Great list. I will have to add some of these to my own future reading. Perelandra is one of my favourites ever and maybe my most profound reading experience.
Recently picked up a book haul of eight sci fi books by Frank Herbert that are not Dune. Most people do not know these books exist. Best wishes and happy reading!
Lewis' space trilogy is one I go back to over and over. Each book is so different and hits fresh angles. I adore all three, but Perelandra was a unique experience in the degree it all felt so real while I read it. Like I was there, swimming the mountains of Ocean, wavering on the precipice of The Fall.
I have literally had First Law sitting on my bookself for YEARS. I really need to get around to it sometime. But something I am definitely going to make time for next year is Suneater. I was in the mood for something new and that and Bound and the Broken were both on my radar. Ended up going the other series. Loving it and almost caught up. Early next year I think I will be able to start Suneater. However right now everything is having to fit around my new favorite fantasy series, Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn. After sitting on the Broken Binding waitlist for a long time I finally got my invite just in time for there special editions of Tad Williams classic. I thought, why not, if I don't love them, surely I can sell them on the secondary market. He's a famous writer.....well sorry, wallet, I LOVED The Dragonbone Chair. Right now, I think it is my favorite thing I read this year, and I've read some good stuff this year. So the second book arrived in the mail a couple days ago and I dropped everything to start it. From your list the only other one I am really familiar with is ASOIAF. I love it. And I would open that up to not just the five books that have come out in that series, but Fire and Blood, Dunk and Egg, Heck, I'll sit down and flip through A World of Ice and Fire anytime. I can't get enough of the lore of this fantastic world.
hello! thank you for this list and recommendations. I've been an avid reader since I was young but I never quite got into fantasy/sci-fi but now after reading The way of Kings By Sanderson, I can't wait to dive into these!
Book of the New Sun will be read in hundreds of years too :). Nobody has replaced it as a work of art. I am glad to see its popularity gaining again in the past years.
@@iSamwise It is my favorite work of fiction. I am going to leave a quote by Darrell Schweitzer, editor of the newer version of Weird Tales and author of the Mask of the Sorcerer (great book too btw): "There will always be someone reading Wolfe because there isn't a replacement for his writing. There will not necessarily always be someone reading Terry Brooks' Shannara novels because 'Why not just read The Lord of the Rings? Or the latest knock-off? “There will be people inspired by Wolfe, but if you want to read a Wolfe story, you'll need to read Wolfe."
Interesting aside, Orwell actually reviewed That Hideous Strength. (As I recall he utterly bounced off the mythic/religious elements.) Very happy to see Ransom here though - Lewis’ work is perhaps the most compelling on a sentence to sentence idea level I’ve ever read, even though I’m often not compelled towards agreement. Great and unique list!
I loved Lawhead's Pendragon Cycle. I've probably read it a half a dozen times. Lewis' space trilogy is also greatness. Perelandra is my favorite, but That Hideous Strength is also so good. I found it to be nearly prophetic.
@@iSamwise I think I have read most everything of his except for the newest series. I like his work. It isn't necessarily the most amazing stuff out there, but I like his ideas and his style.
@@iSamwise Albion is a Celtic thing and Raven King is his take on Robin Hood. I enjoyed both, but I enjoyed The Song of Albion more. That's another that I have read multiple times.
The first three Dune books are phenomenal, I personally think that each book is better than the one before it. But than I thought book four was a nosedive in quality and five and six almost didn’t even feel like Dune anymore. I’ll just say I’m glad I read books 4-6 but will be looking forward to just reading the first three on rereads I’ve seen you talk about The Pendragon Cycle before and every time it makes me excited to try the series. It sounds fascinating Name of the Wind was my favorite fantasy book for a long time as it was THE book that made me fall in love with reading again after college, so I’ll always have an affinity for it Another Kingdom sounds very interesting and I haven’t heard if it before. I’ll have to add it to the ol’ TBR You’re right, I know nothing else of Lewis’ works past Narnia (& Mere Christianity) so I didn’t know he wrote any sci-fi. The Space Trilogy again sounds very interesting Great list Sam!
@@DiggerdanReads thank you! I enjoyed God Emperor but It’s definitely the most concept driven of the first four. And to be honest the plot can feel a lot like a soap opera despite the bizarre trappings. I definitely prefer Children of Dune at this point.
Excellent list! Hope to get to the Pendragon Cycle next year, and have «Demon in White» next on my Sun Eater reading! As for myself, I would have to put Guy Gavriel Kay's «A Song For Arbonne» & «Under Heaven» and Ken Liu's «Dandelion Dynasty» as Modern Classics, with Vaughn Roycroft's soon to be finished «Sundered Nation» Indie Epic/Historical Fantasy Trilogy (think the lovechild of the Historical Goths and the Rohirrim from «LOTR», with elements of «Dune» ) as a potential Dark Horse Favorite of mine! Cheers!
