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@@danielburnett6784 Hey Daniel! You can start with either book - the series is written to make it that way. If you want a slower, traditional Epic Fantasy style introduction, I'd go with Of Blood and Fire. If you would prefer something high octane, that just throws you right into the chaos with no explanation, then The Fall is your starting point (The ebook is also free on my website, so you don't have to make any cash commitment to see if you might like the series). Hopefully you enjoy, and if not, well there are plenty of other great books out there 🙌
Absolutely LOVE that Harry Potter has stood the test of time, and also makes this type of list. It truly is/was the entry point to science fiction and fantasy for some many of us. It may be a slight outlier in this list, but its definitely earned its spot
Truth! As sad as I was that she wasn’t more prominent on the main list, I love that she dominated the honorable mentions. I think she’s just under read among modern readers.
She's overrated. Yes, I said it. I've read 90% of her work, and the majority is the character being agnsty and worrying over philosophical issues anyone should already know. Is this just my opinion, yes, so is yours.
Only Harry Potter had people sleeping at the door of the book stores just to be able to get a copy of the new book as soon as possible. The queues were huge, even TV news covered how long they were. Never seen people going crazy over a physical book like that anymore.
Yes that’s why it frustrates me when people dismiss it altogether. It’s got its flaws like any other series. But the fact that it became so popular without the help of social media should tell you how good it is. And like you said, I haven’t seen people get that excited for any other series
@@carole5648 true, but the Beatles-like fandom in JK's book signings was also a thing. Nowadays people don't hype authors anymore, they all have twitter, Twitch and UA-cam channels and keep their fans updated there. Times changed indeed.
I was an adult when I read HP. I might have started it at 24 and finished it when I was 27 or so. I can't remember. So I didn't grow up with it and holds very little nostalgia for me. For what it is, great series, engaging and fun. But it didn't survive a second read. Azkaban and Goblet were still awesome but the rest I skipped a lot of stuff and Deathly Hallows I didn't even bother with. Having said that, it takes nothing away from what it was way back then.
Pratchett is literally in his own world though. Pratchett is like the reads you read in these reads. Like I literally knock out a discworld book in between an SA book. They are just refreshing af.
Skulduggery Pleasant only being mentioned 3 times but accumulating 23 points is proof of how there are many underrated series, especially across different continents
i have a huge problem with stormlight archive... I started reading the way of kings at the end of february and figured it would last me until december when the 5th book will be published... Welp i am now almost half through words of radiance. its just too damn goood :(
Pretty good problem to have. My husband is in the same boat with his reread. He’s also started in February and just finished book 3 (along with Warbreaker and Elantris). >.
Knocking The Lord of the Rings is like saying that you don’t like Shakespeare because it has so many cliches. THAT IS WHERE THOSE CLICHES STARTED! THE LOR IS WHERE THOSE TROPES STARTED!
I love the movies, I love the plot, the characters, the morals and themes. However, I am not super keen on the books. I still rate them fairly high because they’ve done so much for the genre and all the things that I do love about them. But every time I’ve read them I was bored to tears. JRRT is just too verbose for me and the pacing is on par with snails. I’ve read the series 3 times in my life hoping maybe I’d like it better as I age. Nope. Sorry.
I've tried reading LOTR twice and can't get thru it. I don't know if watching the movies first spoiled it for me, but I don't get the hype. Also, I am not big on songs/poems written in books and LOTR had quite a few...
@@samjohnson7869 no I feel the exact same way. I’ve read it through all the way once and have tried reading all the way through a second time and I don’t get the love
@@samjohnson7869 LOTR is like the Beatles to me. It was the foundation of a genre, but all that means is that it allowed better books to be built on that foundation. Tolkien revolutionized the genre, but that meant more development happened after him. Lotr is good, but I believe Tolkien would weep if he read the Stormlight Archives because he would know he had a true successor
I was just happy that I have read all of the top 10. Only ended up buying one audiobook from the honorable mentions portion. This is my one hesitation with watching your videos: they have a negative impact on ny wallet. :) Nice work as always.
@@Chicgirlneedatoknowfirst book is the way of kings One of the best series ever written It is connected to a larger world so if you want to start the start of the "World" he wrote is elantris( A standalone book)
@@ChicgirlneedatoknowIs part of the storm light archives series. So you need to read the way of kings(book one ) first. There are 4 books to this day and the last is coming end of the year
Man, I’ve been working on Of Blood & Fire for 9 months now and am only like 75% through. It sounded like it would be right up my alley but I just can’t get into it. There are so many underdeveloped characters, the pacing is all over the place, it’s painfully derivative, it tends to be info-dump-y, the action scenes fall flat, lots of telling not enough showing, and that’s just off the top of my head. I do like Valerys. 🤷🏻♀️
I'm only just getting back into reading after a long absense, but I re-started with Mistborn and it's honestly incredible. One of the best pieces of media i've ever experienced. One series I have read before is Lord of the Rings, and I think the thing that gets a lot of people out of that is that it kind of needs to be your first fantasy series otherwise it feels incredibly tropey, because it came out before everything else. It influences so much of fantasy over the last 70 years that so much of it feels like other series. The language is also incredibly eloquent. With mistborn and i'm guessing a lot of other of Brandon Sanderson's work, his simple prose is incredibly accessible and anyone should be able to pick it up and feel like they can read it. I definitely remember having to google words in LOTR, although the last time I read it, I was 12 so I could be remembering wrong. I also feel like Lord of the Rings is so hyped and large as an entity, that people are either scared to read it out of worry they wont like it, or they build an unrealistic expectation in their head that no book could match. I fondly remember forgetting to sleep when I read Lord of the Rings and my mother not being too happy about that, and I look forward to reading it some day again. Thank you for creating lists like this because if The Stormlight Archive is better than Mistborn Era 1, then I may go back to that 12-year-old who forgets to sleep.
This was a fun video. The Realm of the Elderlings is really one continuous story, it isn't just scattered series within the same world. I wonder where it would have landed if you counted it as one, considering almost all of it landed in honorable mentions and in the top 10, and I also wonder which other great series would have shown up as a result.
