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I think one of the major reasons why certain books/series are rated lower than you’d expect is because they’re not seen as fantasy books. They’re being rated lower for being less fantasy, not necessarily for being less popular.

These lists are always incredibly hard to put together as there will always be worthy franchises/series that miss out on a place! It’s why lists like these are helpful for new readers but people should not put too much stock in them

So happy to see First Law in the top 3 had no clue it was so respected and loved within the larger fantasy community. Feels so right to see Joe’s name right next to George r.r. Martin’s. Always grateful to Daniel for recommending it as Last Argument of Kings and The Heroes are some of my favorite books I’ve read in my life up to this point.

Daniel's giddiness at being voted for just put the biggest smile on my face. That was so sweet.

Im blown away that Ascendance of a Bookworm made it into the list!!! WOW thats a light novel and not a lot of people have read it

Next time you do this, you should definitely include a "How it's Compiled" segment at the start. Voters just listed their top 10 fantasy series. This means that a lot of classics that are really liked but are mostly read by die hard fantasy readers have to compete against all of the big names. So many times your reaction was OMG how is this so low but with the way voting was done, the books were lucky to make the list at all. A book that is always ranked 11th wouldn't make the list at all.

I highly recommend Ascendance of a Bookworm, because 1) VERY good world building, loads of depth spent on the various aspects, it looks like a world actually lived in. Loads of time spent on the MC's early life, giving a lot of depth (Most isekai would jump from birth to school in a couple of chapters, here the MC goes to school in like the 4th book, so three books of worldbuilding where we are *shown* rather than told how people live, and every bit is interesting.) 2) Deals with the consequences of gods being real, magic being real, and the class system that ensues by having,( or not having), access to that magic; plus magic has an interesting cost that keeps it on the side of soft magic but still has limits. When nobles literally have a divine right to rule....what does it mean to be a commoner? 3) an actual clash between our world and their world's "common sense". For example, to give vague spoilers, our MC's efforts to save orphans leads to a town being nuked(I will not explain further, RAFO ;p) and it's all her fault, and you are given a compelling reason why it makes sense, from that world's perspective. I recommend everyone who likes western fantasy to try Bookworm, it doesn't have the typical japanese isekai path (y'know, escapist portal fantasy) and reads very much like something a western author might write.

So so pleased that Tamora Pierce showed up twice on the list! Her books were so influential on me

I'm happy that you're going to read The Prydain Chronicles this year. I think it's such a good saga for young readers to get into more fantasy

Hey Daniel, just wanted to say thank you for introducing me to the wonderful world of fantasy and scifi. Been reading through Sanderson and others ever since I stumbled upon your channel. Bless you

Classics like "The Once and Future King" receiving low number of votes is not surprising, since everyone is voting their top 10 books. For a book to remain in a top 10 spots, 60 years after it's publication and across multiple generations of readers, requires it to be extraordinarily great.

Narnia disrespect is crazy💀

Daniel going on hiatus before even starting to read HxH is true HxH spirit. I commend his series knowledge.

Each time I finally stop procrastinating and starting to work I get distracted with either a video of yours or a twitch stream. Every. Damn. Time.

Fahrenheit 451 was one of the few books they made us read in high school that I actually enjoyed!

I love seeing Daniel going through this list like a sports fan watching a draft.

Re: Artemis Fowl I personally love it, but to really enjoy it, just keep in mind that it was written in the early 2000s, which gives you insight into where human tech was at the time

Loved seeing Daniel’s appreciation for the Belgariad being on the list. One of my favourite series growing up

Mother of Learning is actually so good. I've been amazed by the lack of discussion on youtube about it. I think it's because it was published as a free webnovel that a lot of people write it off as not a 'real novel' but it 100% deserves more representation

1- I'm suprised you consider yourself and Merphy *compleately* different readers because she loves the Gentaleman Bastard Series, and One Peice (One peice is what got her into trying out Terry pratchet and A Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy series as she enjoyed the Absurbism within One Peice), along with enjoying the Malazan Series as she's trying to read them all. It's nothing wrong with that, I'm just suprised with so many similarties of books you guys loved and she's what brought me over to you in the first place. (I came over around the time you started reading I think the second delux volume of Breserk?) 2- Fun fact: Lord Dunsany apparently was the one whom inspired Tolkin and Lovecraft in their writing and the "The King of Elfland's Daughter" Novel is actually what inspired more of the fantsy stuff of the Fae, magic, and elves. Though granted the King of Elfland's Daughter is actually based on his woes of the old Fuduelism system dying out from what I'm told (I do see it), I'm still suprised not more people read Lord Dunsany because he's actually referenced in the oriognal Gary Ganax's Appendix N for DnD 1st Edition and actually a lot of Sword and Sorcery aurthors do reccomend one to read him if you want to see the beginnings of a lot of Fantasy Elements and tropes. Granted more people prefer Dunsany's Short Story format than his long form, (Though I feel like he's writing the same way pretty much in both, no actual difference), but it is a good reference to at least see earlier beginnings which is closer to Bewolf in Tempo.

