List of high fantasy fiction
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This list contains a variety of examples of high fantasy or epic fantasy fiction. The list is ordered alphabetically by author or originator's last name. A separate section is included for non-print media.
Works
[edit]A
[edit]- Joe Abercrombie's The First Law trilogy
- Daniel Abraham's The Long Price Quartet series and The Dagger and the Coin series[1]
- Lloyd Alexander's The Chronicles of Prydain[2]
- Victoria Aveyard's Red Queen series
- Hans Joachim Alpers's Die Piraten des Südmeers
- Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions
- Piers Anthony's Xanth[3]
- Robert Asprin's MythAdventures[3]
B
[edit]- R. Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing series
- Travis Baldree's Legends & Lattes
- L. Frank Baum's Oz series and Gregory Maguire's The Wicked Years, a revisionist version of the same setting
- Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn[4]
- Frank Beddor's The Looking Glass Wars[5][3]
- John Bellairs's The Face in the Frost[4]
- Andrei Belyanin's Sword with No Name
- Hans Bemmann's The Enchanted trilogy
- K. J. Bishop's The Etched City
- Elizabeth H. Boyer's World of the Alfar, Wizard's War, and Skyla series
- Marion Zimmer Bradley's[6] The Mists of Avalon[4]
- Gillian Bradshaw's Arthurian trilogy (Hawk of May, Kingdom of Summer, In Winter's Shadow)[4]
- Patricia Bray's The Sword of Change trilogy (Devlin's Luck, Devlin's Honor, Devlin's Justice)
- Marie Brennan's Doppelganger
- Peter V. Brett's Demon Cycle series[7]
- Kristen Britain's Green Rider series [8]
- Terry Brooks's Shannara series[5]
- N. M. Browne's The Spellgrinder's Apprentice[5]
- Lois McMaster Bujold's Chalion series
- Emma Bull's War for the Oaks[4]
- Aleksandr Bushkov's Svarog series
- Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series
C
[edit]- Trudi Canavan's The Black Magician series[5] and Age of the Five trilogy[citation needed]
- Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Legacy series [9]
- Patrick Carman's The Land of Elyon series[5]
- Joy Chant's[6] Red Moon and Black Mountain[4]
- C. J. Cherryh's Ealdwood Stories[citation needed] and The Fortress Series[10]
- Kate Constable's Chanters of Tremaris series[5]
- Glen Cook's The Black Company series[11], Sung in Blood[12] The Dread Empire series[citation needed]
- Susan Cooper's[6] The Dark Is Rising[4]
- Alison Croggon's Pellinor series[5]
D
[edit]- Charles de Lint's Moonheart[4]
- Susan Dennard's Truthwitch[13]
- Peter Dickinson's Angel Isle[5]
- Stephen R. Donaldson's The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant series[14][4][5]
- Sara Douglass's The Wayfarer Redemption series[15]
- Brian Lee Durfee's The Forgetting Moon[16]
- Lord Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter[17]
- David Anthony Durham's Acacia trilogy
- Maryna and Serhiy Dyachenko's Wanderers tetralogy, The Key of the Kingdom trilogy and Varan/The Copper King duology
E
[edit]- David and Leigh Eddings' The Belgariad[5][18]/The Malloreon series, The Elenium/The Tamuli series,The Redemption of Althalus, and The Dreamers series
- E. R. Eddison's The Worm Ouroboros and Zimiamvian Trilogy
- Kate Elliott's Crown of Stars series[4]
- Michael Ende's The Neverending Story
- Steven Erikson's Malazan world (Book of the Fallen and related series)[19]
- Also Ian C. Esslemont's books set in the Malazan world
F
[edit]- Jennifer Fallon's The Demon Child Trilogy, The Hythrun Chronicles and Second Sons Trilogy
- David Farland's The Runelords series
- Bill Fawcett's SwordQuest series[20]
- Raymond E. Feist's The Riftwar Cycle[21][22]
- Jude Fisher's Fool's Gold series
- John Flanagan's Ranger's Apprentice series[5]
- Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner series
G
[edit]- Neil Gaiman's Stardust
- Alan Garner's The Owl Service[4]
- David Gemmell's Legend series
- Mary Gentle's Grunts!