That's an excellent point, which i didn't really consider since I haven't read past Farseer. Hmmm i deifnitely think it would have been much higher if we counted it as one. I'm happy Robin Hobb got so many submissions, because I feel like her work is often not talked about as much but is some of the best out there
@@CapturedInWords agreed. I audibly wept reading some of the later books. It is very rare that an author can make you care this much for their characters.
You really do have to start in on the rest of the Realm of the Elderlings, by far my favorite series. The Tawny Man Trilogy and the Liveship Traders Trilogy within them are my top two.
Ive started Wheel of Time I think 3 different times and it just does not grab me. I respect it, I can absolutely appreciate what its done for the genre, but from what Ive read and what Ive heard about the series, I just cant see myself getting invested enough or being able to look past enough of the things I personally dont like to get through all 14 books
I hate read that entire series. The characters, particularly the women, are absolutely horrid and as that’s how you interact with the world, it made the series really bad to me. Additionally, the plot is very slow and meandering. The writing is simplistic but strangely evocative. The world is large and well built with multiple races and cultures and a long history. The magic system is fascinating, if a bit softer than I prefer. It has a lot of good but the bad is so bad that I absolutely understand not liking it.
Any plans to share the spreadsheet? I'd be very curious to see how people voted - this list was both surprising and not at the same time for some of the choices.
Love the vid! And all ur vids in general ❤️. But I was very surprised you haven’t read asoiaf books. It is so much better than the show, it will surprise you. Even though it is unfinished it is still by far one of the best series I have ever read. Would be very cool to see your thoughts on it!
I absolutely agree (minus WoT, do not like). I think there are a ton of reasons Martin is underperforming. 1. Age of work: aSoIaF is old. The first book came out in the 90s. Sanderson is much more contemporary. 2. Bad press Martin hasn’t put out an installment of aSoIaF in over a decade and he’s getting fried for it. The show, GoT, ended horrifically. On the other hand, Sanderson is coming off 2 record breaking kickstarters and the very successful Year of Sanderson. He’s very genuine and polite in his communications with his fans. 3. Approachability Sanderson’s prose is pretty simple and he has so many books/series there’s something for everyone. He also tends to stay fairly PG13. Martin’s work is a bit more complex, verbose, and deep. He’s also really only known for aSoIaF which is known to be more rated R to NC17. All that said, aSoIaF is amazing and I find it much better than anything Sanderson has written.
@@Rhendali yeah I mean, I like Sanderson and I like storm archive, but it’s pretty childish compared to a lot of other fantasy series that do similar things but much better. Including the wheel of time which is just light archive, but better written.
@@Izzyzilreads oof, that’s gunna be a hard disagree on WoT. Love the world and the story and the magic, hated the characters and the writing (found it too direct and simplistic though it was occasionally evocative)
@@Izzyzilreadschildish is strong word but i get ur point. about asoiaf,as other person mentioned,books not being completed along with that horrible show fiasco makes it hard. also this people must've read only mistborn/sla ig
The Bound and the Broken NEEDS to be in your TBR as high as possible. They get better and better with each book. Absolutely amazing story and brilliant writing by Ryan Cahill.
Definitely adding it high on my TBR! I'm hoping to start it either next month or the month after, depends on if I can finish up some current series I'm reading. I'm looking forward to it though! :)
How did you get over one of the main POV characters (I presume Calen is one of those) being an exact copy of Corban from Malice? That just instantly discouraged me from reading on and I just couldn’t get past page 50 or so of Cahills first book
Surprised there are so few mentions of Raymond E. Feist Riftwar cycle. I thoroughly enjoyed those books but haven’t heard them mentioned in any video on this channel. Definitly worth the read in my opinion.
These kind of videos are perfect for people getting into reading fantasy, some top ten lists made by people who’ve read thousands of books look very different to what the average reader would like so the scoring system works really well
Sanderson is really a titan in today's fantasy world......i hope after some years or so SA becomes legendary like lord of rings or wheel of time...... although i personally think it already is.❤
Good to see The Sun Eater series catching up to the greats. If you are a fan of Dune, Hyperion and other Sci-fi masterworks, and some great character work, you'll most likely enjoy it. Also, Rouccio is a master of prose - beautiful, beautiful writing. Probably on par with Rothfuss. Interesting list, by the way. While I really enjoy The Stormlight Archive, I believe LOTR is truly deserving of the throne - a complete literature package.
lol I don’t get the love for the bound and the broken. It’s like a slightly better written Eragon. I have only read the first book in the BatB. Does it change or get better?
I am always surprised that "The Wondering Inn" is not included in these lists. It is long and not even trying to come to an end. But I am always on the lookout for the next book, 1 or 2 per year. For awhile it was often mentioned but seems to have been forgotten by most.
The results of this project are telling. I've really felt lately like a lot of BookTube has become sort of an echo chamber centered around the same specific series, with a lot of BookTubers sorta liking the same ones, including an incredible focus on Sanderson. (Sanderson is good, don't get me wrong, but he's good for a specific type of reader--not all of us. For example, I didn't put his stuff even in my top five.) I wouldn't say this (the so-called echo chamber) is a bad thing, it's just...a thing. It has ebbs and flows, occasionally a new series is talked about and then half of BookTube talks about that new series for a while before settling back into Sanderson content. If you posed the same survey to a different crowd, say...readers who spend more time in libraries than on UA-cam or watching film adaptations, you would probably get entirely different results. Suddenly series like Earthsea, or Narnia, or DiscWorld, etc., would get more attention. (You might even encounter a bunch of readers who like Goodkind--his books still populate B&N shelves, so there's gotta be a lot of readers out there if we're being honest.) There are so many fantasy series, and only a handful of the more prominent authors ever get the lion's share of attention on UA-cam. I am really glad this survey was done and I love the results. All of the winners deserved their places, at the least. Ultimately, what makes one series great or one series not quite so great is personal taste in the readers. And I just am left wondering, if you could somehow pose this survey to all fantasy readers everywhere, what other series would come out of the woodwork--series many BookTube viewers don't even know exist... :)
Yeah the booktubers I like the most are the ones who read the most frequently like Matt fantasy books or fantasy for the ages since they read a decent amount of stuff that not many talk about.
