Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

Because it's always fluid as you find new ones. The top 9 is pretty clear to me. On a given day I might flip one for another in the order but those are the bloody 9. Ten there's a half dozen that are all great and I can't really separate them.

1. BotF - Yes I know, you're all shocked. It may shock you through that neither Empire or Kharkanas make the list. Empire although worth the read isn't in BotF's league and Kharkanas needs to prove it to me in book 3.

2. Stormlight Archives - Phenomenail characters, world and magic. Love the tie-ins to the cosmos..

3. Manifest Delusions - You have to love grim-dark but this is so different than anything else. Total mind-fuck.

4. Long Price Quartet - Such a subtle series with the eastern culture and body language. DA has a great writing style.

5. First Law - I might have had this high off the trilogy but I haven't loved the singles. I think I miss Glotka.

6. LOTR - Hard not to include this classic. I've read it so many times and ditto for the movies that it's lost some luster like a classic rock song you've heard too often but it's still great.

7. WOT - This would be high if the series was only the first three and last three books. He just went on some inane tangents that lasted way too long. Still an amazing series.

8. ASOIAF - As with LOTR I think this has tarnished somewhat with over exposure. If he somehow finishes the series and it's great it could move back up.

9. Riyria Revelations - Great story and writing style.


The contenders for ten

Shadow Campaigns - If that 5th book is epic and it ends well it could move up a lot.

Powder Mage - Good series, interesting concept. That middle book was the best.

Dagger & Coin - Great world and character interactions.

Gentleman Bastards - Book three and the delays for book four have taken his out of the top.

Riyria Chronicles - The books are up and down unlike Revelations. Book 2 was simply awesome though.

Fun!!!

It's going to be difficult to decide... I may have to cheat and do by genre since it's like apples to oranges.

1. Draconis Memoria - probably because it's so fresh.
2. Stormlight - for all the reasons.
3. Elderlings - because they're masterful! Giving me all the feels.
4. Kushiel/Imriel - because they're beautiful and profound.
5. Daughter of the Empire - LOVED this trilogy
6. Dragon Jousters - Dragons.
7. Dragon Weather - More Dragons.
8. Gentleman Bastards - funny, complex, the whole package.
9. All things Glenda Larke
10. Codex Alera

YA:
1. Fire and Thorns - I loved the main character and how the first book affected me.
2. The Naturals - I was totally engrossed from start to finish!
3. Hunter (Mercedes Lackey) - so good (so far, anyway).
4. Bloodlines/VA
5. Chemical Gardens - beautiful writing
6. Hunger Games - obvs
7. Partials
8. Hex Hall - cheesy but I loved every moment!
9. The Selection - leave me alone.
10. Twilight - continue leaving me alone.

UF:
1. Mercy Thompson/Alpha & Omega
2. The Hollows (Rachel Morgan)
3. Kate Daniels
4. Georgina Kincade
5. Stray (Shifters Series)
6. Riley Jensen
7. Jim Butcher
8. Marla Mason
9. Nightcreature - cheesy
10. Otherworld (so far)

Scifi:

1 & 2. All things Czerneda
3. Paradox - Rachel Bach
4. The Expanse
5. Sirantha Jax

Honorable Mentions:
Heartstrikers & Eli Monpress (Rachel Aaron)
Heart of Myrial (shadowleague)
All Sandersons
Long Price Quartet
Truth series (Dawn cook aka kim Harrison)
Name of the Wind (removed from top 10 when I started feeling like he doesn't give a shit)
Redwall
Legend of Drizzt

Rankings subject to change constantly.

Niki Hawkes wrote: "6. Dragon Jousters - Dragons.

7. Dragon Weather - More Dragons."

Dragons do make anything better. LOL you've read so much it's a riot you need to do sub-cats.

This is tough.

