Top 10 Fantasy Books of All Time (2024)

I've read 377 fantasy books and these are my top 10 favorite books of all time and let's start with the honorable mentions because these books are five star reads you absolutely need to pick them up but I forced myself to keep it out of the list but I just I love them are fantastic and let's start with the first one which I've only read two books and it's a long series of 14 books it is a classic fantasy at its point and it has a lot of different fans of it. I read it for the first time last year and I was like wow I'm not sure why I did not pick this series before I guess some part of me was expecting this series to be kind of like outdated or you know not to be as good as it was but I was mind blown by the depth of the characters the amazing world building the magic and that is no other than Wheel of Time. I've only read book one and two but I already feel that this series is going to be one of my favorite series of all time I just need to keep reading more in order to feel more as the books progress I'm feeling more and more in love and in awe about the characters and the way Drover Jordan is writing these books I am reading a book a month with my patreon so you if you want to join our quest please join us you will have all information down below in the description but this is phenomenal I know a lot of you love it and you were right. Continuing with another honorable mention we have here a series that has the best magic system in my opinion it introduced me to fantasy in the proper sense with hard magic system and it just it has such a good blend of characters that are very very likable but at the same time they are nuanced and at the same time you have this heist this very quick pace in the story but the magic system it just is to die for but it is not in the list because I read it 15 years ago yes friends I counted it and if you don't believe me this is the first edition in Spanish and I'm referring yes to Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson this is a story that I cannot forget but at the same time I just feel that it's been so long since I read it that I'm not sure if I will pick it up again now I will feel as in awe as I felt 15 years ago absolutely loved the way in which we discover here alimency and how these different characters are able to ingest metals and then those metals provide you with different powers how we are fighting the oppressed and the bad one is the one that has been ruling it has been warned for a lot of ages and it just it is a fascinating read that I really recommend for everyone other honorable mention that took my breath away because it was savage but at the same time it had a way of conveying emotions of having really a fast pace but a depth of the characters it just it blew my mind that is Red Rising by Pierce Brown I believe this author has this unique ability of really from the first pages translate really deep emotions and I'm not sure how he's able to do that because you feel you definitely feel for the characters the premise is fascinating because we start with this story in which society has been labeled in different colors and depending on the color in which you are you are in a lower or a better side in the society and we will be following Darrow who is in the lower side in this society he's a red one and he faces something and he will try to break down this system from within first book changes really from the story that we definitely see in book two and three I have not continued with the rest of the series that's why probably it's not in my favorite books of all time because there's a part of me that I just I was not able to continue because my emotions really they needed a break I don't want to keep reading because I don't want to suffer if that makes sense pick this one up if you are looking for something fast with very good characters and a story that you won't see coming next one I will mention I bet you're gonna be surprised because it's a blend between a cozy fantasy but also it reads as a video game it just it is a young adult story that has a special place in my heart and although from the last time that I did this list it was bumped to the honorable mentions I really really really still love this story and it's a story that when I think about it I still have like goosebumps and it's something that I really recommend for all of you if you want to read something that has such a tremendous world building and just the surrounding it's a proper character and that is the shadow of the fox by Julie Kagawa this story basically it's at its core a quest and we will have like this sunshine versus grumpy kind of character but there is so much more to it we will have this girl that it's half woman half kitsune and she will need to take care of a special scroll because if put together then something terrible will happen and she's kind of like on the flee trying to take care of it and she will cross path with the samurai and he holds a secret because within his sword there's a demon that speaks with him and this is a trope that I really really love like having terrible darkness beneath you or in this case in your spade in his katana and he is able to talk with it but it's also like corrupting and it just it is lovely but it has such a fast pace and there were wars and wars and it just it was so good at the same time it has just this ending that was surprisingly heart-wrenching and I just fell in love with this story really recommend it's not light but it's easy to read and it just although you will probably see it coming it just you will want to read what comes next I have a very very very short story that nonetheless marked me it's a story that I believe it's perfect for everyone