 We're doing fantasy. You're welcome, Stormlight Archive fans. Most likely you would use the word epic. My entire personality is first law. People keep trying to beat you and I don't know that anyone yet has. ["Top 10 Best Fantasy of All Time"] Top 10 best fantasy of all time, according to me. I do have an old video that is my best favorite books of all time. That is not what we're doing today. And that is also an old list that needs to be updated, something that I plan to do quite soon. I also have a video on top 10 trilogies where I had a bunch of rules for myself that they had to be finished, that I had to have finished them, etc. We're not doing that either. We're not doing individual books today. We're not doing all books. We're not doing specifically trilogies. We're doing fantasy. Anything fantasy. Now, the only rule is that I don't include in this anything that I would personally regard as more broadly just speculative fiction. To me, and I don't know exactly where that cutoff point is, but to me there's some books. So for example, American Gods. I love American Gods and it is certainly speculative fiction, but it was not a contender for this list because this list is like predominantly series that are sort of other world, epic world, high fantasy. Again, all of these categories are pretty nebulous, but I just want to be clear about that. That this list is for fantasy series in the more traditional sense of what you regard as a fantasy. Most likely a series, most likely a world other than our own, most likely magic, most likely you would use the word epic to describe it. And again, I said it in the beginning of the video, but want to be clear. So I'm restating it. This is according to me. There is nothing objective about this list. This is simply my opinion based on what I have read so far in my life. Oh, and last thing, this is in no particular order. I could not possibly rank them. So this is just a top 10 list in the order in which I wrote them down. You can speculate about what it means that I wrote one down first and only thought of another one as 10th, but they are in no particular order. So number one, let's just get it out of the way. The first law, might you ever cry me? Half the videos in my channel are about the first law. So I really don't feel like I should or can say too much about it right here. I have read every first law book more than once except for the very last one than the one that just came out last year. And I will be rereading that this year. So I will very shortly be able to say that I have read all of the first law books more than once. This year I've been hosting and co-hosting a read-along for the books on Bethany's podcast. And I'm sure next year I will find a fresh reason to reread the books because it'll just feel weird to not be reading them. I will figure out a reason, never fear. This probably is number one. I said several times this list isn't in any particular order that's not ranked, but first law, I mean, let's be real, it's number one. Just by the virtue of the sheer number of times that I've read those books. I interviewed Joe Abercrombie, which is pretty much the high point of my life. It's all downhill after that. My entire personality is first law. If you haven't read first law, I kind of don't know what you're doing on my channel. Like you must be sick of all the videos, popping up in your feed that you're like, well, I haven't read first law, so I don't care about this. I guess I'm glad you're here for whatever else it is that I sometimes talk about that's not first law. If you haven't read it though, and you need a couple of reasons to read it, these books are very cynical, filled with yellows humor and are clearly written by somebody that is a history buff. They are among the OG grimdark, not the OG grimdark. They're just, they're incredible. If you are a character-driven reader, if you are not a character-driven reader, I don't know how you're gonna do with first law. But if you are, what are you doing? Read first law. Number two on my list is The King Killer Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss. I didn't say that Sirius had to be finished to be on this list. King Killer Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss is, we'll always hold a special place in my heart. The first book I do think is the best, but we only really have two to judge from. We also have the Slow Regard of Silent Things. I'm one of the few people that actually really, really likes that book. But The King Killer Chronicle is, it's just so good. Which I know it's not terribly descriptive. But like I said, if you are a character-driven reader, I recommended you read first law. If you are a prose-driven reader, then you must read The King Killer Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss because the care and attention that is given to the choice of every single word and when it is used and how it is used and where it is placed in concert with the other words that were equally carefully chosen. It is just a masterpiece. You just feel like the craft oozing off of every page. It is poetry in prose form. It is just immaculate as concerns prose. People have criticisms, your mileage may vary as pertains to the character, to the story, to the magic, to the world. But the prose, I think it's pretty hard to find fault with. You may not care about prose. You may prefer windowpane prose, which this is not. But it is carefully, carefully chosen. And it is beautiful to read. It is one of the, the name of the winner particular is a book that more than most every other book I've read, not more than every book I've read, but it is among the few that really almost every line makes you want to pause to just kind of digest it, to kind of marinate with it for a second. It's just, it's just filled with lines like