Top 10: The Best Self-Published Fantasy Books I've Read

It's about time I did this one - this is my top ten favourite self-published fantasy books. I love self-pub fantasy, and you can find ten of the best here, plus some honourable mentions.
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
1:56 Honourable Mentions
3:45 Book 10
5:05 Book 9
6:06 Book 8
7:23 Book 7
8:44 Book 6
10:21 Book 5
11:29 Book 4
12:55 Book 3
14:23 Book 2
16:29 Book 1
18:47 Outro
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[@RyanCahillAuthor]

I'm absolutely honoured, Dom! Thank you for dedicating so much of your time to my books, and to books in general. There's very few things that put as much of a smile on my face than seeing someone who is truly passionate about fantasy just smashing through books. You've got an amazing list there, and long may the good times roll!

[@dominishbooks]

Thank you so much Ryan, and as the rest of the comments seem to agree, I must be right about ODAL!

[@tabdallaauthor]

Wooo so happy to be featured in your top 10, Dom! Great company too!

[@dominishbooks]

Thanks and congratulations Thiago!

[@shadowcreature7598]

Dragon mage is my fav book I've read so far. I read it so quickly as well for a big book. It really just was right up my alley.

[@IndieAccords]

Currently reading A Touch Of Light and Of Darkness and Light and think these will both be in my top 10. Agree with all of the ones that I do have read that made this list and you just bumped a few others up my tbr list. Great video as always Dom.

[@dominishbooks]

Thanks Lana! I'm glad you're enjoying those two!

[@bentheoverlord]

Ooh awesome list man ! Can’t wait to get to all of these, need to actually pick up more self pub books !

[@dominishbooks]

Yes! And thanks Ben 😃

[@ianthereader]

Okay, so this is kind of crazy. I have been subscribed to you for a while now and have been getting more into self pub over the past few months. I was wanting some strong recommendations so I got on KZbin just now to look up “Favorite Self Pub Fantasy” and this was literally posted today. 🤯

[@dominishbooks]

Perfect timing! Self-pub is the way forward!

[@tovx76]

Great video Dom! You’ve added a lot of books to my tbr recently. Looking to read at least a few of these next year!

[@dominishbooks]

Good stuff, that's what I like to hear!

[@safinan8008]

Hi 👋 great top 10 book list of urs!! Happy reading to you!! 🦋😊

[@dominishbooks]

Thanks Safina!

[@danjackson2313]

Great list Dom, some absolutely fantastic books on there. Thanks for including ILLBORN.

[@dominishbooks]

Thanks Dan. You already knew my thoughts on ILLBORN, but it's got some pretty good company!

[@L.L.MacRae]

What an awesome list here!! So many incredible indie fantasy reads :D :D :D Thank you so much for including The Iron Crown - I'm beyond honoured it is so high on your list!! Still lots more I need to get around to reading as well :D

[@dominishbooks]

Thanks Lauren! I have a bit of waiting to do, but I can't wait to see if The Shadow Gate can top The Iron Crown!

[@Ed_Crocker]

Some great recs to add to my TBR, cheers! You're increasingly one of my go-tos for indie recs. Also great to see the mighty Illborn on there.

[@dominishbooks]

Awesome, I love to hear that as it means I'm obviously doing something right!

[@personmcpersonperson2893]

Great video mate 👍🏻

[@dominishbooks]

Thank you! I hope there are some good picks for you in this list.

[@khomo12]

Good list!👍👍👍🤖🚀🐲 A few more to add to my tbr📚😉

[@fazilareads]

Great list as usual Dominish!! Makes me excited to get to them as they are all in my list. Love that self pub books are getting a lot of hype now. They definitely deserve it 👍

[@dominishbooks]

Thanks! And 100% agree, self-pub is the way forward!

[@TheHikingReader]

I'm happy to see I've read quite a few of these in the past two years now. I actually just pulled the trigger on ordering my copy of Dragon Mage today. I tend to put a book in my cart whenever I order something from Amazon and today was that one since it was my highest priority on my wishlist. lol

[@dominishbooks]

Awesome! I hope you enjoy Dragon Mage too!

[@terryrudge9840]

Bloody great video. Agree with most, disagree with some, but I loved how you laid out your views and thoughts. Not sure many can argue with your number 1 choice either !!

[@dominishbooks]

Cheers! You'll have to let me know your disagreements!

[@gregoryamato8693]

Strong list. I've been meaning to pick up Cold from the North soon, so I will definitely prioritize that now.

[@dominishbooks]

Thanks, and good choice. I hope you have a great time with CFTN!

[@theshaggyshepherd]

Love that you have multiple books later in a series rather than book 1. That really makes me look forward to them. Added several to my TBR thanks to this video.

[@dominishbooks]

Yeah, I considered for a moment doing a list with just book 1 for each series, but that wouldn't be as accurate a list. Same as saying "book 3 is my favourite, but here's book 1!"

[@BookReadingCoffeeDrinking]

Great choices here, these all sound fantastic!!

[@dominishbooks]

I hope you can try some of them out sometime!

[@BookReadingCoffeeDrinking]

@@dominishbooks Definitely will be, I'm planning to have a couple of months where I only read self pub, so these will be good for then 😆

[@wisestitch3764]

Great top ten. We’ll see if I agree with your number one as I’m reading Of Darkness and Light at the moment.

[@dominishbooks]

I look forward to your thoughts.

