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I don't care if ASOIAF is ever finished, it's still my favorite book series of all time. It has my favorite characters, such an in depth world, so many details and theories to explore, and has provided me with endless amounts of content and discussion for the past 13 years and will continue to do so.
@@belledejouree1549 Agree on ASOIAF. I do love First Law as well but ASOIAF has such depth and intrigue. I do however think Joe is probably the better writer, while ASOIAF is the better story. I would also want to add that I think Abercrombie should be the one to finish ASOIAF if George passes.
I love how the fantasy elements lie just beneath the surface. It brings a sense of wonder when the dragons are revealed or when the white walkers make their appearance. It feels believable because the characters themselves have never seen anything like it before.
Yeah, I feel like many fantasy readers don’t really understand how it works. The linguistics and its assocciated history and mythology were always of primary importance for Tolkien. He really was a master craftsman and discoverer of Middle Earth simultaneously.
It's Middle Earth always and forever. All other fantasy writers have always been trying to get to that level, but it's impossible because of the historical and mythological character of Tolkien's work. He approached it as a scholar first and it shows in the best way possible. Having said that, I'm very glad that it keeps on inspiring so many fantastic authors to build their own worlds.
Discworld is actually kinda underrated because it does exactly what a fantasy setting should do, which is be fantastical and weird yet consistent and functional. When writing a fantasy story your world doesn't actually have to be a sphere orbiting a sun: You can make it a flat disc, or whatever else you can dream up, as long as you have some idea of how it's all supposed to work.
The abusrdity of the world makes a very interesting lens to view people through. And to a certain extent, that does push Discworld out of fantasy and into... thaumpunk.
@@elchiponr1 No, it is really. IIRC, the first book ends with the main character literally falling off the edge of the Disc. I'm pretty sure Rincewind has actually seen the elephants and Great A'Tuin twice. There is an _entire_ book about the Discworld space program where they take the Disc, the elephants, the turtle, all of it into consideration. There is an _entire_ book where the wizards experimentally create a world without magic and are astonished that it's _round._ The geography of Discworld is specifically spoken of in terms of hubward, rimward, turnwise and widdershins, rather than north, south, east and west. Discworld is a satirical book seires, yes, but it does _absolutely_ take place on a disc-shaped world resting on the shoulders of four insanely huge elephants standing on an even more insanely huge turtle. This is a _fact,_ treated as a scientifically proven within the canon. If anything, any Discworlders who think the world is round are treated basically like flat-earthers in our world - people who are clearly in serious denial about how their universe works.
Like any fictional fantasy setting, the important thing is to define the rules of the universe, no matter how fantastical, and NEVER break them. The reader can accept all manner of weird and wonderful ideas, but if you break the rules, it snaps the reader out of the story, and it all falls apart.
The Elder Scrolls has a really good worldbuilding, so I recommend getting into it. There is a lot of lore videos, so you don't even need to play any of the games (but I recommend trying watching at least part of the gameplay). There are also books, but I don't know how good are they.
Malazan is my No. 1 pick. Read the core ten books multiple times now and there is always something new to discover. It was on a rereading that I paid more attention to some more minor characters in the later books that I suspected that Erikson was toying with the absurdist philosophies of Sartre and Camus. BUT, I'm excluding LOTR from inclusion in this list. My argument is that without LOTR's success and fandom none of these other authors would be on the list as there simply would be no list. Once publishers saw there was a hunger for fantasy that was not simple and easily digestible, it opened the gates for succeeding, talented authors to find audiences and success.
As far as manga goes, if you're interested in dark fantasy, BERSERK is a must read as far as world building! Such a shame we'll never know how it ends as the author died.
One Piece is definitely a good starting point for manga if anyone is ever interested, and if you are scared by the amount of content, I would say that you will need, from my personal experience, as much time to read One Piece as to read all 5 asoiaf books, so if you think you have time for that, please try it, it is amazing.
not a good start since it has 1000+ chapters and its not even finished, most people avoid reading it because of the amount of chapters it has. Start with something small.
@@zhangzongchang1057It just feels like the World Government could destroy anything with the stuff they have. But they don't because... Guess what, plot armour. And why is Imu even hidden? It's not like the member Kingdoms have actual armies. And why does Will of D even exist? And why does the World Government try hiding it? Noone's going to see a "D" in the name of some cool people and go "Oh, that's weird." Even if they do, that's the best they can do.
This is like when people ask for their first fantasy novel and they get WoT fanboys recommend a 14 book series that has massive issues. Seriously One Piece is not good starting point at all. Not only is it not finished and has over 1000 CHAPTERS, it's not even for YA imo, it's for children, it's incredibly slow paced or at least it feels like that since the structure of arcs gets very repetitive and what you're reading feels almost like 70% filler and bunch of characters that are really not important get way too much "screen" time and main character cliches...
There’s so many good options. For me my all time favorite is Warhammer Fantasy. It’s cheesy and dark fantasy with tons of tropes and worldbuilding plus many books that have made me fall in love with the world. It’s not very original- but I like it enough that I don’t mind. Bashing together parodies of many different real world cultures into a fantasy world makes for a fun time. There are certainly better crafted stories and worlds out there but I enjoy the charm and character of Warhammer Fantasy the most. The tabletop roleplaying game is great too. The better Warhammer setting imo for sure.
I know Elden Ring almost falls under the “Dark Souls” umbrella, but I absolutely loved the lore as I began to uncover it through the game itself (but mostly online.) Such a great world of purgatory for gods and demigods alike, all written by George RR Martin…
@@Mohler41 One Piece is definitely NOT liberal in the modern sense. It's a mix of libertarianism and monarchism, if anything. Luffy's whole character is about letting people think and fight for themselves, and he stays out of conflict unless his friends are involved. He's not a hero or a revolutionary, he's just a guy who is fighting for his own freedom.
@@Mohler41 You might have heard things from people who are delusional and want it to be something it's not. As a huge fan of One Piece, I couldn't recommend it enough. It's simply about the beauty of freedom. And it certainly isn't shy about highlighting the corruption of governments.
Damnnnnnn missing out on Elder Scrolls. Really good stuff, and the way the Lore is learned through the in-game books, some of which have unreliable or biased narrators is so unique and interesting.
