--- title: Five Fantasy Epics That Would Have Made for Better TV Than Game of Thrones description: Not big on George R.R. Martin's mammoth creation? Here are five other series that deserve their own shot at television glory canonical: https://time.com/3825820/five-fantasy-epics-that-would-have-made-for-better-tv-than-game-of-thrones/ author: Chris Wilson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-20T00:00:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:04:32.060Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Five Fantasy Epics That Would Have Made for Better TV Than Game of Thrones og:description: The Dragonlance Chronicles, The Wheel of Time, and other series that deserve a shot at TV glory og:url: https://time.com/3825820/five-fantasy-epics-that-would-have-made-for-better-tv-than-game-of-thrones/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8868cc6ed7ea0e97/6987847c428a9e2b11cc7b96/gameofthrones-dragon.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: gameofthrones-dragon og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Five Fantasy Epics That Would Have Made for Better TV Than Game of Thrones twitter:description: The Dragonlance Chronicles, The Wheel of Time, and other series that deserve a shot at TV glory twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8868cc6ed7ea0e97/6987847c428a9e2b11cc7b96/gameofthrones-dragon.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Five Fantasy Epics That Would Have Made for Better TV Than _Game of Thrones_ > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account.  by [Chris Wilson](https://time.com/author/chris-wilson/)  ## Chris Wilson Apr 20, 2015 12:00 AM UTC  A dragon from HBO's Game of Thrones A dragon from HBO's Game of ThronesHBO  by [Chris Wilson](https://time.com/author/chris-wilson/)  ## Chris Wilson Apr 20, 2015 12:00 AM UTC When I bought _A Game of Thrones_ in New York Penn Station about five years ago, I did not expect it to transport me on a journey of imagination spanning continents and dynasties. I did expect it to get me back to Washington. Somewhere around Newark Liberty International Airport, I realized that I had started it before, more than a decade earlier. From the ages of about 13 to 15, I was rarely parted from the company of a paperback fantasy novel, usually one in a series of six or more volumes. The ’80s and ’90s were a golden era for fantasy epics like _A Game of Thrones_, which was first published in 1996\. I can still recall the aisle of the Barnes & Noble in Charlottesville, Va., appropriately placed directly between the rows of Fiction & Literature and the children’s section. One arrived there after the Narnia books (abandoned halfway through _The Silver Chair_) but before graduating to Bradbury and Vonnegut. Judging by the sheer volume of sex scenes, the audience was very clearly teenage boys. The fact that I never got very far into _Game of Thrones_ the first time around doesn’t say much for it, because my standards were not high in those days. But it was a late train, I was tired, and I thought I would give it another try. By Philadelphia, there were three unrelated characters with grey eyes, but at least the plot was mildly engrossing. I got as far as this sentence: --- > “” --- I read up on the rest of the plot on Wikipedia. For a book categorized as fantasy, the book is surprising unoriginal. The dragons are generic, the magic is vague, and the politics are straight out of medieval Europe by way of Dungeons & Dragons. This is a charge one could levy against a good portion of the genre. But there were a few gems in that aisle that I still recall fondly. Here are five series that would have made for much better TV than Martin’s now very popular epic. (My memory is augmented in most places by Wikipedia.) 1\. [**The Dragonlance Chronicles**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragons%5Fof%5FAutumn%5FTwilight)Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. Debuted in 1984 with _Dragons of Autumn Twilight_[](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragons%5Fof%5FAutumn%5FTwilight) A reunion of seasoned adventurers goes awry when they are attacked by minions of the Dragon Highlords. The first three novels center on this memorable set of characters, from the priestess Goldmoon of the Que-Shu tribe to Raistlin Majere, the secretive wizard who is drawn to evil and power even as his twin brother Caramon struggles to save his soul. Their conflicting agendas play out amid a continent-wide battle that includes awakening dragons and warring gods. For producers worried that three books aren’t enough, there’s a [second trilogy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonlance%5FLegends) focusing on the Majere twins, two final novels devoted to the second generation of the original companions, and at least one other trilogy written after I outgrew the series. 2\. [**The Dragon Prince Trilogy**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon%5FPrince)Melanie Rawn. Debuted in 1988 with _The Dragon Prince_. I confess that I was drawn to the first volume of this series largely because of the [cover](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon%5FPrince#/media/File:Dragon%5FPrince%5Fcover.jpg), but if I came for the partial nudity–I was 14–I stayed for the sunrunners, a species of wizard who draw their power from sunlight to manipulate fire and commune with dragons (who have temperaments and lifespans similar to German Shepherds). Fans of George R. R. Martin’s palace intrigue will find a more satisfying and legible plot in the jockeying viceroyalities that Rawn imagines. The first series spans two decades and three generations, and is followed by a second trilogy that expands on the world of sorcery and introduces a new threat of invasion from across the sea. Sound familiar? 