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8 Completed Series for Fantasy Fans to Devour
Fantasy fans are patient—not by nature, but by necessity. Coming of age in libraries full of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis' books left them hungry for more, greedy for magical adventure and emotionally satisfying conclusions. Many of them have been learning to live without the latter for a very long time.
Take George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. The first book, A Game of Thrones, was published in 1996. Over two decades and one HBO show later, the final two books in the series are severely overdue with no confirmed release date in sight. Meanwhile, fans of Patrick Rothfuss' 2007 fantasy bestseller, The Name of the Wind, waited four years for the sequel, The Wise Man's Fear, and have now been waiting seven years for the conclusion to the trilogy.
It's rough. For those of you who want your epics without accompanying "sequel angst," check out our roundup of highly rated, completed fantasy series. (It's by no means an exhaustive list, so please recommend your favorites in the comments!)
Take George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. The first book, A Game of Thrones, was published in 1996. Over two decades and one HBO show later, the final two books in the series are severely overdue with no confirmed release date in sight. Meanwhile, fans of Patrick Rothfuss' 2007 fantasy bestseller, The Name of the Wind, waited four years for the sequel, The Wise Man's Fear, and have now been waiting seven years for the conclusion to the trilogy.
It's rough. For those of you who want your epics without accompanying "sequel angst," check out our roundup of highly rated, completed fantasy series. (It's by no means an exhaustive list, so please recommend your favorites in the comments!)
Start the series with Assassin's Apprentice
Total books: 3 (plus additional series set in the same world)
Total books: 3 (plus additional series set in the same world)
We just scratched the surface of all the amazing fantasy series out there. Jump into the comments and share your own recommendations!
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Check out more recent blogs:
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Comments Showing 1-50 of 129 (129 new)
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Daniel
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Jan 29, 2018 06:11AM
Where are Jack Vance and Gene Wolfe?
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Peter V. Brett - The Demon Cycle: #1 The Warded Man, #2 The Desert Spear, #3 The Daylight War, #4 The Skull Throne, #5 The Core. Fantastic series, and wonderfully written!
Secret Country trilogy - Pamela DeanBartimaeus Sequence - Jonathan Stroud
Mark Lawrence: The Broken Empire and The Red Queen's War.
The Obernewtyn Chronicles by Isobelle CarmodyEragon by Christopher Paolini
Graceling Realm by Kristin Cashore
The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss
Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
Six of Crows Dulology by Leight Bardugo
The Symphony of the Ages by Elizabeth Haydon
The Books of Pellinor by Allison Croggon
His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman
Inkworld by Cornelia Funke
The Lord of the Rings and Other Works of Middle-Earth by J.R.R. Tolkien
The list goes on and on and on and on.....
The Prince of Nothing series by R. Scott Bakker
The Dagger and Coin series by Daniel Abraham is wonderful!
The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss
The list was about finished series, and we've been waiting for the last book for a long time now.
The Traitor Son series by Miles Cameron.And I'll second the Dagger and the Coin series by Daniel Abraham.
For younger readers The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper. I read as an adult and loved. Perfect for Harry Potter lovers. Also The Codex Alera series by Jim Butcher.
Every last one of these is on my TBR. LOL
How about....gee...I dunno Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin?!?A Wizard of Earthsea
The Tombs of Atuan
The Farthest Shore
Tehanu
Tales From Earthsea
The Other Wind
Please note: The title states series that are complete. I don't think the Kingkiller chronicles is complete. Book 3 is coming out, correct???
Hobb also wrote two other trilogies about FitzThe Tawny Man trilogy
The Fitz and the Fool trilogy
The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay
The Dark Tower by Stephen King
The Coldfire Trilogy by C.S. Friedman
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson
The Darwath Trilogy by Barbara Hambly
Memory Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams
The novels of Tiger and Del by Jennifer Roberson
And ditto about Tawny Man and The Fitz and the Fool Trilogy. You need to read all three trilogies to get the full story. They are worth the wait.
YES to Robin Hobb. But I loved the Liveship Trader trilogy even more than Farseer!
Yes, Liveship Trader and Rain Wild series are excellent!
Edgar Rice Burroughs' various series, while often considered "sci-fi" or "adventure," could qualify as "fantasy," also. Tarzan (24 books), John Carter of Mars (11 books), Carson of Venus (5 books), and Pellucidar (7 books) are all complete series within themselves, or you could read them as a shared universe series. They're not "Lord of the Rings" or "Game of Thrones," I suppose, but they are a lot of fun.
AFrozenBookParadise wrote: "The Obernewtyn Chronicles by Isobelle CarmodyEragon by Christopher Paolini
Graceling Realm by Kristin Cashore
The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss
Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
Six of Crows ..."