@@danielgwynne7266 Yeah, BRIAN LEE DURFEE Reviews is another guy who gets into all the other books and options. Dude's in the hospital right now, but looking forward to his return soon.
so validating and refreshing to see this take online. as a specific example: sanderson is dope but the way the internet echo chamber talks about him makes me feel like I must be crazy sometimes. I would never have thought to put him in the same league as kingkiller or first law until the internet told me they were comparable
Mistborn doesn't even get close to top 10 on my list. I feel it's mostly a fad. The SA is much more legitimate going against other contenders imho. I would have put Malazan or several other series above it. Even Gentelman Bastards.
I have watched a few of your videos so far and am surprised to not see you or anyone talk about The Sword of Truth series. By Terry Goodkind. It is one of my favorite reads.
I think Brandon Sanderson has a reading order on his UA-cam channel, but you should also just be able to look it up. My recommendation is Mistborn Era 1, Elantris, Stormlight Archive 1-2, Edgedancer, Stormlight Archive 3, Dawnshard, Stormlight Archive 4, Warbreaker, The Sunlit Man, Mistborn Era 2. You can mix in Tress of the Emerald Sea and Yumi and The Nightmare Painter at any point, and you should read the stories in Arcanum Unbounded, but those can be at any point. I hope this helps :)
The Black Company (first trilogy), Elric, and Thomas Covenant (first trilogy) would make my top five. Interesting to see how different many of the audience picks are from what I'm used to thinking about.
Malazan undersold by this scoring. It had really strong scores among those who read it, but they were too few. If you weighted for top places more strongly, you'd see it rise into the top ten. Say 10 pts for 1st, 7 for 2nd, 5 for 3rd, 4 for 4th, 3 for 5th, 2 for 6-7th, and 1 for 8-10th. LotR placed strong but might even climb to 2nd.
Great video. You HAVE to read ASOIAF. So much better than the shows. I also am looking forward to reading The Bound and the Broken...I've heard nothing but good things about it.
I watched the top 10 segment first, then watched the honorable mentions, and the absence of Malazan had just struck me when you mentioned it. I very much get why it isn't higher, but oh boy does it deserve to be. Malazan is an absolute delight. Everyone should read it, *however* everyone should do so with blank expectations. I read Malazan while still riding the high from reading Mistborn era 1 & Stormlight 1-3, and I went into it with the structure of those books in mind. Doing so was an incredible disservice to Malazan, and it ruined my first read-through. Read Malazan, but let it be what it is when it is, don't expect it to be anything preconceived, and just.. please ignore the often arrogant, stuck-up, and self-absorbed fanbase.
The fanbase turned me off of the series. I read book one. Expressed that it felt random and wasnt all that amazing online and got absolutely harrassed and bullied. I will never pick up another malazan book because of the fanbase
Oof. Going into Malazan after and expecting Sanderson. >.< Really set yourself up for failure there. Glad you kept up with it though because it is amazing.
@@Rhendali Hahah yeah, it was cruel both to the books and myself. I appreciate it immensely in hindsight though, and am thoroughly enjoying another read right now.
I loved the bound the broken, the first book is just good, and the other ones are absolutely amazing, Ryan is improving his writing with every book, especially multiPOV storytelling
I submitted Lord of the Rings as my number 1 and am also surprised to see it only at number 3 (though Stormlight was my number 3 so I guess the data balances out). What I was surprised to not really see at all was Berserk, which I suppose is probably due to it being Manga rather than a traditional novel. Still, very interesting data.
I kind of get to read The Name of the Wind again for the first time. I first read it in 2012, and while I remember really enjoying it, I have no memory of the plot. 😂 (I was introduced to The Name of the Wind when one of my friends gifted everyone in our friend group a copy because he loved it so much.)
I don't know if there's something wrong with me, but I started Jade City and just couldn't get into it at all. I made it 49% in a gave up. On the flip side A Song of Ice and Fire is not over hyped. I read it before the show, so maybe it hit different for me, but up to the fifth book, where I stopped reading, it's a wild ride. I'm currently in book one of the Powder Mage trilogy and it's getting pretty good. I think it was you who put it on my radar, but if not, maybe it's worth checking out too.
Well i guess count me in there too. Ive actually read the full book twice just to make sure i didnt miss anything and i just dont understand the hype. The only thing i thought was interesting at all was the setting and magic system. The plot, characters and writing i thought were all a little below average.
I'd love to see this data reorganised to show it based on average position, which I feel could be a good metric for 'if you do like this series this is how much you're likely to like it'
Do you have the raw data in a google sheet or something you could share? Without your point system applied to it? I'd like to see what the ranking is like using other methods like ranked choice voting.
Spoiler! Very surprised by Sanderson being above Tolkien. I haven't read that much, just started Words of Radiance, but - in terms of importance and impact alone - Tolkien just can't be rivaled. Also interesting that Narnia doesn't make the top 10 or your honorable mention. Maybe that will change with the Netflix adaptations, as I feel good adaptations have the power to shed fresh light on older series Thank you for doing this, Jay, it was great fun to participate, though most of my favorites did not make it
I know LOTR would be third with Mistborn and Stormlight in one of the top 2 spots, not because of its quality, but simply because of its accessibility. Tolkein's writing is very heavy descriptive prose, whereas Sanderson is very accessible prose-wise. It makes sense these books would have more votes as its more accessible, unlike LOTR which are amazing books but the prose isn't as accessible as Sanderson
And here I am, having recently watched The Lord of the Rings movies but have never read the books. I've been wanting to read them but I couldn't quite gather the inspiration to sit down and really dive into that world. However, as I understand, is it better to start the series with first reading The Hobbit? As an introduction to the world.
Yes I would recommend starting with the Hobbit. It’s also a short read. But I will say you don’t have to read it necessarily, but it’s definitely worth it to read it first.
I think your scoring system really skewed these results, while I would personally put mistborn and stormlight as 2 and 1 respectively.. I would say I'm a reader who loves Sanderson's very direct and simple writing style, and I've bounced off of books like name of the wind and lord of the rings. it seems what you've created with your scoring system is more of a "most accessible fantasy" list.
