Fantasy authors: books in reading order

Brandon Sanderson

109 books• 28 series

Brandon Sanderson, born December 19, 1975, is an American writer of high fantasy, science fiction and young adult fiction. Mistborn and The Stormlight Archive both belong to the Cosmere, a shared fictional universe. Outside the Cosmere, Sanderson wrote the Reckoners, Skyward and Alcatraz series, and completed Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time. White Sand and Dark One are Sanderson's two graphic novels. Sanderson's Laws of Magic, a framework for hard and soft magic systems, carry the author's name. The catalogue lists 109 titles, from Centrifugal (1994) through Elantris (2005) to King Lopen the First of Alethkar (2026).

Joe Abercrombie

20 books• 6 series

Joe Abercrombie, born 31 December 1974, is an English writer of epic fantasy who has also worked as a film editor. The First Law and Age of Madness trilogies share one setting with other Abercrombie novels, and Abercrombie has also written a young adult trilogy. Half a King took the 2015 Locus Award for best young adult book. The catalogue opens with The Blade Itself (2006), reaches The Devils (2025) and lists The Heretics for 2027. Series include First Law World, Age of Madness, Shattered Sea and Devils.

J.R.R. Tolkien

61 books• 13 series

J.R.R. Tolkien (John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, 3 January 1892 to 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist, author of The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954 to 1955). At the University of Oxford, Tolkien held the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professorship of Anglo-Saxon and a Pembroke College fellowship from 1925 to 1945, then the Merton Professorship of English Language and Literature until retiring in 1959. Tolkien belonged to the Inklings and was a close friend of C. S. Lewis. The catalogue lists 61 books from A Middle English Reader and Vocabulary (1921) to The Battle of Maldon (2023), including the History of Middle-Earth, poetry and children's titles.

R.A. Salvatore

133 books• 34 series

Robert Anthony Salvatore, published as R.A. Salvatore, is an American fantasy writer born on January 20, 1959. The Legend of Drizzt, set in the Forgotten Realms and starring Drizzt Do'Urden, is the work Salvatore is chiefly known for. Other work includes The DemonWars Saga, a high fantasy series, and Vector Prime, the first novel in Star Wars: The New Jedi Order. The catalogue counts 134 books, starting with The Crystal Shard (1988); Witch of Whispervale (2025) is the newest, and Fat Rabbit is listed for 2027. US sales exceed 15 million copies, and 22 Salvatore titles have been New York Times best-sellers.

C.J. Archer has 78 books in the catalogue, from Her Secret Desire / A Secret Life (2011) to Murder Under the Mistletoe, with Invisible People announced and the list reaching 2027. Glass and Steele, Cleopatra Fox, Ministry of Curiosities, Glass Library and three Freak House trilogies are among the series. Other listings include After The Rift, Assassins Guild, Lord Hawkesbury's Players and the Emily Chambers Spirit Medium Trilogy. Subjects cover historical romance, fantasy, romantic suspense, nobility, England and London.

Terry Brooks

59 books• 20 series

Terry Brooks, born Terence Dean Brooks on January 8, 1944, is an American writer of epic fantasy. The catalogue opens with The Sword of Shannara (1977) and counts 59 books through Brona (2026). Series lines include the Original Shannara, Heritage of Shannara, Genesis of Shannara, Defenders of Shannara and Dark Legacy of Shannara, alongside Word & Void and Viridian Deep, while the Magic Kingdom of Landover is a recurring setting. Two film novelizations belong to the output. Brooks has had 23 New York Times bestsellers and more than 25 million copies in print, and announced a semi-retirement from writing in March 2025.

Werewolves, vampires and shapeshifters populate Patricia Briggs's paranormal fantasy. Mercy Thompson, a shapeshifter who works as a car mechanic, leads the sequence that carries her name, and Alpha and Omega runs beside it, both with graphic novel adaptations. Briggs started with Masques (1993) and the Sianim and Hurog books before turning to the modern-day novels. The catalogue holds 54 titles and reaches Steel Rain in 2027.

