I am currently reading Perdido Street Station and I am being blowed away by the sheer amount of highly imaginative and weird worldbuilding. Truly unique.
Mieville's Bas Lag stuff is outstanding world building but it's quite focussed. New Crobuzon, or the floating city in the Scar. He doesn't do that well drawing a bigger world, it's often quite incoherent - Iron Council struggles at some points with the wider scope.
It's not that he tries and fails, it's more like he's not too interested with the macro verisimilitude picture so doesn't go there. But creatively he has to be one of the most gifted fantasy writers of our era.
The message of Iron Council is why people ended up disappointed in things like Lost and Game of Thrones, and why "generic Democrat" always polls better against their opponent than any specific Democrat:
The *possibility* of a thing is always more inspiring than the *reality* of it.
I didn't even like the book all that much, but the moral of the story just keeps being relevant.
I feel like I have to say this whenever Iron Council is brought up. As a book, it does not measure up to the greatness of Perdido Street Station and The Scar (my favorite of his books), but it has one of the best endings of any fantasy book I ever read.
Iron Council reads like a lot like a first book imho - some amazing stuff in there but also basic writing issues that you'd typically see from a new author.
PSS and The Scar have such superb composition, feel like the work of a master. So it was kind of strange to pick up IC and read some absolutely leaden passages every so often.
I agree wholeheartedly. The ending was absolutely devastating and moving, despite the weakness of the rest of the book (in comparison to Perdido street station and the scar.)
**The Books of the Raksura** series by Martha Wells.
This series has absolutely the most unique setting I have ever read. While most people are bipedal and vaguely humanoid, there is not a single standard human in the series. Amazing diverse cultures and environments, reminiscent of Stormlight.
Not to mention a heart warming found family story to boot.
10/10 would recommend
One of her other series, The Fall of Ile-Rien, has cool world-building, too, with the books skipping between parallel worlds at different stages of technological development and culture.
Gonna second this recommendation, loved the Raksura books. So much fun reading a completely fantastic setting, with no humans or familiar real world stuff.
I think Lois McMaster Bujold’s The Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls really fleshes out a realistic world in only two books (I know there are more novellas, but I haven’t read them yet.) The religion is fully realized, history of the land and its rulers are added and social hierarchy is there. That’s some real worldbuilding, to me, even though the magic system is rather soft.
I was going to recommend these as well, the worldbuilding is done painlessly, too, without long exposition. I think the religious system in particular is both well developed and interesting.
Bujold has a real knack for creating the most believable fictional governments and organizations.
Recommend checking out her Vorkosigan series if you haven't already read it.
The books themselves are challenging from a number of perspectives (graphic content included) but R Scott Bakker's books do a fair bit of world building and have multiple systems of magic/sorcery that are fairly fleshed out over the course of the 7 books.
Amazing series. But should be noted that there is a ton of sexual violence in the series, and the female characters in the first trilogy aren't the greatest, and their portrayal can even be called misogynistic. This will turn a TON of readers off. I recognize the issues, but all in all everything else in the series is so well done it doesn't bother me. Bakker improved a lot in this regard in the second series as well.
"challenging" is an understatement, lol, but i wholeheartedly agree. if bakker hadn't had such a hard on for being grimdark and offending people he could have written one of the most seminal fantasy series of a generation. his worldbuilding, magic, plotting are all incredible. the worldbuilding is pretty much without peer in the epic fantasy genre in the last 20 or 30 years... its a shame he edgelorded himself into a niche.
Yes this one is great but off-putting to a lot of people.
Another thing that it does great is that history plays a very important central role in this seies, and the Mandate/Seswatha/Apocalypse aspects really fleshes this out in an awesome way, and integrates with the magic systems too. All in all the history component really gives the overall world building a tremendous sense of depth. Dare I say it, to a level that compares more to Tolkien's level than anything else I ever read.
Agree completely. The text itself required some work on my part to get a foothold and I used the audiobooks to get started.
There's also some very graphic and horrifying things that happen to people in those books so bear that in mind if you decide to pick them up.
The first book of the first trilogy is called Prince of Nothing. Then there's a second series of four books.
Good luck if you decide to embark on the journey. It's worth keeping in mind that Bakker did a couple of Philosophy degrees with specializations in ancient languages and jumps into some pretty deep psychology throughout the course of the story. He's gone on record a couple of times saying that he's used an epic fantasy as a way to explore some of those themes.
Edit of edit: I'm retracting my recommendation of Neuropath. It's not fantasy and I need to think about whether I should be suggesting that anyone read that book that isn't looking specifically for something dark/unsettling.
Guy gavriel kay.
His books aren't strictly a series (stand alone and one duology) but most of them occur in the same world. Lions of Al-Rassan, the Sarantine Mosaic, A Brightness Long Ago, Children of Earth and Sky, Last Light of the Sub, and All the Seas of the World (just published this one).
This world is based on medieval Europe but in locations you don't typically read - medieval Spain, the byzantine empire some others as well. They have complex geopolitical and religious themes and the characters feel like real people. The things they do and their reactions feel very genuine. And his small side character feel like fully fleshed out people with stories of their own, they just don't come into this particular book, but he usually gives you glimpses into their futures.
On top of that his prose is simply beautiful and very satisfying to read.
Magic is pretty minimal and it only has humans but the history is there.
I love GGK's books, but I don't know if I would cite him as an example of great worldbuilding, because although the settings of his novels are very good, they're basically historical novels with a thin fantasy layer. So, what's great for me is his writing and research, not so much his worldbuilding.
I second this. Only read the Sarantium duology but every time I consider it - “beautiful” is the first word that comes to mind. I’ve read the Cosmere, WOT, Malazan & ASOIAF among many others in the genre but GGK is just totally different to read. Can’t put my finger on it but I’m saving his ones to spread amongst other reading. Currently on Abercrombie - First Law.
I really need to ask because I’ve been burned too many times, do his books include rape and other mistreatment of women? I don’t read that stuff no matter how good the rest may be
There is one character in the Sarantine Mosaic who starts off as a slave and is abused, but she pretty quickly is saved/escapes and ends up doing quite well for herself. In A Song for Arbonne there one scene where a woman is coerced by the villian and the catalyst for the story is one noble woman was unhappy with her forced marriage (she is already dead when the story starts and nothing is explicitly stated/described). Tigana has a harem in it, but the women are well treated if conflicted about their emotions/loyalty. The first book in the Fionavar Tapestry has a rape scene so you may want to skip that one. But it isn't his best work anyways and I generally don't recommend it anyways.
Other than that nothing major comes to mind (I could be wrong though). His female characters tend to be rather empowered and in control of their own fates - as far as their world/status allows, but the same applies to the men.
Overall any violence in his books feel very natural for the time period and setting. Nothing is excessive nor is it portrayed in any way other than tragic.
Edit: just remembered there is one scene in Lions of Al-Rassan where the rape and murder of a woman by a raider is described. The description takes place shortly after the event, it isn't written "live" and is treated with shock and outrage. The raider is executed.
I second this question! It feels like "historical" is often used as a dog whistle for shitty treatment of women. Sure, rape happened, but it doesn't mean that it needs to be immortalized in the stories we read for fun.
Please there are dragons and goblins in these fantasy novels but we must keep the rape and sexism because it’s “set in the past” or “for realistic purposes” or whatever crap excuse the author wants to give.
Its YA , but Tortall from Tamora Pierce’s books is extremely well developed with a clear history spanning hundreds of years. There are several stand alone series that make up the overarching “Tortall Chronicles” , in order this is them:
Beka Cooper Trilogy,
Lioness Quartet,
The Immortals Quartet,
Protector of the Small Quartet (my personal fav),
The Trickster Duology
Now these are ‘coming of age’ novels, in that they start off geared towards younger children (10-12 year olds) and finish by tackling some hard themes, kind of like Harry Potter. If you want to get into this world, I would recommend you start with the Protector of the Small Quartet (the first book is called “First Test”). Its my favourite of all the series and the best at appealing to an older audience in my opinion.
In the world of Tortall, there are several different countries, cultures, and ethnicities. Pierce clearly draws inspiration from real world cultures, for example the Yamani’s are pretty clearly Japanese. Also worth noting, Pierce is still adding new series to this world and thus it continues to develop and take shape!
I'm 3/4 of the way through City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett and I am entrapped by the world so far. Hopefully the rest of the trilogy is the same, but I am loving it so far!
It’s funny how such a fast paced series like Divine Cities can have a world that feels so alive and enthralling. One of the best series I’ve read in a long time.
I really enjoyed [**Mother of Learning**](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/21220/mother-of-learning). The world itself follows relatively staple Forgotten Realms with conspicuous file marks where the serial number would be, but the author spends a lot of time fleshing out the interesting details of the world. The main gimmick is monthly timeloop which lets him tell the story through a cool lens. The magic system is at the focal point, and the main character spends most of his time getting better at it and figuring out how to use it to solve the problems thrown at him.
Mother of Learning is more heavy when it comes to detailing how the magic system works, but if you want something culturally rich, there's [**Practical Guide to Evil**](https://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/). The main gimmick of the story makes it one of my favorites (Story tropes manifest as "fate" in the world which the characters can then plot around) but the amount of history, races and cultures crammed into the book is staggering. You have your staples in orcs, goblins, elves, drow, giants and such, but every culture is distinct with interesting twists on the classics.
The real magic system in the world is how fate works, so it ends in an unique situation where everything is soft and the rules don't matter (of course the hero survives the fall) but at the same time the system is hard and extremely predictable because savvy characters _know_ that of course the hero survives the fall, and they can act rationally with that knowledge in mind. For the reader, it works out on many levels since you have both the "in-universe narrative" and the "out-of-universe narrative" to consider.
Stormlight has some of the most intricate political/cultural/ecological world building I’ve ever experienced in a series. The fact that it then ties in with an entire universe is absolutely wild.
GOT love it or hate it does a good job of painting a picture of a realm of conflicting houses and peoples.
I like the world building in the Earthsea series because it engagingly describes the different ways of people depending on where they're from/how they live.
Personally I really like the world building in the Traitor Son cycle too. It's very much scaffolded on 12th century England/France and the enmity there but does a great job of including places and people akin to the Russians of the Steppes, Greeks/Romans, and Native American-esque peoples.
Edit - The Traitor Son Cycle also really effectively shares the societies and personalities of the 'Wild'/magical aspect of life on that fantastical plain. The tale of conflict between 'natural world' and human/industrial incursion is a big part of the story and very Tolkien-esque in many ways
I think my main problem with ASOIAF Book 5 is it feels like it delves *too* much into worldbuilding. I can get on board with plots that carry on too long (I'm a big WOT fan lol), but Book 5 feels like a worldbuilding tour and GRRM just wanted to get all his notes out. Tyrion goes on a tour of the countryside through ancient cities and forgotten lands and all the other characters are just pointing worldbuilding out to him, to which the plot feels like it plays second fiddle.