that. One of my top quoted quotes that I just, it has come up so often in videos, especially collaboration videos, that I used to have to look it up to say it because I'd be like, oh, Patrick Ross has a great quote for this and I've like let me pull it up. And now I don't have to pull it up anymore because I've said it so many times that it's tattooed on my brain. And that is to love something because it's easy. It's like putting a penny in your pocket, but to love something despite, to know the flaws and love them too. That is rare and pure and perfect. And that is the kind of prose you can expect from Patrick Ross. So you haven't read The Cancular Chronicle. I don't care that it's not finished. It doesn't really matter. It's not that kind of series. That's not, that's not really what we're doing with that. Like yes, I have questions. There's things I want resolved. I would like to know where this is going and where it's going to end. But it is more journey than destination. You're welcome Stormlight Archive fans. It is the beautiful prose. It is the beautiful journey. It is the beautiful moment-to-moment experience of reading those books, of living life alongside Kvoth, of hearing the poetry of the story. It is the sensory experience of hearing about the places he's in, the sights, the smells, the sounds, the tastes. That is what it is about. And again, I would like more. I would like a conclusion, but I'm very happy to reread those books over and over again until such times I have more because it is always a joyful experience. Next on my list is The Gentleman Bastards by Scott Lynch. Another unfinished series. And their progress is being made. I believe we should have The Thorn of Ember Lane. Soonish. Unlike King Killer. This one is one where the way the third book, which is what we have so far as three books, where the third one leaves off, it's not like King Killer. We're like, well, the journey is so beautiful. No, I'm pretty angry and I have been angry ever since I finished that book. However many odd years ago because it is quite a bombshell cliffhanger ending that it just leaves you with that. And then he just disappears and doesn't write the next book for years and years. So be forewarned if you have not read those books. The third book will leave you gasping for more. It will leave you deeply unsatisfied. That being said, I have no regrets about reading those books. Those books are phenomenal. They keep getting better and better with each one. This is a series that it's not beautiful the way that Patrick Roth is writing is, and it isn't darkly cynical the way that first law is, but it has kind of a bit of both in it because Scott Lynch is a wordsmith. He has some excellent herds of phrase, some excellent quotable quotes. The banter, the dialogue between the characters and the gentlemen bastards is immaculate to start with and just gets better and better and better, which is a neat trick. I was laughing out loud reading Republican thieves, which is not a thing I typically do reading books, even books that I like and do find amusing. And the lushness of this world, again, it's not the way that Patrick Roth is writes where it feels poetical and emotional and beautiful for that reason, because it's the significance of the scent to you and what memory that evokes for you, et cetera, et cetera, which is gorgeous to read. But the gentlemen bastards books are just a lush sensory experience where you really do feel immersed in the sights, sounds, tastes and smells of this world and not again, not so much in an emotional, poetical way as a just onslaught to your senses. I feel like Camor, which is where the first book mainly takes place, which is the very Venetian style city, the place just leaps off the page. You feel transported to it. You feel that you can see and smell and taste and hear this place and the characters, they leap off the page in the way they banter with each other. They feel like a crew of characters that you are hanging out with, that you are spending time with, that you are gallivanting through and across Camor with. It is a page turning immersive, a transformative experience that again just gets better and better and better with each book. So I have extremely high hopes, no pressure for Thorne of Emberlane. And yeah, the cleverness. I suppose if I had to choose one word, maybe I'll do that with each of the books. So we'll go back now for a second. But for gentlemen bastards, if I had to use one word to describe it, I would say clever. For King Killer, if I had to use one word to describe it, it would be beautiful. If I had to only use one word to describe first law, I would say cynical. So moving on to number four, The Ravensmark Trilogy by Ed McDonald, which is just so painfully underrated. I take every opportunity to talk about this series and people still tell me, oh, I've never heard of that. Really? Really? Cause I've talked about it. The Ravensmark Trilogy by Ed McDonald is quite grim dark. I would say darker than the first law. Darker in terms of tone and darker in terms of levels of violence. And it is a lot more fantasy. First law is very low magic. The Ravensmark, I think Alan put it really well when he said that it's kind of lovecraftian in some of the monsters that it has in it. I think that's an Ash description. It takes place in a sort of post-apocalyptic in feeling fantasy world. It is nevertheless a fantasy world with magic, but it is taking place after a magical cataclysm that has left a toxic wasteland that is the result of magic, which again feels very much like a nuclear fallout, even though it is magic. There is a doomed data device that again it feels nuclear. It is not, it is magic. And the monsters feel, as Alan said, lovecraftian. And it is a darkly political thriller filled with insane magics. And it kind of