John Gwynne

14 books• 4 series

John Gwynne writes epic fantasy at length: the median catalogued book runs to 628 pages. Malice (2012) is the earliest of 14 catalogued titles, which take in The Faithful and the Fallen, the Bloodsworn Saga and Wolves of War, and reach The Wolves of War in 2026. Imaginary wars, magic, demons and angels supply the material.

Terry Pratchett

148 books• 18 series

Terry Pratchett (28 April 1948 to 12 March 2015) was an English author, humorist and satirist. Discworld, a run of 41 comic fantasy novels published from 1983 to 2015, is the work most associated with Pratchett, together with Good Omens (1990), written with Neil Gaiman. The Carpet People (1971) was the first Pratchett novel, and The Colour of Magic (1983) opened Discworld. The Shepherd's Crown, the last Discworld novel, came out in August 2015, five months after Pratchett's death. The catalogue also lists the Long Earth, Bromeliad Trilogy and Johnny Maxwell series, with The Discworld Bestiary dated 2026.

Terry Goodkind

33 books• 5 series

Terry Goodkind (January 11, 1948 to September 17, 2020) was an American writer of epic fantasy, known for The Sword of Truth. That series sold 25 million copies, was translated into more than 20 languages and became the television series Legend of the Seeker, which ran from November 2008 to May 2010. Goodkind also wrote The Law of Nines (2009), a contemporary suspense novel tied to the fantasy books, and drew on Ayn Rand's objectivism in the work. The catalogue lists 33 titles, from Wizard's First Rule (1994) to Into Darkness (2020). Richard Rahl and Kahlan Amnell are the characters tagged most often.

Christopher Moore

22 books• 8 series

Comic fantasy is Christopher Moore's register, vampires in San Francisco, demons in a small California town, humour throughout. The catalogue holds 22 books published between 1987 and 2025, grouped into Pine Cove, Bloodsucking Fiends, Fool and Grim Reaper, with standalone novels between them. Anima Rising is the newest catalogued title.

Raven Kennedy is an internationally bestselling author working across fantasy, paranormal, contemporary, dark romance and romantic comedy. The catalogue lists 29 books from 2018 to The Sweetest Fiend (2026), beginning with Signs of Cupidity and Bonds of Cupidity in 2018. Kennedy's series include Plated Prisoner, Heart Hassle, Hellgate Guardians, Pack of Misfits, Savannah Heirs, Void Universe and Played by the Piper. Subjects include fae, magic, romantasy and why-choose romance. Kennedy was born and raised in California.

K.F. Breene has 88 books in the catalogue, with romance and fantasy as the listed subjects. The list begins in 2013 with Back in the Saddle, and the newest title is Magical Midlife Conclave (2026), with Magical Midlife Mage due in 2027. Breene's series include Leveling Up, Demon Days, Vampire Nights, Warrior Chronicles, Demigod of San Francisco and Deliciously Dark Fairytales. Several further series, such as Growing Pains, Skyline and Montana Wilds, appear under the name Willow Summers.

Robert Jordan

43 books• 8 series

Robert Jordan was the pen name of James Oliver Rigney Jr. (17 October 1948 to 16 September 2007), an American writer of epic fantasy who used several pen names for different genres. The Wheel of Time, 14 books plus a prequel novel, has sold 90 million copies and ranks among the highest-selling book series. Earlier in the career, Jordan was one of several writers of original Conan the Barbarian novels. The catalogue opens with The Fallon Blood (1980), followed by The Fallon Pride (1981), and Conan titles such as Conan the Invincible (1982) and Conan the Destroyer (1984) appear in the early years. Jordan series also include Fallon.

Midkemia is the world Raymond E. Feist writes: epic fantasy of magicians, wizards and long imaginary wars, with Pug and Mara among its figures. The Riftwar opens the sequence in Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master (1982), and the Serpentwar, Demonwar, Darkwar, Chaoswar, Dragonwar and Firemane sagas follow, with the Riftwar Legacy and the Conclave of Shadows between them. Thirty-four catalogued books reach A Darkness Returns in 2024.

