7 unfinished sci-fi and fantasy series that are too good to wait for the ending

We’ll start with a non-threatening one. Brandon Sanderson is one of the most prolific fantasy authors working today, and he’s in the middle of writing his masterpiece. The Stormlight Archive is set on a world racked by massive storms that’s facing an apocalyptic threat. Sanderson has written five books in the series so far and has another five to go.

And there’s almost no doubt that he will get there. Sanderson is an incredibly disciplined writer who puts out new books like clockwork. He’s working on other things at the moment, but he will get back to The Stormlight Archive sooner or later, and finish out the story. In the meantime, Apple TV is adapting The Stormlight Archive to TV. If done right, it could make the books even more popular and put pressure on Sanderson to write them faster.

Of course, we’ve seen that kind of thing backfire before…

Credit: Random House Worlds

George R.R. Martin is the only living fantasy author who can be said to be more popular than Brandon Sanderson. He’s the guy behind the Song of Ice and Fire series, adapted by HBO as Game of Thrones.

But Martin has famously not finished his series; the fifth book, A Dance With Dragons, came out in 2011, and he’s been working on the sixth, The Winds of Winter, ever since.

Some fans despair that Martin will never complete his opus, but finished or not, it’s an impressive work. Martin creates hundreds of characters, invents a dense world, and is a hugely flexible author capable of writing from many different perspectives and making them all feel different. It remains to be seen whether the people of Westeros will ever clash with the mysterious Others north of the Wall, but getting there has been a magical experience all the same.

Credit: DAW

In some ways, Patrick Rothfuss is a younger version of George R.R. Martin. They’re both fantasy authors, they both have impressive beards, and they both last published a book in their popular series in 2011. For Rothfuss, that book was The Wise Man’s Fear, which continued the journey of the young arcanist (basically a wizard) Kvothe, who one assumes will get around to killing a king sooner or later.

Rothfuss’ books have earned praise for their lyrical prose and layered magic system. It’s not clear what is holding Rothfuss up, but whenever he finally releases The Doors of Stone, there will be an eager audience ready to read it cover to cover. That book is designed as the final entry in The Kingkiller Chronicle, so all Rothfuss has to do is get it over the finish line and his trilogy will be complete.

Credit: Grand Central Publishing

The above authors simply haven’t yet finished their series, but there are others who unfortunately passed before they could complete their own. That includes Octavia Butler, the author behind classics like Kindred. In 1993, she released Parable of the Sower, set in a world where society was collapsing due to severe climate change, compounded by runaway corporate greed. A young woman named Lauren Olamina creates the Earthseed religion, leading her followers to believe that humanity’s ultimate destiny lies among the stars.

1998’s Parable of the Talents continues Lauren’s story, but unfortunately Octavia Butler passed in 2006, before she could complete a planned third entry, Parable of the Trickster.

Even incomplete, the Earthseed books are worth reading for their empathy, their imagination, and their scary accuracy when it comes to predicting things like the harmful effects of climate change.

Credit: Del Rey

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a comic account of life, the universe, and everything. Our characters zip all over the universe, reveling in the chaos and absurdity. The series ended with the fifth book, Mostly Harmless, in 1992, which had a surprisingly bleak ending. Adams intended to write another book to amend, but he didn’t get a chance before dying in 2001.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is mostly a comedic series, and you can enjoy the jokes even if it doesn’t end in the way the author wanted it to. However the series revolves, “the ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don’t” is a funny line. Also, the series does end, just on a bit of a down note.

Credit: Del Rey

The Gentleman Bastard books aren’t as comedic as The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but they’re a little lighter than a lot of high fantasy you read. Locke Lamora leads a group of thieves and con artists who steal from the rich in the city of Camorr. Locke and his colleagues exist in a rough, dog-eat-dog world, but the books themselves are witty and fun, feeling a bit like a fantasy version of Ocean’s 11.

Scott Lynch has released three books so far, but the most recent one, The Republic of Thieves, came out all the way back in 2013. The planned fourth book has been beset by delays, although hopefully we’ll hear news about it before too long. Lynch has plans for more beyond that.

Credit: Orbit

The Burning is a fantasy series inspired by African mythology. Tau lives in a caste-based society where magical warriors are prized. His people constantly at war, he becomes an ordinary foot soldier and finds a unique, horrifying way to build up his own skills.

The Burning books feature demons, dragons, warring armies, and a growing cast of intriguing characters. The pace is lightning fast, so reading them is never boring. Winter has published two books in the series so far and has two more planned, starting with The Lord of Demons, which is tentatively scheduled to be on store shelves in 2027. There’s no reason to think there will be any delays.