Reacting to Forbes Top 30 Book Series of All Time

[@CapturedInWords]

Series I'm surprised weren't on this list: Dune by Frank Herbert, The Hercule Poirot books by Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle, Dragonriders fo Pern by Anne McCaffrey, The Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb, The Redwall Series by Brian Jacques.

[@turbokid8719]

I’m on the fence about your question on unfinished series being on the list I think books that are really good should be on the list.

[@istuilhos]

Sherlock Holmes? That's not scifi/fantasy... oh wait. Yeah, I'm surprised, too.

[@Stormbrise]

This I can agree with. Funny that if it was purely capitalistic then Holmes should be right up in the top 5 with all the films, series, fan fiction series i.e. Enola Holmes. Yes also with Agatha Christie because all the films, and how people are still buying these books. So Yeah… I am a but flummoxed as you.

[@skalliedA]

the lesson here is: use an adblocker

[@PeachyKeen10]

I'm shocked Agatha Christie's Poirot series didn't make the list. She is one of the top-selling authors of all time.

[@CapturedInWords]

You know what, now that you mention it I'm very surprised about that too!!

[@kingdonsobek]

Only behind the Bible and Shakespeare

[@TruePerception]

Money. Money is the reason. It's Forbes. Money is all they really care about.

[@RE-xv9fp]

Yes because its a bussiness magazine so economy is their theme literally

[@PonderingsOfPete]

but like, it can't be that. Agatha Christie has sold more books than any other author except Shakespeare and the Bible. there's literally no reason she wasn't on this list

[@TruePerception]

@PonderingsOfPete What about recent sales, or where those books sell? There's also no merch. All of the top of the list has other revenue than just books.

[@PonderingsOfPete]

@@TruePerception there have been tv series made around the Christie books. To say that even one of her series hasn’t outsold any of the series on this list both in number of books and other related commerce is wild. It’s highly improbable. There’s several series I can name in this list that likely don’t have associated products under their IP.

[@TruePerception]

@@PonderingsOfPete 30 seconds on Google: AC lifetime sales (adjusted for inflation) $100 million. HP franchise, $9.5 billion.

[@firecy]

I think Mistborn has more widespread appeal than Stormlight. When I talk to people who are only occasional readers of Sci Fi & Fantasy, they're much more likely to have heard of or read Mistborn than Stormlight in my experience.

[@z01k1]

everyone shrugged, frowned, giggled etc.

[@vincaalkaloids6732]

I think people get intimidated by the length of Stormlight Archive books

[@tarancehill651]

I think that's true but I think SA is slowly moving it's way ahead of mistborn. A litRPG fan friend of mine just recently asked me about SA but has never heard of mistborn.

[@CapturedInWords]

Hmmm yeah that's true, I agree that Mistborn is likely more widely known

[@nikhil518]

​@@vincaalkaloids6732 Or maybe because most people suggest Mistborn Era 1 as gateway to cosmere. Most people stop half way in cosmere journey.

[@swaminayak3625]

This video is incredibly informative! Normally, I don't share recommendations in comments, but I have to tell you about Whispers of Manifestation on Borlest. It offers unique manifestation insights. All the best

[@stephennootens916]

Goosebumps was a massive smash hit book series in the 90s that not only got a tv show adoption but also got a lot of kids into.reading.

[@CapturedInWords]

I grew up reading Goosebumps as well as watching the show! I love Goosebumps, just surprised they put it so high on the list, above so many of the others

[@adityarajput5039]

50 shades above mistborn and kingkiller is wild.

[@adityarajput5039]

​@@katv1195 Absolutely! But in that case they shouldn't have named the article "The 30 Greatest book series of all time"

[@sandisteinberg731]

50 Shades and the Hardy Boys are neither fantasy nor sci-fi, and don't belong on this list at all.

[@Cyclone-wolf]

@@sandisteinberg731 Its Greatest Series of all Time, not Fantasy series. Fantasy has just taken off in the last decade or two which is why it dominates the list. Its based on cultural impact as Katv1195 said

[@Colaman112]

I don't know why you were so surprised about Twilight. If a Twilight fanfiction made in on the list, it just makes sense for the source material to be there too.