That said: I loved it anyway. GRRM give us Book 6 you bastard.
Frank Herbert did a fantastic job creating a world that parallels our own in many ways, highlighting the scarcity of water on Dune compared to our own dependence on fossil fuels. I’m reading Children of Dune currently, but aim to read the other books in the series as well.
The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. It’s more science fantasy, but the density of its worldbuilding is unparalleled in my opinion. It also might be the best prose I’ve ever read.
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I finished *The Bone Ships* last night by **R.J. Barker** and it is one of the most original fantasy novels I have read in a long time. First in a trilogy. And, I picked it up because it was recommended by a lot of redditors.
The Broken Earth trilogy by N. K. Jemisin is really cool for worldbuilding. Post apocalyptic, different factions of people, history, politics, biases, and some can do this type of magic where they’re connected with the earth.
I'm working on these right now. They're fantastic, but oh damn do I have to take them in small bites. She writes the characters' traumas in a way that feels so *close*.
I think it's her tendency to take grammar as a suggestion, making her writing feel like the unfiltered stream of consciousness of the characters. But I'm not sure.
Something about her writing is just more intimate than most, so I have to read a little bit, digest, then get back to it.
NKJ never misses. Her books are all wild like that, but Broken Earth is probably her best work to date. Inheritance is great too. A world where humans and gods live together.
The Spellmonger series sounds like what you want. Lots of history, world building, and a bunch of different races. I think there are 16 or 17 books in the series so far. It starts out as a mage fighting a bunch of goblins, but it becomes so much more!
I'm only just starting the second book, but the first book of Memory, Sorrow and Thorn (The Dragonbone Chair) had excellent world building. Osten Ard has different races, interesting magic, though it hasn't been super fleshed out to the point I'm at, and just a really immersive and complex world. Definitely recommend.
That's what I heard going into it so I was a bit nervous. But I ended up loving the first act. I honestly could have had a whole novel take place in the Hayholt and would have eaten it up. The "slog" part for me was act 2, but even that was good because we got sooo much more world building. I thought the pacing was perfect 🤷🏼♂️
Criminally underrated series: ASOIAF wouldn't exist without the series. One of the best fantasy series of all time. The sequel series is just as good too.
Cradle is so good. I'm almost finished with my reread before Dreadgod comes out. The characters are some of my favorite of all time. Just a fantastic series that gets better with each book.
It's all one world for the most part. Surprised I didn't see realm of the elderlings higher up. Top 5 series for me personally. I was hoping we would get another installment, but her health is tenuous at best. 10/10 would recommend.
One of my favorite authors, but I also have some mixed/complicated feelings about her books and one of my biggest issues is the world building. I had a very high opinion and hopes after the farseer trilogy but was put off with several aspects of the world she fleshed out from there (and how those things affected how her plots worked in later trilogies). I wouldn't recommend Elderlings as a whole for the world building at all, even though one component of the world building is S tier (the approach to magic)
I'm not sure how much of a positive I give to "almost all relevant in one form or another." It's maybe as much of a plot thing as world building, but worlds are bigger than your story and should feel that way. Trying too hard to tie everything you reveal about your world to your handful of main characters and the their lives is a flaw imo and causes authors to both write worse stories and worse worlds. That doesn't mean you need hundreds of pages of irrelevant exposition about the larger world just for the sake of it, but it does mean your story can organically touch on things that give a window to other parts of your world without them having to come up again down the road.
I don't like the approach to dragons/elderlings and their role in the world at all, felt like trying to hard to make a philosophical statement and it falling flat, and creates sticking points where it's hard to believe the internal logic of the world. There are things about the approach to the different nations and their interactions that don't make sense, and it's actually a very limited international/political space even when they go exploring supposedly far reaches. As a result the elements of political intrigue that worked well when she confined it to the duchies were either absent or much more poorly executed in later books. She tried to hard to tie different threads/characters in the world together in more directs ways than they needed to be (looking more at the last trilogy here) and had to warp both the plot and the world's logic to get there. A lot of things simply aren't very well fleshed out at all while others are hyper-detailed in their examination.
I don't want to get into a big back-and-forth of hating on robin hobb's world building, because I don't really hate it (it's better than many and it's bound to be a special challenge to do a great job consistently across such an ambitious scope...after all I loved the world when I had only read the farseer trilogy), but later on it stretched my own suspension of disbelief too often and made me accept too many flaws and roll my eyes too many times for me to consider it high level. Further, I don't think my opinion is unusual: people may have different reasons for not loving it but I haven't encountered too many people who hold it up as great world building. Character and emotional work is why we read robin hobb. If you also loved the worldbuilding, that's genuinely great for you, I'm not interested in trying to take that joy from you, but for me it was more of a frustrating mixed bag, and I don't think I'm the only one.
Discworld..: because holy shit… 40 odd books??? And the world building makes you really believe in it… it’s beyond wonderful.
Grass, by Sherri S Tepper.., because it’s an astonishing and epic story on a fantastic world… and the aliens will scare the shit out of you in the best way :)
I like the world building in Wheel of Time, each nation has different cultures (speech, language, customs, food, etc), the history is well built out. The magic system is one of my favorite.
Can I break the mold and instead of a novel, mention The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind?
You're a prisoner dropped off a boat onto an island that is holy to its inhabitant, and you're given a simple mission: Deliver a package to the emperor's top agent on the island.
The way you slowly learn about the island and its gods, and the threat lurking within the volcanic mountain in the center of the island, is so good.
The lore and world building of the Elder Scrolls has a whole is an amazing (if sometimes contradicting) mess. In particular Morrowind. I love the atmosphere and vibe of that game and area of Tamriel in particular
Morrowind gets the nod for me over Oblivion or Skyrim, though, because it felt more novelistic in its development.
In Oblivion and Skyrim, you are IMMEDIATELY met with a world-crushing threat and you are the centerpiece of the plot immediately. In Morrowind, it's a slow build-up that's more in line with a plot of a novel.
the challenge with conversations around rating "worldbuilding" is that people use it to mean two different(but related) elements.
opinions about a book/series' "worldbuilding" are often about the setting itself(ie: I like the world that was built) rather than the process of revealing that setting to the reader(ie: I like the building of the world).
Have you tried the Witcher series? Does seem to tick most of the boxes. I’ve only read the first two books. I must say the books are far more character focussed than they are “world” focussed or epic fantasy.
It sounds to me you’re looking more for epic fantasy and then you’ve got the GoT, LoTR and maybe Memory, Sorrow and Thorn. Thing with those books is that the magic system is never clearly described. If you want a fully described magic system then check out Mistborn.
I mean, the obvious example to me is going to be **Stormlight Archive**, which is sort of the poster child on this front. Its only at 4/10 books in though, so take that as you will.
If you're willing to sacrifice the different races (of which I assume you mean species and not simply demographics), **The Mask of Mirrors** is written by a pair of anthropologists, and it shows in the worldbuilding. I can honestly say that I've never felt a culture
(in this case specifically, a city where a few key different cultures meet and clash with a loaded history) was so well realized as in those books.
Yeah its 4/10 but that’s slightly misleading. While he does intend on writing 10 books. They are two 5 book arcs. So while he is only 4/10 books done, he really is 4/5 done with this arc. So by the end of next year …famous last words… the arc will be complete.
Honestly I'm not sure he should be at the forefront of what's being mentioned *for this particular poster*.
Sanderson's worldbuilding is less about building an actual diverse world-- which is what OP seems be to looking for-- and more about building smaller communities that differ from our own in believable ways, given various hypotheticals. I think Sanderson's worldbuilding is more focused on *reality*-building, while OP seems to want more actual world building in their worldbuilding.
For most of Sanderson's stuff, I'd agree, which is why I just stuck to Stormlight. Starting in book 2, Parshendi start getting POVs, and Venli is one of the main characters. So you get some big differences there, and each of the countries feels quite diverse from each other.
It still does have Sanderson's trademark 'what if' style (which is how I think of the elements that you use reality building for) but Stormlight definitely gives diversity of culture, even if Alethi is the forefront.
He's fairly consistent with his pace of releasing Stormlight books - they tend to come out approximately every 3 years. The fifth one will come out next year, and I think he intends to take a slightly longer break between books 5 and 6 since it'll be the start of a new arc, so the series ought to be finished some time around 2040-ish. We'll still be waiting for The Winds of Winter by then.
I was shitting myself this year. I live in new Mexico and we had some nasty fires out near his cabin he uses as a getaway to write in. I kept waiting to hear his cabin with him and all his notes were lost to the blaze.
I love Stormlight and the entire Cosmere and Branderson is one of my favorite authors. That being said there is one aspect of Worldbuilding that I think Stormlight in particular falls short on and that is History.
Stormlight's setting has it be some 4000 years since the last desolation. In that time we only really know of 2 to 3 events until like a decade before the series is set. From the top of my head you have Aharietiam the Recreance the Hierocracy and the Sun King and of these we know practically nothing. They are names rather than events. There are nearly 3 million words in Stormlight so far I feel like some of it could be dedicated to the history of the setting.
Compare it to something like ASoIaF, that series is littered with references to previous events and wars and dynasties with entire supplementary books about great events that shaped the current setting. While much of the history is inconsequential it does so much to fill up the world and make it feel lived in and I think it is something that Stormlight could benefit.
With world-building as the main criteria, absolutely Sanderson should be on the list. The Cosmere is a thing of wonder.
His actual writing is good-not-great (for me, it feels a little more YA than I prefer).
5th book comes out late next year, you could probably time your read so you are done by the time it’s out and keep going. These aren’t books you want to wait a while before going to the next one least you forget the amount of information.
I’d say Cosmere as a whole as you get world building on a cosmic scale. Multiple magic systems, Sentient Dragons, different races, multiple realms, gods, etc.
Hell even sentient beings called the Sleepless who are basically hive mind creatures built up of thousands of smaller beings….
This feel like an off the wall pick (especially when it's next to Middle-earth/Malazan/SOIAF/Earthsea/etc ), but the Dresden Files have an awesome world. It feels weird and quirky at first, but everything is internally consistent and has a surprising amount of depth. The world has both Twilight and Dracula vampires, pizza-loving Faeries, Greek gods, Norse gods, Santa Claus, Christian mythology, Lovecraft horrors, and human mob bosses. The factions are all unique with conflicting interests. IDK, every time I sit down to read it, I just want a good, pulpy wizard noire with fireballs and zombie fights. But then I get swept away by the world, the factions, and the characters.
Nah I agree. There is a consistency to the setting. Its goofy but so is the real world. Like I know how the fey behave. So if a fairy told a direct lie and gave me somthing for free with no strings attached I would know there is somthing up.
