The Ultimate Top 10 Fantasy Book Must Reads 

My favorite fantasy author is Raymond E Feist. His Magician saga, Riftwar saga and other works are so well crafted!

I hate when people recommend series that aren’t and won’t be finished. Aka song of Ice and Fire. I own and love the books but I wish I had never read them. Once the show started before the books were finished I knew the rest of the books were doomed to never be completed:/ Edit: same for the Kingkiller chronicle. Had a friend recommend them to me, got through two books and was so excited to start the third. I know it will never happen though. Literally one of the best series ever but it’s hard to call it a series when it’s not and won’t ever be finished.

Not just The Lord of the Rings, but the entire Legendarium. The Silmarillion, Fall of Gondolin, Unfinished Tales, Beren and Luthien and Fall of Numenor are all fantastic too.

Belgariad series by David Eddings - classic farmboy vs dark lord, but deals with love (family / romantic / self). MYTH series by Robert Asprin - excellent and original comedy fantasy. Magic Kingdom for sale by Terry Brooks - reluctant hero from modern world thrust into fantasy setting. Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey - top draw high fantasy. Redwall by Brian Jacques - classic fantasy stories where the characters are anthropomorphised animals, aimed at kids but great for adults.

Tad Williams’ Memory, Sorrow and Thorn has always been my favorite fantasy series.

40 years ago I enjoyed the some of The Shannara series by Terry Brooks, and Dragon Riders of Pern series by The McCaffreys.

When people talk about epic fantasy, Sir Terry Pratchett tends to be overlooked. Some of my best memories are of rainy days, reading about the witches of the Ramtops. Thank you for mentioning Discworld.

The Chronicles of Amber (Roger Zelazny), The Elric of Melnibone series (Michael Moorcock), Dragon Riders of Pern (Anne McCaffery)

I don't understand why R.A.Salvatore never gets any credit. Drizzt Do'Urden is one of the best characters ever written. His description of sword fighting is the best I've ever read and I've read a lot. I know it's DnD based but he brings the world to life and his character development is world class.

Micheal Moorcock cannot be left off of this list, Elric, Corum etc classic fantasy at its best

I highly recommend the Belgariad series. Fantasy books are really good, I love them, and the Belgariad got me started on that. Guess what. Farm boy who gets thrust into the unknown under the threat of a dark enemy. Despite the common trope, it’s such a good book. Book 1: Pawn of Prophesy Book 2: Queen of Sorcery Book 3: Magician’s Gambit Book 4: Castle of Wizardry Book 5: Enchanter’s Endgame

Dragonriders of Pern is my favorite. I read the books that existed twice before the author Anne McCaffrey passed away. After that I think it was her son, not so much. BUT, there are many books before her passing that I loved.

Conan the Barbarian, Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia make all the historical lists. I enjoyed The Hedge Knight books very much as well

Another vote for Zelazny’s Nine Princes of Amber. Also, Moorcock’s Elric of Melnibone series which weaves into his other series’ of the Eternal Champion - the OG multiverse fantasy style.

Glen Cook’s The Tales of the Black Company never gets the recognition it deserves.

Absolutely. I’d put Ursula le Guin in there; the original A Wizard of Earthsea trilogy might be short by epic standards, but read it again and you will realize that the prose might seem simple, but it’s deep (Jenny Wurts is the reverse IMO). Also, I’d say the original Thomas Covenant Unbeliever trilogy hits like an emotional steam train.

The Riftwar by Raymond E, Feist would be near the top of my list.

OK, great list. However, my all-time favorite fantasy series is the Dragonriders of Pern ny Anne McCaffery.

I notice that the most mentioned are often the most violent. I thing Eddings' Belgariad series is brilliant and I have lost track of how many times I have read it. Tad Williams Memory, Sorrow and Thorn is beautiful, with permeable layers of reality, again I have read it dozens of times. The Deryni Chronicles do read almost like a 15th century historical novel, but the political realities concern a struggle for power and control between the Deryni with "magic" powers and the humans.

Raymond Feist’s books were what drove me into epic fantasy. Super approachable, easy to follow, great for teenager me. Later read Jenny Wurts which is complete opposite of approachable due to archaic terms and language she uses but still an interesting world.

If you want something a bit more "old skool": Feist's Riftwar Saga (the first 3 books), anything by Janny Wurtz (especially the Servant of the Empire series she co-wrote with Feist), and Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogy. For "fantasy, but not high fantasy", Neil Gaiman's got your back.

The Amber series by Roger Zelazny. Epic.

The Drenai Series by the late David Gemmell is my favourite ever. If you like Joe Abercrombie you will like Gemmell - great fight description, less grim dark, but more heart.