Michael J. Sullivan

33 books• 8 series

Michael J. Sullivan writes epic fantasy. The Riyria Revelations open the catalogue with The Crown Conspiracy (2008), and the Riyria Chronicles, Legends of the First Empire, Rise and Fall and After the Fall follow. Thirty-three catalogued books reach Out of the Ashes (2026), at a median length of 420 pages. Thieves, assassins, gods and imaginary wars recur as subjects.

Melanie Cellier retells fairy tales as fantasy romance for younger readers. The Princess Companion (2016) opens the Four Kingdoms series, which extends through Beyond the Four Kingdoms, Return to the Four Kingdoms and the Four Kingdoms Duology, while the Spoken Mage and Hidden Mage books run separately. Fifty-three titles reach Of Books and Mages in 2026.

Piers Anthony is the publishing name of Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob, born August 6, 1934, an American science fiction and fantasy writer. The long-running Xanth novels, set in the imaginary realm of Xanth, are his best-known work. Anthony has counted among his chief achievements the publication of a book beginning with every letter of the alphabet, from Anthonology to Zombie Lover, and a number of his books have reached The New York Times Best Seller list. This catalogue lists 195 titles from Chthon (1967) to Knicklepede Knight (2026), including the Apprentice Adept, Cluster, Battle Circle, Mode and Incarnations of Immortality sequences.

Steven Erikson

33 books• 5 series

Steven Erikson writes epic fantasy. The Malazan Book of the Fallen, opened by Gardens of the Moon (1999), is the central sequence, and 33 catalogued books reach Legacies of Betrayal in 2026 by way of the Kharkanas Trilogy, the Bauchelain and Korbal Broach novellas and the Willful Child science fiction. Imaginary wars, magic and invented places run through the subjects.

Jasper Fforde

19 books• 5 series

Thursday Next, a woman detective, heads Jasper Fforde's main series, where books and reading and the characters of literature supply the subject matter. The Eyre Affair (2001) opens a catalogue of 19 fantasy titles that reaches Dark Reading Matter (2025), with the Nursery Crime books, the Chronicles of Kazam and Shades of Grey beside the Next novels. Dragons, magic and time travel fill the subject tags.

Assistant to the Villain is the whole of Hannah Nicole Maehrer's catalogue so far: a fantasy series of four books, opening with Assistant to the Villain (2023) and continuing through Apprentice to the Villain (2024), Accomplice to the Villain (2025) and Adversary to the Villain (2026). The series remains ongoing.

Lindsay Buroker is an independent fantasy and science fiction author writing full time, with more than ninety novels, a USA Today bestseller listing and two Goodreads Readers' Choice Award nominations. The catalogue holds 150 Buroker titles, from The Emperor's Edge (2010) to About Jam Time (2026). Series include Emperor's Edge, Dragon Blood, Death Before Dragons, Star Kingdom, Legacy of Magic, Dragon Gate, Flash Gold Chronicles and Heritage of Power. Steampunk, assassins and epic fantasy appear among the subjects. Buroker lists travel, hiking, tennis and vizslas as interests.

Leia Stone writes fantasy and paranormal romance around shifters, dragons and fae. Fallen Academy, Dragons & Druids, Kings of Avalier, Cursed Fae, Matefinder, the Night War Saga and Supernatural Bounty Hunter are among the series. Mica Moon and the Domed Cities (2008) is the earliest catalogued title, Slayer the newest, and Staked is scheduled for 2027. Sixty-five books in all.

Naomi Novik

20 books• 3 series

Naomi Novik is an American author of speculative fiction. The Temeraire series (2006–2016) is an alternate history of the Napoleonic Wars with dragons, and the Scholomance trilogy ran from 2020 to 2022. The standalone novels Uprooted (2015) and Spinning Silver (2018) draw on Polish folklore and the Rumpelstiltskin tale. Novik helped create the Organization for Transformative Works and co-founded the organisation's Archive of Our Own project. Awards include the Nebula, Locus and Mythopoeic. The catalogue lists 20 titles from His Majesty's Dragon (2006) to The Summer War (2025), with Liberty Vocational as a third series.