[@rafaelblake7278]

Bartimaeus Trilogy + the Ring of Solomon are so underated. Those are my favorite fantasy books of all time. My smart, witty, funny, sarcastic Bartimaeus needs more attention than he have already deserved...

[@robertgronewold3326]

I am still astonished that Bartimaeus never made it to a film or series.

[@ChromeVader]

Given the criteria supposedly used for the selection process, I think the top three are appropriately placed, although I would swap the #1 and #2. Also, people who haven't read The Hardy Boys might not realize why that series made the list, but those of us in the generations of youths who grew up reading the adventures of our favorite sleuths are shouting YES! YES! OH YES! HARDY BOYS DEFINITELY DESERVES TO BE THERE!!!!!! :) In fact, before Hardy Boys was even mentioned, I was thinking that it'd be a crime to not put Hardy Boys on this list.

[@miandagny]

Ba dum tss

[@Xandycane]

Yes! I read both Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. My mom got me all these old books that she read. I think the fact that they've been read for so many years says why it's a huge influence. In the late 70s, they even had a popular tv show.

[@jayt9608]

​@miandagny I, too, saw what he did there. Lol

[@troncatch]

I love the Thursday Next books. They're really clever, but also pretty niche. I'd say if you're not an English major/bibliophile a lot of it would go over your head. I'm surprised it made this list.

[@gregsquires6201]

The Hardy Boys was Goosbumps to the Boomers and Gen X. There are like 50 books and they made a ton of money for the time. Edit: My mistake, 190 books, published up to 2005. Yeah, they probably deserves to be on the list.

[@jayt9608]

You are still incorrect. 😁 The main series was published from the 1920s until the 1950s when it underwent rewrites after nearly 25 or so books. The rewritten books of the series continued until Sign of the Scorpion, after which the series changed publishers. The new series continued the prior numbering system and concluded, after two or more style changes around book 195 in 2005. In the mid 1980s through the latter 1990s, The Hardy Boys Casefiles were published with a rough total of 165 books. Undercover brothers ran to a total of 150-160 books, Clues Brothers, and now Adventures (and I have not totals for these). Now, the original unedited stories are again being released, apparently to popular acclaim. My rough estimate would be that the Hardy Boys are nearly 100 years old, and have had more than 500 printed books in approximately seven series All under the name Hardy Boys. It absolutely deserves to be on the list. I would have liked to put Nancy Drew on the list, but sadly, even girls preferred the Hardy Boys to her. However, and uncredited series is Tom Swift. The Taser is named after his electric rifle, and his series inspired various others such as Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, George Lucas, Bill Nye, Paul Allen, Bill Gates, and Steve Wozniak, as well as paved the way for the aforementioned Hardy Boys to be published nearly two decades later. That is more impact than anything most of these series listed have even considered doing.

[@rtoyou]

it’s been so nice getting more content from you lately!

[@GwenCooper-l1b]

Cultural impact and popularity were impactful on their choices. I think that is why many of the series they listed are on there. For example The Hardy Boys.

[@stephennootens916]

Yes! Series like the Hardy Boys and Goosebumps have left massive mark on popular culture. People who never read a sign book from either series known about them.

[@libraryofaviking]

Great video! This list is...interesting haha

[@matthewalves3855]

Woah it’s the Viking! Love your vids

[@eylonaharon6560]

the bartimaeus trilogy is amazing. I highly recommend 👌

[@CapturedInWords]

Thinking of reading through them this year!

[@elisabethprice4697]

I’m one of those people who became a life long reader because of Harry Potter!

[@PonderingsOfPete]

the agatha christie snubb is unconscionable.

[@Paul_McSeol]

Soooooo….Dune? Guess not enough space since you have 50 Shades…. But Southern Reach is amazing. But we are missing the Sprawl trilogy, the Red Mars trilogy, Redwall, the Asian Sage by Clavell and more so while a lot of this is personal tastes, the list is dubious at best.

[@CapturedInWords]

Very surprised Dune wasn't here!

