Fantasy is perhaps the greatest genre ever conceived, and today’s indie authors are doing it the justice it rightfully deserves.

Replete with magic, mythical creatures, knights and nobles, kingdoms and empires, and even angels, demons, werewolves, and vampires, fantasy has countless sub-genres and reinterpretations that can keep even the most dedicated reader busy for eternity.

Since mankind’s quest to achieve immortality has yet to be fulfilled, our reading time is limited. Whether you’re dueling Septerran pirates along the beaches of southern Inoth or spelunking for mythical, god-forged weapons in northern Etrijan, this list of six Top Summer Indie Fantasy Reads of 2019 is exactly what you need to make the most of your precious reading time.

1. The Cradle Series, by Will Wight

Spanning six books (soon to be seven), this Wuxia-inspired series follows Lindon, a teenaged student of the sacred arts. In book one, Unsouled, Lindon has nothing going for him. He’s weaker than everyone else, and he routinely gets picked on by other, more powerful sacred artists who see no value in him.

But Lindon is smart, crafty, and even downright deceptive at times, always doing what he has to do to survive. And survive he does, gradually growing in strength and mastery of the sacred arts throughout the series despite being told he would never amount to anything.

Fans of Will Wight’s earlier work, especially his Traveler’s Gate Trilogy, will love this fresh take with all the familiarity of Will’s masterful coming-of-age storytelling skills. The most recent book in this series, Underlord, reached the #5 spot overall on Amazon when it launched a few months back.

This is a continuing series with ongoing world-building, so if you want to fully understand the story, you definitely should start by reading Unsouled first.

And as a bonus, every single one of Will Wight’s books (ebook versions only) will be FREE to download on Amazon all day on July 4th, 2019. So snatch them up while you can!

2. Godless, by Shayne Silvers

Callie Penrose, Vatican Assassin, is back in Godless, the seventh installment of the Feathers and Fire series, and this time she’s hunting vampires–specifically Dracula himself, who is actually still around, despite rumors to the contrary. This book launched just last week and quickly vaulted to the tops of many of Amazon’s charts.

In this dark, outlandish Urban Fantasy series, Callie’s take-no-prisoners attitude mirrors that of author Shayne Silvers, who routinely cranks out new books on nearly a monthly basis. His infamous Nate Temple Chronicles skyrocketed him to international acclaim, and since then readers have downloaded his books more than a million times worldwide.

Whether you decide to roll with the electrifying Callie or with the irreverent Nate, be sure to start with either Unchained, book one of Feathers and Fire or with Obsidian Son, book one of the Temple Chronicles. Bonus points if you check out the other Templeverse series, The Phantom Queen Diaries, that Shayne Silvers co-authored with Cameron O’Connell, starting with Whiskey Ginger.

3. The Completionist Chronicles, by Dakota Krout

No one has mastered the genre of LitRPG and all of its glorious dungeon-raiding glory quite like Dakota Krout has, and The Completionist Chronicles exemplifies that perfectly.

In Ritualist, we follow Joe, a wounded army vet who inserts his consciousness into an online MMORPG and quickly learns that his new digital reality can be just as unforgiving as real life–and even more sarcastic, too. From Joe’s first “jump” to his first world-reshaping ritual, Joe is a character you can always rely on for crafty decisions, taking huge risks, and a new adventure with every page.

The dads of the world will love the nearly unbearable amount of ursine puns and jokes in the sequel, Regicide, almost as much as they’ll dig the twist at the end of this story. And true fans of the series can’t wait to see what kind of trouble Jaxon, a supporting character, gets into in Rexus, a side quest connected to the main series.

I’ve seen the cover of the fourth book of the series (releasing soon, sometime in the summer of 2019), and it looks like readers are in store for the epic continuation of the series that we’ve been promised. And if you can’t get enough dungeon-raiding goodness after tearing through The Completionist Chronicles, dive into Dakota Krout’s Divine Dungeon series, all of which just got snazzy new cover art!

4. The Legends of Gilia, by R. G. Long

You want a long series of books? I’ll give you a long series of books–with a side of amnesia.

R G Long’s Legends of Gilia series kicks off with his main character, Ealrin, washing up on a beach with no memory in Sword of Ruyn, and it doesn’t let up on the action, adventure, and intrigue in this epic/sword and sorcery series.

Along the way, Ealrin faces down goblin armies, gangs of thieves, and clans of elves–and that’s all just in the first three books. It’s a sprawling tale, and sometimes it feels like Ealrin just can’t catch a break–but that’s exactly what makes this series so appealing to readers of fantasy.

And book twelve, Towers of Redact (now available for pre-order and due to launch at the end of July) isn’t the end, either.

I talked to R G Long prior to creating this list, and he told me he’s planning a total of fifteen books in the series, and they should all be out by the end of 2019. So if you start now, this entertaining series will keep you going for a long time.

5. Of Angels and Monsters, by Jonathan Yanez

Jonathan Yanez is the kind of author that other authors look up to. He’s currently negotiating foreign rights and video game rights (talk about a dream come true) on some of his work, and amid all of that, he’s still writing awesome fiction.

Of Angels and Men is the first book in a paranormal fantasy series that follows Alan, a foster kid who gets caught up in a supernatural war between angels and a whole host of evils. But as Alan begins to develop powers of his own, it turns out that even the Archangels don’t know what to expect.

In true “make-him-choose” fashion, Alan is forced to decide which side he wants to land on for the remainder of the conflict. It’s a tough decision, as the temptation of evil is a powerful force itself–and you’ll have to read the book to find out exactly how it all plays out.

This series, The Archangel Wars, has five books. The last of the series debuted recently, and it’s called Of Angels and Monsters. Trust me when I say that it delivers the momentous ending you’ll find yourself hoping for when you get hooked on this series.

If you’re looking for a full series to devour (complete with dastardly cliffhangers at the ends of each book), this is the one for you! Don’t forget to start with Of Angels and Men, book one of the series!

6. The Crimson Flame, by Ben Wolf

The Crimson Flame marks award-winning author Ben Wolf’s launch into the fantasy genre–aside from the Blood Mercenaries Origins prequel novellas he made available to his author mailing list.

This first entry into the main series features four main characters in search of two things: an ancient map that leads to an object of terrible power, and, hopefully, the sister of one of the main characters.

She’s been taken by a fire-worshipping cult, and no one knows why, but her brother is dead set on bringing her back–even if he has to burn the cult to ash in the process.

The Crimson Flame is the first of the Blood Mercenaries series of novels. It’s projected to be a nine-book series, (not including the prequels). If you like classic sword-and-sorcery stories with plenty of adventure and excitement, this is definitely the series for you. Grab book one today!