[@TuftyMcTavish]

🐉 Good list, sir! Pleased to have a few of these physically, several more on my Kindle via KU, and many - but not all 😱 - of the remainder are on my radar. When I’ll get to them, I haven’t the foggiest, which is always the most disappointing thing about an interesting list. Cheeky honourable mentions FTW too! 😆

[@dominishbooks]

I didn't want to do more than a top 10, but there were too many great ones to not have honourable mentions!

[@MariaMightReadThat]

Definitely going to be using this list as a reference of where to continue my self-pub journey. Especially since I loved Sword of Kaigen, so I’m eager to find out if any of these others will top it for me too. You’ve got me especially interested in Stones of Light- family dynamics in fantasy is one of my favorite things. And I’m even more excited to read Dragon Mage in the next two months now since it’s so high up on your list!

[@dominishbooks]

Threadlight is excellent, there's not too much between Voice of War and Stones of Light, but book two just takes it for me. Dragon Mage was pretty much as I'd been led to expect, which was a relief!

[@hannahblackwellbooks]

Strong praise for Dragon Mage! This has me so excited to read it!!

[@dominishbooks]

It's a chonker, but a good one!

[@craigbookwyrm]

No1 is probably the same for me. Lots of my favourites in that list, and one or two I haven't got to or heard of. Always end up finding something new from you 😅

[@dominishbooks]

Then I'm doing a good job!

[@akellerhouse83]

Loved Sword of Kaigen! It was one of my favorite books last year. I need to read A Touch of Light sometime soon. The dragon Mage one sounds good too.

[@dominishbooks]

They were all great (clearly, or they wouldn't be in this video!) 🤣

[@esmayrosalyne]

Let's be real, this is the video we've all been waiting for!! And to no one's surprise, this is an excellent list! All the ones I've read are favourites of mine as well and the ones I haven't read are five-star predictions, so I'm excited to check those out soon! I can't wait to reread both The Bound and the Broken and Threadlight before book 3 comes out in those series (because I just need to be back in those worlds asap). And I will probably also reread A Touch of Light on audio soon, because Kevin Kemp sounds like an incredible narrator!! Some other favourites of mine are Legacy of the Brightwash by Krystle Matar, Flames of Rebellion by Aaron S. Jones, The Lost War by Justin Lee Anderson and T. Kingfisher's works. And I'm about to finish Cold From the North, which will undoubtedly end up being a new favourite as well, because I have been loving this book!! Loved this video and can't wait to see how this list will change over the years! 🤩

[@dominishbooks]

Aww, thanks Esmay! 🎉 I'm looking forward to anything that becomes a new entry to the list as well!

[@PatrickRyanBookReviews]

Great list, absolutely agree that ODAL should be at the top. I'm reading ATOL right now and wish there were audiobooks available for Illborn and The Iron Crown.

[@dominishbooks]

The comments so far back you (us) up on that. Not long to wait for an Iron Crown audiobook.

[@CoverswithCassidy]

Literally every book on this list is one I'm excited for 👀😍

[@CoverswithCassidy]

Except Illborn and Sword of Kaigan which I've already read and loved

[@dominishbooks]

I hope you can get to some of them soon, I look forward to hearing your thoughts on any and all of them!

[@Nina_chitchat]

Of Darkness and Light is in my top 10 indie/self-pub list as well. as are: Kings of Paradise, Along the Razors Edge, Smoke and Stone and The Look of a King, furthermore Wolf of Mercia, An End to Sorrow, Aching God .. there are 2 spots left, that I haven't figured out yet. great video !! 💛⚔🖤

[@dominishbooks]

Some of those could yet make it into my list, but it remains to be seen!

[@AbiofPellinor]

There are some amazing gems in self publishing 😍

[@dominishbooks]

I swear it's better than trad publishing right now, for my tastes at least.

[@CoverswithCassidy]

Nomads of the sea would be on this list for me!

[@dominishbooks]

I hear so many good things about this one...

[@TheBookishMom]

Sword of Kaigen is one of my top favorites as well! I just finished Dragon Mage and absolutely loved it! I am dying for a sequel.

[@dominishbooks]

Yes, they are both very different but very excellent reads.

[@AnEruditeAdventure]

I’ll have to use this list for what I should be reading for self-pub. -T

[@dominishbooks]

You could do worse (IMO)!

[@andreabknight]

I love the list! There are some crackers here. Looking forward to reading the rest I haven't already.

[@dylanzeevaart124]

Great video! Have you checked out Philip C quaintrell yet? He is amazing

[@dominishbooks]

Thanks! Not yet, I literally just got Rise of the Ranger for my birthday though, so at some point soonish...

[@nathancooper22]

Of Darkness and light easily my number 1. Probably my number 1 read of the year regardless of self published or not. And I also loved the first book. I love a first book where the scene is set and you get to know the characters and their motivations and see them thrust into this world of turmoil. Some people just want action immediately with not build up or background. I thought Ryan built the world brilliantly in book 1 and then unleashed all the action in book 2. For a chunky book I felt like I blitzed through it and the pace seemed relentless at times

[@dominishbooks]

Pretty much perfectly sums up the books for me so far too 😄

[@adamparsons4644]

I'm beginning to worry that I have some innate snobbery as regards to self published books :). I just DNF'd Of Blood and Fire and Dragon Mage was my least favourite read of last year (I lasted 600 pages before I couldn't take any more). I've DNF'd 3 other books this month, though, so I'm probably just harder to please in my old age. I own copies of Illborn and The Sword of Kaigen, so fingers crossed they'll connect with me. As always, cheers for posting 👍.

[@dominishbooks]

If they don't work for you, they don't work! A lot of people didn't get on so much with Of Blood and Fire too.