[@holdenpop12]

I would agree, Harry Potter should probably be #2 after LoTR. With that being said though, there will probably never be a midnight book release(s) like there was for the Harry Potter books and movies. It was completely global and also crossed over the reading boundary where even non readers were completely aware that a new Harry Potter book was coming. Gotta tip the hat at the very least for sure

[@Bt-cq6te]

what harry potter did for the fantasy genre is nothing compared to what tolkein did for the entire market for literature, publishing, story telling, cinema and established every popular trope that exists. The very fact that they put tolkein before harry potter is a crime derserving of death.

[@robertgronewold3326]

@@Bt-cq6te See, this is why listing things in number of importance order doesn't work with things like books or films. There are many important pieces of media, and to try to rank them will always devalue them. And as a fan of both HP and LOTR, it's hard to see them compared in such ways. They both moved the fantasy genre so much over the last century.

[@Bt-cq6te]

@@robertgronewold3326 I'm not talking about just ranking books or films, im talking about ranking a fantasy series and lord of the rings. If you don't think lotr is objectively greater than harry potter in every conceivable way, then you are either delusional or a kid who just started reading

[@robertgronewold3326]

@@Bt-cq6te No, I just consider them to be apples and oranges. One is a fantasy journey story, the other is a school fantasy. I consider them both to be excellent, but not really comparable to each other because they are not trying to be each other. Now if I was comparing Harry Potter to Percy Jackson and Lord of the Rings to Wheel of Time, that would be another matter, as those books are more in each other's wheelhouse. But as a writer myself, I just find the individual value in different properties because I naturally dissect the parts from the whole and see intrinsic differences.

[@Ellis.04]

LotR isn’t even a series. It’s just a single novel split into 3 volumes.

[@chrisball4962]

Thursday Next is genuinely one of the smartest, hilarious and wacky alternate history books. It is however incredibly British. It’s basically a police crime series but set inside of literatures greatest novels ever written. I cannot recommend it enough (although the first book is not really anything like the rest of the series)

[@AzureSkull]

I’d really love to see you make a video about what discworld books you recommend, like a top 10 for example. There’s so many

[@tarancehill651]

"best 30 book series this random article writer has ever read"****

[@serenity8910]

Biggest surprise is Crazy Rich Asians! 😂

[@Rhendali]

It’s Forbes. Soon as I saw that, I knew the biggest deciding factor was the money the series made. All that said, I am totally fine with Harry Potter getting number one. It had incredible sales, a massive cultural impact, and got tons of people reading. Plus, almost everyone who read it agrees it was a magical experience. I’m also one of those people who do not like the LotR books so it always pleases me to see a list where that doesn’t take the top spot.

[@teleriferchnyfain]

No. LOTR all the way for fantasy, Pratchett for satire, Asimov for SF. This list is ridiculous.

[@Rhendali]

@@teleriferchnyfain look at who compiled the list. If you expected literary masterpieces only, don't look at a list made by Forbes....

[@teleriferchnyfain]

@@Rhendali Tolkien is a huge money-maker tho.

[@Rhendali]

@@teleriferchnyfain not as much as The Wizarding World. I’m not denying that LotR is important, impactful, and financially successful. I’m inclined to believe that HP brings in more money though. More movies, more books, more culturally relevant (LotR is just older), more available merchandise, multiple amusement parks, more successful video games/spin-offs etc.

[@teleriferchnyfain]

@@Rhendali Not sure - Tolkien has had a lot longer & LOTR is in the top of 'best-selling books' lists (of all time). I haven't seen the Potter books there.

[@tiffanycorsello1886]

The Expanse is SO GREAT! I'm reading it right now and loving it. Loved the TV Series too. It should be higher up the list!!

[@TrentKatzenberger]

Issue is they dont have clear parameters for the list. Is it just supposed to be scifi fantasy? I thought it was supposed to be of all books of all time. And both kids and adult fiction? Im fine with young adult but middle grade has to be INCREDIBLE to make a top 30 of all time list, ya know?