I think One Piece is the greatest manga ever written and Oda is doing a terrific work at the moment ! There is no doubt people should try a few sagas to convince themselves of its quality ! :)
I'm only on book 5 right now, but I'm thoroughly enjoying the world building in Cradle by Will Wight. The culture is very blended into the story and impossible to separate from the book. The magic system and the world itself is also extremely well integrated into the novels. Plus, I love the characters. Great read.
I remember watching the anime and then reading the LN, I thought Ehrenfest is a powerful Duchy, turns out it's just a low rank Middle Duchy with a very eccentric Aub
New subscriber here. This channel is rapidly becoming one of my favorite Booktube channels, along with Merphy Napier, Daniel Greene and Elliot Brooks'. As both a writer and an avid reader, this kind of video is super useful and informative for me. (And it's introduced me to some new series/worlds I definitely want to check out in the near future, now that I've just finished the Mistborn trilogy, lol.) Keep up the great work, Viking!
My favorite world is ASoIaF, definitely. I have only read one asoiaf book, and I'm reading the prequels (I know, dumb order but I couldn't wait by reading the extremely long series before getting into the history). The only problem I have with ASoIaF is that, as you said, it's unfinished, but what makes it worse, is that the TV-adaptation has finished the series, but people HATE the way the series ended it, which makes me question whether I want to hope and wait until the last two books come out (or at least the sixth one), or if I want to just watch the show, because I feel like watching the show will just spoil things for me (because I think the same characters die in the series as they will in the books). But I still recommend you strongly to read ASoIaF. It's EXCELLENT! And the third book is supposed to be one of the best fantasy books ever
Don't watch the show, the early seasons are pretty good, but the ending was so bad that I completely lost interest in the world for almost 5 years. I'm just now starting to read the books. Whether or not the show spoils what might happen in Winds of Winter (if it ever comes out) is yet to be seen, but in my opinion, watching the show is not worth it regardless of the spoiler aspect becuase the risk of having the whole series retroactively ruined by the ending is too great. I don't know what you heard about the show ending, but it is seriously indescribably bad, and it might just be the worst ending to a tv series of all time.
"Tolkien even created a language"? Tolkien created *several* languages for his fantasy works including Quenya, Sindarin, Khuzdul, Entish, Black Speech... and more.
I recently read the books, "The Plantagenets and War of the Roses" by Dan Jones. George R. R. Martin barely touched on the terrible things Kings and Queens did in the real-life Game of Thrones and their quest for power.
Oh that sounds interesting. Is it a proper novel, in that I mean, is it historical fiction, or merely fiction that more or less just explains the events of that war? I've been looking for a good book that covers the War of the Roses for a while.
@@GreenFalcon926 The War of the Roses, is more of a history of England that begins after the events of the Plantagenets. You could make the case that the two books together make one history. However, for history books move fluidly and are enjoyable reading. I would definitely recommend.
For me, it'll always be The World of Ice and Fire for the lore, history, geography. It'll always be the world of Dark Souls for the lore, the ambient and the symbolicism. And on top of them all, it'll always be Nirn and the Aubis for everything mentioned, for the unreliable narrator, for the fungi trip you take when delving into it, for everything (Yes, I'm kind of a fanboy of Tamriel)...
Pterry and Tolkien are my two favourite authors, I was so happy to see both of their worlds at the top of the list! Although I have to say, I'm not sure I would personally give Pratchett the accolade of 'best worldbuilder'. His world building over the course of the series was pretty slapdash, he was never one to let consistency get in the way of the plot, or a good gag. Which I do not remotely hold against him. Although any such inconsistencies can always be chalked up to the History Monks, which is a very clever in-world explanation, so... actually... perhaps he is the best worldbuilder ever?
My personal favorites are Middle Earth and Arrakis from Dune. Both of these have rich history while offering many strange, I interesting characters and plots. The way both worlds are written are vast and have so many things that make them unique.
asoiaf for me, it's dark, mature, rich and politicall realistic, making mistakes have consequences, magic is consequential and a moral dilemma, main characters are grey, a lot of unique ideas like the Wall, the Iron throne, etc. ---interesting political commentary on the real world...
1. Nirn (The Elder Scrolls) 2. Arborea (The Exiled Realm of Arborea) 3. Malazon Book of the Fallen 4, Middle Earth 5, Abeir Toril (Forgotten Realms) 6. Guild Wars 7, Hyboria (Conan the Barbarian) 8. Teywat (Genshin Impact) 9, Vampire the Masquerade 10, The World (Overlord - the web novel mainly)
*Teyvat. And i agree with this list. Though I wish we could get more from Overlord but with how the Author is going to end it in 3 more volumes i don't think we will be that much more.
@@zelktheinvader7874 He wanted to make a cyberpunk novel, that is from where Satoru Suzuki is from, the one that made the character known as Momonga and got sent to that new world. He intends to continue the Cyberpunk novel part, and the anime that is upcoming looks bad
I really liked the Forgotten Realms, at least until about 2008. The novels are written by different authors, each focused on different characters in different regions. But what I really enjoy are the mistakes. One book will say something about a historical event or character and another will say something different. It adds a bit of realism to the world. Historical stories in our world do the same thing. Which is the truth? Either? Neither?
These opinion videos are really fun for me. It's been cool as I've watched more of the channel to see where our tastes are the same and different. Wheel of Time and Sanderson are favorites of mine, but I disliked Tad Williams to the point that even though I read the first two books, I'm probably not going to finish the trilogy.
I have personally a positive experience with 'The Sunset Warrior' series by Eric Van Lustbader. It was the first series I finished entirely (only 5 books).
13:45 One Piece is a good entry point into manga for a lot of Japanese children, so I can't say it's the wrong place to start. I avoided watching the anime for decades being put off by the art style, but eventually I relented and I can say it's enjoyable to watch as an adult. But if you are typically put off by YA stuff, it's still possible it might not be your thing, in which case the #1 go-to that I've never seen anyone dislike has always been _Cowboy Bebop,_ a sci-fi Western from the late 90s, but some much more recent anime that are really high quality are _Frieren_ (set in a generic fantasy world, and deals a lot with the topic of death, although it is technically also still oriented towards teens) and _The Apothecary Diaries_ (not so much fantasy per se as pseudo-historical fiction, a mystery/drama set in not-Tang dynasty China).
This is a list I can definitely get behind! But I would swap out One Piece for Berserk because I’m biased towards dark fantasy. But seriously, Berserk has some the best world building and character work of all time, but it also has some of the greatest mysteries that have kept the fanbase speculating for decades.
