Summary
Brandon Sanderson is one of the most successful fantasy authors alive, and we’re about to see a lot more of him. Apple TV is adapting his Stormlight Archive and Mistborn books to the screen, which should funnel a lot of people back to the source material. Hopefully they have time on their hands. While Sanderson has written plenty of shorter books, he can write a doorstopping fantasy series as well as anybody. He’s written five Stormlight Archive books so far, with another five planned, and the shortest one is still almost 400,000 words long. They’re worth the read, but there are plenty of other great fantasy book series out there that don’t require quite as much of a commitment. The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb Welcome to the Six Duchies Published in the 1990s, the Farseer Trilogy centers around Fitz, the illegitimate son of a prince who is brought to live with the royal family and gets trained as an assassin. His royal blood gives him access to a magic technique called the Skill, whereby he can perform feats of telepathy. He can also practice the Wit, a kind of magic that lets him bond with animals. There’s a lot of social stigma attached to the Wit. It’s outlawed, and its practitioners banished to the edges of society. Much of the Farseer trilogy deals with Fitz’s sense of isolation and otherness. There are royal plots and murders and action scenes, but it’s more internal than a lot of other famous fantasy series; you won’t find many world-ending battles here. The first book in the Farseer trilogy, The Assassin’s Apprentice, runs around 160,000 words, and the next two books are longer. It’s not a tiny series, but it’s a far easier read than some of the larger fantasy epics out there. That said, if you really enjoy this trilogy, Robin did write 12 more books in the series. The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee The Godfather with martial arts Published between 2017 and 2021, The Green Bone Saga takes place mainly on the island of Kekon, which is the world’s main source of jade. In this world, jade can be used to greatly augment strength, speed, and senses, and is highly sought after. Rival clans fight to control the market. We mainly follow the members of the No Peak Clan, led by the Kaul family. The books take place over multiple generations, so we see the characters try to adjust to a changing world that might just phase out the clan system entirely. The Green Bone Saga is ambitious, sweeping, and full of imaginative details. The first book in the series, Jade City, is around 177,000 words long, and the two subsequent books slightly longer. The series is about as long as the Farseer trilogy, and every bit as good. The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay From Toronto to Middle-earth Published between 1984 and 1986, The Fionavar Tapestry pulls a little bit from The Chronicles of Narnia and a litlte bit from The Lord of the Rings. Five students from the University of Toronto are drawn into the magical world of Fionavar, first of all possible worlds. There, they get pulled into a battle with a dark god named Rakoth Maugrim, who threatens not just Fionavar but the worlds beyond. The stakes in this story are real, which is one of the reasons the trilogy is so popular; not everyone makes it out of this trilogy alive. The writing by Guy Gavriel has a lyrical quality to it, perhaps something he gained while helping edit The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien’s lost Lord of the Ring book. As for length, the trilogy is shorter than either The Farseer Trilogy or The Green Bone Saga. The Licanius Trilogy by James Islington Lost meet The Lord of the Rings Published between 2014 and 2019, The LIcanius Trilogy is among the denser series on our list, although it still fits comfortably within the bounds of a trilogy. It takes place years after a war that ended the reign of the Augurs, godlike beings who can manipulate time. Since then, the use of magic has been heavily suppressed. The story kicks off when a student named Davian has the powers of an Augur, and is forced to flee. That’s just to start. We also meet Caeden, an amnesiac who may be the reincarnation of an ancient, immortal entity, as well as other characters. The Licanius Trilogy involves a lot of time travel and asks heavy questions about the nature of free will. It’s a puzzle box of a series, where part of the fun is figuring out how the pieces all fit together. The ending wraps things up in a very satisfying way that leaves few loose ends. We have something shorter on tap next. The Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin Fantasy without war The Earthsea books by Ursula K. Le Guin break sidestep a lot of clichés of the genre, mainly the expectation that an epic fantasy story has to be about war. The first book in the series, A Wizard of Earthsea, follows a young man named Ged as he leaves his lonely island to study magic. It’s a small-scale, almost cozy character study, and although things can get more intense, most of the other books follow suit. Moreover, save for the short story collection Tales from Earthsea, none of the five main books in the series exceed 70,000 words in length, meaning they’re quick reads. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien Short, perfect, and forever Many modern, sprawling fantasy book series take inspiration from The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic story about the dark lord Sauron and the brave people of Middle-earth who resist him. But few had Tolkien’s gift for brevity. At around 150,000 words per book, these books can’t be called short, but they have nothing on The Stormlight Archive or George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series. And yet, The Lord of the Rings is the single most influential fantasy series of the past hundred years, so maybe length is overrated when it comes to epic fantasy. Return to verbosity You can finish most of these series in a reasonable time, but if you want a fantasy series that will dominate your life for weeks, those exist too.