3\. [**The Immortals**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%5FSong%5Fof%5Fthe%5FLioness)Tamara Pierce. Debuted in 1992 with _Wild Magic_.[](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%5FSong%5Fof%5Fthe%5FLioness) “The Immortals” is actually the second quartet of novels that Pierce set in the world of Tortall. The first, “The Song of the Lioness,” told the story of a girl named Alanna who goes uncover as a boy in order to train to become a knight. That series is aimed at a slightly younger audience, if I recall. The world of _Wild Magic_, in which and older Alanna plays a small role, centers on an orphan named Daine who can speak with animals and shape-shift into their form. There is a particularly original and horrifying lineup of monsters in this one, including metallic vultures with human heads that eat the dead. The Alanna material would make for a solid prequel, and there are a bunch of other books set in the universe that I never read. 4\. [**The Tribe of One Trilogy**](http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-56076-676-6)Simon Hawke. Debuted in 1993 with _The Outcast_[](http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-56076-676-6) _The Tribe of One_ takes place in the long-suffering desert planet of Athas, a richly imagined world that originally served as the setting for the Dungeons & Dragons imprint [Dark Sun](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark%5FSun). A novel based on a tabletop game does not sound like a recipe for entertainment, but the entire genre essentially owes its origin to the role-playing game whether sanctioned or otherwise. (_The Dragonlance Chronicles_ also has a D&D tie-in). The trilogy focuses on Sorak, who enjoys a sort of psychic multiple-personality disorder that gives him powerful ESP. His journeys take him to Tyr, home to a clandestine order known as the Veiled Alliance that opposes the parasitic Sorcerer-Kings who are sapping the planet’s life. There are traces of _Dune_ mixed with Jedi-like powers and a healthy side of murderous [human-sized praying mantises](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thri-kreen). 5.[**The Wheel of Time**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%5FWheel%5Fof%5FTime)Robert Jordan. Debuted in 1990 with _The Eye of the World_.[](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%5FWheel%5Fof%5FTime) I never actually got into these books, but they are probably the most popular epic in the teen-fantasy catalogue. A [pilot of a TV series](http://io9.com/the-real-story-about-that-wheel-of-time-pilot-that-aire-1684773094) aired as sponsored programming on FXX recently, though possibly only as a means of prolonging the rights to the story. A serious attempt would surely find a wide audience. **Runner-up:** [**The Sword of Truth**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark%5FSun#Novels)Terry Goodkind. Debuted in 1994 with _Wizard’s First Rule_. In retrospect, this series, which appears to have gone on for ten more books after I stopped reading them, has a lot of the same repugnant sadism and ritualized sex as _Game of Thrones_. The plot of the first book is also almost a comical knock-off of _Star Wars_, from the discovery that the protagonist Richard’s old mentor is actually a powerful wizard to the twist in the relationship between Richard and the villain, Darken Rahl. (Take a guess.) But I remember enjoying the first three or four of them. An attempt to adapt the series for television [already ran two seasons](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend%5Fof%5Fthe%5FSeeker) from 2008 to 2010\. One imagines HBO would have more success with the material. ### See Photos from Game of Thrones Season 5  Maisie Williams as Arya Stark. Macall B. Polay—HBO  Michael McElhatton as Roose Bolton, Iwan Rheon as Ramsay Bolton and Elizabeth Webster as Walda Frey. Helen Sloan—HBO  Conleth Hill as Varys and Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister. Helen Sloan—HBO  Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen. Helen Sloan—HBO  Nathalie Emmanuel as Missandei and Jacob Anderson as Grey Worm. Helen Sloan—HBO  Indira Varma as Ellaria Sand and Deobia Opaeri as Areo Hotah. Macall B. Polay—HBO  Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark and Aidan Gillen as Littlefinger. Helen Sloan—HBO  Kit Harington as Jon Snow, Stephen Dillane as Stannis Baratheon and Liam Cunningham as Davos Seaworth. Helen Sloan—HBO  Natalie Dormer as Margaery Tyrell and Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister. Helen Sloan—HBO  Alexander Siddig as Doran Martell. Macall B. Polay—HBO  Carice van Houten as Melisandre Helen Sloan—HBO  Kit Harington as Jon Snow. Helen Sloan—HBO  Daniel Portman as Podrick Payne and Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth. Helen Sloan—HBO  Dean-Charles Chapman as Tommen Baratheon and Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister. Macall B. Polay—HBO  Kristofer Hivju as Tormund Giantsbane. Helen Sloan—HBO  Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister. Helen Sloan—HBO  Jonathan Pryce as the High Sparrow. Macall B. Polay—HBO  Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister and Ian Beattie as Meryn Trant. Macall B. Polay—HBO  Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister and Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister. Helen Sloan—HBO  Kit Harington as Jon Snow and Ciaran Hinds as Mance Rayder. Helen Sloan—HBO  Rosabell Laurenti Sellers as Tyene Sand. Macall B. Polay—HBO  Jessica Henwick as Nymeria Sand. Helen Sloan—HBO  Keisha Castle-Hughes. as Obara Sand. Helen Sloan—HBO  Nell Tiger Free as Myrcella Baratheon and Toby Sebastian as Trystane Martell Macall B. Polay—HBO  Nell Tiger Free as Myrcella Baratheon. Macall B. 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