Recently I’ve been trying to come up with more topics to base recommendation posts around. One of the ideas I had was for high fantasy series, specifically series that are longer than four or five books. I love high fantasy so I thought I’d be able to come up with a lot of books to list.
I was wrong. Very, very wrong.
THEY ARE ALL TRILOGIES… Well, 90% of them at least.
I know trilogies are a popular series length, but this really drove it home. Almost every single one of my favourite high fantasy series is a bloody trilogy. Or if they were four books or more, they were more urban fantasy or magical realism type books. And here I thought I was a massive high fantasy fan. What is this? Have I been lying to myself about my book life?
(Shush if you’ve seen my Goodreads activity lately. I’m going through a massive romance phase. I just want to read books that are guaranteed to have a happy ending right now, okay).
It was a struggle to come up with a list of books with four or more novels in a series. There were a few obvious choices I left out (*ahem* Game of Thrones) because as popular as they are, they’re not high on my favourites lists. I had to include a few series I actually haven’t finished reading, and series that are more a collection of companion novels rather than direct sequels.
Throne of Glass series by Sarah J Maas
If you didn’t know by now, let me enlighten you: I’m massive SJM trash. I love her books. I find them so much fun to read. The Throne of Glass series in particular has a special place in my heart. I started reading it just before Crown of Midnight was released. It was the type of fantasy I had wanted to write (when I was still kind of dabbling in writing). It was the book series that followed me through all of uni and my internship (like Gallagher Girls and the Merlin TV show were the series that followed me through high school). I love all of it and its 8 massive books.
I could technically probably have included ACOTAR in this post too, since there are another three books coming out starting next year. But I skipped it since it isn’t finished yet (I wrote this, then realised I included another incomplete series later in the list… awks).
Buy Throne of Glass: Book Depository | Booktopia | Angus & Robertson | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Witches of Eileanan by Kate Forsyth
This six book series set in the world of Eileanan is what introduced me to the high fantasy genre. Actually, it was the companion/ sequel trilogy, Rhiannon’s Ride, that I read first but technicalities. It’s a big world with witches and dragons and a rebellion. You know, just some of those classic high fantasy things.
Buy Dragonclaw: Book Depository | Booktopia | Angus & Robertson | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Study series by Maria V Snyder
I have so much fun reading Maria V Snyder. Her fantasy novels are on the “lighter” side of high fantasy (not as big world, shorter and faster, easier to read, etc). Poison Study was a book I stumbled across randomly in a Melbourne bookstore when I was on holiday and then stayed up all night to finish on the same day. It started as a trilogy, then got two companion/ sequel trilogies which we’re going to just call one whole series.
Buy Poison Study: Book Depository | Booktopia | Angus & Robertson | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Falling Kingdoms series by Morgan Rhodes
This series is done, but I haven’t finished reading it yet so maybe I shouldn’t really include it on this list? Either way I’ve read the first two and own all but the last two books. I even own the first spin off (it has a horse on it. I had to buy it! Though it sucks this spin off has been cancelled after only two books). I actually wasn’t that big of a fan of Falling Kingdoms, but Rebel Spring surprised me and blew me away! It showed the epic potential the story had and I was all for jumping into the rest of the books (then life happened). I want to try and finish this series this year.
Buy Falling Kingdoms: Book Depository | Booktopia | Angus & Robertson | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Witchlands by Susan Dennard
This series is still ongoing (two books left!) but it is so good! The first book blew me away with it’s characters, friendship feels, amazing fight scenes, and elemental (and more) magic. Then it threw in a plot with Chosen One themes, epic quests, and fascinating lore that keeps developing and twisting with shocking reveals! I love it so much. I’m so excited for the rest of the books.
Buy Truthwitch: Book Depository | Booktopia | Angus & Robertson | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
If you know any good high fantasy series that are 4-5 books or longer, please tell me about them! I’m desperate for recs.
I, too, am SJM trash and don’t try to convince myself otherwise (I also love Cassie Clare!) Come to think of it, a LOT of the fantasy series I like are either trilogies or were intended to be trilogies but got spin offs or more books approved the more successful they became. I’m hoping to try and branch out in my fantasy reading this fall but I feel like I always become deterred because they are usually SO LONG and take so long between installments!
Cristina @ Girl in the Pages recently posted…October 2020 TBR
They’re both actually fun, great series!! Sometimes I feel like the hate/ shade or whatever they get is purely because they’re so popular… but they’re popular for a reason, right?!
ANYWAY. There can be a long time between instalments!! But I’d rather the author take the time to write a good book than rush it. Thankfully most of the time it’s only 1-2 years (GRRM is a bit of an anomaly)
This is very interesting! Sometimes I wonder whether I really enjoy reading high fantasy- I mostly enjoy the books I’ve read, but to start them is a whole other thing entirely. I just keep putting them off! Especially if they are longer than 3 books. I have Falling Kingdoms and Study series on my tbr and I know I would enjoy them, but again I just keep pushing them back
Tasya @ The Literary Huntress recently posted…September Wrap Up & October TBR // I’m almost there!
Ahhhh for some reason I really want to reread Throne of Glass as well! I was so lost in the Witchlands series, I think cos they were released so long apart that I had forgotten everything that had happened.
I reread them for every instalment because I loved them so much which helped.