straddles the line between fantasy and horror. There are some really harrowing things in that trilogy. It's not a light read. There are some truly unsettling things. And one of the most unsettling things in the trilogy is not actually that viscerally gory or anything like that. It's just a scene where something happens that it's not possible, it's magical. So this isn't something that I could actually, you know, be afraid of happening to me in reality as far as I'm aware. But contemplating it nonetheless, it chills me. Every time I think about it, thinking about it now is unsettling. It's so well written. The political aspect of it, the sort of conspiracy style plot of it is sort of reminiscent of Jean Le Carré, but again in a fantasy setting. There are nefarious forces. There are unknown forces of the government might be doing things or we might not be doing things. We're asking all of the right questions to the wrong people. Are the wrong questions to the right people? And we get in trouble for that. We being our main character, Rai Hall Yal Harrow, and it just unfolds in a very interesting and immersive way that it's not light, but it is so well done. And again, it's very, very dark. So reader be warned, it's not a happy or light read. Since I've said it a bunch of times, I think the word that I would use to describe Ravens Mark, if I had only one word, would be dark. Number five on this is The Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb. I have not finished reading The Realm of the Elderlings. There, that is a bunch of books. I am part of the way through the Tawny Man trilogy, which is the third trilogy in this series of series. So I've read nine books from Robin Hobb. I've read the first two in the Tawny Man trilogy and I've also read the novella The Willful Prince and the Pyebold Prince. So that's nine books. So I think that's a good sample size to make this determination. Robin Hobb is one of the best authors I've ever read from. Even at her weakest, it's still knockout stuff. And I'll go a little more in depth into what this is like, but if I had to use one word to describe The Realm of the Elderlings, it would be emotional. Robin Hobb really has a way of tanking you into the headspace and emotional states of her characters in a way that it will utterly wreck you. And it doesn't feel like torture porn. It doesn't feel like it's melodramatically wallowing in a way that's emotionally manipulative. She's just taking you in deep into the sangies of these characters and she is not letting you brush it aside or move on. A lot of fantasies will have characters go through horrible experiences, but then the quest moves on and we move on and the pay lip service to, oh, it's been a hard road. But you don't really see that, not in a really real sense. Robin Hobb characters, it's been a hard road and boy do you feel it on every page. So for that reason, it's not for the faint of heart. It's not horrifying. It's not super dark and violent, though it is, it can be violent. It can absolutely be violent. It could arguably be as dark as anything you'd find in Grimdark. However, I do not believe that it should be categorized as Grimdark because the perspectives from which she tells her stories are almost invariably pretty hopeful and positive and good perspectives. They are not the sort of cynical, nihilistic, ambition-driven, evil perspectives that you might find in, say, the first law. But the events of the books could rival what you'd find in the first law. Her character work is absolutely stunning for this reason in a way that is somewhat similar to Joe Abercrombie, but is also, again, different because she really goes in deep with emotions in a way that Joe Abercrombie, as much as he is a character-driven writer, even he doesn't really go that deep with people's emotions. And also, again, the perspective she tells it from are characters that are, they're naive and hopeful and sincere. And so a lot of things just cut deeper for characters like that because they care more and caring more means you are more vulnerable to being hurt emotionally. And boy are they ever. But her world is lush and filled with so much lore and imagination and mystery. So it is one of the most transportive experiences for that reason. And just the way that you feel for the characters is I've never really read anything like it. The camera ran out of battery. But I think I was saying that Robin Hobb, the most character-centric writer, at least in fantasy that I have read. I've said it before and I'll say it again, she gives Joe Abercrombie a run for his money and he is one of the most character-driven writers. But Robin Hobb, she hasn't beat. And again, she also has a lot more sort of lore and magic in her world than Joe Abercrombie does. I know this sounds like I'm saying that she's better than Joe Abercrombie, so she should be my number one, but I'm sorry. First law is still number one. But Robin Hobb is fantastic and I cannot recommend highly enough. Number six on my list is Under the Northern Sky by Leo Carew. I think it's Carew. I originally thought it was Carew. Then I thought it was Carew. Now I think it's Carew again. I don't know. Someday, I would like to speak with a man. And if and when I do, then I'll learn from him how I'm supposed to say his name. Under the Northern Sky is a series that I've been chilling for ever since I read the first book, The Wolf. We're waiting for the third book that was still due to be released this year, although it's been pushed back to later in the year than I originally intended or scheduled. Under the Northern Sky is a book or series that I have often said is perfect for me. Unlike some of the other books on this list where I'm just like, oh, if you love fantasy, you gotta read it. Or like, do you love character-driven stuff? You gotta read