Can someone suggest me a book i am new to book genre before this I like to read manga and watch anime but now I want to read book so can someone suggest me books based on my anime interest like AOT and berserk
Start with light like Brandon Sanderson books. You need to build muscles for some books. Manga has visual representation and it takes less mental energy. Books will take up your mind. Your imagination, your love for language and most importantly stories with fascinating characters with deep thought process will capture you. My another suggestion is Joe Abercrombie 's first law. Why? Well, it is easy to get into if you love characters.
Red Rising. The main character has a very tragic…life and the pacing is pretty high for a book. Someone above suggested Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, don’t do that one. It is indeed based on anime but it’s based on the romance movie, Your Name (Kimi no Na wa/君の名は) which is NOTHING like AoT or Berserk.
I wonder how many people have read Tad Williams. Admittedly, I haven't, which is why it didn't get on my top 10--perhaps that was the case with many readers.
Pretty late here, but the results (ASOIAF being so low, and Mistborn and SA so high) just reflects on your personal preferences. The audience normally has the same views as the youtuber, so I wouldn't be surprised at the standings.
I'm really surprised that Gentleman Bastards didn't make it into Top 10. I've finished the series recently and found it quite pleasant, but not totally awesome like everyone else seems to think of it. It's way up there in most listings people do.
I mean, Tolkien not oly created a fantasy world, he literally BUILT it to be as real as possible. I mean, he was a germanic philologist who said, when asked what prompted him to create LoTR, "I didn't want to create a language for a people, I wanted to create a people for my languages". The way Quenya is built and how, historically speaking, it branches out into different variations like the Sindarin. He also made a whole cosmogony to explain his world and what happened before the Third Era. When I think about fantasy writers in general, I think that they all aspire to do as Tolkien did, building a world that breathes and almost speaks to you through the pages. Who wouldn't want his/her world to be as developed and profound as Tolkien's. P.S.: he also created a sort of grammar and graphic system for both the language of elves and the runes of dwarves.
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ok dork
Wow, I'm not only shocked to be anywhere near that list but incredibly appreciative that you actually gave the series an honourable mention ❤️
Which series did you write?
@@sanchorim8014 The Bound and the Broken
TB&B has quickly rose up to become probably my top 5 favourite fantasy series from the last ten years.
Hey guys I was wondering whether to start with of blood and fire or the fall?
@@danielburnett6784 Hey Daniel! You can start with either book - the series is written to make it that way. If you want a slower, traditional Epic Fantasy style introduction, I'd go with Of Blood and Fire. If you would prefer something high octane, that just throws you right into the chaos with no explanation, then The Fall is your starting point (The ebook is also free on my website, so you don't have to make any cash commitment to see if you might like the series).
Hopefully you enjoy, and if not, well there are plenty of other great books out there
🙌
Absolutely LOVE that Harry Potter has stood the test of time, and also makes this type of list. It truly is/was the entry point to science fiction and fantasy for some many of us. It may be a slight outlier in this list, but its definitely earned its spot
if you like r/l mix with fantasy you should totally try read Susan Cooper :
the dark is rising.. beats HP by far imho
so good to see how many young people are reading this stuff, I'm 61 and I feel a connection with you all awesome
Here are some honorable mentions: Robin Hobb :)
she got robbed LMAOOOO
She's my number 1.
Truth! As sad as I was that she wasn’t more prominent on the main list, I love that she dominated the honorable mentions. I think she’s just under read among modern readers.
HONOURABLE MENTION! WHAT!!!!! She is number 1, then Joe Abercrombie, then John Gwynne, then Brandon Sanderson, then Anthony Ryan!
She's overrated. Yes, I said it. I've read 90% of her work, and the majority is the character being agnsty and worrying over philosophical issues anyone should already know. Is this just my opinion, yes, so is yours.
Only Harry Potter had people sleeping at the door of the book stores just to be able to get a copy of the new book as soon as possible. The queues were huge, even TV news covered how long they were. Never seen people going crazy over a physical book like that anymore.
Yes that’s why it frustrates me when people dismiss it altogether. It’s got its flaws like any other series. But the fact that it became so popular without the help of social media should tell you how good it is. And like you said, I haven’t seen people get that excited for any other series
sure, but now you can just preorder stuff online that's delivered to you the day it's released. you couldn't do that then.
@@carole5648 true, but the Beatles-like fandom in JK's book signings was also a thing. Nowadays people don't hype authors anymore, they all have twitter, Twitch and UA-cam channels and keep their fans updated there. Times changed indeed.
I was an adult when I read HP. I might have started it at 24 and finished it when I was 27 or so. I can't remember. So I didn't grow up with it and holds very little nostalgia for me. For what it is, great series, engaging and fun. But it didn't survive a second read. Azkaban and Goblet were still awesome but the rest I skipped a lot of stuff and Deathly Hallows I didn't even bother with. Having said that, it takes nothing away from what it was way back then.
Those midnight release events were so much fun! We will probably never see something like that again.
"Sometimes you just want to stop and tug on your braid." I love your delivery of references. 😂😂😂
Absolutely criminal lack of Pratchett on this list
Pratchett is literally in his own world though. Pratchett is like the reads you read in these reads. Like I literally knock out a discworld book in between an SA book. They are just refreshing af.
Your in-depth summaries for SA are amazing!
I'm very happy you'll make new ones!
Skulduggery Pleasant only being mentioned 3 times but accumulating 23 points is proof of how there are many underrated series, especially across different continents
i have a huge problem with stormlight archive... I started reading the way of kings at the end of february and figured it would last me until december when the 5th book will be published... Welp i am now almost half through words of radiance. its just too damn goood :(
Pretty good problem to have. My husband is in the same boat with his reread. He’s also started in February and just finished book 3 (along with Warbreaker and Elantris). >.
Can’t wait for you to read ASOIAF! The later books will blow your socks off
Knocking The Lord of the Rings is like saying that you don’t like Shakespeare because it has so many cliches. THAT IS WHERE THOSE CLICHES STARTED! THE LOR IS WHERE THOSE TROPES STARTED!