[@Xandycane]

Mass appeal and influence. Not just critical acclaim. I love both fantasy and romance. I did not like 50 Shades because so many reasons. However, it did have a huge mass appeal and did influence the romance genre heavily. Thankfully not with the bad writing or horrid characters, but more influencing other, way better written stories. Outlander... i tried. I tried so hard to love it, but it's just so boring. Now... influence. It showed publishers that fantasy romance has a large audience. To get an idea, at the time it was released, it was hard to find anything outside contemporary or historical fantasy. At the time, there were others, not selling well. One author who was a bestseller already wrote an almost great one (the end clean up was anything but clean) but the rest floundered. Out comes Outlander, and this new author hit bestseller... and did it again with the next book. This launched a huge wave of timetravel and other fantasy elements. So... sucky book, but I'm grateful to it. Twilight... I get because YA took off after it. To me it was a bad Vampire Diaries remake (I read those when they first came out and they are way better than the WTF of the show).

[@OnlyTheBestFantasyNovels]

I just remember thinking over and over when I first saw that list that at no point did they ever say this is a top 30 fantasy and sci fi list, it's just a list that's extremely glaringly biased based on the writer's preferences. They at least include a bunch of series that's relevant to the genre, unlike Times and their 100 Best Fantasy list 😂

[@diablo6996]

Mistborn 28? that's gotta be crime.

[@mikeprince6685]

Lol loved the editing on this one 😂

[@MichaelSmith-zx5lw]

I love this list, personally. Its great to see such variety, and leftfield choices.😊

[@vincaalkaloids6732]

Yes! Harry Potter is number 1! Yay!

[@ayushyt762]

Currently reading " will of the many " it's quite good How about making a video on ' beginners to intermediate books recommendation " Beginners being books which are - fast paced / easy to follow/ books which are exciting from the start Intermediate being which are not fast paced but with good pacing in which where you eagerly waiting for characters and world building . Thanks for your video

[@ElizabethAnneReads]

Thursday Next would be top 10 for me but as someone else said, it's pretty niche and Im surprised it made the list

[@ithrahmunchswallow468]

YAY Dresden 🎉 Hardy Boys got millions of kids into reading including me 😊 HGttG 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼 Dark Tower is mind boggling. DISC WORLD!!!🎉!!! Don't forget the power of the $$$ in the female audience 😈 😂😂😂 you're cracking me up 😂😂😂 Really fun video 🎉🎉

[@CapturedInWords]

Glad you enjoyed the video!! 😁🎉

[@natasagajic1061]

As both a fantasy & a mystery fan, I've actually been intrigued by The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde for a few years 🤔 It's supposedly a humorous murder mystery series where classic book characters and classic authors come to life and make mayhem

[@olgagicala7886]

Only read the first one, but I really recommend it. The allusions to other literary works are pretty clever, the characters are likable, and the plot is really fun in its absurdity.

[@Skeletonrider04]

I read the first few books. They are a fun read. Also is has a really fun alternativ world setting

[@whisper_dvm5157]

They are super fun! Highly recommended physically reading them (not audiobook). Fforde does a lot of structure and word play that I don’t think would translate the same on audio

[@Maximus0623]

I’m glad to see The Dark Tower so high on the list. I feel like it isn’t appreciated enough. You don’t need to read all of King’s books before the Dark Tower, but one that is pretty essential is Salem’s Lot before Wolves of the Calla.

[@Jtrent]

The Exapanse is ABSOLUTELY deserving of making this list. I'd highly highgly recommend both the books and the show, the show is a great adaptation, particularly seasons 1-3. The books are incredibly goated. Please do go read them. No spoilers but they're amazing.

[@whisper_dvm5157]

I enjoyed Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde but I was still surprised to see it on this list. I haven’t heard anyone ever talk about them! It’s a fun series though! Full of British satirical humor. Thursday is a “literary detective” who can jump into books to solve crimes. There’s time travel and all sorts of craziness. It’s a hard series to really describe.

[@ilanahalupovich]

Jasper Fforde Tuesday Next. Fantasy that makes you laugh, books about books - and if you are familiar with the said books, you will enjoy it more.

[@valliyarnl]

omg Jay you pronounced Sapkowski's name correctly that makes me so happy :DD

[@CapturedInWords]

I'll admit, I definitely had to look it up for an older video and made sure I memorized how to pronounce it 😉😂

[@dinocollins720]

Another fantastic video! Thank you!

