What are your top 5 favorite books/series? > Likes and Comments

LOTR is an easy first. It's a timeless classic, and it shaped fantasy into what it is today. Next is The Inheritance Cycle. The first time I read it, I wanted to keep reading and would spend hours doing so. Harry Potter is in third place. I'm not as big of a fan of magic, but Harry Potter does it better than anyone else, and the fact that the series is seven books long but doesn't ever become boring or stale is incredible. Coming in fourth is Macbeth. It's not a normal book (I know technically it's a play), but the way Shakespeare is able to tell a fully fleshed-out story in 17,000 words is insane. Lastly, is Percy Jackson. It's a completely different take on fantasy and was one of the first books I read in the genre.

the only books/series you list that I would list are LOTR and Macbeth

I'd add Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series where many of the books are in different genre combinations but still set in the same fantasy world. The first one published was a combination of fantasy and hard-boiled gumshoe

Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany for it's sheer weirdness and twists

Adrian Tchaikovsky's Shadows of the Apt series. This was/is (I'm working on the final book in the series now) a fascinating fantasy

and if I could have a 6th it would be Steven Erikson's Malazan series for sheer scope

1. Memory, Sorrow and Thorn and Last King of Osten Ard by Tad Williams. I count these series as one because they take place in the same fictional world and were written by the same author.
2. The Witcher books by Andrzej Sapkowski. Almost everyone knows what these books are, so there's no need to explain why I like them so much.
3. Chimeras of Estmer by Heather Marsh. I got pretty much everything I like about the fantasy genre in this book. So it's no surprise that I like it.
4. The Bitterbynde trilogy by Cecilia Dart-Thornton. It seems like an effort to write fantasy using the style and imagery of old poetry. Of course, I can't help but admire that.
5. Eternal Sky trilogy by Elizabeth Bear. I enjoy reading books about the Mongol Empire and fantasy, and this story has both. How could I not be happy about that?

the Williams series is a good pick too

CBRetriever wrote: "the Williams series is a good pick too"

Of course!

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R Donaldson. Two trilogies and one tetralogy, these 10 books are the standard by which I compare all fantasy novels.

One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig is hands down one of the best novels I have ever read.

The Book of the Ancestor trilogy by Mark Lawrence is incredible. I think about it all the time.

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant series,
The Legend of Drizz't series,
The Riftwar Saga,
The Belgariad Universe,
The Mistborn Saga.

Charlton wrote: "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant series,
The Legend of Drizz't series,
The Riftwar Saga,
The Belgariad Universe,
The Mistborn Saga."

Excellent choices!

oohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

the selection
aurora rising
percy jackson (amd kane chronicles)
LOTR
powerless

I have been logging my reading on Goodreads since 2017. I have a shelf called “Favorites” which houses my favorite reads over that time. Out of the 1251 books on all my Goodreads shelves, 53 are on the Favorites shelf. Of these, 27 are on the SFF shelf as well.

8 are by Kim Stanley Robinson: Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars, Aurora, Lucky Strike, A Meeting with Medusa / Green Mars, Icehenge, Galileo's Dream

5 are by Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-Earth, The Fall of Gondolin, The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrún

2 each by

Robert A. Heinlein: Starman Jones, Have Spacesuit Will Travel

R.A. Lafferty: Fourth Mansions, Space Chantey

Cordwainer Smith: You Will Never Be the Same, The Rediscovery of Man: The Complete Short Science Fiction of Cordwainer Smith

Here’s my top five SciFi books/series (so far):

1 Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin
2 The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Naylor
3 Perdido Street Station by China Miéville
4 Wool by Hugh Howey
5 Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Carey

In no particular order:
1. Lord of the Rings

2. Maggie the Undying by Ilona Andrews (this may be cheating, and is definitely a risk, because I've only read the four or so chapters posted online (archived now) and a few snippets, but I'm hooked)

3. Harry Potter

4. The Fractured Conclave by Vanessa Nelson

5. Martha Well's Murderbot Series

This list might change annually so here we go:
1. The Expanse - James S.A. Corey
2. Gods of Blood and Powder - Brian McClellan
3. The Age of Madness - Joe Abercrombie
4. Lockwood and Co - Jonathan Stroud
5. The Machineries of Empire - Yoon Ha Lee

Honorable mentions: Discworld (Pratchett), Green Bone Saga (Fonda Lee), Bas-Lag (China Mieville) and Broken Earth (NK Jemisin)

Might be in the list if the third book is a five-star: Shadow of Leviathan - Robert Jackson Bennet

Might be in the list if ever completed: A Song of Ice and Fire - GRRM

Silvana wrote: "Might be in the list if ever completed: A Song of Ice and Fire - GRRM."

along with Patrick Rothfuss's Kingkiller Chronicles

No particular ordered:
The Dowser Series by Meghan Ciana Doidge
Zombie Fallout by Mark Tufo
Assistant to the Villain by Nicole Maehrer
The Ruinous Love Trilogy by Brynne Weaver
Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost
Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs
Jane Yellowrock series by Faith Hunter

and so many more lol

This is a tough one, but here are mine in no particular order! I wanted to maintain a SCI-FI element, but that went out the window.