I love the movies, I love the plot, the characters, the morals and themes. However, I am not super keen on the books. I still rate them fairly high because they’ve done so much for the genre and all the things that I do love about them. But every time I’ve read them I was bored to tears. JRRT is just too verbose for me and the pacing is on par with snails. I’ve read the series 3 times in my life hoping maybe I’d like it better as I age. Nope. Sorry.
You don’t have to like Shakespeare or The Lord of the Rings just because it’s the founder of those tropes, being the original dosent make it the best
I've tried reading LOTR twice and can't get thru it. I don't know if watching the movies first spoiled it for me, but I don't get the hype. Also, I am not big on songs/poems written in books and LOTR had quite a few...
@@samjohnson7869 no I feel the exact same way. I’ve read it through all the way once and have tried reading all the way through a second time and I don’t get the love
@@samjohnson7869 LOTR is like the Beatles to me. It was the foundation of a genre, but all that means is that it allowed better books to be built on that foundation. Tolkien revolutionized the genre, but that meant more development happened after him. Lotr is good, but I believe Tolkien would weep if he read the Stormlight Archives because he would know he had a true successor
I was just happy that I have read all of the top 10. Only ended up buying one audiobook from the honorable mentions portion. This is my one hesitation with watching your videos: they have a negative impact on ny wallet. :)
Nice work as always.
Same here
Halfway through Words of Radiance and I started Stormlight because of this channel, it hasn’t disappointed. Can’t wait for your summaries 🙏🏻
Awesome, I'm happy to hear you're enjoying it! 😁
Is words of radiance a stand alone or do I need to read any books before?
@@Chicgirlneedatoknowfirst book is the way of kings
One of the best series ever written
It is connected to a larger world so if you want to start the start of the "World" he wrote is elantris( A standalone book)
@@ChicgirlneedatoknowIs part of the storm light archives series. So you need to read the way of kings(book one ) first. There are 4 books to this day and the last is coming end of the year
@@Chicgirlneedatoknowis part of the series The stormlight archive, The way of kings comes before 👍🏼
Just finished SOAIF and Kingkiller Chronicles. Now I‘ve startet my First Sanderson Book, Way of Kings. I absolutely adore it.
This is really usefull for content creation since it gives you stats about your most active subscribers and what they may want to see 👀
The bound and the broken is amazing. You put it at the very top of the tbr list
Seconded!
The first one is a 4/5 but the second and third are definitely 5/5!
@@jakearmstrong3920 yes. And all the short novellas are 5/5
Man, I’ve been working on Of Blood & Fire for 9 months now and am only like 75% through. It sounded like it would be right up my alley but I just can’t get into it. There are so many underdeveloped characters, the pacing is all over the place, it’s painfully derivative, it tends to be info-dump-y, the action scenes fall flat, lots of telling not enough showing, and that’s just off the top of my head. I do like Valerys. 🤷🏻♀️
@@Rhendali its only a couple of hundres Pages. You could read it in a day and start with book 2 that is much better
I'm only just getting back into reading after a long absense, but I re-started with Mistborn and it's honestly incredible. One of the best pieces of media i've ever experienced.
One series I have read before is Lord of the Rings, and I think the thing that gets a lot of people out of that is that it kind of needs to be your first fantasy series otherwise it feels incredibly tropey, because it came out before everything else. It influences so much of fantasy over the last 70 years that so much of it feels like other series. The language is also incredibly eloquent. With mistborn and i'm guessing a lot of other of Brandon Sanderson's work, his simple prose is incredibly accessible and anyone should be able to pick it up and feel like they can read it. I definitely remember having to google words in LOTR, although the last time I read it, I was 12 so I could be remembering wrong.
I also feel like Lord of the Rings is so hyped and large as an entity, that people are either scared to read it out of worry they wont like it, or they build an unrealistic expectation in their head that no book could match.
I fondly remember forgetting to sleep when I read Lord of the Rings and my mother not being too happy about that, and I look forward to reading it some day again.
Thank you for creating lists like this because if The Stormlight Archive is better than Mistborn Era 1, then I may go back to that 12-year-old who forgets to sleep.
This was a fun video. The Realm of the Elderlings is really one continuous story, it isn't just scattered series within the same world. I wonder where it would have landed if you counted it as one, considering almost all of it landed in honorable mentions and in the top 10, and I also wonder which other great series would have shown up as a result.
That's an excellent point, which i didn't really consider since I haven't read past Farseer. Hmmm i deifnitely think it would have been much higher if we counted it as one. I'm happy Robin Hobb got so many submissions, because I feel like her work is often not talked about as much but is some of the best out there
@@CapturedInWords agreed. I audibly wept reading some of the later books. It is very rare that an author can make you care this much for their characters.
Exactly ! The Realm of the Elderlings shouldn't have been splited at all, and would have easily made the top 10 if it hadn't
You really do have to start in on the rest of the Realm of the Elderlings, by far my favorite series. The Tawny Man Trilogy and the Liveship Traders Trilogy within them are my top two.
Darn i could of bump up the Malazan score a bit if i participated.
Ive started Wheel of Time I think 3 different times and it just does not grab me. I respect it, I can absolutely appreciate what its done for the genre, but from what Ive read and what Ive heard about the series, I just cant see myself getting invested enough or being able to look past enough of the things I personally dont like to get through all 14 books
I hate read that entire series. The characters, particularly the women, are absolutely horrid and as that’s how you interact with the world, it made the series really bad to me. Additionally, the plot is very slow and meandering. The writing is simplistic but strangely evocative. The world is large and well built with multiple races and cultures and a long history. The magic system is fascinating, if a bit softer than I prefer. It has a lot of good but the bad is so bad that I absolutely understand not liking it.
If the books do not grab you, just watch the tv series...
@@Nynaevedelat But the show is straight up garbage. The book has redeeming qualities that make it worth while. The show is a waste of time.
@@Rhendali agree to disagree on that one...
Any plans to share the spreadsheet? I'd be very curious to see how people voted - this list was both surprising and not at the same time for some of the choices.
