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Your top 5 fantasy books/series


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Yep Malazan is definitely a series that if book 1 doesn't jive with you you should still try to get to book 3 before you decide to pass on the rest or not. I know lots of people this happened to. Don't give it up! Bk 2 has one of the most powerful climaxes I've ever read in the 20+ yrs I've read books for pleasure. If you make it to bk 3 and still feel the same then pass on Erikson.

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I'm suprised at how many people have placed the Cosmere so high. I liked the first Mistborn, I struggled with the other 2. I think Brandons newest releases are briliant though. His style has developed so much. Alloy of Law was fantastic, so i'm guessing his new series will creep into the top 5. 

Can't speak for others, but one of the things that draws me to fantasy is the sense of exploring different worlds with different natural laws, and the cosmere books excel at that, both on a series by ser0eis basis and taken as a whole.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Leaving out all of Sanderson's works and LotR (which is totally out of competition), my Top 5 Fantasy series are:

 

- The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms trilogy by N.K. Jemisin

- The Black Magician Trilogy and Age of the Five by Trudi Canavan

- The Broken Empire trilogy by Mark Lawrence

- A Song of Ice and Fire by G.R.R.Martin

- Temeraire series by Naomi Novik

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Well, my top three are:

 

1) The Cosmere (I consider it all one series)

2) The Belgariad/Mallorean

3) The Song of Ice and Fire

4) The Wheel of Time

 

But I have read the first books in "The Gentleman's Bastards", "The Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne", "The Lightbringer" and am waiting to finish those before deciding on the 5th.

You read the Belgariad! Upvotes!

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Top Five:

Tolkien's Legendarium (encompassing all of his Middle-Earth related writing, which I consider to be one story/series)

Gene Wolfe's Solar Cycle (The Book of the New Sun, Book of the Long Sun, and Book of the Short Sun)

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, by Stephen Donalson

The Wheel of Time, by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

Mistborn, by Sanderson

Honorable Mentions:

Harry Potter, by J.K. Rowling

The Riddle-Master of Hed, by Patricia A. McKillip

The Earthsea Cycle, by Ursula LeGuin

The Chronicles of Amber, by Roger Zelazny

The Dark Is Rising sequence, by Susan Cooper

Discworld, by Terry Pratchet

The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis

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Everyone should read the Belgariad... I'm actually listening to them on audiobook at the moment, in a sort of audible re-read.

Darn, I read those so long ago that I can barely remember what happened in them. I just remember that there was some exceptionally important pebble or something, and that Polgara likes baths. Was there also a really fancy sign language? A nation who crowns identical-looking girls Queen in rapid succession to fool their deity? And the resident thief character doesn't know his way around perfume? ...I should re-read this at some point, probably.

 

Anyway, my top 5, hmm...

In no particular order:

  • Cosmere
  • Discworld
  • The Bartimaeus Trilogy (although it's been long enough that I can't quite remember what happened in it)
  • His Dark Materials (ditto)
  • Fate/zero

 

Special mention to Pact (by J.C. McCrae), an urban fantasy web serial with a magic system that you most certainly do not want to get involved in. The magic works as I might expect it to in real life, which is pretty worrying.

Another special mention to When the Seagulls Cry (by Ryukishi07), a visual novel series with the least reliable narrator I have ever seen - to the point where even with all the flashy magic duels and everything, it's still questionable whether it's actually fantasy.

Edited by Colours
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1. The Cosmere

2. Harry Potter

3. Beyonders

4. Lord of the Rings

5. Star Wars books

Honorable mentions: Wheel of Time and Bartimaeus.

I just started getting into adult fantasy books, and so haven't read a lot of it. Before I was reading YA fantasy.

Edited by KamorianKandra
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  • 5 years later...