wait till the moment in which you feel you need a break and then is the moment in which you need to pick this one up because this story talks about life it talks about passion it talks about you feeling all right by not being all right with you fulfilling your in life if that makes sense like the main character is struggling they have fulfilled everything that they wanted but they don't feel as fulfilled and that is a psalm for the wild built by becky chambers the way in which these alpha rides it's really a bum for my soul this is classified as solar punk which means that is this dystopian world where something terrible has happened in this case the uprising of robots but instead of having to deal with terrible consequences in this case we need to deal with a world that is caring and that loves the environment and you know that everything it's very positive and that's kind of like what we have here we will follow the main character they meet with one of these robots and how everything changes and it it is really really easy to read incredibly short in just one sitting you will have it done but at the same time it just it it really made me cry and if you pick it up in the moment in which you need it it will be perfect for you something that breaks my heart is that i did not have any book from this author in the list and i love all of his books he is the king of standalones and in my opinion each book it's so different to the other but he is also such a master of being able to craft something that you can see while reading it i really struggle with this to imagine the things that i'm reading but with this author i am always able to see what he wants to portray and this author is neil gaiman and in here i wanted to bring the ocean at the end of the lane but i also absolutely love stardust completely different books but in here you have a magical realism story where we will be following this character that he's an adult he's going to his childhood house because of a funeral and he will need to face the memories where of when he was a child and it's a look of childhood trying to remember the things that he lived but with almost an adult view it just is such a weird experience but it's beautiful because you see the sadness the naivete the hope everything it's blended together and it's a story that i'm convinced would create something different in you depending on the moment in which you are reading it but i've yet to meet the person who have picked up this book and have not fell in love with it also stardust is fascinating it's completely different but just it has all the good things that optimism that quest and magic at its core that just it's precious to me another story that it's absolutely precious to me and that it just it was the first one that brought happy tears to my eyes it's a story that talks about really changing about the power of magic about the power of childhood and how you can fall in love and change as a result and that is the house in the cerulean sea by t.j cohen this author has this unique ability also to talk about stories that are quite funny and light-hearted but at the same time he has this dark humor and there are moments that are quite emotional and everything it's blended in a way that feels heart-wrenching and it it's fascinating to read this is also very very very easy it will make you believe in magic in the sense of wow reading can also bring me not only these very deep emotions that i often love in books and you will see that my list it's full of those stories that are not so happy but that at its core are creating a lot of emotions but this one it just it is happiness and cuteness and coziness but at the same time it's a really good story within this so please pick this one up if you haven't already i know it's hyped but if you go with your expectations you know like this is a good book but not like the best book in your life forever then i think you will really really really enjoy it the last honorable mention i promise it's a magical realism that it's a story that i have really really really close to my heart it was so difficult for me to not put this book in the list so kind of consider this as also one of my favorite of all time it's a story that has one of the main characters that is more cute and more sweet and more naive but at the same time he has so much courage that it's fascinating it's a story that is written so differently to anything that i've read before and that is piranesi by susanna clark this story mainly follows the point of view of piranesi and he is writing his own story this formula of the character almost writing in a scientific way his discoveries make me feel this life can be fantastic and although i don't live in a house that is as big as the world and that holds magic and powers and that i need to solve this riddle of life i felt for the main character and i felt that this was something that i should do as well so really really recommend it's very low on magic it's really more of a thriller and what happens it's just it is so really really recommend and before i continue with my top 10 let me talk about today's sponsor skillshare thanks to them i can really say that i've changed the way in which i read i've always appreciated writing and i've always felt that i missed some basics in my life so i took together with my patreons the class of creative writing now i'm able to know more from the beginning in which i pick a book i'm like these are the main motivations of the author of the characters this is how they are breaking the world this is how we learn it has made me a better reader and also i am starting to craft my own stories which will never come to life but i know you are creative so if you're thinking that maybe