Definitely get to TBATB. Its a great ongoing series and just keeps building book by book into something absolutely epic!
I think you've covered it in a video a few years back, but dude...that wrist watch is very nice! I love it!
Love the vid! And all ur vids in general ❤️. But I was very surprised you haven’t read asoiaf books. It is so much better than the show, it will surprise you. Even though it is unfinished it is still by far one of the best series I have ever read. Would be very cool to see your thoughts on it!
I really love all of the book artwork you show in your videos. It’s one of my favorite things about your channel. Where do you find it?
Thank you! I find most the art on ArtStation or DeviantArt
Crazy how much people love Mistborn and Stormlight archive, I mean I like them too but more than A Song of Fire and Ice, wheel of time? No way lmao
I absolutely agree (minus WoT, do not like). I think there are a ton of reasons Martin is underperforming.
1. Age of work:
aSoIaF is old. The first book came out in the 90s. Sanderson is much more contemporary.
2. Bad press
Martin hasn’t put out an installment of aSoIaF in over a decade and he’s getting fried for it. The show, GoT, ended horrifically. On the other hand, Sanderson is coming off 2 record breaking kickstarters and the very successful Year of Sanderson. He’s very genuine and polite in his communications with his fans.
3. Approachability
Sanderson’s prose is pretty simple and he has so many books/series there’s something for everyone. He also tends to stay fairly PG13. Martin’s work is a bit more complex, verbose, and deep. He’s also really only known for aSoIaF which is known to be more rated R to NC17.
All that said, aSoIaF is amazing and I find it much better than anything Sanderson has written.
@@Rhendali yeah I mean, I like Sanderson and I like storm archive, but it’s pretty childish compared to a lot of other fantasy series that do similar things but much better. Including the wheel of time which is just light archive, but better written.
@@Izzyzilreads oof, that’s gunna be a hard disagree on WoT. Love the world and the story and the magic, hated the characters and the writing (found it too direct and simplistic though it was occasionally evocative)
@@Rhendaliwack opinion but okay
@@Izzyzilreadschildish is strong word but i get ur point.
about asoiaf,as other person mentioned,books not being completed along with that horrible show fiasco makes it hard. also this people must've read only mistborn/sla ig
The Bound and the Broken NEEDS to be in your TBR as high as possible. They get better and better with each book. Absolutely amazing story and brilliant writing by Ryan Cahill.
Definitely adding it high on my TBR! I'm hoping to start it either next month or the month after, depends on if I can finish up some current series I'm reading. I'm looking forward to it though! :)
How did you get over one of the main POV characters (I presume Calen is one of those) being an exact copy of Corban from Malice? That just instantly discouraged me from reading on and I just couldn’t get past page 50 or so of Cahills first book
Surprised there are so few mentions of Raymond E. Feist Riftwar cycle. I thoroughly enjoyed those books but haven’t heard them mentioned in any video on this channel. Definitly worth the read in my opinion.
In hindsight, harry potter is indeed cozy fantasy by today's definition
These kind of videos are perfect for people getting into reading fantasy, some top ten lists made by people who’ve read thousands of books look very different to what the average reader would like so the scoring system works really well
I'm on book two of the The Sun Eater Chronicle, and I'm really loving it!
please do read all the asoiaf books, the farther you go the better it becomes relatively to the show
The Bound and the Broken really is an amazing series. I ranked it at no. 8 on my list. It would be cool to have a similar video for characters!
You should do a video going over more of the runners up! Im curious to know the lesser known favorite books of your audience
Really need to read Brandon Sanderson! 😅😂
Bound and the Broken would be a great choice of a series to buddy read for the Ireland trip since the author is Irish!
Sanderson is really a titan in today's fantasy world......i hope after some years or so SA becomes legendary like lord of rings or wheel of time...... although i personally think it already is.❤
Nah that isn't really up to us
Good to see The Sun Eater series catching up to the greats. If you are a fan of Dune, Hyperion and other Sci-fi masterworks, and some great character work, you'll most likely enjoy it. Also, Rouccio is a master of prose - beautiful, beautiful writing. Probably on par with Rothfuss.
Interesting list, by the way. While I really enjoy The Stormlight Archive, I believe LOTR is truly deserving of the throne - a complete literature package.
Currently on the 3rd book of the Red Rising series. I think it super good and a little underrated
Your editing and pics are soooo good man!!! great video!!!
Thanks!! Glad you enjoyed! :D
Ireland is so beautiful. The Irish people are so nice. You’re going to have such a great time.
Be careful of the 'new Irish'
@@Hero_Of_Old if you mean the immigrants, yeah, they’re destroying Irish culture.
I'm really excited! Always wanted to go to Ireland :)
isnt the dark tower a fantasy series? or did i miss it in this list...
The ‘I’m still waiting’ for ASOIAF is pure brilliance
lol I don’t get the love for the bound and the broken. It’s like a slightly better written Eragon. I have only read the first book in the BatB. Does it change or get better?
I am always surprised that "The Wondering Inn" is not included in these lists. It is long and not even trying to come to an end. But I am always on the lookout for the next book, 1 or 2 per year. For awhile it was often mentioned but seems to have been forgotten by most.
The results of this project are telling. I've really felt lately like a lot of BookTube has become sort of an echo chamber centered around the same specific series, with a lot of BookTubers sorta liking the same ones, including an incredible focus on Sanderson. (Sanderson is good, don't get me wrong, but he's good for a specific type of reader--not all of us. For example, I didn't put his stuff even in my top five.) I wouldn't say this (the so-called echo chamber) is a bad thing, it's just...a thing. It has ebbs and flows, occasionally a new series is talked about and then half of BookTube talks about that new series for a while before settling back into Sanderson content. If you posed the same survey to a different crowd, say...readers who spend more time in libraries than on UA-cam or watching film adaptations, you would probably get entirely different results. Suddenly series like Earthsea, or Narnia, or DiscWorld, etc., would get more attention. (You might even encounter a bunch of readers who like Goodkind--his books still populate B&N shelves, so there's gotta be a lot of readers out there if we're being honest.) There are so many fantasy series, and only a handful of the more prominent authors ever get the lion's share of attention on UA-cam.