@@iSamwise I have read two-three of GGK’s books every year since 2021, and there has always been at least one GGK book in my Top 3 Reads of the Years and two in my Top 10, so he is well worth diving into! 😄
Some all-time favorite fantasy series of mine not mentioned in your video: The Chronicles of Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander The Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix The Valdemar series by Mercedes Lackey The Osten Ard series by Tad Williams The first Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson-- excepting perhaps The Well of Ascension, which has a major case of Middle Book Syndrome. I'll add that, derivative as they are, I have always very much enjoyed Terry Brooks' Shannara series-- particularly everything up to and including The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara portion.
Oh well...I guess I'm wrong...because I put Lord of the Rings on number 6 on my own favorite fantasy series/books. 😭😭 Seriously though, some good choices. There's even some here that I've never even heard of like Lawhead's series or Klavan's series (though I've heard Jordan talk about it.) Keep up the good work Sam!
@@someokiedude9549 Britton with you being such a Lehane fan I’d be really interested to see what you think of some of Klavan’s crime novels. Especially his Weiss and Bishop trilogy or his novel, ‘True Crime’
Not a series but a book you might like is Fitzpatrick’s War by Theodore Judson. It’s really expensive right now though so you might have trouble finding it
What turned me off of Martin was the villifying of White men in the tv show and the disgusting content in the show. I will never read his books or give him my money!
OH!!! Lawhead is on my TBR!! I think I just learned a lot about you :)
@@NICKREADSFANTASY It’s some of the best Arthurian retelling that I’ve read!
Great list. I will have to add some of these to my own future reading. Perelandra is one of my favourites ever and maybe my most profound reading experience.
Yes! Perelandra is so fantastic!
Recently picked up a book haul of eight sci fi books by Frank Herbert that are not Dune. Most people do not know these books exist. Best wishes and happy reading!
@@ReadingIDEAS.-uz9xk That’s true. I can honestly say I don’t know a single person who’s read a Frank Herbert book that wasn’t a Dune book.
Lewis' space trilogy is one I go back to over and over. Each book is so different and hits fresh angles. I adore all three, but Perelandra was a unique experience in the degree it all felt so real while I read it. Like I was there, swimming the mountains of Ocean, wavering on the precipice of The Fall.
I have literally had First Law sitting on my bookself for YEARS. I really need to get around to it sometime.
But something I am definitely going to make time for next year is Suneater. I was in the mood for something new and that and Bound and the Broken were both on my radar. Ended up going the other series. Loving it and almost caught up. Early next year I think I will be able to start Suneater.
However right now everything is having to fit around my new favorite fantasy series, Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn. After sitting on the Broken Binding waitlist for a long time I finally got my invite just in time for there special editions of Tad Williams classic. I thought, why not, if I don't love them, surely I can sell them on the secondary market. He's a famous writer.....well sorry, wallet, I LOVED The Dragonbone Chair. Right now, I think it is my favorite thing I read this year, and I've read some good stuff this year. So the second book arrived in the mail a couple days ago and I dropped everything to start it.
From your list the only other one I am really familiar with is ASOIAF. I love it. And I would open that up to not just the five books that have come out in that series, but Fire and Blood, Dunk and Egg, Heck, I'll sit down and flip through A World of Ice and Fire anytime. I can't get enough of the lore of this fantastic world.
@@FreeLatveria you know Tad Williams almost made the list. I really want to get to his works soon!
hello! thank you for this list and recommendations. I've been an avid reader since I was young but I never quite got into fantasy/sci-fi but now after reading The way of Kings By Sanderson, I can't wait to dive into these!
@@sardinecan2516 If I were listing just my favorite fantasy novels, Way of Kings would be on it!!
Book of the New Sun will be read in hundreds of years too :). Nobody has replaced it as a work of art. I am glad to see its popularity gaining again in the past years.
It’s SO GOOD!!!
@@iSamwise It is my favorite work of fiction. I am going to leave a quote by Darrell Schweitzer, editor of the newer version of Weird Tales and author of the Mask of the Sorcerer (great book too btw):
"There will always be someone reading Wolfe because there isn't a replacement for his writing. There will not necessarily always be someone reading Terry Brooks' Shannara novels because 'Why not just read The Lord of the Rings? Or the latest knock-off?
“There will be people inspired by Wolfe, but if you want to read a Wolfe story, you'll need to read Wolfe."
@@tasosalexiadis7748 absolutely
God Emperor is my favourite Dune book. The setup allows Herbert to explore some fascinating ideas. And in my eyes it will always be a tragedy.
@@aSinnerMan7 I’m almost done with it!!
Interesting aside, Orwell actually reviewed That Hideous Strength. (As I recall he utterly bounced off the mythic/religious elements.)