- Felix Gilman's Ararat novels
- Parke Godwin's ''Firelord series[6]
- Julia Golding's Dragonfly[5]
- Lisa Goldstein's The Red Magician[6]
- Vasili Golovachov's The Saviors of the Fan series
- Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series[23][24]
- Ed Greenwood "Forgotten Realms"[25]
- Jim Grimsley's Kirith Kirin
- Alexander Grin's Scarlet Sails
H
[edit]- Barbara Hambly's Dragonsbane[4]
- Niel Hancock's Circle of Light, Wilderness of Four, and Windameir Circle series
- Victoria Hanley's Healer and Seer series[5]
- M. John Harrison's Viriconium cycle
- Elizabeth Haydon's Symphony of Ages series[26]
- Markus Heitz's The Dwarves
- Bernhard Hennen's Die Elfen series and Elfenritter trilogy
- Carolyn Hennesy's Pandora series[3]
- Stuart Hill's The Icemark Chronicles series[5]
- Robin Hobb's Farseer, Liveship Traders[27] and Tawny Man trilogies
- P. C. Hodgell's Jame of the Kencyrath series
- Wolfgang Hohlbein's Magic Moon series
I
[edit]- Ian Irvine's The Three Worlds Cycle series
- Ralf Isau's Neschan-Trilogie and Die Chroniken von Mirad
J
[edit]- Nabila Jamshed's Wish Upon A Time - The Legendary Scimitar[28]
- N. K. Jemisin's The Inheritance trilogy [29]
- Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series[5]
K
[edit]- Guy Gavriel Kay's[6] The Fionavar Tapestry trilogy[4]
- Patricia Kennealy-Morrison's The Keltiad series[30]
- Katharine Kerr's Deverry Cycle series
- Ulrich Kiesow's The Dark Eye novels
- Stephen King's The Dark Tower series[31]
- Leena Krohn's Tainaron
L
[edit]- Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series
- Mercedes Lackey's and James Mallory's Obsidian Trilogy
- Mercedes Lackey's and Andre Norton's The Halfblood Chronicles
- Derek Landy 's Skulduggery Pleasant
- Jay Lake's City Imperishable and Dark Town series
- Yulia Latynina's Empire of Veya series
- Stephen R. Lawhead's Song of Albion Trilogy
- Louise Lawrence's The Earth Witch[4]
- Tanith Lee's Birthgrave series and The Winter Players
- Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series;[6] Annals of the Western Shore[5]
- Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series
- C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia series[32]
- Svyatoslav Loginov's Terrestrial Ways
- Sergei Lukyanenko's and Nick Perumov's Not the time for dragons
M
[edit]- Sarah J. Maas's Throne of Glass series[33],[3] A Court of Thorns and Roses series[34]
- R. A. MacAvoy's Tea with the Black Dragon[4]
- George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series[32]
- Svetlana Martynchik's Labyrinths of Echo series (under the pseudonym Max Frei)
- Aleksandr Mazin's Fargal, the World of Ashshur series and The Dragon of Kong series
- Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series
- Brian McClellan's Powder Mage series
- Dennis L. McKiernan's The Iron Tower trilogy and other Mithgar works
- Patricia A. McKillip's[6] The Riddle-Master of Hed trilogy[4]
- Robin McKinley's[6] The Hero and the Crown
- China Miéville's Bas-Lag cycle
- Karen Miller's Godspeaker trilogy
- Hope Mirrlees's Lud-in-the-Mist
- L. E. Modesitt Jr.'s The Saga of Recluce and Spellsong Cycle and The Imager Portfolio
- Elizabeth Moon's The Deed of Paksenarrion series
- Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné series,[5] Eternal Champion series
- William Morris' The Well at the World's End[6]
N
[edit]- Vera Nazarian's Lords of Rainbow
- Stan Nicholls's Orcs: First Blood trilogy and Orcs: Bad Blood trilogy
- William Nicholson's Noble Warriors series[5]
- Yuri Nikitin's The Three Kingdoms series
- Garth Nix's Old Kingdom Trilogy[5]
- Andre Norton's Witch World series
- Naomi Novik's Temeraire series and Uprooted
O
[edit]- Margaret Ogden's The Realm of the Elderlings series under the name Robin Hobb
- Nnedi Okorafor's Who Fears Death
- H. L. Oldie (Dmitry Gromov and Oleg Ladyzhensky)'s Fentezi series
P
[edit]- Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle series[35]
- Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast books
- Nick Perumov's Ring of Darkness, Hjorward chronicles, Keeper of the Swords series
- Meredith Ann Pierce's The Darkangel Trilogy
- Tamora Pierce's Tortall universe,[5] Circle of Magic series
- Terry Pratchett's Discworld series[36][37][2]
- Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy[38][39]
R
[edit]- Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince and Dragon Star trilogies and Exiles Trilogy
- L. James Rice's Sundering the Gods Saga[40][41]
- Jennifer Roberson's Chronicles of the Cheysuli and The Sword-Dancer Saga
- Patrick Rothfuss's The Kingkiller Chronicle
- Vladislav Adolfovitch Rusanov's Hot Winds of North trilogy, Blades of Boundaries series and Dragons Slayer series
- Anthony Ryan's Raven's Shadow[42]
S
[edit]- Fred Saberhagen's Earth End sequence
- Angie Sage's Septimus Heap[5]
- R. A. Salvatore's The Legend of Drizzt series, The DemonWars Saga series and other novels taking place on the planet of Corona
- Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series[3] and The Stormlight Archive
- Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher Saga
- Maria Semyonova's Wolfhound series
- Jeff Smith's Bone series
- Maria V. Snyder's Study Series[5] and Glass Series
- Brynne Stephens' The Dream Palace[43]
- Paul Stewart and Chris Ridell's The Edge Chronicles
- Jonathan Stroud's The Bartimaeus Trilogy
- Michael J. Sullivan's Riyria Revelations, Riyria Chronicles and The First Empire
- Rosemary Sutcliff's Celtic and Iron Age novels[4]
- Tui T. Sutherland's Wings of Fire series[44]
- Steph Swainston's The Year of Our War, Dangerous Offspring, and No Present Like Time
- Michael Swanwick's The Iron Dragon's Daughter, and the sequel The Dragons of Babel
T
[edit]- Judith Tarr's The Hound and the Falcon series[6]
- Eldon Thompson's The Legend of Asahiel series
- J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and other books set in Middle-earth[4][6]
- Licia Troisi’s The Emerged Word series, The Dragon Girl series, Nashira’s Reigns series and Pandora series
- Megan Whalen Turner's The Queen's Thief series
- S.I.U.'s Tower of God
V
[edit]- Jack Vance's Lyonesse Trilogy[45][46]
- Jeff VanderMeer's Ambergris novels
- Vladimir Vasilyev's Shandalar
W
[edit]- David Weber's Oath of Swords/War God series
- Brent Weeks's Night Angel series, and Lightbringer series
- Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Dragonlance series[25]
- Janny Wurts's Wars of Light and Shadow series
- Tad Williams's Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy[47] and Shadowmarch series[48]
- Gene Wolfe's The Wizard Knight series and The Book of the New Sun[49]
Y
[edit]- Lee Yeongdo's Dragon Raja series and The Bird That Drinks Tears/The Bird That Drinks Blood
- Kirill Yeskov's The Last Ringbearer
- Jane Yolen's The Pit Dragon Chronicles series[6]
Z
[edit]- Roger Zelazny's The Chronicles Amber series[4]
- Paul Edwin Zimmer's Dark Border series: A Gathering of Heroes and Ingulf the Mad
- Alexander Zorich's The Ways of Starborned trilogy and The Vault of Equilibrium tetralogy[50]
Other media
[edit]- Avatar: The Last Airbender
- The Last Airbender
- The Legend of Korra
- Game of Thrones
- House of the Dragon
- Conan the Barbarian
- Conan the Destroyer
- Red Sonja
- The Barbarians
- The Lord of the Rings (film series)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
- The Wheel of Time (TV series)
References
[edit]- ^ Long, James (May 17, 2012). "Epic Fantasy Revitalised: The King's Blood by Daniel Abraham". Orbit Books Blog. Orbit Books. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
it's an epic fantasy in every sense of the term, full of deadly politics, battles and ancient secrets
- ^ a b "The 30 Best Fantasy Book Series of All Time". pastemagazine.com. February 22, 2016. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f "Discovering Your "Brand" of Fantasy - The Hub". ala.org. April 3, 2013. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Hunt, Peter (August 2, 2004). International Companion Encyclopedia of Children's Literature. Routledge. ISBN 9781134436842. Retrieved March 19, 2018 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Sinclair, Frances (2008). Fantasy Fiction. Riveting Reads Plus. School Library Association. ISBN 9781903446461.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Dozois, Gardner (1997). "Preface". Modern Classics of Fantasy. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. xvi–xvii. ISBN 031215173X.