Brent Weeks

12 books• 3 series

Brent Weeks writes epic fantasy. The Night Angel books put assassins at the front, with wetboy among the subject terms, opening with The Way of Shadows, Shadow's Edge and Beyond the Shadows (2008); the Lightbringer series follows with The Black Prism (2010), The Blinding Knife (2012), The Broken Eye (2014) and The Blood Mirror (2015). Twelve books are catalogued, Night Angel Nemesis is the most recent, and the catalogue has been dormant since 2023.

Jeff Wheeler writes fantasy, with subjects that include magic, quests, kings and rulers, orphans and coming of age. The catalogue runs from The Wishing Lantern (1999) to Serpent Queen (2026), with The Fallen Empires scheduled for 2027. The Blight of Muirwood, The Scourge of Muirwood and The Wretched of Muirwood all appeared in 2011. Series include Kingfountain, Legends of Muirwood, Covenant of Muirwood, Whispers from Mirrowen, First Argentines and Grave Kingdom.

Benedict Jacka, born 25 September 1980, is a British author best known for the Alex Verus series. Urban and contemporary fantasy describe the catalogue, whose subjects also cover magic, psychics, apprentices, good and evil, ninja and runaway children. Nineteen books run from The Beginning (2005) to A Judgement of Powers (2025), with Fated, Cursed and Taken all published in 2012. Alex Verus and Inheritance of Magic are the two series credited to Jacka.

James Islington is an Australian author of high fantasy, born around 1981. The Licanius Trilogy is his first sequence, made up of The Shadow of What Was Lost (2014), An Echo of Things to Come (2017) and The Light of All That Falls (2019). Hierarchy followed, opening with The Will of the Many (2023) and continuing in The Strength of the Few (2025) and Scion (2026). Six books in total, and Islington is still publishing.

Justin Cronin

6 books• 1 series

Justin Cronin is an American novelist with six books catalogued between 2001 and 2023. Mary and O'Neil (2001) and The Summer Guest (2004) came first. A vampire trilogy followed, grouped here as the Passage series: The Passage (2010), The Twelve (2012) and The City of Mirrors (2016). The Ferryman (2023) is the most recent title. Dystopian fiction, survival and epic fantasy carry the subject tags. No further Cronin title is listed, and the catalogue is dormant.

Juliet Marillier

28 books• 10 series

Juliet Marillier, born in 1948 in New Zealand, writes speculative fiction, mostly historical fantasy. Marillier has 26 Aurealis Award nominations with 6 wins, four Sir Julius Vogel Awards and the 2025 World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement. The catalogue lists 28 books from Daughter of the Forest (1999) to The Amber Owl (2025). Sevenwaters, the Bridei Chronicles, Shadowfell, Blackthorn & Grim, Warrior Bards and Wildwood Dancing are among the series, and Celtic mythology and Ireland appear in the subjects.

Peter V. Brett

18 books• 3 series

Peter V. Brett, born February 8, 1973, is an American fantasy novelist and the author of the Demon Cycle. The first Demon Cycle volume appeared in 2008 under two titles: The Painted Man from HarperCollins's Voyager imprint in the UK and The Warded Man from Del Rey Books in the US. The catalogue lists 18 Brett books, including The Desert Spear (2010) and The Daylight War (2013), with The Demon King (2026) the newest. Red Sonja: Unchained and Nightfall Saga are also listed, and the subjects include epic fantasy, demonology and magic.

Michelle Sagara is a Canadian fantasy author who has been publishing since the early 1990s, under her own name and also as Michelle West and Michelle Sagara West. Sagara has twice been nominated for the John W. Campbell Award. She lives in Toronto and works part-time at the bookshop Bakka-Phoenix. One title is catalogued here, the 2008 fantasy novel Cast in Fury.

Glen Cook

62 books• 9 series

Sixty-eight catalogued books, published from 1972 onward, make Glen Cook one of fantasy's longest-running American writers. The Black Company, a dark fantasy sequence, and Garrett P.I., which sets a private investigator loose in a fantasy world, are the two best known. Dread Empire, Instrumentalities of the Night, Starfishers and Darkwar run alongside them, the 1980s being the densest decade. The Heirs of Babylon opened the catalogue in 1972, Lies Weeping appeared in 2025, and The Long Run is scheduled for 2027.

