Top 10 Longest Fantasy Series of All-Time

What are the longest fantasy series in existence?
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0:00 - Intro
0:27 - Honurable mentions
1:28 - 10
2:12 - 9
2:55 - 8
3:29 - 7
3:56 - 6
4:29 - 5
5:35 - 4
6:15 - 3
7:02 - 2
8:10 - 1
Music by Damien Sebe - Goodmorning, My Love - thmatc.co/?l=A052F6D6
Music by frumhere, kevatta - warm feeling - thmatc.co/?l=B7A3C83D

[@libraryofaviking]

Here is the list where I found the longest series for anyone interested! I think most series are on this list but it might not be 100% accurate since I haven't gone through and verified every single number: www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fzybw5ojrdyma1.png%3Fwidth%3D2186%26format%3Dpng%26auto%3Dwebp%26v%3Denabled%26s%3D959896c304bdcaef2aa0c8877146ac3a42900e76

[@turbokid8719]

Loved wizards first rule need to get back in the series people hate Goodkind because Zed the wizard has fantastic wisdom to live by.

[@spudthepug]

@@turbokid8719it’s Goodkind’s love of Ayn Rand’s philosophy that they really hate.

[@turbokid8719]

@@spudthepug yeah people tend to hate intelligence… she seems to be right up there with JK Rowling people just hate them 🤷

[@JasperJanssen]

No Perry Rhodan though.

[@theFrozeman]

​@spudthepug I think some of the hate comes from the politics, but a lot comes from how much of a juvenile power fantasy it is. It always kind of struck me as being written by a horny 14 year old DMing a campaign with his favorite character as a DMPC. Scenes of the mc punching through a guys guts and ripping his spine out the front, the lead trying to lure in someone to mind control by spreading herself open, the entire second book centers around magical dominatrixes... Content wise the whole thing comes off like an over the top comedy/erotica like Everyone Loves Large Chests, except it is painfully obvious that it isn't satire. I finished the original series out of sheer momentum, but with all the good stuff available now I'd never even think of recommending it.

[@GideonsRecruit]

Glad to see a booktuber talking about pre-90s fantasy. Don’t see enough love for some of these oldies.

[@AndrewFishman]

Those oldies are the besties. Shannara, Magician, Belgariad (all the versions whether Garion or Sparhawk), Thomas Covenant, Gemmel. So many great series and authors.

[@jamellelangfordiii3586]

So, Dragonlance has like over 100 books... no mention here?

[@christopherlambert5264]

I said the same thing. And I think it's actually at 190 books now, but I stopped reading after the second generation. Nope, haven't even read Raistlin chronicles yet.

[@dragonlee420]

Agreed, if Steven King made it then Dragonlance should.

[@matttedford7017]

Xanth is a big one too.

[@MelLarrabee-vl8vc]

Was literally looking for this. Honestly (though a few books out of the hundred plus were weird) the most epic fantasy series I've ever read. Currently very underrated for some reason.

[@PrinceMeNb1]

I guess it's not on here for the simple reason that there are so many different authors that wrote for this universe. It gained massive popularity with DnD so many just hopped on. I think if it would have been just Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman it would count and be inhumanly impressive. Even if they would have had co-writers like feist it would be ok. But that's just not the case

[@ClayHales]

I have a real hard time calling King's books a series. He wrote a bunch of stand alone books and then decided after the fact they were all in a shared universe.

[@84tand]

They’re not. The Gunslinger is a series, the rest (minus the Bill Hodges trilogy) are stand alones. I also don’t think his more recent books are in that universe.

[@psychnotesnews9306]

While I agree King's books are not a series, they are not all entirely stand alones either--for instance, Insomnia can be read that way, but there are definitely setting and character overlaps with the Dark Tower. So the shared universe is there, if you know where to look, and a reader will benefit from additional context, but almost all the novels can still be read as stand alones. A great way to write, IMO.

[@AndrewFishman]

In Tommyknockers, Nancy sees Pennywise looking from the drain in Derry, the books are all set in Castle Rock. There are references to other events from other King books in many of these, as local memories or things that happened in the area. Cujo is reference in, I think it was, The Dark Half, as a rabid dog. There is a reference also to the high school disturbance from Carrie in another of the Castle Rock novels. There is a universe, sure, but how connecte4d are the stories, only vaguely. The Walking Dude is Flagg from Tears of a Dragon.

[@bozman1678]

Start with Riftwar first, it gives you a better understanding of what is going on in Daughter of the Empire. There are also some cameos that will make more sense from reading Riftwar first.

[@MarkKing5606]

Or at the very least Magician. But he's correct in what he said about The Empire Trilogy being the cream of the Riftwar series.

[@terry9819]

Agree with this, read Magician first but Empire is an amazing trilogy.

[@Johan_g]

I would say Magician first, then Empire, followed by the rest.

[@AndrewFishman]

@@Johan_g I would think this was kind of a given. I read them as they were released, and then whenever I re-read them, I read Magician then the Empire, then Siverthorn, Sethanon.

[@MS-io6kl]

I hink I've read them all. But the only ones I come back to are the Daughter of the Empire trilogy.

[@lyngelinnethartmann2005]

Considering you did the list based on universes I think both Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms are kind of missing from the list… just Legend of Drizzt is listed with more than 3mio words on the Reddit list

[@masster71]

The Wandering Inn has become one of my favourite series up there with the Cosmere but for different reasons. I think its length lends it a lot of benefits, things don't ever feel rushed and I think that can lead to some really solid payoffs, and the length also means that you get a very good balance of extremely tense moments paired with moments that are muchcmore relaxing and more slice of life which is something I love. This series truly does include nearly every subgenre in fantasy and ao it has something for everyone. The main character Erin may not be for everyone, she is a very upbeat character, but there are so many great characters in this series that I think anyone can find someone to love. I listen to the audiobooks between other series I read and that has let me catch up on the officially published works while still reading other series.

