Your relationship with the Mistborn Trilogy is exactly what I have with Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar Saga. As a kid I couldn't put down Magician and I must have read it through three times before discovering there were more books in the series. I've certainly read many more books and series that are better in most aspects, but it was the catalyst for my love of the genre and will always have a special place in my heart because of it.
I totally understand that feeling. I'm glad you can feel and experience it, too, with Riftwar Saga by Feist. I absolutely love Riftwar Empire trilogy! :)
I wasn't a huge reader until I reached my 40's. Now it's my favorite pastime. The book that did it for me was "All Quiet On the Western Front. " But now I mostly read fantasy and science fiction stuff. Glad there is so much to look forward to!
First and foremost, congratulations on 20K subscribers, my friend! It was a lot of fun to hear about people's favorites here. Even though you don't love The Hobbit, I still love you.😁I happen to be finishing the Dark Tower series today, and I would be curious to hear your take if you do read it. Like you, I'm pleased to see Malazan doing well here. I promise to read Green Bone Saga soon, and it's awesome to see the love for the Banished Lands and First Law too. What a crazy finish for the number one spot! This was very enjoyable, and thank you for all that you do for our community, Petrik!
Thank you so much, my friend! I can't believe it's been two years already! Thank you for forgiving my sin of not liking The Hobbit! 😂😂 I look forward to hearing your thoughts on The Green Bone Saga, Philip!
@@snowdrop9810 Well, it can be read as a standalone, and I do think that was the original intent. That being said, the follow-ups add so much to the story it's amazing.
I've read the first Dune story, I have appreciated the story, but it's out of style conventional story line spread over a long time window, and absence of relatable characters, makes it a little difficult for me to invest in. I hope I like it better in my 2nd reading later.
@@kartelUSM I read the first one, liked it somewhat, but really would have preferred if it was like, 2x as long and didnt skip absolutely everything that happened.(would rate is as a pretty good boom rather than an ok book.) Started on the 2nd one, the 2nd one had too much politics and plotting for me so i couldnt finish it.
Well done. I'm a bit sad not to see the Dragonlance Chronicles, and the Dragonlance Legends trilogy by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman represented. I absolutely love their dynamics. Pure fantasy adventure with heart and emotion that has lasted decades.
I loved reading the chronicles as a kid/teenager. You can see they're obviously influenced by Tolkien. There were a lot of good stories in the Dungeons and Dragons realm.
The Red Rising series is absolutely amazing, and I was glad it made the list, being a Sci-fi series. I read the first law trilogy, and I enjoyed it, but it was too dark for me, and the "heroes" were tough to root for.
I totally agree. I look forward to reading it again next year. I miss the characters so much! And that's understandably and fair regarding The First Law trilogy! :)
My #1 is Lord of the Rings. My #2 is from the same early era: Gormenghast. Only 3 books starting in 1946 and ending in 1959. He took years on each book, polishing them to perfection. I have nevery heard of such a strange and unique world as we see in that series. I cherish every sentence!
I am so sad that Robin Hobb, Tad Williams, and John Gwynne didn’t do anything for me. I see how dedicated their fans are and I just feel like I am missing something. But love seeing Malazan, Fonda Lee, Jen Williams, and of course Brandon Sanderson get a lot of love.
No worries! It can be sad when some super highly praised or popular series did not resonate with us. But I think that just goes to show how diverse and varied our opinion can be!! 😁😁
@@faustianbargains agree. I read final empire and it is so weak. Like it was written by a scholar. And I can say same about first law 1st trilogy. Weak.
I think most Hobb readers would implore you not to stop! It just gets so much better after farseer and farseer itself will be much better appreciated as you progress.
That is such a fun list. It reminds me of how many series I need to continue or start or re-read. I recently finished the Realm of the Elderling and it has left a big void. But since I finished one series, it's a good excuse for me to start 3-4 more.