you need that extra push in order to write and maybe hone a little bit more your skills i definitely recommend the creative writing classes from skillshare if you want to learn about a storytelling about how to craft compelling characters by top tier authors or how to create world building then a skillshare is for you it's the largest online learning community for creative people like you and has launched these class collections that you can master any skills they have a wide variety of topics ranging from illustration graphic design photography productivity reading speed everything that you want i will probably start another quest this month with my patreon so if you want to join us and learn more about writing or about reading speed join us i will link everything in my description but the first 500 people who click the link will have one month free which is more than enough time to check the classes to see if skillshare is a platform for you and then decide what to do from that point onwards really really recommend and thank you so much for checking my sponsors whenever i have them in the top 10 we have a standalone that i just introduced into this list i read it this year and i was mind blown by it how the author is able to convey a beautiful story with some really heart-wrenching moments and at the same time we have this blend of savage but also naive and a beautiful prose and that is the invisible life of adi larou by bi yishua this author it's not to be missed because she is unique the way in which she writes will really really really touch you and it just this story it's phenomenal from the beginning i know at the first pages while i was reading it that i was going to fall in love with the story it's a different kind of story in the way in which it is told because we will go through the life of adi into the past and the present different stages different places because at its core our girl decided one day that she wanted to run away from her life and she made a deal with the devil and from that point onwards she is free but at the same time no one remembers her and this unique moment it's what it's crafting her life and how she moves through life through different really stages of time it's fascinating and how she finds these different characters and she tries to make it was really a very profound story it is quite sad but at the same time it's just beautiful and it has so many good moments i really really recommend if you're looking for something that screams to read it slowly to savor this story and to just fall in love with our characters top nine we have a trilogy that completely broke my mind and my heart it's actually a story that once that i read it i threw the book to the wall and i hated this story for four solid months i believe after i was not able to stop thinking about this i reflected that maybe that's a good sign of a story well done of a praise of the author to being able to put you in a place in which you want to root for our characters for this story and to want to manifest things that eventually might might not happen but it just it broke my mind but it is so well done and i love this story to pieces and that is the poppy war by f kwang this author i've already said it before and i will say it again has the ability of really conveying very intense emotions and often negative emotions i was really i felt the anger that our characters felt and it just it is mesmerizing how you're able to feel these strong emotions this passion this rage while reading it's not a story that you will forget i ended this trilogy and i was like okay let me now think how this story should have ended so that i could feel like differently it starts in a way in which it will make you believe that it will go more into a dark academia kind of story but it really quickly becomes a war story so you need to be prepared to really read about the war about the strategy of it and about the horrors and the terrors of war in this not beautiful but really hunting story that i will be never the same thanks to it top nine we have a completed series that i've only read two books and it is so weird that it is here because i tried to kept away every story that is concluded but i have not continued reading because if i was not able to keep reading maybe it means that i don't love it as much no this is not the case with this story the idea of these is that i need to space it out a little bit because i was feeling a lot about it and i was really fascinated and also this story really deserves its time you need to pick this one up when you're ready to commit to feel all the feelings and to learn a lot it's a story that it's really different book one from book two the first book has this pacing in which things happen so fast each chapter it's a short story and the chapters are incredibly short which makes it for a book that it's very easy to but at the same time what you're reading it's quite dense or it can come across as dense so it's a weird blend but i promise you that it works and that is the dandelion dynasty by ken liu just read book one grace of kings and the second one the wall of storms mind-blowing the ability of ken liu to craft his story it's just like he is a genius the amount of care and love and strategy that the author poured into this story it just it's so difficult to pick places in this war that you will see unfolding and that you will see passing through different people and also through different generations even and it just it really will take a place in your heart and just it will put it this story there really really recommend top seven we have a concluded trilogy that fascinated me also from the beginning it is deeply character driven and although the premise didn't seem