Looking for the best fantasy books of all time?
You’re in the right place!
Here’s what you’ll find on this page…
Which Best Fantasy Book Should You Read First?
From Middle Earth to Narnia; from world-building to world-ending epics, I’ve done the adventuring for you and hoarded the best fantasy series and best fantasy books of all time in one list.
Note: This list of best fantasy books is strictly limited to the fantasy genre. For my top science fiction picks, go check out this reading list of the 70 best sci-fi books of all time. Or click here to explore all TAoL‘s book recommendations.
Where should you start? The first book that made me love the fantasy genre was The Hobbit (#2). But, from The Lord of the Rings (#1) to A Game of Thrones (#5) to Harry Potter (#4) and beyond, you can’t go too wrong with ANY of these best fantasy books.
My advice? Don’t overthink it.
Start at the top, pick the first book that excites you and get reading.
And whatever you choose, I hope you find adventure and wonder and wisdom and I hope you live happily ever after, till the end of your days.
The 70 Best Fantasy Books Of All Time
Why these best fantasy books and not others? The best fantasy books below are the top picks from my long list of hundreds of books, ranked by a combination of Goodreads rating, number of Goodreads reviews and first publication date. The aim is to surface what’s most loved, what’s most popular and what’s proven timelessly relevant.
Note: To maximise diversity I’ve only included the top-ranked fantasy book from any fantasy book series where multiple books from that series would have made the list. Where the book listed below is not the first in a sequence, you may want to click through and start with the first in the series.
Think something’s missing? Leave a comment or email me and I’ll add it to the next round of updates. I honestly love hearing from you so please, do get in touch!
Books 1-10: The Top 10 Best Fantasy Books of All Time
Here are the top 10 best fantasy books from my database…
Books 11-70: More Great Fantasy Books to Read
Here are the next 60 books on my list of best fantasy books of all time…
Best Fantasy Book FAQs
What Are the Top 5 Fantasy Books?
The top 5 fantasy books of all time are:
- The Lord of the Rings;
- The Hobbit;
- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe;
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone; and
- A Game of Thrones (Song of Ice and Fire).
What Are the Top 10 Best Fantasy Book Series?
The top 10 best fantasy book series of all time are:
- The Lord of the Rings;
- The Narnia Chronicles;
- Harry Potter;
- A Song of Ice and Fire;
- The Kingkiller Chronicles;
- Discworld;
- Time Quintet;
- The Wheel of Time;
- The Dark Tower; and
- Alice's Adventures.
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I founded TAoL to discover and share the best wisdom on how to live long and prosper. Before that I studied Psychology, Philosophy & Physiology at Oxford and consulted at McKinsey. Still curious? Learn more or take my FREE productivity quiz.