Love this thread as I used it as a source for good fantasy books for years now. So, here are my top 5:

1. The Stormlight Chronicles (3/9)  Brandon Sanderson [mind blowing world and magic system, no need to say more here]

2. A Song of Ice and Fire [GOT] (5/7) George R.R. Martin [so detailed and (un)real, step by step from medieval novel to fantasy masterpiece]

3. The Farseer Trilogy (3) Robin Hobb [drags you inevitably in - you can’t help but become the FitzChivalry over time]

4. The Kingkiller Chronicle (2/3) Patrick Rothfuss [probably the best writing style of em all]

5. The Dwarves (4) Markus Heitz [first thought it a LOTR copy, then realized it simply outruns it]

.. and while trying not to cheat on the Top 5 rule, here’s some more in top-down order ;)

  • First Law Trilogy (3) Joe Abercrombie
  • Lord of the Rings (3) J. R. R. Tolkien
  • Raven‘s Shadow (3) Anthony Ryan
  • The Broken Empire (3) Mark Lawrence
  • Mistborn (3) Brandon Sanderson
  • The Wheel of Time (10) Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson
  • The Riddle Master of Hed (3) Patricia McKillip

()= #books in a series

Edited by Morn
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1. Stormlight 

2. Red rising trilogy 

3. Kingskiller chronicles (Common, Is the third book really that hard to write??)

4. Reckoners (not really fantasy but still love them)

5. Dragon watch (the sequel series to fablehaven. I know fabelhaven is generally considered YA, but Dragon Watch is a whole other level)

Honorable mention: A darker shade of magic by V.E. Shawb

Im gonna read wheel of time soon, mostly because Brandon finished them and I'm a Sanderson fanatic (as most of us are). 

Edited by Hentient
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@HentientLove the Red Rising series! I wasn’t the biggest fan of Dark Age on my first read because it is very dark and doesn’t seem to have the lighter moments the rest of them have. But the more I thought about it the more I loved it and I read it again and now it might be my favorite one. Can’t wait to see what happens next!

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@Ammanas I love them too! Im actually in the middle of Iron gold (by middle I mean practically just started it) I took a "little" break to reread stormlight before I started the later two. Ive heard Iron gold is pretty bad but Dark Age makes up for it? Anyway, I didn't see anyone else with it in their top 5, and was a little worried. 

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27 minutes ago, Hentient said:

Ive heard Iron gold is pretty bad but Dark Age makes up for it?

I actually really enjoyed Iron Gold. I think some people just don’t like multiple p.ov.s and cant get past this new way of telling the story. I love the Minotaur of Mars and need more of him in the story. I actually enjoy Iron Gold more than Red Rising and Dark age more than Golden Sun. So far, for me at least, the new trilogy is better in my opinion.

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- Stormlight
- Kingkiller
- Dresden Files
- Harry Potter
- Discworld

On 23/09/2014 at 4:25 PM, Seonid said:

3 - A Wizard of Earthsea - by Ursula K. LeGuin. The rest of her series isn't of the same quality, but this book. I just can't say enough about it. Again, the construction of useable myth as opposed to a fantasy story.


Funny, I didn't include Earthsea because I only really like one book in the series.  But my this book was Tombs of Atuan.

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58 minutes ago, Ammanas said:

I actually really enjoyed Iron Gold. I think some people just don’t like multiple p.ov.s and cant get past this new way of telling the story. I love the Minotaur of Mars and need more of him in the story. I actually enjoy Iron Gold more than Red Rising and Dark age more than Golden Sun. So far, for me at least, the new trilogy is better in my opinion.

Yea, from what I've read it seems pretty cool, and I really like seeing the new people. Regardless of where the story goes, I know Sevro stays in it and that's enough for me. 

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I'm realizing I don't have a favorite series. If pressed I would eventually say Stormlight or Wheel of Time, (not that I have finished either yet), but I would hesitate first, and that for me is a clear sign that neither is actually my favorite.

You know that feeling with your anything favorite of "Oh my gosh, I'm so in love with this I can't find any flaws in it whatsoever!"? I don't feel that with any book series yet. I should probably start looking for one.

