10 Best Fantasy Books of All Time

let’s dive into the first fantasy books series I’m gonna chat about is a classic and that is Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson miss foreign for me personally was one of the first like epic fantasy stories.

I encountered and picked up and it’s always been one of my favorites I even reread it last year and continued on with the additional trilogies and they just hold up and they’re just so excellent I also feel like Brandon Sanderson is by far and away one of my favorite authors and I’ve seen a lot of comments about being intimidated or not knowing where to start and I always say the Mistborn trilogy is the perfect place

if you’re wanting to check outcomes novels and you’re wanting to check out Brandon Sanderson’s writing all of his books though are incredibly engaging his writing style is super accessible and to read not to mention his plots and magic systems are next level but bringing me back to Mistborn the premise of this is definitely if the bad guy won and in the first novel

it’s essentially about a ragtag group of individuals working together to overthrow this dark lord it has lots of great characters our main character is a young girl and you really see her grow up to come into her power but one of my favorite elements outside of the twisty turvy plot which is definitely there is the magic system.

it’s centered around the consumption of metals and different metals have different properties and magical outputs it’s incredibly interesting and just reading this entire trilogy is great the first one is definitely very much a heist story which makes it go at a blistering pace

but I would say the plot is escalated in a masterful way throughout this entire trilogy and it’s just really enjoying it holds up it’s a lot of fun I love Brandon Sanderson I’ve read I think all of his books and this was no exception and the first book on my list

guess the question is should I just keep talking about Brandon Sanderson because he is my only repeat author on this entire top 10 list so let’s just go through his other series that is really really heavy and that is the stormlight archives which is his epic high fantasy books series which currently has four books out and I think it’s going to top about 10 or 12um and these my friends are incredibly excellent as well and again like all of his books very approachable

I would not be intimidated by these novels just because they’re super long because they’re full of adventure and characters and twists and turns and you will just love it so much but this is an epic to say the least and it is a multi-pube story following a variety of different characters all living within this world that has kind of been at an endless war and

the first one you follow is an assassin who cries as he kills a young girl who is trying to become a scholar but secretly is trying to be a spy to help save her family from economic ruin you follow a surgeon forced to forsake his profession to become a soldier glass is a prince whose eyes are open to the ancient past this is truly an epic it’s set on the stage of the war it’s incredibly brutal the magic is fascinating both in

its a general application but there are also magical items it’s just expensive and it just will completely transport you and you’ll love every single second of it I’m currently in the process of rereading this myself and I can say it’s great I’m loving it very much but yeah stormlight archives beautiful also just the construction of these novels there are full-page illustrations and maps it’s just high-quality experience all around

That is the liveship trader series by robin Hobb the farseer trilogy is not on this list and that was probably the one that was so it was so painful for me not to include it because I love fit so much but for me the live ship trader trilogy so far of what I’ve read of robin hobbis both my favorite books of hers and some of my favorite fantasy books.

I’ve simply ever read but in general all of her books kind of live within the same world so I would recommend starting with the farseer trilogy before you get to live ship but I’m hoping this is a bit of a carrot to encourage you to pick that wonderful series up and then continue into this absolute masterpiece of a trilogy but the live ship traders trilogy

starting with ship of magic is a very expansive multi-pov and I mean that truly like there are so many perspectives within this story center on the concept of ships and training and pirates set in a variety of different locations and a lot of the perspectives are kind of bundled together and then it creates these sort of disparate tales that ultimately are all tied together in such an incredibly satisfying way

but the heart of the story is about trading and family and piracy and being on the water and normally I’ll be honest I don’t particularly care for pirate books I’m not like really into sailing or anything like that robinhobb’s focus on the details of sailinglikemakes you feel the love that the characters have for it and therefore you’re really entertained

by it but I would say my favorite thing about robin Hobb’s writing particularly in this series but it’s definitely present within the farseer trilogy as well is her characters I think she writes the best characters in fantasy they’re complicated they’re interesting you don’t totally know what they’re going to do and the character arcs that she builds over time are some of the most satisfying experiences I have ever encountered