- The Foundation Series
- LOTR
- 1984
- The Road
- The Hobbit

Here are mine! I really loved them and would read them everyday if I could!

-Never After Series
-L.O.R.D.S. Series
-Ruinous Love Trilogy
-Lights Out Series
-Fall Away Series

I know its not Sci-Fi or Fantasy, but I am just getting into that genre a bit more. Don't worry I have already read the Harry Potter and LOTR series a while ago!

I love to read series, so here are five with the author in case that helps.

1. Lord of the Rings - Tolkien
2. Discworld - Pratchett
3. Vorkosigan Series - Bujold
4. World of Five Gods (Curse of Chalion and Penric/Desdemona) - Bujold
5. Lt. Leary Series - Drake or Honor Harrington Series - Weber

Really great question – took me back through the (thickening) mists of time to my childhood...

Dune chronicles – Frank Herbert
Lord of the Rings – Tolkien
The Dark Tower – Stephen King
John Carter of Mars series (Barsoom series) – Edgar Rice-Burroughs
The Martian Chronicles – Ray Bradbury

Dune -Herbert (+ even the Kevin & Brian texts)
Hyperion cantos - Simmons
Foundation - Asimov
The Illustrated Man- Bradbury
The Vampire chronicles - Rice

Lord of the Rings
The Broken Earth Trilogy
The First Law Trilogy
Lilith's Brood
The Merlin Trilogy
The Dragon Riders of Pern
The Book Of Morgaine

1) 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke.*
2) Dark Matter - A Ghost Story by Michelle Paver.**
3) Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky.
4) The Discworld series by Terry Pratchett.
5) Collected Ghost Stories by M R James.

* That said, the whole series is brilliant.
** I find that horror is usually also sci-fi or fantasy.

1) Lord of the Rings - Tolkien (Will forever be my number 1)
2) Exiles Saga/Galactic Milieu - Julian May
3) Foundation - Asimov
4) Well of Souls - Jack L. Chalker
5) West of Eden - Harry Harrison

Honorable mention to the Dungeon Crawler Carl series which Im currently reading. Almost done with book 7 and its been awesome.

1) Lord of the Rings - Tolkien
2) Dune - Herbert (the initial book only as a standalone)
3) Project Hail Mary - Weir
4) Foundation Trilogy - Asimov
5) Downbelow Station - Cherryh
6) The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress - Heinlein
7) A Song of Ice and Fire - Martin (placed here because it's unfinished)
8) The Mote in God's Eye - Niven/Pournelle
9) Ringworld - Niven
10) Stranger in a Strange Land - Heinlein

These are selected based on impact on me when I first read them.

Mike wrote: "Here’s my top five SciFi books/series (so far):

1 Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin
2 The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Naylor
3 Perdido Street Station by China Miéville
4 Wool by Hugh Howey
5 ..."

I like this list... makes me want to finally pick up The Mountain in the Sea as it and Wool are the only ones I haven't read here.

Such a very hard question. In no particular order...

Books
- The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia
- Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
- Dune
- The Neverending Story
- Brave New World

Series
- The Lord of the Rings
- Discworld (Terry Pratchett)
- Cosmere (Brandon Sanderson)
- Earthsea (Ursula K. Le Guin)
- Abhorsen (Garth Nix)

Honorable Mentions That Might Have Made it On the Above Lists if the Weather or My Breakfast Had Been Different:
- Stories of Your Life and Others
- The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories
- Narnia CS Lewis
- Lord of the Flies
- Red Rising series (Pierce Brown
- I, Robot
- Starship Troopers
- The Bear and the Nightingale series
- A Canticle for Leibowitz
- Perdido Street Station
- The Once and Future King

Holy smokes this is hard and I know I am forgetting favorites...

Nicole wrote: "Dune -Herbert (+ even the Kevin & Brian texts)
Hyperion cantos - Simmons
Foundation - Asimov
The Illustrated Man- Bradbury
The Vampire chronicles - Rice"

Yes!! So many people only like the original trilogy, I get that, it's the best. But I totally agree with you, Nicole, I love the entire Dune universe including all the Kevin & Brian stories.