1. Malazan Book of the Fallen - blew my mind with the scale and depth to the world.

2. A Song of Ice and Fire - same as Malazan but without the gods.

3. Lord of the Rings - no matter how many times I read they are still amazing.

4. Inda - amazing characters and tons of action. Like the first 3 it has amazing world building.

5. Wheel of Time - 10 was the only book that disappointed me.

6. Shadow Campaigns - can't wait for the finale

7. Earthsea- deepest characters that I have read

8. Red Rising - especially loved the audiobooks for this one. TGR is fantastic.

9. Harry Potter - no explanation needed

10. Abhorsen - Mogget and the Disreputable Dog


I think 11-20 would be impossible. Stormlight will probably end up on the list once more comes out.

I don't think I can do this. It's too hard! I'll have to think about it for a while.

Top ten. This will be for all series I'm reading/read as I don't think I could put together a top 10 fantasy series list easily.

1. ASOIAF - I just love this series. The characters and how GRRM can change my opinion on whether I like a character or not. Very tricky often to keep disliking some characters once they get a POV.

2. Plantagenets series by Sharon Kay Penman. Historical series. I love how Penman researches her novels so in depth and love the author notes she always has in the end.

3. Sebastian St Cyr by C.S. Harris. Finished book 12 recently of this historical mystery series and the pace and excellent of the series isn't waiving. Again great author notes at the end.

4 .BotF - Malazan will probably take out number one spot eventually. I'm really loving this series and how intricate it is.

5. Graveyard Queen by Amanda Stevens. Paranormal mystery series. Spooky and a little bit scary. The series was fantastic to read and I love Stevens writing as she's very good at creating tension and atmosphere in her writing.

6. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. Well I've loved some books more than others in this historical / time travelling series. I'm with it for the duration.

7. Night Angel by Brent Weeks. Fantasy. I couldn't put the series down when I read it and raced through reading the series. It had plenty of twists which kept me entertained.

8. LotR by J.R.R. Tolkien. This series introduced me to reading fantasy in the first place. It's a classic and a series that I'll always treasure.

9. House Immortal by Devon Monk. Urban Fantasy. Really unique world building set in futuristic earth.

10. Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. Urban Fantasy. Keeping me entertained and one of the best urban fantasy series out there. This may move up as well once I'm up to date.

Honorable mentions:

Welsh Princes by Sharon Kay Penman - Historical.
Penryn and the End of Days by Susan Ee - YA
Lightbringer by Brent Weeks - fantasy. Could make it into the top 10 depending on how the final book plays out as book 4 was a bit of a disappointment.
Draconis Memoria by Anthony Ryan - Fantasy.
The Others by Anne Bishop - Urban Fantasy
Broken Magic by Devon Monk - Urban Fantasy
Bloodsounders Arc by Jeff Salesyard - Fantasy

1. The Dark Tower - beats out ASOIAF because it is actually complete.
2. ASOIAF - might be higher, but GRRM is turning into something of a diva.
3. Dresden Files - amazing and gets better as it goes along.
4. Harry Potter - brilliant piece of art and worldbuilding.
5. Malazan Book of the Fallen - love the worldbuilding, and will probably climb once I've finished.
6. Stormlight Archive - Same as BotF, really. Only two books but brilliant in scope.
7. Wheel of Time - Yes, #10 was a slog.
8. Mistborn - 2nd series by Sanderson. Love the trilogy.
9. Riyria - both Revelations and Chronicles
10. Manifest Delusions - only 2 books so far, but I love where he's going with these ideas.

Honorables:
Powder Mage trilogy
Red Rising
Legends of the First Empire
Long Price Quartet
Expanse (only read one so far)
Gentleman Bastard
Elderlings (all of the series)

Ok I'm going to do this. These are my top 10 series, but I'm not ranking them because it's too hard.