[@enchantingaudiobooks]

Thanks to you now I added more books in my TBR list

[@safinan8008]

Wow 😯 liked ur video 🎥 didn’t know some of these books on ur list !! Thank you!! 😊

[@libraryofaviking]

Thank you, Safina!

[@GPTWisdomNugets]

I don't know if you'll see this, but let me explain the wandering inn. The wandering inn is actually 12 million words now! Which is insane! And its currently split between 10 Volumes on the web serial. Not books the books are coming out after the web serial, and they come out as audiobooks, or eBooks. So there are 12 books, but they only come up to volume 5, or 6? There's about 3 audiobooks every year because it's already written. When the series is finished it will be over 40. She writes about 20,000 words a week on average, so have fun catching up hahaha

[@arthurmoreira49]

is it even good? sounds to me like something people would read just to be able to say: "i did it"

[@nibblitman]

@@arthurmoreira49 I quit after the first book. There were a lot of words but they really were not saying a lot was the issue I had with it.

[@myrany8407]

Sometimes number of words does not equate to the best series. Shanara definitely is a great read. As are the Deryni books and the Pern books.

[@braillemasterjustin]

@@arthurmoreira49it really is good. Trust me, I can’t read a series I hate just for the bragging rights. It’s won best web serial of the year three times on the fantasy subreddit. I’m around 10 million words in. Though I think a good edit would cut out maybe half a million words, she makes almost every scene with important character development or builds things that either move the plot forward or sets up something that matters a few million words later.

[@susanp7386]

Thank you for these suggestions! Plenty there to keep us busy :-) I'm reading the Raymond E Feist series at the moment, and I would recommend starting with "Magician", which is the first book of the first trilogy. I can see that you could also start with Daughter of the Empire, which is set in the world on the other side of the rift to the first trilogy, but I think it helps to know the history of the conflict before you see it from the other side. "Magician" is 99p for the Kindle version in the UK at the moment, too!

[@micahhendrickson9809]

Yes, start with Magician for sure!

[@michaelldennis]

I agree starting with Magician. And do note that some editions split the book into two parts because it was a chunker when it first came out. I do love that first book but I do agree that the Empire trilogy is fantastic and has a different tone than Magician.

[@TheSwedeMcCoy]

Yes, start with Magician:Apprentice and Magician:Master. Then you read the whole Empire trilogy before you continue with Silverthorn and the rest och the Midkemia books. That way you keep the Tsuruani mystical in the beginning. Riftwar should in my mind include the Empire trilogy as well in the word count considering the connection they've got. One thing that is epic is to first read of a certain event with Pug's view and then later on relive the same event through the eyes of Mara and the uther horror she experienced during the event in question...

[@AndrewFishman]

@@michaelldennis I have the original Trade Paperback and the Extended Edition signed by Feist. They aren't THAT big.

[@CatOnFire]

Did you exclude all liscensed media? I expected the Legend of Drizzt to appear somewhere on this list. It is currently 39 books long and counting, all by the same author. I know that the books aren't massive tomes, like Stormlight, but I figured that total book count would easily make up for the difference.

[@krishogan3503]

The Drizzt Novels are at over 4,000,000 words.

[@CatOnFire]

@@krishogan3503 Sounds about right. Salvatore just reliably pumps out trilogies for decades and shows no signs of stopping.

[@krishogan3503]

@@CatOnFire most of it is good though

[@CatOnFire]

@@krishogan3503 Agreed!

[@shawnr6117]

And that's not even counting all the interconnected Forgotten Realms* books. *or whatever they're calling themselves now.

[@grumpyoldstudios]

Where does the The Dragonriders of Pern series fit in? With 26 primary books and a total of 52 total works I could not find a word count on it.

[@scottbeavan6896]

I was waiting for this series to pop up

[@michaelldennis]

So weird to hear someone say that fantasy books written in the 80s and 90s are "classics". LOL. I've read at least some books in all of those series except Malazan and the Wandering Inn.

[@libraryofaviking]

Haha fair point!

[@jmaa93]

Fall out boy is now on the classic rock satiation.

[@Kalyahna]

Malazan and The Wandering Inn are both wonderful but in very different ways. Malazan is *dense* with characters and lore and it felt very sink or swim to me. There's no slow introduction as there is in most other series. But the worldbuilding is far and away the best I've ever read, the characters are complex and memorable from the start. It's very much a story of friendships and companionship and survival. It goes very dark at times. TWI is a slow lead-in sort of story. It starts very small and local and then starts expanding and keeps expanding into the wider world. The characters are simple at first, but I'd compare it more to how when you meet someone new, you get that first simple impression and as you get to know them better, you find they have layers and secrets and quirks. You don't always like each of those things, but it makes them feel like real people to me, and real people can be smart and stupid, wonderful and annoying, compassionate and judgmental all at the same time.

[@jonweman6128]

Tolkien only became really big in the 60:s I think and only in the 70:s "fantasy" appeared as a genre. It was more or less in the 80:s that the fantasy formula of trilogies or longer series with an overarching big conflict (generally between good and evil in some form) became established with authors who at the same time made it their own rather than straight-out imitating Tolkien.

[@AndrewFishman]

@@jonweman6128 Being along for the ride was great. Authors like Brooks, Feist and Gemmel releasing new works, looking forward to new authors. A great time to be a reader.

[@danielgrey7109]

Curious to know where Terry Brooks' Shannara falls in terms of length if Terry Goodkind managed to get more words into Sword of Truth than Brooks did Shannara, as well as Terry Pratchett's Discworld.

[@CalamityKitty]

Same. I kept thinking it would pop up on this video

[@ReeveProductions]

At 0:58 he tells you discworld is in stop #19.