[@CapturedInWords]

Glad you enjoyed it! 😄

[@rishabhtomar8413]

Can you imagine 50 shades would be considered a masterpiece in the next century

[@Rhendali]

Critical acclaim was obviously very lowly weighted in their formula. That series could never be considered a masterpiece.

[@kyotojabami2508]

Twilight, while not the highest of quality, was monumental for the YA industry. Us was one of the clearest indicators to publishers that young adults could be infatuated with reading as before the age of social media. I think you severely underestimate the impact of Twlight.

[@alusarmiento]

The amount of times I slammed my head on the keyboard during this ranking... No no no, I don't know what makes me feel more offended: Twilight or 50 shades?

[@ericw4377]

Shouldn't "In Search of Lost Time" by Marcel Proust be on there? It's his seminal work and it's Proust, who is considered one of the greatest writers ever. This is a list of best sci fi, fantasy, young adult, and romance series and/or best moneymakers.

[@jayt9608]

I am going to do this my way, and maybe there will be those who disagree, but I will attempt to justify everything. 30) Twilight--Big for 10 years, and off the list in another 10. 29) Hunger Games--not likely to be relevant in another decade aside from nostalgia. 28) Percy Jackson and the Olympians--Lightning thief likely is potential classic, and will carry the rest of the series, the other series might become collectors items. 27) A Song of Ice and Fire--If this series is ever completed, then it may rise higher. If not, it will be consigned to the dustbin of forgotten works. 26) The Sword of Truth--Love it or hate it, it is what it is. 26) Humanx Commonwealth Universe 25) Nancy Drew--Large series consting of multiple eras roughly corresponding to the same period as another series higher on this list. 24) Kingkiller Chronicles--heard quite a bit and for the moment has staying power. 23) Stormlight Archive--Same as above 22) Dresden Files--the strongest series of urban fantasy bar none. 21) Alex Rider--my List, my rules. 😁 20) Vampire Chronicles--Not my thing, but they deserve a place. 19) Dark Tower--Never read, but als worthy of mention 18) James Bond--if you ask, you have to ask... 17) Hopalong Cassidy--seems to have paved the way for future authors of Western fiction, including Louis L'Amour, all of whose work remains in print. 16) Adventures of Nero Wolfe 15) Redwall 14) Dragon Riders of Pern 13) Goosebumps immitated, never duplicated 12) Jurassic Park Duology 11) Hercule Poirot 10) Chronicles of Prydain 9) Harry Potter--thirty years (rounding) and still going strong. Likely going down as the first children's literary classic since the Chronicles of Narnia and the Chronicles of Prydain. 8) Enderverse 7) Wheel of Time 6) The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 5) The Star Wars Expanded Universe (1977-2014)--I would have liked to have placed it higher. 4) Foundation--built much of the foundations for modern science fiction. 3) Tom Swift--gave us the Taser, and influenced many of the other books in this list. 2) Chronicles of Narnia 1) Lord of the Rings

[@joshuavincent3515]

Now that's a good list. But I think Alex Rider should be higher. And Alex Verus, Felix Caster and the Eric Carter series should be measured up against Dresden. And Sword Of Truth should always be on every book list.

[@jayt9608]

@joshuavincent3515 I will confess to not having read all, or even most, of the books listed, and there was likely one or two that were inadverdantly switched out as I was thinking very hard about the issue. I can appreciate your view, and I would have liked to move Alex up, but that would have required making some alterations that I am not convinced he warrants. My main concern is staying power or the ability of these books to join the classic canon of Western Literature in particular and global literature in the whole. Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, and Chronicles of Prydain are all fairly strong contenders, and Harry Potter has shown amazing endurance, perhaps the only series lauded as a "modern classic" to actually merit that homage. I wanted to create my idealized version of the "greatest series of all time" list because this article seemed, as was mentioned in the video, overloaded with the latest and greatest, which in my view is bad policy. It does please me that even if you do not necessarily agree with all my rankings, you do approve of most of my choices.

[@joshuavincent3515]

@@jayt9608 Ofcourse, it's a stronger listing then the ones we saw in the video.

