Frannie Jacksonįirst Book in the Series: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950)ĭescription: C.S.

Beyond delivering memorable (if sometimes vicious) characters, Lawrence’s trilogy presents the all-too-common “teen fighting to unite the land” storyline with a twist: this protagonist won’t hesitate to leave a trail of corpses in his wake. Physically and emotionally scarred after watching the murders of his mother and brother, Jorg Ancrath, the titular “Prince of Thorns,” transitions from a tortured child to a callous leader vying for the throne. The Broken Empire Trilogy by Mark Lawrenceįirst Book in the Series: Prince of Thorns (2011)ĭescription: Mark Lawrence’s Broken Empire Trilogy wraps a war epic around a family drama within a coming-of-age story, creating a multi-layered fantasy series steeped in dark magic. Aside from fantasy aficionados, Cook found an eager audience in real-life soldiers, too, who embraced The Black Company’s more true-to-life portrayal of mercenaries handling life within their chosen profession. Though a series’ title isn’t always telling for literal descriptions of the adventures within, The Black Company couldn’t be a better fit the collection mulls morality within a group of hired mercenaries in a multi-dimensional world of wizards and magic. The tales cover more than 400 years of rich history across the 10 novels, three sub-series and plenty of short stories that followed. Enjoy reading our selections (listed in alphabetical order by series title).įirst Book in the Series: The Black Company (1984)ĭescription: Good fantasy tales rely on world building, and Glen Cook’s Black Company series has this in spades. To celebrate the heritage of the genre, we’ve assembled a list of some of our favorite fantasy series of all time. In short, fantasy is a genre of epic strength and incandescent beauty. Fantasy introduces readers to adventures starring world-conquering villains and selfless heroes (or, sometimes, tender-hearted villains and amoral heroes). It allows for the impossible to occur-for elves to fall in love with humans and for street urchins to wield magic. And that is the beauty of the genre.įantasy thrives on the creation of new worlds, species and magic systems. in Chicago or a gunslinger in a magical Wild West. Some readers equate fantasy with hobbits and magic wardrobes.

Black company series