I have laughed I’ve cried I have been enraged by characters and their decisions within her series I just have the most visceral reactions while reading her books because I’m so invested in their lives and I just like don’t know how they’re gonna make it through I’ll also say robin Hobb’s stories are brutal she really puts

her characters through the paces nothing is easy everything is fought for and it’s just it makes for an excellent tale live ship trader trilogy and robin Hobb is an author that’s new to me this year and by far and away she skyrocketed to the top of my list this is one of my favorite trilogies of all time if I had to make a top three this would be in it I loved it so much robin hobb is just a genius okay

The next series on my list is the poppy war series by rf Quang this is a recently finished grimdark fantasy story inspired by the Sino-Japanese war the opium wars as well as the song dynasty and it is one of the most brutal trilogies.

I have ever read but the poppy war series primarily follows our main characterrin and the first one she essentially tests out of her small village to be able to attend a very elite military academy there she trains both as a soldier but also begins to tap into shaman magic but throughout her entire education in is very much ostracized for her gender for where she grew up and also her complexion at about the halfway point of the first novel war breaks out which is kind of what carries us through throughout the entire trilogy,

this is very much a war focused story and the reason why this has made my list outside of the exceptional writing and complex and dynamic characters if you want to be furious and confused about choices read this book

I mean if you want truly like gray morality like this is the series for you how rf Huang wrote war and also portrayed the grim realities of waris just one that I have such respect for and in general how are also wrote about strategy and decisions

it wasn’t a glamorized experience it wasn’t like there’s an epic great battle and there’s an epic great enemy at the end of it and all we have to do is slay the dark lord we win everything’s fantastic everything’s great that is not it at all not only is the enemy kind of this murky force that probably has the same motivations as you but also all of the strategic decisions

that you have to make have heavy costs and rfhuang does not let us turn our back on those costs be it civilians soldier deaths destruction we have to face it just like our main characters do this is truly a story about wren and our closest advisors as they’re really just trying to survive and make the best possible decisions to get them to victory there are an incredible amount of battles it is so intense and just one of the best fantasy series

I’ve ever read it’s definitely like classic rock hard place there seemingly never feels like a right answer and I would say this is a very dark story and wren as a main character is a very complex and often one that will make the decisions that maybe you would not make but that’s what also makes her so human this is so good the tale itself is also rooted in such history the historical references that the author pulls from is not just done for a background it’s integral to the plot a lot of the commentary in terms of what she’s trying to say it’s just so good and I loved it so much

next is a series i personally think is criminally underrated his other series which is currently releasing is much more popular but his first trilogy is still one of my favorite books I’ve ever read and that is the city of stairs trilogy by Robert jacksonbennett

this is a series comprising of the city of stairs city of blades as well as city of miracles and it was just a journey from beginning to end I described this book as if like a geopolitical thriller was mixed with fantasy the concept is there was once

this great powerful and called the continent they were incredibly wealthy and also able to dominate their neighbors in other neighboring countries because of their access to the gods the gods basically provided everything for them in terms of power and prestige but then one day one of the neighboring lands rose up and actually killed off the gods which resulted in this once great powerful nation completely crumblingimagine

your entire society being fueled by gods that then disappear overnight your infrastructure disappears your government disappears half of a city might simply disappear and you’re essentially left in ruins and in this first novel we primarily follow our main character shara who works in essentially a government position within that country that killed off the gods within the continent to ensure

it stays that way they essentially prevent any circulation of folklore from this time and they also track and make sure to do away with any rumors of god’s coming back at the beginning of the story shara is sent to the continent to investigate a murder but when she gets there she quickly realizes that it’s definitely more than it seems and so begins a tale of conspiracy dead gods and buried history this trilogy is so excellent first and foremost each

book hyper focuses on a different main character and actually a lot of time passes between each oneum and also generally they’re present within a different city without the continent the idea of them are all of the same it’s definitely exploring this deeply complicated relationship between this country that was once subjugated by the continent but is now ruling them the destruction and the rebuilding of cities within the continent the civilian complexity of wanting to tap into