I agree with your sentiment concerning The Hobbit. The Lord of the Rings is my personal favorite of all time but I never liked The Hobbit very much. I think if I read it as a kid I would've fallen in love with it but I didn't read it until I was an adult and it reads completely differently than TLOTR, which was specifically written for adults. It's the same reason I didn't care for the Harry Potter books. They're all written at a 3rd grade (8-9 year old) reading level and that's exactly how they read. Despite all that happens in them, and their overall quality of writing (which is well polished), they're extremely childish, immature, and shallow in comparison as far as overall concepts, and emotional depth/maturity, are concerned. Nothing about them being challenging (in a good way) for the mind. (I DNF'd the series half way through the 4th book (the Goblet of Fire) and have lityle interest in returning to it.)
Yeahh! I think I would've enjoyed The Hobbit so much more if I had read it when I was young. Like you, I read it as an adult for the first time, and I found it so... disappointing. xD I read Harry Potter books when I was in middle school, though, so I guess that's also why I enjoyed book 4-6. I never did a reread of the books again. xD
@@PetrikLeo Thanks for the response. I just began The Green Bone Saga because of your videos. I'm only a little ways into the first book but am seriously enjoying it. Thanks you for what you do. You have a great channel and it's much appreciated.
@@separator94 You're welcome! If you love the first book so much already, I guarantee the rest of the series will turn the trilogy into one of your favorites. Enjoy!
Wow nice work! My list for top 15 looks different. My top 15 would be: Discworld series, the Witcher series, Malazan (both Erikson and Esslemont books), the First Law, Kane series by Karl Edward Wagner, the Black Company series, The Gentleman Bastards series, The Low Town trilogy, The Burning series (rage of dragon and fire of vengeance), Elric of Melnibone series, Robert E Howard's Conan short stories, Greenbone saga, The Poppy War trilogy, The Demon Cycle series, and the The Shadow Campaign series.
Just wanted to say that I've recently embarked on the journey of reading fantasy books with reading the Mistborn triology and it's incredible; it's cool to see someone else who also started like that 🤙
I said this on another video but Children of Húrin fights for my number one spot! I adore LOTR but there’s something so gritty yet beautiful about COH that I think is seriously overlooked too!
Thanks for some great recommendations! My top series is probably the Wax and Wayne Series, Era two of Mistborn. The Stormlight Archive and the The Hierarchy Series (The Will of the Many) are close contenders.
Each book gets a little less good than the next, until it eventually sucks. I made it to the second to last book and quit halfway. I no longer cared what happened. The first 4 are solid though, even tough it "borrows" heavily from Moorcock and other writers.
When Petric says " This is my favorite series of all time.." for the 25th time...I think, " I don't think that means what you think it means" 🤓 - Great list though- Lots of suggestions! TIme to get reading!
Sorry for that... I do mean them, though. It's purely coincidental that the votes (you can check them out in the description) pointed out some of my top favorite series. I've talked about these series on my channel way too many times, repeating why I think they're amazing again is way too time-consuming and also even more repetitive than saying "this is one of my favorite series."
Name of the Wind is one of my all time favorites, too! I've read only two books in Witcher so far, I haven't found myself enamored by it yet though. We'll see whether that will change eventually! 😃
Congratulations on 20K. Petrik!! Such a well-deserved milestone. Wishing you many more happy milestones to celebrate. I'm delighted to see so many of my favorites on or near the top of this list (esp. Tolkien, Hobb, and Abercrombie). Your hard work on this video really paid off. It's fantastic! Thanks for all you do. Here's to the next milestone!
Thank you so much, Vaughn! I hope there will be more happy milestones to come. It hasn't been easy to get to this point with my channel. I will keep doing my best! xD
Congratulations on getting to 20k subscribers! I follow your reviews on Goodreads. I've read/partially read/am currently reading 10 of the books mentioned on the list. Realm of the Elderlings is my favorite! I agree that all 16 books should be considered a series.
your channel is a staple for me now petrik. Saw your reviews and heard you name dropped on other booktube channels before you started this channel, and I'm so glad you started this channel.
