9 Favorite Fantasy Series

As an avid reader, of course, I have quite a few favorites. I even have favorite lists for each genre and category. Here’s my personal list of 9 Favorite Fantasy Series. This will not include stand-alone fantasy books or non-fantasy series.

I hope you enjoy! Comment your favorites below to add to the list.

1. The Name of the Wind

2. The Wise Man’s Fear

3. (Third Book Not Yet Released)

This is my favorite book series of all time, even though it’s not yet complete. Kvothe the Bloodless, Kote, Sixstring, Kvothe Kingkiller, whatever you want to call him, is an adventurer like no other. He learns magic, he plays the lute, he knows how to fight, and he bartends.

This series is so rich in characters, cultures, and locations that I can easily get so wrapped up in Kvothe’s world that I hate to come back into this one when I put the book down.

I’ve read The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man’s Fear several times and I’m eagerly awaiting the release of the third book from Patrick Rothfuss.

The Slow Regard of Silent Things is a companion tale featuring Auri, Kvothe’s shy, reclusive friend. It’s not technically part of the series, but this brief story might hold us all over until the finale of The Kingkiller Chronicles is published.

1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Without a doubt, the Harry Potter series has to make my list of favorite fantasy series. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was my childhood introduction to fantasy books and I haven’t looked back since.

This book series doesn’t need much explanation. If you haven’t read it yet, do yourself a favor and start now. J.K. Rowling has written over 1,000,000 words about young Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived.

You’ll never want to leave the Wizarding World once you’ve been to Hogwarts.

1. Eragon

2. Eldest

3. Brisingr

4. Inheritance

Dragons. What else do I need to say? Saphira and Eragon travel through Alagaesia to fight the evil king Galbatorix. They make friends and enemies along the way while learning to trust each other.

The Inheritance Series contains 4 incredibly thick tomes written by Christopher Paolini. I’ve loved them all and not-so-secretly wish he would’ve kept the series going forever.

1. A Game of Thrones

2. A Clash of Kings

3. A Storm of Swords

4. A Feast for Crows

5. A Dance with Dragons

6. The Winds of Winter (not yet released)

7. (Possible 7th book?)

More dragons. And magic. And drama. And people.

A Song of Ice and Fire absolutely has to be on my list of favorite fantasy series. These books are so epic.

The cast is huge, but we know each of them intimately until George R.R. Martin sees fit to kill them off. I get so engrossed in these stories and I absolutely love them. I will be rereading the whole series once the official release date of The Winds of Winter is announced.

1. The Warded Man

2. The Desert Spear

3. The Daylight War

4. The Skull Throne

5. The Core

The Warded Man and its following books is a fantasy series I was late to join. The last book in the series, The Core, was published in 2017 but I didn’t pick up the first book until about 2020.

Arlen, Leesha, and Rojer live in a world overrun by Corelings, demons that rise from the earth every night to terrorize mankind. They learn to fight back to reclaim what is theirs.

I love the conflict in this series and I really looked forward to Arlen’s chapters. Maybe a bit dark for some, but I absolutely loved this fantasy series.

1. The Way of Kings

2. Words of Radiance

3. Oathbringer

4. Rhythm of War

5-10. (Series to be continued…?)

Brandon Sanderson is an epic author, wildly popular for his other series Mistborn. The Stormlight Archives is planned to be a whopping 10-book series split into two 5-book arcs. The most recent book, Rhythm of War, is book four in the series and was released in late 2020.

This series follows quite a few characters including Kaladin, Shallan, Dalinar, and Szeth. Narrators tell their own stories of magic and politics while becoming intertwined with each other as the story progresses.

The Stormlight Archives are incredibly complex. I could write an entire book dedicated to the massive character list, various ethnicities, nations, classes, and Orders of the Knights Radiant. You’ll sink into this world and never want to come out.

1. Red Sister

2. Grey Sister

3. Holy Sister

I was beyond lucky to stumble onto The Book of the Ancestor trilogy by Mark Lawrence. I’m not sure how I never knew of its existence until very recently but I absolutely fell in love.

Nona Grey is in training to become an assassin. A prophecy, that may have been completely made up, marks her as The Shield, meant to protect The Argatha.

I loved this action-packed female-led saga. Fighting and assassination are paired with friendship and education. Magnificent.

1. The Fifth Season

2. The Obelisk Gate

3. The Stone Sky

The Broken Earth trilogy is an absolute winner and it has to be on this list.

N.K. Jemisin writes this fantasy series based on magic derived from Earth. The ability to control stone and rock has to be learned through brutal training and makes the Orogenes capable of stopping earthquakes and other natural disasters.

This is a post-apocalyptic setting paired with a strong mother-daughter relationship story. You’ll love the massive time scale and planetary repercussions of The Broken Earth fantasy trilogy.

1. Twilight

2. New Moon

3. Eclipse

4. Breaking Dawn

Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series is a vampire/werewolf-themed fantasy mixed with romance. Bella (the human), Edward (the vampire), and Jacob (the werewolf) live in Forks, Washington, and battle with the elite ruling class of Volturi while navigating high school romance.

I read this series so fast that I was lucky I didn’t start it until all four books had been released. It would have been agonizing to wait for the next edition.

The cover art of the series is a stunning bonus because you’ll want to keep this series on your bookshelf forever.

Which of these fantasy series is your favorite? If you don’t see it on my list, add it to the comments below!