Incorrect for Kingkiller. it is not finished.
And what about Trudy Canavan and her Apprentice Magic?? 6 books so far, and I think that won't be the end!!
I suppose L. Frank Baum's Oz books don't count because they were continued ad infinitum after his death. They weren't conceived as a series (except books 3-6), so it's simply stories with common characters and settings like Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County.
Frédéric wrote: "And what about Trudy Canavan and her Apprentice Magic?? 6 books so far, and I think that won't be the end!!"Because they're talking about series that are finished.
Anne McCaffrey has Pern and several other related series.Mercedes Lackey's Arrows of the Queen and other related series.
Lloyd Alexander's Prydain books, great for kids but I still enjoy them.
Terry Pratchett's Discworld and other related series.
Brian Jacques' Redwall series.
Mistborn is awesome but the second era isn't finished yet. The 4th book is planned but hasn't been written yet. Though with Brandy being Brandy it might get released weeks before Winds of Winter and Rothfuss's book.
Barbora wrote: "Mistborn is awesome but the second era isn't finished yet. The 4th book is planned but hasn't been written yet. Though with Brandy being Brandy it might get released weeks before Winds of Winter an..."Or years... :p
The Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven EriksonSo glad it's here. For some inexplicable reason it's not usually included in these lists. But it should be - it's amazing. Pure epicness ;)
Another vote for the Prince of Nothing series by Bakker.
There is also the Series by Fritz Leiber
The Swords of Lankhmar
or the one by Louis Cooper: The Time Master
Starting with
Sarah wrote: "Secret Country trilogy - Pamela DeanBartimaeus Sequence - Jonathan Stroud"
Yes! Another Bartimaeus fan!!
AFrozenBookParadise wrote: "Eragon by Christopher Paolini..."Paolini has plans for an Eragon book 5! Here is the link:
Untitled
AFrozenBookParadise wrote: "The Obernewtyn Chronicles by Isobelle CarmodyEragon by Christopher Paolini
Graceling Realm by Kristin Cashore
The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss
Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
Six of Crows ..."
Eragon and Inkheart both have sequels in the works!! :)
Eragon book 5: Untitled
Inkheart book 4: The Color of Revenge
Jeffrey wrote: "How about....gee...I dunno Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin?!?A Wizard of Earthsea
The Tombs of Atuan
The Farthest Shore
Tehanu
Tales From Earthsea
The Other Wind"
Jeez, thank you!
Then, if we have to add "only really finished" series, Terry Pratchett's Discworld and its 41 books seems to be a good start, isn't it??
The Earthsea books by Ursula K. Le Guin and the Crown of Stars series by Kate Elliot.
Surely someone besides me loves the Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness??
Are any of the series mentioned above ok for younger readers? Comparable to LOTR, Narnia or Inheritance Cycle in terms of content?
Nothing on here about Australian authors.Glenda Larke has written some brilliant trilogies including The Stormlord trilogy and Lascar's Dagger. Another great author who finishes her series is Jennifer Fallon. The Hythrun Chronicles is two separate trilogies set in the same world. Definitely worth checking out.
I loved the series "The Faithful and the Fallen" by John Gwynne. I would definitely recommend it.
The Witcher series (The Last Wish) by Andrzej Sapkowski is a must!Terry Pratchett's Discworld (The Colour of Magic) series will keep you busy for sure, with 40+ books in it that you can pick and choose from. (These ones are okay for young readers as well as adults, in response to JD's question)
Memory, Sorrow and Thorn is missing! And it deserved the popularity that Game of Thrones holds. And it's a finished series!As for the Witcher series, I didn't know if it was finished, but I always hoped.
JD wrote: "Are any of the series mentioned above ok for younger readers? Comparable to LOTR, Narnia or Inheritance Cycle in terms of content?"A Wizard of Earthsea is kid or young teen friendly. And certainly of the caliber of LOTR and Narnia
I'm a simple girl. I see a picture of Frodo, I click on it.
Saul wrote: "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn is missing! And it deserved the popularity that Game of Thrones holds. And it's a finished series!As for the Witcher series, I didn't know if it was finished, but I alway..."
The last of the Witcher novels was translated last year! The final short story anthology comes out in March this year.
JD wrote: "Are any of the series mentioned above ok for younger readers? Comparable to LOTR, Narnia or Inheritance Cycle in terms of content?"As long as they aren't too young, Terry Brooks has a bunch of series all set in a shared human future. In his books, evil is real, people are flawed, and people die. But none is gory or gratuitous. The evil depicted in the demons in the earlier series reminds one of current news.
What about La Saga de Los Confines by Liliana Bodoc? It´s wonderful and it has translations to English and several other languages (the original books are in Spanish): The Days of the Deer is the first book.