I was actually pleased to see Eddings' Belgariad so high on the list. I read my dad's Belgariad and Malloreon collection in high school, and I want to read them all again in the near future.

Hopefully he ends up reading A Practical Guide To Evil and decides to delve more into web serials. Worm and Mother of Learning are must-reads.

From this list I want to recommend those that Daniel glossed over: Book of The New Sun - Gene Wolfe's masterpiece. It's a complicated and tough reading, but if you like The Kingkiller Chronicle because you glimpsed more information with multiple rereads, this book is for you. It's the same genre also (picaresque novel). Terra Ignota - Ada Palmer's highly regarded scifi. It's highly inventive with the best of sci-fi as its main goal. It is dense, but it's worth the investment. The Warlord Chronicle - The actual best adaptation of Arthurian Legends (sorry Daniel). It's as good as Joe Abercrombie character-wise and with just as intense and powerful battle and duel scenes. Temeraire - Dragon Riders and the Napoleonic Wars. Need I say more? If you liked Hiccup and Toothless, but more posh, this is for you. Ascendance of a Bookworm - It's a series of light novels (adapted to anime already) of the isekai genre. However, unlike being just a wish-fulfillment power-fantasy as most in the genre, this novels follows the main character trying to become a librarian in a world without books (think the world before the printing press). It's an amazing character driven story with a fun main character. The Culture Series - Iain M. Banks take on an utopian society like The Federation in Star Trek, however with more complex ideas and deeper themes.

So happy to see Bartimaeus on the list, I never hear anyone talk about it and it’s one of my favorite ya fantasy trilogies.

The joy at the end for making the list… ❤ well deserved and I’d put it in my top 100 as well. Somewhere around 80-90 for my personal list.

I love seeing Tamora Pierce And Naomi Novik hitting this list multiple times. Tamora pierce really influenced me as a young self fantasy reader

Prydain is one of my favorite fantasy series and highly underrated (as is anything by Lloyd Alexander). It's very classic so it's not going to subvert anything, rather you need to go into it with the mindset that this is one of those pioneering series that helped build the genre in the 1960s and appreciate it on that level. It's a perfect gateway into the fantasy genre series much like Earthsea. A lot of people praise big tomes, but Alexander is a master of how much he can get across in the span of 200-300 pages. The stakes also grow as the series goes on. It's the character work that is the series strongest asset though imho. "The Companions" as they are called by Prydain fans are up there with The Fellowship in terms of how they will make their way into your heat and be unforgettable. The series also has a bard who rides a kitty cat the size of a horse, an undead army of zombies, a cursed sword, a mouthy princess, and a pig that can tell the future. Also don't miss the Tales of the Foundling and Other Tales which is a prequel collection of short stories that further expands the mythology of the world. Thematically, Alexander matches GRRM when it comes to masterful bittersweet storytelling. Can't wait for you to get to this series. and even if it doesn't become a favorite, I hope you enjoy it enough to appreciate the place it deserves in the development of the fantasy genre.

Full Metal Alchemist is one of my all-time favorite manga series. Well worth a second chance!

FMA, yes please, give it another chance! I'm kinda sad that many good books will never be on the list because they were not translated into English... of course I have a series in mind 😅

Your happiness over getting that 1 vote was gold. Congrats! Your popularity is moving up! :)

I'm happy Coldfire was on there. And Goblin Emperor!!! One of my FAVORITE books from last year, I was having a super bad time and that book was such a comfort, I loved it so much.

I was getting worried the longer Red Rising wasn’t on the list. Super happy to see it rated so high - easily my favorite series

i just started to reread the artemis fowl series as an adult, i remember having such a good time reading them as a kid.

Ascendance of a Bookworm, nice! Really well thought out isekai light novel that probes deeper into the implications of the genre than almost anything else I've seen

Monk & Robot currently has two novels in the series. The first book is called " A Psalm for the Wild-Built" and it can be best described as 'Cozypunk" Very delightful sci-fi read. Strongly reccommend!

Really happy with all the love Ascendance of a Bookworm is getting in these comments. If you're looking for a fantasy series in the manga/anime sphere you can really do a deep dive on it's this series. The English language publisher actually let's subscribers read along with the books they license as they're being translated each week and let's them discuss on their forum and of the 213k posts on the pre-pub discussions the bookworm series makes up about 88k or about 25% of the posts

Daniel! You have to read The Golem and the Jinni! It is beautiful and so so so we’ll written. It’s heartbreaking, and lovely, the world building is flawless, but the characters are exquisite. Also, Thursday Next series and The Checquy Files are awesome.