Scott Lynch

11 books• 3 series

The Gentleman Bastard Sequence is the series American fantasy writer Scott Lynch, born April 2, 1978, is best known for. The Lies of Locke Lamora, bought by Orion Books in August 2004, came out in June 2006 from Gollancz in the United Kingdom and Bantam in the United States. Red Seas Under Red Skies (2007) and The Republic of Thieves (2013) continued the sequence, and The Thorn of Emberlain is planned as the fourth of seven books. The catalogue holds 11 books through Kaiju Agonistes (2026), including The Effigy Engine (2018) and Locke Lamora and the Bottled Serpent (2024). Swindlers, robbers and epic fantasy appear in the subjects.

Maria V. Snyder writes fantasy and science fiction. The Study series is Snyder's best known work, opening with Poison Study (2005) and continuing through Magic Study (2006), Fire Study (2008) and Power Study (2008); the Glass books follow with Storm Glass and Sea Glass (2009) and Spy Glass (2010). The catalogue also holds the Chronicles of Ixia, Avry of Kazan, Sentinels of the Galaxy, the Archives of the Invisible Sword and Valek's Adventures. Magic, healers, magicians and teenage girls are recurring subjects. Snyder's 29 books reach The Study of Storms and Magic (2025).

Sue Lynn Tan

6 books• 2 series

Sue Lynn Tan is a Malaysia-born writer based in Hong Kong. The Celestial Kingdom series opens the catalogue with Daughter of the Moon Goddess (2022), followed by Heart of the Sun Warrior (2022), Tales of the Celestial Kingdom (2024) and Immortal (2025). Never Ever After (2025) and For Ever More (2026) form a second series. Six books in all draw on epic fantasy, mythology, legend and fairy tale.

Robert J. Crane writes fantasy and action adventure, much of it about teenage girls with powers. The catalogue holds 113 books published from 2011 onward, with Past Lies (2026) the most recent release and Out of Time scheduled for 2027. Avenger and Defender, both 2011, open the run. Girl In The Box, Out of the Box and Sanctuary are the recurring names, and Liars and Vampires, Southern Watch, Mira Brand, Girl Who Ran Away, Ashes Of Luukessia and Shattered Dome are the other series. Crane's densest decade is the 2010s, at a median of 295 pages per book.

Margaret Weis

109 books• 34 series

Margaret Edith Weis, born March 16, 1948, is an American fantasy and science fiction author who, with Tracy Hickman at TSR, Inc., created the Dragonlance role-playing game world. Weis founded Sovereign Press and Margaret Weis Productions, which license television and film franchises for role-playing games. Pyramid magazine named Weis one of The Millennium's Most Influential Persons in 1999, and the Origins Hall of Fame inducted Weis in 2002. Dragons of Autumn Twilight (1984) is among the catalogued titles, and series include Death Gate Cycle, Darksword and Star Of The Guardians.

Karen Chance is an American fantasy novelist. Chance grew up in Orlando, Florida, has lived in France, Great Britain, Hong Kong and New Orleans, taught history there, and has written full time since 2008. The Cassie Palmer books follow a clairvoyant who becomes the Pythia, chief seer of the supernatural world; Midnight's Daughter (2008) opens a spin-off from that sequence, and Dorina Basarab and Lia de Croissets are the other series. Forty-eight catalogued titles run from Touch the Dark (2006) to Rogue Elements (2026), at a median 418 pages. Vampires, clairvoyants and the occult recur as subjects.

Andrzej Sapkowski

17 books• 5 series

Andrzej Sapkowski is a Polish fantasy writer, born 21 June 1948, best known for The Witcher, the saga of the monster hunter Geralt of Rivia. The Witcher has reached video games, television, the stage and comics, and appears in 37 languages; only Stanisław Lem is translated more among Polish science fiction and fantasy writers. Sapkowski's books have sold over 30 million copies and draw on Slavic mythology. The 17 catalogued titles run from Something Ends, Something Begins (1988) through The Last Wish (1993) and Blood of Elves (1994) to Crossroads of Ravens (2025), with the Hussite Trilogy as a second series.