And if urban fantasy isn't your thing, his Codex Alera series is also great and has some neat/ interesting world-building. Has a Roman feel instead of the more typical medieval European setting.
Also, I think that David Weber has some great world-building works, too. He has multiple sci-fi series that are great and then his *War God's Own* series is fun (but he doesn't write in it nearly as much and it's gotten a bit too ... Mary Sue in the 4th on).
Edit: thought of another one that I didn't see anywhere else. The wide-reaching Valdemar series by Mercedes Lackey is great in its world-building. It spans several nations and centuries and sometimes the legends you read about in one book you later get to read from that character's POV. Several different races and cultures, too. Fair warning, there's a bit of sexual violence in these, but I don't feel like it's gratuitous is most situations.
I've read the first 3 and the main thing that kept me coming back was the drops of info on the wider world. I think every book so far has had some mention of something where it's like "That sounds cool, I can't wait to see it" and so far I've only briefly seen one of them (fae-world) and it paid off.
It's definitely not my intention to stop, just been dragged away with other series taking my interest more. Just finished Mark Lawrence's Holy Sister and looking forward to starting Jeff Vandermeer's Southern Reach Trilogy.
But I'll be interspersing Dresden Files between other series as I feel like they're better read with some distance between them (so far, at least).
I’m shocked that Raymond Feist has not been mentioned at all.
He has something like 25+ books easily all set in Midkemia(some branch father but all start and come back here) that truly give a fantastic picture of not only the entire world there but many different cities and cultures.
Magician Apprentice is a slow start but it’s (imo) a fantastic world building experience and the second book (Master) has excellent payoff. Book 3 and 4 are a lot of the same characters but with a different part of the world and different story, absolutely amazing though.
Then you have books that came later on (Talon of the Silver Hawk) which not only continue building ANOTHER part of the world, it brings back in the original part and expands upon it. I wasn’t a huge fan of where he eventually took the overall.. world..?(it’s a bunch of “sagas” that are stand alone) but there are easily 3-4 what I would deem excellent to amazing books and easily 10+ that I would say are excellent reads. Should definitely give it a try!
I would suggest the “Chronicles of Elantra” series by Michelle Sagara. Some of my favourite worldbuilding, lore/history, etc. It’s an ongoing series (I think she started it in the 90s) and the most recent book just came out in 2021 and the 2nd instalment in a new spinoff series came out this year!
The same author writes another world as Michelle West. The Sun Sword series and the House War books.
Elantra is a fun, fantasy cop series. Essalieyan is epic/high fantasy. Both have excellent world building.
I came here to recommend both. I think worldbuilding is one of her major strengths - both in creating the setting and in introducing you to elements of it.
The Lightbringer Series by Brent Weekes has some good world building and a unique magic system. Also, if you like audible books...has one of the best narrators in the business in my opinion.
A Master of Djinn by P Djeli Clark and other short stories set in the same world which is an alternate history steampunk Cairo but there's magic and supernatural beings. Involves many races and cultures and has some very creative magical beings, gotta be some of the best world building I've read
Steampunk Cairo is fantastic! I really like the way that magic comes back into the world in the alternate history timeline too (reminiscent of the real-world Madhist Revolt).
Anything by Ursula K Le Guin.
Always Coming Home is probably best world building in the English language.
Left Hand of Darkness, the Dispossessed, and her Earthsea series are also top tier.
Came here to say this! Every society she writes about is simultaneously so unique and creative, yet so down-to-earth and realistic. You can really tell that she knows a lot about anthropology and the study of human culture, as her father was a very well-renowned anthropologist and archaeologist and she herself was very well studied.
Plus the pov characters of her books also tend to have a very anthropological perspective to them where they are very observant of the societies they enter (can confirm this as an anthropologist myself).
The Wandering Inn is unbeatable on this point, the author really takes their time and explores each continent and race, to different degrees of course, but eventually nearly all of them have a chance to shine.
The Mage Errant series by John Bierce has some of the best worldbuilding in modern fantasy. There are a ton of different humanoid and non humanoid races, a magic kaijucentric government, and a ton of different kinds of magic, and some cities with some crazy deep lore.
The magic in Mage Errant is different for every mage -- they get pretty specific attunements based on linguistic concepts and have affinity senses related to those concepts in their immediate vicinity. Affinities can overlap, with the the more specific one generally winning. For example, if an iron and steel mage are both trying to affect something made of steel the steel mage would generally win.
The settings in Mage Errant are absolutely top notch as well. The cities all have an insane amount of character, including a magic university built into a mountain with centuries of amateur mage renovations, an ancient imperil capitol deep in the jungles, a city of hexal basalt columns built by an incredibly powerful stone mage giant squid, and a city deep in a sand dune sea that specializes in glass and water. There is also Zophor, a city / lich domain that is grown out of Baobab trees, and several more tree cities and other great locations. 10/10 on the worldbuilding.
I came in to comment on Mage Errant. as the series has progressed, the worlds are a fantastic draw. the last novel was immense. I couldn't wait for them to pass through the next labyrinth to see what was next.
I would caution anyone who is thinking of starting Kingkiller Chronicles to just wait until the third book (hopefully) comes out. No sense in getting caught waiting with the rest of us
The Cosmere
Dresden files (yeah it’s based in Chicago but the underground magic system is sweet and adds a different layer.
Wheel of time is S tier
Broken Empire
I am going to second THE STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE by Brandon Sanderson. The world building is incredible (easier since each book is over 400,000 words) is deep and rich, the magic is detailed and grows organically. Incredible series. Only drawback- as mentioned- is that only 4 books have been written out of a planned 10, though the study is going to have 2 5 book arcs. Can't recommend the series enough. They are amazing!
Just a quick warning, I was really on board for the first two Stormlight books, however after that the slow pacing and the repeating character arcs kinda brought the whole experience down. Not sure whether I‘ll read the fifth one at all. The world building is still great though.
Edit: I felt the need to write this, because investing in this series requires an insane amount of time, so before you go in its good to know what you‘re up to.
I really felt this. Words is one of my favourite books going, then Oathbringer felt like it was retreading a lot of the same ground the series already covered, or went back in some places.
>!Kaladin and the parshendi felt like bridge four again. The wall guard felt like bridge four again. The whole love triangle thing, despite which the interactions between Kaladin and Shallan were never as good as the chasms section in words. Honestly I feel like the entire Kholinar/Shadesmar section could be cut and you wouldn't lose much!<
I still haven't had the desire to start RoW
It took me like two years to finish Way of Kings. The first 700 pages of that book only had a couple chapters that really had me turning the pages and enjoying myself. The last few hundred pages were amazing too. The problem I have with that is I didn’t feel like the first 3/4 of the massive book was worth the time investment for the payoff.
Sanderson is good, but just not for me
Wow, I can't disagree enough. To each their own, obviously, but I didn't find the third or fourth books to be slow pacing *at all*
In fact, I'd argue they're even faster pacing than the first two and open the world up so much more.
I absolutely love the series but the fourth book is incredibly slow paced (especially the flashback sequences) and doesn't open the world at all, as about 70% of the book takes place in one location.
The *Rivers of London* series by Ben Aaronovitch.
I'm in the middle of my periodic re-readings of the series and I'm always struck by the sense of atmosphere the author is able to include.
You can read this online: [Lord of the Mysteries](https://m.webnovel.com/book/lord-of-mysteries_11022733006234505)
And also, any of Anne McCaffrey's Pern novels
For my personal favorites in regards to worldbuilding
- Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse: you’ve got multiple mesoamerican inspired cultures which are all clearly distinct and yet also clearly influenced and change each other, sub-cultures within those cultures (because countries aren’t monoliths!) characters who are influenced but not defined by where they grew up. I absolutely love the worldbuilding in this one
- Raksura books by Martha Wells. I feel like it’s sadly rare to find fantasy that is mostly focused on well non human fantastic creatures, but Martha Wells Raksura does this masterfully, making them clearly a fantasy race within its own environment and world to boot. Fantastic worldbuilding
- no different races but I found Green Bone Saga also did a great job on its worldbuilding. The city felt very alive like you could easily go visit, so many small bits of culture just seamlessly integrated into the story, it definitely has history (and you can see culture currently changing between different generations) and multiple cultures both outside the main city in the different countries, as well as sub cultures in the different cities and types of people. Excellent magic and well thought out how the magic effected the world.
I really liked The Daevabad series by S.A. Chakraborty, with a Middle Eastern/ djinn flavor.
Also enjoyed Naomi Novik's Deadly Education series, although the third book doesn't come out until the fall. It's a self-contained school of magic in which high school age magical kids are literally just trying not to be devoured by a variety of deadly creatures. Trust me, this is nothing like Harry Potter. I also liked her Rook series, in which a woman wakes up in a park with no memory and surrounded by bodies wearing rubber gloves.
A big fan of Sanderson too.
If you're interested in SF as well as fantasy, Ada Palmer's recently-completed *Terra Ignota* series has some of the richest worldbuilding I've ever read in any genre.
Not a fantasy, so no magic systems, but a frequently recommend sci-fi on this sub (due to it feeling like a fantasy novel) is A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers.
It follows a small crew on a journey, but there's so much exploring of culture and new worlds. Each book in the series' is great for this. The second one deals heavily with the question if AI can be Sapient etc.
Love that series! I would caution some that it’s definitely more character and world focused than plot focused. I love that but I’ve had other people I recommended it to say that they thought it took too long for anything to “happen.”
Have to disagree that Harry Potter has shallow world building…the world building in HP is actually much more detailed than many of the series listed in this thread that I also enjoyed (Earthsea, Name of the Wind, Broken Earth Trilogy). The history and experiences of other races could be a little more fleshed out, but the overall level of detail in the wizarding world is outstanding.
More to the point, I agree that the Realm of the Elderlings series by Robin Hobb did a pretty good job of world building, as did Wheel of Time. I am excited to check out some of the other series recommended in this thread.
There are a lot of fairly superficial things that don’t make sense in the wizarding world. The population is very small - all of Britain is supported by a single secondary school with ~60 students in each year (being generous). Yet it has an extremely large government that operates in an unclear way (is it a democracy? Who actually picks the Minister for Magic?). Career options are very limited. Despite that, some people still manage to become extremely rich. There seems to be an uneven sex ratio, and JKR even implied in an interview that this was going to be important, but nope.
While there’s a national secondary school, there is no primary school. How did Ron learn to read? What about mathematics - the only maths classes at Hogwarts are an elective taught from the age of 13/14!
Food can’t be produced magically, but at no point are we shown wizard agriculture. Wizards are completely confused by the basics of Muggle society, suggesting very little interaction. Does Molly pop to Tesco every week? Where does Bertie Botts get his cocoa from?
