Top 15 Self-Published Fantasy Series/Books of All Time! (All of Them Are On Kindle Unlimited, Too!)
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- čas přidán 25. 07. 2024
- Hi everyone! Today's video is a big list video similar to the one I did three months ago. This will be about the Top Self-Published/Indie Fantasy Series/Books of All Time! I asked my patrons, my followers on Twitter, and all of you on my community tab about your favorite self-published fantasy books or series of all time. In total, I recorded more or less 300 series/books. Out of 870 votes, 315 were allocated to 15 books/series. I typed ALL these series and votes to count accurately. The topic of today's list has been chosen by my patrons, and I already have a topic in mind for the next one. I will do the survey next month! In the meantime, I hope this video is beneficial to you. Thank you so much for all the support! I can't believe I almost reached 25k subscribers here. Also, if you have Kindle Unlimited, and coincidentally, all of these books/series are available on Kindle Unlimited! :)
0:00 Intro & Rules
2:10 Top 15-11
6:02 Top 10-6
11:19 Top 5-1
17:07 Final Thoughts
Thumbnail Background Art by Felix Ortiz
-Books/Series Mentioned:
Miss Percy’s Pocket Guide by Quenby Olson
Dreams of the Dying (Twelfth World 1) by Nicolas Lietzau
Eleventh Cycle (Mistland 1) by Kian N. Ardalan
Ash and Sand by Richard Nell
The War Eternal by Rob J. Hayes
Paternus Trilogy by Dyrk Ashton
The Ashes of Avarin by Thiago Abdalla
Dragon Mage (Rivenworld 1) by M.L. Spencer
Legacy of the Brightwash (Tainted Dominion 1) by Krystle Matar
Cradle by Will Wight
The Threadlight Trilogy by Zack Argyle
Illborn Saga by Daniel T. Jackson
The Mortal Techniques by Rob J. Hayes
The Bound and the Broken by Ryan Cahill
The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang
Data and votes compiled from the comments I got on:
-My patrons on Patreon
-My CZcams community tab: • Post
-Twitter: / 1629451376916049920
Support my reviews and channel:
Patreon: / petrikleo
Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/petrikleo
Buy books from Blackwells (Free International Shipping) using my affiliate link: www.blackwells.co.uk/?a_aid=p...
Follow me on:
Goodreads: / petrik
Twitter: / petrikreads
Instagram: / petrikleo
Blog: novelnotions.net - Zábava
I know I say this often to you, but I truly mean it and it's worth repeating: Thanks for all you do for the self-published community, Petrik! You really do make a big difference, for a lot of people--both writers and readers.
It's my pleasure really. Thank you so much for the kind words, Vaughn! The Severing Son will be read next month! 😁
What a fantastic video, Petrik! This is a great service to the community. I'm happy to see a couple of my votes here, but I'm also happy to learn about some other great self-published fantasy to read. Thank you, my friend!
Thank you so much, my friend! Your votes definitely count. Also, I'm happy to let you know I'm 50% through The Way of Edan and enjoying it! :D
@@PetrikLeo Oh, wow! That’s fantastic, and thank you for letting me know!
Thanks for the time and work it must have taken for you to put this video together, Petrik. I am absolutely honoured to see The Illborn Saga on the list alongside so many great self-published books and series.
Thank you so much, Dan! I look forward to reading Aiduel's Sin! 😊
Thank you for all you do for the indie community, Petrik. I'm humbled to see Dreams up there. :)
You're welcome! I'm happy to see Dreams in the list, too. Once Cure is out, the reception will be even better!
Started Threadlight recently and it's very enjoyable! Awesome list with so many great books!
I need to start the series as soon as possible, too!
Careful what you say in your reviews of Threadlight. Argyle might attack you on Twitter if you don’t stroke his ego when you provide your professional services for free. 😞
You, Petrik, are the hero of the fantasy community. Self - published fantasy gets very little attention from a lot of people, and it's wonderful that you're using your reach and influence to promote good self-published works that otherwise wouldn't cross reader's radar.
I'm a bit surprised that The Echoes Saga, The Chronicles of the Black Gate, and the Legacy Trilogy, all of which are among my top 6 series of all times, didn't make the cut. Looks like you've just added a few more kilos to my TBR as I now have to see what's so special about the ones that did.
Thank you so much! Haha, I try to do it as often as I can. I just think people are missing out by not reading self-published fantasy books!