it. Under the Northern Sky I think is excellent. Don't get me wrong. But I think it has less universal appeal than some of the others. Like the reason that it is a favorite for me why it sits so high in my regard is it's reasons that are more specific to my personal interests, my personal experience, what I personally look for and take pleasure from reading about. So if you don't know because I haven't mentioned it in like a minute, I studied anthropology for my undergrad degree. And I don't know if I studied anthropology because I think this way or I think this way because I studied anthropology or perhaps it's a bit of both but things that have a anthropological bent to them tend to really work for me. And when I read The Wolf, it felt insanely anthropological to me. And so when I looked it up because I was like, this is so good. I must know more. Who is this author? Are there more books? This is amazing. So I was pretty unsurprised to learn that the author also studied anthropology. Though his focus was more biological than my focus was because the anthropological nature of the book and the care, the way that I talked about Patrick Roth, this is care and attention to word choice. That is Leo Carew's attention to anthropological things in his books. Now this series, I guess it breaks the rules that I set for this list because it doesn't take place in a different magical fantasy world. It takes place in our world but an alternate version of our world. So it is alternate history fantasy. So there isn't any magic. It is just an alternate, I guess a parallel universe if you will where he asks the question, what if more than one humanoid species had survived the Ice Age to form language and culture? And already that sounds pretty anthropological. I've complained before about historical things not being paid attention to by authors and them just being, throwing things willy nilly in their worlds or fantasy as well, people throwing things in willy nilly and not really thinking through the ripple effect of that, how that would affect other things, why this would have come about in the first place and having thought through why this would come about what else would necessarily had to have happened or also be in place or this other thing to be in place. Like that sort of holistic view of your world and that is absolutely where Leo Karoo's head is at with his world. He's looked at what we do know about Neanderthal, what we do know about their biology, what we can surmise about their, the way they thought and perceived the world which is necessarily, at the biological level different from homo sapien. And okay, if that is the case, if they did still develop more complex ways to organize themselves, more complex ways to communicate, more complex ways to have a culture the way that we have now, what would that look like and how would it be necessarily different from what homo sapien came up with and put together for itself. And on top of that, how would now developed homo sapien and developed Neanderthal get along or not? So there's just so much thought put into the culture of the Neanderthal people that he has created, this sort of further developed Neanderthal people where it feels so entirely thought through, so organically developed, so real. It's hard to believe that it's not. And the way that this would have displaced what we actually have had happen in history with the map of our world, right? So we had where homo sapien took over and formed settlements and exists would have to be different if we're making space for other humanoid species doing that for themselves. So how this has changed the political map and geopolitical questions and power struggles, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. He's thought through all of those things to craft a fantastic world and cultures for his books. And then also told a story that all of that aside is just a good story that has characters that I personally really enjoy reading about, that I really root for, that I find fascinating, that have pretty epic, fascinating struggles. There is a conspiracy sort of element to this that I know I compared the Ravensmark to Jean Le Carré, but someone else, and I will find it someday, blurbed one of the books or Leo Kerou or Kerou to compare it to Jean Le Carré. I think they said it was like Game of Thrones as written by Jean Le Carré or something like that. Which, I mean, it does have that sort of like political conspiracy element to it, which I enjoy a great deal, which goes even further into that in The Spider, which is the second book. It is even more of a political thriller, if you will. But it takes place, it's a medieval, battle-centric, politics-laden, epic fantasy, but with no magic. Takes place in our world. It's just, it's so well done. But the things that I care about so much are what make it a five, or what make it 10 out of 10, or what make it favorite of all time. So other people who have read these books have been like, well, the battle was pretty good. The strategy was pretty good. It was pretty exciting. It was, it was pretty interesting. I mean, I don't know why it's an absolute favorite of all time for you, because like, you know, like that was, that was all good, fine. Like, I would read more. And I'm like, well, it's the anthropology. It's the culture building he did, the language architecture. It's the fact that he went to the trouble of explaining how the Anakin people have three different words for friend, and they mean three different things. And these are what they all mean in the context in which they would be used. Things like that that have me drooling. So if that sounds great to you, I cannot recommend highly enough. And it definitely has earned its place in my top 10. I cannot say that it would be guaranteed to be on everyone's top 10 if you don't