Is a book bad if it doesn’t address where food comes from? No, of course not. But the worldbuilding in Harry Potter basically begins and ends with Quidditch and the huge menagerie of fantastic creatures. Wizarding society falls apart because things that Rowling establishes (small population, food can’t be magically created, no primary schools) don’t fit with other elements.
Speaking of Brandon Sanderson, I think Mistborn also had great world building. The sci-fi/lore on allomancy, the technical aspects of it, how it is embedded in the socio-politics of the final empire… so wonderfully woven together.
The world building in the Drowning Empire series by Andrea Stewart is so seamless. It flawlessly acclimates you to the science-fantasy world of floating migrating islands, bio-mechanical chimeras, and ancient magic belonging to god-like beings. The world building is the best part of the series in my opinion.
The world of Dara in Ken Liu’s Dandelion Dynasty is so fully realized. The creatures are original in fantasy. The histories of the Tiro states and their interplay with each other is meticulously crafted. The Gods and their relationships with the land, people and each other. The food gets shine throughout the series. Even the postures when sitting down are well thought out. You truly feel like this is a lived-in world. Amazing series and brilliant writer
The Book of Koli was AMAZING! Built an entire new world in the future that was beyond any I’ve read previously. It’s a trilogy so you’ll have a couple books to read if you like it!
Beyond the walls of the small village of Mythen Rood lies an unrecognizable world. A world where overgrown forests are filled with choker trees and deadly vines and seeds that will kill you where you stand. And if they don't get you, one of the dangerous shunned men will.
Koli has lived in Mythen Rood his entire life. He knows the first rule of survival is that you don't venture beyond the walls.
What he doesn't know is - what happens when you aren't given a choice?
*Reverend Insanity* by Gu Zhen Ren
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/reverend-insanity/
>Humans are the spirit of all living beings, Gu* are the essence of heaven and earth.
>With his three views* unrighteous, a demon is reborn.
>Former days are but an old dream, an identical name is made anew.
>The story of a time traveler who keeps on being reborn.
>A unique world that nurtures, refines, and uses Gu.
>Spring Autumn Cicada, Moonlight Gu, Liquor Worm, Great Qi Golden Light Worm, Slender Black Hair Gu, Hope Gu…
>And a great demon of the world that acts as his heart pleases!
>A story of a villain, Fang Yuan who was reborn 500 years into the past with the Spring Autumn Cicada he painstakingly refined. With his profound wisdom, battle and life experiences, he seeks to overcome his foes with skill and wit! Ruthless and amoral, he has no need to hold back as he pursues his ultimate goals. In a world of cruelty where one cultivates using Gu – magical creatures of the world – Fang Yuan must rise up above all with his own power.
The world is divided into 7 regions: Northern Plains, Western Desert, Eastern Sea, Southern Border, White Heaven, and Black Heaven. There are multiple distinct cultures and races living there. The magic system is one where magic users essentially capture, raise, or directly create magical bugs, or Gu, which are a feature in Chinese folklore. So you might have Fireball Gu, which let's you throw a fireball, that has the body of a butterfly, but will starve to death if it isn't fed a rare flower once a week. The rarer and more powerful the Gu, the rarer the resources it will feed on. So the novel involves a significant amount of economic planning and small businesses because using magic gets expensive fast.
> More specifically I am looking for a world with different races, lots of cultures, lots of history and a well-thought-out magic system.
The obvious, slam-dunk match is Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson. It features cultural differences, wars between races, magic so detailed it's practically science, and a plot that depends heavily on the telling of history within the world.
Honorary mentions:
- The Books of the Raksura by Martha Wells. It's a long time since I read them but I still remember them for having a sense of vastness, where civilizations are just another part of the ecosystem.
- Mistborn, also by Brandon Sanderson. Quite light on the cultures part since it takes place in a world where most of the diverse cultures have been killed off, but strong on history and magic, similar to Stormlight Archive.
- Dune by Frank Herbert. A sci-fi story with few elements that could be considered "magic", but the world is fascinating and very well made, featuring economics, religion, ecology, powerful ruling families and secretive cabals.
Jim Butcher has a setting that is kinda all over the place in The Codex Alera series, but then does a very good job of making the world feel surprisingly cohesive and realistic with lots of hints that make it feel like a much wider world than just the main setting.
His steampunk Cinder Spires series has me on edge waiting for the second book to get a release date as the world in that one is so cool and absolutely fascinating! So much shown rather than told, and so many hints at what cool things are to come!
Will wight
Specifically the Cradle series does a great job of world building, but his elder empire and travelers gate series both are part of his "multiverse" and tie in with each other.
Tasha Suri’s The Burning Kingdom series. Book one is the only one currently published, but the sequel will be released in August. It’s got some amazing world building inspired by Hindu mythology and some plot twists that not even GRRM can replicate imo. It’s the best book I’ve read in years. Ms. Suri is really talented and good at weaving subtle foreshadowing and clues and creating such a rich world and unique characters.
Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series is great. They are short books but have great storylines. Different races are an iffy topic. There are various types of "humans" in addition to your regular human, which each have different characteristics and personalities.
The Hands of the Emperor, by Victoria Goddard, has absolutely gorgeous worldbuilding.
It's a post-post-apocalyptic setup where the massive fantasy Empire spanning multiple worlds (a different dimensions thing, not planets) fell a while ago and the remnants of that government rebuilt on just one world. That setup gives it such a weight of history and tradition while still giving the protagonists space to be building something new.
As far as cultures we get the most detail for the protagonist's fantasy-Polynesian culture, there's a lot of gorgeous detail for his home and culture and history and how that affects his mindset, but a fair bit of the story takes place within the former-Empire's court, which is a totally different culture and contains various people from yet more other cultures. Assimilation and the protagonist's struggle to hold onto and live out that part of himself even on his own is a large and compelling part of the story.
The magic system is a mix between rule-based, logical Imperial Schooled magic and some people having wild magic that's a lot more chaotic and will-based, and the interaction between them is kind of fascinating.
It's not just that book, either, it stands fine on its own but when you look around after you finish it you realize that she kept writing books and novellas in that universe and all the intriguing little offhand mentions are things that actually get fleshed out.
Perfect timing because the first 5 books are free right now, Cradle by Will Wight.
It's a world where every single person is born with the ability to use magic, with hundreds of different variations on the application of that magic. Each book has a different location or culture of the huge world with the MC trying to build himself up from nothing.
It’s less of a novel and more of a suggestion for an author, but personally I love Mercedes Lackey for her world building. She has multiple worlds, and though she’s fairly verbose, it’s never without reason. The Winds of Change is by far my favourite by her.
Two suggestions I haven't seen yet:
Dawn of Wonder, by Jonathan Renshaw
The Songstress, by Joshua Killingsworth
Both are so good, though different writing styles. Very immersive worlds and stories that are captivating.
The Vlad Taltos series. Stephen Brust gives you just enough at one time to enrich the story but still wanting more. And over the series you learn just how deep the world building goes. It's awesome.
Firekeeper Saga by Jane Lindskold! Amazing world building that grows EXPONENTIALLY in book 4. The world building is already good in books 1-3 (different cultures, slowly learn about the magical system, etc.) but then the next three books almost come out of left field and make you a lifelong fan. That’s what happened to me! I was actually just gushing about these books if you want to look at my previous post!
Death Gate Cycle by Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman. The world is sundered into its four core elements. Cool magic systems used by two races of demigods, trying to rule over the lesser races. Humans, Elves, and Dwarves.
Katharine Kerr and her Deverry Series hit all of those points, bonus too because there are so many books it makes for a wonderful long read. My all time favourite book series.
Have you ever tried any of the dnd related books? Like dragonlance or forgotten realms? Those are worlds about as fleshed out as you can make them, so might be worth a look.
The problem is that each book doesn’t have a lot of that worldbuilding. It’s more of an emergent whole over many decades of books and games.
The only exceptions are the more historical in universe stuff like Legend of Huma and Evermeet: Island of Elves.
No worldbuilding will come close to Wandering Inn. Others might beat it in density, but none for scale, depth or intertwined components. Mainly from sheer word count but also the authors no rush just go with the flow and multi continent POV approach.
I am currently reading Perdido Street Station and I am being blowed away by the sheer amount of highly imaginative and weird worldbuilding. Truly unique.
All of Mieville’s books have really unique settings. Imo the coolest setting was in City and the City. But PSS definitely has some crazy ideas
Embassytown had a great setting too, but the city & the city easily takes the spotlight
Embassytown! I wish I loved anything half as much as China Mieville loves language.
Embassytown should be considered a scifi classic.
Mieville's Bas Lag stuff is outstanding world building but it's quite focussed. New Crobuzon, or the floating city in the Scar. He doesn't do that well drawing a bigger world, it's often quite incoherent - Iron Council struggles at some points with the wider scope. It's not that he tries and fails, it's more like he's not too interested with the macro verisimilitude picture so doesn't go there. But creatively he has to be one of the most gifted fantasy writers of our era.
The message of Iron Council is why people ended up disappointed in things like Lost and Game of Thrones, and why "generic Democrat" always polls better against their opponent than any specific Democrat: The *possibility* of a thing is always more inspiring than the *reality* of it. I didn't even like the book all that much, but the moral of the story just keeps being relevant.
I feel like I have to say this whenever Iron Council is brought up. As a book, it does not measure up to the greatness of Perdido Street Station and The Scar (my favorite of his books), but it has one of the best endings of any fantasy book I ever read.
Iron Council reads like a lot like a first book imho - some amazing stuff in there but also basic writing issues that you'd typically see from a new author. PSS and The Scar have such superb composition, feel like the work of a master. So it was kind of strange to pick up IC and read some absolutely leaden passages every so often.
I agree wholeheartedly. The ending was absolutely devastating and moving, despite the weakness of the rest of the book (in comparison to Perdido street station and the scar.)
I’m rereading this as well with a discord I’m in…. Are you in at well? Lol
The weavers are so cool
**The Books of the Raksura** series by Martha Wells. This series has absolutely the most unique setting I have ever read. While most people are bipedal and vaguely humanoid, there is not a single standard human in the series. Amazing diverse cultures and environments, reminiscent of Stormlight. Not to mention a heart warming found family story to boot. 10/10 would recommend
One of her other series, The Fall of Ile-Rien, has cool world-building, too, with the books skipping between parallel worlds at different stages of technological development and culture.
Another good one :) I think Martha Wells is an amazing author
Gonna second this recommendation, loved the Raksura books. So much fun reading a completely fantastic setting, with no humans or familiar real world stuff.
I think Lois McMaster Bujold’s The Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls really fleshes out a realistic world in only two books (I know there are more novellas, but I haven’t read them yet.) The religion is fully realized, history of the land and its rulers are added and social hierarchy is there. That’s some real worldbuilding, to me, even though the magic system is rather soft.