The Witcher series is worth reading. I personally love it!❤️

Katherine Kurtz, Fred Saberhagen, David Eddings, Anne McCaffrey, Raymond E Feist, Stephen R Donaldson, Terry Brooks, Piers Anthony, Patricia McKillip........ Oh, So Many to choose from!!! I would venture that these authors could replace at least 5 on your list. Also, Frank Herbert's Dune.

The Chronicles of Amber series by Roger Zelazny is one that doesn't seem to get the mentions I think it should.

I highly recommend Mercedes Lackey and her Valdemar books. It is truly massive and addictive. It has several series in a vast world throughout a very long timeline. My absolute favorites.

The Gentleman Bastards series is a fun one! The first book is the lies of Locke lamora. I see you mentioned it right at the end. It is a true page turner! Godfather meets oceans 11 meets renaissance fantasy.

I have been reading SF and Fantasy novels since the early 1950's - yes I'm that old - and reading through these comments I would just like to add a series that nobody else seems to mention, The Morgaine Cycle by C J Cherryh, 4 books (The Gate of Ivrel, The Well of Shiuan, The Fires of Azeroth and Exile's Gate). I think they deserve a place on anybodies fantasy shelf, give them a look I don't think you'll be disappointed.

I guess I’m just old but I loved The Witch World Series by Andre Norton…

Piers Anthonys Incarnations of Immortality and the Xanth series are my favorites. Black Company is underappreciated as well. The Necroscope series maybe should be there as well although its maybe more fantasy/horror

Let's not forget Philip `Jose Farmer and The Riverworld Series. My first taste of Farmer hooked me on fantasy. Love the Dragonlance series. Loved Dune.

I have always loved the Dragonlance Chronicles. There are a ton of books by other authors in the works, as well as additions by the original authors, but if you stick with the original 3 it’s excellent.

Ursula Le Guin, Anne McCaffery, Moorcock, Tad Williams, Jack Vance, Fritz Leiber. Are on my list. Thanks for your insight

The Black Company's first trilogy by Glen Cook is in my top ten fantasy list.

Short list of excellent fantasy book series not on your list but should be: Dragon riders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey, Myth adventures by Robert Asprin, any fantasy series by S. M. Stifling, the Divergent series by Veronica Roth…. Even the series Outlander is often labeled as fantasy fiction.

Already read some fantasy series, and I also loved "The Sword Of Truth" series by Terry Goodkind

I am deeply dissapointed not seeing Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin in the list.

Dragon Riders of Pern and The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. I know some people hate the Thomas Covenant series, but I never really understood why myself.

Great list and I will check some of those recommendations out! I would certainly have Raymond E. Feist, Magician and, particularly Rift War and Stephen R Donaldson, particularly, the first Chronicles of Thomas Covenant on my list.

I would add the elric of menibone series as well they were my introduction to fanstasy books after reading conan the barbarian comics as a kid and the elric saga is just fantatstic.

David Gemmell, another British author is missing from this list and I can't see any comments about his books either. The Master of Heroic Fantasy, with epic books like Legend and Waylander. The Drenai Series are brilliant.

David Gemmell? So many memorable characters (Druss, Waylander, Skligannon, Shannon, Connovar, Bane). So accessible too.

How about Glen Cook's Black Company? The Belgariad? The Dragonlance books? Thomas Covenant? Zelanny's? Troy Denning's Dark Sun? I never heard of Patrick Rothfuss, nor of Brandon Sanderson, nor of Steven Erikson.

It’s Quite old and so probably by todays standard a little tropey, but there’s something whimsical about old series like The Belgariad, short and sweet, a Farm boy to king story. Perfect for reading the winter away under a blanket by lamplight. I call it Comfort reading, and recommend.

Tolkien will always be my most favorite of all time, but credit for so much of what we now have as fantasy, in many genres, can trace some bit of influence to Frank Herbert and Dune. It’s quite an extensively detailed world and character series. I don’t know if this isn’t quite the same as the fantasy theme you are listing, it might totally be considered sci-fi only, but I thought I could throw it out there. Thank you for the reading ideas.

The Conan stories by Robert E. Howard are second only to Tolkien's works in creating the modern fantasy genre. And a strong argument can be made that the Conan stories, with their grit and horrifying magic, are an even stronger influence than LotR.

You forgot the Riftwar series from Raymond feist. And having a soft spot for dragonlance too❤

Here are a few series that I think would be worthy of the top 20. Barbara Hambly's Darwath trilogy, Jack L. Chalker's Soul Rider series and Dancing gods series and Piers Anthony with his Xanth series and Apprentice Adept series and Incarnations of Immortality series.