Very happy to see Ransom here though - Lewis’ work is perhaps the most compelling on a sentence to sentence idea level I’ve ever read, even though I’m often not compelled towards agreement.
Great and unique list!
@@Beech27 thank you for your interesting thoughts and kind words.
I loved Lawhead's Pendragon Cycle. I've probably read it a half a dozen times. Lewis' space trilogy is also greatness. Perelandra is my favorite, but That Hideous Strength is also so good. I found it to be nearly prophetic.
@@Rogue_VI yessssss!!!! The Space Trilogy is SO GOOD. Six times through the Pendragon cycle is impressive. Have you read much else of Lawhead?
@@iSamwise I think I have read most everything of his except for the newest series. I like his work. It isn't necessarily the most amazing stuff out there, but I like his ideas and his style.
@@Rogue_VI I’ve got his King Raven books coming up and Song of Albion…not sure which one will be next.
@@iSamwise Albion is a Celtic thing and Raven King is his take on Robin Hood. I enjoyed both, but I enjoyed The Song of Albion more. That's another that I have read multiple times.
The first three Dune books are phenomenal, I personally think that each book is better than the one before it. But than I thought book four was a nosedive in quality and five and six almost didn’t even feel like Dune anymore. I’ll just say I’m glad I read books 4-6 but will be looking forward to just reading the first three on rereads
I’ve seen you talk about The Pendragon Cycle before and every time it makes me excited to try the series. It sounds fascinating
Name of the Wind was my favorite fantasy book for a long time as it was THE book that made me fall in love with reading again after college, so I’ll always have an affinity for it
Another Kingdom sounds very interesting and I haven’t heard if it before. I’ll have to add it to the ol’ TBR
You’re right, I know nothing else of Lewis’ works past Narnia (& Mere Christianity) so I didn’t know he wrote any sci-fi. The Space Trilogy again sounds very interesting
Great list Sam!
@@DiggerdanReads thank you! I enjoyed God Emperor but It’s definitely the most concept driven of the first four. And to be honest the plot can feel a lot like a soap opera despite the bizarre trappings. I definitely prefer Children of Dune at this point.
Excellent list! Hope to get to the Pendragon Cycle next year, and have «Demon in White» next on my Sun Eater reading!
As for myself, I would have to put Guy Gavriel Kay's «A Song For Arbonne» & «Under Heaven» and Ken Liu's «Dandelion Dynasty» as Modern Classics, with Vaughn Roycroft's soon to be finished «Sundered Nation» Indie Epic/Historical Fantasy Trilogy (think the lovechild of the Historical Goths and the Rohirrim from «LOTR», with elements of «Dune» ) as a potential Dark Horse Favorite of mine! Cheers!
@@MacScarfield I definitely need to read some GGK. The Sarantine Mosiac sounds amazing!!
@@iSamwise I have read two-three of GGK’s books every year since 2021, and there has always been at least one GGK book in my Top 3 Reads of the Years and two in my Top 10, so he is well worth diving into! 😄
Oh man I need revisit that Lewis series. I don’t think I finished but I’ll have to check. Books just came out of boxes.
Each book is wildly different from another but the third is by far the weirdest and in my opinion the best.
Some all-time favorite fantasy series of mine not mentioned in your video:
The Chronicles of Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander
The Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix
The Valdemar series by Mercedes Lackey
The Osten Ard series by Tad Williams
The first Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson-- excepting perhaps The Well of Ascension, which has a major case of Middle Book Syndrome.
I'll add that, derivative as they are, I have always very much enjoyed Terry Brooks' Shannara series-- particularly everything up to and including The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara portion.
@@Jockolantern Garrh Nix is definitely an author I plan on reading as well as Tad Williams!!
Oh well...I guess I'm wrong...because I put Lord of the Rings on number 6 on my own favorite fantasy series/books. 😭😭
Seriously though, some good choices. There's even some here that I've never even heard of like Lawhead's series or Klavan's series (though I've heard Jordan talk about it.) Keep up the good work Sam!
@@someokiedude9549 Britton with you being such a Lehane fan I’d be really interested to see what you think of some of Klavan’s crime novels. Especially his Weiss and Bishop trilogy or his novel, ‘True Crime’
@@iSamwise I am considering reading his crime novels in the future.
@@someokiedude9549 Dude let me know when. I’m not quite there but I’m close to having read everything he’s written. Definitely a favorite author.
Not a series but a book you might like is Fitzpatrick’s War by Theodore Judson. It’s really expensive right now though so you might have trouble finding it
@@UncleSeth1 I’ll look it up.
What turned me off of Martin was the villifying of White men in the tv show and the disgusting content in the show. I will never read his books or give him my money!
@@melindamassey14 I am not really interested in watching the show but everyone’s allowed to support whomever they want.