Top Ten Favorite Fantasy Series

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created by the folks at the Broke and the Bookish. Each week has a different theme where participants try to come up with ten things to fit the theme.

This week is Top Ten Favorite Books of X genre. I chose to do my favorite books series of the fantasy genre. Because, it’s me, what else was I going to do? And most of the time fantasy and huge series goes hand in hand.

Wheel of Time

Wheel of Time has appeared on a lot of my TTT lists, and it’s for a good reason – it’s my favorite series. Though I’m slightly afraid to reread it, just in case I find myself hating it now. Anyway, it struck me that I’ve not actually talked about what the series is about. It’s about the Dragon Reborn as he prepares for the final battle against the Dark One as the Dark One attempts to break free from his prison. The Dragon Reborn has to make allies, break kingdoms, fend off servants of the Dark One and unite the people before the Final Battle. Along the way, the seals on the Dark One’s prison weakens and his touch affects the world. Oh, and to make it interesting, the source of male channeler’s power is tainted, causing them to go insane when exposed to it for a long period of time. So the Dragon Reborn struggles against his creeping insanity too.

The series spans 15 books with 147 point of view characters. It’s massive. One of my favorite aspect about the series is the inner thoughts of the characters. Characters see and think things based on their background. For example, the Aiel who come from the desert sees baths as an atrocious waste of water. And there’s characters who think differently from the way they act, like Mat who thinks everything is a hassle but moves to do it anyway.

EDIT: the guys at the Legendarium podcast will be tackling the series starting from November! They’ve done Lord of the Rings, the Cosmere and Belgariad too. Check them out!

Lord of the Rings and the Legendarium

I don’t love the Lord of the Rings itself as much as I love the Legendarium behind it. Don’t get me wrong, the trilogy itself was pretty great but the whole world behind it just makes it ten times more awesome. I love reading the appendix when I was a teenager, more than I love reading the actual text of the novel. I enjoyed the Silmarillion too. Stories of the Valar and the Maiar, of Beren and Luthien, of Turin and of Eärendil just makes it so, so much more awesome.

Harry Potter

It’s Harry Potter! ‘Nuff said 🙂

Mistborn

The first Mistborn trilogy is one of my favorite series of all time. Stormlight Archive would have made this list, but I feel that it’s still a little too early to say that it’s a favorite because there’s still eight books to go. Anyway, Mistborn is a wonderful story about Vin, a thief living on the streets who is sucked by Kelsier and his gang into a scheme to overthrow the immortal ruler of the Final Empire. Epic battles, brilliant magic systems and a super awesome plot makes this a great series.

Abhorsen

The Abhorsen trilogy (is it even a trilogy anymore?) is about anti necromancers who keep the dead in their graves. The first book follows Sabriel as she investigate the disappearance of her father, the Abhorsen. In the sequels, the story follows Lirael, a Clayr without the ability to see the future. Soon, she discovers the ability see the past and finds herself on a journey to save the Old Kingdom with the help of the Disreputable Dog.

The Lunar Chronicles

The Lunar Chronicles is a series of fairy tale retellings loosely based on Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Snow White. Cinder is a cyborg in a world where cyborgs are considered to be lesser people. She lives with her step mother and works as a mechanic. When the crown prince comes to her with an android that needs fixing, she is pulled into a series of political conflicts where the queen of Luna seeks to rule Earth.

His Dark Materials

His Dark Materials is a trilogy by Philip Pullman. It follows Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry as they travel between worlds. Lyra comes from another world where daemons are literal spirit animals of humans while Will is from our world. Pullman draws inspiration from John Milton’s Paradise Lost.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Percy Jackson and the Olympians is about demigods who train during summer at Camp Half Blood. Percy is one of them and each book they embark on a quest to do something. The books draw inspiration from Greek mythology and includes many recognizable characters like Chiron and the gods.

A Song of Ice and Fire   

A Song of Ice and Fire is about the Seven Kingdoms and the Iron Throne. Many battles, both in the field and in the court occurs after the death of the King and Houses in the kingdom vies for power. Across the narrow sea, the heir of the previous dynasty attempts to gather an army and return to reclaim her throne. To the north, the Others (ancient ice zombies) are creeping downward to the Wall and with the defenders’ rank aren’t exactly strong and with winter coming, the threat is going to more potent.

Throne of Glass

Ok, I’ll admit I was hesitant to include this one because I didn’t really enjoyed Queen of Shadows. It wasn’t bad, but it did affect my perception of the series a little. However, after reading Empire of Storms, I think it’s safe to say that Throne of Glass has cemented a place in my top 10 favorite series.

These are series that I’ve finished or am close to finishing, so things like Stormlight Archive, Kingkiller Chronicles, Chronicles of Narnia and Gentlemen Bastards aren’t included because I’m not done with them yet.

That’s all from me. Let me know in the comments if you love these series and what series would be in your own top ten list.