Best Fantasy Books of All Time
Fantasy spans more ground than any other genre — from Tolkien's world-building to BookTok romantasy, from fairy-tale retellings to epic political drama. These 20 books are the ones that have shaped the genre, defined their subgenres, or are simply too good to miss.
New to fantasy? Start with The Hobbit (short, perfect), The Final Empire (modern, tight), or The Name of the Wind (literary, beautiful). Save Tolkien's full trilogy for when you're ready to commit.
The Foundational Works
The Lord of the Rings — J.R.R. Tolkien
The book that created modern fantasy. Frodo and eight companions carry the One Ring across Middle-earth to destroy it. Tolkien didn't invent fantasy but he gave it language, mythology, and moral seriousness that all subsequent epic fantasy is in conversation with. Read The Hobbit first as a warm-up.
View on Amazon →A Wizard of Earthsea — Ursula K. Le Guin
A young wizard at a school of magic (the template Rowling built on) confronts a shadow creature he accidentally summoned. Spare, wise, and quietly devastating — the most literary of the foundational fantasies. 6 books in the series; the first is complete and perfect standalone.
View on Amazon →The Name of the Wind — Patrick Rothfuss
Kvothe, the most legendary figure in the world, tells his own story to a chronicler in a single night — the story of how a boy from a traveling troupe became a legend. The most beautifully written epic fantasy of the 21st century. Note: the trilogy is unfinished and Book 3 has no release date.
View on Amazon →A Game of Thrones — George R.R. Martin
The book that proved fantasy could be taken seriously by mainstream literary culture. No protagonist is safe, no war is clean, no villain is wholly evil. Politically and morally the most sophisticated epic fantasy ever written. Note: the series is unfinished and the final two books have no confirmed dates.
View on Amazon →Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone — J.K. Rowling
The series that got a generation reading. An orphan boy discovers he's a wizard and enters a hidden world. Rowling's genius is in the texture of the wizarding world — everything feels thought-through and consistent. The series darkens considerably by Books 4–7.
View on Amazon →Modern Epic Fantasy
The Final Empire (Mistborn #1) — Brandon Sanderson
A heist story set in a world where ash falls from the sky and an immortal Lord Ruler has reigned for a thousand years. Sanderson's magic systems are the most original in modern fantasy — Allomancy, where metals give different powers when swallowed, is brilliantly designed. Perfect entry point for new Sanderson readers.
View on Amazon →The Way of Kings (Stormlight Archive #1) — Brandon Sanderson
The most ambitious fantasy series of the 21st century. Three storylines across a storm-wracked world converge into something enormous. At 1,000 pages, Book 1 is a commitment — but it's one of the most rewarding first-books in fantasy. Arc 1 (5 books) completed in 2024.
View on Amazon →The Lies of Locke Lamora — Scott Lynch
Orphan thieves in a city modelled on Renaissance Venice pull an elaborate long con — while a new threat systematically dismantles everything they've built. Witty, violent, brilliantly plotted. The heist-fantasy that other heist-fantasies aspire to be. Three books published; series ongoing.
View on Amazon →The Fifth Season — N.K. Jemisin
Three narratives unfold across a world that periodically destroys itself. Jemisin writes in second person — "you" — for one of the storylines, a technique that feels presumptuous and then devastating. Won three consecutive Hugo Awards (one per book). The most formally ambitious fantasy of the 2010s.
View on Amazon →Fantasy with Romance
A Court of Thorns and Roses — Sarah J. Maas
The book that launched the current romantasy wave. A mortal girl is taken to a fae world after killing a wolf in the woods. Starts as a Beauty and the Beast retelling, becomes something entirely its own by Book 2. The series (5 books) is partially complete and enormously popular.
View on Amazon →Fourth Wing — Rebecca Yarros
A dragon-riding war college, a female protagonist with a health condition that makes her survival statistically improbable, and a slow-burn romance with the most dangerous rider in the school. Dominated the 2023 book market. Steamy, fast, and genuinely surprising in its third act.
View on Amazon →The Cruel Prince — Holly Black
A mortal girl raised in a fae court where she's despised manoeuvres for power among cruel, beautiful creatures who can't lie but can do anything else. The enemies dynamic is psychologically sharp and the power plays are satisfying. Three books, all complete.
View on Amazon →Fantasy That Defies Category
Good Omens — Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
An angel and a demon who've grown fond of Earth team up to prevent the Apocalypse. The funniest fantasy ever written — Pratchett's comic timing and Gaiman's mythological reach create something no other book manages. Read in any mood; enjoyable on every re-read.
View on Amazon →Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell — Susanna Clarke
Two magicians attempt to restore English magic in the Napoleonic era — written entirely in the style of a Victorian novel, complete with footnotes quoting histories that don't exist. Slow, strange, completely unlike anything else. Takes 150 pages to get going; after that, it's one of the best fantasy novels ever written.
View on Amazon →Piranesi — Susanna Clarke
A man lives alone in a House of infinite halls and tidal statues, cataloguing everything in careful notebooks. He is alone except for the Other, who visits twice a week. A puzzle box novel — small (272 pages), complete, and unlike anything else. Clarke's second novel after a 16-year gap.
View on Amazon →The Night Circus — Erin Morgenstern
Two young magicians are pitted against each other in a contest — except the contest is the circus itself, a black-and-white wonder that appears without warning. Literary and atmospheric more than plot-driven. The most beautiful prose style in modern fantasy.
View on Amazon →Assassin's Apprentice — Robin Hobb
The illegitimate son of a king is trained as an assassin while navigating a court full of people who want him dead. The most emotionally devastating fantasy series ever written — Hobb does not spare her protagonist or her readers. Farseer Trilogy (3 books) is the entry point; expect to read the whole extended universe.
View on Amazon →Guards! Guards! — Terry Pratchett
The best entry point into Terry Pratchett's 41-novel Discworld series. A dragon appears in Ankh-Morpork and the City Watch — incompetent, ignored, and led by a man who has given up — has to stop it. The funniest fantasy series ever written, with more genuine humanism than most literary fiction.
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