You missed how low ROBERT E HOWARD was. The father of sword and sorcery.

Also happy to see Hyperion high up on the list. It's one of my favourite books of all time. It's incredible.

I'm about to finish book 2 of Dragonlance Chronicles, and I'm absolutely loving it. It's been the perfect gateway for me to get back into reading after a long hiatus. I think the book covers you remembered were probably the classic Larry Elmore covers.

Everyone please re-read the Phantom Tollbooth. Is an amazing, mostly forgotten book. Also seeing Daniel genuinely freaking out over his books getting a vote made my day. As a fellow author, I felt it so hard.

Just want to say that I just found your channel and appreciate your content so much. Your pure love for the fantasy genre and sincere reviews are a pleasure to watch. Thank you for reigniting my passion for reading! So excited to try as many of these books as possible!

Gotta say I'm just really happy to see a few mangas cracking the list and placing considerably well. "Ascendance of a Bookworm" was a real surprise but an extremely pleasant one! It's a great read! Highly recommend! And "Fullmetal Alchemist" was also unexpected for some reason but seriously deserved. It just makes me really happy to see the barrier between book readers and manga readers slowly dissolving. ^_^

MY Top 5 would be 1 - Hyperion Cantos 2 - Malazan Book of the Fallen 3 - A Song of Ice and Fire 4 - Dune 5 - Foundation

I'm interested in hearing why you've got such a big problem with Ready Player One? I just finished both books 2 weeks ago, and I was hooked from the start. It was so interesting to experience Middle Earth, Faerun and so many other incredible worlds in a new and different way. I absolutely loved the books :)

So glad to see the locked tomb series this far up, absolutely devoured them

So happy to see Dungeon Crawler Carl made the list. If there was one book on the list I'd love to see your opinion on that'd be it.

While they were not ranked highly I think Robert E Howard’s Conan or any of Michael Moorcock’s Elric Saga stories are foundational works of fantasy that you hear fantasy authors like George R.R. Martin and such mention as inspirational works but you don’t hear much about them nowadays

Ascendance of a Bookworm!!! I shouted when I saw it on the list! I just freaking love to see it getting more recognition.

Video Ideas I'd definitely watch: - your own top 100 fantasy - a beginner's guide to fantasy reading - fantasy books published before 2000

The list makes more sense when you realise that to get counted you had to have the book in your top 10. So for example Redwall had 10 votes. This means that 10 people had Redwall somewhere in their top 10.

Sooo happy to see Sun Eater here, definitely my favorite currently being written sci fi series. Only 21 votes is not terribly surprising, but it’s absolutely one of my favorite book series of all time

I really can't believe that HxH wasn't higher. Top tier stuff

Currently reading Mistborn book 1 and I'm loving it!

I'm so happy to see The Locked Tomb and The Green Bone Saga this high, two of my favourite fantasy books!

You are NEVER too old for Artemis Fowl. They’re all really quick reads, the first three you can knock out in one day.

Artemis Fowl is a must read.

Honestly, I’m not only surprised to see the Second Apocalypse series in this list, but for it to be so high. Sure, I know the books have elements that can be divisive-and unfortunately, Bakker doesn’t seem all that active anymore as a blogger or a writer (I hope he is okay, though, and I hope we get the No-god series soon)-but it’s really nice to see it getting such recognition.

So many books added to tbr It's time for paradox of choice to thrive)))

Love seeing Cradle get so much love and the Belgariad Universe as well!

I want to add if you like Fahrenheit 451, please give Something Wicked This Way Comes. It's just as good as Fahrenheit 451 and Bradbury's style is just as amazing.

Fahrenheit 451 is not only a great novel, but the very best that I read for required reading in school.

The fact that A Night in the Lonesome October was mentioned has made my day! It's the best book to read during halloween season...I know...I've listened to the author narrated audiobook every October since 2012, lol

Don't mind me, just farming this list for my TBR list.

This is vote was about the favorite books of the subreddit. Not the best, most acclaimed or most influential. I don't think it's a big surprise more people enjoyed reading Ready Player One than 1984. Also, the number of people voting is relatively small so the relative placement of books with few votes doesn't tell us very much when only one or two votes change so much.

A big part of the reason you are seeing things you would expect higher being so low with so few votes is that this list was compiled from users submitting personal top 10 lists. So there’s tons of things that a lot of people might have ranked at 15-20 but since only 5 people ranked it in their top 10 list it barely scrapes in. Any joint list like this that relies on community submission suffers more and more the less data you collect from each individual. Since this specific list only allowed each person to submit a top 10 list, and as you can see from the voting most people felt obliged to put stuff like stormlight and middle earth on their list it ate into their ability to put other stuff on their list. If they had allowed people to submit top 20 lists it would look much different.