This list is much appreciated, I enjoyed coming across a mix of ones I knew and ones I didn't. I figured you were talking about the Malazan series when you started describing it. This year I've read the whole Witcher saga and started Malazan and First Law, it's been a good year.

Julian May's Saga of Pliocene Exile series , The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne and Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files would find a place on my list

I love the Inheritance cycle as well. Also RA Salvatore’s dark elf and ice wind dale trilogy are must reads for me. Glad to see Robbin Hobbs on your list! Some good suggestions for me to try out also

Raymond E Feist Magician Saga and Mistress Trilogy. Anne Macaffery and the Dragons of Pern - awesome story line. David Edding's and the Belgarard/Mallorian series.

Sword of Truth series -Terry Goodkind Right after Tolkien. One of the few with the real moral fiber. Stuff you can learn and USE in life, not simply time wasting...

An often forgotten and under-appreciated series is Katherine Kerr's Deverry Cycle (and more books) about a land, somewhere not really defined, settled by celts fleeing Gallia after the roman conquest. Its magic system, based on celtic traditions is one of the best I've come across and the story is truly epic in nature.

The Sword of Truth series (Terry Goodkind) Amazing books. 👍👍👍👍

Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea Quintet (plus a collection of short stories) should be number 2 on this list (after Tolkien). In fact, I preferred it to The Lord of the Rings in many respects.

My top 5 authors & series are: 1 - David Eddings - The Belgariad & The Mallorean series 2 - Michael Moorcock - Elric, Corum and Hawkmoon series 3 - Raymond Fiest - The Riftwar entire series 4 - Anne McCaffrey - The Dragonriders of Pern series 5 - Stephen Donaldson - The Thomas Covenant series I read R.R. Martin series, but he never finished it so I got read of those books. I have the Robert Jordan series and have read it 4 times so far. I have also read Tolkien. As for the rest of your top 10, I have heard of some of the authors, but I have not read any of their books. Looks like I have some homework.

I would add Stephen R Donaldson's 10 book series The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. Brilliant.

Jack Vance's Lyonesse Trilogy is one of the best things I've ever read. He's known more as a sci-fi writer, but this trilogy is pure medieval-flavoured fantasy ...with some of the most intriguing, multi-layered characters ever. And you will NOT be able to predict what happens. Furthermore, his writing style is SO accessible ...just a perfect series. I have no idea why it travels under the radar. It's as good as anything else out there. I also love Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials, and his near-finished prequel/sequel The Book of Dust.

Agree with alot of these - would also suggest some old favourites such as David Eddings, and the Dragonriders of Pern (a fantasy/sci-fi mix)?

No love for Piers Anthony's 'Incarnations of immortality '? Some thought-provoking books on some heady subjects. Also: Markus Heitz's Dwarves series was a nice peak into an often glossed-over world.

The Darwath Trilogy by Barbara Hambly. The Iron Tower Trilogy, The Silver Call Duology, or anything from Mithgar by Dennis McKiernan. Chronicles of the Cheysuli by Jennifer Roberson, or her Sword Dancer Saga. Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea Saga. Tara Harper's WolfWalker series.

Great list. I think the only change I’d suggest is Feist Riftwar saga

Just reread the first three Thomas Covenants after several decades and they still grab me like they did back then. I also like JV Jones books - A Cavern of Black Ice etc. Good to see what else is out there. Sanderson is amazing - what an imagination!

Thank you for this ....looking for my next series, this certainly helped!

Piers Anthony? Any of his series’ could make this list. Also, Katherine Kurtz has several series’ that would easily make this list😊

My favourite has always been David Gemmell's Dranai series. Legend, Waylander and The king beyond the gate. I keep hoping these get made into movies, they are so massive in scope. I believe they rival the lord of the rings books.

The Paksenarrion series by Elizabeth Moon is fantastic. I haven't seen a recommendation for it yet, but it's definitely on my list

Good list, one or two I hadn't heard of but many I had - might pick up Abercrombie. Just a shoutout for Katharine Kerr - Deverry series - she has 3 or 4 short series of books, they are light reading but beautiful story telling, inspired by celtic lore and very different to anything I've read.