And yeah, The Echoes Saga received some votes but it's not as popular as what Amazon says. Probably a niche club, really. Same for Chronicles of the Black Gate, too. I don't think Legacy trilogy is self-published, though! :D
My tbr just grew a little longer. Thanks for making this video and also thanks to everybody who voted.
Awesome! Really pleased to hear that! :)
Great video! I've been intending to read more Indie Fantasy lately, and I'm thoroughly enjoying the War Eternal series! Looking forward to reading Sword of Kaigen soon!
Thank you, Will! I most likely will read War Eternal this year. I hope you'll love The Sword of Kaigen. I think it's AMAZING. 😊
Im about 20% thru of war and ruin, and im so glad to see this series at the top of this list! It deserves it, even the novellas are fantastic!
Still havent read sword of kaigan yet... I need to get to it!!
Thanks for this video petrik, and the effort you put into all your videos! 🙏🏼
You're so welcome, Erik! Happy to hear the video is beneficial. And I know right? Of War and Ruin is amazing. I hope you'll love The Sword of Kaigen when you get around to it! :)
Love the video! Sword of Kaigen is one book I for sure want to get to this year.
Thank you! I hope you'll love it when you get around to it! :)
This was an awesome list! Thank you for taking the time to put it together! It was great to see a couple of my votes in there .. and of course add more to my TBR 😅
Thank you so much! The TBR pile continuously grow and grow... 🤣
Yay. Thanks for taking the time to do this video! I've added a bunch of books to my list. I think top priority for me is Dragon Mage.
You're welcome! Dragon Mage is superb. 😊
Amazing video Petrik! Thanks again for all your do for the self-published SFF community. It means so much! Wonderful to see all these series, including Threadlight by Zack Argyle on your awesome list. Very happy to see that Zack's writing has gained so much popularity. Having read it, I can say it is well deserved. As others have mentioned, since you're a Sanderson fan, pretty confident you will love Threadlight whenever you read it!
Thank you so much! That's what I keep hearing, too. I know Zack is a huge Sanderson fan, too. And as a fellow fan of Sanderson's books, I will have to read Threadlight! :D
Great video, Petrik! 😃And what a fantastic list!! I love reading indie books, I've found a lot of favorites among them. Glad to see some on this list (like Illborn, The Bound and the Broken, The Sword of Kaigen, Dragon Mage, ...) 🖤 Can't wait to read Legacy of the Brightwash and The Mortal Techniques (hopefully) soon 🤩
Thank you so much, my friend! Me too. I think indie fantasy books deserve so much more recognition and readership in general. Many readers are missing out! I hope you'll love Legacy of the Brightwash and Mortal Techniques! :)
Added so many of these to my TBR- great video!
Thank you so much! That's great! 😁😁
Great video, Petrik, thanks for all the work and self-pub boosting. I'm a reader too and always on the hunt for new series.
Thank you so much, Richard! I'm happy to see the votes for Ash and Sand keep going strong to this day! :)
Petrik, this was an awesome video! I have yet to dive into much self- pub, but now I have plenty of great recommendations! Thanks for all of this hard work, I appreciate it.
You're welcome! I really appreciate your kind comments, too. Have fun diving into self pub fantasy. Many awesome books! 😁
Great idea, Petrik! I love The Threadlight series 👌☺️ But The Bound and the Broken is also phenomenal series so far.
Thank you so much, Kari! I have to read Threadlight trilogy as soon as possible! :D
What an honor. Thank you Petrik !
You're welcome! Thank those who voted for you! :D
@@PetrikLeo I did that on the Twitters and Facebutt ;)
Super cool to learn about these different series i hadn't heard of.
Glad Jesse shouted you out in a recent vid!
Thank you so much! I'm appreciative of Jesse's shoutout for my channel! :D
Thank you. This video is really well timed for me. I’ve recently taken up an offer from Amazon to get two months of Kindle Unlimited at a reduced cost of 99p per month. I intend to make the most of it by binge reading as many Unlimited books as I can. There are so many available it’s difficult to know which ones to choose. Now, thanks to you, I have a plan. I’m going to start with The Sword of Kaigen and make my way down the list. I wonder if I’ll manage to find the time to get through them all.
You're welcome! That is a wise plan. Good luck with it! That's a lot of books to go through! xD
Thanks for a great video!
You're welcome! Thank you for watching!!
Fantastic video. This is a great way for a viewer to find new titles to read. You've done a brilliant job putting together a list voted by readers combined with your own views on what selections you have yourself read.