[@Steve_Stowers]

Yes, you should know/read the Thursday Next series. Inventive, fun, meta. But yeah, it's a weird list. And I wouldn't say The Hardy Boys don't belong-they've been read by generations of kids-but it was strange seeing them on there when so many other great mystery/detective series, and kids' series, and older series, weren't mentioned.

[@CapturedInWords]

I think the shock for me is that I was expecting Agatha Christie's Poirot books to be on here, and was just surprised The Hardy Boys was as high up as it was, though you're right that it's been influential for many generations of kids. After looking into it, the Thursday Next series sounds super interesting! I'll have to check them out

[@Unpotted]

Sounds like they should have titled the article 30 Bestselling Book Series. They didn’t even include Jack Reacher and all the other mystery/action/adventure series. Or maybe the author isn’t a reader and just searched Good Reads for top ratings, although that doesn’t explain The Hardy Boys. 🤷‍♂️ Perhaps you could contact the author for further information? 😺✌️

[@Gladyslockheart]

Love the Watch MOJO comment. Love it and totally agree.

[@MaxFidler]

I just cannot comprehend how Outlander is higher than ASOIF.

[@CapturedInWords]

Makes noooo sense

[@strawberryorange3755]

Because romance always sells more than fantasy.

[@MaxFidler]

@@strawberryorange3755 yes but that doesn’t make it better or top.

[@elisabethprice4697]

In my opinion they have Lewis, Tolkien and Rowling on the top so that makes me happy to see but books like Twilight or Fifty Shades do not belong!

[@ethancoster1324]

Sex and violence sell and will continue to sell.😅

[@sppotterstark8057]

Agree Can make an exception for Twilight though 50 shades should go definitely Realm of the elderlings, Memory Sorrow Thorn, Malazan or Dune can take its place

[@Talking_Story]

I am as gobsmacked by this list as you!

[@katrinab8805]

Cultural impact, mass appeal, commercial success as marks are exactly why goosebumps and the hardy boys are on there lol

[@ailon92]

I'm personally missing two series: Sherlock Holmes and James Bond. They might not be so popular now a days, but they should surely be somewhere on this list, instead of the Belgariad for example. Don't get me wrong. I love the Belgariad, but in terms of people knowing it, I think these two are more famous. So yes. The list is bonkers.

[@Adityagaming-kb4gc]

It's amazing how no one mentions Whispers of Manifestation on Borlest. It really shows how people are stuck in their ways.

[@eikon7559]

I'm not sure if it's in the top 30 of all time, but Bartimaeus trilogie was by accident one of my first books I listened to when I started my bookreading hobbie. And it was very good. Would recommend!

[@readingsloph7584]

I wouldn't change the list but I would change the title to reflect what it actually is

[@fitzgeraldfilmsMN]

The Bartimus trilogy is still one of my favorites, and I have reread it as an adult and many times as an adolescent

[@hopenparker]

Totally agree with the ridiculousness of many of them on this list, but what would be your top 30 series in order? Unless you already did that and I missed is somehow.. I'm always looking for more series to get into. Summer vacation coming and looking forward to stocking up my tbr

[@Kceam]

Bartimaeus is incredibly underrated! It's such a great and fun fantasy series that is very rarely mentioned, especially by fantasy booktubers

[@jeffnduran]

This list is probably influenced heavily by the amount of revenue the series' have brought in.

[@museinthemachinery5691]

Hardy boys and Nancy Drew are actually written/printed by the same people. They shared some of the same structure/similar plots. Also, surprised that Agatha Christie isn't on here at all. All 3 (AC, ND and HB) are classics.

[@MetalandtheGeek]

I don’t understand why you’re so shocked about this list when they said in the beginning they’re also ranking by commercial success…lol so in the end, the list makes sense especially since it’s written by Forbes

[@Rhendali]

I thought this every time he complained. He read the criteria to us and it’s a Forbes list. Commercial success and cultural impact seem to be most heavily weighted while critical acclaim was certainly rock bottom.