Riyria -Michael J. Sullivan
Green Rider -Kristen Britain
Legends of the First Empire -Michael J. Sullivan
Dresden Files -Jim Butcher
Kate Daniels -Ilona Andrews
Mercy Thompson -Patricia Briggs
Mistborn Era 2 -Brandon Sanderson
The Graveyard Queen - Amanda Stevens
Dragonlance Chronicles (The first fantasy series I ever read. It holds a special place in my heart) -Weis and Hickman
Paradox -Rachel Bach (this one is space opera but I think it can count on the list)

YA:
The Books of Pellinor -Alison Croggon
Harry Potter -J.K. Rowling
Six of Crows -Leigh Bardugo
The Orphan Queen -Jodi Meadows
An Ember in the Ashes -Sabaa Tahir
The Lunar Chronicles -Marissa Meyer
The Illuminae Files -Kaufman and Kristoff (another space opera)
The Elemental Trilogy -Sherry Thomas
Shadowfell -Juliet Marillier
His Fair Assassin -Robin Lefevers

Angela wrote: "Top ten. This will be for all series I'm reading/read as I don't think I could put together a top 10 fantasy series list easily.

1. ASOIAF - I just love this series. The characters and how GRRM ca..."

I almost put the Graveyard Queen books on my top 10 list.

1. Wheel of Time
2. Mistborn
3. Long Price Quartet
4. Harry Potter
5. ASOIAF
6. Gentleman Bastard
7. Red Rising
8. First Law
9. Divine Cities
10. James Bond (the token non-fantasy series)

Chris wrote: "1. The Dark Tower - beats out ASOIAF because it is actually complete.
2. ASOIAF - might be higher, but GRRM is turning into something of a diva.
3. Dresden Files - amazing and gets better as it goe..."

Chris, so I should give The Dark Tower a try? It seems to be a series either really love or think is just okay from what I see on Goodreads.

Tammie, Graveyard Queen was excellent. I'm surprised you managed to stick to 10. ;)

I'm seeing so many great series on the lists here that languish on my TBR, especially Michael J. Sullivan.

HP is untouchable. I didn't even bother ranking it because it trumps everything.

Angela wrote: "Chris wrote: "1. The Dark Tower - beats out ASOIAF because it is actually complete.
2. ASOIAF - might be higher, but GRRM is turning into something of a diva.
3. Dresden Files - amazing and gets be..."

Well, since I didn't rank them I figured I should try to just stick to 10. I might change it and add separate categories like Niki did though.

Niki and Tammie, I see you both liked Paradox by Rachel Bach. I gave up after book 2. Was the final book more sci fi based? I found book 2 quite romance heavy.

Will have to try and do this later. :)

Ok, I added a separate category for top ten YA fantasy. That allowed me to add a couple more to the adult one.

Angela wrote: "Niki and Tammie, I see you both liked Paradox by Rachel Bach. I gave up after book 2. Was the final book more sci fi based? I found book 2 quite romance heavy."

It was about the same. Space opera, light on the science, more about the adventure and the romance, which is why I feel like it fits into fantasy pretty well. I liked the romance in it, but I can see why it wouldn't be for everyone.

Niki Hawkes wrote: "HP is untouchable. I didn't even bother ranking it because it trumps everything."

That's true.

I love how diverse the lists are.

Angela, definitely give Dark Tower a try. I will say though that you should wait until after reading book 2 to decide if you like it. The first one can be a bit off-putting until you're used to the style/idea, but the other books are more reader friendly...

1. Harry Potter.
2. Stormlight Archive.
3. The Chronicles of Narnia.
4. Mistborn (Both Eras)


Honestly, I haven't read enough series that I LOVED enough to stick them into a top ten, but these are my top four easily =]. All the others I've read are like in my "okay" to "good" lists, but I have a very hard time finding complete series that I really fall in love with haha. A lot of my favorites are just standalones.

I'm hoping to knock out a bunch of series over the next year or two. Hopefully I'll have more to add to the favorites list =].

Chris wrote: "Angela, definitely give Dark Tower a try. I will say though that you should wait until after reading book 2 to decide if you like it. The first one can be a bit off-putting until you're used to the..."

Thanks Chris. Okay. I've only read 11/22/63 by Stephen King before.

Woefully short list (I haven't read as much fantasy as most of you). Also, some of these I have only read "Book 1".