1) Dune (all of it)
2) Lord of the Rings
3) Asimov's world (Foundation Trilogy, Elijah Baley Trilogy and everything that R Daneel Olivaw is watching over)
4) The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever
5) Byzantium - Stephen Lawhead

4-10 of my top 10 varies depending on what mood I'm in and what I can remember that day, but 1-3 are set in stone.

These are my top 5 favorite books/series listed chronologically. I linked only the first book of the series.
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and a prequel.
Dune by Frank Herbert. The Dune series, comprising six books, was written by the author.
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan. The Wheel of Time series consists of 14 books and a prequel.
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin The Song of Ice and Fire series of five books, incomplete.
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. The First Law series consists of 9 books and two short story collections.

Very interesting! 'Favourites' and 'foundational' are hard to separate. The extra series of the Riftwar Saga (more than the main one) and David Eddings' series were foundational and favourites then, but I'm sure they wouldn't be now. They were perfect as a young adult.

1. The Chronicles of Narnia, particularly The Horse and His Boy and The Last Battle.
2. The Paradise War, by Stephen Lawhead was wonderful when I was in high school. I've read it again since, and it was a different experience, of course - I noticed the darkness more -but still very good. The rest of this trilogy (Song of Albion), as well.
3. The Ill-Made Mute and the Bitterbynde trilogy. Beautiful Fairie tale that's unique and poignant.
4. Fire and Hemlock, by Diana Wynne Jones. Not a perfect book, but it has most of the elements I like in a story. An imaginative (all of her stories are imaginative!) retelling of the tale of Tam Lin.
5. Not sure what to put here. It could be many - Spinning Silver, Wildwood Dancing, To Ride Hell's Chasm (Janny Wurts), or The Way of Kings, or a few others. Tigana would probably go in there; it's a difficult book, because of what it depicts, so it's hard to call it a favourite, but it's profoundly affecting.

Tamara wrote: "Very interesting! 'Favourites' and 'foundational' are hard to separate. The extra series of the Riftwar Saga (more than the main one) and David Eddings' series were foundational and favourites then..."
I am really happy to meet another person who likes the Bitterbynde trilogy. The author's writing style is like music, and I couldn't predict the plot twists, which rarely happens to me.
I recently read Spinning Silver and loved that story, too. I even wrote a review. So I'm very happy to meet another fan.

Tamara wrote: "Very interesting! 'Favourites' and 'foundational' are hard to separate. The extra series of the Riftwar Saga (more than the main one) and David Eddings' series were foundational and favourites then..."
Good to see another Stephen Lawhead fan. I've read most of his stuff. I love the mix of celtic history and magic. Sometimes at dusk I look out to see if the thin veil between worlds will open up at the time between times, and then I remember ... no that's not real!

I’ve stumbled through the cloying fog of fickle memories to recall books that had impact at the time of reading i.e. favourite then.
Hence these may be merely deluded hallucinations!
I’ve picked one per publication decade to help my filtering.
And I’ve cheated with the first one - one fantasy, one sci-fi.
Interesting (to me) that both of these titans published their first book in the 30’s, and their first trilogy in the 50’s. Fantasy and Sci-Fi leapt forward hand-in-hand!

Foundation Trilogy & LotR - Asimov & Tolkein (50’s)
Lathe of Heaven - Le Guin (70’s)
Drenai Saga - Gemmell (80’s/90’s)
Malazan Book of the Fallen - Erikson (00’s mainly)
The Gentleman Bastard Seq. - Lynch (10’s - at least the last book was!)

+ so many others are clamouring to get a top spot!
The Stand - King (clashed with Le Guin)
The Riftwar Saga - Feist (clashed with Gemmell)
The First Law Trilogy - Abercrombie (clashed with Erikson)
Discworld - Pratchett (80s/90s/00s/10s - clashed with everything!!)

… and so on …

Roger wrote: "I’ve stumbled through the cloying fog of fickle memories to recall books that had impact at the time of reading i.e. favourite then.
Hence these may be merely deluded hallucinations!
I’ve picked on..."

Great choices!

Gary wrote: "These are my top 5 favorite books/series listed chronologically. I linked only the first book of the series.
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien. The Lord o..."

I've been thinking of reading some Joe Abercrombie. Anything I should know? Where should I start?

Travis wrote: "I've been thinking of reading some Joe Abercrombie. Anything I should know? Where should I start?"
My thoughts would be to start with his first book The Blade Itself and see if that connects with you. For me, I connected with the gritty cast of morally flawed characters as they move apace through the treacherous world they grapple with – a world concisely described with effortless surety. The prose flowed and the dialogue’s sharp. Politics are murky and there are harsh consequences for the wrong – or is that right? – choices. Heroes may be villains, and villains may be heroes. Maybe. The trilogy is easier to embrace than eg Erikson’s Malazan series, but no less compelling for me. A real tour de force of character-driven fantasy.