[@CapturedInWords]

Thursday Next series is very niche, same with the Bartimaeus trilogy. I don't think those have had the same commercial success or cultural impact as many of the others on here. Dune has always been a classic scifi with a lot of mass appeal and now has had even more of an impact with the new movies and yet it wasnt on the list. But my shock is mostly at the ordering of all of these, and how low some great series

[@strixytom]

fwiw Forbes' 30 under 30 has a weirdly high rate of those people winding up involved in massive financial scandals lol

[@Darkzeid925]

Thursday next, and Jasper Fforde in general, is great and I was really surprised to see it on this list.

[@wederator2152]

Fifty shades of grey >>>> GRRM, Pratchett and Robert Jordan. And there is no doubt about it, forbes has the last word hahaha

[@MAHESHKUMAR-cr2pz]

The fact that nobody talks about the book Whispers of Manifestation on Borlest speaks volumes about how people are stuck in a trance.

[@valetboy21]

Half-expected Choose Your Own Adventure to be in the Top 10

[@bettymakesclub8011]

I mean the list actually makes quite a bit of sense to me, if it’s basing best as in overall popularity 50 shades and twilight etc should be above SOIAF. Those series appealed to large groups of people that may not have been into SOIAF. You can say whatever you want about the writing of such series but it is for enjoyment and lots of people liked and enjoyed those!

[@MissNicXx]

I’d say 50 shades is because of the massive resurgence into reading when these came out, the sales were massive. Not necessarily because it was better

[@jefferyvogel3812]

The Dark Tower series drove me nuts waiting all those years. Then King nearly died and said he wouldn't write anymore. I will warn you, he recieved death threats for how it ended. The Gunslinger is an amazing book. I liked the first books more than the last few.

[@akellerhouse83]

I'm just really happy to see the Expanse on here at all. It's one of my favorite shows AND book series of all time. I also have to defend Outlander and say that the first 4 books are really really good. This is a strange list, especially for Forbes. With a few exceptions, i actually don't hate it.

[@drummerguy438]

Im digging the super man curl.

[@ilanahalupovich]

Lukyanenko The Watch series.... Worth reading. At least first three. The one that I am sure isn't going to be here, because it's old. James White Sector General. Space hospital catering to different species. Very good.

[@bethcox3226]

This is a list done by Forbes, a magazine that focuses on money, so I think their ranking is ALL about how much revenue these books earned. And have all of them been turned into a major motion picture and or television series? Are they placing book series that became movie series at the highest spots?

[@TheArtfulBrittani]

I'm surprised Hunger Games wasn't on the list... or the Divergent Series. Both became movie franchises.

[@Rhendali]

The Hunger Games was number 5 on the list…

[@LeonC0704]

A lot of people who read the Stormlight Archive STARTED with Mistborn. Like virtually every stormlight reader has read Mistborn. Not every Mistborn reader has read the Stormlight Archives

[@Agrasya-t7k]

Harry potter is amongst the few book series which blends mystery and fantasy. If you want be a good writer there is a lot you can learn from jk whoes detective series under the name robert g. is quite famous too, even much more then your Brandon Sanderson. And if you care some much about quality than fun, then you should read Salman rushdie, Arundhati Roy etc. Which you don't hence you have no right to question quality over fun. This list may not be perfect but position of Harry potter is. Also stop being bradon sadrson's puppet is he paying you or what?

[@RedFuryBooks]

Not that I had planned to, but I definitely won't be going to Forbes for my book recommendations!

[@CapturedInWords]

Haha that's probably a smart decision based on this list!

[@roger4fiona]

This has to be just cultural impact in the USA right? There's no way that all but one or two of the world's top 30 book series by cultural impact are written in English. There would be books in Mandarin, French, Arabic, Spanish, etc. It's such a typical USA approach to make USA-specific claims while using the language of universality.

[@sukhadeomankarmankar3097]

It's surprising that Whispers of Manifestation on Borlest isn't talked about more. People seem to be stuck in a trance!

[@stephennootens916]

Fifty Shades makes sense when you remember how everyone was talking about those books, not just romance readers, they made three movies and it brought erotica romance to the mainstream.

