Best Fantasy Series

Do you love those fantasy novels with many kingdoms, protagonists, politics, and cultures? Do you like the epic struggles between small bands of heroes against impossible evil? Do you eagerly follow the growing pains of the coming-of-age hero as he (or she) finds greatness? Then you want to check this list of the best fantasy series ever written.

It's hard to select series that are NOT epic fantasy, since most of the series released these days, are. In this list, I wanted to bring you the top 25 best fantasy series from a number of different fantasy subgenres. Some may be grand epic fantasy, some may be more character-driven fantasy, some may be simply fantasy that's part of a series.

I've based my picks on how good the ENTIRE series is as well as how influential they have been on the fantasy genre as a whole. You'll see familiar faces on The Top 25 Best Fantasy List but also plenty of new faces as well.

Like any "Best" list, you can't please everyone with your picks, so don't take it personally if your favorite series is not listed on the list. Rest assured I've spent a lot of time deciding what should be included and excluded.

I've also put together a list of the Best Epic Fantasy Series for those of you who are ONLY looking for epic fantasy books. Updated and revised January 2015