[@danielgrey7109]

@@ReeveProductions yeah, I wasn't concerned with Discworld. Shannara has more books of similar thickness to the Sword of Truth, plus a lot of supplementary material like novellas and a comic book, and somehow doesn't make the list? Doesn't seem possible.

[@Archadies]

@@danielgrey7109 He missed Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of PERN also. And thats 24 books.

[@DianaW3431]

If you look at the list pinned in the comments, it comes in at #11.

[@Arsenal.N.I7242]

Don't forget Michael Moorcock's Multiverse series ( The Eternal Champion ). Loads of books and characters and worlds to explore.

[@nightmarishcompositions4536]

Yup. They’re all extremely short and fast paced though. You could read 12 Eternal Champion books faster than a Game of Thrones book.

[@Arsenal.N.I7242]

Yea true but with 60 odd books, not counting the short stories I'd say it's a big enough series to keep anyone busy for awhile. For me personally I love the short fast paced style of Moorcock's writing... He packs a lot of story and wonder in his tight prose that lets the reader use there imagination more instead of having every detail wrote out for them.

[@nightmarishcompositions4536]

@@Arsenal.N.I7242 Totally agree. He’s my favorite fantasy writer. Corum, Elric, Erekose and the rest of the gang are some really fascinating characters that have some of the most wicked designs and creative story arcs in fantasy history.

[@Arsenal.N.I7242]

@@nightmarishcompositions4536 checking out your content on your channel man great stuff 👍🏻 🙂 I've subscribed.

[@examenesinternacionalesaf3576]

@@nightmarishcompositions4536 Thankssss guys for the recomendation! I'm learning English and I've never read fantasy in English, so I was looking for fast-paced or easy fantasy to start. I add Moorcock's Multiverse, also I want to read "Deltora Quest" by Rodda Emily (middle grade) and "The Chronicles of Amber" by Roger Zelazny, those two series have really short books (less than 180-200 pages each book)

[@greciafilia5343]

It's strange not to see Dragonlance or Forgotten Realms in the reddit list! Btw I'm curious about The Wandering Inn... it can't be a physical publication, right? 😱

[@grahamoliver1470]

Honestly Dragonlance was one of the first to come to mind for me. I remember reading so many of then when I was younger. If I recall correctly, someone told me there are over 200 books in the series.

[@toddellis5294]

I was waiting for Dragonlance as I understand it's closer to 300 books now.

[@adorabell4253]

I just did a dirty count and with the lowest estimate and only counting Weiss and Hickman we're at 2305955 and that's missing 3 books that I don't have page counts for and that's with 250 words per page as listed on wiki.

[@kylefultz86]

Was scrolling down to look for this before I posted since this was my exact thought, by the description he gave in the video during the Stephen king section stand-alones in the same universe. Dragonlance is a giant pile of trilogies in the same universe

[@oliverdemille8388]

For what it's worth, The Saga of Recluse does have modern entries. The most recent book came out January 2024 and there's another one scheduled for release in November. In addition, if all your numbers are from last year, you're probably not counting that January release.

[@MercenaryPen]

Would be interesting to see a list of this sort done for Science Fiction as well- I've read some longish SF series but I wonder whether they'll even feature on such a list

[@Epicmission48]

Did not expect wandering inn on this 😂 I started reading it back when the first couple chapters were out, maybe I should revisit it?

[@Fianna1775]

I was very happy to hear you mention Xanth. My birth father loved that series as a child and he gave the whole series to me the first time I went to visit his family. I have read some of them and they can be a real trip. I went into the first one thinking it would be a cute kids story kind of like Redwall. It threw in some.elements that I wouldn’t give young kid. Still really funny and I would recommend. The map of the world is literally Florida. Hmmm….maybe this isn’t really a fantasy series after all. 🤔 🐊

[@vidaenello]

I'll keep this video in my favorites to check some of these sagas. It'd have been cool to know what they're about instead of the number of words they have but thank you

[@nowimpanickin7167]

Fun fact, 11.3million words is on average 5081 words written a day(rounded down!) Which is insane since it’s one person. I’m on book 5 of the Wandering Inn currently, and the quality has only gotten better, which is even MORE mind boggling. There have been story beats I haven’t been particularly happy with recently but that’s more to me thinking “SERIOUSLY! Give this character a break!” But overall it has been an absolute pleasure!

[@keltdavies8792]

For the Riftworld series, you should read Magician first (both Apprentice and Master). Then you should read Daughter and Servant of the Empire, then finish the Riftwar books, and then Mistress of the Empire.

[@Archadies]

I loved every character from the first two trilogies.

[@Asomii]

I think Joe Dever's Lone Wolf gamebook series have also insane amount of word count (2.5M fosho, dunno if more) and it ended at like 31 books, with now all of them getting an extended editions that add previously cut content making them even larger

[@pappywinky4749]

The wandering inn felt intimidating but its surprisingly easy and fast to read. My wife has already read 9 of them in just a couple of months and only reads casually. The world building is very slow, so you dont feel overwhelmed by a ton of descriptions or info dumps. Its a serial so she barely edits, she just writes and give sort of a cursory edit. Apparently the community provides edits. The author has talk about her process a lot, its pretty fascinating.

[@claudiamcfie1265]

First one that came to mind (before seeing the video) was Terry Pratchet's disk world series... based on numbers of books.

[@wtfserpico]

The Malazan books remain my favorite story(ies) of all time. I've done 4 readthroughs to date, taking a break to read other things in between, and each time I go back to Malazan I appreciate it more.