- ^ "Fiction Book Review: The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett, Author . Del Rey $25 (416p) ISBN 978-0-345-50380-0". Publishers Weekly. March 12, 2009. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
Brett's debut builds slowly and grimly on a classic high fantasy framework of black-and-white morality and bloodshed.
- ^ Christensen, Ceridwen (February 22, 2017). "6 Reasons We Love the Green Rider Books (and You Will Too) - The B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog". B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
The Green Rider series books offer just about everything a fan of high fantasy could hope for...
- ^ "Fangrrls' SFF book release picks for June". May 26, 2018.
- ^ "Fiction Book Review: Fortress of Owls by C. J. Cherryh, Author HarperPrism $24 (406p) ISBN 978-0-06-105054-1". Publishers Weekly. January 4, 1999. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
Tristen, a young man summoned and ""shaped"" into the world by the wizard Mauryl in Fortress in the Eye of Time (1995) takes up, in the third book of this high fantasy series,
- ^ "Water Sleeps - Glen Cook - Macmillan". macmillan.com. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
- ^ Lake, Jay (March 28, 2018). Trial of Flowers: A Novel of the City Imperishable. Night Shade Books. ISBN 9781597800563. Retrieved March 28, 2018 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Backlist Discoveries". publishersweekly.com. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
- ^ Gunn, James E. (2013). Paratexts: Introductions to science fiction and fantasy. Lanham: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. p. 123. ISBN 9780810891227.
Stephen R. Donaldson's Lord Foul's Bane is a High Fantasy that is often compared with Tolkien's Lord of the Rings ... but Donaldson's approach to his Secondary World, the Land, differs in remarkable ways
- ^ "Fiction Book Review: ENCHANTER: Book Two of the Wayfarer Redemption by Sara Douglass, Author . Tor $27.95 (512p) ISBN 978-0-312-87582-4". Publishers Weekly. October 1, 2001. Retrieved March 29, 2018.
This romantic high fantasy starts slowly, bouncing between a confusing array of characters established in the first book of the series, The Wayfarer Redemption (2001)
- ^ Somers, Jeff (August 29, 2016). "The Forgetting Moon Is a Heavy Metal Fantasy That Does Nothing in Moderation". Barnes & Noble. Archived from the original on December 4, 2019. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
- ^ Joshi, S.T. (April 1, 2016). Weinstock, Jeffrey Andrew (ed.). The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters. Routledge. ISBN 9781317044253. Retrieved March 29, 2018 – via Google Books.
Later works by Dunsany, including the scintillating novel The King of Elfland's Daughter (1924), return to the tone of high fantasy of his earlier writing
- ^ "10 fantasy novels that would make great TV shows". Christian Science Monitor. June 21, 2011.
- ^ ago, WiC Staff 1 year (April 15, 2017). "Small Council: What books should you read as you wait for The Winds of Winter?".
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Katz, Demian (August 24, 2006). "Series - SwordQuest". Demian's Gamebook Web Page. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
- ^ "San Diego Magazine". San Diego Magazine Publishing Company. November 1, 1988 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Marvel Comics Solicitations for April, 2007 - CBR". www.cbr.com. January 16, 2007.
- ^ "Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1997) – Goodkind, Terry". UK. Retrieved April 3, 2018 – via SF Encyclopedia.
- ^ D'Ammassa, Don (April 22, 2015). Encyclopedia of Fantasy and Horror Fiction. Infobase Learning. ISBN 9781438140636. Retrieved April 3, 2018 – via Google Books.