Ah, thank you so much, Ethan!! That's very nice of you and the booktuber (I don't know who 🤣). The channel hasn't always been easy to maintain, but I'm doing my best! 😁
First of all, huge congrats on 20K! I've been here from the start and wow, what a journey it has been. So happy for you and proud of you, it makes me extremely happy to see the channel continue to grow, you 100% deserve it! Loved this video, thank you so much for putting in the time and effort to create this list, you're the real champ! Seeing Bound and the Broken, Riyria, Dandelion, Greenbone and FatF on here totally made my day 🤩 Kind of a bummer to see so few of the titles that I personally consider favourites on here, but then I already knew that I am just a sucker for all the obscure hidden gems, lol. All of these series definitely deserve the praise and love they get, so I can't complain about this list! Great video once again! 🥰
Thank you so much!! Oh believe me, I have many hidden gems/self-pub goodies that didn't appear here. That's even more reason why we SHOULD and shout our favorite self-pub and underrated books! Anyway, thank you so much for being my friend and supporter of my channel ever since the beginning. I've said it plenty of times, but I truly appreciate your support and friendship, Esmay! :)
I completely agree with #1. Nothing will ever top The Lord of the Rings in terms of the depth of the world building, the epic scale, the characters, pacing and especially the writing. I love that it's not just modern themes and conflicts in a fantasy setting, it's 100 % authentic. We're always on the lookout for those rare gems that can completely immerse us in another world, that have no other purpose than to allow people to escape everyday life by transporting them to another realm. There are lots of great fantasy series out there, but Tolkien’s work will always remain our number one source of inspiration. 💎
Been reading your book reviews on Goodreads for years and really appreciate your honesty. Excited to connect a face and voice to the name! Great video!
Thank you so much, Myles!! It took me months of deliberation to start my channel, but I'm getting better at being confident. 🤣 Glad you liked my reviews!
Congratulations, Petrik! You and Daniel Greene are my favorite booktubers, and I try not to miss a single video. Well deserved, and I hope you get lots more!
As soon as you got to number 12 on this list I immediately paused the video and saved it so I could get good recommendations for what to read next and then immediately after that ordered the shadow of what was lost based on your recommendation. I'm excited to dive in to it and all the other great fantasy series on this list that I haven't read yet.
Congrats on 20k! I love and appreciate your channel and reviews! Also, here's the word count for each Stormlight book - not counting the fluff at the beginning and end, only the actual story itself, first to last word. The Way of Kings: 382,485 Words of Radiance: 398,622 Oathbringer: 453,362 Rhythm of War: 458,319 The largest book I have yet to come across is To Green Angel Tower, book three from the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series by Tad Williams. It has 525,134 words! That's insane! lol
Thank you, Adam. I already have the word count written somewhere; didn't have it when I posted the video haha. I look forward to reading Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn next year!
Awesome video!! I have just discovered your channel and subscribed! Just added the dandelion dynasty to my tbr!! My personal favourites: - Harry Potter (first series I ever read and got me into reading. I’ve re-read them at least 8-10 times). - Stormlight Archive 🙌🏽🙌🏽 - Lord of the rings & the Hobbit - Shadowhunter series Cassandra Clare
Just stumbled upon this video on my recommended and I am so glad! I just started heavily reading fantasy about a year and a half ago when a friend got me into mist born and for it being my starter I think it will always be my favorite as well. Currently reading the banished lands books but I already finished his new series the shadow of the gods and the hunger of the gods, interested to see if when it is finished it would make a list like this, John Gwynn is awesome. Thanks for the video, I will be adding a lot of the series to my to be read list!
Thank you! And you're welcome. Glad to hear Mistborn has that special place in your heart, too! I think The Banished Lands Saga is even better than Bloodsworn Saga. So far anyway. 😊
Thank you so much for this video! I've saved it to watch again so I don't miss any of these series. As you spoke, I pulled up my Libby app and put a few of them in my TBR pile. Borrowing books from the library is the only way to keep from going broke when you love fantasy as much as I do. I'm now subscribed and would love to see more videos like this (I need to get through your previous videos first). Again, thank you so much!
Happy to see Realm of the Elderlings, Greenbone Saga and The Sword of Kaigen in the top. Was kind of sad not to see The Earthsea Saga, The Expanse and Foundation.
While there are some great, great books here. This also shows how few people read things from before the mid 1980s (with few exceptions). Not surprised, but still disappointed. Nice job with the video, Petrik.
