#1 The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien.
This is my shocked face. 😐 Readers mentioned this most often as the first fantasy series that set them on the road of a lifelong obsession with fantasy.
I don’t think much needs to be said here. This is the beginning of epic fantasy as we know it.
I have read them all several times. The Hobbit trilogy was interesting, but not quite up to the standard set by the LoTR movies.
The Hobbit | The Lord of the Rings
#2 Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey
This was a close second, by the way. Now I know that some people will quibble and say that this is really science fiction, but there are dragons, so I’ll allow it. In truth, much of science fiction is fantasy. Star Wars is a prime example.
I re-read Dragonflight last year and quite enjoyed it. It was much more serious than I had remembered.
Dragonriders of Pern for Kindle
#3 Dragonlance Chronicles by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
This one surprised me. But after I thought about it a while, it startd to make sense. For those of us who grew up in the 1980s, these books were a huge influence because they came out of the Dungeons & Dragons world. Aside from some choose your own adventure books, these were the first novelizations that matched well with the D&D rules.
Also, dragons! And people riding dragons.
These were quite fun novels, but I have never re-read them.
Dragons of Autumn Twilight (Book 1) on Kindle
#4 The Shannara series by Terry Brooks
Elves, magic, and hugely long novels. What’s not to love? I remember reading these starting in eighth grade. I was (and still am) a bit of a slow reader and those books took me forever to finish.
I read the first three or four of these. More books came out later that I never got around to. I tried to re-read Sword of Shannara a couple years ago, but it just didn’t hold me.
There was a Shannara TV show for a while that I never watched and never will.
The Shannara Trilogy for Kindle
#5 The Dune Saga by Frank Herbert
Wait! This is science fiction! But in truth, this one actually didn’t surprise me because Dune is the bestselling science fiction novel of all time. And while there is advanced technology, a galactic empire, and interstellar travel, Dune has a very fantasy-like flavor.
I have re-read Dune a number of times. A new Dune movie is coming out soon. I’m skeptical but hopeful. I have not liked the previous attempts to bring the book to the screen.
A few honorable mentions
Peirs Anthony’s Xanth novels: A Spell for Chameleon (Xanth #1) on Kindle
CS Lewis’s Narnia: The Chronicles of Narnia Complete Set for Kindle
Issac Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy: Foundation Trilogy for Kindle
David Eddings’s Belgariad: Belgariad Five Book Series for Kindle
Patricia A. McKillip’s Riddlemaster of Hed