Top 10 lists are way too hard without qualifiers! I could bounce back and forth all day trying to figure out what book counts as the best ever in my current mood.
This list started off as my "Top 10 Fantasy books." But then I started thinking, "What about modern day stuff with magic?" There's the Nightside books by Simon R. Green, Mercedes Thompson by Patricia Briggs, Harry Potter by JK Rowling and enough other series in contention I quickly added new parameters. I excluded anything scifi-ish where technology can act as magic like time machines dropping people all over the past (which is basically a fantasy). Shadowrun is a universe that I'd label science-fantasy and won't appear here. I didn't include post-apocalyptic series like The Vampire Earth or Dies the Fire where technology stops working, either.
For a series to be considered, I had to have read at least three books in a sequence in it. I didn't consider the Riftwar Saga, because while I enjoyed Magician Apprentice as a kid, I didn't have the money or means to buy the sequel. Years later, I read more by Raymond Feist (Kings Buccaneer, Talon of the Silver Hawk), but I never read the sequel to Magician Master. I might someday if it's ever on a Kindle sale, but it hasn't happened yet! I have many unfinished series. Kids nowadays have the internet and Amazon whereas I used to frequent used book stores and garage sales. I didn't have the cash flow to buy new book after new book (and now that I do, time is the issue!) There are plenty of others series like The Runelords by David Farland that started amazing and then quickly lost my interest. A series with a good ending is a huge plus, but there are some characters the authors are clearly never going to let die. If they were fun for long enough, they just might have made my list.
The Short List:
10. Bazil Broketail
9. Lord of the Rings
8. Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn
7. The Farseer Trilogy
6. Dragonlance
5. Gotrek and Felix
4. MYTH Inc
3. Mistborn
2. Forgotten Realms
1. The Wheel of Time
The Long List:
10. Bazil Broketail - I feel like I'm one of the few people who knows this series exists. Imagine Roman legion style troops with wyverns amongst their ranks. Wyverns are wingless kin to dragons that allow the legion to go toe to toe with evil armies of imps and trolls (who are born through disgusting means). The series is basically a thriller with one big, bloody battle scene leading to the next big, bloody battle scene. Bazil is a dragon who aspires to join the Legion. Relkin is his dragonboy (an orphan who basically tends to Bazil's needs similar to a knight's squire). I read all seven books before I was out of high school, so there's a strong nostalgia factor at play here. Deathstalker would have made a play for this spot if I hadn't picked it up on audiobook. That was another series I loved in high school. The banter I liked was still there on the reread, but the nonstop violence and quickly increasing body count felt repetitive. I didn't bother to continue the series. I hope that Bazil doesn't fall into that same category, so I've left it in 10th. I might reread it, but currently it costs more on Kindle than as a paperback! Boo! Cradle could push Battledragons off my list if it finished well (I'm on book 11 out of 12). It's not good enough to beat the nostalgia factor yet, but ask me again in a couple of months.
9. Lord of the Rings - Tolkien was a genius. The LOTR is a masterpiece. I've read the Silmarillion, played the card game, enjoyed the movies, and can name all sorts of things in made-up languages. It's high literature. I have watched breakdowns analyzing Tolkien's series that I have found absolutely fascinating. There are quotes from it I find inspirational.
But that doesn't always mean it's fun. It's old. There are lots of songs. Not everyone loves Tom Bombadill. That's okay. This series accomplished so much and changed the entire genre of fantasy. That doesn't mean it's the series I'm going to pull out when I'm tired or looking to relax. I might play a game or watch a show based on the IP, but the original works are not the fastest reads. I don't feel like it's an insult to the series to admit that, either. There are people who get a real kick out of reading older language and feeling transported through time (whether it's Tolkien or Shakespeare). I'm just not one of them, so that's why Tolkien doesn't top my favorites even if it's probably the series I respect the most.
8. Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn - Book 3 of this trilogy is also book 4. To Green Angel Tower, is the longest single book in fantasy I've ever read. It was split into two parts! This book was a slow burn, but oh so good. You meet Seoman, Binabik, Joshua Lackahand, and a lot of the world building is done through dialogue. It felt incredibly immersive. However, I did try to reread it once and thought, "Wow, this builds so slow!" Because there are no quick info dumps and the world's history is grown organically it takes time. I figure I've forgotten enough a couple decades later I can experience a lot of the immersion again. But I want to catch it on sale. Patrick swears great books go on sale all the time on the Kindle, but the odds may be higher I'd find this one in a used book store. It never seemed to get the widespread acclaim I figured it could have.
7. The Farseer Trilogy (and beyond!) - Based on the cover and the title presented, you'd suspect this book to have a much higher body count than it actually does (through violence or steamy romance). Fitz is an assassin, so he doesn't get to live a peaceful life. But the series starts with his childhood and goes through the difficult education with his trade and coming to terms with himself amidst trying times. The focus is on the characters, their growth, the world, and even it's politics more than mindless violence. Robin Hobb is actually not an author I know for battle scenes. Without being too spoilery, I was ready for an epic battle scene at one point only for her to never write it. The character doesn't remember what happened and she doesn't deign to write a flashback other than another character to confirm it happened. Teenage Mike was all about the action, so when I still rank this book highly in spite of Robin Hobb not giving me a battle scene, I hope you recognize that as praise for the book's world and character building. The Farseer Trilogy is followed up by another set of trilogies (of which I liked the Fool's Trilogy a lot if I remember correctly).
6. Dragonlance - Dragonlance was one of the first big series of 'adult' books I got into. I was aware of D&D, but other than a boardgame I'd played with my third cousin, Tom, I'm 99% sure I read these before roleplaying. It had to be 7th or 8th grade. To this day, I quote things like "Fireball! What a wonderful spell!" My friends get it, because I pawned this books off on them, too! The names Tasslehoff and Fizban still make me smile. I read the main trilogy and then moved on to everything else in the setting. The Defenders of Magic trilogy might have been my first magic academy book (long before Harry Potter), and Patrick remembered the The War of the Twins trilogy when I brought Dragonlance up at the beach. The nostalgia factor here is huge, but I did start to reread the series a couple years ago. It was during a busy, non-reading season of life. I got halfway through Dragons of Autumn Twilight before stopping, but you know what? It was still fun. The book is still somewhere in the house. I'd show it to Shane, but I'm pretty sure these are some of the first books I ever stumbled upon that referenced sex. How's that for an odd bit of trivia? I don't remember anything graphic. I think it was more of a reference to a failed relationship between two characters. However, as a dad I'm cautious in what I recommend. Is it odd, I'm okay with recommending books with violence, but not with mating? If Shane found the book and read it himself I wouldn't be upset. I didn't tell my parents when I stumbled across sex being mentioned and it didn't change my world view about no sex before marriage, either. Heroes killing monsters is normal for me in books and video games where sex is real world stuff with real world consequences. I thought it was hilarious in a later book where Caramon asks his wife if she wants "to talk" and she saying "talking" is how he ended up with so many kids!
5. Gotrek and Felix - I could have labelled this category as Warhammer, but that would have been a lie. I've read other books in the Warhammer universe (fantasy and 40k), but there's only one fantasy series I can recommend: Gotrek and Felix. It started with Trollslayer. That book was all short stories and okay. Skavenslayer was awesome. I didn't expect a grimdark fantasy setting could be so funny and so action filled. The series features amazing lines like, "Snorri wants bucket of vodka!", "I'll take the leader's position at the rear!", and "Here was a man too stupid to live." John and I would use such quotes while playing Warhammer with Cooley. Gotrek is a slayer, a dwarf under a death sentence he's supposed to carry out himself. His task is to find and kill larger and more dangerous monsters until he dies trying. That never happened in any of the books I read (and probably won't happen as long as Games Workshop thinks they can keep milking the character). I eventually had my fill 5 or 6 books down the line, but I really enjoyed my time watching Felix try not to die following behind Gotrek's suicidal bravery.