If you make these kinds of claims, you need to provide evidence. Just stating something as a fact doesn't make it real. I WILL say, that the structure of Mordor makes no scientific sense, but, in Tolkien's world, Mordor isn't a result of tectonics, it's just created that way by Eru Iluvatar, so it makes sense within the context of the world.
@@Arkantos117 hey man, it's YOUR point you're trying make. I'm not doing your homework for you. If there's a mountain range like that, you should know where it is, otherwise you're making shit up.
@@aldunlop4622 It's your homework, not mine. If you cared then you'd look. I'm not spoonfeeding you because you would rather type than spend a minute or two with a map.
Faerun of the Forgotten Realms 100%. Largest and most fleshed out fantasy world ever created. Multiple authors contributing to the world over 40 years worth of content.
Kind of strange how Discworld gets flak for being a world on a turtle despite the World Turtle being a myth found from India all the way to North America.
I've said it in a few places but its absolutely wild to me that Robin Hobb's books are so popular these days. Personally, I'm partial to Velgarth, the setting for Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series.
Apologies! I even blurred out the name of the map to try and hide it was the Circle of the World but I can see you have a good eye for detail. Thank you for watching and hope you still enjoyed the video. I am surprised the redditors didn't mention The Circle of the World in the Top 10!
This is a pretty solid list. Have to agree in every single element. We could change the Discworld’s place but sure it’s a very rich world with evolving technology. As for Dandelion Dynasty we can only hope that Ken Liu once will return to Dara. Yes, you can start with One Piece. But it’s long as heck. So the question of commitment not the type of art.
@@nazimelmardi Thanks for watching! Yes, Discworld is definitely one of the greats albeit I wouldn't put it on no. 1! I would LOVE for Ken Liu to return to Dara but I think it might be unlikely to for now. That's helpful!
Just wanted to mention that a manga vol takes about 2 hours to read, that's like reading a 50 pages book. So, in comparison, reading all 16 of Wheel of time books will most likely take longer than reading 100 manga vols.
I know we only talk books but I have to say the worlds in fromsoftware games (dark souls, elden ring etc) might be my favourite ever second only to westeros and essos!! Besides being beautifully crafted in game, the lore is incredibly deep and detailed. EDIT: I was too quick to comment 😅 Dark Souls was actually mentioned which I didn't expect
What a fun video. I'd say do not be intimidated by one piece. It is easy reading. Manga in my experience goes at about the rate of 5 pages in the time of one page in a normal book. And it is so addictive that if you vibe with it, you'll rush through it.
About One Piece: read the manga, watch the anime till Luffy 's childhood arc and do not, under any circunstance, watch the live action. Also, skip all of the few filler episodes and movies. If you like well written stories, deep and complex characters, conections made after 400+ episodes, a lot of good emotional stuff, you will not regret. The first 45 episodes are like a preview of how things happen in One Piece, and every saga (which are made of various arcs) things get more serious and the scope of the story grows. Do not forget to watch the original stuff, not the remake episodes, as they do not follow the events completely. Also, if anyone tells you One Piece has seasons, he is an idiot, and knows nothing about it.
How is Faerun from Forgotten Realms not mentioned? Hundreds of books and by far the most in-depth fantasy world ever created. It’s also still going. 🤷♂
I started reading manga last year and one piece was my second manga after berserk, its incredible and while long as hell, 100 volumes of one piece turned out to be way less of a time commitment than malazan or dandelion dynasty 😅 while one piece is more wordy than most manga its unlikely that a volume will take more than an hour to read and many of them can be read in 30-45 min. It’s still daunting just not as much as i thought and it was a great place for me to start manga reading.
Not a book but the Elder Scrolls universe is the second most well-built, realistic and down right gigantic fantasy world that I know rivals Middle Earth. See the reason Tolkien made it so amazing is that he approached world-building as ''legends and myths'' rather than merely stating the facts. He created his fantasy language first and the created the world around it. Also helps the fact that a lot of it is based off real world myths. Elder Scrolls takes a similar approach not with language but with POVs. There is no ''canon'' in Elder Scrolls. Nobody is sure about anything. Gods have multiple names, interpretations and origins. History has been erased and rewritten dozens of times and the older something is the more loose and crazy it gets because generation after generation distorts the true.The writers worked its medium wonderfully, and because it is a game, you can only learn the history of the world through the characters of the world and the events you experience as a player, and as a lore reader, it's amazing how often you realize everything is propaganda, lies, or distorted reality. One of the craziest and coolest examples I can think of is Pelinal Whitestrake and the many different theories both in-game and in real life of who he is.
The Wheel of Time. Has such a well crafted array of different lands, cultures, people, fashion, creatures etc with deep histories behind them. You can tell a lot of love and care was put into creating it all.
Well crafted? I can do a lot of troling to the fans signaling all the worldbuild mistakes and nonsense. If you ask me a well crafted continent, id say Ansalon from Dragonlance. Quite cliche books, but they did a good work with geography.
For mention one that noone else will: Tramórea, the world of the Sword of Fire tetralogy. Hellenic world + greek&norse myths + the scify of Ilion of Dan Simmons. It’s obvious that the author is a geek of the greeks? Like Wheel of Times or The Black Sun, is a iron age setting with remains of high tech from a past age.
Hey, thanks for your video, it was very interesting. What do you think about The Witcher book saga? Honestly, it's one of my favourites, but I've always thought that its world is a bit poor in terms of size. At least we have the Skellige islands but I feel like there could be more factions or more diversity of territory when it comes to it. My feeling is that it's something with a lot of potential contained in a very very small territory limited to human kingdoms against the empires (for those who don't know, the elves that come out belong to a race on the verge of extinction). Best regards!
One piece IS a great manga, and was many people's introduction to anime and manga. However its also a commitment and hella long. Something like Vinland Saga which is shorter and seems more your vibe is a better starting point imo.
