The Wandering Inn is amazing! It is a... slice of life epic fantasy? Phenomenal characters, strong plot, and the most well narrated audiobook I've read.
The Wandering Inn is (without hyperbole) the greatest book series I've ever read. It completely altered the way I think about stories, their lengths and what a book's genre is. It starts off pretty good and only gets better. It's completely blown out my literary high-watermark and everytime I think things couldn't be more... everything, Pirateaba asks me to hold their acid jar. - Sincerely, Another Fat Duck.
Though it's worth mentioning that two MCs are probably one of the most obnoxious MCs you can find - especially the second one. It is to the point that I enjoyed reading side-characters entries and rolled eyes when it came to chapters for MCs.
I mean. That might speak more about your tastes then the books. I personally love Erin and her shenanigans. Ryoka serves as a Work in Progress, she starts off in a bad place and improves as a character bit by bit. The character I personally dislike reading about the most is actually the [Emperor]
I love this series. The audiobooks are truly the best. Please note: the audiobooks are not aligned with the written work; I finished audiobook 8 and could wait for the next audiobook---in the written work, that would be at approximately book 5.5 (halfway through book 5). I'm now at around 7.4 and I can't say enough good things about it!! LISTEN TO THE AUDIOBOOKS!
Pirateaba is an absolute machine when it comes to their word count. Their average chapter is about 30,000 words, and uploads twice each week. The amazing part isn't that they can cram so many words on a page. It's that they can do it while maintaining such high quality at the same time.
If you ever actually manage to get into The Wandering Inn, I'd love to watch a volume by volume review. You've got a solid presenting voice and style. It is hands down my favorite piece of fiction. Ever. It lives rent free in my brain, constantly relating itself to my life. I devoured it in less than two months back in late 2019, just in time to start volume 7, and I've re-read most of it (skipping a few chapters here and there) twice. So far I've convinced two other people to read it - it is a daunting quest, to be sure. One was a girl my age (mid 20s), and the other is an 80 year old woman whos been reading fantasy all her life. Both have been loving it so far - and they are still in volumes 2-3, last I spoke. And If they're loving it now, they will be bowing before it as the pinnacle of fiction by the time they get to the later volumes. The Wandering Inn starts small, but grows ever greater. The Wandering Inn is an Epic Fantasy masquerading as a slice of life. It includes children's birthday parties and glorious battles and the horrors of war. All are excellent. I am constantly reading fantasy and sci fi, and of the ones on this list I've read... only two others, actually. A Song of Ice and Fire (which, before TWI, felt like the longest) and The Dresden Files, which I like a lot. Hope to see more, especially if its Wandering Inn. Read that and change your entire outlook on literature.
Thank you so much for your opinion! It sounds super promising. It won't be soon. But yes, it will happen eventually. Next year I will read Mother of Learning and hopefully Worm first. After that, Wandering Inn will be the next webnovel I read! Let's hope by that time, my channel has became larger so I can even give more exposure to this series, which so many people here praised HIGHLY! :D
The wanderins inn is on audible and it’s so so “cute” that’s how i would describe it! I know that may surprise people but after listening to it, it’s a very simple and cozy adventure story! It’s a “leveling-up” story, and I would say it’s not for everyone because it’s veryyyy slow at the beginning. The audiobook is the way to go for this story!!
@@PetrikLeo yes please do, I’m very interested to hear your thoughts! I’m curious to see if you enjoy all the DETAILS of the character’s daily activities or if you feel like it’s progressing too slowly… I personally enjoy being in the character’s head. I enjoy listening to her (Erin Solstice) thoughts. :)
The Wandering Inn is an amazing series that quickly became one of my favorites of all time. It also completely ruined my understanding of a story's length. Now when I see a story that's only a couple million words long, my first thought is "Oh, that's not too long, maybe I'll give it a try."
@Petrik Leo it's so good, I hope you enjoy. I'm on volume 6 on kindle/audible. There are 8 released now. But so much more that's still needs to be "kindle'd"
The Wandering Inn's author, pirateaba, is phenomenal in speed and quality. I love how they spread out the mystery of a plot and eventually pull a string and they all connect, across either a single chapter or a whole volume. The story itself is an emotional rolercoaster, mostly calm and cozy, but it's got its' fair share of combat (from dueling to all out war) and adventuring, some bits of horror which i especially like, plus more adult themes like slavery and kinks. The worldbuilding is so in depth and fascinating, with the leveling system being a part of everyday life of every sentient being in that world. Despite that, the storytelling doesn't rely too heavily upon leveling and its magical overall. As soon as you're done with the millions of words, you'll be looking for more, like a fat duck who just consumed a loaf of bread.
That is so wonderful to hear. I already have The Wandering Inn on my TBR. I'm not sure when I'll get to this yet. I'm thinking of reading Mother of Learning and also Worm first before tackling Wandering Inn, but I will get to this one eventually!! Can't wait to become a fat duck who just consumed a loaf of bread! xD
@@PetrikLeo Worm has really intense pacing. I found myself savoring the few days off the characters got to enjoy, but mostly they were fighting for their lives.
You might be interested to know that the first volume is being rewritten, because the author is well aware of the flaws from when they started writing it years ago. It won't fix some complaints I've seen, like it being a very slow burn story with more POVs than you can count--I can see why people would list those as negatives, but for a certain group of readers (eg: me), it's a selling point--but it does fix a lot of the awkward early prose, and addresses complaints like why certain characters act in overly illogical or toxic ways in volume 1. There is no estimate on when the rewrite will be complete, but based on their current progress my personal guess is around October or November. This isn't to say the version of volume 1 currently on Amazon/the website TOC is bad--it's still fun--but it's true that it... could be much better. Anyway, that said, I love the story--the characters are fun, the worldbuilding creative, and to add to that, it's incredibly impressive how the scope of the story slowly grows, starting with a small inn in a backwater town, and eventually weaving its many threads into a grand world-spanning epic storyline. I'll be the first to admit that it has a few POV arcs that overstay their welcome, but those are rare, and even in those cases, the story hardly ever hits beats that feel repetitive, despite their length.