Dragon Lance original trilogy and the Twins trilogy are some of my all time favorites

Personally i love “the Fionavar Tapestry”, by Guy Gavriel Kay. Kay was a very good friend of Tolkien, and you can definetly see similarities in the stories. Its about five young people from our world, that gets taken into another world, where they meet the king of one of the kingdoms in that world. This world is being described as “the first of all the worlds”, and has magic, monsters, kings and elves. Every world is connected(which is what is being called the tapestry), and that means that the key points in history ,the legends and the myths, are being mirrored in the other worlds. Over time, it turns out that the five young people, each has very specific parts to play in these legends. The worlds are threatened by the ultimate evil, Rakoth Maugrim or Sathain(Satan, i presume), who is being trapped in a huge mountain, but of course brakes free at some point in the story. It is a three book series, and i love how different legends are being used. For instance, the tale of King Arthur plays a huge role in the series, but there are also links to different religions, like norse mythology and christianity. It gives more depth if you know a little about religion and legends, but its not something that is required to know a lot about before hand. The character developement is fantastic. It is a very exciting story, and it grows a lot throughout the series. There are places in the books that are very sad, and i cried like a child several times reading it, but there are also lots of romance and some comedy. They are not hard to read, but there are a lot of moving parts and a lot of characters, which sometimes change names when their arc changes.

Nice list. Very glad to see Robin Hobb made the cut. Another personal favourite is Katherine Kerr and what starts as the Deverry series.

Oh so many series could be on this list. I enjoyed ... L.E Modesitt Jr - Magic of recluse series Terry Goodkind - Sword of truth series and Jim Butcher - Dresden series

Everything from Licia Troisie or Trudi Canavan or Marion Zimmer Bradley need to be on the list.

Great to see Malazan getting recognition. I’ve read all but one of your recommended series - and for me, the malazan universe is head and shoulders over them all. Of course the downside is you need to read it three times through 😂

Great video! Wheel of Time is my favorite full book series, Lord of the Rings inspired me to write and compose, Stormlight has a few of my all-time favorite books, and I just finished Assassin's Apprentice, and it might be one of the best books I've ever read. Malazan is also just a beast that stands on its own. It took me a full year to read, but I'm glad I did.

Best Top Fantasy Book series video I can find on RU-vid Great work Andrew!

I spent a lot of time immersed in Kathryn Kurtz’ Deryni series.

My favorite series is Shannara. With over 30 books of amazing writing and the original trilogy that Brooks wrote is on the same level as Lord of the Rings for me and that is only 3 of the 30+ books. Also a huge fan of Witcher, Dark Tower, Mistborn, and pretty much anything Neil Gaiman writes.

I am old, I know very few of these. I suggest The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R Donaldson.

Enjoyed that Andrew. Thank you

Thanks Andrew! Added a few new series to my Goodreads list as after watching this video. My personal favourite series is the Kingkiller Chronicles. I could read about Kvothe at the University time and time again. It’s so comforting. Also a shoutout to the Gentleman Bastards series. Incredibly underrated.

I'd likely include Sword of Truth, but this is a pretty solid list.

David Gemmel - Druss the Legend particularly. Absolute top pick is Raymond Feist with the Servant of the Empire trilogy. Reminded by someone else below - Codex Alera by Jim Butcher Legions of Videssos - Harry Turtledove (roman legion transplanted to a fantasy world)

Andrew this is a fantastic list!! Some of my favorites that are not on the list are: The Empire Trilogy, the Warlord Chronicles & Gywnne’s Bloodsworn Saga! Currently reading the Bound & the Broken and listening to Suneater.

I love this top 10 and definitely think you chose the BEST of the best!! Thanks a lot!

Nice list, I'll sure try some of these titles. What I enjoyed reading was "The sword of truth" from Terry Goodkind.

The shanara series by Terry Brooks and anything written by Patricia Mckillip.

Thanks so much! I love this!

Old fella here. Fafhrd and grey mouser.

The Black Company and Legend of the Five Rings are great as well.

1. Dragonlance (first 3 books) 2. Lord of the Rings 3. Xanth series 4. Wheel of Time series 5. Dark Tower series 6. Dragons of Pern series 7. Orcs / Stan Nicholls 8. Dune series

I just picked up the Faithful and the Fallen series and I can't recommend it enough! It's terrific for all ages. So glad you mentioned it on your channel.

Malazan is the greatest fantasy series in my opinion. Nothing compares to this authors imagination, the scale, depth and the mind blowing events and battles. Farseer was the most boring and uneventful series ive ever read. It often teases that it is building to something exciting but then it suddenly goes back to uninteresting things.

Stunned that David Gemells Drenai saga is not on this list? A contemporary of Jordan and Feist he has created some of the greatest fantasy Heroes! Druss, Waylander and Regnak!

First Law is my favorite series of all time. Best way to describe it is “imagine if Game of Thrones were written by Quentin Tarintino”

Reading Stormlight series right now - really enjoying them!

Thank you for this!

Tad Williams Shadowmarch series is excellent, wonderfully detailed and mysterious; N. K. Jemison’s Broken Earth trilogy is beautifully written, straddling the gap between Fantasy and SF.