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THANK YOU TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO REPLIED TO THIS POST! I HAVE EXTENDED MY READING LIST AND I AM SO THANKFUL. I have never really had others to talk with about my obsession with reading (I was the kid who devoured books like food), so I am so thankful to finally be in this community and get reading suggestions from people who CAN ACTUALLY SUGGEST ME THINGS (also going to college helped that too). *happy noises* Now to my own list.

1. Stormlight Archive - It takes the cake for me hard, even if it isn't finished. The intricacies (and the scope of the Cosmere as a whole) is dope and makes the writer in me make weird noises as I try to comprehend how many things he is weaving through, often without me even knowing. Dang.

2. Lord of the Rings - I was born and raised on this series, and watching the movies makes my cry everytime. Key to my heart and honestly a huge part of who I am today.

3. Wheel of Time - Solid third for how awesome and grand it is, no higher because of its writing. Some of the characterization (especially how the women are done and the whole gender relations of the book aka "men are stubborn and need controlling vs. women are confusing and always manipulating") really puts a bad taste in my mouth, but as a whole the series is by far an incredible accomplishment and deserves all the credit it gets. Just got all 15 (New Spring included) in retail hardcover and working on a reread.

4. (oh boy here comes the YA because no one would actually introduce me to new books in my hometown) Inheritance Cycle by Paolini - Even though the writing is really simple to me know that I am a Sanderfan, I really read these books to the bone (we have two sets of them because we wore out the first) and was the last series my brother and father both read alongside me and we bonded over.

5. Probably Rothfuss and "The Name of the Wind", but its been a bit, I need to reread it, so this is very loose and would probably take 4th if I reread it.

And as I said, I'm really just getting into more "adult" fiction now that I am getting suggestions, so again THANK YOU. Everything above is subject to change.

Also to those who mentioned Malazan, thank you, forgot that one and I wanted to add it to my list a while ago.

 

 

Edited by Purple
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On 5/29/2020 at 5:16 PM, Hentient said:

@Ammanas I love them too! Im actually in the middle of Iron gold (by middle I mean practically just started it) I took a "little" break to reread stormlight before I started the later two. Ive heard Iron gold is pretty bad but Dark Age makes up for it? Anyway, I didn't see anyone else with it in their top 5, and was a little worried. 

IMO Iron Gold is alright but easily the weakest of the 5 books.  It was mostly a set up book, and none of the 4 storylines reached the heights of what we've seen before.  I usually prefer multi-POV books, but this one felt awkward.

Dark Age I think is the best book to date.  It's by far the longest and most epic.  

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On 12/1/2014 at 4:05 AM, magicalxmiracles said:

Riyriya Revelations (Michael J. Sullivan)

I literally finished theft of swords yesterday.

top 5 books would be

  1. The Silmarilion
  2. Oathbrinnger
  3. The Way of Kings
  4. Master of the Phantom Isle
  5. Wrath of the Dragon King
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  • 2 weeks later...

Top 5 Fantasy book series....

1: The Lord of the Rings/Middle-earth as a whole.

2: Mistborn. Both eras. For some reason I can't really separate them in my head.

3: Stormlight Archive.  (I'd put this at number 2, but having only read two out of three, with seven more to come, I can't do that.)

4: Harbinger series by Jeff Wheeler

5: Rangers Apprentice.

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1 Keeper Of The Lost Cities

2 Stormlight Archive

3 Rangers Apprentice

4 Goose Girl

5 Tigers Curse

Honorable Mentions: Watched, Queens Gambit, Skyward, Daughter of the Pirate King, and Artemis Fowl. I have lots more if you want suggestions. 

Edited by Condensation
Missed a book.
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  • 1 month later...

The Lord of the Rings books (including The Hobbit)

The Mistborn trilogy (I still haven't read all of The Hero of Ages, though--*insert guilt-laden gulp here*)

Harry Potter (because the books are just so cozy, I want to knit them into a sweater and wear them. I may be coming off a caffeine-induced high, so please excuse....)

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (the author's preferred text)

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (because I like my fantasy with a large dose of laughter sometimes.)

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