Some of my favorites in no particular order are: The Stormlight archive series, the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson, A Wizards guide to defensive baking by T. Kingfisher, A Forgery of Roses by Jessica S. Olson, The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss, and Uprooted by Naomi Novik. I think you should check these out if the premise of any of them sound interesting.
Malzan and Stormlight both have large communities that praise the books and get angry at anyone who dislikes them. As a reader I often find that they affect reviews and honest critiques of books negatively.
@@jamesonklein9363 That's true, but I always chop that up to the books being so highly rated and all the people saying its the greatest fantasy ever. If you are coming in to read late with all the hype, you will be let down. I think that let down leads to those negative reviews as well.
It's impossible for me to do just one book per series. Because my top spot is a 3 way tie between 3 consecutive books from the same series and I refuse to split them up, lol. But the rest I can move things around a bit and pick 9 books to put in my top 10 (12) without repeating the same couple of series. But like you there is one author with a couple different series included. Here they are: 10. The Traitor by Anthony Ryan 9. The Blackest Heart by Brian Lee Durfee 8. King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence 7. The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson 6. The Bonehunters by Steven Erikson 5. The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson 4. The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie 3. Legend by David Gemmell 2. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss 1. The Shadow Rising, The Fires of Heaven & Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan (the very best 3 book stretch in all of fantasy in my opinion; been my favorites since 1997) The first 6 (8) are actually correctly numbered on my all time list. After that there starts to be some series repeats in there so that my 10th book here (The Traitor) is in actuality my 22nd favorite book. Jordan, Sanderson, Abercrombie & Gemmell dominate my top 25 (top 50 actually, lol).
Love, love, love Sword of Kaigen, Empire of the Vampire, Royal Assassin and Lord of the Rings! All four would also probably be on my list.. I will be reading Dungeon Crawler Carl this month!
I would agonize for days over compiling this list. I get why BookTubers always say how hard it is to pick a finite number of favorites. The Brothers Gwynne recently were praising D.C. Carl. The cover is kind of hokey (minus the epic looking death cat, of course) that I didn't give it a second look but now that Will and Ed AND you AND Wizardly Andrew have praised it, I'm going to have to read it. Darn you influencers.
I support Tom Bombadil and also stil love Lord of the Rings. I have re-read it physically 1.5 years ago and did audio book this summer. Both times I see more deeper meaning and ideas presented, and the series just renews my as well. Still is my top Fantasy series. I also really like (no real order), Lies of Locke Lamora, Dragon Mage, Mistborn and Edan trilogy. I am sure my list will grow as I continue to get back into reading fantasy, especially with all the suggestions you get when you listen to booktube. I will look into getting your free e-book prequel to see what your writing style is like.
Great list Andrew. Some of these I have read after your reviews, so a double thanks. Loved Sword of Kaigen, even if it's slightly weird (if that word isn't too devalued currently). The Murderbot books are wonderful - the lugubrious humour is hilarious - brilliant books. Robin Hogg's books I loved too - more so the early books in the series. Lord of the Rings and Tolkien generally has become rather overexposed for me now. I loved them as a kid, they opened up a world into which I could escape from a rather bleak childhood, but whenever a favourite book is turned into a film something dies a bit as your vision is superseded by the steamroller visuals of a film. But yes, Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn and Stormlight Archive are epic - his imagination and worldbuilding is immense and engrossing. To be honest I love all his books (except the modern Mistborn series), as the character building is deep and layered (quite the contrast with George RR Martin!). Three in your list I haven't read so off now to get those! Thanks. 👍 Oh, and just a shout out to Peter Brett's Painted Man series which I enjoyed a lot.
Oh, forgot Dungeon Crawler Carl which was great too. I expected to get bored with the format after the first books but it maintained its pace and kept my interest brilliantly.
Which book do you recommend starting the Murderbot Diary series with? The novellas, or the first full length book? What's the title of whichever one that is?
The first novella is All Systems Red, I'd start there. It does a lot of the initial world building and setting up. You can technically read the others out of order but there are some strings and mentions of past episodes so it's best to do them in order
Who's the author of that book Dragon Mage do you have on your top shelf? And what's the name of the first book on the shelf to the left of that? ______ & Gold
"Favorite books of all time...... I changed it after 1 1/2 years" 🤣 Recently I'm totally into John Gwynne and I have high expectations for "Dandelion Dynasty"
I absolutely love the Mistborn books and the way of the kings series. I am currently reading Oathbringer and really like it so far. They are amazing! I love Brandon Sanderson.
Are the murder bot stories fantasy? I tried to read Locke Lamora. The blunt, pervasive, and extremely modern use of profanity is so jarring and off putting. Couldn't get through it. The most surprising book on your list to me is the Ember Blade. It was so cliche and over written. It would probably be on my 10 ten list of bad fantasy novels.
Some of my favorites in no particular order are: The Stormlight archive series, the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson, A Wizards guide to defensive baking by T. Kingfisher, A Forgery of Roses by Jessica S. Olson, The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss, and Uprooted by Naomi Novik. I think you should check these out if the premise of any of them sound interesting.
Shocked there was no Wheel of Time given the prominance it has on your shelf!
I love Tom Bombadil! He's great!
Happy reading to you!! 😊
Thank you for your evolving/mutating top 10 fantasy book.
Malzan and Stormlight both have large communities that praise the books and get angry at anyone who dislikes them. As a reader I often find that they affect reviews and honest critiques of books negatively.