4. MYTH Inc - These books are full of fast-talking, banter, misunderstandings, and malapropisms. The main characters get by on reputation, tricks, luck, and good intentions! There are references to technology at points though the main character, Skeeve (a Klohd), normally follows them up with a "What's that?" Skeeve is from a low-tech dimension where he's trying to learn magic when he meets the demon Aahz (short for dimensional traveler). Aahz is from Pervect, but don't call him a pervert if you value keeping all your limbs attached. The books are short and there's a lot of goofball humor. They're my favorite humorous fantasy (the Guards, Guards! arc by Terry Pratchett and Blue Moon Rising by Simon R Green would be the other two that immediately pop to mind as great!). It didn't always make me laugh out loud, but it would make me smile. The books taught me a thing or two about how valuable reputation and perception can be. I grabbed the first four books as audiobooks for less than $3 a piece and I'm working my way through them. They're short easy listens (though Aahz didn't sound like I'd imagined). The books are older (Another Fine Myth was published in 1978). The characters don't have cell phone analogues which seem to appear magically in more modern books or maybe some problems would've been fixed with much less drama.
3. Mistborn - This is the book that put Brandon Sanderson on the map for me. The magic system blew my mind. It was a unique world, with great characters, and a thrilling plot. What is presented in the first book turned out to only be the tip of the iceberg with more revelations about the magic and the world to be revealed. The first book was still the best by far, for me. There's been a follow up series I've read 3 books from and may continue, but nothing has come close to the effect Mistborn had. I could see it being built into a video game, movie, or even a short series. I don't need a follow-up afterward, either. Mistborn introduced me to and sold me on Sanderson as an author to follow. I've followed him since and even watched his writing course online during the pandemic. He's reacted to numerous things online with class, his friend from a writing podcast wrote an audiobook Shane and I really like...and it all started here. Great book. I would recommend it to any fan of fantasy.
2. Forgotten Realms - If Tolkien is high literature, Forgotten Realms is a beer and pretzels romp. There will be bad guys, good guys, and some sort of battle or tricksy shenanigans to sort it all out. There will be some adventure and probably some quips, too. I put up the newest cover of my favorite Drizzt book. I've read a ton of his adventures. Salvatore also wrote the Cleric Quintet with a green haired dwarf who wants to be a doo-dad (druid) with a brother who thinks he's crazy. My favorite computer RPG game of all time is Baldur's Gate II which is also set in the Forgotten Realms setting. There are many other books better written than some of the Forgotten Realms books I've enjoyed, but I've enjoyed far more Forgotten Realms books than in most IPs. Quantity of an acceptable quality qualifies this series for number 2 in my heart here.
1. The Wheel of Time - There may be some recency bias here, but I doubt it. It took me three tires to get through WoT, but, wow, was it worth it. The first book, The Eye of the World, can stand on it's own, but Robert Jordan's ability to plan and interlace intricate ideas over time is one of the best in the genre. There are stretches that I had to push through. That can kill a series, but I was in a book group and had plenty of people to talk with about the series (including my brothers!). The community and the final payoff of the story made those moments of work well worth it. The series is a commitment, though, so I recognize it's not going to be a fit for everyone. Jordan does imperfect narrators, character growth, detail, and long-form plots, twists, and world-building better than almost anyone. He is bad about having walls of description and exposition. I learned to skim through those sections to keep the plot moving, but there will be some people who cringe at me saying that (or when thinking about reading a full page of describing the background, the background's history, the horses, and what people are wearing). Matt and I got in a conversation at the beach over our 10 favorite characters. It was a spirited conversation with tough choices about who to leave out. How many series can you say that about? I'll end up rereading the whole series one day. Maybe even with Shane if I'm lucky!
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