The works of Robert Jordan, George R. R. Martin, and Terry Goodkind are typical high fantasy
- ^ a b Snow, Cason (2008). "Dragons in the stacks: an introduction to role-playing games and their value to libraries". Collection Building. 27 (2): 63–70. doi:10.1108/01604950810870218.
For Dungeons and Dragons, both TSR and WotC produced additional settings that can be used with the core rules, two of the most popular being the magic-punk Eberron ... and the high fantasy Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting.
- ^ "Fiction Book Review: Rhapsody: Child of Blood by Elizabeth Haydon, Author Tor Books $24.95 (479p) ISBN 978-0-312-86752-2". publishersweekly.com. September 1999. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
- ^ "Fiction Book Review: Mad Ship by Robin Hobb, Author Spectra Books $24.95 (656p) ISBN 978-0-553-10333-5". publishersweekly.com. April 1999. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
- ^ Wish Upon A Time: The Legendary Scimitar (Fantasy) (September 1, 2010). Wish Upon A Time: The Legendary Scimitar (Fantasy): Nabila Jamshed: 9789380040066: Amazon.com: Books. ROMAN Books. ISBN 978-9380040066.
- ^ The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (The Inheritance Trilogy) (October 1, 2010). The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (The Inheritance Trilogy): N. K. Jemisin: 9780316043922: Amazon.com: Books. Orbit. ISBN 978-0316043922.
- ^ Clute, John; Grant, John (March 15, 1999). The Encyclopedia of Fantasy. Macmillan. ISBN 9780312198695. Retrieved March 28, 2018 – via Google Books.
- ^ StephenKing.com. "The Dark Tower - Books". stephenking.com. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
- ^ a b Rogers, Brett M.; Stevens, Benjamin Eldon (December 26, 2016). Classical Traditions in Modern Fantasy. Oxford University Press. pp. 27–28. ISBN 9780190661076. Retrieved January 30, 2018 – via Google Books.
- ^ "A Fantasy Author Debuts – But First, the Prequels". publishersweekly.com. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
- ^ Gorrey, Megan (December 25, 2017). "True crime, fantasy, self-help: Most popular books at Canberra's prison library". Canberra Times.
- ^ Kokkola, Lydia (2017). "Simplified Minds: Empathy and Mind-Modeling in Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle". In Moruzi, Kristine; Smith, Michelle J.; Bullen, Elizabeth (eds.). Affect, Emotion, and Children's Literature: Representation and Socialisation in Texts for Children and Young Adults. Routledge. ISBN 9781351971638.
- ^ "How Terry Pratchett's Discworld Has Evolved". The Artifice. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
- ^ "What can we expect from the Discworld TV series?". denofgeek.com. March 7, 2018. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
- ^ "New Pullman Novel Fails to Live up to Earlier Work". March 30, 2018.
- ^ "Article 1 - Teaching Pullman's Northern Lights". May 28, 2018.
- ^ "Eve of Snows: Sundering the Gods Book One by L. James Rice | BookLife". booklife.com. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
- ^ "EVE OF SNOWS". IndieReader. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
- ^ http://www.bestfantasybookshq.com/hqs-top-10-must-reads/
- ^ Katz, Demian (August 24, 2006). "Item - The Dream Palace". Demian's Gamebook Web Page. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
- ^ Sieben, Cole S. (July 1, 2022). "Mastery of Morality and Wings of Fire". Substack. Archived from the original on March 5, 2023. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
- ^ "Vance Museum - Miscellany - Thesis: Vance, Magic and Wonder". www.vancemuseum.com. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
- ^ Webmaster, Rodger Turner. "The SF Site Featured Review: Tales of the Dying Earth". www.sfsite.com. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
- ^ "The Witchwood Crown Review: A Return to the World That Inspired Game of Thrones". Den of Geek.
- ^ "Books - Tad Williams".
- ^ "CultureLab: Sci-fi universes featuring both magic and science". www.newscientist.com. Archived from the original on June 10, 2010.
- ^ Alexander Zorich, writer. Alexander Zorich. Writer, scenarist. "Alexander Zorich. Writer, scenarist. Worlds. The Circle of Lands: Sarmontazara and Blue Alustral". Zorich.ru. Retrieved January 7, 2013.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)