Author George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire books are unquestionably the biggest fantasy novel series of the past 20 years, in no small part because HBO’s Game of Thrones was one of the biggest TV shows of the past 20 years. But Martin has been working on the sixth book, The Winds of Winter, for a depressingly long time, and fans would be forgiven for thinking it may never arrive.
That said, there are plenty of other fantastic high fantasy series out there to read in the meantime, and not just the obvious ones that come immediately to mind. And unlike Martin’s series, all of these are finished.
Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams
A straightforward fantasy classic
Tad Williams’ landmark fantasy trilogy takes place on the continent of Osten Ard, where humans, elves, and dwarves have long lived in harmony. (Technically, it’s humans, Sithi, and Qanuc, but anyone familiar with fantasy races as depicted in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy will be at home here.) We mainly follow Simon, a kitchen scullion in Hayholt Castle. After the death of the long-lived King John the Presbyter, Simon uncovers a secret about the royal succession. He soon finds himself on a quest to not only stop the country from descending into civil war, but to stop the vengeful Storm King from ending all life as we know it.
The Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy is a grand fantasy epic written in the tradition of The Lord of the Rings. George R.R. Martin has cited it as an influence on his Song of Ice and Fire books, and at only three volumes, it won’t take up an inordinate amount of your time.
The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee
The Lord of the Rings meets Goodfellas
The Green Bone Saga is set in an Asian-inspired world where jade is a precious commodity that can grant superhuman abilities to those who have trained to use it properly. We spend most of our time with members of the Kaul clan, who are locked in a violent gang war over control of the jade trade.
The Green Bone Saga has the scheming of The Godfather trilogy, the action of an underrated TV show like Warrior, and enough fantasy flare to stand out among its contemporaries. At one point, Peacock was going to make a TV show based on this trilogy, but it fell through. Until someone gets a clue and revives it, the books are right there.
The Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb
Presenting FitzChivalry Farseer
The Realm of the Elderlings is the overarching name given to five separate trilogies, starting with the Farseer trilogy in the 1990s and ending with the Fitz and the Fool trilogy in the 2010s. The series follows Fitz, the illegitimate son of a prince who is trained as an assassin. The series follows Fitz from a young boy eager to prove himself all the way into late middle age, letting us get to know the character inside and out.
The Realm of the Elderlings does some interesting things with magic. Fitz is able to magically bond with animals, using the ability to bond with the wolf Nighteyes. It’s a great boon for him, but also turns him into a social outcast. Hobb uses this dynamic to explore the nature of prejudice without coming off as preachy.
The Old Kingdom by Garth Nix
High school graduates to the rescue
The Old Kingdom is set in a fantasy world divided by a great wall; on one side, technology is roughly where it was in the early 20th century in our world. On the other side is a wild land dominated by necromancers and the undead.
Naturally, the first book in the original trilogy involves a character — 18-year-old Sabriel, who’s just completed her final year of school at Wyverly College — crossing from one world into the other; in this case, Sabriel goes in search of his missing father. The original three books form one long story involving a fight to stop a cosmic entity known as Orannis from destroying all life. A couple of sarcastic animal companions help the drama go down easy.
The Dagger and the Coin by Daniel Abraham
From half of the team that brought you The Expanse
The Dagger and the Coin is a series of five novels about the expansion of the Antean Empire. The series features a lot of the things high fantasy fans would expect: there are dragons, knights, and a terrifying deity called the Spider Goddess. What makes this series feel different is a focus on the economic side of things, as we see how loans and supply chains are just as important to the empire’s expansion as its armies.
The books are written by Daniel Abraham, who teamed up with Ty Franck to write the popular sci-fi series The Expanse. The Dagger and the Coin brings the same sense of grounded realism to the fantasy genre.
The Death Gate Cycle by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Five fantasy worlds for the price of one
Over the course of seven books, The Death Gate Cycle introduces us to five distinct fantasy worlds: four based on the elements (Air, Fire, Stone, Water) and a great labyrinth. All of the worlds were created by the Sartan, a race of beings who split off from humans following a nuclear war. The labyrinth was created to house their rivals, the Patryns. The story gets going when a Patryn named Xar escapes the labyrinth with dreams of freeing his people and conquering the other worlds.
The Death Gate Cycle is overflowing with imagination, features a complex magic system, and effectively blends sci-fi and fantasy. It’s easy to lose yourself in this one.
Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson
Clear your calendar
This is the biggest series on our list, in more ways than one. There are 10 books in the Malazan series. They take place over thousands of years, telling the story of the power-hungry Malazan Empire and those who try to resist it. Naturally, there’s also an alien entity known as the Crippled God at the center of things.
Malazan is tremendously complex and detailed, which will attract some readers and scare away others. It will take a long time to wrap your head around this series, which is exactly what some fantasy lovers want.
Beyond fantasy
George R.R. Martin may or may not ever finish his series. Happily, there are more than enough high fantasy books to keep fans of the genre busy from now until the end of time. And if you somehow run out of fantasy books to read, you can always pivot to sci-fi.