No idea whether I should thank you or be angry at you for your comment. Because you're about to add 10 million words series to my TBR... xD Seriously, though, thank you for your comment, Miguel. From what I've heard, I think I'll actually enjoy the series. I also enjoy slice-of-life and slow burn stories, very much! :)
The wandering inn is a coming of age epic. And It happens in the realm of daily life in a fantasy world. The social problems in the world are both referential and allegorical of real problems. The fantasy people are just that, the good and bad. Pirate represents it all with love and a rationality. The novel itself shows the growth of the author. And fantasy Ants.
@@PetrikLeo No ants in a bit more literal of a sense. No consuming and changing their forms, they are just human sized upright ants which are supposed to be a hive mind but are having an identity crisis.
@@Finn_Ryan My favorite dialogue from the Antinium (edited to avoid spoilers): ..."Antinium expect to die. You’re not angry. You should be. They’re out there. Don’t you want revenge? Don’t you want justice?” “We cannot think like that, Commander.” “Why not?” “Because…because if we were angry about our people dying. If we were angry that we were killed, that so many die…we would be too angry. We would be…so angry.”
I really want to read it! But not right now as it will mean me forsaking many other series/books I can't forsake at the moment. But it shall be read eventually!
The Dresden Files is a top series for me. It will always break me out of a reading slump so I keep 4 or 5 in the queue so they dont end :) Glad he’s still releasing them! Definitely recommend the audiobooks.
Super cool video my friend, I discovered new series that I’m super interested in !! I’m caught up with the Cosmere, I am reading the last WoT book (and also have New spring to read) and I started Robin Hobb’s work this year 👌🏼 As soon as I finish it, I’ll then attempt to tackle Malazan !! The Wandering Inn is now calling to me though… 😂
Join the ducks with the Wandering Inn. We are a well fed group of readers. Seriously though, I hope you give TWI a shot. There is a joy in having a book a week to read even when I can't find a new series (Pirateaba writes a *lot*)
I'm so pleased to see Valdemar on this list. Lackey seems to still be writing in it, so that count is likely going to change. Regardless, I love that series. It was one of my earliest gateways into the genre. It's also one of the only series that has stayed with me through multiple moves and paring down my book collection. I just... can't get rid of them. I'm curious how a series like Pern would rank in this list.
I haven't read anything by Lackey yet, I'm glad to hear how much you love her books! And someone made the word count of Pern but I can't be sure about it. 😅
@@PetrikLeo Oof, good luck to you. It took me over a month--and that was back when it was still 7 volumes, and I had been basically reading from morning to evening with almost little to no breaks aside from food and classes. I think I actually improved my reading comprehension and reading speed by, like, three times, just from reading the entire thing from start to finish alone... 😏So, yeah. Once again, good luck to you.
This list was not so surprising before the number one spot XD Great research Petrik! I would like to see a similar list of the 15 biggest science fiction series. Maybe with Warhammer 40K included. :D
The saga or recluce in my opinion is definitely worth a read. It shows a realistic fantasy world with a very interesting magic system that consideres the economic viability of practicing magic. Also the series jumps to multiple different eras of the series world with characters you read in one book becoming legends and myth in another. Also seeing the changes in politics, kingdoms, and empires over the century's is fascinating. It definitely has some problems at times but was a very fulfilling read by the end.
Noted! Thank you so much, Charlie! "Also the series jumps to multiple different eras of the series world with characters you read in one book becoming legends and myth in another." This is something that I usually enjoy in my books! :D
So cool to see Valdemar on this list. I love this world. This would be a cool video to revisit in a couple of years to see how it has changed with authors still publishing.
So great to hear you loved it, Angela! Yeah, I think I will revisit this video someday. Maybe even make an updated version with an even more thorough research! :)
The Wandering is the best i ever read. Pirateaba is simply genius. One might think the quality suffers from writing so much so fast, but no in the contrary she gets better as the series goes on! Am currently on my second read through!
I'm so glad to hear that! I will be reading Worm by Wildbow next year! And then most likely begin Wandering Inn the year after. It's still a while, but I'm too scared to be obsessed with this massive series at the moment... xD
@@annmoore321 I think it's a generational thing. People missed out on lackey if you weren't around when she and Tamora Pierce and Patricia Wrede were big. It's like everyone forgot them when Harry Potter came out.
What a great concept for a video. Thanks for the effort put into this. I guessed the Midkemia books as #1 because it takes up the most space on my shelves, but turns out it wasn't even in the top 5! I'd never heard of the #1 spot, so I think you were right to say that people wouldn't guess the #1 spot.
Found the wandering inn through Audible. That's how I know it. Heads up, do not judge the book by the first few chapters of the first book. This author will get you completely invested in all of the characters, and have you wondering how they can write so quickly and well at the same time. Oh, and you'll likely even cry - geez right? It's definitely in my top 5 of all time. I'm currently reading on the website because I can't stand the though of waiting another 5 months for the audiobook to come out. However, I will say it's a masterpiece in its audiobook form.
Yeah! I've received some warnings on the first few chapters of the first book. I look forward to reading it. Not this year, though. I still want to finish Mother of Learning and Worm first. After that, I do plan to try tackling The Wandering Inn. :)
The Wandering Inn has a balancing act between heartbreaking sadness, mind-numbing rage, and unshakable optimism that it somehow continues to pull off, at least up to the volume I'm at now. Went in completely blind and got a very pleasant surprise. Would recommend.
