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What are the top five best fantasy series since 1990?


Francis Buck

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My list should be taken with a major grain of salt as I've only been into the genre since discovering Martin and my top five series since 1990 is dangerously close to being a list of "the only fantasy series released since 1990 that I've actually read."

1. ASOIAF

2. Bakker's Second Apocalypse

pretty big gap

then my 3-5 is probably Rothfuss, Abercrombie, and Abraham* in some order.

This is pretty close to my list except cross out Rothfuss as I have not got around to him. Malazan may have cracked the top five if not for me giving up after Toll the Hounds. Abraham would be closer to 6 to 10. WoT may crack my top five despite its flaws, as it will always have a sentimental special spot for getting me back into reading. Only on Blade of Tyshalle right now but Stover's Caine stuff looks like it could earn a spot in my top 5 too. Heroes Die was awesome.

Does Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles count as fantasy?

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- A Song of Ice and Fire. GRRM.



- Farseer Saga / Liveship Traders / Rain Wild Chronicles. Robin Hobb.



- His Dark Materials. Phillip Pullman.



- Harry Potter. JK Rowling.



- Drenaï saga. David Gemmell.

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Haven't read much fantasy, but ASoIaF is definitely my favorite. Kingkiller Chronicles would be my second favorite. That's really all the fantasy I've read which came out after 1990. I like the Dark Tower (which I guess would be fantasy, right?), but some of those were out before 1990.



I recently started reading Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson, and I gotta say, I find that I am mostly bored. I enjoy Kaladin's storyline, but that's about it.


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Haven't read much fantasy, but ASoIaF is definitely my favorite. Kingkiller Chronicles would be my second favorite. That's really all the fantasy I've read which came out after 1990. I like the Dark Tower (which I guess would be fantasy, right?), but some of those were out before 1990.

I recently started reading Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson, and I gotta say, I find that I am mostly bored. I enjoy Kaladin's storyline, but that's about it.

Way of Kings is definitely light fantasy. I enjoy it, but I'd put it more in line with YA offerings than others.

Check out some of the other recommendations in this thread and you might find some suggestions more to your taste.

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Mine, in no particular order:



Rigante series- David Gemmell


Tales of the Jetty Kay - Chris Wooding


First Law Trilogy - Joe Abercrombie


The Macht Trilogy - Paul Kearney


The Long Price Quartet - Daniel Abraham



I tend to think of The Book of the New Sun as sci-fi, otherwise it would be on there... same with Tad Williams' Otherland.


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1. The Long Price Quartet - Daniel Abraham


2. First Law Trilogy (plus the three standalones) - Joe Abercrombie


3. The Coldfire Trilogy - C.S. Friedman


4. The Farseer Trilogy - Robin Hobb


5. The Bas-Lag Novels - China Mieville



I limited this to series that were done, otherwise it'd be fully of partially finished series that might end up being shit in the end.


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I personally put the Farseer saga (both of them), the Liveship Traders one and the Rain Wild Chronicles in the same spot. I cant separate them and I'm an awesome fan of all of them ! Robin Hobb is an amazing writer and she created an amazing universe ! Cant wait for Fool's Assassin !!!


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I tend to think of The Book of the New Sun as sci-fi, otherwise it would be on there

Just to clear something up, these are the individual volumes that comprise The Book of the New Sun and their publication dates:

The Shadow of the Torturer - 1980

The Claw of the Conciliator - 1981

The Sword of the Lictor - 1982

The Citadel of the Autarch - 1983

As I said above, it's right out just because it came out in the 1980s rather than since 1990. Unless you guys are using some new fangled math of which I am unaware.

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First post here. Greetings!

I am going to split this into completed and ongoing series. One, as they are hard to compare, and two, so I can cheat and have more than five.

Completed (no particular order):

The Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan. Despite lagging in parts during the middle books, I think this is the best modern example of more traditional fantasy.

Malazan Book of the Fallen - Steven Erikson. Technically, I have not completed this, as I just began in April and recently finished Toll the Hounds, but I don't think the last two books will knock it off my list. I am also reading Esslemont's companion series. It is not as good, but does add to the experience.

Dark Tower - Stephen King. Great mix of fantasy, dystopian sci-fi, horror, western, crime and Arthurian romance. The last three books had some questionable plot choices, but still great all around.

Mistborn Trilogy - Brandon Sanderson. Despite some lame characterizations of the supporting characters and weak dialogue, this series blew me away with its originality, magic, twists and my affinity toward the lead characters.

The First Law Trilogy - Joe Anercrombie. Cynical, trope bursting brilliance. The first book takes awhile to have a point, but that is nit picking.

Ongoing:

A Song of Ice and Fire - George RR Martin

The Gentleman Bastards - Scott Lynch

Stormlight Archives - Brandon Sanderson

Kingkiller Chronicles - Patrick Rothfuss

Not sure about the fifth slot. Something I haven't started yet.

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Posts like this should be a bannable offense

Why would you say that?

There are 5 pages of lists of series called "the best"...and many of them are, as I acknowledged. Nevertheless, Acts of Caine wasn't listed in any of them. And that's a crying shame.

The series is brilliant (one of the best out there), and Matt Stover is horribly under-appreciated. I worry he will just give up.

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Why would you say that?

There are 5 pages of lists of series called "the best"...and many of them are, as I acknowledged. Nevertheless, Acts of Caine wasn't listed in any of them. And that's a crying shame.

The series is brilliant (one of the best out there), and Matt Stover is horribly under-appreciated. I worry he will just give up.

Oh I thought it was listed, and you were appalled that someone liked it. My bad.

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