their own religion also how those gods should maybe be feared and hold possibly way too much power this has such pace to it again I’d really describe it as a geopolitical thriller but it has such fantastical elements to it as well it also has such a human component again because each book hyper focuses on a different main character you dive deep into that character psyche and as they’re trying to figure out what is the best decision because again

all of these issues are incredibly complicated and specific to wherever they are with on the continent itself fall the characters are also tied so it’s not that you never visit another character again I just feel like this was one of the greatest fantasy series I’ve ever read it’s really unique as well I’m sort of tapping into current geopolitical politics and kind of meshing it with this sort of alternate world where god’s lived I just thought was so well done I loved it it’s so good please read it I feel like no one reads this and it definitely deserves to be read.

next is another series that would probably make my top three if I had one and that is the broken earth trilogy by n.kjemisin n.k jemisin in general is one of my all-time favorite fantasy writers I’ve read so many of her books and I would say read them all my favorite is probably

the broken earth trilogy but seriously every single one of them are excellent and worth checking out this particular trilogy will mess with you it’s set in a world where civilization is constantly ending by like world-altering catastrophes usually

in the form of major earthquakes or volcanic eruptions that literally end civilization and they have to restart from scratch because of this society has kind of progressed in a way to prepare for the end of the world socially that means there are small tight-knit communities where everyone has specific roles and jobs in general there are certain scenarios that people are taught

in terms of how to survive on top of this there’s also individuals in this world with magic that essentially they can control the tremors of the earth but instead of kind of being revered as possible saviors to help prevent a future catastrophe they’re instead viewed with a lot of suspicion and are deeply controlled by the government within this first novel you follow a variety of perspectives a mother who’s trying to find her daughter a young girl who’s just discovered her powers and a young student who is kind of learning how to control her powers this trilogy is a journey

I feel like the setup seems simple but everything that goes down within this series is the opposite of that um the magic is fascinating in terms of the topics that nk jemisin touches on race motherhood gender identity its got it all he holds back no punches just the care and the skill that this trilogy was constructed with shines I mean there’s a reason why each one won the Hugo award because each one is genius to put it simply um again one of my favorite trilogies of all time just one that will break you into a million pieces and laugh at you read it

Next series on my list is the green bone saga by Fonda lee I think this is my only true urban fantasy selection for this particular listing general I would say urban fantasy is not my favorite subgenre of fantasy but when I do read it

I want it to be like the green bone saga which is simply one of the most entertaining action-packed stories I have ever read there are currently two books out I’ve read both and they’re both incredibly excellent but for context

this is an Asian-inspired urban fantasy story set on a fictional land called kcon there this city is basically controlled by two major crime families and how these two crime families maintain and hold their power is through jade in this world jade can be worn and grant some individuals inhuman-like power and strength and speed but not everyone can wear it however at the beginning of the story anew drug kind of enters

the market which allows kind of the average person to be able to wear and use jade this sort of creates a lot of tension between these two crime families as both of them are vying for ultimate power within this city throughout jade city.

and throughout jade war in the sequel you follow a variety of perspectives primarily within the cow family which is part of the no peak clan one of the most powerful families in the city of kcon this is a story that is gruesome full of family drama family dynamics also the author I think is trained in martial arts and you can see that shine within

its pages because how the combat is written it’s so smooth and visual this is a story of like bad people doing bad things but it’s also so much fun it’s fast-paced it’ll give you whiplash first two books were so good like crime family family drama it will just it will leave you entertained and breathless I love this series so much to me if I’m gonna read urban fantasy I want it to be like this, this was amazing