Sounds amazing to me. As everyone mentioned and recommended, I definitely will read Wandering Inn. I have a plan to start the series next year! I haven't been spoiled by anything in the series. Looking forward to it!
I was so surprised to see so many series on here I've never heard about! Thanks for the research - I'm sure it took some time to compile all the numbers!
I’m almost done with book 5 of TWI and its surprisingly fantastic! I wasn’t expecting it to be as good as it is! I’m going to binge listen to the whole thing!
Suuuuper interesting list!! I am very surprised by some of the entries though. Some were definitely bigger than I thought they were, while others ended up being way lower on the list. Bizarre to think that these authors have written so many words for us to enjoy... I mean, I could never, haha. Loved this video, Petrik! 🤩
Thank you so much, Esmay! Yeah, I really thought Cosmere would be bigger than 4 million words already hahah. It is impossible for us to read all the series we want to read! :')
A very intriguing video!! I didn’t know about these books how big these series are 😮 thank you for a wonderful news about books!! Happy reading to you!! 😊🦋
I feel that the Cosmere is going to rise up a couple of spots just based on how long the first four novels within the Stormlight Archives are. I'm not sure, but I think the Skyward series is also based in the Cosmere. 10,000,000 words in 6 years, that's absolutely crazy, lol!
@@LadyPatienceK My new theory is that Cytoverse = Wheel of Time. And, Cytonics = Channeling. I mean, probably not, but a lot of things line up. Minus the Taynix LOL
@@PetrikLeo Its worth it. I've been a fan for years and supported Pirateaba's growth as a writer and storyteller. Full disclaimer I'm super invested in the community and run a podcast about it for the fans. There are a couple of things to know for new readers. First, Volume 1 is being revised and re-released. It is Pirateaba's earliest work and it creaks with age/inexperience. They wanted to take the time to rework it and then release as a physical book. In addition, they have another book coming out and a graphic novel already published. These may be better starting points if you're daunted by the length. Or try the audio books! Second, a web serial is *not* a novel. TWI was written as a serialized fiction. The traditional trade publication format of a novel wants concision to create compelling story to keep the pace consistent. Web serials however are episodic in nature. This allows pirateaba to tell dozens of stories and create wonderful character depth to even the most minor seeming of threads. This is what contributes to the length. Pirate literally takes the time to explain everything we would normally never get to know or would miss out on due to restrictions. I like to think of it as Scherezade style but with a much more compelling arc. Third, this is a slice of life work BUT one of the most compelling parts of it is that the slice of life stands in contrast to the impeccably written horror/darkness that the story does not shy away from. It was once described to me as slice of life war crimes, and I think it fits. I really hope you enjoy it WHEN you give it a try. Pirateaba and other writers like them represent a new wave in writing that has me super excited.
@@sorryman105 Thank YOU so much once again for your insightful comments on the series! The third paragraph, in particular, definitely informed that I will have to give it a try! :)
Awesome video and huge respect for your research. I struggle even with trilogies my friend . From your list I will give a second try to "The Liveship Traders" at some point. To be honest, I would always chose to read a standalone over a series.
The author is rewriting the first volume, the rewrites are online. I admit that having read half of the series on your list, I had a hard time getting through the first few chapters of the original audiobook. Once I did though, I was hooked and I eagerly await each new chapter.
Glad to hear it end up working for you! I am so looking forward to reading The Wandering Inn! It's just a matter of finding the right time to commit myself to this massive series! :)
Even with Stormlight 5 being pushed back a year, we're still getting 3 new Cosmere books next year plus the Lost Metal later this year which will probably be enough to bump it into the top 10
Loved this video! I've never heard of The Wandering Inn, but you made it sound interesting! I wonder how "similar" it might be to Legends and Lattes? I read from another commenter that Legends was like a cozy fantasy, and I kind of think that's true. Anyway, great video, Petrik! Might add Wandering Inn to my TBR. Barbara :)
Thank you so much, Barbara!! I appreciate it. I think people have mentioned the similiarity to Legends and Lattes in some sections of the book! Supposedly, it does get very epic later on, though. 😄
The early stuff isn't as... focused, as Legends and Lattes, but the author is doing a rewrite of it! I'd say it bounces between lovely slice of life, devastating emotional impact, and epic events, usually in ways that feel very natural and well written.
it is like a cozy fantasy until it suddenly turns into grimdark horror for a few chapters that leave u crying about some of the characters. the horror chapters are like 1 in 40/60 chapters so not that often.
LOL. I share in your amazement of the size of this fantasy series that I had never even heard of! The wonder in your voice as you talk about the series echoes the feelings I had as you announced it as number 1. I was amused and enlightened. Thank you.
Great video, Petrik! Thanks for putting some of these series on my radar! I'm always looking for new stuff to read even though my TBR is so long that I don't think I'll get to everything while I'm alive lol.
Looking at my TBR right now, I think I have enough to last me at least 10 years IF I don't buy anything else. And that doesn't even include books I want to reread... xD
I know that Guin Saga by Kaoru Kurimoto has 130 volumes but each volume has about 250 pages. From wikipedia: "Guin Saga is the longest single-writer's work in the world."
I don't know how many words that would be. But 130 volumes x 250 pages x 280 average fiction book word count=9,100,000 words. Of course some volumes don't have exactly 250 pages, some have 280 or 300 pages. So it can easily be more than 9,100,000 words. It can be closer to 10 million words.
