5-star fantasy books

If you've been following me for a while (especially on Instagram) you'll know I don't give 5 stars out very often - even if I LOVE a book, I reserve the five star rating for books I really think can't be improved upon. So today, we are talking about the best adult fantasy books that I rated a full 5 stars. These are the best, the top fantasy books. Tell me your thoughts below!

Chapters
00:00 - Intro
01:44 - 5 star fantasy books
13:37 - 5 star non-fantasy books

Socials

[Lowkey-Loke]

Since you love Piranesi you should try Jorges Luis Borges short story "Library of Babel" from his short story collection "Fictions". It's what first inspired Susanna Clarke and Borges is a lovely magical realism author!

[claudiafernandes]

All those books have been immediately added to my tbr XD, knowing you are really exclusive with 5 stars helps seal the deal for me. I find it really like it when booktubers are selective with their ratings(helps me prioritizing) even tho I am kinda unreliable when I'm giving 5 stars, because my system is the most subjective ever, if a book meets at least one of the following criteria I give it 5 stars no questions asked:
-makes me cry (I'm not an easy crier)
-makes me laugh out loud several times(I don't even care if the humor isn't the most sophisticated, if a book brings me that level of joy it deserves the 5 stars)
-leaves me with a gaping hole in my chest by the end because the story was so good I didn't want it to end.
- if I guess so obsessed with the characters I cave to the urge of either reading fanfic just to spend more time with them or drawing them

[nathanielanderson]

When I got back into reading again I gave out many more 5 star reviews, now that Im a few years in books really have to earn it. I was surprised by how many on your list I still haven't picked up.

That Argyle author writes a good book, good call adding that one on at the end. IYKYK 😂.

[Zivilin]

12:24 i feel the same way about Wheel of time. I read them back to back in little over a month ages ago, so they all blend together in my memories. I want to do a reread of them eventually.

[step]

Good Omens and The Hobbit are both outstanding reads. Rather than trying to decide what are 5 stars and I don't tend to give many perfect scores anyway, I'll stick instead to books that had an impact when I read them:

Guy Gavriel Kay - Tigana (though honestly I could pick any of his books)
Raymond E Fiest - Magician (on re-reads you could never give it a 5 but in pulling me in to a world when I was young...)
Raymond E Fiest and Janny Wurts - Servent of the Empire
Terry Brooks - Running with the Demon (Word and the Void)
David Gemmell - Waylander
Katherine Kerr - Daggerspell (Deverry)
Julian May - The Many Coloured Land (The Saga of Exiles)
Sherri S Tepper - King's Blood Four (The True Game)
Weis & Hickman - Dragons of Autumn Twilight

If we are allowed to go back and grab classics then that would be Alexandre Dumas - The Three Musketeers which I read so many times when I was young. The best adaptation of which is without question Dogtanian and The Three Muskehounds!

[adamtideman]

For me the best Wheel of Time book, as well as my first Brandon Sanderson book, is The Gathering Storm. Some of the best Rand and Egwene moments are in that book.

[thatsci-firogue]

Age of Madness rules! One of my favourite trilogies.

I don't give ratings (sorry I just don't think that way) but I'd say my favourite reads of the year so far have been:

The Dragonbone Chair / Tad Williams
- I don't read Traditional Fantasy very often but I thoroughly enjoyed this, especially as an ASOIAF fan.

The Grace of Kings / Ken Liu
- It took a bit to truly gel with me (about halfway through) but once it did it was off to the races. I can't wait to read Wall of Storms.

The Name of the Wind / Patrick Rothfuss
- I'd been putting this off for far too long and will forever be kicking myself for it. It may never be complete (tbh I don't care) but I loved it for the most part.

The Wilful Princess & Piebald Prince / Robin Hobb
- I don't think this was necessary but I enjoyed it. Its Hobb. I don't know if I will be resuming RotE anytime soon but still very happy to have read this.

Under Heaven / Guy Gavriel Kay
- GGK has been rising further up my list of favourite authors, in terms of prose I think is my favourite writer but he writes with such elegance, depth and emotional richness. If I had to pick a definite favourite of the year so far, it would be this one.

[DigitalTheologian]

I read a ton of SFF and this list shocked me with how many I HAVEN’T read. Thanks for pointing me to some more quality reads.

[ScottBatson]

I've been watching your channel for a while and remember when you were hesitant to read First Law because you aren't a big grimdark fan. Very happy to see you liked A Little Hatred. The Age of Madness trilogy is so brilliant and better than the original (imo).