1. Stormlight Archive - absolutely awesome 3 characters in Book 1 (I have not read Radiance yet, but a re-read of Kings and a read of Radiance before Oathbringer comes out in October is in the plans)
2. Malazan - qualifier: I was totally lost, but a) I trust members of this club, and b) these are almost never seen at library donations / book sales or used book stores, so the people that buy the books KEEP the books.
3. The First Law (only Book 1 so far (see the theme here))
4. Lightbringer by Weeks
5. Memory, Sorrow, and something (Tad Williams) - I am going to explore him so more
6. Dune

All time favorite:
Harry Potter

Top series:
1. Darker Shade of Magic
2. ASOIAF
3. Red Rising
4. Riyria

Young Adult:
1. Graceling
2. ACOTAR
3. His Dark Materials
4. The Immortals
5. Protector of the Small
6. Chronicles of Narnia - (Foundational for my love of fantasy.)
7. The Hunger Games

Its encouraging to see so many Riyrias and Wheel of Times on these lists haha. I'm making my way through both of these right now, so I'm hoping I'll be able to add these to my list =].

YA:
Chronicles of Kazam
Abhorsen
Harry Potter
Marbury Lens
Partials
Anything by Tamora Pierce


Adult:
Miriam Black
Anything by Brandon Sanderson
His Dark Materials
ASOIAF
Firekeeper Saga
Dark tower
Silo
Realm of the Elderlings
Wolfwalker
Tamir Triad

1. Stormlight archive
2. Riyria in general
3. Dune
4. First law
5. Lotr
6. Broken empire
7. Mistborn
8. Dresden
9. Dark tower
10. Malazan

1. Malazan Book of the Fallen - As most have mentioned, beyond amazing world-building.

2. Gentleman Bastard Sequence - Locke is one of my all-time favourite main characters.

3. Lord of the Rings - You really can't leave LOTR out. It's classic, timeless and will forever be an inspiration.

4. Riyria - Light, fun and easy to read. Hadrian and Royce are my favourite fantasy duo.

5. A Song of Ice and Fire - A smaller scale Malazan with characters you can relate to a little bit more.

6. Stormlight Archives - Even though only two books in the series have been published, this has the makings of a truly epic series.

7. Mistborn - I liked both eras, but the second era I like slightly more. Good, concise (almost mathematical) world-building

8. Shadow Campaigns - Really detailed military tactics and awesome battle scenes.

9. Powder Mage - Cool and unique magic system.

10. Kingkiller Chronicle - I liked the storytelling format and I'm a sucker for coming-of-age stories.

I realized when reading through this list that I really need to bump up Manifest Delusions on my TBR.

1. Stormlight Archive
2. Mistborn
3. Manifest Delusions
4.The Faithful & The Fallen
5. Powder Mage
6. First Law (only first three & book five)
7. Lightbringer
8. ASOFAI


I'm leaving the rest blank because I'm hoping to finish Malazan and love it!
I also loved Gentlemans bastards & Red Rising!

This makes me realise I gotta read more!

Damn this seems such a good thread but I haven't got enough finished series yet so I'll be back then 😞😞😞

I don't think my list will be ten because I haven't read/started that many fantasy series that I've loved. Not entirely sure on order...

Adult
1) Stormlight Archive: Only two books out so far, but they are my two favorite novels.
2) Mistborn Era 1: First Sanderson books that I read.
3) Mistborn Era 2: There are certain things I like about these even more than the original trilogy.
4) Legends of the First Empire: There are only two so far, but I loved them both.
5) Riyria: Reading the second volume now and loving it. Royce and Hadrian are great (particularly Royce).
6) The Lord of the Rings: I need to read these again. It's been years so I can't really say where they should rank.
7) Powder Mage: A great trilogy. Book two (The Crimson Campaign) was the best of the three.
8) Wheel of Time: I really enjoyed this overall. #13 was my favorite.