I read the first Shanara book. I had no desire to read any more. I'm kind of amazed it cracked the top 100. Ready Player One definitely should not have made the list. It's just unpleasant. Also Mother of Learning rated lower than I expected.

Outside of Wheel of Time, Daniel’s knowledge of all these authors/books is within past 5 years 😂

I was really turned off to reading after having been forced to do it so much through all of my schooling but from the premise of Hyperion is decided to give the first book a go and it made reading a huge hobby of mine and even led me to your channel. It makes my heart very happy to see it get the respect it deserves

The most exciting part of this whole video was hearing that The Black Company was on your TBR! Now I need to make sure I haven't already missed it :p

The Last Unicorn is one of my favorite books, glad to see it crack the top 100!

Definitely check out Artemis Fowl. I don’t think you’re too old for it. It’s something I reread often as an adult as a palate cleanser between epic fantasies, and it continues to be clever and delightful.

My favorite part of this video is that Daniel Greene is going to read "The Chronicles of Prydain", which is one of my top 5 favorite series.

Soooo happy to see Realm of the Elderlings in the top 10! Hobb's prose, political intrigue and especially her character building are incredible!

the entries I was hyped to see but wasn't expecting were Temeraire and Bartimaeus. both wonderful stories. Bartimaeus has probably my favorite narrative voice

Also, since you mentioned you didn’t think the Hyperion Cantos was that respected, Daniel, I want to mention to you a fellow booktuber named Quinn’s Ideas. Quinn is, I guess you could say, the “Sci-Fi” counterpart of you-in the sense that, other than being more orderly, he does tend to gravitate toward Science Fiction, but also enjoys some fantasy. Which, yes, I know you love both genres, but in my experience it seems like fantasy is your go-to genre (please correct me if I’m wrong). Anyway, Quinn’s favorite book series of all time is Hyperion Cantos, and he’s done multiple videos on it. I also think he’s in your age range, so maybe he’s a good person to reach out to sometime-especially since he’s published some comics recently.

Wow, I had no idea so many people liked The Old Kingdom series! It was my favorite fantasy as a child, and it's been hugely influential on how I view fantasy. It's amazing to see it still ranked so highly almost 30 years after the first book was published.

Circle of Magic...and really anything by Tamora Pierce, I highly recommend. My husband and I are hoping to eventually purchase custom leather editions of all her works because we love them so much and have since childhood.

It's sad (but not surprising) to see Barbara Hambly completely overlooked again, but it's nice to see C.S. Friedman's Coldfire trilogy get a few votes.

I‘m 40 and I still regularly reread/relisten Artemis Fowl, so no you’re not too old.

Well if the vote is "pick your favourite" it's not surprising that some great works are simply not picked. How many people would say "my favourite fantasy? 1984 obviously"

Did you ever give the Licanus Trilogy another shot? I haven't seen you mention it since your review of the first one. I still need to read the third book, but I felt like the second one was much better than the first.

Man I needed this. I'm such a shut in when it comes to the fantasy world scrolling through my audio books top recommended not finding anything that looks interesting and then re listening to the WoT or the entire cosmere for the 4th or 5th time. Now I have a nice 10 book list from some of the top 10 to some of the ones Daniel said he really enjoyed from farther down. Already downloaded Chronicles of Prydain to give that one a shot. Thanks for going through this list Daniel.. I should.. I should probably follow this reddit.. I'm going to go do that now.

Congrats on the vote! 😄

You are 100% right about the fahrenheit 451 hate coming from forced reading in English class

Yessss, this is the first time I’ve ever seen anyone anywhere mention The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. Read it almost 10 years ago and was absolutely blown away.

FMA absolutely deserves the hype.

When Daniel reads "Chronicles of Narnia" and just says "That should be FAR lower" and moves on . . . I love Narnia and didn't know Daniel didn't.

you should definetely give Artemis Fowl a chance - it's great :)

It's great to see The Wandering Inn on the list! While it has it issues, i have really enjoyed it for last few months.

Fahrenheit 451 is probably my favorite book. I've gone back and reread it multiple times now. Every time I read it I end up loving it more.

I can't believe The Dagger and the Coin is so low! Such an underrated masterpiece

Excited for you to read The Black Company, was the first fantasy series I read when I was a kid!

everyone's definitely sleeping on acts of caine. love those books

So glad you made it on the list. Really made me smile and your reaction made me laugh out loud. 👍

First Law is one of those books that just ages well in your mind

I am genuinly surprised Elric is so low, its phenominal.

Love Dragonlance. That series was my introduction to fantasy as a genre.

I am actually surprised that ascendence of a bookworm was on the list, it's amazing but really surprised something like mushoku tensei didn't crack the list while bookworm did.