The Best Fantasy Book Series

It can be daunting for a reader to embark on a whole series. What do we gain by reading these longer works?

I’m the author of an ongoing seven-book series, so needless to say, I’m a fan of a long journey. To be able to sit with one cast of characters for an extended period – many years – is such a privilege, and such a joy. You can show your reader an enormous world and spend a decent amount of time in each place. It just gives you a little more space to let your imagination unfold, and to give each part of the narrative some room to breathe.

You’ve written two series yourself, The Bone Season and The Roots of Chaos. Did you always know these would be series? How far in advance do you plan your plot points?

I knew the Bone Season would be a long series from the very beginning. The Priory of the Orange Tree was originally meant to be a standalone, but after building this enormous world and realising it had more stories to tell, I decided to keep going. With the Bone Season books, I had to plan the big twists well in advance, as I needed to know where to plant and water the seeds of future reveals. With the Roots of Chaos books, I didn’t know every single detail of the world and timeline from the start of Priory, but I build gradually on the lore as I go.

Your first choice is the Burning Kingdoms trilogy by Tasha Suri. The first book, The Jasmine Throne, won the World Fantasy Award for best novel in 2022. What is this series about, and what makes it special?

The Burning Kingdoms trilogy is inspired by the epics of ancient India and follows Priya and Malini, two women on different sides of a conflict between the old gods of nature and a religion based on fire. Tasha Suri is one of my favourite authors – everything she writes is so intricate, and has clearly been considered with great care. She has a lyrical style, an impeccable command of plot and character, and she’s a master of yearning. The relationships she writes between women, whether romantic or platonic, are some of my favourites in all of literature. She is one of our greatest living fantasy authors, and I’m proud to be working in this Golden Age of the genre at the same time as her.

Can you tell us a little more about the relationship between these two? Does the conflict mean that they start out as enemies?

In a sense. Priya is from Ahiranya, which was conquered by the Parijatdvipan Empire. Malini is the emperor’s sister. When she refuses to be burned alive in a religious ceremony, her brother exiles her to a temple in Ahiranya, where Priya, who is secretly involved with the original nature-based faith of Ahiranya, becomes her attendant. So they don’t start off on the best foot, even if they’re not outright enemies.

Let’s talk about your next choice, Garth Nix’s Abhorsen series. The original trilogy starts with Sabriel. Could you introduce us?

I credit the Abhorsen trilogy with restoring my love of the genre after I drifted away from it for a while, as it was one of the first times I’d seen a female protagonist carving out her own story. It follows Sabriel, daughter of the Abhorsen – the one who controls the border between life and death – as she comes into her inheritance. Its magic system, the Charter, is based on runes. The Abhorsen uses a series of bells of different sizes to control the dead and wield other powers – a concept I still find so fresh and intriguing, even thirty years after it was published. It’s a classic I’d recommend to anyone looking for a great trilogy.

Why do you think a trilogy is such a popular series length?

Perhaps it’s some reflection of the three-act structure. Our brains are used to absorbing stories in sets of three. My books are usually broken into three internal parts. Trilogies do carry a risk of the middle book feeling like filler, but they can be very satisfying when everything is measured out perfectly.

You are about to add a third novella to your own series, The Roots of Chaos cycle, which opens with The Priory of the Orange Tree. I understand that Among the Burning Flowers will be a prequel? Could you tell us about the world of the cycle and the inspiration to write an earlier instalment?

The Roots of Chaos series is set in a world that hinges on the delicate balance between the magic of starlight (sterren) and the magic of fire (siden), which produce different species of dragons. Siden gives rise to fire-breathing wyrms bent on destruction, while sterren creates water dragons, intelligent and peaceful enough to work alongside humans.