I am really glad this survey was done and I love the results. All of the winners deserved their places, at the least. Ultimately, what makes one series great or one series not quite so great is personal taste in the readers. And I just am left wondering, if you could somehow pose this survey to all fantasy readers everywhere, what other series would come out of the woodwork--series many BookTube viewers don't even know exist... :)
I've noticed this as well. It resulted in me just unplugging from the "booktube" world for a while.
Yeah the booktubers I like the most are the ones who read the most frequently like Matt fantasy books or fantasy for the ages since they read a decent amount of stuff that not many talk about.
@@danielgwynne7266 Yeah, BRIAN LEE DURFEE Reviews is another guy who gets into all the other books and options. Dude's in the hospital right now, but looking forward to his return soon.
so validating and refreshing to see this take online. as a specific example: sanderson is dope but the way the internet echo chamber talks about him makes me feel like I must be crazy sometimes. I would never have thought to put him in the same league as kingkiller or first law until the internet told me they were comparable
Mistborn doesn't even get close to top 10 on my list. I feel it's mostly a fad. The SA is much more legitimate going against other contenders imho. I would have put Malazan or several other series above it. Even Gentelman Bastards.
I have watched a few of your videos so far and am surprised to not see you or anyone talk about The Sword of Truth series. By Terry Goodkind. It is one of my favorite reads.
This was great loved to see Harry Potter on here and Stormlight deserves top spot for sure but I would put LOTR as higher than Mistborn!
I wish I had seen this before you’d went to Dublin, definitely would have been there.
Hey , I am new to read cosmear pls give a updated order to read all books in 2024 ❤🙂
I think Brandon Sanderson has a reading order on his UA-cam channel, but you should also just be able to look it up. My recommendation is Mistborn Era 1, Elantris, Stormlight Archive 1-2, Edgedancer, Stormlight Archive 3, Dawnshard, Stormlight Archive 4, Warbreaker, The Sunlit Man, Mistborn Era 2. You can mix in Tress of the Emerald Sea and Yumi and The Nightmare Painter at any point, and you should read the stories in Arcanum Unbounded, but those can be at any point. I hope this helps :)
The Black Company (first trilogy), Elric, and Thomas Covenant (first trilogy) would make my top five. Interesting to see how different many of the audience picks are from what I'm used to thinking about.
Malazan undersold by this scoring. It had really strong scores among those who read it, but they were too few. If you weighted for top places more strongly, you'd see it rise into the top ten. Say 10 pts for 1st, 7 for 2nd, 5 for 3rd, 4 for 4th, 3 for 5th, 2 for 6-7th, and 1 for 8-10th. LotR placed strong but might even climb to 2nd.
Can we do like this but for self published stuff! I just love hearing about lesser known works we need to get stuck into
Great video. You HAVE to read ASOIAF. So much better than the shows. I also am looking forward to reading The Bound and the Broken...I've heard nothing but good things about it.
Its sad for me getting all these recommendations and not being able to buy it cuz its expensive in my country
you might wanna look into shadow libraries if you really can't afford them
what country?
@@Rybay iran
Library or the internet
just download them for free 😶🤔 , we can't even buy them here even if we really wanted to.
talking about tawny man, can I read that right after farseer?
Im glad stormlight got the spot it deserved! Also i wanna read sun eater now, like, i need it
Have you heard of the Tide Child Trilogy I just recently finished it and really enjoyed it!
I watched the top 10 segment first, then watched the honorable mentions, and the absence of Malazan had just struck me when you mentioned it. I very much get why it isn't higher, but oh boy does it deserve to be. Malazan is an absolute delight. Everyone should read it, *however* everyone should do so with blank expectations. I read Malazan while still riding the high from reading Mistborn era 1 & Stormlight 1-3, and I went into it with the structure of those books in mind. Doing so was an incredible disservice to Malazan, and it ruined my first read-through. Read Malazan, but let it be what it is when it is, don't expect it to be anything preconceived, and just.. please ignore the often arrogant, stuck-up, and self-absorbed fanbase.
The fanbase turned me off of the series. I read book one. Expressed that it felt random and wasnt all that amazing online and got absolutely harrassed and bullied. I will never pick up another malazan book because of the fanbase
Oof. Going into Malazan after and expecting Sanderson. >.< Really set yourself up for failure there. Glad you kept up with it though because it is amazing.
@@Rhendali Hahah yeah, it was cruel both to the books and myself. I appreciate it immensely in hindsight though, and am thoroughly enjoying another read right now.
1 Lies of Locke Lamora, 2 The Dresden Files, 3 The First Law, 4 The Hobbit, 5 King of The Wyld. Just cause I missed the survey.
I'd love votes on the best book in certain series
I loved the bound the broken, the first book is just good, and the other ones are absolutely amazing, Ryan is improving his writing with every book, especially multiPOV storytelling
I can't wait to read it soon! It's very high up on my list to get to
My top 3 is Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and the inheritance cycle and I haven’t watched much of the video yet so hopefully these are on the list
Id be interested in seeing the entire list/results of the survey
SO glad Robin Hobb got so many of her subseries mentioned in their lists! 🥹
I submitted Lord of the Rings as my number 1 and am also surprised to see it only at number 3 (though Stormlight was my number 3 so I guess the data balances out). What I was surprised to not really see at all was Berserk, which I suppose is probably due to it being Manga rather than a traditional novel. Still, very interesting data.
The Bound and The Broken is amazing! You should pick up as your next read! :)
Words of radiance is so good. Definitely my favorite Sanderson book
I kind of get to read The Name of the Wind again for the first time. I first read it in 2012, and while I remember really enjoying it, I have no memory of the plot. 😂 (I was introduced to The Name of the Wind when one of my friends gifted everyone in our friend group a copy because he loved it so much.)
I don't know if there's something wrong with me, but I started Jade City and just couldn't get into it at all. I made it 49% in a gave up. On the flip side A Song of Ice and Fire is not over hyped. I read it before the show, so maybe it hit different for me, but up to the fifth book, where I stopped reading, it's a wild ride. I'm currently in book one of the Powder Mage trilogy and it's getting pretty good. I think it was you who put it on my radar, but if not, maybe it's worth checking out too.
