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.

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B
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V
W
X
Y
Z

Other media
See also
References

Works

A

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

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

F

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

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^[6]
Julia Golding's Dragonfly^[5]
Lisa Goldstein^[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

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"^[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

Ian Irvine's The Three Worlds Cycle series
Ralf Isau's Neschan-Trilogie and Die Chroniken von Mirad

J

Nabila Jamshed's Wish Upon A Time - The Legendary Scimitar^[28]
N. K. Jemisin's The Inheritance trilogy (The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, The Broken Kingdoms, and The Kingdom of Gods)^[29]
Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series^[5]

K

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

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

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

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 Uprooted

O

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

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

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

Fred Saberhagen's Earth End sequence
Angie Sage's Septimus Heap^[5]
R. A. Salvatore's Demon Wars series
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

Judith Tarr^[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 Thief, The Queen of Attolia, The King of Attolia, A Conspiracy of Kings, Thick as Thieves and Return of the Thief
S.I.U.'s Tower of God

V

Jack Vance's Lyonesse Trilogy^[45]^[46]
Jeff VanderMeer's Ambergris novels
Vladimir Vasilyev's Shandalar

W

David Weber's Oath of Swords/War God series
Brent Weeks' Night Angel trilogy, 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

Lee Yeongdo's Dragon Raja series and The Bird That Drinks Tears/The Bird That Drinks Blood
Jane Yolen^[6]

Z

Roger Zelazny's 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

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

^ 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)

List of high fantasy fiction

Works

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

V

W

Y

Z

Other media

References