One piece do in my opinion deserve a higher spot, as its world building is second to none and the story has some of the sadest storiest while also best comedic moments. And cant forget the forshadowing that goes 15 years into the future
@@maxrichards1748it's long, but it's gonna get an anime, news from Tencent is that they are planning+5 seasons, with 30+ minute episodes and the author is going to be working very closely with the production team
I've been obsessed with the actual world building of Genshin impact for a while. I think it is actually really cool and really awesome. Forget all of the gameplay problems and crappy stuff. the fact that the game itself is crappy doesn't take away the fact that the world building itself is beautiful and intricate. for that reason I cant wait for a graphic novel or the manga to have more chapters and lets not forget that Ufotable is working on a Genshin anime. I have had problems with how the game devs do nothing to answer their players requests. and I also have problems with the fact that most of the fanbase is despicable and creepy and weird. But I must praise the fact that the story itself has been captivating and very well made. nowadays because Ps. I ran out of room for the game on my phone (and I don't really have the energy for Paimon to yap for ten hours instead of actually being able play and get on with the damn story) and don't have a pc so my perspective is speaking from Fontaine release.
Not to be pedantic, but Discworld is based on Hindu belief systems. The Hindu believes the world is balanced on four elephants atop a giant turtle. At least, that's the religion I remember believing it. My memory isn't 100% on it.
I would but Robert E Howard hyborian world also top ten fantasy world list. King kull, Conan, Bran Mak morn, Solomon Kane all share same world, only thousand and even tens of thousands years apart each other. Howard was genius and his works dosen't get widespread recognicition it deserves, which is shame
Malazan. Yea i tried getting into it too. Got trough Book 2, and while i start to feel i have the slightest of grasps of whats going on, its like seeinjg a single bead in a tornado, and from that trying to describe the city that was before the tornado ripped through and picked up the bead. Also, i do not get why people enjoy Wheel of Time to such a degree. I got through 4 books, and then i couldnt take it anymore. The world felt flat and uninspired, the books were slow as running fudge, and the characters were boring and uninspired. Can it get better? maaaybe. But if i have to suffer through 4+ books before a series starts to get good, then its generally not worth it. Dresden have a bit of a rough start, the fiorst two books being a bit unpolished. But they were still Good Books, with good worldbuilding, so you enjoy them despite their flaws. And then the series gets amazing. But in wheel of time? Not Orcs attack the Not Shire, and sends Not Frodo and Not Sam on a journey to Not Rivendell, al while Not Sauron sends out his Not Ringwraiths to fight Not Frodo in a series of duels. Again, does it get better? It might? Will i ever care? No. Look, characters are interesting when they are Interesting characters. Characters become Good when they are Interesting, and Interesting things happen to them. Wheel of time failed Both, for basicly All characters, in 4 books in a row. If you enjoy it, Great! Good for you. I dont understand it, but i respect it and im envious. I want to enjoy it too. Unfortunately i do not :( Also, i found many aspects rather... dumb. Like the assault on Fal Dara. Now i might remember it wrong, and i might remember the events in the series as they were events in the books, but as i remember it, you have one mountain pass, thats the only crossing point/possible point of invasion. And you have 1 sh*tty little border output at the end of the canyon, and a castle att he other side? Dude, this place is meant to stop the invasion of Not Orcs sent bt Not Sauron. Build more fortifications. Make the enemy fight for every inch. Not just one foreward position and a single fort to fall back to. That canyon should have been fort after fort after fort after fort. Make them pay for every meter they advance, make them suffer by every wall.
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Wheel of Time. Another Fantasy world f*cked-up by Amazon Studios.
I don't care if ASOIAF is ever finished, it's still my favorite book series of all time. It has my favorite characters, such an in depth world, so many details and theories to explore, and has provided me with endless amounts of content and discussion for the past 13 years and will continue to do so.
Love this comment!
@@belledejouree1549 Agree on ASOIAF. I do love First Law as well but ASOIAF has such depth and intrigue. I do however think Joe is probably the better writer, while ASOIAF is the better story.
I would also want to add that I think Abercrombie should be the one to finish ASOIAF if George passes.
Same here!!!
I am just about to finish To Green Angel Tower this week and then I’m diving into the dandelion dynasty
I love how the fantasy elements lie just beneath the surface. It brings a sense of wonder when the dragons are revealed or when the white walkers make their appearance. It feels believable because the characters themselves have never seen anything like it before.
Tolkien created a fantasy world for his fantasy language
Yeah, I feel like many fantasy readers don’t really understand how it works. The linguistics and its assocciated history and mythology were always of primary importance for Tolkien. He really was a master craftsman and discoverer of Middle Earth simultaneously.
It's Middle Earth always and forever. All other fantasy writers have always been trying to get to that level, but it's impossible because of the historical and mythological character of Tolkien's work. He approached it as a scholar first and it shows in the best way possible. Having said that, I'm very glad that it keeps on inspiring so many fantastic authors to build their own worlds.
"he approached it as a scholar first" mate you need to get down with your Steven Erikson then
Discworld is actually kinda underrated because it does exactly what a fantasy setting should do, which is be fantastical and weird yet consistent and functional. When writing a fantasy story your world doesn't actually have to be a sphere orbiting a sun: You can make it a flat disc, or whatever else you can dream up, as long as you have some idea of how it's all supposed to work.
I feel like Discworld was mocked in this video. Didn't appreciate that actually.
The abusrdity of the world makes a very interesting lens to view people through. And to a certain extent, that does push Discworld out of fantasy and into... thaumpunk.
Isn't it just a satirical joke about religion? The characters believe it's a disc on four elephants on a turtle, but is it really?
@@elchiponr1 No, it is really. IIRC, the first book ends with the main character literally falling off the edge of the Disc. I'm pretty sure Rincewind has actually seen the elephants and Great A'Tuin twice. There is an _entire_ book about the Discworld space program where they take the Disc, the elephants, the turtle, all of it into consideration. There is an _entire_ book where the wizards experimentally create a world without magic and are astonished that it's _round._ The geography of Discworld is specifically spoken of in terms of hubward, rimward, turnwise and widdershins, rather than north, south, east and west.
Discworld is a satirical book seires, yes, but it does _absolutely_ take place on a disc-shaped world resting on the shoulders of four insanely huge elephants standing on an even more insanely huge turtle. This is a _fact,_ treated as a scientifically proven within the canon.
If anything, any Discworlders who think the world is round are treated basically like flat-earthers in our world - people who are clearly in serious denial about how their universe works.
Like any fictional fantasy setting, the important thing is to define the rules of the universe, no matter how fantastical, and NEVER break them. The reader can accept all manner of weird and wonderful ideas, but if you break the rules, it snaps the reader out of the story, and it all falls apart.