Nice! I thought about including Guin Saga, but as I said in the beginning of the video, I couldn't find the actual word count for it. BUT by estimation, I think it should about 8-10 million words. Putting it at the number 2 spot. That said, I don't think many of them are translated to English. 😅
@@PetrikLeo I read the first volume in English. Only 5 volumes were translated in English >.< There is a 26 episode anime adaptation but it's pretty mediocre and the dub is REALLY BAD. 5/10 for me.
Another great topic to explore Petrik, thank you so much for sharing! I was actually happy to hear you haven't started Wars Of Light And Shadow yet, because I've finally gotten my copies of books 1 and 2 but can't start them just now, so I'll just hang on to them dutifully until you do dive in✨📚✨
I'm hoping I can actually start it at the end of this year. But with how packed my schedule is already, I don't think that will happen. But we'll see. I'll definitely mention it on my TBR when the time comes! :)
Oh my goodness, lots of research went into this video. I love seeing all the people in the comments praising The Wandering Inn. I had never heard of the series prior to this video. I've had my eye on those Janny Wurts books.
It's the same for me! I've wanted to read Wars of Light and Shadow for a while now. And The Wandering Inn is exactly why I made this video! 😄 I love seeing everyone's reaction to it!
I'm glad to hear you loved it that much, Tara! I saw that she's working on her last series for the universe, and she has so many supporters on her Patreon. So awesome! :D
I have read the Dresden Files (Love it), A Song of Fire and Ice (read, watched and listened to), I have read a lot of what you call the Cosmere Universe. All of the Stormlight Archive and 5 of the Mistborn series, all of the Valdemar books (I love them but think they are for a younger audience), All of The Realm of the Elderlings (They are on my re-read list), I have only read the Magic of Recluse. No other books in that series, I have read the first 3 of Malazan. I just bought 4 and 5. So, that is on the re-read list too. I have only read the Hidden City by Michelle West. I have only read book 1-9 of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. Janny Wurts and Adrian Tchaikovsky are new authors to me. I just added them to my list to explore. Thanks for the topic. I love a good long series that goes on forever.
Thank you! Those are not 'only' 😂 You have read a LOT even if you haven't finished some of them. Well done!! I hope you'll love the rest you haven't picked up.
@@PetrikLeo Well, I am 63 years old and have loved reading since I was a girl. So, I have had some time. I am always on the hunt for new authors. Right now I am reading the Keeper Origins by J.A. Andrews. I think that was also one of your recommendations. I am enjoying it so far.
There is a beautiful site called 'Neocities' that offers an exact chapter-by-chapter word count of the entire Wandering Inn series to date. As of the begining of Volume 9 (June 03, 2022), the Wandering Inn series contained 10,194,776 words. As of today (May 13, 2023), the Wandering Inn is 41 chapters into Volume 9 and contains a whopping 12,121,219 words. Put another way, in just short of a year (344 days), Pirateaba has pumped out 1,926,443 words, or 5,600 words a day.
It definitely has cute and cozy moments, but it also has monsters and sadness and grief. But also friendship and laughter and junk food and characters that are flawed to varying degrees, who grow like real people (as in, not always in a straight forward line, they struggle to be better, just like we do). It goes at times into some pretty dark places, but it also has some truly sublime heart-warming chapters. It runs the gamut. If what you're looking for is just cute and cozy (and that's fine, we all need some dedicated cute and cozy at times), then it's not for you, but if you also enjoy stories that get grim because there's also the moment when the light shines through again... I think you'll like it. And the narrator is *fantastic* with distinct character voices.
It’s really good it has a bit of everything but that helps make the cozy moments cozier and the cut moments cuter cause like life things only stand out in contrast. Hopeful is one way I would describe the wandering inn
@@Kalyahna I really love what I'm hearing from the people who love Wandering Inn like you. I will definitely check it out someday. I'm so confused by the negative things I heard about it so far. Just from the comments on this video alone, it seems like it all came from those who haven't even read the series. So confusing. xD
@@PetrikLeo Oh, there's plenty of legitimate criticisms of it that you can make for sure. But it's also true that many reviews I've read just state bafflingly weird non-problems like "why does the main character not simply kill the goblins instead of treating them like people?" Putting aside the growing pains of the prose in earlier volumes, the biggest actual concerns--as far as I can tell, anyway--owe to its format as an ongoing web serial. Mainly, this is what I called a slow burn earlier, but it's a lot slower than what you're thinking. No, even slower than that! There's a grand overarching story, but at the same time, the author is often more concerned about telling us about that time the main character invented hamburgers and sold them for lots of money. Or, other times, just when something fun is happening at the inn, the story cuts away to a totally unrelated plot happening a thousand miles away, sometimes to an even better character, and sometimes to a less interesting one. The pacing is definitely NOT that of a traditional book with rising action, climax, and denouement, I can tell you that. It's easy to see how this makes it hard for people used to literature with stronger structure, but I honestly think this is also a selling point for a particular niche of readers--unconstrained by physical limitations like number of pages, the author doesn't just use this length and pacing as an excuse to artificially bloat the word count with endless descriptions of a single blade of grass in a field, but rather, to give the world and characters time to breathe, say more, and do more. It's true that a talented author can say more with less, or leave things to the imagination instead of overexplaining, but if the "more" part is still entertaining, I don't particularly mind reading it!
I've never heard of The Wandering Inn, I'll have to check it out. R.A. Salvatore's The legend of Drizzt with 34 books (not sure of the exact number) as to be up there in word count I think.