care about those same things. But if you do, check it out. Number seven is as trite and cliche as it gets, The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. I was so relieved to like the books because I've been a huge, huge fan of the movies ever since they came out and I've seen them more times than any human should. But the books, they're pretty good too. I especially cannot recommend highly enough Andy Serkis's narration of them in the new audiobooks that were recorded very recently. Andy Serkis is a fantastic narrator and I really hope he narrates more things. The Lord of the Rings, it's the OG. It's the one that started it all and it is still a really great read. Is it a bit dated? Is it a bit more perhaps difficult to get into for a modern reader? Sure. It definitely has more of an arms length, fairy tale, mythic type of storytelling. It is not intimately character driven the way that first law or one of the Elderlings or really almost any of the other books on this list are because it's an older form of storytelling that is more inspired by myth, by sagas, by legend. And if you read sagas, they are not close third person in-depth character studies. That's really not what they're about. So that being said, it is a lot more, it is a lot closer to the characters than an actual myth would be. But it is more mythic in its storytelling. It is, it's really still phenomenal. And to this day, the achievement is quite staggering. The way I went on and on and on about The Wolf and Under the Northern Sky and how much attention and detail, how much work went into crafting the culture and the world, et cetera. Tolkien, again, the OG, it cannot be overstated how much attention and thought was put into the crafting of the world of Middle Earth. The cultures of Middle Earth, the languages of Middle Earth, the history of Middle Earth. It's insane. The amount of detail that Tolkien has in there and how much thought was put into that. And it really does make it feel like this real place. Like there's a reason that people mimic it to this day because there's just something about it. It feels so authentically its thing, its own thing. It feels like a place, it has its own history, its own lore, a life of its own. It feels like it has to exist outside of just the author's imagination. It is so painstakingly crafted. And the story itself is a great one. It's again, often been mimicked and it is not the most. I, it's hard to say, is it outside the box because it was kind of one of the first to do this. But I mean, it is a very sort of traditional story of overcoming evil, of good versus evil, right versus wrong about friends coming together and through the power of goodness and love and kindness overcoming nefarious forces. It's a very traditional type of story, but it holds up for a reason. There's a reason that's a traditional type of story because there's something about that type of story the shape of it that's still to this day, we find something in it to identify with we find something in it that is compelling. And I mean, Tolkien was the OG for a reason. There's a reason people read this and went, I must try to do this myself because wow. Very few have come anywhere close to it. So well done, Tolkien. People keep trying to beat you. And I don't know that anyone yet has. Next on my list is the only YA to make it onto this list. And that is the Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo. I love Six of Crows so much. I cannot say for all of the things that I just said about Leo Carew or about J.R.R. Tolkien or even Patrick Rothfuss. The strength of these books isn't in like amazing attention to the details of this insanely crafted world. It's pretty standard, it's pretty basic. It's leaning heavily on real world places and trusting those inspirations to be your guide and how to envision this. They are very obvious parallels to real cultures, places, et cetera. So when you read it, you're like, oh, this is fantasy Norway. Oh, this is fantasy Amsterdam. Oh, this is fantasy Russia. So you can just sort of be like, okay, I get what we're doing here. You don't have to explain it too much. I get it, it's Russia with magic. Okay, cool. The strength of Six of Crows is in the characters and is in the character dynamics and what she has chosen to represent. And the story is actually also really well crafted the way that it unfolds. The secrets that are kept from the reader, the plot twists, the way that things resolve in ways that are both thematically significant and also structurally in terms of the plot and how it unfolds and doesn't that make sense is also really satisfying. So the first book is mainly a heist story and the second book is sort of dealing with the fallout of that heist. And it's called Six of Crows because we have six main characters. And it's sort of, you know, kind of every book that's done that since although it wasn't the first to do it of having a rag tag crew that assembles to pull off a heist. It's Ocean's Eleven, you know? We've seen it before, we've seen it again but every book in YA that came out after Six of Crows that did this was like, oh, it's trying to be Six of Crows. She just did it so good, you know? Everyone else that came after her was just copying her. I mean, Loki, they kind of probably worked. She was real successful. Six of Crows, the way it threads the needle of both representing a lot of different things, representing different sexual and gender identities, representing different levels of ability, neurodivergence, representing race and class and cultural conflicts and identities and representing bigotry, representing all of these things, showing all of these things, having all of these things influence the story and influence the characters and be in some cases, significant to the identities of these characters but