If you are like me, then you are a huge fantasy fan. It is easily my favorite genre and I have to force myself to read to read other books. But for this list, we will be staying with this genre as we share our list of the 21 must read fantasy books of all time!
I would never suggest someone read all of ASOIAF. It just gets ridiculous in length and complexity for no valid reason, and he’s likely to die before finishing the series. The first 2-3 books are alright though.
Also, no Hobbit? No Legend of Drizzt? Wtf. RA Salvatore is one of the best.
I strongly disliked RA Salvatore’s writing style. I found it far too flowery which took away from the enjoyment of the story.
That’s fair. It’s not exactly adult level most of the time. If you want D&D stuff though, War of the Spider Queen might be more palatable. He chaired a round table of 6 authors, each of them writing one book in the series, so if you don’t like one style it changes with the next. Post-Drizzt timeline and Drow being Drow. It’s my personal favorite.
With the WOTC nonsense earlier this year I’m a little reluctant to get into more DnD stuff (my group switched to pf2e), though I still wanna know more about the lore. Thanks for the suggestion though, I’ll add that to the list :)
Some of these books are true must reads, but several are just okay and a couple are downright bad.
Read most of these and some I agree with, some I don’t.
Weeks is okay, but I don’t think Night Angel is a “must read”.
I liked the Dresden Files well enough, but I don’t think it is must-read either. They were fun reads, but he wouldn’t be in the top authors even of urban fantasy specifically.
I don’t read them really, but Harry Potter seems influential enough that it should probably be on the list. I might make a case for some Scott Lynch and Robin Hobb to be there too. Sorta surprised neither Terry Brooks nor Terry Goodkind made the cut either, though I haven’t personally read them since I was very young.
Terry Goodkind is prolific and his characters are extremely relatable. His omission from the list and lack of references in the comment section is disappointing
Having read, and enjoyed, everything up to and including Law of Nines he’s repetitive and not terribly spectacular.
There’s a lot of good stuff in his books, which I guess is good because by all accounts he was the black sheep of his family who I’m told are all lovely people.
Has J. K. Rowling been officially cancelled now?
She might be a horrible person, but Harry Potter absolutely belongs on a list like this IMO.
It’s a bit tragic how she’s fallen in with that crowd. I don’t think she bears anyone any ill will herself, she’s just stupidly sought refuge in the wrong place. She never should’ve bothered, not on twitter, the place is too polarised. She started off playing devil’s advocate, but quickly learned there’s no room for ifs and buts on socmed and - fuelled by the shock of being threatened with violence - flew to a bunch of accomodating cunts for reassurance.
That list reads more like a “21 books that I’ve read–with a few girl authors I heard were good or famous or black thrown in”.
Brent Weeks is not a great author, and while Jim Butcher is consistent in his output (barring the few years where his RL went to shit on him) his Craft suffers in his non-urban fantasy series. (He coasts a LOT on Harry Dresden’s voice and charm and culture references, and doesn’t get that crutch in his other series and it shows.) I LIKE Jim Butcher, but there’s tons of authors that can write circles around him. His career is based on completing books and getting them out the door, not creating masterworks.
Where’s Robin McKinley? Robin Hobb? Kate Elliott, who was writing and COMPLETING her Crown of Stars epic fantasy series at the same time Martin and Jorden were writing (and never completed their series)? Lois McMaster Bujold, whose Challion series is just as good as her Vorkosigan series? Jacqueline Carey? And if we’re including YA, which the Hunger Games suggests (although as one person pointed out, those are sci-fi), where’s Tamora Pierce? Patricia C. Wrede?
The person who wrote that list reads a very specific part of the genre and leaves a LOT of the greats out.
Robin Hobb
Ugh, I disliked the Assassin’s Apprentice series. It’s written like his mentors have some sort of plan for dealing with Royal, when really the entirety of their plan is “let him do whatever he wants, up to and including getting everyone killed and selling out the entire country”. That was the most disappointing, limp-dicked arc to a story I’ve read among books that are considered good by some people. I kind of enjoyed the first book or two while reading it, but I very much wished I had read something else by the time I was done.
Bro Jim has chops I don’t think a lot of people respect. I hated BG/PT more than most and am still pretty vocal about how blatant a cash grab it was, but that’s just the latest Dresden drip. Go back and look at Codex Alera again. The complexity of plot, the subtle politics and character relationships, and the over the top large scale action. Imo it’s pretty great all time fiction work, and it’s genesis was a drunken bet about Pokémon and the lost Roman legion. I’m honestly hopeful for the Olympian Affair, as the Cinder Spires series had a very promising start.