[@purplelibraryguy8729]

I found the Malazan books really impressive (the main sequence, so far have only read a couple of the others). But I would have to say that particularly in the later books, they could have used some editing. There were some ridiculously long stretches of nothing much happening except soldiers bitching about everything, which is realistic but I could have used to read about a third as much of it. Aside from that, though, there was some amazing storytelling, powerful emotion, massive depth, philosophical impact, cool plot bits . . . I'd say it's the most important fantasy series of the 21st century so far. Not of all time, that's LoTR obviously.

[@wtfserpico]

@@purplelibraryguy8729 Fair points all around. I find that my tolerance for the Malazan bloat has actually increased greatly over time with each reread, especially compared against a LOT of the other stuff I've read in between.

[@lostwizard]

The Malazan stuff is insane. It covers something like 250,000 years of its world history in some manner in the main series. It could have stood a little tighter editing in the later volumes of the main series, but most of that sitting around complaining type stuff actually serves a purpose in the grander narrative or at least from a character development perspective. What I remember most strongly, though, is that the first volume felt like an entire series all on its own, to the point that when I reread it years later when I went on to read the whole main series, I was surprised to discover that what I remembered was only the first book.

[@mikepalmer2219]

It is a very damn good series.

[@ReeveProductions]

Oh, if you like the realm of the elderlings you will definitely love the realm of valdemar. While you can start anywhere I recommend starting at the first published, and then going in roughly release order. Release order isn’t necessary, but at the very least read each trilogy release order, and be aware of which trilogies are expansions of previous trilogies. I’m honestly surprised how many of these giant universes I’ve at least dabbled in, I think I’ve read at least one book in a third of the ones you mentioned.

[@meganfoster8838]

Some favourites on that list, especially Valdemar. Valdemar isn't the only series by that author, either, so if you haven't read any Mercedes Lackey yet, give it a go. Surprised not to see Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern novels on there, as there are certainly a lot of those.

[@katrinaedgar816]

I think mercedes lackey is some of the best books out there and would recommend it to any fantasy reader so many excellent story's but the one that had me tearing up was Brightly Burning.

[@pearlkonopa6088]

Love this series! And it's still going, 2 books in the last year.

[@Archadies]

@@katrinaedgar816 Brightly Burning.... I read that like 20 years ago. That one hits hard. One of the books, can't remember what one. Has an ending where you learn how committed a small group of souls are to the kingdom. It makes you sit there just thinking about all the books before it. I wish I could remember what book it was though.

[@JoHenn]

I love Valdemar series and have all of them, just finished the latest one! McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern is considered Science Fiction since the Dragons were (originally) lab-created, and the later books showing it to be a planet colonization .

[@JoHenn]

⁠​⁠@@Archadieshave you got any more details on the one you’re trying to remember ? I’ve got all of them. I might be able to help figure out which one it is.

[@DavidHixson]

I've fallen off a couple of these, but I'm 100% on the Recluse books and I've read them since it started. Great to see Feist and Lackey getting a shout out from the past. I was huge on Piers Anthony but things definitely went off the rails a couple decades ago.

[@AtalantaAsh95]

I've read 80-90% of The Sword of Truth series and enjoyed it. I read it before I was really exposed to more of the fantasy world and now that I'm more familiar with so much more Sci-fi/Fantasy... I still think it holds up.

[@wolfme4030]

Thank you so much for introducing me to The Wandering Inn series. The first 2 were on a buy one get one free on Audible so I spent a credit. I’m only on chapter 2 but am loving it. I’m not too sure that this would be a series for you, though as it is a humorous litrpg/iseki series. The narrator so far has been brilliant and I don’t think I will have a problem listening to her for the next 43 hours, that’s just the first book. 😂 For anyone who reads digitally, on Kindle at least, the books are only a few £’s each in the UK, so I suppose they won’t be too expensive in other countries. 🎉 Alternatively, it is legally free online 😂

[@Emroczart]

You should do an all genres one… great vid

[@libraryofaviking]

Thank you!

[@craigalexander9421]

I think if an all genres version was done then the Perry Rhodan would be at the top or pretty close.

[@henningaase8519]

i actually got audible just too listen too the wandering in, and i do not regret it at all! it is fantastic! also quite supprised discworld didnt made the list.

[@IowaJay]

If you would have grown up in the 1980s in the U.S., you would have seen how Anthony and Lackey dominated the fantasy shelves of mall bookstores. There are still lots of copies circulating in used bookstores.

[@ten7prime179]

These would be my go to books from the library when I ran out of things to read. New ones always seem to pop up.

[@gossamerabba]

And McCaffrey

[@nicholastaylor9687]

The only books of Anthony's I have enjoyed are the Incarnations of Immortality. Xanth had too many descriptions of girls panties and though I usually have a strong constitution I got a seriously Icky feeling from them and then there is Tyrant which was somehow worse. (*spoiler alert* the main character who is around 15 years old gets graped by his 12 year old sister whilst he is delirious.) After that I just couldn't look at his work the same way or ever revisit it.

[@ten7prime179]

@@nicholastaylor9687 agreed. I read Anthony’s book as a teen. Tried a reread and stopped. Prefer the nostalgia in memory.

[@tychozzyx9439]

On the one hand, Anthony's books have some excellent characters and amazing worlds with an ability to theme otherwise surface-level books very well. His series feature Multiverse travel between parallel worlds by a plane running across them where you walk world to world in about 10 yards, an exploration of cold war politics by personifying planets, a hero so chosen because of his unspectacular person, and a schmuck barely getting by because he's too nice to take proper advantage of people for profit. On the other hand, reading his books may frequently leave you feeling like you're reading an old man's wet dreams. Exciting as a teen, but more sleazy as an adult

[@harshgarg1448]

I highly recommend going through wandering inn author's interview with matt fantasy book reviews before judging it. You will get the vibes of the series from the interview A common pitch for recommending wandering inn is it being called malazan lite.