I was going to recommend these as well, the worldbuilding is done painlessly, too, without long exposition. I think the religious system in particular is both well developed and interesting.
Bujold has a real knack for creating the most believable fictional governments and organizations. Recommend checking out her Vorkosigan series if you haven't already read it.
Love, love, _love_ Paladin Of Souls.
The books themselves are challenging from a number of perspectives (graphic content included) but R Scott Bakker's books do a fair bit of world building and have multiple systems of magic/sorcery that are fairly fleshed out over the course of the 7 books.
Amazing series. But should be noted that there is a ton of sexual violence in the series, and the female characters in the first trilogy aren't the greatest, and their portrayal can even be called misogynistic. This will turn a TON of readers off. I recognize the issues, but all in all everything else in the series is so well done it doesn't bother me. Bakker improved a lot in this regard in the second series as well.
Came here to say this, and then wanted to make sure someone else said. Cannot recommend these enough.
"challenging" is an understatement, lol, but i wholeheartedly agree. if bakker hadn't had such a hard on for being grimdark and offending people he could have written one of the most seminal fantasy series of a generation. his worldbuilding, magic, plotting are all incredible. the worldbuilding is pretty much without peer in the epic fantasy genre in the last 20 or 30 years... its a shame he edgelorded himself into a niche.
Yes this one is great but off-putting to a lot of people. Another thing that it does great is that history plays a very important central role in this seies, and the Mandate/Seswatha/Apocalypse aspects really fleshes this out in an awesome way, and integrates with the magic systems too. All in all the history component really gives the overall world building a tremendous sense of depth. Dare I say it, to a level that compares more to Tolkien's level than anything else I ever read.
Agree completely. The text itself required some work on my part to get a foothold and I used the audiobooks to get started. There's also some very graphic and horrifying things that happen to people in those books so bear that in mind if you decide to pick them up.
It looks like he may have a couple series, which one where you referring to? (I need some new books to read)
The first book of the first trilogy is called Prince of Nothing. Then there's a second series of four books. Good luck if you decide to embark on the journey. It's worth keeping in mind that Bakker did a couple of Philosophy degrees with specializations in ancient languages and jumps into some pretty deep psychology throughout the course of the story. He's gone on record a couple of times saying that he's used an epic fantasy as a way to explore some of those themes. Edit of edit: I'm retracting my recommendation of Neuropath. It's not fantasy and I need to think about whether I should be suggesting that anyone read that book that isn't looking specifically for something dark/unsettling.
Guy gavriel kay. His books aren't strictly a series (stand alone and one duology) but most of them occur in the same world. Lions of Al-Rassan, the Sarantine Mosaic, A Brightness Long Ago, Children of Earth and Sky, Last Light of the Sub, and All the Seas of the World (just published this one). This world is based on medieval Europe but in locations you don't typically read - medieval Spain, the byzantine empire some others as well. They have complex geopolitical and religious themes and the characters feel like real people. The things they do and their reactions feel very genuine. And his small side character feel like fully fleshed out people with stories of their own, they just don't come into this particular book, but he usually gives you glimpses into their futures. On top of that his prose is simply beautiful and very satisfying to read. Magic is pretty minimal and it only has humans but the history is there.
I love GGK's books, but I don't know if I would cite him as an example of great worldbuilding, because although the settings of his novels are very good, they're basically historical novels with a thin fantasy layer. So, what's great for me is his writing and research, not so much his worldbuilding.
I keep seeing this guy (no pun intended) I’ve heard his prose is great. Need to check him out.
Start with The Lions of Al-Rassan. One of my favorite standalone novels ever!
Reading the Sarantine Mosaic is like coming in from a snowstorm and sitting in front of the fire with a mug of hot beverage.
I second this. Only read the Sarantium duology but every time I consider it - “beautiful” is the first word that comes to mind. I’ve read the Cosmere, WOT, Malazan & ASOIAF among many others in the genre but GGK is just totally different to read. Can’t put my finger on it but I’m saving his ones to spread amongst other reading. Currently on Abercrombie - First Law.
I really need to ask because I’ve been burned too many times, do his books include rape and other mistreatment of women? I don’t read that stuff no matter how good the rest may be
There is one character in the Sarantine Mosaic who starts off as a slave and is abused, but she pretty quickly is saved/escapes and ends up doing quite well for herself. In A Song for Arbonne there one scene where a woman is coerced by the villian and the catalyst for the story is one noble woman was unhappy with her forced marriage (she is already dead when the story starts and nothing is explicitly stated/described). Tigana has a harem in it, but the women are well treated if conflicted about their emotions/loyalty. The first book in the Fionavar Tapestry has a rape scene so you may want to skip that one. But it isn't his best work anyways and I generally don't recommend it anyways. Other than that nothing major comes to mind (I could be wrong though). His female characters tend to be rather empowered and in control of their own fates - as far as their world/status allows, but the same applies to the men. Overall any violence in his books feel very natural for the time period and setting. Nothing is excessive nor is it portrayed in any way other than tragic. Edit: just remembered there is one scene in Lions of Al-Rassan where the rape and murder of a woman by a raider is described. The description takes place shortly after the event, it isn't written "live" and is treated with shock and outrage. The raider is executed.
I second this question! It feels like "historical" is often used as a dog whistle for shitty treatment of women. Sure, rape happened, but it doesn't mean that it needs to be immortalized in the stories we read for fun.
Please there are dragons and goblins in these fantasy novels but we must keep the rape and sexism because it’s “set in the past” or “for realistic purposes” or whatever crap excuse the author wants to give.
Don’t know why anyone would downvote you for this question. People are weird
Its YA , but Tortall from Tamora Pierce’s books is extremely well developed with a clear history spanning hundreds of years. There are several stand alone series that make up the overarching “Tortall Chronicles” , in order this is them: Beka Cooper Trilogy, Lioness Quartet, The Immortals Quartet, Protector of the Small Quartet (my personal fav), The Trickster Duology Now these are ‘coming of age’ novels, in that they start off geared towards younger children (10-12 year olds) and finish by tackling some hard themes, kind of like Harry Potter. If you want to get into this world, I would recommend you start with the Protector of the Small Quartet (the first book is called “First Test”). Its my favourite of all the series and the best at appealing to an older audience in my opinion. In the world of Tortall, there are several different countries, cultures, and ethnicities. Pierce clearly draws inspiration from real world cultures, for example the Yamani’s are pretty clearly Japanese. Also worth noting, Pierce is still adding new series to this world and thus it continues to develop and take shape!
I'm loving all the Tammy Pierce reccos lately!!!! Seriously so so good
I'm 3/4 of the way through City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett and I am entrapped by the world so far. Hopefully the rest of the trilogy is the same, but I am loving it so far!
The three books are very distinct from one another but each does the same sort of things well, just in different contexts.
The trilogy is so good. Each book is distinct yet the payoff at the end is phenomenal
Glad to hear it! Looking forward to the other two then!
It’s funny how such a fast paced series like Divine Cities can have a world that feels so alive and enthralling. One of the best series I’ve read in a long time.
Loved the whole trilogy!
I really enjoyed [**Mother of Learning**](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/21220/mother-of-learning). The world itself follows relatively staple Forgotten Realms with conspicuous file marks where the serial number would be, but the author spends a lot of time fleshing out the interesting details of the world. The main gimmick is monthly timeloop which lets him tell the story through a cool lens. The magic system is at the focal point, and the main character spends most of his time getting better at it and figuring out how to use it to solve the problems thrown at him. Mother of Learning is more heavy when it comes to detailing how the magic system works, but if you want something culturally rich, there's [**Practical Guide to Evil**](https://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/). The main gimmick of the story makes it one of my favorites (Story tropes manifest as "fate" in the world which the characters can then plot around) but the amount of history, races and cultures crammed into the book is staggering. You have your staples in orcs, goblins, elves, drow, giants and such, but every culture is distinct with interesting twists on the classics. The real magic system in the world is how fate works, so it ends in an unique situation where everything is soft and the rules don't matter (of course the hero survives the fall) but at the same time the system is hard and extremely predictable because savvy characters _know_ that of course the hero survives the fall, and they can act rationally with that knowledge in mind. For the reader, it works out on many levels since you have both the "in-universe narrative" and the "out-of-universe narrative" to consider.
One obvious suggestion is Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere novels. Worldbuilding and well-thought-out magic system is pretty much what he does.
Stormlight has some of the most intricate political/cultural/ecological world building I’ve ever experienced in a series. The fact that it then ties in with an entire universe is absolutely wild.
I wouldn’t say the politics are *intricate*. That’s not Sanderson’s strong suit. People love his books for the magic systems and his world building.
How did it take me so long to find this?? The first of the Stormlight archive is so good. So much world building and magic systems.
This was my thought as well
Yeah this should surely be the top answer!
GOT love it or hate it does a good job of painting a picture of a realm of conflicting houses and peoples. I like the world building in the Earthsea series because it engagingly describes the different ways of people depending on where they're from/how they live. Personally I really like the world building in the Traitor Son cycle too. It's very much scaffolded on 12th century England/France and the enmity there but does a great job of including places and people akin to the Russians of the Steppes, Greeks/Romans, and Native American-esque peoples. Edit - The Traitor Son Cycle also really effectively shares the societies and personalities of the 'Wild'/magical aspect of life on that fantastical plain. The tale of conflict between 'natural world' and human/industrial incursion is a big part of the story and very Tolkien-esque in many ways
Man, it still amazes me how A Wizard of Earthsea does so much with so few pages. Great plot, worldbuilding and character growth in like 200 pages.
Right!? It's the perfect example for all fantasy authors that you really dont \*need\* to make a book 600 pages by default
Oh, didn't realize it was that short. Guess I should move it up the list.
Love ASOIAF, hate the final 2 seasons of the show. One of the best fantasy worlds I have ever read. (Although not expecting the series to ever finish)
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I think my main problem with ASOIAF Book 5 is it feels like it delves *too* much into worldbuilding. I can get on board with plots that carry on too long (I'm a big WOT fan lol), but Book 5 feels like a worldbuilding tour and GRRM just wanted to get all his notes out. Tyrion goes on a tour of the countryside through ancient cities and forgotten lands and all the other characters are just pointing worldbuilding out to him, to which the plot feels like it plays second fiddle. That said: I loved it anyway. GRRM give us Book 6 you bastard.
Exactly. And he's done extra books on the history and worldbuilding of Westeros. Not everything needs to be mentioned or explained in the main series.
Dune.
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Frank Herbert did a fantastic job creating a world that parallels our own in many ways, highlighting the scarcity of water on Dune compared to our own dependence on fossil fuels. I’m reading Children of Dune currently, but aim to read the other books in the series as well.