I picked up The Paper Menagerie because of your previous recommendations and am very grateful!

[נעם-קליין]

I didn't know most of the books you started with (probably as a result of living in a non-English speaking country and most of those books not being translated to my native language), found it interesting you gave Peter Pan 5 stars! I'm from the kind of people that like to be grumpy over people watching the movie and not reading the book (even though this is hypocrisy - I honestly don't know how many adaptations I've watched without reading the original), so it's great to hear you liked it!
Found myself nodding along about the Ten Thousand Doors of January - really liked that book - and then... Spinning Silver. I've read that book! It was recommended to me by my cousin a couple of days ago, and I liked it - I'm Jewish, and it's nice for me to see a more-or-less accurate portrayal of my people.
Personally, I don't really rate books that much. I mean, I can probably tell you which books are my favourites and which are less so, but I don't rate them with stars mostly even though I do have a Goodreads account. Anyway, if I had a list of five star rating it probably would have been somewhat exclusive, and as is obvious from the start of my message - vastly different from yours. It'll probably include the Last Unicorn, Taran Wanderer from the Chronicles of Prydain, maybe the Horse and His Boy? I don't really know, I think I've tried only once to organize my list of favourite books and gave up on it rather quickly.

[AmatoAuthor]

Added Slip of the Keyboard to my TBR. And not the part of the TBR that never moves, I'll get to it soon for sure! Thanks for mentioning it, as it wasn't even on my radar.

[laurablakeauthor]

I feel like I have had way more 5 stars this year than I have had in such a long time because of booktube pointing me to some great books (you included!). Tress, Warbreaker, and the Blade Itself have been some faves this year. Along with the Princess Bride.

[dagahk]

I devoured Ted Chiang's both books when I found out a few months ago. He's ridiculously talented!
Since I've been following your channel, I've added tons of "to read" in my list! Thanks for the good content! :)

[Paromita_M]

I have only given 3 or 4 books 5 stars since I began rating what I read.
4.75 stars - maybe around 6 books?
4.5 stars - maybe around 20 books?

I haven't had any new reads that were 5 stars for me in 2023 unfortunately.

Happy reading!

[wardo]

I love your video! I just did my own 5-star analysis recently: In 9 years of Goodreads, I had 27 books rated 5 stars. 10 Fantasy, 10 Sci-fi, 4 Fiction, and 3 Non-Fiction. I also ranked them, as follows:

1. The Martian
2. To Green Angel Tower
3. Words of Radiance
4. Moby Dick
5. Project Hail Mary
6. The Way of Kings
7. The Return of Sherlock Holmes
8. Stand on Zanzibar
9. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
10. Among Others

We had some good overlap! Elsewhere on my list I had Death's End and The Hero of Ages. Other books I had read earlier, like Memory of Light and LOTR, that would be 5 stars.

[oudviola]

Interesting list thanks. Haven't read many of these but certainly agree on Cixin Liu, Susanna Clark, Madeline Miller. This year some of my faves are Seveneves, Ministry of the Future, and Years of Rice and Salt (all more in SF though Years has some fantasy elements). I am now on Malazan 3 Memories of Ice. Glad I am not the only one with spreadsheets! My movies watched sheet just hit 2000 ack!

[SheWasOnlyEvie]

I'm surprised you didn't shout out Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell when talking about Piranesi.

What's wrong with Mindy Kaling's memoir? I really enjoyed it!

I like to think that I don't give five stars out like candy, but I'm not also very reserved with them either. So far this year, I've given out six five-star ratings: Fool's Quest, Assassin's Fate, and The Wilful Princess and the Piebald Prince by Robin Hobb; Prosper's Demon and The Big Score by K. J. Parker; and, The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi.

[gavinrbeckett]

8:07 never tired of you talking about Piranesi 🤩

[tkinsey]

REALLY interested to see what you think of the rest of the Age of Madness. I don't think there is any doubt that Abercrombie has grown a TON as a writer and the prose and plotting in those books is so sharp and polished. I loved ALH too and thought The Trouble With Peace was even better. Unfortunately, The Wisdom of Crowds let me down a little. Not because it isn't 'good' - it for sure is - but I found it a little formulaic. Or at least, a little too similar to the beats that Joe had shown (or really, made popular) with his previous work. Intrigued to see what you think.

[lw]

This list is definitely a win from top to bottom. What really sold me though was the love shown to Jurassic Park and Starsight.