Best Fantasy Books

A Game Of Thrones (A Song Of Ice And Fire) Start here

by Martin, George R. R.

While Martin's epic contains a lot of brutality towards women, it also shows how women, surviving in a man's world, can use their cunning, charm, and looks to run the show. There are few fantasy fans who have not read th...

The Kingkiller Chronicles (The Kingkiller Chronicle)

by Rothfuss, Patrick

A world that is vast, fantastical, and strongly rooted in logical world-building—it is a trilogy and biography of a famous musician and adventurer.

If you haven't heard of The Kingkiller Chronicles by now, you'll want to pick it up as soon as possible. Rothfuss' award-winning series took the genre by storm in 2007 with its expertly crafted take on a traditional...

The Blade Itself (First Law World) Start here

by Abercrombie, Joe

Abercrombie's work has become synonymous with the growing sub-genre of grimdark fantasy Naturally there's a lot of crossover between grimdark fantasy (which subverts the tropes of traditional heroic fantasy) and dark...

Malazan Book Of The Fallen (The Malazan Book Of The Fallen)

by Erikson, Steven

A grand and epic series with a huge cast of characters with epic battles, sieges, mages, and carnage.

Steven Eriksen has been both lauded and criticized for his extreme detail, and that extends to his magic system. In Malazan, magic comes from warrens, a realm from which mages and shamans can draw their power. Some...

The Lies Of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastards) Start here

by Lynch, Scott

Not all Grimdark lacks humor. This series blends the darkness of Grimdark Fantasy with some lighter, comedic moments.

There's so much about this wonderful series that's right. From a thrilling Robin Hood caper story (think a magical Oceans 11), compelling and complex characters, deep and expansive world-building, fascinating mythology a...

Lord Of The Rings

by Tolkien, J.r.r.

Do I even need to discuss it? The father of modern fantasy, the recreation of the English myth, an apex of English literature; Lord of the Rings is more than mere Fantasy, it is both myth and a fictional history so real,...

Assassin's Apprentice

by Hobb, Robin

Hobb is one of the best characterization writers in the Fantasy genre. Her characters are vividly real, leaping out of the pages into our minds as living characters. She has no qualms about allowing her protagonists to s...

The Magicians (The Magicians) Start here

by Grossman, Lev

A prequel novel about a high school senior who is admitted to a school for gifted children, for a magical education in upstate New York. A typical quest story that turns dark. Things are not black and white in this world and the characters are psychologically rich.

School fantasy is often aimed at children, and it's very successful at hitting that market. It's much harder to appeal exclusively to adults, and that's where The Magicians shines. Rather than the typical twelve-year-old...

The Black Company (The Chronicles Of The Black Company) Start here

by Cook, Glen

An elite mercenary unit is the focus of this series. It is a mix of fantasy, gritty realism, and military fiction. It is often cited as an inspiration for the Grimdark sub-genre.

In an era when fantasy was about honorable farm boys with magic swords and a noble destiny, Glen Cook said 'fuck that mess; let's have some amoral pricks doing bad deeds in a dark world, that's way cooler'. And you kn...

A Wizard Of Earthsea (The Earthsea Cycle) Start here

by Guin, Ursula K. Le

Today, Ursula K. Le Guin’s magic system may not sound exceptional. Like many, it uses the knowledge of true names to control elements, creatures, and even humans. Consider, however, that this book was published in 196...

The Coldfire Trilogy (The Coldfire Trilogy)

by Friedman, C.s.

Influenced by Isaac Asimov, the magical force in these novels is derived from natural forces and governed by consistent rules, a force that humans must learn to control.

There are few things harder to control than emotion and this makes magic in The Cold Firetrilogy immensely difficult. The planet Erna is controlled by a force known as the fae, which makes humans subconscious emotions an...

Heroes Die (The Acts Of Caine) Start here

by Stover, Matthew Woodring

A novel about two worlds that blends Science Fiction and Fantasy. An action packed adventure filled with real danger, sorcery, and a complex social system.

The Acts of Caine series takes adventure fantasy and drags it sixteen miles through the mud, and then tortures what's left. In a dystopian future, humanity has discovered a way to travel to parallel dimensions. One of...

Under Heaven (Under Heaven) Start here

by Kay, Guy Gavriel

An alternate ancient china told with the majesty of one of fantasy's best wordsmiths.

On paper, this is the perfect setup for a grand fantasy novel: Guy Gavriel Kay (Tigana, The Fionavar Tapestry, Lions of Al-Rassan) applies his considerable literary talent to crafting an alternate fantastical China, loos...

The Color Of Magic (Discworld)

by Pratchett, Terry

A huge series, these books are part of the Comic Fantasy sub-genre. It parodies and is influenced by canonical authors like Tolkien, Lovecraft, and Shakespeare in addition to folklore, mythology, and fairy tales.

What would a list of best fantasy books be without mentioning Terry? Not that Brooks dude who wrote an entire series about glowing pebbles. The other one. The funny one. Everyone has an opinion about what the best Discwo...

2005: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

by Clarke, Susanna

The revival of magic in an alternate Britain with two very different magicians and some fairies, too.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is an epic tale of the rebirth of magic in nineteenth-century England. Taking place among the regular historical occurrences of the time, the main difference between this world and ours is...

The Night Circus

by Morgenstern, Erin

There are two types of fantasy readers. Those who feast on action-packed epic struggles for kingdoms, glory, and maybe to save the world from certain destruction from inimical forces. And there are fantasy works that foc...

Broken Empire / Red Queens War (The Broken Empire)

by Lawrence, Mark

The first in The Broken Empire series, this gritty and violent novel focuses on a single character, who is an anti-hero, with a very dark past.

Mark Lawrence doesn’t use an abundance of technical explanations and diagrams, but that doesn’t make his magic system any less interesting. In fact, it lets him focus on his astonishing world-building and its unusual...

The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower)

by King, Stephen

The multiverse, parrellel universes, and a gun slinger that can save the multiverse. What more can you ask for? The Dark Tower is the single body of work that ties together every book ever created by King. Read it.

"The Dark Tower" is a series of books by Stephen King that blends elements of multiple genres, including horror, western, fantasy, and science fiction. The series follows the quest of Roland Deschain, the last Gunslinger...

Fafhrd And The Gray Mouser

by Leiber, Fritz

Often referred to as 'the greatest fantasy author you've never read' by some. And sadly true.But if you've read any modern sword and sorcery with dark themes, complex characters, strong world building, you've felt the fa...

American Gods (2003) (American Gods) Start here

by Gaiman, Neil

An ambitious and award-winning novel that is, at its simplest, a road story, but it is also a complex story of old gods and new, of folklore, of past selves, of culture and belief.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman won the 2003 Nebula Award for Best Novel. "American Gods" is a novel written by Neil Gaiman, first published in 2001. The story follows the character of Shadow Moon, a recently released convi...

Night Watch (Watch) Start here

by Lukyanenko, Sergei

The unusual Moscow setting of Night Watch is echoed by its magic system. Lukyanenko’s contemporary world is inhabited by both humans and ‘Others’, supernatural beings who can attune to Dark or Light. These beings kee...