The book-to-television pipeline is very much alive. From the steamy hockey sensation Heated Rivalry to the recent heist hit Lucky, many of today’s hit TV shows wouldn’t exist without the books that became their foundations. The same is true for fantasy, a genre that has long been a goldmine for some of television’s biggest successes.
George R. R. Martin’s world continues to come alive with House of the Dragon, while J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is still going strong. But those are far from the only fantasy stories making the jump to the small screen. From a trip through academic hell to a deadly, video game-inspired dungeon crawl, here are the fantasy books to read before their TV adaptations arrive.
‘Katabasis’ (2025)
A tall tower with infinite winding stairs on the cover for Katabasis by R.F. Kuang.Image via Harper Voyager
Grad school’s a living hell, and it’s even worse when the devil’s got your doctorate. Katabasis follows Alice Law, a Cambridge postgraduate who practices a dangerous form of magic. After a botched spell seemingly kills her adviser, Professor Jacob Grimes, and sends his soul to Hell, Alice sacrifices half her remaining lifespan to journey into the underworld and bring him back—all while hoping to secure the recommendation letter she desperately needs. Things only get more complicated when her academic rival, Peter Murdoch, insists on tagging along for the same reason.
Academia is one tough avenue, but it’s especially exhausting in graduate school. For those trying to make it in academia, people know all too well the validation required from senior researchers and professors that could make or break your name in an already competitive department. Katabasis, then, is a critique of these intellectual institutions. There is a glorification of giving your all to intellectual pursuits, but when the pursuit of knowledge isn’t paired with soul or ethos, that endeavor only eats you alive. As of now, Katabasis is currently in development at Amazon MGM Studios, with The Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang attached as the project’s showrunner and writer.
‘The Dark Tower’ series (1982–2012)
The Dark Tower VII – book cover – 2004Image via Donald M. Grant, Publisher
Often described as Stephen King’s answer to The Lord of the Rings, The Dark Tower saga follows the legendary gunslinger Roland Deschain as he journeys across the magical realm of Mid-World in search of the mysterious Dark Tower, the structure said to hold the multiverse together. In this reality, time is non-linear, and it’s the reason why nations vanish without a trace. Running across eight novels, it’s arguably one of King’s most experimental works — a cornucopia of fantasy, horror, sci-fi, and American Old West elements. The Dark Tower would ultimately serve as a foundation that connects other works in the Kingverse, including Salem’s Lot, Cujo, and IT.
After years of failed attempts to bring The Dark Tower to television, Mike Flanagan’s adaptation is finally picking up steam. Earlier versions from J. J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof, and later Prime Video with The Walking Dead’s Glen Mazzara all fell through, but Flanagan explained that the project is “moving,” that “We’ve got a lot of scripts done for it,” and that it’s now “a priority.” That’s especially exciting because The Dark Tower is the one series that truly ties everything together. Those who want to understand the world of King can read The Dark Tower series as a starting point into the author’s already intimidatingly massive writing portfolio.
‘The Atlas Six’ (2020)
An eye and sword illustration on the cover for The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake.Image via Tor Books
The first in the BookTok dark academia trilogy, The Atlas Six follows six exceptionally gifted magicians, handpicked by Atlas Blakely, to compete for a place in the Alexandrian Society, the world’s most prestigious secret organization. Reminiscent of The Umbrella Academy, they live together in a secluded London estate for a year, studying lost magical knowledge and the mysteries of space, time, and consciousness while proving they deserve initiation. However, the candidates soon discover a shocking truth: only five of them can join the Society, meaning one must be eliminated. While that’s happening, a rival faction called the Forum is determined to make the Society’s closely guarded knowledge available to the world.
The competitive nature of The Atlas Six turns the story into a ticking pressure cooker where everyone is trying to prove they’re the best of the best. While each magician has incredible powers, those abilities aren’t the only weapons in their arsenal. Every conversation is loaded with hidden agendas, mind games, and shifting alliances, making it hard to tell who can actually be trusted. But beneath all that rivalry is a group of people who were gifted—or maybe cursed—with extraordinary abilities, and the one thing they all crave is genuine human connection. Instead, their powers only push them further apart. On top of that, the book keeps you wondering whether the Alexandrian Society really wants to help these magicians reach their full potential or if it only sees them as tools to further its own elitist intellectual agenda.
Collider Exclusive · Game of Thrones Personality Quiz Which Game of Thrones House Do You Belong To? Stark · Lannister · Targaryen · Baratheon · Tyrell
Five great houses. Five completely different answers to the same question: how do you hold power in a world that will take it from you the moment you stop paying attention? Eight questions will determine where your loyalties — and your nature — truly lie.
🐺Stark
🦁Lannister
🐉Targaryen
🦌Baratheon
🌹Tyrell
FIND YOUR HOUSE →
01
Someone powerful is acting dishonourably and everyone knows it. What do you do? In Westeros, the answer to this question has ended more than one great house.
ACall it out, openly and on the record. If honour means anything, it has to mean something when it’s costly. BUse it. Information about someone else’s dishonour is leverage — and leverage is power. CAct decisively to correct it — with or without the approval of those around me. DChallenge them directly. Strength settles disputes more honestly than courtroom manoeuvring. ENavigate carefully — build alliances, apply quiet pressure, and create a situation where the right outcome becomes inevitable.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
What is the source of your power? Every house endures because of something. What is it for yours?
