If you are like me, then you are a huge fantasy fan. It is easily my favorite genre and I have to force myself to read to read other books. But for this list, we will be staying with this genre as we share our list of the 21 must read fantasy books of all time!
That list reads more like a “21 books that I’ve read–with a few girl authors I heard were good or famous or black thrown in”.
Brent Weeks is not a great author, and while Jim Butcher is consistent in his output (barring the few years where his RL went to shit on him) his Craft suffers in his non-urban fantasy series. (He coasts a LOT on Harry Dresden’s voice and charm and culture references, and doesn’t get that crutch in his other series and it shows.) I LIKE Jim Butcher, but there’s tons of authors that can write circles around him. His career is based on completing books and getting them out the door, not creating masterworks.
Where’s Robin McKinley? Robin Hobb? Kate Elliott, who was writing and COMPLETING her Crown of Stars epic fantasy series at the same time Martin and Jorden were writing (and never completed their series)? Lois McMaster Bujold, whose Challion series is just as good as her Vorkosigan series? Jacqueline Carey? And if we’re including YA, which the Hunger Games suggests (although as one person pointed out, those are sci-fi), where’s Tamora Pierce? Patricia C. Wrede?
The person who wrote that list reads a very specific part of the genre and leaves a LOT of the greats out.
Bro Jim has chops I don’t think a lot of people respect. I hated BG/PT more than most and am still pretty vocal about how blatant a cash grab it was, but that’s just the latest Dresden drip. Go back and look at Codex Alera again. The complexity of plot, the subtle politics and character relationships, and the over the top large scale action. Imo it’s pretty great all time fiction work, and it’s genesis was a drunken bet about Pokémon and the lost Roman legion. I’m honestly hopeful for the Olympian Affair, as the Cinder Spires series had a very promising start.
Ugh, I disliked the Assassin’s Apprentice series. It’s written like his mentors have some sort of plan for dealing with Royal, when really the entirety of their plan is “let him do whatever he wants, up to and including getting everyone killed and selling out the entire country”. That was the most disappointing, limp-dicked arc to a story I’ve read among books that are considered good by some people. I kind of enjoyed the first book or two while reading it, but I very much wished I had read something else by the time I was done.