All right the next book on my list is a classic I’m sure many of you guys have heard of it but I obviously have to include it as it’s one of my favorites and that is the name of the win by Patrick Rothfuss a true modern a fantasy masterpiece if you will this is a trilogy

i think it’s supposed to be the third book has a very mysterious release date i don’t know when it’s coming out and I don’t think anyone does so I would say i caution you if you want to pick this up for the first time because you might be joining a special club where we’re all just waiting anxiously for that final release but the name of the wind is a wonderful story

that primarily focuses on the main character kvothe Ferrari itself opens up on kuvoth being kind of a tavern bartender and a chronicler comes in and begins to ask him about his life so he kind of has his unassuming job ina smalltown but as he begins to recount his life and story you realize that kaveh is actually a really powerful wizard that has gone on many quests and has tried and possibly failed at saving the world out

books one and two you follow as kavoth recounts his childhood his schooling at a magical school as well as some of his early like conflicts all in all I would say the story is obviously very hyper-focused on one particular character and there’s this really interesting tension between the past and what we currently know is the present because obviously

we’re building up to something that is some sort of fallout if kavot is now in hiding in a bartender in a small faraway town and overall i would say probably my favorite part about this book is actually Patrick ralph uses writing I find his prose to just be so lyrical not to mention really homey there’s something about this tale

that just feels really inviting to me following avoid throughout his entire life as a character he’s a really easy one to root for in my opinion and the fact that this book primarily takes place in large part at a magic school also is just like a favorite fantasy trope that I just can never get enough of so yes the name of the wind is on my top list I know so original but it’s here for a reason because it’s a great book

All right we’re down to our final two series I’m now realizing i should probably call this book my top 10favorite fantasy series because they’re all that but I have the gentleman bastard series first one being the Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott lynch this is a wonderfully fast pace and a lot of fun primarily following our main character lock Lamora and his crewhis merry band of men kind of creating

alot of mischief and problems for everyone else or wherever he happens to be at that time he’s essentially the ultimate thief he’s constantly trying to trick and steal everything and anything he can possibly think of and in this first novel we actually follow locke as he’s a young child both kind of beginning to forge those relationships and also gain those skills as a thief he later uses in his life and those chapters are actually interspersed with current days

he’s also trying to pull off the most extreme heist of all time essentially tricking and stealing from different gang leaders within the city this also has such a great vibe and atmosphere I would very much describe it as some sort of like historical Venetian lots of canals merchant house trading politics kind of tale this series honestly is just one that is so much fun and

it’s personally at least tricking me on like every other page I love just seeing lock’s ideas slowly unwind and kind of seeing all the pieces fall together it’s just super super satisfying I also just love seeing the relationship too between lock and Jeanie’s just fun funny and just a heist tale that you don’t want to put down lock would steal all of my stuff and I’d probably let him

All right pals we did it we’ve reached the last book in this top 10 list and that is going to be the dababad trilogy by s.a chakraborty the first one being city of brass I love this fantasy trilogy so much it is a very much political focus but definitely has so much magic and culture at its heart as well this is a multi-pov story following a lot of different characters from different political and like power alliances within

this world which is what makes it so interesting one of our main characters is nahari and this book actually opens in 18th-century Cairo where we follow her and she kind of makes her way as a con woman kind of tricking people out of their livelihood in the first book though she accidentally summons a warrior gin and then from there she’s transported to a magical city of davabad there she learns about her hidden magic and hidden heritage as being part of a once very powerful family which kind of begins to turn the politics in this world on its head that’s because

the city has honestly been simmering in conflict for centuries and political division both between the different social groups as well as religious groups that live within this one central city there’s so much distrust and hatred on all sides it’s an incredibly complicated political issue resulting in an incredibly heartbreaking and complicated political issue

that is definitely played out over the course of three books but don’t get me wrong this is not just apolitical based fantasy there is so much magic and wonder present within this tale as well and so many characters you’ll fall in love with there’s also dynamic and interesting relationships touch of romance it’s one that is justtransportive and will entirely sweep you away I loved it so much and also the middle-eastern inspired fantasy setting

I felt like was so well constructed and interesting love this series and it was just great from beginning to end it’s finished as well so you can marathon it and enjoy it for yourself not gonna lie I’m a little out of breath but that is my top 10 favorite fantasy series of all time please let me know down below some of your favorites as I would love to know