Craig Halloran writes fantasy, with 107 books catalogued from Wrath of the Royals (2009) to Blood of the Warborn (2026). Named series include Dragon Wars, Chronicles of Dragon, the Darkslayer books, the Supernatural Bounty Hunter Files, Henchmen Chronicles, Savage and the Sorcerer and Clash of Heroes. Dragons and adventure appear among the subject headings. Zombie Day Care (2009), Blades in the Night (2011) and Dragon Bones and Tombstones (2013) are among the earlier titles.

S. Usher Evans has 49 books in the catalogue, published from Double Life (2014) through A Dusting of Alchemy (2026). Evans's series include Weary Dragon Inn, Pobyd Perfections Bakery, Razia, Lexie Carrigan Chronicles, Princess Vigilante, Firewing Investigations, Madion War Trilogy, Demon Spring, Demon Fall and Seod Croi Chronicles. Science fiction and princes appear in the subject headings.

Olivia Wildenstein writes fantasy and romance. Twenty-nine books are catalogued between Ghostboy, Chameleon and the Duke of Graffiti (2015) and My Striking Beauty (2026), and My Broken Prince is announced for 2027. Series run to Lost Clan, Boulder Wolves, Angels of Elysium, Kingdom of Crows, Empress of Thorns, Quatrefoil Chronicles, Wicked Retellings and Cold Little Games. Several books carry double titles, among them Cold Little Games / The Masterpiecers (2016) and Cold Little Hearts / The Masterminds (2016). The median book runs 340 pages.

Ken Liu

26 books• 8 series

Ken Liu, born Kenneth Yukun Liu in 1976, is an American writer of science fiction and fantasy and a winner of multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards. Liu's short fiction has appeared in F&SF, Asimov's Science Fiction, Analog, Lightspeed, Clarkesworld and Uncanny Magazine, among others. The Dandelion Dynasty, Liu's first epic fantasy series, is described as silkpunk, a term Liu coined for its blend of East Asian antiquity's material culture and philosophy into an alternative modernity. The catalogue holds 26 books from The Caretaker (2011) to The Passing of the Dragon and Other Stories (2026), including Good Hunting (2012) and Mono no Aware (2012), and origami and Japanese fiction in translation appear among the subjects.

Tessonja Odette writes fantasy, and the catalogue holds 24 Odette books published from 2018 to 2026, with The Words That Weave the Dark due in 2027. The earliest titles are Shadows of Lela and Veil of Mist (2018), followed by Shades of Prophecy (2019). Titles from 2020 include To Carve a Fae Heart, To Kill a Fae King and To Wear a Fae Crown. Series are Fair Isle Trilogy, Entangled with Fae, Lela Trilogy, Prophecy of the Forgotten Fae, Fae Flings and Corset Strings and Songs for the Sinless. The newest title is The Lies that Summon the Night (2026).

Ian C. Esslemont is a Canadian writer, born in 1962, trained and employed as an archaeologist. Esslemont co-created the Malazan world with Steven Erikson and writes Novels of the Malazan Empire, set in the world of Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen. Eleven books are catalogued, from Night of Knives (2004) through Return of the Crimson Guard, Stonewielder and Assail to the Path to Ascendancy sequence, which reaches Forge of the High Mage in 2024.

Marie Brennan

49 books• 11 series

Marie Brennan is the pen name of Bryn Neuenschwander, an American fantasy author. The Memoirs of Lady Trent, a sequence about a woman naturalist and the dragons she studies, was a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Series in 2018. The Onyx Court novels began with Midnight Never Come in 2008, and the Doppelganger duology with Doppelganger and Warrior and Witch. Brennan took the 2025 Hugo Award for Best Poem with A War of Words. Fifty titles are catalogued through The Eye of Leviathan (2026), with Rook & Rose, Wilders, Driftwood and Legend Of The Five Rings among the other series.

McKenzie Hunter writes urban fantasy. Moon Tortured (2014) opens the Sky Brooks series, and the Sky Brooks World: Ethan books, Raven Cursed and Magic of the Damned follow. Thirty-six catalogued titles run to Spellcast (2024), with werewolves and magic named through the titles themselves.