Wow another great video, thank you for all your work putting it together. Read 28 of these series all or in part. I am a bit surprised that the Durfee's The Five Warrior Angels did not get enough votes to get on the list. This is certainly an overlooked series. Also, Staveley's Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, was excellent, lastly for Sci-Fi SA Corey's Expanse. Lastly, and unfortunately, many of the older fantasy series are not looked at as much today, though they certainly made their mark.
Thank you so much, Frank! Took me MANY hours to put all this together. I hope it's useful to many readers. And that is amazing to have read/attempted 28 of these. I'm sad that Five Warrior Angels did not make the cut, too... Such an overlooked series. I'm in the middle of rereading Blackest Heart in preparation for The Lonesome Crown! And yes I agree that Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne by Brian Staveley, especially The Empire's Ruin, deserves more recognition, too! :)
Oh, so glad you did another one of these kinds of videos! I always love watching them! I've started reading adult Fantasy (plus The Hobbit lol) in the second half of 2020, and I've read at least the first book of 10 series on that list (in order: Harry Potter #1-7, The Hobbit, ASOIAF #1, The Name of The Wind, First Law #1-3, Gentleman Bastards #1, TFATF #1-2, The Sword of Kaigen, Farseer #1). I'm not planning on continuing all of these series personally, but Lynch and Abercrombie are ones I know for sure I want to read more by, and I'm open to try other series by Hobb and Gwynne. I'm very picky with my Fantasy books as it's not my main genre (I'm mainly a classics/historical fiction reader). I actually tried Sanderson (I care a lot about prose, so... 😅) and Erikson on that list and I knew these authors wouldn't be for me (though I was actually very impressed by Erikson's writing style, especially his narration, I found wrestling with those dialogues very exhausting after a while 😟). There are a few authors on that list that I'm eager to try, especially Ken Liu (hopefully next year), Fonda Lee, and Michael J. Sullivan. ☺️
Well done on reading fantasy even if it's not your favorite genre! Glad you still found some favorites, though. I hope you'll love Green Bone Saga, Michael Sullivan, and then Dandelion Dynasty by Ken Liu next year! At the very least, I can guarantee that Liu's prose is absolutely sublime! :)
Amazing list of books, thanks for compiling them. Personally Harry Potter and The Gentlemen Bastards should rank much higher, they would be in my top 5. I think missing from this list is one of my favorite fantasy books of all time, 'The Amulet of Samarkhand' by Jonathan Stroud. I found it hard to say what your favorite book/series of all time was since you used that phrase so many times! 😄
Thank you so much! Gentleman Bastards is certainly incredible. Hahaha, I didn't realize just how repetitive my phrases were until I posted the video. It's too late now. Anyway, I have a video on my ranked list of favorite fantasy series posted recently! Feel free to watch that. :)
Congrats for the 20k Anyway as we speaking scott lynch said couple month ago that he has ready like a novella that goes before the thorn of emberlain and that his publisher ready it!!! Can't wait
Thank you Petrik for all the work you put on doing this video.A lot of great series here which I haven't read yet but I'm looking forward to ,next year😅.Just to name a few:The Realm of the Elderlings,The Green Bone Saga,The Winnowing Flame Trilogy,A Song of Ice and Fire,The Dandelion Dynasty... Also,congratulations on 20k.
Ive had Sword of Kaigen on my TBR for a little while now. It will be the next standalone I read. I think I will finally give it go once I'm finished with the faithful and the fallen.
@@PetrikLeo Finished the Sword of Kaigen a couple days ago and loved it! I admire Wang's ability to honor tradition, respect, family and sense of duty while at the same time giving the character's autonomy and a sense of self.
My personal list is as follows: 1. The Lord of the Rings. 2. The Chronicles of Narnia. 3. A Song of Ice and Fire. 4. The Inheritance Cycle. 5. Harry Potter. 6. His Dark Materials. 7. Percy Jackson & The Olympians.
First of all congratulations on the 20k subs. Second i love this one. It allows for more series to be featured. And also it shows me how the chronicles of thomas covenant was not much known.
