10 epic sci-fi/fantasy book series to binge

5. The Witcher

Getting back to the realm of epic fantasy, being on lockdown also makes for a great time to find out what the deal is with this witcher everyone is throwing coins to. Before Netflix’s widely streamed adaptation came out last December, before the hit video games smashed all kinds of records…there was a book series about one Geralt of Rivia, the titular witcher.

Geralt is a monster hunter who has undergone a series of mutations in order to be able to kill the creatures that stalk his world and attack people. To do so, he utilizes a ton of different tools — like special potions that would kill a normal human and magical spells called signs — but none are more iconic than the two swords he wields, a steel one for fighting humans and a silver one for killing monsters.

Of course, Geralt’s background as a monster hunter is only the beginning of his tale, as he finds himself bound to protect a girl named Ciri, the heir to a fallen kingdom and inheritor of a special power called the Elder Blood. Ciri is hunted by everyone from the invading Nilfgaardian Empire to the spectral riders of the Wild Hunt…and Geralt has some real problems asking for help, so he struggles just as much against his own personal issues as he does against the monsters he is often tasked with hunting down.

There are some things that it helps to know before going into The Witcher. For starters, these books are written by Polish author Andrezej Sapkowski, and translated into English by David French. The English translations do occasionally have some spelling inconsistencies and awkward phrasings — something definitely gets lost in translation at times.

The other thing to know is that the first two books, The Last Wish and The Sword of Destiny, are in fact short story collections. They’re absolutely necessary to understand the full picture (the first season of the Netflix series is based on these two books), but they don’t have the same flow you would get in a typical novel.

Despite those warnings, neither truly detracts from how great a story The Witcher is. At eight less-than-massive books total, including the newer stand-alone novel Season of Storms, it’s perhaps a bit shorter than some of the other works on this list. But if you even remotely enjoyed the Netflix series or games, it cannot be said enough how much deeper the adaptations become once you read the source material.