[@kevinschultz6091]

The Dragonlance saga (based off of the D&D module and later campaign setting) has 205 books in its series; don't know if it counts though, as it's done by different authors.

[@amateurcrastinator9523]

I've read many of the Xanth books. They are actually a lot of fun. In some ways they are classic fantasy. In other ways, a bit less so. They have a few more adult elements. But I read them in junior high and wasn't concerned. If I'm not mistaken, he is STILL writing them.

[@margueritecorbett883]

I love seeing older fantasy books mentioned! I've read many many Xanth books, they are middle grade to YA, but some other works by that author are decidedly NOT. I've read every single book in the Valdamar series including the book that came out last year! I'm so glad she is still writing books that instantly transport me back to my collage days. The Valdamar books are YA, as are most of her many other series she has also written. I finished the last Robin Hobb book in December, and have one Dresden Files book to be up to date. I think I've read all of Sir Terry Pratchett's works. I don't really read Steven King anymore, but I've read at least half his work.... An amazing author with 20 books in one universe in two connected series is Patricia Briggs, I recommend her Mercy Thompson/Alpha and Omega series. Which author should I take a deep dive into next?

[@AndrewFishman]

The Xanth books are great. Piers Anthony was definitely an author worth reading. Some of his work is top notch, all of it is entertaining and amusing. A Spell for Chameleon, Source of Magic and Castle Roogna are still some of my favourite books to reread.

[@orinrayner]

The Xanth series is actually a fantastical alternate reality of the state of Florida (not joking.) And the concepts of the the world revolve around puns and plays on words. A "Night Mare" is a literal horse. "Isle of View" = "I Love You". "Centaur Isle/Center Aisle" etc. It's a playful, tongue-in-cheek series. Not sure if I'd compare it too closely to Discworld, because it's a lot more of a surface-level kind of humor. But it's still funny and epic in it's own way. A lot of the series is broken up into sets of trilogies. Hope that helps. (UPDATE: Since posting this comment, I've looked into Xanth again and realized that is has a lot of problems I didn't understand before. I'm gonna have to withdraw my recommendation for it. It, uh, doesn't old up well.)

[@BariiAlyn]

I used to love these books but I tried them recently along with his Incarnations of Immortality but I just can't get past the ah, shall we say, "male gaze" issue he has. I was a early-mid teen when I first read them but as an adult I just can't do it. Not to mention that having had kids makes this even harder to read.

[@Cathowl]

@@BariiAlyn God yeah I tried to reread it as an adult -- used to LOVE them, so much -- and his treatment of female characters is... uncomfortable. I had quit previously because I got up to the book with the goblin protagonist and found it exceedingly repetitive and the way the narrative framed the protagonist's personality really displeased me. It's tied up with spoilers so I don't want to be more specific. It's a shame because there's still so many fun ideas and puns in the stories. I don't even mind the weird implications of the Love Springs (never think too hard about the love springs) But I just can't go back any more.

[@tautology_zero]

The first 9 are good, although they get weaker as they go on (with some exceptions, e.g. Night Mare); but after that they just get very samey with a lot of dodginess in reference to the young teen female characters. I think I got to book 18 before I just had enough and got rid of them to make space for better books.

[@orinrayner]

@@BariiAlyn *Sigh* Yeah... can't argue that it didn't age well.

[@orinrayner]

@@Cathowl Yeah, it really doesn't hold up well. Kind of a bummer in retrospect.

[@mandyhuybregts3235]

You should check up on Dragon Lance books. There are so much. And apparently all connected. I have read some. But i gave up collecting haha

[@Harley24986]

I am surprised Dragonlance isn't on this list somewhere with 38 books in the series. One of my favorites.

[@Ian_-gf3cp]

There are 190+ Dragonlance books.

[@guycullum3927]

I will admit i have only listened to the audio books, but the Wandering Inn is an amazing vast world that is constantly growing and filling in more and more of the world as it goes. It has an amazing fleshing out of the goblin race to a point you totally care about them in a way i haven't seen done anywhere else. There are multiple races, cities, continents and different systems of government that even when appalling you can understand why they exist in the place they do exist. Historical reasons for all kinds of things are hinted at building a great world. Let alone the magic systems, that are used really well as plot movers. There is so much left to discover in the world and love that it exists. If you don't think you can read it it is definitely worth a listen. Especially as each book is around 40 hours so well worth a credit on audible, and great performance as well.

[@84tand]

I think their should be a distinction between a series that is on continuous story, like WOT and a series that is several distinct but interconnected stories, like 1st Law or Realm of the Elderlings

[@masoodvoon8999]

I don't know if we know for sure how 1st law ends yet because I feel like there will be another series to tie in the end of the last to the beginning.

[@84tand]

@@masoodvoon8999 that’s fair and maybe I should have used a better example. The thing with 1st law is that you can pick up and read The Heroes or Best Served Cold without having first read the original trilogy. Sure you might not get some of the Easter eggs, but you’ll still know what’s going on. With WOT, you can’t just read Path of Daggers without reading the previous books because it’s all one continuous story.

[@spudthepug]

Continuous story thread vs universal story thread. Like WoT vs The Cosmere.

[@DBShouse69]

I was wondering where the Dragonriders of Pern came in at, or possibly it's considered science fiction not fantasy.

[@miketogwell1000]

Probably Counts as sci-fi , they arrive in spaceship and the dragons are genetically modified (so are the dolphins), I was expecting the dragonlannce books at approaching 200 novels

[@jesskate6244]

Raymond E Feist and the Recluse series are awesome. You don't actually need to read them in order I found personally tbh. I love The magic of Recluse by Modesitt and Talon of the Silver Hawk by Feist

[@aceshigh3122]

Katherine Kerr Deverry cycle got me back into reading. good 15 books

[@alananimus9145]

I was confused when you included some books but then i realized you were including books that aren't saga's. The wandering inn is epic.