Thank you so much! I wish I can offer my thoughts on all the series mentioned. But I still have to work on some I haven't read yet. 😁
I've really liked these videos. It's really interesting to see what ends up on these lists from voting. And it's great for getting ideas about which book to read next.
Me too! Making and compiling the data for the video is interesting to me! :D
Excellent video, already have a few in my TBR, looks like I’ll be adding some more 😊
More books in our TBR is always good. Right!? :D
Thank you!! I love supporting self-published authors but never know which books to look for. Lists like this help so much.
So happy to hear this video is useful to you!! 😊
This is a really awesome video Petrik, happy to see SOK on top as it's my favorite standalone indie as well. Might try out Rob Hayes and Ryan cahill
Thank you so much, Yaniv! Rob Hayes and Ryan Cahill's books are must try! 😁
Quite a few series on here interest me. I've only read and loved Sword of Kaigen, but have been eyeing Richard Nell's trilogy ever since watching Philip Chase's discussion with the author.
I'd like to know, for the ones you've read on here, which ones had gods playing a prominent roles? I usually don't love having overpowered characters at the forefront, so that's why I'm asking.
Thank you for making that video, it will definitely influence my self-published reading journey! 🤗
You're welcome! Glad you found this video useful. Regarding your question, I think Eleventh Cycle and Paternus are the only ones where gods played a prominent role. :)
Great list I've read the sword of Kagan, and I just finished the first book of blood and Fire in the bound and the broken series about to read the fall I also have that Kings of paradise on my TBR coming up real soon keep up the great content
Thank you, Johnathan! The series only gets better and better after Of Blood and Fire. I think you'll love Ash and Sand trilogy!! 😁
I need to read so many of these, I bought most of the ones mentioned despite having kindle unlimited, because I like to support the authors. I dunno when I'll get to most of them, but I think ash and sand will be the series I tackle next after threadlight, which I'm really enjoying. That free audiobook channel has the whole trilogy up, so I've been listening to it before bed, and reading during the day. Highly recommended!
Thanks for all you do for the community, booktube and the fantasy space are better for having you involved
And I'm always thankful of your comments and viewing, Sean. It means a lot to me. Great to hear you're enjoying Threadlight! I need to get around to that ASAP. I think you'll love Ash and Sand trilogy!! 😁
Fantastic work❤🎉🎉🎉
Thank you! 😊
Dang! We learn something new with you everyday!! Zack argyle is making an omnibus of his three books! Il keep that on my radar. Thank you. Also glad sword og kaigen, dragon mage and spirit of vangence made it. :)
You're welcome! I, too, need to read Threadlight trilogy! :D
Perfect video for me, as I want to read a lot more self-published fantasy this year.
That's great! I'm happy to hear that! :)
Never heard Sword of Kaigan until recently (In Daniel's Fantasy news about the limited edition, and now here). Very much excited to check it out
I read it in early 2019, and I can't forget it to this day. Such an amazing book. I hope you'll feel the same! 😁
Great video as always, Petrik! I need to check out Eleventh Cycle soon, a blend of Dark Souls and Berserk sounds insanely awesome. I also like the sound of Sword of Kaigen, Bound and the Broken, and Threadlight. I am surprised to hear you haven't read Thiago's books yet! I moved Ashes of Avarin up to the top of my TBR after I noticed how chill and active in the community he is. I am starting as soon as I finish Wrath (hopefully today), still deciding whether to start with the prequel or A Touch of Light 🤔.
Thank you so much, Anthony! I do think Eleventh Cycle is an amazing book despite its issues. I totally loved The Sword of Kaigen and The Bound and the Broken, I truly hope you'll love these books. I will certainly read Ashes of Avarin this year. I think I will start from the prequel novella first. I heard from multiple readers it's a better starting place than A Touch of Light! :D
What a banger of a list, there are a lot of my personal faves on here as well!!
I always forget that you haven't read Threadlight and War Eternal, those are really the perfect series for you!! And don't worry, you aren't the only one who has committed a crime by still not having read Aiduel's Sin despite loving Illborn... what are we doing with our lives?!
Thank you so much for putting this together. I hope you know how much your support of the indie community is appreciated, you are a gem!!
You're welcome! I've tried War Eternal when it was first released, but I felt I was in the wrong reading mood for it. I certainly want to try it again. And of course Threadlight and Aiduel's Sin! It's really a sin (see what I did there) that I haven't read these two! :D
I'm a few chapters away from finishing up Threadlight! It think it's in my top 3 favorite fantasy series right now
Oh wow! That's amazing! Seventh Cadence was mentioned plenty of times, too. 😁
Great lineup :)
I agree! :D
I love seeing eleventh cycle with it being so new. Such an incredible book
It's truly impressive!! 🤩
halfway through Aduel's Sin, you need to get on it Petrik it is so good!