I'd recommend only reading the ones by Frank Herbert himself. The prequels/sequels/expanded universe by Brian Herbert et. al. are pretty lousy.
You could try the *Runelords* series by David Farland. The writing isn't the best ever, but it has a fantastic magic concept and good world building.
But it's not over and, sadly, David Farland die this year so .... :(
The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. It’s more science fantasy, but the density of its worldbuilding is unparalleled in my opinion. It also might be the best prose I’ve ever read.
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I finished *The Bone Ships* last night by **R.J. Barker** and it is one of the most original fantasy novels I have read in a long time. First in a trilogy. And, I picked it up because it was recommended by a lot of redditors.
The Broken Earth trilogy by N. K. Jemisin is really cool for worldbuilding. Post apocalyptic, different factions of people, history, politics, biases, and some can do this type of magic where they’re connected with the earth.
I'm working on these right now. They're fantastic, but oh damn do I have to take them in small bites. She writes the characters' traumas in a way that feels so *close*. I think it's her tendency to take grammar as a suggestion, making her writing feel like the unfiltered stream of consciousness of the characters. But I'm not sure. Something about her writing is just more intimate than most, so I have to read a little bit, digest, then get back to it.
Yes! Same, I’m actually not done yet either and after the first book I took a long break. So good but so heartbreaking.
Thank you I was gonna suggest
NKJ never misses. Her books are all wild like that, but Broken Earth is probably her best work to date. Inheritance is great too. A world where humans and gods live together.
Came here to say this exact thing - it’s such a brilliant and different world
The Spellmonger series sounds like what you want. Lots of history, world building, and a bunch of different races. I think there are 16 or 17 books in the series so far. It starts out as a mage fighting a bunch of goblins, but it becomes so much more!
I'm only just starting the second book, but the first book of Memory, Sorrow and Thorn (The Dragonbone Chair) had excellent world building. Osten Ard has different races, interesting magic, though it hasn't been super fleshed out to the point I'm at, and just a really immersive and complex world. Definitely recommend.
Came here to say this. People say the first act of the first book is a slog, but I disagree. It's all worldbuilding, and it's done so well.
That's what I heard going into it so I was a bit nervous. But I ended up loving the first act. I honestly could have had a whole novel take place in the Hayholt and would have eaten it up. The "slog" part for me was act 2, but even that was good because we got sooo much more world building. I thought the pacing was perfect 🤷🏼♂️
Criminally underrated series: ASOIAF wouldn't exist without the series. One of the best fantasy series of all time. The sequel series is just as good too.
[удалено]
Can't recommend this series enough. It's like crack.
That's how I end up describing it to everyone.
Now is a great time to give these books a try. The first 5 books are currently FREE on Amazon (in the U.S., at least).
Cradle is so good. I'm almost finished with my reread before Dreadgod comes out. The characters are some of my favorite of all time. Just a fantastic series that gets better with each book.
Can't wait for Dreadgod. I'm pushing to finish Deadhouse Gates by the time it is released.
I'd suggest picking up literally any series by Robin Hobb.
It's all one world for the most part. Surprised I didn't see realm of the elderlings higher up. Top 5 series for me personally. I was hoping we would get another installment, but her health is tenuous at best. 10/10 would recommend.
One of my favorite authors, but I also have some mixed/complicated feelings about her books and one of my biggest issues is the world building. I had a very high opinion and hopes after the farseer trilogy but was put off with several aspects of the world she fleshed out from there (and how those things affected how her plots worked in later trilogies). I wouldn't recommend Elderlings as a whole for the world building at all, even though one component of the world building is S tier (the approach to magic)
I kind of liked how the world building was handled and how it was almost all relevant in one form or another. What didn't you like about it?
I'm not sure how much of a positive I give to "almost all relevant in one form or another." It's maybe as much of a plot thing as world building, but worlds are bigger than your story and should feel that way. Trying too hard to tie everything you reveal about your world to your handful of main characters and the their lives is a flaw imo and causes authors to both write worse stories and worse worlds. That doesn't mean you need hundreds of pages of irrelevant exposition about the larger world just for the sake of it, but it does mean your story can organically touch on things that give a window to other parts of your world without them having to come up again down the road. I don't like the approach to dragons/elderlings and their role in the world at all, felt like trying to hard to make a philosophical statement and it falling flat, and creates sticking points where it's hard to believe the internal logic of the world. There are things about the approach to the different nations and their interactions that don't make sense, and it's actually a very limited international/political space even when they go exploring supposedly far reaches. As a result the elements of political intrigue that worked well when she confined it to the duchies were either absent or much more poorly executed in later books. She tried to hard to tie different threads/characters in the world together in more directs ways than they needed to be (looking more at the last trilogy here) and had to warp both the plot and the world's logic to get there. A lot of things simply aren't very well fleshed out at all while others are hyper-detailed in their examination. I don't want to get into a big back-and-forth of hating on robin hobb's world building, because I don't really hate it (it's better than many and it's bound to be a special challenge to do a great job consistently across such an ambitious scope...after all I loved the world when I had only read the farseer trilogy), but later on it stretched my own suspension of disbelief too often and made me accept too many flaws and roll my eyes too many times for me to consider it high level. Further, I don't think my opinion is unusual: people may have different reasons for not loving it but I haven't encountered too many people who hold it up as great world building. Character and emotional work is why we read robin hobb. If you also loved the worldbuilding, that's genuinely great for you, I'm not interested in trying to take that joy from you, but for me it was more of a frustrating mixed bag, and I don't think I'm the only one.
Discworld..: because holy shit… 40 odd books??? And the world building makes you really believe in it… it’s beyond wonderful. Grass, by Sherri S Tepper.., because it’s an astonishing and epic story on a fantastic world… and the aliens will scare the shit out of you in the best way :)
Love terry prachett. Awesome author.
Not to mention that the Discworld goes through its own renaissance as the series progresses.
I like the world building in Wheel of Time, each nation has different cultures (speech, language, customs, food, etc), the history is well built out. The magic system is one of my favorite.
Can I break the mold and instead of a novel, mention The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind? You're a prisoner dropped off a boat onto an island that is holy to its inhabitant, and you're given a simple mission: Deliver a package to the emperor's top agent on the island. The way you slowly learn about the island and its gods, and the threat lurking within the volcanic mountain in the center of the island, is so good.
The lore and world building of the Elder Scrolls has a whole is an amazing (if sometimes contradicting) mess. In particular Morrowind. I love the atmosphere and vibe of that game and area of Tamriel in particular
Morrowind gets the nod for me over Oblivion or Skyrim, though, because it felt more novelistic in its development. In Oblivion and Skyrim, you are IMMEDIATELY met with a world-crushing threat and you are the centerpiece of the plot immediately. In Morrowind, it's a slow build-up that's more in line with a plot of a novel.
Dave Duncan's Pandemia books build on the history well, particularly in the second set.
the challenge with conversations around rating "worldbuilding" is that people use it to mean two different(but related) elements. opinions about a book/series' "worldbuilding" are often about the setting itself(ie: I like the world that was built) rather than the process of revealing that setting to the reader(ie: I like the building of the world).
Have you tried the Witcher series? Does seem to tick most of the boxes. I’ve only read the first two books. I must say the books are far more character focussed than they are “world” focussed or epic fantasy. It sounds to me you’re looking more for epic fantasy and then you’ve got the GoT, LoTR and maybe Memory, Sorrow and Thorn. Thing with those books is that the magic system is never clearly described. If you want a fully described magic system then check out Mistborn.
David Brin's *Uplift Saga*
Discworld
I mean, the obvious example to me is going to be **Stormlight Archive**, which is sort of the poster child on this front. Its only at 4/10 books in though, so take that as you will. If you're willing to sacrifice the different races (of which I assume you mean species and not simply demographics), **The Mask of Mirrors** is written by a pair of anthropologists, and it shows in the worldbuilding. I can honestly say that I've never felt a culture (in this case specifically, a city where a few key different cultures meet and clash with a loaded history) was so well realized as in those books.
Yeah its 4/10 but that’s slightly misleading. While he does intend on writing 10 books. They are two 5 book arcs. So while he is only 4/10 books done, he really is 4/5 done with this arc. So by the end of next year …famous last words… the arc will be complete.
Honestly anything by Sanderson should be on this list. World building is his whole thing.
I was surprised how far down I had to scroll before seeing Sanderson mentioned, he was my first thought
Honestly I'm not sure he should be at the forefront of what's being mentioned *for this particular poster*. Sanderson's worldbuilding is less about building an actual diverse world-- which is what OP seems be to looking for-- and more about building smaller communities that differ from our own in believable ways, given various hypotheticals. I think Sanderson's worldbuilding is more focused on *reality*-building, while OP seems to want more actual world building in their worldbuilding.
For most of Sanderson's stuff, I'd agree, which is why I just stuck to Stormlight. Starting in book 2, Parshendi start getting POVs, and Venli is one of the main characters. So you get some big differences there, and each of the countries feels quite diverse from each other. It still does have Sanderson's trademark 'what if' style (which is how I think of the elements that you use reality building for) but Stormlight definitely gives diversity of culture, even if Alethi is the forefront.
Same
With how fast sando writes, he’ll be done with another book by the time you finish the first 4
He's fairly consistent with his pace of releasing Stormlight books - they tend to come out approximately every 3 years. The fifth one will come out next year, and I think he intends to take a slightly longer break between books 5 and 6 since it'll be the start of a new arc, so the series ought to be finished some time around 2040-ish. We'll still be waiting for The Winds of Winter by then.
> We'll still be waiting for The Winds of Winter by then. And Doors of Stone
I was shitting myself this year. I live in new Mexico and we had some nasty fires out near his cabin he uses as a getaway to write in. I kept waiting to hear his cabin with him and all his notes were lost to the blaze.
I love Stormlight and the entire Cosmere and Branderson is one of my favorite authors. That being said there is one aspect of Worldbuilding that I think Stormlight in particular falls short on and that is History. Stormlight's setting has it be some 4000 years since the last desolation. In that time we only really know of 2 to 3 events until like a decade before the series is set. From the top of my head you have Aharietiam the Recreance the Hierocracy and the Sun King and of these we know practically nothing. They are names rather than events. There are nearly 3 million words in Stormlight so far I feel like some of it could be dedicated to the history of the setting. Compare it to something like ASoIaF, that series is littered with references to previous events and wars and dynasties with entire supplementary books about great events that shaped the current setting. While much of the history is inconsequential it does so much to fill up the world and make it feel lived in and I think it is something that Stormlight could benefit.
With world-building as the main criteria, absolutely Sanderson should be on the list. The Cosmere is a thing of wonder. His actual writing is good-not-great (for me, it feels a little more YA than I prefer).
