Best Epic Fantasy Series

Everything begins here. Tolkien didn't invent fantasy but he gave it its shape — the secondary world with its own history and languages, the quest narrative, the sense that the world's fate hangs on the actions of the small and overlooked. The Lord of the Rings reads differently now than it did in 1954, but it reads. Tolkien's prose is more varied than his reputation suggests, his world more complex, his themes more ambivalent about heroism than the movies implied. The foundation of everything on this list.

The most ambitious fantasy series currently being written. Five books planned at doorstop length each, set on a world battered by supernatural storms, where ancient warriors called Radiants are reborn into a world that doesn't understand them. Sanderson's Stormlight is the current standard for hard magic epic fantasy — the worldbuilding is staggering, the character arcs are emotionally devastating, and the sense that the author knows exactly where everything is going is a constant reassurance.

Martin's unfinished masterpiece changed what fantasy was allowed to do — kill main characters, subvert genre expectations, take political maneuvering as seriously as sorcery. The first three books are among the finest epic fantasy ever written; the fourth and fifth are slower but contain Martin's best prose. The HBO adaptation ended before the books did, which means Game of Thrones fans reading the series are heading into genuinely uncharted territory.

Ten books. A cast of hundreds. A magic system based on a card game. A world that has been civilised and destroyed so many times that ruins are built on ruins. Malazan is the most demanding epic fantasy ever written — it throws you into the middle of an ancient conflict with no orientation, trusts you to catch up, and rewards your patience with moments of transcendent power. Not for everyone. For the right reader, nothing else comes close.

Fourteen books and one of fantasy's most dedicated fanbases. Jordan's Wheel of Time is the great epic fantasy of the 1990s — vast, detailed, sometimes frustratingly slow, and ultimately magnificent. The Amazon adaptation has brought new readers to a series that rewards the long investment. Brandon Sanderson wrote the final three books after Jordan's death and the handover is seamless. A complete world you can live in for a year.

Two books published, one pending, and already one of the most beloved fantasy series of the 21st century. Kvothe is telling the story of his own life — how he went from a gifted orphan child to the most famous man in the world — and every chapter of his story is told with a prose style that feels like music. The Naming magic, the University, Felurian, the Fae — Rothfuss builds a world that feels ancient and intimate simultaneously. Currently unfinished, which is the only caveat.

The definitive epic fantasy deconstruction. Three books that take every trope of the genre — the aged wizard, the northern barbarian, the golden hero, the great quest — and asks what those people would actually be like. Abercrombie's answer is dark, funny, and more honest about violence than almost anything else in the genre. The First Law world has expanded to eight more standalone books and a second trilogy, all essential.

Roberts' epic fantasy trilogy is criminally underread by genre fans who dismiss it as romance. Year One imagines a plague that kills most of humanity and leaves the survivors in a world where magic has returned — and follows a small group trying to rebuild civilisation against dark forces. Roberts writes with the pace of a thriller and the emotional intelligence of the best literary fiction. For readers who want epic scope with genuine heart.