10 Of The Best Fantasy Book Series For Adults You Have To Read

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For many of us, fantasy is a way to get outside our heads into another setting. Stepping into magnificent worlds, experiencing wonderful (or terrifying) monsters and creatures, battling alongside the heroes and villains, and getting the answers along the way you are traveling. Some of the best stories are told across many books, and if you crave stories like that, check out these fantasy book series for adults.

Uncompleted Fantasy Book Series for Adults

If you don’t mind an incomplete fantasy book series, then this series is for you.

The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss

The first book is The Name of the Wind. The KingKiller Chronicle, as we said, is unfinished! And the author has no sight of finishing it in the foreseeable future.

So begins a tale unequaled in fantasy literature—the story of a hero told in his own voice. It is a tale of sorrow, a tale of survival, a tale of one man’s search for meaning in his universe, and how that search, and the indomitable will that drove it, gave birth to a legend.

You may have heard of me.

My name is Kvothe.

I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. Burned down the town of Trebon. Spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. Treading paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during the day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.

Finished Fantasy Book Series for Adults

ALL SOULS Trilogy BY DEBORAH HARKNESS

Even though it is technically called the All Souls Trilogy, there is a total of four books in this series, with Time’s Convert rounding up the end.

The All Souls trilogy is one of the most beautiful stories ever told. There is time-traveling, vampires, witches, and magic (of course). Everything is summed up so well. Telling the story of a lifetime. Plus, once you’re finished, you can watch the TV show.

When Diana calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript, her life changes forever. The mysterious, lost manuscript —hence why all the magical creatures of the world want it. But, Diana’s the only one who can break its spell.

The Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden

A beautifully written tale, The Bear and the Nightingale tells the story of Vasilisa. Living with her family at the edge of the Russian wilderness. When her mother dies and her father takes a new wife, her life changes unexpectedly. The monsters lurk in the dark. Misfortune rains down on the village. And her stepmother gets more tyrannous with each passing day.

Villains by V.E. Schwab

The fantasy book series for adults list wouldn’t be complete without a book by V.E Schwab, so this is Villains.

The story of two friends and roommates turned into an extraordinary villain. Revenge drives them. V. E. Schwab brings to life a gritty comic-book-style world in vivid prose: a world where gaining superpowers doesn’t automatically lead to heroism and a time when allegiances are called into question. It is a dynamic and original twist on what it means to be a hero and a villain.

The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee

Jade is the lifeblood of the island of Kekon. It has been mined, traded, stolen, and killed, and for centuries, honorable Green Bone warriors like the Kaul family have used it to enhance their magical abilities and defend the island from foreign invasion.

When a powerful new drug emerges that lets anyone—even foreigners-wield jade, the simmering tension between the Kauls and the rival Ayt family erupts into open violence. The outcome of this clan war will determine the fate of all Green Bones — and of Kekon itself.

The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb

No fantasy book series for adults list is complete without having at least one Robin Hobb book!

Young Fitz is the bastard son of the noble Prince Chivalry, raised in the shadow of the royal court by his father’s gruff stableman. He is treated as an outcast by all the royalty except the devious King Shrewd, who has him secretly tutored in the arts of the assassin. For in Fitz’s blood runs the magic Skill—and the darker knowledge of a child raised with the stable hounds and rejected by his family.

As barbarous raiders ravage the coasts, Fitz is growing to manhood. Soon, he will face his first dangerous, soul-shattering mission. And though some regard him as a threat to the throne, he may just be the key to the survival of the kingdom.

The Divine Cities by Robert Jackson Bennett

The Divine Cities is an atmospheric and intriguing story. Filled with dead gods, buried histories, and a mysterious, protean city.

The city of Bulikov once wielded the powers of the gods to conquer the world, enslaving and brutalizing millions—until its divine protectors were killed. Now, Bulikov has become just another colonial outpost of the world’s new geopolitical power, but the surreal landscape of the city itself—first shaped, now shattered, by the thousands of miracles its guardians once worked upon it—stands as a constant, haunting reminder of its former supremacy

Into this broken city steps Shara Thivani. Officially, the unassuming young woman is just another junior diplomat sent by Bulikov’s oppressors. Unofficially, she is one of her country’s most accomplished spies, dispatched to catch a murderer. But as Shara pursues the killer, she starts to suspect that the beings who ruled this terrible place may not be as dead as they seem—and that Bulikov’s cruel reign may not yet be over.

Gentleman Bastard by Scott Lynch

An orphan’s life is harsh—and often short—in the mysterious island city of Camorr. But young Locke Lamora dodges death and slavery, becoming a thief under the tutelage of a gifted con artist. As the leader of the band of light-fingered brothers known as the Gentleman Bastards, Locke is soon infamous, fooling even the underworld’s most feared ruler. But in the shadows lurks someone still more ambitious and deadly. Faced with a bloody coup that threatens to destroy everyone and everything that holds meaning in his mercenary life, Locke vows to beat the enemy at his own brutal game, or die trying.

The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie

Murderous conspiracies rise to the surface, old scores are ready to be settled, and the line between hero and villain is sharp enough to draw blood.

The Blade Itself is unpredictable, compelling, wickedly funny, and packed with unforgettable characters. It is a noir fantasy with a real cutting edge.

The Four Horsemen by Laura Thalassa

The four horsemen have come to Earth to end all of humanity. When Pestilence comes to Sara’s town, she knows everyone is doomed unless the horseman is stopped. And she will try everything she can to stop him. She then realizes the horseman can’t be killed. Getting captured is not ideal, but the longer she’s with him, the less sure Sara becomes about her own feelings.