Great Video, appreciate all the hard work and effort that went into this video, however I was wondering if Bernard Cornwell series isn't among this list? Thank you for the great content
Thank you so much! I'll try to do even more research if I make an updated list. Bernard Cornwell series is historical fiction! 😊 And even then, The Last Kingdom series has relatively small word count. Based on estimations, the series should be around 1.3 million words. None of the books in the series ever reached the 200k words mark. 😄
I read the first two in the Malazan series (GotM I read three times, I love it so much); five in WoT, only one in The Shadow of the Apt (I own the rest and even though I wasn't blown away by the first book, I have a good feeling the series will get better), only three in the Cosmere and don't get me started with Essalieyan. I'm so pissed. For years I had all House War, minus the first one, on five different wishlists. Finally, I decided to binge buy them all from three different websites (Skirmish was particularly hard to find at a decent price for a mass market). After I gathered them all, I came to the knowledge that if you want to have the full experience and not feel lost, you have to read the first three House War, then read all six Sun Sword series. If I buy a whole, supposedly, self-contained series, why do I have to go on an interval after the first 3 books to read a whole entire series so I can continue the series I intended to read in the first place? I feel cheated. Reading is not a chore for me, of course, but it's the principle that annoys me. Oh, and of course, it is recommended that before I read House War, I should read The Sacred Hunt duology which I already owned. I guess I'll have to hunt for the Sun Sword books and round them up... You posted a nice, informative, well-researched video and you get a rant for your efforts. Sorry, P, Essalieyan is kind of a sore subject. 😤
@@PetrikLeo Just to be fair, I don't think this was a devious move from the author, I just don't like how it was executed. If she started writing House War after Sun Sword, why divide the series into two arcs to squeeze a previously written series in the middle? Until I read them, I'll reserve my judgement, maybe it works? So far, I'm on the opinion that it wasn't cleverly planned. It didn't help to see the author trying to patch that up by offering a full recap of Sun Sword on her website. Honey! It's six books and the shortest is almost 700 pages. That makes for one hell of a recap.
I agree with you about the Sword of Truth series. I actually tried the first 2 books and I just couldn't continue the series. There are actually 2 series on this list that I've never heard of, which surprises me because I've been reading fantasy since the early 90's. I think the Mercedes Lackey books are for somewhat younger readers. I've read most of them years ago and gave them to my daughter. She's 14 and she said they felt like they were too young for her.
I can't even read the first book of Sword of Truth series. Genuinely no idea how it became a popular series in the first place. That said, I could totally be influenced by how much I disliked the author. An author's behavior usually doesn't affect my reading, but this one just seem to bleed into my mind when I read the book. xD
@@PetrikLeo Good advertising and a gullible teenage me. Thats how I got Sword of Truthed...I had to finish because I had to prove to myself it couldn't be that bad.
@@sorryman105 Same. I was in college, they were there. I really enjoyed WFR, and then proceeded to read the next 8 or so of them over about 2 months waiting with bated breath for it to get back to as good as the first one was. It never did, and when I caught up to the ones that had already been published, I never picked up another one.
I haven't read all of any of these series. I've recently begun reading The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb and will give SOIAF by GRR Martin another try at some point. At my advanced age I'm not going to be venturing into any more massive series. There are many other books I'd like to read before I die. Happy reading.
As soon as I saw the title, I was looking forward to seeing the Valdemar entry. Though I think you said 36 books, and I think I've got 50 Valdemar books on my shelf, and I'm missing some? Obviously, The Black/White/Silver Gryphon trilogy is a classic, but if someone said "imagine a fantasy book," I'd probably imagine Magic's Pawn or Brightly Burning. I think what surprised me the most about the books, especially from the 80s onwards, is how modern they read. "Nineties fantasy" has this connotation to it of slow pacing, padded wordcount, millions of confusing names, and hints of bigotry that the Valdemar books lack, making them feel strangely modern. (Though if I were encouraging someone to try out the series, I do feel like the Arrows trilogy and Oathbound/Oathbreakers, the oldest books, aren't a great entry point.)
If I'm not mistaken, there are 36 main novels and 15 collection of short stories in Valdemar right now, which I should've mentioned and included. But I haven't read the series, and it seems like people haven't counted the word count for the collections yet! That's interesting, btw. I love when a classic can still be read now without it ever feeling like the negatives you mentioned!
Malazan I'm currently holding at book 10. When I finished Book 9 I was just so burnt out that it has turned into a couple months pause. Wheel of time I got to Book 4 before I DNFed. But I'm going to give it a second chance sometime. Comere I've read Elantris and I think almost all of Mistborn available. Currently reading Secret History. Next will probably be Warbreaker. Haven't started most of the rest but most interested in Realm of the Elderlings and Shadow of the Apt.
Good luck with your reading. The Realm of the Elderlings is wonderful. And I know what you mean regarding Malazan. Book 9 was my least favorite book of the entire series. Book 10 is amazing, though, imo! :)
If/ when you read The Wandering Inn expect the first 70-100 pages of the first novel to be rough and the first half a little slow. Around 3/4 of the book is were it really picks up. But even saying that I binged the first novel on audiobook and finished a 1200+ page book (43 hours of audio) in about 4 days. Second novel is close to 2000 pages (61 hours of audiobook) finished that in about a week. Currently on novel 3, which is ONLY 1000 pages (37 hours of audiobook) Have fun 😙😙😙
Thank you! It will happen eventually. Probably not soon, though. As I mentioned in some of the comments here, I want to read Mother of Learning and Worm first next year. Wandering Inn might be in 2024. I have a lot on my plate! xD
@@PetrikLeo oh you have plenty of time before you have to start! In truth I think only 7 or 8 books are officially published with audiobooks which is only a small portion of the web novel itself. No rush! The author is going through slowly (slow for them LOL)and editing the work for kindle publication. When you do get to it though I do HIGHLY recommend the audiobook. The narrator does such an amazing job with the accents of the different species and characters!