It will happen within this year! Glad to hear you're enjoying it!
Currently reading the sword of Kaigen with a book club. It was so hard that I had to stop at the half way point. I wanted to keep going!
I hope you'll love the second half of it when you do continue! :)
So many great books there!
Can't disagree with that! 😊
Completely agree with your assessment of The Sword of Kaigen. I don’t think it is possible for another self-published book to kick it out of my #1 spot.
Glad you agree with me. It's a true masterpiece. I can't see any self-published book kicking it out of my #1 spot. But who knows, maybe one day it will happen. We'll see! :)
Great video! I haven't read Sword of Kaigen but I heard very mixed opinions about it so I'm a bit surprised to see it in the number one spot.
Also, I applaud your courage for saying what you said about Cradle 11. I do feel the same too but I feel like we are very much in the minority here 😅.
I know you liked anime, too, so I think there's a really good chance you'll like Sword of Kaigen. Believe me, I've received some crazy comments on my opinion about Cradle book 11, but hey I must be honest... :D
Sword of Kaigen is amazing...give it a try
I can't believe nobody talks about Jesse Teller. His Madness Wars series is some of the best grimdark fantasy I've ever read. Actually all his books, that mostly take place in the same world, are incredible. Imaginitive, dark, humorous, and epic are just some words I'd use to describe his stories and characters.
I know about Jesse Teller. He has so many books out, but I haven't read any of his books yet! Good to know you enjoyed it that much, though, Brian! :)
Thanks for the rec...will definitely have a look
Sword of Kaigen already bought it in January but will get to it may be in October
Awesome! I hope you'll love it, Kev!
I'm sorry your Legacy of the Brightwash review didn't perform well. I want you to know that your review is the reason I purchased the book! It arrived a few days ago and I'm very excited for it!
No worries, Rachel! It happens sometimes! Glad it actually made you want to buy the book. Fingers crossed you'll like it! :)
I'll go watch your review for legacy of the brightwash, but the cover throws me off haha not gonna lie; like it looks like a different genre, like American History X or something haha if you know that is haha
That could be one of the reasons why it didn't do well! :D
Thank you so much for this list! I know it must have taken a lot of work.
You're welcome! And yes it was a lot of work! 🤣 Probably will take a break from it for now.
@@PetrikLeo Mind if I ask whether it was the editing or the research and preparation (collecting the data) that took up the most time?
@@theswordandthepenchannel definitely collecting the data and putting all of them into excel. I have to write down more than 300 series/books manually. Then I count the votes manually. This in total took almost 4 hours to do. Not counting the actual recording and editing yet. 😅
@@PetrikLeo Thats a bummer. If you havent seen them already, check out what Merphy Napier used to do with her "dear authors" videos. CZcams did all the work for her because she asked for suggestions in the comments, and then people clicked the "like" button, and she sorted the comments by likes. Maybe you could do more videos like this more easily with that sort of preparation. I'd love more videos from you like this... maybe some stuff like.... "favorite protagonists" video, and "favorite antagonists" video, and "best best friend" video...etc. maybe????
@@theswordandthepenchannel oh wow. I'll look into that! Thanks for letting me know!!! 🤩
You should get in the way back machine and check out some of the OG's of indie like Michael Manning, Danika Dark, Daniel Arenson, Bella Forrest, and others.
Michael Manning is the only one I heard from the names you mentioned. But again, this isn't my list. This is just a compilation of my follower's votes. 🙂
I tried reading Unsouled and it was not my cup of tea. Dnfed after the fox spirit (the only interesting thing for me in that book).
I've added so many books to my cart and Kindle Unlimited shelf thanks to you.
Can't blame you. The first two books of Cradle was alright... nothing special. It didn't turn to something great until the 3rd book, Blackflame. I hope you'll enjoy the other series on this video! 😁
Great video as usual! Since you emphasized that these are voted on by others, you could also mention the video with your own self-pub favourites, for those who want to see your personal list?
Thank you! I already did one two years ago. And as mentioned in the video, I will post my own list sometime this year. 🙂
Have you read anything from Andrew Rowe? I was recommended him a while ago, and I have some of his books, but haven't read them yet.