like something that i would love it ended up being a massive surprise and i loved these characters two pieces i believe this author it's also a genius and she's able to craft a story that it's really about the strategy about the family drama about finding your own place and really really really really fighting for for your family it just it is fascinating and if you want drama if you like to you know cry then i really recommend you to pick the green bone saga by fondly it's a story that is pitched as the godfather meets ninjas and i can see why but at the same time i don't feel that's truly all that encompasses i'm not a super huge fan of godfather but there is this mafia element because we were bethrown in this place called kacon and there are two main bands that are fighting for the control of the jade which is this precious element that provides those wielded with a special power so you can see why it is really coveted but what we see it's not really that fighting but also how the story unfolds will make us reflect on one of these bands and how they're structured how there's distress and how each of them need to find a place and it just it is fascinating all of these books are favorite for me but each of them have kind of like these scenes that will completely break your heart and that will really really really make you reflect and it just it is a testament of having great characters and just falling in love with all of them and make you reflect on who are you for loving these really great characters position number six we have a story that blends politics plus dragons plus adventure plus longing and it just it will make you reflect and it starts with the premise that an uprising has happened in order to defeat the ones that are really really oppressing society and now this new structure it's kind of like more open to different layers in the society but the result it's not quite as we were expecting and we will be following these two main characters that are friends sincere children but their backgrounds couldn't be more different they are at its core should be enemies because one of these characters is an orphan her parents were killed by the dad of our other character who is also an orphan because his parents were the ones that were oppressing society and therefore killed in the uprising that makes for such an interesting premise and that's no other than the Aurelian Cycle by Rosaria Munda is definitely a story that will transport you to a place where you will have everything there are dragons that are really characters in this story you will see how they interact with our characters and one of the main characters Annie it's one of my favorite characters of all time because she wants to change things and she will need to sacrifice so much it is fascinating how we are transported to a place in which we start from a competition in order to see who is the one that can have the control of the dragon fleet to a place in which we need to think about the role of society and how we structure it there are rumors of another uprising and another war coming it is a story that also made me cry i love it love it love it please pick this one up top five we have a standalone that it's so precious because it touches on some tropes that i really love but especially the way in which the story is written that it's what it steals the show for me it displays this optimism this positivism and wanting to face life in a way in which it's better it's for me a coping mechanism every time that i'm feeling not quite as good with life i tend to go back to this author and to reread his books in this case we're talking about project hail mary by andy we're here we have this story in which our character one day wakes up in space and he does not remember anything that trope it's really interesting but he knows that he's on a mission but everyone is dead he is alone and he's like what is happening so he will go for a little bit trying to remember those pieces to put it together but then it's a proper trip in which he is on that makes the story so phenomenal there is something that happens that i don't want to that it's phenomenal also jazz hands if you know you know but it is really a story that from the beginning again i knew this was going to be my favorite i was dreading every page because i did not want this to end but at the same time i was so happy reading it it had this blend of emotions that were like oh i'm feeling so good but at the same time i'm feeling so many things position number four i bet will surprise you because it's the only story in this whole list in which i've only read the first book in a series and it's still ranked position number four how mind-blowing that is it's the only one because only book one has been released but i believe this story will become one of my favorites of all time if book two goes as things should happen it's a story that it's very similar to red rising but in my opinion it's better we have this society that has been layered in also different levels but the magic system resides on that so we have this layer these pyramids and the ones at the top are drinking power from the layers that are underneath so it really it's a very unique setting because they need to take care of the layers underneath because their power goes through them and if they die they won't have that power and it has this roman empire setting as well there's these trials that a main character will need to pass and that is the will of the many by james ellington the way in which this story is written will fascinate you from the beginning there are i believe three scenes that are like epic very epic it's not just the ending that is like oh wow but there were like a lot of scenes that while you're