Well i guess count me in there too. Ive actually read the full book twice just to make sure i didnt miss anything and i just dont understand the hype. The only thing i thought was interesting at all was the setting and magic system. The plot, characters and writing i thought were all a little below average.
What is this amazing Harry Potter art from???
I believe it is the art for the Thai anniversary edition, here's a link to the art: www.artstation.com/artwork/JlAqVm
@@CapturedInWords amazing thank you!
Agreed. It was gorgeous. Hopefully I can get a print of them. Seriously some of the best I’ve ever seen.
I think after you read books 7-12 of Dresden, you'll see why it's higher than Red Rising.
Yes. 🎉❤🙌🏼
Great video. Can we have a link to that spreadsheet?
I'd love to see this data reorganised to show it based on average position, which I feel could be a good metric for 'if you do like this series this is how much you're likely to like it'
Speaking of the Dresden Files, I was wondering if the books could be read as standalones or the order is quite strict
Kingkiller Chronicles was that high? Over all the ones that came before?
It's only 2 books...
Great video. I need to che k out some of these like Ryan Cahill and Dresden😁
Do you have the raw data in a google sheet or something you could share? Without your point system applied to it? I'd like to see what the ranking is like using other methods like ranked choice voting.
Which Malazan book are you on currently, Jay? Any plans on finishing it soon?
Spoiler!
Very surprised by Sanderson being above Tolkien. I haven't read that much, just started Words of Radiance, but - in terms of importance and impact alone - Tolkien just can't be rivaled.
Also interesting that Narnia doesn't make the top 10 or your honorable mention. Maybe that will change with the Netflix adaptations, as I feel good adaptations have the power to shed fresh light on older series
Thank you for doing this, Jay, it was great fun to participate, though most of my favorites did not make it
Love F&F, Lies of LL, Dragon Riders of Pern, Discworld and my favorites: The Elder Empire, and Dragons of Terra.
I've never heard him talk about the dragonblade trilogy. I'm curious to see what his opinion on the trilogy is.
I know LOTR would be third with Mistborn and Stormlight in one of the top 2 spots, not because of its quality, but simply because of its accessibility. Tolkein's writing is very heavy descriptive prose, whereas Sanderson is very accessible prose-wise. It makes sense these books would have more votes as its more accessible, unlike LOTR which are amazing books but the prose isn't as accessible as Sanderson
Please Read the Bound and The Broken!!! It’s really good classic heroic fantasy with a modern twist!
And here I am, having recently watched The Lord of the Rings movies but have never read the books. I've been wanting to read them but I couldn't quite gather the inspiration to sit down and really dive into that world. However, as I understand, is it better to start the series with first reading The Hobbit? As an introduction to the world.
Yes I would recommend starting with the Hobbit. It’s also a short read. But I will say you don’t have to read it necessarily, but it’s definitely worth it to read it first.
I think your scoring system really skewed these results, while I would personally put mistborn and stormlight as 2 and 1 respectively.. I would say I'm a reader who loves Sanderson's very direct and simple writing style, and I've bounced off of books like name of the wind and lord of the rings. it seems what you've created with your scoring system is more of a "most accessible fantasy" list.
if you like the idea of a grim dark take on the eragon series then yes you should absolutely put it higher on your TBR
Can someone suggest me a book i am new to book genre before this I like to read manga and watch anime but now I want to read book so can someone suggest me books based on my anime interest like AOT and berserk
First law trilogy or just grim dark books in general. Red rising for Sci fi.
Unsouled or Yumi and The Nightmare Painter, both anime inspired
Start with light like Brandon Sanderson books.
You need to build muscles for some books. Manga has visual representation and it takes less mental energy. Books will take up your mind. Your imagination, your love for language and most importantly stories with fascinating characters with deep thought process will capture you.
My another suggestion is Joe Abercrombie 's first law. Why? Well, it is easy to get into if you love characters.
Red Rising. The main character has a very tragic…life and the pacing is pretty high for a book.
Someone above suggested Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, don’t do that one. It is indeed based on anime but it’s based on the romance movie, Your Name (Kimi no Na wa/君の名は) which is NOTHING like AoT or Berserk.
No Tad Williams books :c
Memory Sorrow and Thorn was ranked at number 36, I was sad to see it wasn't any higher as well!
I wonder how many people have read Tad Williams. Admittedly, I haven't, which is why it didn't get on my top 10--perhaps that was the case with many readers.
Y'all are sleeping on The Cycle of Arawn and The Cycle of Galand by Edward W Robertson. I never see them on any lists, but they're both fantastic
Pretty late here, but the results (ASOIAF being so low, and Mistborn and SA so high) just reflects on your personal preferences. The audience normally has the same views as the youtuber, so I wouldn't be surprised at the standings.
I agree words of radiance is by far the best stormlight book out there and that’s saying something
I'm really surprised that Gentleman Bastards didn't make it into Top 10. I've finished the series recently and found it quite pleasant, but not totally awesome like everyone else seems to think of it. It's way up there in most listings people do.
I was really surprised about that as well!
I mean, Tolkien not oly created a fantasy world, he literally BUILT it to be as real as possible. I mean, he was a germanic philologist who said, when asked what prompted him to create LoTR, "I didn't want to create a language for a people, I wanted to create a people for my languages". The way Quenya is built and how, historically speaking, it branches out into different variations like the Sindarin. He also made a whole cosmogony to explain his world and what happened before the Third Era.
When I think about fantasy writers in general, I think that they all aspire to do as Tolkien did, building a world that breathes and almost speaks to you through the pages. Who wouldn't want his/her world to be as developed and profound as Tolkien's.
P.S.: he also created a sort of grammar and graphic system for both the language of elves and the runes of dwarves.
When are you gonna do the next parts of Wise Mans Fear in depth summary? Been waiting for those for a long time!
im almost done with twoa im so excited to read thoa 🙏
You should make this but with FIGHT SCENES between series or CHARACTERS