The Elder Scrolls has a really good worldbuilding, so I recommend getting into it. There is a lot of lore videos, so you don't even need to play any of the games (but I recommend trying watching at least part of the gameplay). There are also books, but I don't know how good are they.
Malazan is my No. 1 pick. Read the core ten books multiple times now and there is always something new to discover. It was on a rereading that I paid more attention to some more minor characters in the later books that I suspected that Erikson was toying with the absurdist philosophies of Sartre and Camus. BUT, I'm excluding LOTR from inclusion in this list. My argument is that without LOTR's success and fandom none of these other authors would be on the list as there simply would be no list. Once publishers saw there was a hunger for fantasy that was not simple and easily digestible, it opened the gates for succeeding, talented authors to find audiences and success.
Discworld is my number 1. Read all the books (some more than once), and yeah, it is genius. Remember, silly is not the opposite of serious.
Pure filler
As far as manga goes, if you're interested in dark fantasy, BERSERK is a must read as far as world building! Such a shame we'll never know how it ends as the author died.
I came to comment this
One Piece is definitely a good starting point for manga if anyone is ever interested, and if you are scared by the amount of content, I would say that you will need, from my personal experience, as much time to read One Piece as to read all 5 asoiaf books, so if you think you have time for that, please try it, it is amazing.
That is helpful! Thank you!
not a good start since it has 1000+ chapters and its not even finished, most people avoid reading it because of the amount of chapters it has. Start with something small.
One piece is overated but it has some pretty solid world building.
@@zhangzongchang1057It just feels like the World Government could destroy anything with the stuff they have. But they don't because... Guess what, plot armour.
And why is Imu even hidden? It's not like the member Kingdoms have actual armies.
And why does Will of D even exist? And why does the World Government try hiding it? Noone's going to see a "D" in the name of some cool people and go "Oh, that's weird." Even if they do, that's the best they can do.
This is like when people ask for their first fantasy novel and they get WoT fanboys recommend a 14 book series that has massive issues. Seriously One Piece is not good starting point at all. Not only is it not finished and has over 1000 CHAPTERS, it's not even for YA imo, it's for children, it's incredibly slow paced or at least it feels like that since the structure of arcs gets very repetitive and what you're reading feels almost like 70% filler and bunch of characters that are really not important get way too much "screen" time and main character cliches...
There’s so many good options. For me my all time favorite is Warhammer Fantasy. It’s cheesy and dark fantasy with tons of tropes and worldbuilding plus many books that have made me fall in love with the world. It’s not very original- but I like it enough that I don’t mind. Bashing together parodies of many different real world cultures into a fantasy world makes for a fun time. There are certainly better crafted stories and worlds out there but I enjoy the charm and character of Warhammer Fantasy the most. The tabletop roleplaying game is great too. The better Warhammer setting imo for sure.
I know Elden Ring almost falls under the “Dark Souls” umbrella, but I absolutely loved the lore as I began to uncover it through the game itself (but mostly online.) Such a great world of purgatory for gods and demigods alike, all written by George RR Martin…
I would say that One Piece is definitely a great starting place if you have never read manga.
I second this.
Too liberal for my taste
@@Mohler41 One Piece is definitely NOT liberal in the modern sense. It's a mix of libertarianism and monarchism, if anything. Luffy's whole character is about letting people think and fight for themselves, and he stays out of conflict unless his friends are involved. He's not a hero or a revolutionary, he's just a guy who is fighting for his own freedom.
@@d-on9939 really it does not seem so from the outside?
@@Mohler41 You might have heard things from people who are delusional and want it to be something it's not. As a huge fan of One Piece, I couldn't recommend it enough. It's simply about the beauty of freedom. And it certainly isn't shy about highlighting the corruption of governments.
Damnnnnnn missing out on Elder Scrolls. Really good stuff, and the way the Lore is learned through the in-game books, some of which have unreliable or biased narrators is so unique and interesting.
My favorite world building is Yurgenschmit from Ascendance of a bookworm. The lore is so perfectly incorporated to the story.
I didn't think I would hear about ascendance of a bookworm here.
@@gageshippy2256 please, when we are talking about World Building, ascendance of a bookworm is THE reference.
I think One Piece is the greatest manga ever written and Oda is doing a terrific work at the moment ! There is no doubt people should try a few sagas to convince themselves of its quality ! :)
*berserk
@@rafidmonsursikder1506 recently Japan aknowledged OP as The goat manga!🙏
Have u read Wano and Egghead?
Nah both suck
@@zhangzongchang1057 you don't like mangas?
@@noname3609 I like manga's, just not one piece. Berserk is for the most part pretty good but gets a bit too edgy at times.
Wheel of Time is the GOAT and that specific museum artifact really is the cheery on the top 😅
I think I know the one you’re talking about… Lexus car ornament 😂
@@isaiahrussell5643 Mercedes
I'm only on book 5 right now, but I'm thoroughly enjoying the world building in Cradle by Will Wight. The culture is very blended into the story and impossible to separate from the book. The magic system and the world itself is also extremely well integrated into the novels. Plus, I love the characters. Great read.
No Michael Moorcock?
The world of Yurgenschmidt from Ascendance of a bookworm, especially the duchy of Ehrenfest.
Definitively not a paradise, but the way we are introduced to it is pure masterpiece.
I remember watching the anime and then reading the LN, I thought Ehrenfest is a powerful Duchy, turns out it's just a low rank Middle Duchy with a very eccentric Aub
New subscriber here. This channel is rapidly becoming one of my favorite Booktube channels, along with Merphy Napier, Daniel Greene and Elliot Brooks'. As both a writer and an avid reader, this kind of video is super useful and informative for me. (And it's introduced me to some new series/worlds I definitely want to check out in the near future, now that I've just finished the Mistborn trilogy, lol.) Keep up the great work, Viking!
This is a really nice comment! Thank you so much!