reading it you're like mind blown absolutely incredibly amazing the ending though will get you down the rabbit hole of searching what is happening what is it that you're reading and it just is such a good blend of fantasy with all the elements book two will be released this year so pick this one up it's the best moment position number three we have another standalone by an author that is such a hidden gem this is so underrated and unfair and i am enraged about that in here we have a story that really seems weird but it really really really works from the beginning like first 20 pages i knew in my bones that this was going to be one of my favorites of all time guns of the dawn by adrian tchaikovsky reading this feels as if you're reading pride and prejudice and then you take our main character emily mashwick and you throw into war it has also a slightly different way of sharing the story because we start at the middle of the war something terrible happening and then you go back and you see this victorian society this more tranquil life and you get to see how our character it's thrown in the war and that makes you really really love and see how precious the proper story is and it's a story that for me takes every trope that it is and it just breaks them and remold them you have yes the chosen one but it just breaks it love triangle breaks it going to war even facing war and breaks it it's a story that really really really depicts amazingly ptsd what are the horrors of war and i love this i read this book recently this year due to my patreon and the book club and i was really really mind blown and it really consolidated this story it was better the second time around really hope that you can pick it up and love it as much as i did position number two we have another standalone that has my second favorite magic system which is elemental magic in this case we'll have eyes we'll have wind and we will have a story that it's deeply character driven but at the same time it has some scenes that are as good as ones that you can read from rando sando which is mind-blowing it's a story that has also slightly different tone prose because it has like the main thing or a lot of stuff happens at mark 40 of the book and you are are still with 60 of the book and you don't know what will happen next but trust me things work it is a phenomenal story that depicts the story of a mother and a son and in here we are talking about the sword of kagan by ml wong this story it just it will take you maybe a little bit more to get into it it's not a story that like from the beginning you know it's going to be a new favorite but if you continue reading then i bet this will become one of those stories i just it's that good in this case we'll have this land called kagan and they are the last resort towards an invasion and then one day something happens and they are the only ones that are still kind of like living through the the teachings of the samurai and what you will see it is fascinating scenes it has one scene that it just i never cried more with a book in my life i don't necessarily want you to suffer but i do want you to suffer please pick this one up and feel what i felt and please come back and let me know if you've loved it as much as i did because it just it is fascinating it mesmerized me and i will always read whatever these author writes in the top one we have my favorite author writing a masterpiece that got me not only with tears in my eyes but it just it really it's the best ending that i've read in my life it just there were some scenes that are so epic and this author it's famous because of his endings and this story being book three in a series that isn't finished it really had a lot of elements but it just it had so many good things and it is fantastic that is outbringer by brandon sanderson so book three in the stormlight archives series this story is phenomenal not only because it's high fantasy which i love and it is epic and at its core we are talking about the fight between different races but because the main characters are really nuanced and they are depicted in a way in which you feel that they are relatable depicting characters that really struggle with depression with anxiety with your personality i don't believe that's easy and the way in which it is done here you feel for the characters from the beginning and this is why i love this series so much because these characters i would not die for them but you know i would pay money for them to be good there are a lot of stuff that i want for them i think about them they feel real and i feel for them every time that they are on the page i am with them suffering and living and i cannot wait to see how the story unfolds this is phenomenal and you know if you know you know with this book but amazing world building magic system it's also pretty incredible it goes like through layers you need to be good or to commit to the magic you will discover it as you go but it has such good depictions and everything is so well crafted the story but also the land the economy the everything like the flora the fauna everything is depicted it is outstanding it has a massive world building it is part of the cosmia and it is obviously very cosmia aware the later books more than the first books but it just it is fascinating would i recommend you to start with stormlight maybe not start with Mistborn but please go to Stormlight as soon as you can because this is such a good story and i believe you will love it let me know down below which are your favorite books of all time i know this is hard it took me 40 minutes to decide that and if you want to see which are my favorite standalones of all time i will link here the video so that you can check that out