they are not the identities of these characters which is the difference. These characters are never defined by those things in a way that is their entire personality or is their place in the story. They are not the gay one. They are not the neurodivergent one. They are not the BIPOC one. They, those are things that affect who they are. They are very real things that they may or may not have to deal with. They are very real things that may or may not affect how they relate to each other, how they speak with one another, how they behave around one another, how they react to the world around them. While being a duology that checks about every single box there is for representation, it is not at no point feels like it's composed of tokens or composed of people placed in it simply to check boxes. It's that makes sense. These feel like characters that are all three dimensional characters and many of the things these characters have to deal with relates to gender and sexual identity, relate to neurodivergence, relate to PTSD, relate to their racial identity within this world. And these are things that they have to deal with, but that is not who they are. And that is what is so masterful about these books. And it doesn't just pay lip service to these things. It shows real ways in which this affects them and how they possibly overcome it, but it doesn't necessarily mean that overcoming it means it is now solved and gone away. It's a thing that you struggle with every single day. It's a thing that you may not be able to overcome and you simply have to live with it or overcoming it may be so difficult that it's a problem unto itself. It doesn't simplify or gloss over any of these issues. It includes them in real ways that affect these characters that feel like real people because of the way that they interact with their world and how they are affected by a variety of factors. It's just Chef's Kiss and it's also just a super fun read with a fantastic banter, memorable moments, a great rip roaring page turning plot. And it's just all around Chef's Kiss. Absolute masterpiece. Can I recommend Hylianna? Number nine on my list is The Slang of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. Here is another example of insanely great world building but more grim dark. So sort of the best of both worlds between Tolikine and Joe Abercrombie, although Joe Abercrombie came after and was inspired by George R.R. Martin. But Abercrombie is not really that concerned with large amounts of history and lore and all of that good stuff. Like it's just not an interest that he has for his world which clear doesn't bother me all that much. But where Tolikine is telling a story that is arguably allegorical and it is definitely good versus evil and good triumphant over evil and it is very clear who is good and who is not good. And in that sense, a very traditional fairy tale type of story. George R.R. Martin is a world of grays. It's a world of grim dark. It's a world of violence. It's a world of hard choices. It's a world of realistic consequences. It's a world where good does not always win and what even is good. So it's like reading Abercrombie-esque characters but in a world that is as lushly fully realized as anything Tolikine could write. The amount of detail that's gone into constructing the history and lore and geography and cultures and languages and everything about the world of Song of Ice and Fire, it's probably not quite on the level of Tolikine because Tolikine literally invented his own language. Like it's hard to beat that. But it's getting there. It's up there. It is very extremely impressive. Reading Fire and Blood, the prequel that is a Targaryen history, it is like reading a history book and a dense one at that. And that is difficult to do. If you think it's boring to read, that's fine. That's totally valid. But it is impressive and it is difficult. It requires an insane amount of attention to that kind of detail. And for that reason, like it's again, it's hard to beat a Song of Ice and Fire, even if it's not your cup of tea, even if you find the grim darkness of it hard to read or perhaps his story does not interest you. That's valid. But similar to what I've said about a few of the others, it is hard to find fault with the amount of effort that was put into building this thing. Like that is impressive regardless of your personal tastes and feelings. But I do also think that the storytelling is extremely good. His prose isn't as beautiful as Rothfuss's. It's not as clever and witty and bantery as Scott Lynch's. It's not as just cynically on point as the first law. But he has great prose. He is actually a fantastic storyteller, which is a thing that I think gets overlooked a lot, especially because of the show leaving such a bad taste in our mouths. But there's a reason that show is a success that it was because when it was basically verbatim regurgitating the books, it's great storytelling. It's great pacing. It's great character development. He again, his character building, it's not really on the level of Hob or even Abercrombie, I would say. But it is getting there. It is very near to that. And he also just has such a huge cast of characters that is something that Hob and Abercrombie perhaps have stayed away from for that reason because it's hard to do deep dives on that many characters. And the way George R.R. Martin still gives you a pretty good sense of this amount of characters in a way that makes them distinguishable and gives you a reason to want to follow them because their stories have gripped you, even if you've just barely kind of got a glimpse of them. The way that they are changed and shaped by the world for good or for ill, that make you question what you thought, what you believed. We wouldn't have first love without A Slang of Weiss and Fire because