[@jonathanholifield7580]

In regards to the wandering inn, the author writes 2 chapters a week and posts them to a website where you can read for free. They are broken up into 9 volumes. Only recently has a publisher been breaking up the volumes into books with 11 books out so far. Those 11 books only cover the first 6 volumes so there are still many more books that will come out.

[@libraryofaviking]

That is very helpful! An insane amount of words though!

[@danielgwynne7266]

Writing volume 10 atm and well those 11 books cover under 1/3 of all the currently written stuff

[@JadeDragonSilkPhoenix]

So, after watching this video I decided to read The Wandering Inn. As the author states in the epilogue, there are some typos, grammatical errors, etc. throughout the book, but I couldn't put it down. Read book one in 4 days. Starting book 2 now. Have to say, I'm kind of into it. At some point you might need to give it a try.

[@dangauldin6497]

I grew up reading the Xanth series. Good stuff, especially in the beginning. The first 10 or so are the best part. I would agree with another commenter below, the later books fall off as it becomes "forced" to be punny, where the entire series is rooted in puns and humor. It came much easier in the early books. But conceptually, its still a fun series.

[@lvht1948]

I've read all of the Wandering Inn series so far, and I can confirm it's a single, extremely prolific author. The first book was... not great. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't in my top 100 books of all time, but it was interesting enough for me to try the second book, and the third... and by the time I was reading the fourth I realized I was hooked. It's not the most well written series of all time, but it does have the time to do all the world-building and in-depth character stories that you could ever want... and when this series hints at a checkov's gun... you may have to wait a couple MILLION words for the payday... but after all that buildup, those paydays are always really good. Took me nearly 6 months to read! Now I check every week for updates... it's one I'm absolutely going to continue reading. I've read a large number of the series you featured here... I love longer stories, but the Wandering Inn is certainly worth your time if you want to get seriously invested in an absolutely massive story.

[@markofascribe9528]

Wow, didn’t even know these page stats were available. Pretty staggering figures 😮

[@johnherrmann302]

I have been reading the Wandering Inn as my "supplemental" read for almost 3 years now and am still nowhere near catching up. It's what I read at night in conjunction to my "primary" book. It is easily one of my all time favorite series and one I recommend constantly to my friends. I know its daunting but everyone should give it a try if they are looking for a series that tackles every subgenre possible in a fantasy world

[@JRCSalter]

It honestly sounds impossible for something with twice the output of Stephen King's entire career released in about a tenth of the time to be anywhere near good. I'd be happy if it were good, as I really like long series (pretty much the only reason I picked up WoT in the first place)

[@itrololo194]

​@@JRCSalterIt's written so fast because it's an internet series. The author publishes chapters as they're written. And I don't think there's any editing.

[@JRCSalter]

@@itrololo194 I suppose that makes sense. Editing is often a necessity to make a story even remotely good though. I know Dean Wesley Smith, a successful author, is dead set against editing as a requirement, and I've read some of his stuff. It's readable, but far from brilliant. I myself have published stuff that isn't heavily edited, and I don't believe it's all that great. I'm wondering whether this is just a really well written series of blogs, and as such is liked for that achievement, rather than being judged on being a book. I'll have to check it out myself to see.

[@nibblitman]

@@JRCSalter It’s long and people say oh keep with it for a few books(3,000,000+ words) and you start to really get into it but honestly if you need that long to hook people I feel like it might be Stockholm Syndrome setting in.

[@JRCSalter]

@@nibblitman I picked up the audiobook with a free trial, and listened to it while doing housework, as I didn't think I'd be able to actually read something like that with all the other books I'm reading. I am about 3 quarters the way through the first volume, and I must say I am loving it.

[@sarahb4615]

The Xanth series by Piers Anthony is comparable to the Terry Pratchett Disc World Series. A lot of silly humor and all the stories are set in the same world but with different characters. I remember reading these books as a kid and I still reference some of the books and characters 😊

[@godofthemodernlands]

Okay ENOUGH. The true longest piece of literature and a stand alone on top of that - no other shared universe and stuff involved - is the novel Bringing a Farm to Live in Another World. This novel has a whooping 14,000 chapters! With each chapter having around 1,500 words so you multiply that 14,000 multiplied by 1,500 then you get a Whooping 21 MILLION word count AND this novel is still ongoing, it could potentially reach 20,000 chapters. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK

[@firenthefire2]

I've been going through Saga of Recluce and other Modesitt works like The Imager Portfolio and his most recent series The Grand Illusion and he has become one of my favorite authors but he's definitely not for everyone. Even though Recluce is a fairly standard medieval fantasy it's got a very interesting structure where each book is set during a different period of the world, for example one book might be set in an early medieval period and the other is set in an industrial revolution period and you get to see how the world changes and develops/regresses with each book and the magic system is fairly interesting as well with a great focus being put on the effect the use of magic has on the world. He generally focuses on the day to day activites of a character and slowly building up the story over constantly moving the plot forward thus people could find his stuff slow or boring, especially in Imager and The Grand Illusion where there is a great focus on the economics and the politics of the world and Modesitt goes into great detail when those two areas are in question.

[@michaelldennis]

I do like his books, particularly the Imager books, specifically because you get to see someone think through how to make something work and the day-to-day progression of that effort. I mentally use the phrase "procedural fantasy" for this type of work (I know, it only makes sense to me). But a lot of people won't enjoy that kind of novel.

[@libraryofaviking]

Very insightful! Thank you!

[@firenthefire2]

@@michaelldennis Yes, and another thing I really like about his works is that his main characters are all very skilled. The don't just know combat/magic skills but they all know some sort of a craft. In Recluce one is a carpenter, another a blacksmith and in Imager Rhenn is a potraiturist. The rest of the characters tend to be just as skilled, competent and intelligent including the antagonists.

