovered progression fantasy. And rn im going full circle and back on magic school stories lol

Nice video - but all the text at the bottom of the screen, about the channel and subscribing and Super Thanks, are covering the subtitles for each stage, so I could hardly understand what this video was saying

I discovered fantasy four years ago when Gardens of the Moon appeared on my Amazon page. Every other time I just ignored anything fantasy, but this time the Chapter 1 excerpt caught my eye and I started reading the first couple lines, then I read the entire excerpt, then I downloaded the sample which was the prolong and read that as well. I kept reading until I finished the ten books 14 months later. Been reading fantasy ever since. I had no idea fantasy could be written like this and this well. Although more than 90% of fantasy is not for me, I have found some incredible authors and books to keep me reading fantasy for years to come 🙂

Stage 7: the Earthsea hole

I feel like there are sub-stages that are optional, like discovering Discworld or Earthsea.

I went straight from Eragon to the Cosmere and now I'm addicted. Lol

Bruh sanderson is entry level fantasy

I like listening to high fantasy audio books and then get inspired and rewrite my book.. for the 5th time!!

Yeah ORP is so fucking amazing. For anyone who loves it, The Author’s POV is another light novel that’s also super fucking amazing, though the start is a bit rough

The lotr movies are much better than the books. They cut out most of the pointless side characters, and focused on the important events that the books sort of skipped over.

The first fantasy I read since the Hobbit, in fact the first book I read in years , was Eye of the World. I never looked back, what a cracking series to sink my teeth into and rediscover a love of reading through.

Omg I NEED those LOTR books, they look so cool

The inheritance cycle is iconic

A very great work of fantasy that many western fantasy fans might not be well aware of and which I definitely recommend is "Hoshruba".

This is half of my journey lmao, except I started with Skulduggery Pleasant

Shit I think I skipped straight to stage 6 by the time I was in high school haha and the Malazan series is the best series ever, I said it and I stand by it lol all 22 books and counting

Lmao I guess I’m at the Sanderson stage but missed a few books. Lol I also think you missed Harry Potter. For me it was Harry Potter than the inheritance cycle, than lord of the ring, than Witcher, the wheel of time, a song of ice and fire and other books in that world, Sanderson, and now the Drizz’t series in the forgottean realms of Dungeons and dragons. I’ll probably jump to Robin hobb or joe abecombre next unless I decide to take a break and read some scifi. I’ve been wanting to read the mass effect books and continue on in my Star Wars journey. Also I wouldn’t mind reading more world of Warcraft books. They have some great lore and stories. I would really love to get into the world of league of legends. The arcane show was phenomenal and I’d love to learn more about the lore.

OMG i love your malazan gardens of the moon edition!!!!

I used to love Sanderson until i discovered Erickson. He's my favorite author now. Sanderson's style seems formulaic in retrospect. I'm kind of dreading the next stormlight book because of this.

I jumped straight from stage 1 to stage 5

I’m about Stage 3.5. I do know all the names in the books, but I can’t say I’ve read all those subgeneres. I do also spend time on the wikis for Cosmere now I’m 75% through all of it 😅

I skipped from stage 1 right to stage 5 by being a long term dnd fan and just having started reading the Drizzt Do'urden books and being absolutely obsessed with all the background lore and how it correlates to dnd canon events and everything around it (plus Drizzt ofc, hes great)

I definitely went through stage 1, then stage 4, now I'm on stage 2. finally reading LOTR, and it is so good 🥺

I plowed through the First Law, the Way of Kings, the Black Company, etc no problem.. On my 3rd Malazan attempt I got to Toll the Hounds before shelving it for 3 years.. Working on my 4th attempt now.. I've made it to Midnight Tides.. maybe I'll get through it if I pace myself 😂😂 Favorite character? Definitely Kruppe

Dandelion Dynasty is impossible to put down.. 🤯

legit correct on every front which is obvs expected.

You have Way of the Kings twice. I'm reading it at the moment ... it's soooo good

I recently finished the Way of the kings and it was so epic! It was the first time a read anything from Sanderson, I have to say that he really is an amazing fantasy author! Currently reading the next book…

Glad to hear it.

The only books i ever read in school were Holes and The Giver in middle school. Then in 2012 i watched 3 episodes of Game of Thrones at a friends. I did not have HBO so i got the book the next day and read the whole series. Now i have read to many books to list and subscribe to audible to listen to while i work.

I assume the last stage was ASOIAF theorists talking about how Joffrey meant to poison Tyrion at the purple wedding

Starting Cosmere tomorrow!

