Some fantasy books feel like a breath of fresh air! Others feel like a gnome farted in your mouth. While we always hope to be transported to a better world after cracking open a work of fantasy, sometimes we just wanna call our moms and have her pick us up when we get there. These fantasy books are a bummer for different reasons. Some are bad. Some are unfinished. Some are ruined by the author’s reputation. Nevertheless, they’re all a bit of a downer. Here are the 10 most disappointing fantasy books of all time.
A Song of Ice and Fire
As an unashamed lover of George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, I am majorly bummed to put this series at the top of this list… where it belongs. When A Game of Thrones hit the shelves in the 90’s, Martin was hailed as the second coming of J.R.R. Tolkien. He even had the double R’s in his name! But as the series continued through the years, readers were disappointed to discover that despite Stark family mantra, winter is probably not coming. Martin’s next book The Winds of Winter has been delayed for over a decade, with no release date in site. Fans are devastated, fearful that Martin’s magnum opus, and one of the greatest fantasy series ever penned, will sputter out like the flame it’s named for.
The Secret Commonwealth
Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series is my favorite fantasy series, hands down. As an ex-Catholic, I was thrilled to read a story about a little girl who uses nothing but stubbornness and an angel powered compass to take a stand against a world-ruling megachurch and the God it worships. When Pullman announced a new trilogy The Book of Dust, detailing Lyra Belacqua’s infant past and adult future, I was ecstatic. La Belle Sauvage was awesome, the story of how baby Lyra was spirited to safety by heroic eleven year old Malcolm Polstead and his trusty canoe! The Secret Commonwealth takes place decades later, and the loving older brother/younger sister dynamic established in the first book is ruined by a mid-30’s Malcom’s weird crush on young 20’s Lyra. HE KNEW HER WHEN SHE WAS A BABY. EW. A perfectly phenomenal start to a secondary trilogy, squandered by the creepy sequel.
Harry Potter
Blegh. Harry Potter. A series that I loved as a child now causes the bile to rise in my throat due to the toxic ideologies expressed by She Who Must Not Be Named: series author J.K. Rowling. Rowling disappointed generations of readers after she began to espouse transphobic rhetoric on social media. Despite backlash from fans and former collaborators (including the cast of the Harry Potter films) she has doubled down on her views, becoming one of the most prominent and outspoken of transphobes on the planet. Harry Potter was more than just a cultural movement, it was a fantasy refuge for children who felt that they didn’t fit in to the real world. That sense of comfort, belonging, and magic that Harry Potter conjured up in so many has been utterly crushed by Rowling’s refusal to extend a shred of understanding to one of the world’s most vulnerable communities. It’s more than a disappointment, it’s a total travesty.
Berserk
Berserk is the greatest dark fantasy series ever written, bar none. Kentaro Miura’s magnum opus remains one of the most influential grimdark works of all time, inspiring countless other franchises including Dark Souls. The Golden Age Arc is one of the finest works of tragedy ever penned, utterly devastating. Sadly, though the series has gone to achieve mythic status throughout its decades long run, fans have been deprived of a final catharsis due to the untimely death of Berserk‘s author. Yes, the series is still continuing. Yes, Miura’s closest collaborators having taken up the narrative torch. But no, Berserk just doesn’t quite feel the same. Fate deprived us of one of manga’s brightest minds. Just like in Guts’ world, The Law of Causality is cruel indeed.
Sword of Truth
Unlike many of the other authors on this list, Sword of Truth writer Terry Goodkind actually finished his series, though I sorely wish he didn’t. While the first couple of his 20+ epic fantasy novels are decent, they unravel rapidly as the story drags on. In order to sum up just how bad the majority of these books are, I’ll give you a passage from one, which describes a character’s battle with an evil chicken. “The bird let out a slow chicken cackle. It sounded like a chicken, but in her heart she knew it wasn’t. In that instant, she completely understood the concept of a chicken that was not a chicken... it was evil manifest.” The true evil manifest here is that those sentences ever made it past the editor.
The Kingkiller Chronicles
Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of The Wind is one of the most celebrated works of modern fantasy on store shelves. It’s the tale of Kvothe, a legendary bard who defeated dragons, charmed the pants off of fae spirits, and may or may not have murdered a monarch (his lawyer probably told not to go into details). Like the wind it’s named for, the first book of The Kingkiller Chronicles lifts the reader up into the air… and then sends them hurtling into the trunk of the Unfinished Fantasy Tree. Devoted readers have waited over two decades for the upcoming third book The Doors of Stone, but with each passing year, the door seems like it’s swinging shut. Fans have been left to kick rocks.
The Gentleman Bastard series
Scott Lynch’s Gentleman Bastard series stole hearts with its first entry The Lies of Locke Lamora, but fans are fearful that Locke’s thieving days are over. Readers are awaiting the series’ planned fourth entry The Thorn of Emberlain, but after over a decade with no release date in sight, many have begun to lose hope. However, “disappointing” isn’t quite the right word to describe the series – Lynch has been open about his battles with anxiety and bereavement, and the delayed release of his upcoming novel is totally fair given the circumstances. It’s hard to see a beloved author struggling with his mental health, and if what he needs is time, then time is exactly what us fans must give him.
The Dark Tower
Years after reading Stephen King’s seven part mega-novel The Dark Tower, I still can’t decide if I like the ending. On the one hand, the series doesn’t end in the way that I (or probably anyone) expected, and it can be a bit of a bummer when a story doesn’t go how you wanted. On the other hand, the ending of The Dark Tower is one of the most haunting conclusions I’ve ever read, and the book’s last sentence is forever etched into my mind. Perhaps, for a horror writer like Stephen King, haunting is the point. After all, King has never been a fan of endings. “There is no such thing as a happy ending,” says King. “Ending is just another word for goodbye.” Ouch. I mean, true, in both art and life that’s the case, but sometimes goodbyes can come with a kiss, right? The ending of The Dark Tower is more of a punch in the face.
The Stormlight Archive
Brandon Sanderson’s The Stormlight Archive is supposed to conclude in ten books. In fourteen years, we’ve only gotten five. Beginning with The Way of Kings, The Stormlight Archive is one of the most celebrated works of modern fantasy, but Sanderson decided to ditch his own party early in order to work on his Mistborn series… which is also not finished. I get it, sometimes you gotta switch up the creative flow, start tinkering with a new work of art to return to an old one inspired. But Brandon darling, fourteen years and we’re only halfway there? Can’t you get those creative juices flowing any faster?
The Farseer Trilogy
There’s nothing wrong with The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb. It’s completed, it’s well written, it’s well thought out… and it is really, really disappointing. Not in a “this book sucks” kind of way but a “oh my god this book is deeply depressing” kind. Hobb’s series begins with Assassin’s Apprentice, the story of a royal bastard turned lonely killer, and the series only heavier from there. Reading The Farseer Trilogy is as emotionally exhausting as an Attack On Titan series binge. You just want the horrible things to stop happening to the characters you love, and they never, ever do. If you can stomach the sorrow, The Farseer Trilogy is an incredible series. If you’re looking for some light beach reading, go with a cozy fantasy like Legends and Lattes instead .
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