[@CapturedInWords]

Does it make sense? I mean I know everyone was talking about these books and people enjoyed the adaptation, but I also specifically remember a lot of romance/erotica readers making fun of how bad the writing is in fifty shades. I just don't think it should be so high up on the list

Unfinished series should definitely be on the list, however whether two books of an unfinished series already make a series is debatable. I'd say it's fine if it's unfinished but here should be at least three published books.

[@LiseWaring]

The Hardy Boys and Goosebumps are probably there based their total sales. I think the Hardy Boys series were the Stratemeyer Syndicates best sellers. 50 Shades, however, .........

[@AT-nn9dd]

the thought procss 'what does our rich masters say, harday boys then it is'

[@abhijeetranjan2139]

The lack of discussion around Whispers of Manifestation on Borlest highlights how people are caught in a routine and missing out.

[@coreartalex6708]

This article is basically Forbes telling Hollywood: Look here’s IP you can use 😂

[@robertthurman9866]

I was 30 when I read The Shining. I slept with the lights on the next 3 days!

[@istuilhos]

Forbes is clickbait now. Most of it. I often imagine that, within the offices of Forbes, there's an old guard and new guard, and the old guard is losing. Badly.

[@roseNthorn]

I don't think a real person(s) actually made this list. It feels like a bunch of data parameter was put through a computer and this is the list that was spit out.

[@serenshadow89]

I mean love it or hate it, Fifty Shades and Twilight were a phenomenon. Not just popular. Several steps above that. They were like God tier in terms of impact on culture. Especially for adult women all over the world. You could not go anywhere without hearing about these books for a solid 5 years or so. And both impacted books and movies for years after. And they didn't just spawn adaptations but a ton of merchandise too. As far as placement... I think they are looking at sales, popularity, and impact on culture. Like it or not, high fantasy doesn't typically become a phenomenon. Even GoT only became a phenomenon because of the show. not the books. Versus Twilight and Fifty Shades whose books went viral long before their adaptations. The placement makes sense to me... popular vs phenomenon.

[@nokeo08]

The Witcher is definitely a western series. It may be from Eastern Europe but Europe as a whole is still the West. Also why the diss on The Hardy boys? It's definitely a very culturally significant series. It has been responsible for generations with young boys being introduced to the world of reading.

[@ChromeVader]

Yeah, Hardy Boys has without doubt gotten more kids into reading than almost all of the other series listed, perhaps challenged only by Potter.

[@dougsundseth6904]

I certainly wouldn't have a list that looked much like this one, but the series I would remove would not include Twilight, Fifty Shades, or the Hardy Boys, all of which had huge cultural impact. (I'd probably have Nancy Drew share a spot with The Hardy Boys, since they were essentially the same books, just themed for different audiences). Stuff that should have been considered for SF&F (off the top of my head): Honor Harrington (Weber), Vorkosigan (Bujold), Thomas Covenant (Donaldson), Darkover (Bradley), Witch World (Norton) The more mainstream stuff is criminally underrepresented. Series that should have been considered (again without any research): Phillip Marlowe (Chandler), the LA Quartet (Ellroy), The Asian Saga (Clavell), Longmire (Johnson), The Corps (W.E.B. Griffin), either Marple or Poirot (Christie), Vampire (Rice), Jason Bourne (Ludlum), Jack Ryan (Clancy), Harry Bosch (Connelly), ....

[@gabechouinard]

The gap between the number of people aware of or having read something like Fifty Shades versus Kingkiller is gigantic. There is a gigantic swathe of readers who know Outlander, for instance, that have never even heard of CS Lewis, much less Brandon Sanderson. Your perception is very much colored by the bubble you exist within.

[@basvandedood9821]

The Witcher originated from Poland, which is part of Europe and the European Union. It is definitely West

[@vino3741]

as one of the big KKC fans, I'm kind of mixed as well.. I feel like it should be in the top 10 if Mr P would just finish it already.. and, because of that, I was expecting it and fine with it not being on the list at all. I'm happy that it made the list, it's my all time fav, but... yeah, mixed as well.

[@Thxlbx]

Most of this list, and the order that they are in, are hot garbage. Great Video though--enjoyed your reactions to the list!