I'm surprised Earthsea, from the writings of Ursula K Le Guinn, wasn't on the list
My favorite world is ASoIaF, definitely. I have only read one asoiaf book, and I'm reading the prequels (I know, dumb order but I couldn't wait by reading the extremely long series before getting into the history). The only problem I have with ASoIaF is that, as you said, it's unfinished, but what makes it worse, is that the TV-adaptation has finished the series, but people HATE the way the series ended it, which makes me question whether I want to hope and wait until the last two books come out (or at least the sixth one), or if I want to just watch the show, because I feel like watching the show will just spoil things for me (because I think the same characters die in the series as they will in the books). But I still recommend you strongly to read ASoIaF. It's EXCELLENT! And the third book is supposed to be one of the best fantasy books ever
Don't watch the show, the early seasons are pretty good, but the ending was so bad that I completely lost interest in the world for almost 5 years. I'm just now starting to read the books. Whether or not the show spoils what might happen in Winds of Winter (if it ever comes out) is yet to be seen, but in my opinion, watching the show is not worth it regardless of the spoiler aspect becuase the risk of having the whole series retroactively ruined by the ending is too great. I don't know what you heard about the show ending, but it is seriously indescribably bad, and it might just be the worst ending to a tv series of all time.
"Tolkien even created a language"? Tolkien created *several* languages for his fantasy works including Quenya, Sindarin, Khuzdul, Entish, Black Speech... and more.
The Xenoblade series has a great world. All 3 of them, the imaginative geopolitics using Titans as landmasses goes so hard.
Hi 👋 happy reading to you!! 😊
Thank you! 🤗 likewise!
I recently read the books, "The Plantagenets and War of the Roses" by Dan Jones.
George R. R. Martin barely touched on the terrible things Kings and Queens did in the real-life Game of Thrones and their quest for power.
Oh that sounds interesting. Is it a proper novel, in that I mean, is it historical fiction, or merely fiction that more or less just explains the events of that war? I've been looking for a good book that covers the War of the Roses for a while.
@@GreenFalcon926 The War of the Roses, is more of a history of England that begins after the events of the Plantagenets. You could make the case that the two books together make one history. However, for history books move fluidly and are enjoyable reading. I would definitely recommend.
@@RICHIEV333 Does it flow with a narrative? Dialogue and character etc? Or is it just a historical telling of the events?
For me, it'll always be The World of Ice and Fire for the lore, history, geography. It'll always be the world of Dark Souls for the lore, the ambient and the symbolicism. And on top of them all, it'll always be Nirn and the Aubis for everything mentioned, for the unreliable narrator, for the fungi trip you take when delving into it, for everything (Yes, I'm kind of a fanboy of Tamriel)...
Pterry and Tolkien are my two favourite authors, I was so happy to see both of their worlds at the top of the list! Although I have to say, I'm not sure I would personally give Pratchett the accolade of 'best worldbuilder'. His world building over the course of the series was pretty slapdash, he was never one to let consistency get in the way of the plot, or a good gag. Which I do not remotely hold against him. Although any such inconsistencies can always be chalked up to the History Monks, which is a very clever in-world explanation, so... actually... perhaps he is the best worldbuilder ever?
My personal favorites are Middle Earth and Arrakis from Dune. Both of these have rich history while offering many strange, I interesting characters and plots. The way both worlds are written are vast and have so many things that make them unique.
asoiaf for me, it's dark, mature, rich and politicall realistic, making mistakes have consequences, magic is consequential and a moral dilemma, main characters are grey, a lot of unique ideas like the Wall, the Iron throne, etc. ---interesting political commentary on the real world...
Absolutely
I am finishing GOTM and it's rough writing but the world building and lore is incredible so far.
1. Nirn (The Elder Scrolls)
2. Arborea (The Exiled Realm of Arborea)
3. Malazon Book of the Fallen
4, Middle Earth
5, Abeir Toril (Forgotten Realms)
6. Guild Wars
7, Hyboria (Conan the Barbarian)
8. Teywat (Genshin Impact)
9, Vampire the Masquerade
10, The World (Overlord - the web novel mainly)
*Teyvat.
And i agree with this list. Though I wish we could get more from Overlord but with how the Author is going to end it in 3 more volumes i don't think we will be that much more.
@@zelktheinvader7874 He wanted to make a cyberpunk novel, that is from where Satoru Suzuki is from, the one that made the character known as Momonga and got sent to that new world. He intends to continue the Cyberpunk novel part, and the anime that is upcoming looks bad
@@revanshan3308 i thought he wanted to write highschool romcom. He mentioned it a while back.
What about Earthsea?
I really liked the Forgotten Realms, at least until about 2008. The novels are written by different authors, each focused on different characters in different regions.
But what I really enjoy are the mistakes. One book will say something about a historical event or character and another will say something different. It adds a bit of realism to the world. Historical stories in our world do the same thing. Which is the truth? Either? Neither?
These opinion videos are really fun for me. It's been cool as I've watched more of the channel to see where our tastes are the same and different. Wheel of Time and Sanderson are favorites of mine, but I disliked Tad Williams to the point that even though I read the first two books, I'm probably not going to finish the trilogy.
Why didn't anyone mention Pandora from James Cameron's Avatar movies?
I have personally a positive experience with 'The Sunset Warrior' series by Eric Van Lustbader. It was the first series I finished entirely (only 5 books).
ASOIAF is on a completely different level for me. Next would be Middle Earth. The rest could fight for third :)
Malazan, Wars of Light and Shadow are way better in terms of world building.
Have you ever read Elric Saga?
13:45 One Piece is a good entry point into manga for a lot of Japanese children, so I can't say it's the wrong place to start. I avoided watching the anime for decades being put off by the art style, but eventually I relented and I can say it's enjoyable to watch as an adult. But if you are typically put off by YA stuff, it's still possible it might not be your thing, in which case the #1 go-to that I've never seen anyone dislike has always been _Cowboy Bebop,_ a sci-fi Western from the late 90s, but some much more recent anime that are really high quality are _Frieren_ (set in a generic fantasy world, and deals a lot with the topic of death, although it is technically also still oriented towards teens) and _The Apothecary Diaries_ (not so much fantasy per se as pseudo-historical fiction, a mystery/drama set in not-Tang dynasty China).
This is a list I can definitely get behind! But I would swap out One Piece for Berserk because I’m biased towards dark fantasy. But seriously, Berserk has some the best world building and character work of all time, but it also has some of the greatest mysteries that have kept the fanbase speculating for decades.
It might be more accurate to say Tolkien built a world to host his created languages.
Hard to argue with their pics. None of these are places I'd want to live, mind you, but they're not wrong.
How about the "Sword of Truth" universe, or "Earthsea"?
People criticising the square mountains of Mordor for being immersion breaking are just wrong because there are similar mountain shapes in real life.
