The best time to discover a fantasy series is when someone can tell you two things: where to start and what book finishes the story. If you want a family saga with the scope of a crime epic, start with Fonda Lee’s Jade City. If you’d rather follow a wizard through a world that changes as he grows older, start with Ursula K. Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea.
Every main story on this list has a published finale. You’ll find eight trilogies and the six core Earthsea volumes, with spoiler-free descriptions and reading orders. The original Mistborn trilogy is complete, and its wider universe has more stories.
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Find your next fantasy series
| If you want… | Start with | The main story ends with |
|---|---|---|
| A crime family whose choices echo across generations | Jade City | Jade Legacy |
| A magical heist that grows into a rebellion | Mistborn: The Final Empire | The Hero of Ages |
| Winter folklore and a heroine who can see spirits | The Bear and the Nightingale | The Winter of the Witch |
| A story that changes how you read its opening | The Fifth Season | The Stone Sky |
| Djinn and a court divided by its own history | The City of Brass | The Empire of Gold |
| Military fantasy with hard choices and lasting costs | The Poppy War | The Burning God |
| A con artist navigating a city of rival factions | The Mask of Mirrors | Labyrinth’s Heart |
| A murder investigation in a city of dead gods | City of Stairs | City of Miracles |
| A classic wizard story that grows into something quieter | A Wizard of Earthsea | The Other Wind |
1. The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee
Read in order · Jade City → Jade War → Jade Legacy
In the island nation of Kekon, trained warriors wear jade for its supernatural effects. The Kaul family’s power depends on who controls it. A clan dispute can change the future of a business, a neighborhood or an entire branch of the family. Janloon feels like a modern city where people still have to show up for dinner after making decisions that may get someone killed.
Pick this if you want a series that follows the consequences of its characters’ decisions for years. Jade Legacy finishes the Kauls’ main story. The Jade Setter of Janloon and Jade Shards offer extra time in Kekon.
Start with the paperback of Jade City on Amazon.
2. The Original Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson
Read in order · Mistborn: The Final Empire → The Well of Ascension → The Hero of Ages
Vin, a street thief, joins a crew plotting to overthrow a ruler who has held power for a thousand years. The heist gives the first book a clear objective while Vin learns what she can do with Allomancy, a magic system in which different metals grant different abilities.
The trilogy earns its place here because Sanderson spends two books on what happens after the kind of conflict that often fills a single fantasy novel. Vin’s story concludes in The Hero of Ages. Later Mistborn eras tell new stories in the same world.
Get Mistborn: The Final Empire in paperback on Amazon.
3. The Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden
review
Read in order · The Bear and the Nightingale → The Girl in the Tower → The Winter of the Witch
Vasya grows up in medieval Rus’, where she sees the household spirits that other people leave offerings for or have begun to fear. The first book gives you time to understand the rhythms of her village. The winter feels dangerous because you know who lives there and what they depend on to survive it.
This is the pick for historical fantasy readers who enjoy atmosphere and folklore. The story widens beyond the village, but the conflict over who gets to decide how Vasya lives follows her through all three books.
Read The Winternight Trilogy on Amazon!
4. The Broken Earth Trilogy by N. K. Jemisin
Read in order · The Fifth Season → The Obelisk Gate → The Stone Sky
Essun sets out to find her daughter as a geological catastrophe threatens the Stillness. She is an orogene, someone whose ability to control seismic forces can save lives. The society that relies on that power also fears the people who wield it.
The Broken Earth is one of my five favorite fantasy series. Jemisin makes the way she tells the story part of the experience. Small details in the opening take on new weight as you learn more about Essun and the world she lives in. The series deals with child death and abuse.
Start the trilogy with The Fifth Season in paperback on Amazon.
5. The Daevabad Trilogy by S. A. Chakraborty
Read in order · The City of Brass → The Kingdom of Copper → The Empire of Gold
Nahri gets by in eighteenth-century Cairo by reading people and telling them what they want to hear. Then she summons a djinn warrior and finds herself drawn toward Daevabad, where her origins give powerful people reasons to take an interest in her.
The city is the draw. Ask two characters how Daevabad came to be divided and you’ll hear two versions of its history. Nahri’s survival depends on figuring out who benefits from each account. The Empire of Gold ends the main story, and The River of Silver is a companion collection to read afterward.
Explore The Daevabad Trilogy on Amazon!
6. The Poppy War Trilogy by R. F. Kuang
Read in order · The Poppy War → The Dragon Republic → The Burning God
Rin earns a place at an elite military academy and discovers that passing the entrance exam has solved only the first of her problems. When war comes, the prospect of channeling a god’s power forces her to reckon with what she’s willing to do to win.
The academy gives the opening a familiar shape before the trilogy turns into a study of war, power and revenge. Read this when you’re in the mood for the harshest series on the list. Kuang draws on twentieth-century Chinese history, and the books depict graphic wartime atrocities, including sexual violence and mass killing.
Find the paperback of The Poppy War on Amazon.
7. Rook & Rose by M. A. Carrick
Read in order · The Mask of Mirrors → The Liar’s Knot → Labyrinth’s Heart
Ren comes to Nadežra planning to pass herself off as a noblewoman. To make the con work, she has to learn who gets invited into which rooms, what people reveal through their clothes and manners, and how much a family will overlook when a lie flatters it.
M. A. Carrick is the shared pen name of Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms. Their trilogy is a good choice if you’re willing to spend time getting to know a city before all the schemes come into view. Much of the pleasure comes from watching Ren’s invented identity turn into a set of relationships she has to live with.
8. The Divine Cities Trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett
Read in order · City of Stairs → City of Blades → City of Miracles
Shara Thivani investigates a murder in Bulikov, once the seat of an empire sustained by gods. The gods are believed to be dead, and the city’s official account of its past leaves plenty of room for a good investigator to ask awkward questions.
If you liked the way The Tainted Cup makes its mystery depend on how its world works, start here. Each installment shifts to a different lead, so the trilogy has room to examine the same history from several lives. The murder gives you a reason to turn the page, and the city gives you a reason to keep thinking about it.
Start with the paperback of City of Stairs on Amazon.
9. The Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin
Read in order · A Wizard of Earthsea → The Tombs of Atuan → The Farthest Shore → Tehanu → Tales from Earthsea→ The Other Wind
Ged is a gifted young wizard who unleashes a shadow while trying to prove himself. Le Guin gives that first book the shape of a coming-of-age story, then uses later books to look at Earthsea through people whose lives and concerns the young Ged could scarcely have imagined.
Read this if you want to see a fantasy world change as its author returns to it. Tehanu looks closely at lives that an adventure might pass by. The collection Tales from Earthsea includes “Dragonfly,” which Le Guin identifies as a bridge to the final novel, The Other Wind.
Find The Earthsea Cycle on Amazon!
Which completed fantasy series should you read first?
Start with Jade City if you like family sagas and want a story that gets more interesting as the characters age. Pick Mistborn if you want a strong opening hook and a clear path through three books. Choose A Wizard of Earthsea if you’d rather try a compact first novel before deciding how long to stay. For a series you can reread and see differently from page one, my pick is The Fifth Season.
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