10 Best High Fantasy Novels Reviewed in 2025
New to high fantasy novels? Here’s our honest, funny look at the best adventures full of dragons, wizards, and epic quests.
Searching for the best high fantasy novels can feel like looking for a dragon in a haystack. Lucky for us, we’ve fought our way through magical forests, grimy cities, and several cheeseboard debates to find the 10 finest high fantasy novels out there. When picking books for this list, we focused on epic worlds, unforgettable magic, and page-turning adventures that had our whole group arguing over who gets the last slice of pizza. Whether you’re new to high fantasy or ready for a re-read, this list is for you. Grab your cloak—let’s talk about the high fantasy novels that really bring the magic.
On this list:
10 The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
Kicking off the iconic Wheel of Time series, this book throws you into a world that’s bigger than our Friday night pizza order. We fell for Rand and his crew as they try to not die (which, honestly, is a mood). It’s packed with magic, prophecies, and more plot twists than your average game of charades.
9 The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
We’re still recovering from the world-building here. Sanderson’s writing is like assembling IKEA furniture—you’re confused at first but so satisfied in the end. The Stormlight Archive kicks off with battles the size of our group text arguments and magic systems so cool they make us question gravity.
8 The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Kvothe is the kind of bard we wish came to our parties (although he’d hog the stories). This book mixes adventure, heartache, and school drama in a way we never thought would work. It’s got magic, music, and enough heartbreak to make even our most stoic friend sniffle a bit.
7 Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
Ever wonder what would happen if the villain actually won? Sanderson answers that question and then throws in allomancy magic for good measure. The crew in this book reminded us of our trivia team—scrappy, clever, and always outnumbered.
6 A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
There’s a reason everyone talks about this series. If you like your high fantasy novels with a side of betrayal and unpredictable deaths, this is the meal for you. Just don’t get too attached to anyone—we learned that the hard way.
5 The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
Dragons! Queens! Magic! We nearly burnt popcorn reading through the tense battles and clever political moves. This standalone high fantasy novel swept us up with its strong women and jaw-dropping world.
4 The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
High fantasy novels can be serious, but this one had us chortling. Locke and his gang try to out-scam everyone in Camorr. If you like clever heists and witty dialogue, you’ll love this. We debated trying some of these tricks, but decided our day jobs are safer.
3 The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Bilbo’s journey is like our first group camping trip—full of danger, snacks, and singing (okay, maybe just us singing). This classic is a gateway drug into high fantasy novels, and we keep coming back for the riddles and dragons.
2 The Black Prism by Brent Weeks
Magic here is all about color, which felt weird at first, but then we were hooked. The story’s got big magic battles and some jaw-dropping betrayals. By the end, we were arguing which ‘drafter’ is the coolest (it’s Gavin, hands down).
1 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
If there’s a king of high fantasy novels, this is it. The scale is epic, the adventure is huge, and the characters are as iconic as that one friend who always shows up late. We picked it as the best because it’s the gold (ring) standard. Tolkien not only shaped high fantasy novels forever, but also gave us a blueprint for what adventure, friendship, and hope can look like. Plus, it inspired countless pizza-fueled debates in our group about who would survive Mordor (spoiler: not Steve with the snacks). Whatever kind of high fantasy novels you want—heroes, dark lords, magic, or heartbreak—this book does it first and best. It may be a bit slow for new readers, but that slow burn pays off in the end!