In no particular order:

- LotR
- Wheel of Time (even though it gets slow in the middle, I still like it)
- Malazan Book of the Fallen (on the condition you read it twice)
- Night’s Dawn by Peter F. Hamilton (but maybe that’s because I read it first when I was still impressionable ☺)
- Harry Potter (although I’ll go against the fans and say she only really takes off in part 4)

David wrote: "In no particular order:

- LotR
- Wheel of Time (even though it gets slow in the middle, I still like it)
- Malazan Book of the Fallen (on the condition you read it twice)
- Night’s Dawn by Peter F..."

I found that too! WoT drags on for a couple of books, but I love the build up, and Sanderson's ending from Jordan's notes delivers a fitting climax. I've read that series twice and Erikson's Malazan three times! Find something new each time! And in support of your Erikson comment, Malazan BotF truly hit home for me on the second read.

Lord of the Rings (the entire Legendarium)
Dune (all)
Foundation plus I, Robot
Star Trek: Vanguard
Star Wars: X-Wing (Books 1-7)

Star Wars and Star Trek have many great books, so I picked a couple of sub-series that I particularly enjoy.

Brandon wrote: "Lord of the Rings (the entire Legendarium)
Dune (all)
Foundation plus I, Robot
Star Trek: Vanguard
Star Wars: X-Wing (Books 1-7)

Star Wars and Star Trek have many great books, so I picked a couple..."

Wow! Good set Brandon! Top 3 are same as mine except 1 and 2 in oppositie order, and I totally agree with "all" for Dune!

Stewart wrote: "1) Lord of the Rings - Tolkien (Will forever be my number 1)
2) Exiles Saga/Galactic Milieu - Julian May
3) Foundation - Asimov
4) Well of Souls - Jack L. Chalker
5) West of Eden - Harry Harrison
..."

Well of Souls was the first sci fi/fantasy sereis I ever read as a late teen... it was the series that began my love of this genre. So much sentimental value in that one series...

Richard wrote: "Good to see another Stephen Lawhead fan. I've read most of his stuff. I love the mix of celtic history and magic. Sometimes at dusk I look out to see if the thin veil between worlds will open up at the time between times, and then I remember ... no that's not real!"

Yes - he has a particular magic with that - magic which comes from both long work for all his books (research), and perceptiveness. The way he writes, in his best books, is unique - although I don't think he's reached that for a while. His latest series was decent, but not excellent. I think his earlier ones are the best.
I love your comment about looking out at dusk! I was so enamoured of the world he created in Paradise War, I wanted to do exactly the same, and escape this one for that.... until the next book, where it became a much scarier place. I wrote a poem about it for English that year. I also loved how the hero changed, including physically, from his time in the other world.
Do you have any particular favourites?

Jabotikaba wrote: "I am really happy to meet another person who likes the Bitterbynde trilogy. The author's writing style is like music, and I couldn't predict the plot twists, which rarely happens to me."
The disappointing thing is that she only wrote one other series, which was quite different and not as good, and one short story. Writing wasn't her main job - she was a university lecturer. I wish she'd kept writing. One excellent series is more than most people do, though!

Tamara wrote: "Richard wrote: "Good to see another Stephen Lawhead fan. I've read most of his stuff. I love the mix of celtic history and magic. Sometimes at dusk I look out to see if the thin veil between worlds..."

Byzantium is the one that stands out the most for me, even though there's no magic or fantasy in it. Just historical fiction.
It's been a while, but I do remember enjoying Song of Albion and The Dragon King Saga. Of course, the Pendragon Cycle is amazing, but I found it too much of downer, the hope of a kingdom of light just doesn't seem to get fully realised.
But there's no question he's impacted me. My first novel - the important events all happen on Summer Solstice, and my second novel was deliberately published on Autumn Equinox and all that mystical celtic feel of special days .. it all comes from reading Stephen Lawhead!

Tamara wrote: "Jabotikaba wrote: "I am really happy to meet another person who likes the Bitterbynde trilogy. The author's writing style is like music, and I couldn't predict the plot twists, which rarely happens..."

Maybe she has written so few books not only because she is busy, but also because she writes them so well. After all, it must be difficult to arrange words and phrases as elegantly as she does.

SaraBK wrote: Well of Souls was the first sci fi/fantasy sereis I ever read as a late teen... it was the series that began my love of this genre. So much sentimental value in that one series...

I'm the same and I'm actually re-reading it now. Currently on the 4th book. I'm pleased to say it's holding up and Im enjoying it just as much as I did when I read it first time round.