Someday I hope you give Sir Terry Pratchett a chance, as well as Diana Wynne Jones’s Chrestomanci series.

I’m on stage 1 lol I read wings of fire but I needed a another book

Y'all gotta try out A Spell for Chameleon the first book of the Xanth series by Piers Anthony, brilliant book and if a series scares you don't worry the first is complete and amazing stand-alone as well

Joe Abercrombie is my favorite!

This is CRAZY. I've literally read those exact books in that exact order. How, Hillary 😂 I'm mindblown

Brandon Sanderson is the best. I think oathbringer is my favorite of the stormlight

AS A WHEEL OF TIME FAN, i feel so called out omg! He just wrote toooooo many different names

Honestly for me the final stage was grimdark. I read wheel, stormlight, malazan, but what really stuck with me was the first law. Idk why. I just love Abercrombies writing style so much. Plus the dude cracks me up considering how unfunny the stories are 😂

Me realizing I'm still in Stage 3 😲

Once you're a frw books deep into Malazan you're terminally into Fantasy

I love how relatable this was. The way I'm entering stage 5 😂 Lore and I are secret lovers who meet up jouously at inopportune times.

I have the exact same books of your Lord of the Rings collection

I somehow skipped stages 3 and 4 and went straight to 5 and 6 😂

Slowly slowly sllllooowly getting through book 2 of Malazan. I listen to audiobooks and this series I keep having to rewind to fully comprehend what is going on. I think this series is the final boss of Fantasy books.

Hey! Have you tried either the gentleman bastards or the will of many? Just finished both and they were great. I need more book recommendations. 😂

Guess i went straight to stage 5😮

Highly recommend you move stage 2 to past stage 4 imo hahaha I just found LOTR really difficult considering the older fantasy dialect, it’s just very unique to modern fantasy in most of the writing style but then again that just put it in a league of its own. 🍻🐐

Appreciate the Mr Norrel love

Stage 2 off the bat! 🏁 and then straight to Stage 4!! High Fantasy & Historical! I dig the Miami Vice TV Show BG music! 🌴 🍹🏎 🛥 such a different vibe!

Out of all these books I've only read Brandon Sanderson. I'll have to check out some of the others.

This is ironically the order I read these books. Spot on lol

I guess i started at level 4

Wait, its all Brandon Sanderson… always has been

I myself began by Reading the lord of the ring’s only last year after the 12 years of my life only watching the movies and now iv’e gotten the asoiaf books and are reading them

I’m at stage 3 lol.

I'm happily sticking at stage 2

The Chemical Mage and The Nuclear Druid were an epic duo

The Dune series is all 6 tiers 😆

I love several of those books, but what was written at the beginning causes me conflict haha Since only Abercrombie and Erikson are adult fantasy of all the ones you listed. Most were YA or Children's. Which is not a bad thing, but it does make you curious.

You forgot the ultimate stage. The Venerable stage of Reverend Insanity. Once you read that book, no other book can ever compare.

I started with the OG SpiderWick Chronicles in the 4th grade. Now im a part time bridgeburner part time ascendant

i went from stage 1all the way to 5 and it was great way of kings is a masterpiece

Am on the last stage ❤

I think im between stages 3 and 4, and I feel like I should be scared of what I'll become 😂😂

WHEEL OF TIME IS THE GREATEST THING EVER MADE RAHHHHHHHHH

I started on stage 5😂

Mazalan Empire is a big lore to explore!

Phase 4 here

I started with litrpgs, then went into stuff similar to the dresden files and im now reading Edgedancer.

Stage 3

Well dang. That’s exactly how it happened for me!

I'm at stage 5 1/2

Me who read all of way of kings as my first book on my own for fun

I was hoping withcher But never read any of this

It annoys me an unreasonable amount that the LotR books have no sense of urgency. Oops, we lost track of time in Lothlórien and accidentally spent a month with the elves. Oh well, it's not like we're on a time sensitive mission.

me: *laughs in elric of melniboné*

Lol it's funny cause it's true. I read Narnia and Harry Potter as a kid - early teen, then I read Tolkien and George RR Martin in college, and now after college I'm halfway through the Wheel Of Time, struggling to keep track of 20 Ashaman, 70 Aiel, 120 Aes Sedai, Ghealdans, Saldeans, Sea Folk, Cairhienin, etc etc

Me at all my friends: You WILL read the final empire, well of ascension, secret history, alloy of law, shadow of self, bands of mourning, and the lost metal, and you will LOVE it.

I skipped from 1 to 5 without ever returning to a previous stage

I'm surprised you didn't include Harry Potter, but I'm glad to see many of my favorites made the cut.