[@bozman1678]

So far the only Modesitt works I've read is the Corean Chronicles, which I loved. I purchased the ebook bundle they had on humble a while ago and will work through Recluse eventaully.

[@karenlp5867]

I love fantasy novels that are on a really epic scale. I’ve read The Wheel of Time, The realm of the elderlings, and The stormlight archive multiple times, and now I’m looking for something new. After reading your comment, I’m really looking forward to trying out Saga of Recluce. I love the idea of a series that goes through different time periods so you can see how things develop. I really hope I will enjoy them as much as you do.

[@YoFool.1506]

I was waiting for Xanth! Yup I've read around thirty ish of them. Quite a saga. You can read the first 6 ish and get an idea of it. The series is broken into sequels, trilogies, standalone stories. Sometimes it focuses on a character for a few books, then moves on and uses that character as a supporting character in subsequent books. You gotta appreciate puns. Lots of puns in the fantasy naming conventions of piers Anthony.

[@AndrewFishman]

Xanth is brilliant

[@Cathowl]

I absolutely love the Valdemar series, but it's very much written at teenage who yearn to belong somewhere and Matter and be taken seriously. They're incredible fun, in my opinion, but you have to have the taste for them. So I have no idea if I should recommend them to you specifically or not. I suppose try a few and see what you think?

[@willow514]

I’m only on book 2 but for the Wandering Inn, I’d recommend listening to the audiobook.

[@libraryofaviking]

It is on my tbr but it is such a commitment!

[@AncaBenca]

I second that 👆

[@willow514]

@@libraryofaviking they are a big time commitment but if you listen to them at a higher speed like 1.5x you can shave 20 hours off them.

[@harshgarg1448]

Don't be initimated by wandering inn, it seems daunting if you see its length, but once you start reading it you will not stop. I caught up to wandering inn 2 years ago and have re tead it once more and am caughtup to series , and I find it much more bingeable than cosmere. As I have only read stormlightarchive , it is below wandering imo.

[@thesleepingwolf]

Read first Riftwar before Daughter, much of the things happening in that are dependent on events from first 3 books. Surprised Shannara and Void books didn't make the list.

[@markmaison4436]

Anthony was written to be accessible to a younger audience, but its thematically different than a modern YA novel, and if I remember right it is high fantasy but also comedic in nature.

[@RosLanta]

The only one new to me is the series by Michelle West, which I'll now have to look up. I suspect I've read a lot more older/classic fantasy than most people on BookTube though

[@MargueriteKrux2]

Same. I haven't read all the books in the mentioned series, but I have read some of each series except for Michelle West's.

[@danielbanks9978]

The first 6 books of the Realm of the Elderlings are free on Audible (you might need a subscription, but it doesn't cost credits) and I started with the 4th book, Ship of Magic, and am addicted to it. Robin Hobbs can write some awesome characters!

[@rudykraft5526]

The author of the recluse books, LE Modesitt Jr., is my favorite living author, and I read all his new books within a day of when they published

[@caewing85]

I love the Xanth novels! They are delightful! I haven’t read all of them, but they are so hilarious!

[@dannyboi1975]

OMG, I have read the Valdemar books by Mercedes Lackey and she has created such a full and diverse world with her Valdemar novels. It's so immersive and completely enthralling, that I have trouble putting her books down to sleep much less doing anything else. I highly recommend any and all of her books, especially the Valdemar novels.

[@Gefardino]

Definitely finish Malazan! Absolutely worth the effort

[@Spiderweb444]

The wandering inn being the longest and that just started 6-7 years ago.. this is insane. No words.

[@howardadamkramer]

The Xanth series is a lot of fun. It contains a lot of dad humor. The author still refers to it as a "trilogy". The first eight are excellent, but they kind of go downhill from there. Also, I was stunned not to see the Dragonlance series. There has to be at least 40 books by now.

[@ericneff9908]

Fun Video!

[@regitzexenia]

The longest fantasy series I’ve read is The Legend of the Ice People, originally in Norwegian. It is 47 books long 😅 the two follow up series are 15 and 20 books respectively 📚📚📚

[@sobecin]

Spell for Chameleon is one of the funniest books I have ever read. And Saga of Recluse is an incredible series, and my favorite author of all time.

[@DianaW3431]

Spell for Chameleon was a fun book!

[@miandagny]

As of last year Cosmere is just a bit over 3.9 million words not counting white sand which from what i can find is estimated at 40k per volume so approximately another 120ish thousand words? doesn't really change much but it was easy to look up at least =)

[@Firu-jd4vq]

Honourable mention: Reverend Insanity with 5.0 million Words, and it is not completed yet. But one of the best book series ever.

[@neilthehermit4655]

Honourable mentions. The Dr. Who books, The Perry Rhodan series also.

[@silverherder710]

It always makes me wonder how so many people who love fantasy cant get into or finish Malazan. Its got everything a fantasy reader could ever want. When I picked it up, it consumed me. I couldn't put it down, and when i had to put it down, i couldn't stop thinking about it.

[@morleywritesbooks]

hm. I'm surprised the Drizzt series and Dragon Lance series didn't make the cut. Lackey, though, i knew had quite a lot, but I didn't know it was quite that many

[@masoodvoon8999]

dragonlance probably because it was weiss and hickman's books weren't too long and the rest of the books were other authors. Salvatore's #13. If you look at the graphic his books are like 25-20% of some the other authors' books in length.

[@morleywritesbooks]

ahhhh, understood@@masoodvoon8999 :)

[@tammy2786]

I agree, if you include Stephen kings "series" dragonlance should be looked at, regardless of who authored it

[@adorabell4253]

@@masoodvoon8999 Weiss and Hickman are at 2413955 words. They should be up there.