The two previous books are very long – over 800 pages each – and I wanted to provide a more accessible entry point in the form of a shorter instalment, which would also enrich the lore and characters for existing Roots of Chaos readers. To do that, I decided to expand on a single event, the Fall of Yscalin. We see the aftermath of this event in The Priory of the Orange Tree, when the Kingdom of Yscalin has already fallen to Draconic evil, but Among the Burning Flowers explains how it happened. It follows the isolated Marosa Vetalda, the heir to Yscalin, as she faces the threat of the ruthless wyrm Fýredel, who tried to destroy the world five centuries ago.

Your third choice is a duology… Please tell us about the Queen of Coin and Whispers by Helen Corcoran.

In my opinion, this series is one of the most underrated gems in high fantasy. Queen of Coin and Whispers is about Lia, a young and idealistic queen who inherits the struggling realm of Edar from her late uncle. At court, her path crosses with that of a vengeful noble named Xania, who becomes her spymaster.

The political intrigue in this book is some of the best I’ve read, and the romance that unfolds between Xania and Lia is so tender and realistic, grounded in mutual love and respect. The sequel, Daughter of Winter and Twilight, follows their adopted daughter Emri as she confronts a goddess, Lady Winter.

Let’s talk about your fourth choice. This has been a Sunday Times bestseller – what’s Saara El-Arifi’s Ending Fire trilogy about, and what has made it so popular?

The Final Strife was one of the strongest debuts I ever read, unfolding in the Wardens’ Empire, where people are divided based on the colour of their blood. The ruling class, the tyrannical Embers, have red blood; below them in the hierarchy are Dusters, with blue blood; and the lowest group are the brutally oppressed Ghostings, with clear blood. According to the law, only Embers can use the magic of bloodwerk. Sylah, an Ember raised as a Duster, was destined to be the Chosen One who upended the system, but something went terribly wrong.

It’s exciting when a debut voice hooks you. Fantasy is thriving at the moment – what makes El-Arifi stand out?

She knows how to nail a twist that wrenches your breath away, and all of her characters are deeply human, with genuine flaws to balance their strengths. Her worldbuilding is vivid and original, her stories are well-paced, and her imagination is boundless. In short, every ingredient of her books hits the spot.

Your final choice is translated from Swedish: please introduce us to the Engelsfors trilogy, by Sara B. Elfgren and Mats Strandberg. 

I first became aware of this trilogy when I did an event with Sara B. Elfgren many years ago. It’s set in the fictional Swedish town of Engelsfors, where six girls discover they’re the Chosen Ones – elemental witches, destined to save the world from evil. Now they must work together to control their awakened magic, despite having very little in common. The basic premise of the trilogy is quite simple, but for me, it stands out because of the complexity of the characters and their relationships. The girls aren’t friends at the beginning – one of them is an outright bully – and they each have their own set of issues outside the supernatural threat. There’s also a beautiful romance that blossoms between two of the girls – one of the first examples of a sapphic relationship I ever saw in fantasy.

It’s a theme of your choices today that the characterisation and relationships particularly interest you. Is that key for series potential, do you think?

Absolutely. When you have more than one instalment, you can add so much depth and complexity to both the characters and their connections to each other. You can see the consequences of their choices play out over months or years; you can write a torturously slow-burn romance; you can forge, break, and mend relationships; you can follow the protagonist as they grow and change, regress and fail, and ultimately rise again.

Are there any more series you’d like to give a shout-out to before we close today?

The Skane duology by Lisa Lueddecke – A Shiver of Snow and Sky and its standalone prequel, A Storm of Ice and Stars – is really underrated. It’s set on a frozen island where the colours of the aurora are messages from a goddess, and a plague is ravaging the land. I fell in love with Iceland a couple of years ago and I’m very fond of fantasy settings that remind me of my trip there. Other series I’ve loved are the Strange the Dreamer duology by Laini Taylor, the Twin Crowns trilogy by Katherine Webber and Catherine Doyle, and the Singing Hills cycle by Nghi Vo. I’m also looking forward to continuing the Gethsemane series by Jackson P. Brown, which started with The Reaper.

Among the Burning Flowers by Samantha Shannon is published by Bloomsbury Archer and is available now.