If that's all they got for a criticism then I think they're jealous that their world isn't as good as tolkiens
If you make these kinds of claims, you need to provide evidence. Just stating something as a fact doesn't make it real. I WILL say, that the structure of Mordor makes no scientific sense, but, in Tolkien's world, Mordor isn't a result of tectonics, it's just created that way by Eru Iluvatar, so it makes sense within the context of the world.
@@aldunlop4622 Oh please it doesn't take that long to look at major mountain ranges around the world.
@@Arkantos117 hey man, it's YOUR point you're trying make. I'm not doing your homework for you. If there's a mountain range like that, you should know where it is, otherwise you're making shit up.
@@aldunlop4622 It's your homework, not mine.
If you cared then you'd look.
I'm not spoonfeeding you because you would rather type than spend a minute or two with a map.
Kind of surprised not to see any of the DnD settings like Forgotten Coast or Dragonlance considering how many novels surround these worlds.
Faerun of the Forgotten Realms 100%. Largest and most fleshed out fantasy world ever created. Multiple authors contributing to the world over 40 years worth of content.
No earthsea??
Kind of strange how Discworld gets flak for being a world on a turtle despite the World Turtle being a myth found from India all the way to North America.
I've said it in a few places but its absolutely wild to me that Robin Hobb's books are so popular these days. Personally, I'm partial to Velgarth, the setting for Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series.
Azeroth is also an awesome world so many lores in that world
Albeit not the greatest, largest or most known by any means, I think the Myst universe is one of the most unique and awe inspiring worlds i know.
Warhammer fantasy battles (old world) is best fantasy ever!!!
Tamriel from The Elder Scrolls is probably the Best Worldbuilding in gaming History.
The Thumbnail is The Circle of the World by Joe Abercrombie and it's not mentioned in the video! I was fooled!
Apologies! I even blurred out the name of the map to try and hide it was the Circle of the World but I can see you have a good eye for detail. Thank you for watching and hope you still enjoyed the video. I am surprised the redditors didn't mention The Circle of the World in the Top 10!
This is a pretty solid list. Have to agree in every single element. We could change the Discworld’s place but sure it’s a very rich world with evolving technology.
As for Dandelion Dynasty we can only hope that Ken Liu once will return to Dara.
Yes, you can start with One Piece. But it’s long as heck. So the question of commitment not the type of art.
@@nazimelmardi Thanks for watching!
Yes, Discworld is definitely one of the greats albeit I wouldn't put it on no. 1!
I would LOVE for Ken Liu to return to Dara but I think it might be unlikely to for now.
That's helpful!
Is that a Tintin t-shirt? It feels like Tintin in Tibet but I did an image search and couldn’t find anything. Great video btw!
Just wanted to mention that a manga vol takes about 2 hours to read, that's like reading a 50 pages book.
So, in comparison, reading all 16 of Wheel of time books will most likely take longer than reading 100 manga vols.
I have two favorites and that is Realm of the elderlings and First Law.
I was listening to the video and suddenly I heard "That's why Magic Mike is here" 😳
Creating the world map isn't necessarily complex : did you notice what happens when you turn Robin Hobb's map upside down ? ;)
no mention of Earthsea??
You got to go back to asoiaf, I recently finished storm of swords for the first time and its one of my favorite books I’ve ever read.
I know we only talk books but I have to say the worlds in fromsoftware games (dark souls, elden ring etc) might be my favourite ever second only to westeros and essos!! Besides being beautifully crafted in game, the lore is incredibly deep and detailed.
EDIT: I was too quick to comment 😅 Dark Souls was actually mentioned which I didn't expect
I'm throwing Conan the Barbarian's Hyboria into the hat.
Damn. I saw the Circle of the World and was excited to see some First Law stuff. Sadness.
What a fun video. I'd say do not be intimidated by one piece. It is easy reading. Manga in my experience goes at about the rate of 5 pages in the time of one page in a normal book. And it is so addictive that if you vibe with it, you'll rush through it.
Thank you for watching! I am intrigued!
About One Piece: read the manga, watch the anime till Luffy 's childhood arc and do not, under any circunstance, watch the live action. Also, skip all of the few filler episodes and movies. If you like well written stories, deep and complex characters, conections made after 400+ episodes, a lot of good emotional stuff, you will not regret. The first 45 episodes are like a preview of how things happen in One Piece, and every saga (which are made of various arcs) things get more serious and the scope of the story grows. Do not forget to watch the original stuff, not the remake episodes, as they do not follow the events completely. Also, if anyone tells you One Piece has seasons, he is an idiot, and knows nothing about it.
One Piece is always a good starting place. It is probably the only manga or any form of media I have followed religious ly for the past 20 years
Thanks for the input! I might pick it up someday!
Edge Chronicles is my favorite, the best fantasy World of all time!
How is Faerun from Forgotten Realms not mentioned? Hundreds of books and by far the most in-depth fantasy world ever created. It’s also still going. 🤷♂
You'll love One Piece, just dive in and don't worry about finishing, just enjoy the ride
I started reading manga last year and one piece was my second manga after berserk, its incredible and while long as hell, 100 volumes of one piece turned out to be way less of a time commitment than malazan or dandelion dynasty 😅 while one piece is more wordy than most manga its unlikely that a volume will take more than an hour to read and many of them can be read in 30-45 min. It’s still daunting just not as much as i thought and it was a great place for me to start manga reading.
Not a book but the Elder Scrolls universe is the second most well-built, realistic and down right gigantic fantasy world that I know rivals Middle Earth. See the reason Tolkien made it so amazing is that he approached world-building as ''legends and myths'' rather than merely stating the facts. He created his fantasy language first and the created the world around it. Also helps the fact that a lot of it is based off real world myths. Elder Scrolls takes a similar approach not with language but with POVs. There is no ''canon'' in Elder Scrolls. Nobody is sure about anything. Gods have multiple names, interpretations and origins. History has been erased and rewritten dozens of times and the older something is the more loose and crazy it gets because generation after generation distorts the true.The writers worked its medium wonderfully, and because it is a game, you can only learn the history of the world through the characters of the world and the events you experience as a player, and as a lore reader, it's amazing how often you realize everything is propaganda, lies, or distorted reality. One of the craziest and coolest examples I can think of is Pelinal Whitestrake and the many different theories both in-game and in real life of who he is.