Found this in my feed and am glad that it did. Really enjoyed the content, it was nice learning of new books to read and i congratulate you on 20k. Hope to stick around for a while
@@PetrikLeo wow! Very impressive! Hopefully I will get to some of the bigger ones next year like tad Williams and finishing off hobb and discworld which I am halfway through both at the moment! ❤️
I would have voted for the Children of Hurin. One of my favourite Tolkien books. You've got a nice selection there, but Tolkien is my favourite author unsurprisingly. Although, I'm glad that Robin Hobb is getting very well deserved recognition.
Congratulations on 20K and here's to many more! Massive respect to you for doing this. Just wow 🙏🏽. Here are my thoughts on the ones I've tried or read: The Daevabad trilogy by SA Chakraborty - Just finished it. I liked it. The second book is the best imo. The Hobbit: Love it. Sorry it didn't work for you! Really liked The Winnowing Flame trilogy and The Dandelion Dynasty. Absolutely with you there. I love Kingkiller - surprised like you that it got only 14 votes. 💯 agree about NOTW. I also love Slow Regard Of Silent Things equally. Memory, Sorrow and Thorn is good. I haven't continued with The Last King of Osten Ard after Book 1. May try after Book 4 is out in 2023. Grew up with Harry Potter so I love them. Read and reread ASOIAF this year. Really liked it. And I really liked Fire and Blood too. Read ROTE except Rainwild. Liked it but found it very uneven in pacing and structure. Tawny Man is my favourite. LOTR is the GOAT for me. 🙏🏽 Didn't continue with Dresden Files, Licanius, Broken Earth, Poppy War, Dune, Dark Tower, Malazan after Book 1 - not for me. I didn't like the 2 books in Discworld that I tried. Sword of Kaigen didn't work for me unfortunately. Quit WoT after 2 books. 😛 Good luck with Book 7! I thought First Law was okay and DNF'd Best Served Cold and A Little Hatred. Quit Stormlight after 2 books 😛 though I really liked Way of Kings. But I didn't feel like reading after Words of Radiance. I loved this video. Thank you so much. May your channel continue to grow!
You should do this video once every couple of years and compare the lists. Many books are great at the time you read them, but fall out of the memories of the masses. Thank you for the hard work making this video!
You're welcome, and thank YOU for watching! I certainly have planned to do this kind of video again once I have more subs and viewers on my channel! :)
First and foremost, congratulations on 20K subscribers!!! I have read 11 series/standalone based on your recommendation and every single one is 100% hit for me. Read Sword of Kaigen, faithfull and fallen and just last week started Riyria based on your recommendation, absolutely love the first book. From this list, I Have 4 ongoing series (Malazan, Riyria, Discworld, Realm of Elderlings) and 2 series planned for next year (Winnowing Flame, Dandelion). Only Dark tower and Red Rising are the series which are absolutely not in my immediate TBR. I have read everything else.
Thank you so much, Pralay! So pleased to hear many of my recommendations clicking nicely with you. You're going to love Riyria so much if you love the first book already! :)
My humble opinion as a newer reader who has only been reading fantasy for a few years: 1. Stormlight Archive (I honestly believe this will go down as the GREATEST fantasy of all time. The worst book in the series is still a 9/10 imo). 2. Asoiaf 3. Lotr 4. Dune (Children of Dune is my 3rd favorite book of all time) 5. Mistborn (this holds a special place in my heart but its just maybe not quite as good as Stormlight)
Thanks for providing your opinion! I think Stormlight is continuously making new history in the fantasy genre with each new book. Can't wait for the fifth one! And I have to continue reading Dune! :D
I haven’t read so many books on your list. I started with Stephen Donaldson, Frank Herbert, Love The Elderling Realms, The Gap Series, so many outstanding options. Wheel of Time, I’m not a fan of my favourite characters being killed off … couldn’t continue reading or watching Fire & ice , but managed to read Goodkind, Sword of Truth, and I loved it
@@PetrikLeo the first book is a précis, I struggled with it but boom, from there it unfolds and develops well. A great series. I’m in Australia. We have some good fantasy writers here. Sean Williams is prolific and has written some interesting books, new ideas and style. The Sand Mage