[@DianaW3431]

If you look at the list pinned in the comments, Drizzt comes in at #13.

[@CalamityKitty]

42 books in Terry Brooks Shannara series. Should definitely be on here.

[@DianaW3431]

If you look at the list pinned in the comments, it comes in at #11.

[@dustmaker1000]

What should be on this lis list is “Wild Cards” by George RR Martin. There are about 18 books and one of my favorite fantasy series. An alien race with a biology similar to humans, releases a virus on the earth that kills over 90% of the population. Those that survive are classifies as Aces or Jokers. The Aces have favorable powers, each unique. The jokers have unfavorable mutations. This series is definitely for adults and very entertaining

[@rohan1970b]

Read the early Riftwar and loved them. Read about 2/3 of the Xanth Series.

[@ReidMac]

Feist, Modesitt, and Anthony are some of my favorite authors and I highly recommend reading their works. All things equal, it is best to read them in chronological order.

[@chrismcknight7164]

After reading the dark tower series, I went through a phase of re-reading Stephen King novels to spot the DT references I missed the first time.

[@lilsprugga]

So, as they came out, I read every disc world novel. I called it my annual holiday. Now I don't read much because all the good authors are gone or not writing new stuff. But it is interesting to know how many words I've read with just the disc world novels. And I never read a book just once, either. Goodness. What a lot of words rattling around in my brain!! And should you count unfinished as part of the list of longest series?

[@shadowdancenz]

It is an easy read. Online chapters are in effect mini stories, so if you do take a break and then go back to it, you will be fine. The author cites on her website it is at 12.4 million words now. She is a machine of a writer. And yes - it is an incredible story. Fun, entertaining, thought provoking and has hidden depth. I am loving it

[@SpyroCynderFan]

Finally someone talks about The Sword of Truth series! It is hands down my favorite fantasy series of all time!! I highly recommend it!

[@coffeewithstas]

OMG I never realised it’s so long worlds wise. My favourites are : Wizard’s First Rule, Faith of the Fallen , Confessor, Warheart,

[@libraryofaviking]

Oh interesting!

[@danielgwynne7266]

It ain’t really held in that high regard among modern fantasy fans

[@death808bob8]

I'm surprised that Dragon Lance was not on the list. Or all the Warhammer 40k books, there is a ton of those.

[@georgekamerick1629]

The valdemar series is broken up into several trilogies and duoligies focusing and a few standalone all set in the same world but focused on a different main character in each one

[@iandeveroux4815]

I cut my teeth on Pierce Anthony's Xanth series when I was a child. The creativity kept my young mind enthralled and was what had me reading throughout my childhood. If you have kids, I would definetely see if they are interested.

[@fezzman9898]

Pirate is actually just a super advanced version of chatgpt. Also, Dragonlance has nearly 200 books (More of a universe than a single series). I would say the crown still goes to Kaoru Kurimoto's Guin Saga, at 147 volumes and 26 side novels.

[@robertbellisario396]

I’ve read most of the Valdemar books I love them! Def not YA lots of adult themes in there. I find it hard to believe the Shannara series by Terry Brooks isn’t on the list…

[@rogerhuggettjr.7675]

I finished WOT after 15 months and am now reading Elantris with Mistborn and the rest of the Cosmere on deck. Xanth is a great series and one I read the first 15 books of almost 40 years ago in high school. Pun based so if you like Aspirin or Discworld you'll like Xanth. Terry Brooks' Shannara should be on the list at 4,732,630 words. Anne McCaffrey's Dragonflight had to be around 20 books as well.

[@Adrian.frost57]

I'm wondering what the 10 longest book Sci-fi series are and if series by multiple authors count? Because I am thinking that if so, Doctor Who, Star Trek and Star Wars would be up there. Some prolific Sci-fi authors also set all their novels in the same universe such as Asimov and the Dune series. Perhaps franchise literature and Sci-fi merit their own lists. Do you include Holmes in franchise literature and do any of the pastiche literature by multiple authors really constitute a series?

[@olddangfool]

Perry Rhodan

[@victormossiii1196]

The Valdemar Series is a favorite series that my grandmother reads. The Xanth series the same grandmother read to me as a child growing up. Both are good. Valdemar is a classic fantasy series that takes place in the land of Valdemar ..... Many adventures with magic. Xanth is series based in the world of Xanth: which is shaped like the State of Florida. Everyone has powers. Some are hilarious. There is weird vegetation very similar to: Alice in Wonderland. Talking plants and animals. Check them both out!

[@Degrad21]

stormlight alone will be longer then wheel of time in the end. it is planned as a 10 book Series. But still, holy crap respect to these autors and their massive works

[@Alucard15423]

First up the 12 released books on Kindle/audible are only about 1/4th of the Wandering inn and reach about half way into Volume 6 of the Web Series released on the authors website. At the start of this year Volume 9 finally finished and according to a chart from the Official Discord, the series was at 12.919 Million words at that point. (with the chapters released since it easily is over 13 mil). All in all there is about 40 Books worth of TWI to be read. Yes this series is very much worth a read. Great world building and tons of complex and great characters. Book 1 is rough if you don't read the rewritten version currently only available the website. Later this year with the Kickstarter for the physical Book 1 and the release of the re recorded audiobook i hope more booktubers will give this series a shot. Also the Audiobooks are just absolutely fantastic! Andrea Parsneau quickly became my no1 audiobook Narrator and i had listened to over 200 books before that.

[@jdev3005]

You should check out the Horus Hersey books from the Warhammer universe.

[@larryladeroute971]

Sanderson should probably counted as the entire Cosmere. I think this should be a 'by one author list' which would shorten Malazan, Riftwar, and WOT at least. If you include multiple authors then the Forgotten Realms amd Dragonlance come into play. Conan may even make the list. Probably some others as well.