I was shocked by how good is The Wandering Inn. I would even recommend it to non fantasy reader. It may be long but very quick read and easy to grasp. It's a mixture of everything - cozy, dark, sad, adventurous, nostalgic, epic and terrifying. I can't even explain how good is it. It has a simple start then it blossoms into something bigger. It's like fantasy version of slice of life.
I don't see anyone talking about it, so I'll throw my two cents in. The Saga of Recluse is very interesting in that it is less of a Good vs Evil and a Chaos vs Order. Not all Order is good and Not all Chaos is bad. As for the characters and how the story is formatted, it is more of a buch of smaller stories set in the same universe over a timespan of 2000 years or so. It is a lovely time (for me personally but i'm weird so eh) and the characters feel very real and set into their situations. I love it, but thats just me.
Thank you for your thoughts and opinion on The Saga of Recluse! I think I will try the series someday. Not soon, but certainly will give it a try! Some of the comments and reviews I heard ever since I posted this video have convinced me it's at least worth the try! :)
I read all of the wandering inn in the last 12 months I started very non-committal with an audible credit, and the wonderful voice acting of andrea parsneau just sucked me right in after the first 6 audio books I discovered that that was only 20%, and I got right to work :D
Absolutely amazing. I wish I have the time to commit that deeply to Wandering Inn, but I can't at the moment! Heard many amazing things about the audiobook, though!!
You've got to read Discworld!! It's so unique and such a treasure. If you don't like the humor/satire, that's understandable, but you gotta try it at least! Small Gods is good as is Guards, Guards. It really won't be for everyone, but I feel like a few books is required reading for any fantasy lover.
A serious tip: drop everything you're doing and start reading The Wandering Inn. If you're still in doubt just go to their web page and start reading from there. I just finished listening to the first audio book which is, believe it or not 43+ (!) hours long. Pirateaba (he/she/they?) paints a great fantasy world. What really stands out in the audio book is what narrator Andrea Parsneau does in this book. Her performance is Oscar worthy in my book. The best I've ever heard.
Not in doubt at all. I just have to make sure I'm in the right schedule before I dive into it. I expect to love this massive series and I hope to clear some of my responsibilities before diving into it. 😊
Apologies if this has been said already but I would say that the Discworld should be further up the list. My reason being, as short story collections or connected novellas are included in other collections on the list, there are so many spin offs connected to the main series that if you included all of those as well it'd bump right up the rankings. The 41 novels are only the start.
I mentioned in the video it is either 3.6 million words or 3.8 million words because of that reason. No one can seem to fully confirm the right word count on it. It seems to range a lot between 3.6million-3.9 million because of the short stories, novellas, etc. So from my observation, it could be 3.6 million for the 41 books, and 200-300k for the other short stories and novellas.
@@PetrikLeo ah in that case I apologise and misunderstood / missed that in the video. In that case like you I am shocked it's not higher as it has always seemed so huge. It would be interesting if there was a word count that included absolutely everything including the maps, art books, companions, graphic novels, etc.
@@karlansell7257 No worries at all. As you said, it would be amazing and interesting if there is an official word count for absolutely everything. I am weirdly curious about this. xD
I'm about to finish the Realm of the Elderlings in August. One book left!! I started the Valdemar series. I really liked the Heralds of Valdemar trilogy. I'm trying to read it in publication order. The publication order and the chronological order is on Goodreads.
At least you can break Discworld into "bitesized" blocks of 7 or so books without getting left hanging, unless you know you're the sort who has to read _everything_ once you start.
Xanth by Pierce Anthony is a pretty good series, a few hiccups with weird sexual tension scenes since it’s a college age comedy fantasy series, but there’s so much creativity and fun in the series and it has almost 5 million words I think. Sometimes the series can get a bit too hung up on puns and it’s probably at its worst, at least for me, when it gets hung up on Pervy bits, but I don’t think it ever gets downright explicit. I haven’t read the who series, so I don’t know for sure, but I’m pretty sure it’s mainly focused on the fun adventure and the comedy aspect. At least in high school I had a blast with all of the fun and creative ideas in the series.
I would imagine Stephen King's Extended Universe brought together by The Dark Tower series would be in contention for sure. It would be fairly difficult to truly figure out the wordcount though.
I think people usually count Dark Tower as the only fantasy series in the Extended Universe, that's why fantasy readers usually don't count the rest into the equation. There's the word count for his books, but I don't know which one is fantasy and which one belongs in the Extended Universe! xD www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/g2qocv/all_of_stephen_kings_work_ordered_by_word_count/
@@PetrikLeo Yeah it would be very difficult to figure out which ones to include but as a big King fan I would call a lot of his books some form of fantasy as many of them often deal with supernatural elements. I did actually see someone make a video on all the books that somehow connected to each other within that universe though very recently so if one was so inclined it could be done I guess - it's actually a very cool and relatively short video with a visualization of all the connections. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-KmhWbMiIeV8.html
The Wandering Inn ruined my perspective of other stories. When any random chapter of the series could be its own small book you suddenly start thinking reading a couple 10,000 words is normal for a chapter. Love it though, I usually wait for a volume to finish before going on a non-stop binge for a few weeks.
I actually did count Worm (almost as big as the first five books in A Song of Ice and Fire) into the equation. However, I didn't know there's a sequel to Worm. So my bad on that. As I said, the list is not perfect.
Hi Petrik, the series I have read the most is probably Discworld, I think I have 2 left - loved that series. Sword of truth I somehow got through the first 8 books then stopped wasnt enjoying it - I think why I continued is I didnt know any better, before Booktubers etc. Plus the tv series was terrible. Enjoyed Shannarra for what it is - will continue eventually. Same with Wheel of Time and Malazian. Regarding Shadows of the Apt, to me it felt the series wasnt originally suppose to be 10 books long, after Book 4 the rest seem "bolted" on, I reached the end of book 7 and I am still undecided if I will continue - I enjoyed the ideas initially.