On the flip side, you have the people who will claim they hate them simply because everyone else loves them. It balances
@@jamesonklein9363 That's true, but I always chop that up to the books being so highly rated and all the people saying its the greatest fantasy ever. If you are coming in to read late with all the hype, you will be let down. I think that let down leads to those negative reviews as well.
It's impossible for me to do just one book per series. Because my top spot is a 3 way tie between 3 consecutive books from the same series and I refuse to split them up, lol. But the rest I can move things around a bit and pick 9 books to put in my top 10 (12) without repeating the same couple of series. But like you there is one author with a couple different series included.
Here they are:
10. The Traitor by Anthony Ryan
9. The Blackest Heart by Brian Lee Durfee
8. King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
7. The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson
6. The Bonehunters by Steven Erikson
5. The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
4. The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie
3. Legend by David Gemmell
2. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
1. The Shadow Rising, The Fires of Heaven & Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan (the very best 3 book stretch in all of fantasy in my opinion; been my favorites since 1997)
The first 6 (8) are actually correctly numbered on my all time list. After that there starts to be some series repeats in there so that my 10th book here (The Traitor) is in actuality my 22nd favorite book. Jordan, Sanderson, Abercrombie & Gemmell dominate my top 25 (top 50 actually, lol).
I read Silence is Silver over the weekend and enjoyed it very much.
Thank you! I’m glad to hear that!
Great video, great top ten, I love pretty much every book mentioned here.
Empire of the Vampire is my number one favorite book of all time
Love, love, love Sword of Kaigen, Empire of the Vampire, Royal Assassin and Lord of the Rings! All four would also probably be on my list.. I will be reading Dungeon Crawler Carl this month!
Impeccable taste! I’ll be interested to hear what you think of DCC
What a glorious list of faves!! Not you making me want to reread all of my shared favourites as well, especially Locke Lamora!
Oh yeah I'd love to reread Lies too!
I would agonize for days over compiling this list. I get why BookTubers always say how hard it is to pick a finite number of favorites. The Brothers Gwynne recently were praising D.C. Carl. The cover is kind of hokey (minus the epic looking death cat, of course) that I didn't give it a second look but now that Will and Ed AND you AND Wizardly Andrew have praised it, I'm going to have to read it. Darn you influencers.
It's one crazy series
I support Tom Bombadil and also stil love Lord of the Rings. I have re-read it physically 1.5 years ago and did audio book this summer. Both times I see more deeper meaning and ideas presented, and the series just renews my as well. Still is my top Fantasy series.
I also really like (no real order), Lies of Locke Lamora, Dragon Mage, Mistborn and Edan trilogy. I am sure my list will grow as I continue to get back into reading fantasy, especially with all the suggestions you get when you listen to booktube. I will look into getting your free e-book prequel to see what your writing style is like.
This was such an interesting top 10. Great to see some of these books! 🤓
I need to get back to the Murderbot books! I've enjoyed the novellas, but I haven't read the novels yet.
I love the novellas but that full novel is even better!
I loved the ember blade
Great list Andrew. Some of these I have read after your reviews, so a double thanks. Loved Sword of Kaigen, even if it's slightly weird (if that word isn't too devalued currently). The Murderbot books are wonderful - the lugubrious humour is hilarious - brilliant books. Robin Hogg's books I loved too - more so the early books in the series. Lord of the Rings and Tolkien generally has become rather overexposed for me now. I loved them as a kid, they opened up a world into which I could escape from a rather bleak childhood, but whenever a favourite book is turned into a film something dies a bit as your vision is superseded by the steamroller visuals of a film. But yes, Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn and Stormlight Archive are epic - his imagination and worldbuilding is immense and engrossing. To be honest I love all his books (except the modern Mistborn series), as the character building is deep and layered (quite the contrast with George RR Martin!). Three in your list I haven't read so off now to get those! Thanks. 👍 Oh, and just a shout out to Peter Brett's Painted Man series which I enjoyed a lot.
Oh, forgot Dungeon Crawler Carl which was great too. I expected to get bored with the format after the first books but it maintained its pace and kept my interest brilliantly.
No First Law? Great list :)
LoTR is 3 books not one. Which one would you put as your favorite?
Which book do you recommend starting the Murderbot Diary series with? The novellas, or the first full length book? What's the title of whichever one that is?
The first novella is All Systems Red, I'd start there. It does a lot of the initial world building and setting up. You can technically read the others out of order but there are some strings and mentions of past episodes so it's best to do them in order
I wonder about reading the hobbit. I use to play the game on game boy advanced as a kid and never knew it was based on a book🤔
Who's the author of that book Dragon Mage do you have on your top shelf? And what's the name of the first book on the shelf to the left of that? ______ & Gold
I’ve read these all🎉
"Favorite books of all time...... I changed it after 1 1/2 years" 🤣
Recently I'm totally into John Gwynne and I have high expectations for "Dandelion Dynasty"
Day 596 of requesting fantasy booktubers read Twelve Kings because they'd adore it
In Sharakai?
I absolutely love the Mistborn books and the way of the kings series. I am currently reading Oathbringer and really like it so far. They are amazing! I love Brandon Sanderson.
No GOT books? A Storm of Swords?
Are the murder bot stories fantasy?
I tried to read Locke Lamora. The blunt, pervasive, and extremely modern use of profanity is so jarring and off putting. Couldn't get through it.
The most surprising book on your list to me is the Ember Blade. It was so cliche and over written. It would probably be on my 10 ten list of bad fantasy novels.
Empire of the Vampire is my number one favorite book of all time
That is an excellent choice not my all time favorite but it’s really good imo.