YA/MG
1) Artemis Fowl: Some of my favorites growing up. Need to reread the series.
2) Ascendance Trilogy: Not exactly fantasy, but it has a fantasy like setting and feel. And the the main character is great.
3) Insignia: A great sci-fi trilogy. Book three is my favorite.
4) Alcatraz Smedry: These books make me laugh so much.
5) Jackaby: Not sure what Jackaby is really classified as, as far as age groups go, but it's a lot of fun.
6) WARP: Fun time travel adventure.
7) Grisha: I really enjoyed these. And yes, Mal is my favorite character.
8) Six of Crows: I like all of the characters in these. Some of the events in Crooked Kingdom really annoyed me though.

This is a tough one and so I put my list (out of curiosity) with two disclaimers:

1. I haven't read anything by Sanderson and so it is lacking his staples I presume

2. can and will change in the future ;)


1. Lord of the Rings - I read it when I was seven and it determined me as a reader, and a human being in general.
2. Harry Potter
3. The Witcher
4. Red Rising
5. Gentleman Bastard
6. The Illuminae Files
7. A Song of Ice and Fire
8. The Broken Earth
9. Lunar Chronicles
10. Robin Hobb (in general)

Finished:
1. Harry Potter
2. Discworld
3. Lord of the Rings
4. Realm of the Elderling
5. The Dagger and the Coin

Honorary mention: Temeraire (I am still obsessed with dragon flying formation until now)

Unfinished:
1. A Song of Ice and Fire
2. First Law (because there will more books, still)
3. Powder Mage (same reason)
4. Gentleman Bastards
5. Broken Earth

Honorary mention: Worldbreaker Saga

This thread is sooooooo good! Lots of inspiration here!

I've been thinking about it for a while, it's a really tough question and I'm not even sure about which would be my favorite so in some semblance of an order

1. Lord of the Rings
2. A Song of Ice and Fire
3. Gentleman Bastards
4. Mistborn
5. Red Rising
6. Troy
7. Lightbringer
8. Expanse
9. Harry Potter
10. Malazan (only 2 books in so that will likely change)

My problem is that I haven't read too many fantasy series yet. This means my top 10 will include a couple of series that most likely won't remain in my list for ever.

1. Malazan Book Of The Fallen
I'm about to finish book 8 in this series, but already this is my favourite fantasy series ever. I don't think that the scale and detail of worldbuilding will ever be matched by any other fantasy series. It has tons of great characters, a great story, amazing battles, great writing ... Some very epic fantasy!!! (9.5/10)

2. A Song Of Ice And Fire
The first fantasy series I started with a couple of years back. I finished all the books on a short timespan which certainly helpt with the experience. First three books are amzing. Book 4 had some drawbacks, but I still liked it. Book 5 had a very slow start but improved a lot towards the ending. I'm still waiting on the next books, but I'm no longer eagerly anticipating them. If they come out, all the better, if not ... I'll settle with the tv show. Still one of my favourites though (9/10).

3. Acts Of Caine
Great series that deserves a lot more attention. If you like you're fantasy gritty with a lot of blood, this is the series for you. It combines fantasy with some sf elements and is in that way pretty unique. It also has one of the best bad ass characters you can find: the assassin Caine!!!! Book 1 is the best, but I also liked all the others. The fourth book was my least favourite (8.9/10)

4. Mistborn (first era)
Really loved this one. Good story with a great magic system, great battles and Kelsier ... also one of my favourite characters. I thought the serie declined a bit with each book, but loved it nonetheless enough to give it fourth place (8.5/10).

5. Lord Of The Rings
Classic of all classics! The books did have some slow moments, and maybe my sentiments are a bit clouded by the movies, but the books are still very nice to read (8.5/10)

6. Malazan Empire
I finished the whole series and although Esslemont isn't Erikson, he still does a very good job with his writing. It makes his books a good addition to the Malazan world. Most of his books have some sort of flaw, and some are better than others, but all are at least decent. RotCG was personally my favourite. What I lacked the most was some sort of an overall story arc like we have in MBotF. But still, if you like MBotF you should also read these books, also because the final book gives a decent closure on some events (8.1/10)

7. Immortal Treachery
This is a selfpublished series, but a very good one. Very interesting story with another of my favourite characters: Tarmun Vykers!!! Another series with an interesting world and a lot of gore and blood ... definitely worth a shot. The final book (book 5) still has to be released, but it will deliver some very interesting revelations regarding MC Vykers and the world (7.9/10).

