The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien (1954)

When Tolkien first published his magnum opus, The Lord of the Rings, early reviews seemed oddly mixed, and yet, the trilogy is now widely accepted as the beginning of all modern fantasy. The Fellowship of the Ring, the first book in the series, is the book that began a legend. It has been the reference of every fantasy or epic book to come after; it, like Shakespeare, invented whole languages, such as Elvish, and words, such as Tolkienian, that are now canon in the Oxford English Dictionary. Religions, languages, and myths (notably Norse mythology) from all over the world influenced the novel.

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A Games of Thrones by George R. R. Martin (1996)

A Game of Thrones is the first novel in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire epic fantasy series. The series takes place on the massive, fantastical islands of Westeros and Essos. Each book is structured as a series of limited first-person narrations from dozens of characters.

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Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson (1999)

Written by the Canadian author Steven Erikson, Gardens of the Moon is the first novel in the acclaimed ten-volume fantasy series called the Malazan Book of the Fallen.