it was A Slang of Weiss and Fire that made Joe Abercrombie go, oh, fantasy can be grimdark? Well, hold my beer. So thank you, George R.R. Martin, for inspiring my favorite author. I just finished rereading A Slang of Weiss and Fire with my friends Jimmy from the Fantasy Network announced from Alex Nieves. And rereading those books was just, it was such a great experience because I think we have collectively forgotten what a good writer George R.R. Martin is. People sort of take that for granted, similarly to how people talk about Tolkien, like, oh, you look like the rings are original. But I mean, they didn't stop being good because more people read them. They didn't stop being good because a show was made. They're still great. There's a reason people read them. There's a reason a show was made. There's a reason we still talk about them to this day. They're on the great lists for a very, very good reason. And if you haven't read them or haven't reread them in a while, take another gander. It's some pretty knockout stuff. Last on my list is, I know I said Raven's Mark is super underrated and it is. And it's probably less known than the one I'm about to say. But this one is also criminally underrated. And that is The Broken Earth by N.K. Jemisin. I do not understand why this series is not talked about more, why there are not hardcover editions, why this isn't, why it's praises aren't sung to the high heavens by every single person that reads them. And I also don't understand why more people aren't reading them. What are you doing? The Broken Earth by N.K. Jemisin is so insanely good. Especially the first book. I do think the first book is the best of the three, but the entire trilogy as a whole is a masterpiece. This is more, I almost didn't put on this list because I wondered if perhaps it would be more appropriately categorized as sci-fi than as fantasy, but ultimately I do think it's more fantasy than sci-fi. I guess if I have to choose. Because it is very, it is uncertain where this is taking place or if any of this is possible. Like it gives you the feeling that perhaps this is a future in which these things have been made possible by technology, but I guess it's sci-fantasy. Cause it really is straddling that line where I'm like, is this sci-fi? Is this fantasy? I really don't know. I really don't know. The way that N.K. Jemisin writes in this holistic way, which is a thing that is a theme that's been coming up over and over on this list where her world at no point feels like an idea was stuck in that was thought of in a vacuum. And it was like, wouldn't it be cool if my world had this thing in it? But I have not thought through how that affects everything else. I have not thought through what would have to have happened in order for this to be a thing. This world is so organically and holistically written that when you are dropped into it with zero hand holding and zero explanation and zero exposition and zero info dumps when you're just tossed in and expected to swim, you're able to because it just makes sense because her world feels so utterly organically developed where the way that people are behaving, what they are saying, once you begin to pick it up, it makes sense. It's like if you visit another country and if no one is explaining anything to you, we'll still begin to pick up on what's going on and why people are doing what they're doing and what the vibe is and what the beliefs are. You're gonna start to pick it up. Same thing in broken earth. You'll be confused at first. Like, I don't know what they're talking about. I don't know what this means. I don't know what these categories are or what these names are, but it becomes apparent because it couldn't really mean anything else the way they talk about it and what led to this happening and the way in which society reacted to this, the way in which society caused this. These all feel like they are the organic results of the occurrences that there have been. It doesn't feel contrived. It doesn't feel like she's like, I wanna tell a story about this and it doesn't really matter because this is not really how people would react to this. She writes it in a way that is so brutal to read about because of how completely believable it is. The way that people treat other people. The way that people have reacted to a harrowing world in a way that has only made it worse for fellow man. And it's not a series where you're like, yeah, this is about people being the worst because people are the worst. It's like, no, I absolutely see how this would have happened and it's painful because you're like, yeah, that's probably not too dissimilar from what would happen if our world did become the way the world is being described in this book. The world itself is harrowing on its own, just contemplating a world in which climate change is rampant where basically the world that you live in is the enemy where it is inhospitable to you living on it, to humanity being on it. And humanity responding to that by itself would be a harrowing story. But the way that humanity has hurt itself and has divided itself against itself while trying to respond to this threat is it's just so well done. It's so well done. I don't really have the words for it. I've never read anything like it. I will ever read anything like it again. It is absolutely chef's kiss. One of the best things that I have ever read. It is gobsmackingly good. And if you haven't read it, what are you doing? So those are my top 10 fantasies of all time. Let me know in the comments down below if you've read these, if not, why not? If you disagree with this list, feel free to let me know. I post videos on Saturdays, other random times as well, but I'll see you Saturdays so like and subscribe, and on my Patreon if you feel so inclined and I'll see you when I see you. Bye.