8. The Divine Cities
I only finished the first book but already liked it a lot. Especially the worldbuilding was to my liking (7.8/10)

9. Elantris
My first read by Sanderson. Very nice book, not too much action but a good story nonetheless. I'll definitely read the second book when it comes out (7.5/10)

10. First Law Trilogy
Abercrombie is a decent writer, but he hasn't completely convinced me with this trilogy. I wasn't really into any of the characters, but even then, a good story can still be interesting to read. However it was my feeling that the books also lacked on that point, especially the first one didn't contain much interesting stuff. Each book got better than the previous one, but the end result is still only mediocre. Never understood why this is mentioned as one of the best series to be found in fantasy (7/10).

Jakyro wrote: "Immortal Treachery....Acts of Caine."

I'll have to get to these over the fall/winter. They've been on the TBR for a long time.

For all of you Riyria fans: what's great about it? It wasn't even on my radar until this thread, and then I went ahead and added it to my Amazon wish list. Now this morning I see the Kindle version of Theft of Swords just went on sale for $2.99. So for all you Sullivan fanboys and fangirls, now's your chance to convince a potential new reader why he should start the series!

Andrew, the best thing about Sullivan is his characters. They are absolutely fantastic. And I'm very impressed with the way he builds his plots and characters, adding layers with every book. I'm halfway through book four (the second one in the Rise of Empire volume). I've also read Age of Myth and Age of Swords (which are on my list here) and loved those.

Riyria is great because even though some dark stuff happens the series has a lightness to it that is different from all the grim stuff out there.

I thought the first two (in the first volume) were just meh. Entertaining enough, and I liked the characters, but I haven't picked up the second one yet. I have been assured the series gets increasingly better, though, so I'm going to continue within the next few months.

So glad to see everyone posting their top ten. I've been needing suggestions on what to read next when I'm done with the series I'm currently working on. Definitely adding lots of these to my To Read list!

I saw you add a bunch - so many good ones!!! :D

I haven't finished that many trilogies/series and it's very hard for me to really LOVE a book. I can enjoy them and think they're good but not to the extent of being crazy over them.

Some of my favourites ( no particular order ):

Lord of the Rings
The Kingkiller Chronicles
Howl's Moving Castle
The Bible of the Fallen ( spanish author )
Minotaur ( another spanish author )

Other books I've enjoyed:

Lyonesse trilogy
Farseer trilogy
The Last Unicorn
Tales of Earthsea
Gentleman Bastards

Nice list Sofia!
I need to get around and start putting the list together.
Also, I think I need to resume Patrick Rothfuss' series. It seems to be extremely well liked!

This is great! I don't think I read 10 series yet but everyone is giving so many good suggestions!

I need to read all these books... urge to read... intensifies!

Thanks for the input C.P., Bill, and Niki! Sounded appealing enough to convince me to jump on the Kindle Daily Deal. But it'll be relegated to somewhere in the middle-ish of my TBR, at least for now.

1. ASOIAF
2. Harry Potter
3. The Dwarves
4. The First Law

1. WOT- I have listened to all of these books twice now. FAVORITE OF ALL TIME.
2. Dark Towers- My favorite of King's along side IT.
3. Stormlight Archive- I cannot wait for the rest of these to come out. Will probably rank with WOT once finished.
4. The Kingkiller Chronicles
5. ASOIAF- FINISH IT ALREADY
6. Red Rising
7. Demon Cycle
8. Lightbringer
9. Mistborn-First Era
10. Memory, Sorry, and Thorn