The Fantasy Novels Best Suited for Adaptation as a Movie or Series, According to our Readers

Top Product: The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie | $27 | Amazon

The Marvel fatigue is real y’all. Well, only sort of. I dreamed of what the series could blossom into since the moment in 2008 when Sam Jackson appeared on screen to mention the Avenger Initiative. Well it has blown up far far beyond what my expectations could have possibly been. I felt they stuck the landing perfectly wrapping up their 11 year arc with Avengers: Endgame, the new shows have been entertaining, and I am giddy with joy after seeing that Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer drop. I’m always ready to inject Marvel content directly into my veins. My fatigue doesn’t come from there being too many Marvel flicks. Mine comes from the lack of anything else.

Sure, Marvel isn’t the only thing out there, but there’s really only ever one other big budget movie I see each year outside of the franchise and they tend to be hit or miss. The opportunity cost of having five Marvel movies a year is that big budget films of other nature are far and few. But let’s pretend that’s not the case for a second.

Let’s imagine a world with new IP’s being funded and developed every year. Imagine a book series you love that none of your friends have heard of has taken over the zeitgeist, breaking box office records left and right and everyone is now obsessed. Let’s live in this fantasy for a moment and think about what it would be like for our favorite books to be adapted to film or television.

Earlier this week, we ask you to tell us what fantasy novels and series you like that are ripe for adaptation. Here are those fantasy books.

Price reflects Volume I

For (several) gods’ sake, The Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne by Brian Staveley.

1. All the brutality leveled at main characters from Game of Thrones with little to none of the rape

2. A very tangible and antagonistic pantheon, each god of which has its own very fascinating clerical practices

3. Magic users that operate by some pretty unique rules

4. Fashion, architecture, language, topography, social and political structure, that don’t focus Anglo-Saxon culture as the norm by which everything else is deemed exotic

5. A fantasy setting FREAKING AIR FORCE that does not involve dragons, and is somehow cooler for it.

That covers about…53% of the neat stuff going on in this series, and it’s still ongoing. I want it real, REAL bad.
– Uncle Charley

Price reflects full trilogy (Kindle version)

I nominate Robert Jackson Bennett’s The Divine Cities trilogy. Why? (Warning mild spoilers) Each book in the series follows a different main character, with mild time skips, that seems perfect for a limit series on something like HBO. The core idea of the series—that those who worshipped gods had their gods murdered and subjugated by technologically advanced colonists—is ripe for parallels with our world, while still offering larger than life moments that would look fantastic on screen. Furthermore, the books are full of fresh mythology and memorable characters, and have a huge bonus over something like a Game of Thrones: They’re actually finished!
–michaelalwill

Price reflects Volume I

My nomination is a little more obscure YA property—Everworld. It’s a series by K.A. Applegate who also created Animorphs. It has a large diverse cast, it takes a deep dive into various mythological canons (including some more obscure ones), plenty of source material to work with, and a unique, interesting premise. You even get to see a bunch of white supremacists get wiped out by leprechauns.
– foronemorejawn

Price reflects full trilogy

Has a similar “medieval fantasy would actually be a terrible place to live” vibe as Game of Thrones, but with a pitch black sense of humor in place of Martin’s mean-spirited cynicism.
– junker359