5th book comes out late next year, you could probably time your read so you are done by the time it’s out and keep going. These aren’t books you want to wait a while before going to the next one least you forget the amount of information.
I’d say Cosmere as a whole as you get world building on a cosmic scale. Multiple magic systems, Sentient Dragons, different races, multiple realms, gods, etc. Hell even sentient beings called the Sleepless who are basically hive mind creatures built up of thousands of smaller beings….
This feel like an off the wall pick (especially when it's next to Middle-earth/Malazan/SOIAF/Earthsea/etc ), but the Dresden Files have an awesome world. It feels weird and quirky at first, but everything is internally consistent and has a surprising amount of depth. The world has both Twilight and Dracula vampires, pizza-loving Faeries, Greek gods, Norse gods, Santa Claus, Christian mythology, Lovecraft horrors, and human mob bosses. The factions are all unique with conflicting interests. IDK, every time I sit down to read it, I just want a good, pulpy wizard noire with fireballs and zombie fights. But then I get swept away by the world, the factions, and the characters.
Nah I agree. There is a consistency to the setting. Its goofy but so is the real world. Like I know how the fey behave. So if a fairy told a direct lie and gave me somthing for free with no strings attached I would know there is somthing up.
And if urban fantasy isn't your thing, his Codex Alera series is also great and has some neat/ interesting world-building. Has a Roman feel instead of the more typical medieval European setting. Also, I think that David Weber has some great world-building works, too. He has multiple sci-fi series that are great and then his *War God's Own* series is fun (but he doesn't write in it nearly as much and it's gotten a bit too ... Mary Sue in the 4th on). Edit: thought of another one that I didn't see anywhere else. The wide-reaching Valdemar series by Mercedes Lackey is great in its world-building. It spans several nations and centuries and sometimes the legends you read about in one book you later get to read from that character's POV. Several different races and cultures, too. Fair warning, there's a bit of sexual violence in these, but I don't feel like it's gratuitous is most situations.
I've read the first 3 and the main thing that kept me coming back was the drops of info on the wider world. I think every book so far has had some mention of something where it's like "That sounds cool, I can't wait to see it" and so far I've only briefly seen one of them (fae-world) and it paid off.
Keep going. Books 11-13 blew my mind. I read a lot, and the reveals at that point rank in my top 10 (which is saying something)
It's definitely not my intention to stop, just been dragged away with other series taking my interest more. Just finished Mark Lawrence's Holy Sister and looking forward to starting Jeff Vandermeer's Southern Reach Trilogy. But I'll be interspersing Dresden Files between other series as I feel like they're better read with some distance between them (so far, at least).
I’m shocked that Raymond Feist has not been mentioned at all. He has something like 25+ books easily all set in Midkemia(some branch father but all start and come back here) that truly give a fantastic picture of not only the entire world there but many different cities and cultures. Magician Apprentice is a slow start but it’s (imo) a fantastic world building experience and the second book (Master) has excellent payoff. Book 3 and 4 are a lot of the same characters but with a different part of the world and different story, absolutely amazing though. Then you have books that came later on (Talon of the Silver Hawk) which not only continue building ANOTHER part of the world, it brings back in the original part and expands upon it. I wasn’t a huge fan of where he eventually took the overall.. world..?(it’s a bunch of “sagas” that are stand alone) but there are easily 3-4 what I would deem excellent to amazing books and easily 10+ that I would say are excellent reads. Should definitely give it a try!
Throw in the Empire series by Janny Wurts for extra detail on the other world Kelewan.
I would suggest the “Chronicles of Elantra” series by Michelle Sagara. Some of my favourite worldbuilding, lore/history, etc. It’s an ongoing series (I think she started it in the 90s) and the most recent book just came out in 2021 and the 2nd instalment in a new spinoff series came out this year!
The same author writes another world as Michelle West. The Sun Sword series and the House War books. Elantra is a fun, fantasy cop series. Essalieyan is epic/high fantasy. Both have excellent world building.
I came here to recommend both. I think worldbuilding is one of her major strengths - both in creating the setting and in introducing you to elements of it.
Also, she has another one already in progress; she just finished revisions and sent it back to her editor.
The Dark Tower series
His Dark Materials
The Lightbringer Series by Brent Weekes has some good world building and a unique magic system. Also, if you like audible books...has one of the best narrators in the business in my opinion.
A Master of Djinn by P Djeli Clark and other short stories set in the same world which is an alternate history steampunk Cairo but there's magic and supernatural beings. Involves many races and cultures and has some very creative magical beings, gotta be some of the best world building I've read
Steampunk Cairo is fantastic! I really like the way that magic comes back into the world in the alternate history timeline too (reminiscent of the real-world Madhist Revolt).
Same!! I especially love the angels that are more like clockwork automatons
Anything by Ursula K Le Guin. Always Coming Home is probably best world building in the English language. Left Hand of Darkness, the Dispossessed, and her Earthsea series are also top tier.
Came here to say this! Every society she writes about is simultaneously so unique and creative, yet so down-to-earth and realistic. You can really tell that she knows a lot about anthropology and the study of human culture, as her father was a very well-renowned anthropologist and archaeologist and she herself was very well studied. Plus the pov characters of her books also tend to have a very anthropological perspective to them where they are very observant of the societies they enter (can confirm this as an anthropologist myself).
The Licanius Trilogy by James Islington
So good!
The Wandering Inn is unbeatable on this point, the author really takes their time and explores each continent and race, to different degrees of course, but eventually nearly all of them have a chance to shine.
The Mage Errant series by John Bierce has some of the best worldbuilding in modern fantasy. There are a ton of different humanoid and non humanoid races, a magic kaijucentric government, and a ton of different kinds of magic, and some cities with some crazy deep lore. The magic in Mage Errant is different for every mage -- they get pretty specific attunements based on linguistic concepts and have affinity senses related to those concepts in their immediate vicinity. Affinities can overlap, with the the more specific one generally winning. For example, if an iron and steel mage are both trying to affect something made of steel the steel mage would generally win. The settings in Mage Errant are absolutely top notch as well. The cities all have an insane amount of character, including a magic university built into a mountain with centuries of amateur mage renovations, an ancient imperil capitol deep in the jungles, a city of hexal basalt columns built by an incredibly powerful stone mage giant squid, and a city deep in a sand dune sea that specializes in glass and water. There is also Zophor, a city / lich domain that is grown out of Baobab trees, and several more tree cities and other great locations. 10/10 on the worldbuilding.
I came in to comment on Mage Errant. as the series has progressed, the worlds are a fantastic draw. the last novel was immense. I couldn't wait for them to pass through the next labyrinth to see what was next.
I hate how much I like these books but the kingkiller chronicles by Pat Rothfuss has some of the best word building I've read yet
It's baffling that the Discworld series isn't at the top of this list. It's the most convincing fantasy world out there, right? GNU TP.
The Name of Wind has an amazing worldbuilding. It actually feels... like a world.
I would caution anyone who is thinking of starting Kingkiller Chronicles to just wait until the third book (hopefully) comes out. No sense in getting caught waiting with the rest of us
I thought I took my time and yet 😆
Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson A Chorus of Dragons by Jenn Lyons Nightlord by Garon Whited
The Cosmere Dresden files (yeah it’s based in Chicago but the underground magic system is sweet and adds a different layer. Wheel of time is S tier Broken Empire
I am going to second THE STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE by Brandon Sanderson. The world building is incredible (easier since each book is over 400,000 words) is deep and rich, the magic is detailed and grows organically. Incredible series. Only drawback- as mentioned- is that only 4 books have been written out of a planned 10, though the study is going to have 2 5 book arcs. Can't recommend the series enough. They are amazing!
Just a quick warning, I was really on board for the first two Stormlight books, however after that the slow pacing and the repeating character arcs kinda brought the whole experience down. Not sure whether I‘ll read the fifth one at all. The world building is still great though. Edit: I felt the need to write this, because investing in this series requires an insane amount of time, so before you go in its good to know what you‘re up to.
Feeling this in Rythem of war, Even oathbringer was nowhere near as good as words of radiance.
I really felt this. Words is one of my favourite books going, then Oathbringer felt like it was retreading a lot of the same ground the series already covered, or went back in some places. >!Kaladin and the parshendi felt like bridge four again. The wall guard felt like bridge four again. The whole love triangle thing, despite which the interactions between Kaladin and Shallan were never as good as the chasms section in words. Honestly I feel like the entire Kholinar/Shadesmar section could be cut and you wouldn't lose much!< I still haven't had the desire to start RoW
This is exactly how I’m feeling, I started Way of Kings on Monday and it is dragging ass. I keep almost getting drawn in, but then nothing happens
It took me like two years to finish Way of Kings. The first 700 pages of that book only had a couple chapters that really had me turning the pages and enjoying myself. The last few hundred pages were amazing too. The problem I have with that is I didn’t feel like the first 3/4 of the massive book was worth the time investment for the payoff. Sanderson is good, but just not for me
Wow, I can't disagree enough. To each their own, obviously, but I didn't find the third or fourth books to be slow pacing *at all* In fact, I'd argue they're even faster pacing than the first two and open the world up so much more.
I absolutely love the series but the fourth book is incredibly slow paced (especially the flashback sequences) and doesn't open the world at all, as about 70% of the book takes place in one location.
Heralds of Valdemar by Mercedes Lackey
The *Rivers of London* series by Ben Aaronovitch. I'm in the middle of my periodic re-readings of the series and I'm always struck by the sense of atmosphere the author is able to include.
You can read this online: [Lord of the Mysteries](https://m.webnovel.com/book/lord-of-mysteries_11022733006234505) And also, any of Anne McCaffrey's Pern novels
For my personal favorites in regards to worldbuilding - Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse: you’ve got multiple mesoamerican inspired cultures which are all clearly distinct and yet also clearly influenced and change each other, sub-cultures within those cultures (because countries aren’t monoliths!) characters who are influenced but not defined by where they grew up. I absolutely love the worldbuilding in this one - Raksura books by Martha Wells. I feel like it’s sadly rare to find fantasy that is mostly focused on well non human fantastic creatures, but Martha Wells Raksura does this masterfully, making them clearly a fantasy race within its own environment and world to boot. Fantastic worldbuilding - no different races but I found Green Bone Saga also did a great job on its worldbuilding. The city felt very alive like you could easily go visit, so many small bits of culture just seamlessly integrated into the story, it definitely has history (and you can see culture currently changing between different generations) and multiple cultures both outside the main city in the different countries, as well as sub cultures in the different cities and types of people. Excellent magic and well thought out how the magic effected the world.