Wow! Well done. You're almost done with Discworld! I will have to catch up. And that's interesting regarding Shadows of the Apt! I don't know when I will get to that one yet, but I hope I'll like it more than you did! :)
I talked about TWI a lot in reponses so I'm going to comment about another series on your list, Mercedes Lackey and her Valdemar books. I loved them as a kid and I truly still do but not all the books aged well. I think they peaked in the Arrows trilogy and the Oathbound duaology. This was written in an era where fantasy just did not have any female protags like the way the Heralds are described and she wrote queer main characters, asexual main characters. There was a lot conceptually to take away. The writing though faded in it's potency a little as the series aged. I've never really been able to pinpoint why. Michelle West is amazing but I ended up in her Elantra series to get started with her. Your video also made me realize I've read all of these series including the wandering inn...I think size does matter to me, who knew! Would you consider doing a series about prolific writers with multiple series (CJ Cherryh comes to mind or Lois Mcmaster Bujold)?
I love reading your responses regarding TWI, I'll reply them all one by one as soon as I can!! :D I'm not too sure about trying Valdemar books yet, but I am certainly interested in Michelle West's series. Probably not anytime soon, though. I will most likely get to her books after the last series is done. Still have so MANY books to read, TWI being one of them. That's actually amazing btw. I think you're the only one I know who's read all of the series listed here! Lois Mcmaster Bujold is another author I've been meaning to try. I have her Curse of Chalion on my Kindle! I'll probably do a series of videos about prolific writers one day. Need to plan and organize my thoughts on how to do the video first! :)
@@PetrikLeo I honestly consider Lois Mcmaster Bujold one of *the* masters of fiction writing for the 80's and 90's. Jim Butcher quotes her for example. I cannot describe to you the subllime level of care she puts into the growth of her characters. The Vorkosigan Saga and especially the Mountains of Mourning short is one of the dearest works for me. I love A Civil Campaign as well, it's what good writing should be. Chalion is a whole other ballpark for me. Something about LMB's prose construction really speaks to me. She doesn't waste any words but you never feel deprived and gets across so much nuance in phrasing. I can't speak about it because it would spoil to much but she tucks away something in one of her earlier books that comes back later in a huge way. And when you go back and read it it's all so plain to see yet hidden. Skill. Wondrous skill.
I've read Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind, unsure if I ever finished it.. I enjoyed it a lot. I also started Martin's Song of Fire and Ice, but once the movies started it shattered my imaginary img thereof and I dropped it altogether. > on that note I'd like to recommend Eric van Lustbader's 'Pearl Saga' and Eric Lynch's 'Gentleman Bastard' series (unfinished) ..
@PetrikLeo spreading the joy of reading a good book is always worth it :-) > van Lustbader only ever wrote than one fantasy novel, all his other works are thrilers and the like, like meh material > I see you've also touched the realm of manga reviews... so many titles, so little time xD Lynch's last book was my last fantasy book per se before I entirely moved myself to various Asian LN .. **edit. nvm I just found your video regarding that.
I've read a couple disc world books and most of song of ice and fire. I've decided not to finish either one even though I enjoyed what I read. I'm intimidated by wheel of time and the cosmere. There are so many books that I want to read, that I've basically decided not to read any more massive series, at least right now. Thank you for the video! 🙂
Thank you for watching, Jennifer! No need to force reading something you lost interest in. I know how intimidating big series can be. Especially when our life is super busy! xD
The Cosmere is so manageable 😶 Its a couple of standalone novels and a couple of trilogies... Stormlight is the only one that is quite long but it is also one of the best stories in the genre so its super worth the read! You can read each bit and take a decent break before starting on the next one!
I think there is one series that might even be longer and is at least partially Fantasy. Perry Rhodan is a german Universe which spans at least 4000 Novella sized book with around 60 pages and a couple hundred full novels with some hundred pages, so it should be somewhat larger. I would guess the Wordcount to be upwards of 100 Million.
Yup. I know of Perry Rhodan, I think most count that as science fiction rather than fantasy. But yeah, that universe is insane. More than 100 million words!!!
@@PetrikLeo wow 👍 thats rare in english speaking communities, even in Germany it is not that widely known. Unfortunately the Englisch Translation has been scrapped rather early
What's the word count on Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow, Thorn/Last King of Osten Ard, I wonder? The combined series must be around 2 million words, at least, probably quite a bit more. To Green Angel Tower is over 500k by itself, to the point the paperback edition is typically sold as a Part I and II. And the Osten Ard books have shorter books in the 80k range in between the main series. Too lazy to run the numbers, since I'm not a RU-vidr, LOL. (Kobo doesn't include those shorter books in the Osten Ard series listing, but both Fantastic Fiction and GoodReads do.) 2.5 million plus would not shock me, though, possibly putting it ahead of a few on this list, if so. Was a little surprised to see the Thomas Covenant books as all being less than 200k words. They seemed to take forever to get through, though I've only read the first two series. Shannara is complete. Terry Brooks confirmed this in 2021. (Pity because his last book was terrible; incoherent YA.) I'm also a bit dubious about the word count on Kobo. I'm pretty sure they're estimates, though I admit I do not have a better alternative. Frustrating that publishers don't make this information easily available. There's no reason they couldn't nowadays.