The Wheel of Time. Has such a well crafted array of different lands, cultures, people, fashion, creatures etc with deep histories behind them. You can tell a lot of love and care was put into creating it all.
Well crafted?
I can do a lot of troling to the fans signaling all the worldbuild mistakes and nonsense.
If you ask me a well crafted continent, id say Ansalon from Dragonlance.
Quite cliche books, but they did a good work with geography.
💯 agree!
For mention one that noone else will:
Tramórea, the world of the Sword of Fire tetralogy.
Hellenic world + greek&norse myths + the scify of Ilion of Dan Simmons.
It’s obvious that the author is a geek of the greeks?
Like Wheel of Times or The Black Sun, is a iron age setting with remains of high tech from a past age.
I‘m a big fan of Exandria.
Hey, thanks for your video, it was very interesting. What do you think about The Witcher book saga? Honestly, it's one of my favourites, but I've always thought that its world is a bit poor in terms of size. At least we have the Skellige islands but I feel like there could be more factions or more diversity of territory when it comes to it. My feeling is that it's something with a lot of potential contained in a very very small territory limited to human kingdoms against the empires (for those who don't know, the elves that come out belong to a race on the verge of extinction).
Best regards!
One piece is a dime novel. Just imagine a story where Frodo goes to Mountain Doom for 20,000+ pages.
Tolkien created a world for his languages to live in. The languages came first.
One piece IS a great manga, and was many people's introduction to anime and manga.
However its also a commitment and hella long.
Something like Vinland Saga which is shorter and seems more your vibe is a better starting point imo.
You’re craaaazy to think that the Cosmere isn’t the greatest fantasy world haha. Roshar alone is the greatest fantasy world!! Good video
One piece do in my opinion deserve a higher spot, as its world building is second to none and the story has some of the sadest storiest while also best comedic moments. And cant forget the forshadowing that goes 15 years into the future
Lord of the mysteries is my number 1
Thanks mate, I was searching for a lotm commment
@@abhayraj6390 lol, it’s so long and has that slow buildup so I don’t think it will waver get much attention but it’s still so good
@@maxrichards1748it's long, but it's gonna get an anime, news from Tencent is that they are planning+5 seasons, with 30+ minute episodes and the author is going to be working very closely with the production team
No Earthsea?
I've been obsessed with the actual world building of Genshin impact for a while. I think it is actually really cool and really awesome. Forget all of the gameplay problems and crappy stuff. the fact that the game itself is crappy doesn't take away the fact that the world building itself is beautiful and intricate. for that reason I cant wait for a graphic novel or the manga to have more chapters and lets not forget that Ufotable is working on a Genshin anime. I have had problems with how the game devs do nothing to answer their players requests. and I also have problems with the fact that most of the fanbase is despicable and creepy and weird. But I must praise the fact that the story itself has been captivating and very well made. nowadays because Ps. I ran out of room for the game on my phone (and I don't really have the energy for Paimon to yap for ten hours instead of actually being able play and get on with the damn story) and don't have a pc so my perspective is speaking from Fontaine release.
Dune is a great one too
That's more sci-fi
YOU LEFT OUT THE GREATEST FANTASY WORLD OF ALL TIME- THE BITTERBYNDE!
✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨
The Discworld movies are fantastic. Hogfather and Color of Magic.
We are talking about fantasy worlds that authors put great efforts into making, the dandelion dynasty world is 80% copy and paste of ancient China
Not to be pedantic, but Discworld is based on Hindu belief systems. The Hindu believes the world is balanced on four elephants atop a giant turtle. At least, that's the religion I remember believing it. My memory isn't 100% on it.
Dominaria, Magic the Gathering, even now that they are branding their cultures.
One Piece isn't a good starting point to the Manga world, because everything will pale in comparison.
Lord of the rings and Harry Potter world (the magical part 😂)
The hyborian age is up there
I would but Robert E Howard hyborian world also top ten fantasy world list. King kull, Conan, Bran Mak morn, Solomon Kane all share same world, only thousand and even tens of thousands years apart each other. Howard was genius and his works dosen't get widespread recognicition it deserves, which is shame
You didn't really rank them correctly...dunno why you didn't check the numbers but they dont have discworld no.1
Great! But now I feel kind of embarrassed that I still haven’t read any Ken Liu 😳
Thank you, Mark! Don't feel embarrassed. So many authors and books to read!
Malazan. Yea i tried getting into it too. Got trough Book 2, and while i start to feel i have the slightest of grasps of whats going on, its like seeinjg a single bead in a tornado, and from that trying to describe the city that was before the tornado ripped through and picked up the bead.
Also, i do not get why people enjoy Wheel of Time to such a degree. I got through 4 books, and then i couldnt take it anymore. The world felt flat and uninspired, the books were slow as running fudge, and the characters were boring and uninspired.
Can it get better? maaaybe. But if i have to suffer through 4+ books before a series starts to get good, then its generally not worth it.
Dresden have a bit of a rough start, the fiorst two books being a bit unpolished. But they were still Good Books, with good worldbuilding, so you enjoy them despite their flaws. And then the series gets amazing.
But in wheel of time?
Not Orcs attack the Not Shire, and sends Not Frodo and Not Sam on a journey to Not Rivendell, al while Not Sauron sends out his Not Ringwraiths to fight Not Frodo in a series of duels.
Again, does it get better? It might? Will i ever care? No.
Look, characters are interesting when they are Interesting characters. Characters become Good when they are Interesting, and Interesting things happen to them.
Wheel of time failed Both, for basicly All characters, in 4 books in a row.
If you enjoy it, Great! Good for you. I dont understand it, but i respect it and im envious. I want to enjoy it too.
Unfortunately i do not :(
Also, i found many aspects rather... dumb.
Like the assault on Fal Dara. Now i might remember it wrong, and i might remember the events in the series as they were events in the books, but as i remember it, you have one mountain pass, thats the only crossing point/possible point of invasion. And you have 1 sh*tty little border output at the end of the canyon, and a castle att he other side?
Dude, this place is meant to stop the invasion of Not Orcs sent bt Not Sauron.
Build more fortifications.
Make the enemy fight for every inch. Not just one foreward position and a single fort to fall back to.
That canyon should have been fort after fort after fort after fort. Make them pay for every meter they advance, make them suffer by every wall.
Aventuria/Dere is probably the most detailed.
I wonder how come this list has one piece but not Forgotten Realms :D