Yup! I've read and enjoyed the first two books in Arcane Ascension. They're great! 😁 I'm not too much of a fan of the third book though. 😅
Can you please try James fahy free in kindle unlimited I think his work his good. Leaning more towards YA but his science fiction is totally different from his fantasy work
Never heard of it before! I'll look into it anyway. Thank you for the recommendation!
Just noticed "The Last Ranger" in the shelf ^_^ how did you like it?
Kings of Paradise has been on my TBR. I don't know why i haven't read it sooner, but maybe i ought to move it up on the list.
I didn't like Voice of War. It felt like too many moving parts all at once that needed notes, and i'm the kind of reader that likes something less complicated so i can relax with the story. But I'm a weirdo like that lol
I may try to pick up Never Die again. I don't remember why i stopped reading it, and a second look is due
I haven't read The Last Ranger yet, so I can't say much about it yet. Kings of Paradise is great, though. I hope you'll love Never Die on your next attempt, Rachel! :)
@@PetrikLeo will do ^_^ Hope you have as much fun with The Last Ranger as I did. Book2 is supposed to start going out soon
Sword of Kaigen is so mfing good. As soon as you said 'the number one book is a stand alone' i started chanting sword of Kaigen in my head lol. As per usual my to read list got bigger after watching one of your videos. Out of curiosity did the Riyria chronicles by Michael J Sullivan get any votes? I could have sworn they were self published and I thought they were excellent
I know right? I need to reread Sword of Kaigen again. When I get the hardcover, I will! As for Sullivan, Riyria Chronicles did get some votes. But also tricky because the first two books in Riyria Chronicles are traditionally published. So it's a hybrid series that didn't get many votes as a self-pub books. I loved Riyria chronicles, though!
@@PetrikLeo oooh ok, I didn't know some of them were traditionally published. Yeah I'm waiting that same Kickstarter copy of Kaigen too, absolutely can't wait! Love your content! I'm about halfway through eleventh cycle because of your recommendation, loving it so far
The fact Ash and Sand is so low on this list is insane to me. Goes to show how underrated it really is, what a fucking amazing trilogy.
Yeah! I think it deserves so much more recognition and readership. Such a great trilogy! :D
As much as I enjoyed watching Game of Thrones, I do NOT want to read grimdark. I always looks for stuff that I would consider "mostly PG-13", like Brandon Sanderson.
Cradle is one I've been recommended, and plan to check out. I didn't even know it was self-published.
Never heard of Zack Argyle, but you checked all the boxes with the "if you liked" on that one (I really liked Lightbringer too), so I'll look into that.
Totally understandable! I think Cradle will fit what you're looking for. Fingers crossed both of us will love Threadlight trilogy! :)
I recently read thread light and it just didn’t work for me. I am not even sure why. I think it is well written and really appreciate the world Zach Argyle created but there was just something about it made me not care much for the characters and so much that seemed too convenient. I really enjoyed the first book but just couldn’t get into the last 2
Rob J Hayes, Daniel T Jackson and Ryan Cahill are my 3 favourites on this list
That's fair. Sometimes that happens! I hope I'll have better luck with Threadlight. Glad you loved Hayes, Jackson, and Cahill's books, though! 😁
Sword of Kaigen - here I come!
Wise decision, my friend! :D
For me it's not that eleventh cycle is too grim as that's what I like in my fantasy but it's just veeeeeery slow paced. It took me almuch longer than usual to get through it
That's totally fair and understandable! We have different experience of it. 😊
The funny thing Is I like progression fantasy from the Light No vels of SO Ima spider so what? to the AMAZING Iron Prince by O'Connor but...I dont Like Cradle at all Im through 4 books and its never clicked for me.
I will read Iron Prince this year. I heard so many wonderful things about it! :)
Yes, but what about Bob the Wizard? 🤔😎🤪
It didn't receive enough votes to appear on the list. :)
@@PetrikLeo I know, Petrik. Thanks for the video!
Cradle not being #1? Unsubbed. Not like I've read all the others, but my opinion is an objective fact.
Seriously though, I'm gonna get through my backlog and catch up to you one day 😂😂
OH NO!! xD
Best of luck catching up, Jorden! I still have to read the books in my TBR, too! :D
Oh no! I didn't realize eleventh cycle was self published otherwise I would've voted for that 100%
Ah, that's too bad!! 😂😂
The author of Threadlight can be a jerk to reviewers on Twitter if they give his books a mediocre review. That’s worth noting before you read it.
I will keep that in mind. :)
You hate her so much.. imagine your suprise when you get to next one.
Huh???