Yup, you're right! The word count for The Osten Ard Saga (7 novels + 2 novellas) currently sits at 2.17 million words. Thomas Covenant with 10 books sits at more or less 2 million words. I think the word count on Kobo is close enough to be accurate. I've run it with some books that I have access to convert to docx, and they're very close with one another! For example, this is the word count for The Wheel of Time: external-preview.redd.it/JRo6mHoQeCbw8V7mjmn7sOJDDj6e_lKZQbO_9Fv_n4Q.png?auto=webp&s=c99630c3ff2d7b3166303586fb0d2db8459afd71 On that image, A Memory of Light is at 353.9k words. A Memory of Light on Kobo is marked at 354k words. I do, however, agree so much that publishers/authors could make this more public. It would've saved so much of my time! :)
I think that "the Legend of the Ice People" series needs a mention here in the comments. An historical low fantasy series written by Swedish/Norwegian author Margit Sandemo. I've read one of them and... let's say they're not for me and leave it at that. But there are still plenty of fans in here in Scandinavia (my wife being one of them) 30 years after the main series ended. Anyway the books are rather short (about 250 pages a piece) but there are 82 (!) of them. I don't have a word count, but that's easily over 20.000 pages in total. Also, another series that wasn't for me, and also it is sci-fi, but still needs mentioning, are the books set in the Warhammer 40k universe, written by numerous authors. 350 books so far (and countless short stories and novellas), I'm guessing they are on average about 300 pages a piece, so now we're talking over 100.000 pages. It consists of many series set in various times and places within the universe, the longest series ("the Horus Heresey") consisting of 54 books. Thanks for the content! Keep it up!
Thank you, John! I haven't heard of The Legend of the Ice people before, but I think with what you mentioned, that series could easily reach 4 million words. I tried searching for the actual word count but I can't find it... :/ And yes, Warhammer is a super popular sci-fi series/universe that would easily topple over every single series on this list. I've come to realize, upon making this video, that sci-fi universes tend to be MUCH larger than fantasy. xD
How about Roman/ Greco mythology and the classics for world-building and the origins of modern fantasy. Try this: Ovid Metamorpheses as a prelude, then The Iliad, followed by The Odyssey and rounded off with The Aeneid. Follow it up with Watership Down for some beautiful perspective. Doubt anyone will take me up. But you should...
@@PetrikLeo Nope. Was just suggesting what I consider good reading for fantasy afficionados. Especially combining The Aeneid with Watership Down. "Word count" need not apply.
@@calliope9th217 ah got it! I've read Illiad and Odyssey a long time ago back in school. Definitely need a reread. Watership Down is in on my TBR. Will have to look up the other books you mentioned!
I'm just flabbergasted by the size of these series. I'd never heard of the Wandering Inn either! 10,000,000???? Wow. I have read up through House of Chains for Malazan, 4 of the Realm of the Elderlings, quite a bit of the Cosmere, and a Song of Ice and Fire. I won't read Goodkind either. Not a fan. There are a few series on this list that I don't plan on reading, but it's more based on me not clicking with the plot, style or concept than anything else.
These series/universes are insanely massive. I was shocked myself when I did my research for them hahaha. There are still plenty of other web novels with insane word counts, too! xD
Come on over and spend a month or ten at The Wandering Inn. It's both a comfy read and the most intense fantasy Epic you've ever seen. The dichotomy is excellent and actually fairly well balanced. Volume 1 has some weirdness where pirateaba was still figuring out the world, but it's excellent nonetheless. The slow parts are slice of life, and that's a joy all it's own. You can't fight for your life every day, after all. Sometimes you stop and smell the burgers and fries.
@@soulofshukaku I look forward to spending my time at The Wandering Inn. Btw, how fast does it take for each new volume to appear on Kindle? I saw that it's up to 7 but seems like it's a division from several too-big volumes.
@@PetrikLeo Well spotted, that's exactly what happened. Books 1 and 2 are the complete matches of volumes 1 and 2, but after Fae and Fare, they split the volumes up into smaller chunks. Book 3- Flowers of Esthelm and Book 4- Winter Solstice are made from volume 3, and book 5- The Last Light and book 6- The General of Izril are from volume 4. Book 7- The Rains of Liscor, is either the first half or the first 1/3 of volume 5. The volumes get longer as pirateaba grew into the story, and I don't think two books per volume will cut it forever. The upside is that until the books catch up to the webserial, they come out QUICK! Four to five months between books. I think that's to give Andrea's voice some time to rest.
Warhammer s a share universe (multi authors) and it has 168 novel that's 57k pages.. Is the biggest shared , even bigger than forgotten realms or Dragonlance. But there another one like GOR. It has 33 novels each with 300 pages each...if you go sci fi Warhammer 40k it has 464 novels with 154k pages..and still growing comparing with wheel of time has around 14k pages
Yeah! I know about Warhammer, but that is a sci-fi series. I try to include only fantasy series on this list. And I think, even though Warhammer is that massive, it's still nothing compared to Perry Rhodan, another sci-fi series that has reached more than 200 million words... come to think of it, there are more sci-fi series with insane word count compared to fantasy.
@@PetrikLeo No, Warhammer has also had a Fantasy series for a long time. It used to simply be called "Warhammer Fantasy", but that era is over and they're in "Age Of Sigmar" nowadays. There are over 150 books spanning the iterations of WH Fantasy.
I don't think this will match the word counts of the series in the videos as the books are quite short by todays standards, but Piers Anthony's Xanth novels (47 at the last count) are a pretty long series.
Yeahh, I can't find the accurate word count for the series. And after asking people who read the series, no one knows, too. But they do agree the word count is much smaller per book, but with 47 volumes, I expect the total word count to be at least 2 million-3 million words long.
It would be interesting to see the word count for universe of Anne and Todd McCafry. The books aren't huge but the vast majority of their writing is in the same universe.