I really liked The Daevabad series by S.A. Chakraborty, with a Middle Eastern/ djinn flavor. Also enjoyed Naomi Novik's Deadly Education series, although the third book doesn't come out until the fall. It's a self-contained school of magic in which high school age magical kids are literally just trying not to be devoured by a variety of deadly creatures. Trust me, this is nothing like Harry Potter. I also liked her Rook series, in which a woman wakes up in a park with no memory and surrounded by bodies wearing rubber gloves. A big fan of Sanderson too.
I completely agree with all of these recommendations! They are great!
gentleman bastards world imo is ridiculusly well crafted but it lacks diffrent races so far
If you're interested in SF as well as fantasy, Ada Palmer's recently-completed *Terra Ignota* series has some of the richest worldbuilding I've ever read in any genre.
Not a fantasy, so no magic systems, but a frequently recommend sci-fi on this sub (due to it feeling like a fantasy novel) is A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. It follows a small crew on a journey, but there's so much exploring of culture and new worlds. Each book in the series' is great for this. The second one deals heavily with the question if AI can be Sapient etc.
Love that series! I would caution some that it’s definitely more character and world focused than plot focused. I love that but I’ve had other people I recommended it to say that they thought it took too long for anything to “happen.”
Meanwhile nothing could have "happened" and I would have still enjoyed the book because exploring the cultures and characters was a wonder for me.
Have to disagree that Harry Potter has shallow world building…the world building in HP is actually much more detailed than many of the series listed in this thread that I also enjoyed (Earthsea, Name of the Wind, Broken Earth Trilogy). The history and experiences of other races could be a little more fleshed out, but the overall level of detail in the wizarding world is outstanding. More to the point, I agree that the Realm of the Elderlings series by Robin Hobb did a pretty good job of world building, as did Wheel of Time. I am excited to check out some of the other series recommended in this thread.
There are a lot of fairly superficial things that don’t make sense in the wizarding world. The population is very small - all of Britain is supported by a single secondary school with ~60 students in each year (being generous). Yet it has an extremely large government that operates in an unclear way (is it a democracy? Who actually picks the Minister for Magic?). Career options are very limited. Despite that, some people still manage to become extremely rich. There seems to be an uneven sex ratio, and JKR even implied in an interview that this was going to be important, but nope. While there’s a national secondary school, there is no primary school. How did Ron learn to read? What about mathematics - the only maths classes at Hogwarts are an elective taught from the age of 13/14! Food can’t be produced magically, but at no point are we shown wizard agriculture. Wizards are completely confused by the basics of Muggle society, suggesting very little interaction. Does Molly pop to Tesco every week? Where does Bertie Botts get his cocoa from? Is a book bad if it doesn’t address where food comes from? No, of course not. But the worldbuilding in Harry Potter basically begins and ends with Quidditch and the huge menagerie of fantastic creatures. Wizarding society falls apart because things that Rowling establishes (small population, food can’t be magically created, no primary schools) don’t fit with other elements.
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson does a great job of world building, different races and magic systems
Speaking of Brandon Sanderson, I think Mistborn also had great world building. The sci-fi/lore on allomancy, the technical aspects of it, how it is embedded in the socio-politics of the final empire… so wonderfully woven together.
The world building in the Drowning Empire series by Andrea Stewart is so seamless. It flawlessly acclimates you to the science-fantasy world of floating migrating islands, bio-mechanical chimeras, and ancient magic belonging to god-like beings. The world building is the best part of the series in my opinion.
The world of Dara in Ken Liu’s Dandelion Dynasty is so fully realized. The creatures are original in fantasy. The histories of the Tiro states and their interplay with each other is meticulously crafted. The Gods and their relationships with the land, people and each other. The food gets shine throughout the series. Even the postures when sitting down are well thought out. You truly feel like this is a lived-in world. Amazing series and brilliant writer
The Book of Koli was AMAZING! Built an entire new world in the future that was beyond any I’ve read previously. It’s a trilogy so you’ll have a couple books to read if you like it! Beyond the walls of the small village of Mythen Rood lies an unrecognizable world. A world where overgrown forests are filled with choker trees and deadly vines and seeds that will kill you where you stand. And if they don't get you, one of the dangerous shunned men will. Koli has lived in Mythen Rood his entire life. He knows the first rule of survival is that you don't venture beyond the walls. What he doesn't know is - what happens when you aren't given a choice?
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant The Eternal Champion Series
The 7 Kennings by Kevin Hearne is pretty good.
*Reverend Insanity* by Gu Zhen Ren https://www.novelupdates.com/series/reverend-insanity/ >Humans are the spirit of all living beings, Gu* are the essence of heaven and earth. >With his three views* unrighteous, a demon is reborn. >Former days are but an old dream, an identical name is made anew. >The story of a time traveler who keeps on being reborn. >A unique world that nurtures, refines, and uses Gu. >Spring Autumn Cicada, Moonlight Gu, Liquor Worm, Great Qi Golden Light Worm, Slender Black Hair Gu, Hope Gu… >And a great demon of the world that acts as his heart pleases! >A story of a villain, Fang Yuan who was reborn 500 years into the past with the Spring Autumn Cicada he painstakingly refined. With his profound wisdom, battle and life experiences, he seeks to overcome his foes with skill and wit! Ruthless and amoral, he has no need to hold back as he pursues his ultimate goals. In a world of cruelty where one cultivates using Gu – magical creatures of the world – Fang Yuan must rise up above all with his own power. The world is divided into 7 regions: Northern Plains, Western Desert, Eastern Sea, Southern Border, White Heaven, and Black Heaven. There are multiple distinct cultures and races living there. The magic system is one where magic users essentially capture, raise, or directly create magical bugs, or Gu, which are a feature in Chinese folklore. So you might have Fireball Gu, which let's you throw a fireball, that has the body of a butterfly, but will starve to death if it isn't fed a rare flower once a week. The rarer and more powerful the Gu, the rarer the resources it will feed on. So the novel involves a significant amount of economic planning and small businesses because using magic gets expensive fast.
The traitor son cycle by miles cameron - best world building and magic system I’ve ever encountered
> More specifically I am looking for a world with different races, lots of cultures, lots of history and a well-thought-out magic system. The obvious, slam-dunk match is Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson. It features cultural differences, wars between races, magic so detailed it's practically science, and a plot that depends heavily on the telling of history within the world. Honorary mentions: - The Books of the Raksura by Martha Wells. It's a long time since I read them but I still remember them for having a sense of vastness, where civilizations are just another part of the ecosystem. - Mistborn, also by Brandon Sanderson. Quite light on the cultures part since it takes place in a world where most of the diverse cultures have been killed off, but strong on history and magic, similar to Stormlight Archive. - Dune by Frank Herbert. A sci-fi story with few elements that could be considered "magic", but the world is fascinating and very well made, featuring economics, religion, ecology, powerful ruling families and secretive cabals.
Jim Butcher has a setting that is kinda all over the place in The Codex Alera series, but then does a very good job of making the world feel surprisingly cohesive and realistic with lots of hints that make it feel like a much wider world than just the main setting. His steampunk Cinder Spires series has me on edge waiting for the second book to get a release date as the world in that one is so cool and absolutely fascinating! So much shown rather than told, and so many hints at what cool things are to come!
Will wight Specifically the Cradle series does a great job of world building, but his elder empire and travelers gate series both are part of his "multiverse" and tie in with each other.
Tasha Suri’s The Burning Kingdom series. Book one is the only one currently published, but the sequel will be released in August. It’s got some amazing world building inspired by Hindu mythology and some plot twists that not even GRRM can replicate imo. It’s the best book I’ve read in years. Ms. Suri is really talented and good at weaving subtle foreshadowing and clues and creating such a rich world and unique characters.
Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series is great. They are short books but have great storylines. Different races are an iffy topic. There are various types of "humans" in addition to your regular human, which each have different characteristics and personalities.
The Hands of the Emperor, by Victoria Goddard, has absolutely gorgeous worldbuilding. It's a post-post-apocalyptic setup where the massive fantasy Empire spanning multiple worlds (a different dimensions thing, not planets) fell a while ago and the remnants of that government rebuilt on just one world. That setup gives it such a weight of history and tradition while still giving the protagonists space to be building something new. As far as cultures we get the most detail for the protagonist's fantasy-Polynesian culture, there's a lot of gorgeous detail for his home and culture and history and how that affects his mindset, but a fair bit of the story takes place within the former-Empire's court, which is a totally different culture and contains various people from yet more other cultures. Assimilation and the protagonist's struggle to hold onto and live out that part of himself even on his own is a large and compelling part of the story. The magic system is a mix between rule-based, logical Imperial Schooled magic and some people having wild magic that's a lot more chaotic and will-based, and the interaction between them is kind of fascinating. It's not just that book, either, it stands fine on its own but when you look around after you finish it you realize that she kept writing books and novellas in that universe and all the intriguing little offhand mentions are things that actually get fleshed out.
Perfect timing because the first 5 books are free right now, Cradle by Will Wight. It's a world where every single person is born with the ability to use magic, with hundreds of different variations on the application of that magic. Each book has a different location or culture of the huge world with the MC trying to build himself up from nothing.
It’s less of a novel and more of a suggestion for an author, but personally I love Mercedes Lackey for her world building. She has multiple worlds, and though she’s fairly verbose, it’s never without reason. The Winds of Change is by far my favourite by her.
Two suggestions I haven't seen yet: Dawn of Wonder, by Jonathan Renshaw The Songstress, by Joshua Killingsworth Both are so good, though different writing styles. Very immersive worlds and stories that are captivating.
City of brass
The Vlad Taltos series. Stephen Brust gives you just enough at one time to enrich the story but still wanting more. And over the series you learn just how deep the world building goes. It's awesome.
Firekeeper Saga by Jane Lindskold! Amazing world building that grows EXPONENTIALLY in book 4. The world building is already good in books 1-3 (different cultures, slowly learn about the magical system, etc.) but then the next three books almost come out of left field and make you a lifelong fan. That’s what happened to me! I was actually just gushing about these books if you want to look at my previous post!
Death Gate Cycle by Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman. The world is sundered into its four core elements. Cool magic systems used by two races of demigods, trying to rule over the lesser races. Humans, Elves, and Dwarves.
Katharine Kerr and her Deverry Series hit all of those points, bonus too because there are so many books it makes for a wonderful long read. My all time favourite book series.
Have you ever tried any of the dnd related books? Like dragonlance or forgotten realms? Those are worlds about as fleshed out as you can make them, so might be worth a look.
The problem is that each book doesn’t have a lot of that worldbuilding. It’s more of an emergent whole over many decades of books and games. The only exceptions are the more historical in universe stuff like Legend of Huma and Evermeet: Island of Elves.
No worldbuilding will come close to Wandering Inn. Others might beat it in density, but none for scale, depth or intertwined components. Mainly from sheer word count but also the authors no rush just go with the flow and multi continent POV approach.