AThe loyalty of people who trust me — earned over generations, not bought with gold. BWealth, intelligence, and the willingness to use both without sentiment. CA legacy so fearsome and a vision so total that opposition becomes unthinkable. DPhysical strength, military force, and the respect that comes from being the kind of person nobody wants to fight. ECharm, connection, and the ability to make powerful people feel that my success is also theirs.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
Who do you truly fight for? Strip away the banners and the words. The honest answer tells you everything.
AMy family and my people — those who depend on me and have kept faith with me through everything. BMy family — the ones who share my blood, even when they exhaust me, even when they disappoint me. CMy cause — a vision larger than any single person, including me. DMyself, and those few who’ve proven themselves worth fighting beside. EMy house — its name, its future, the position I intend to leave it in when I’m gone.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
How do you deal with your enemies? A house’s method reveals its character as clearly as its words ever could.
AHonestly — I face them directly, and I give quarter when it’s warranted. BThoroughly — I don’t leave loose ends, and I don’t make the same enemy twice. CDecisively — fire answers questions that diplomacy only delays. DHead-on — I’d rather meet a threat on the battlefield than behind closed doors. EElegantly — I prefer to make former enemies into allies, or at least into people who owe me something.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
What kind of ruler do you believe in? Westeros is full of answers to this question. Most of them end badly.
AA just one — someone who serves the realm rather than using it, who leads by example rather than fear. BA capable one — someone smart enough to navigate the game, ruthless enough to win it, and realistic about what winning costs. CA transformative one — someone who doesn’t just rule what exists but reshapes what’s possible. DA strong one — someone whose authority is beyond question because the alternative is obviously worse. EA wise one — someone who understands that the realm is fed by more than armies, and that a full stomach keeps more peace than a sharp sword.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
You suffer a devastating loss. How does your house respond? How a house handles defeat tells you more about it than how it handles victory.
AWe grieve, properly and together — and then we endure, because endurance is what we do. BWe adapt. We reassess. And we ensure that whoever caused this loss comes to regret it completely. CWe burn hotter. Setbacks don’t soften us — they clarify what needs to happen next. DWe hit back. Grief and revenge are the same motion in our house. EWe regroup quietly, rebuild our position, and return when we’re ready — on our terms, not theirs.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
Which of these truths about Westeros do you most believe? Every house has a philosophy. This is yours.
AThe lone wolf dies, but the pack survives. Nothing matters more than the people you protect. BA Lannister always pays their debts — in gold or in kind. Reputation is built on consistency. CI am the blood of the dragon. Some destinies are written before the person who carries them is born. DOurs is the fury. When we move, we move completely — and we don’t stop until it’s done. EGrowing strong means knowing when to bloom and when to wait. Patience is its own kind of power.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
The Iron Throne is within reach. What do you do? The answer reveals not just your ambition — but your character.
AClaim it only if the realm needs me to — and rule in a way that makes it worth having. BEnsure someone who owes us sits in it. The power behind the throne is safer than the throne itself. CTake it. It was always meant to be mine — I feel that in my bones and in my blood. DSeize it — with both hands, without hesitation. Opportunity in Westeros does not wait to be asked. EPosition my house to be indispensable to whoever sits there — influence outlasts any single reign.
REVEAL MY HOUSE →
The Maester Has Spoken Your House Is…
Your answers point to the great house whose words, values, and way of surviving in Westeros match your own. Bend the knee — or don’t. That’s very much up to you.
Winterfell · The North
🐺 House Stark
Winter is Coming — and you have always known it. You prepare not out of fear but out of duty, because the people who depend on you deserve someone who takes the long view.
You lead with honour even when it costs you, because you understand that a reputation built on integrity is the only one worth having.
Your loyalty to family and people runs deep — not as sentiment but as a code that doesn’t bend when things get difficult.
The North endures because Starks endure — not by being the cleverest players in the game, but by being the kind of people others are willing to follow into the cold.
You are that kind of person. The pack survives. The lone wolf dies. You already know which one you are.
Casterly Rock · The Westerlands
🦁 House Lannister
You understand the game — its rules, its exceptions, and exactly when the rules become the exception. You play it without illusions and without apology.
You are sharper than most people realise, and you have learned to use that gap to your advantage.
A Lannister always pays their debts — and you always keep your word, because your word is an instrument of power, and instruments must be kept in working order.
You love your family with a ferocity that sometimes blinds you, and you know it, and you do it anyway.
The lion doesn’t concern itself with the opinion of sheep. Neither, in the end, do you.
Dragonstone · The Iron Throne
🐉 House Targaryen
You carry a sense of destiny that is difficult to explain and impossible to ignore — the feeling that you are not simply participating in the world but meant to reshape it.
You are capable of extraordinary things, and you know it, and that knowledge is both your greatest strength and your most dangerous quality.
Fire and blood are not just words to you — they are a philosophy about what change requires and what it costs.
The Targaryens at their best were transformative rulers who broke chains and defied the limits of what anyone thought possible.
At your best, so are you. The dragon has three heads. You are one of them.
Storm’s End · The Stormlands
🦌 House Baratheon
You are a force — direct, powerful, and difficult to ignore when you enter a room or a conflict. You do not negotiate with challenges. You meet them.
Ours is the fury — and yours is a kind of intensity that commands attention, respect, and occasionally fear from those who underestimate what’s behind it.
You value strength and straight dealing. You’d rather know where you stand in a fight than navigate a web of courtly whispers.
The Baratheons built their house on the back of one of the greatest military victories in Westerosi history — and then struggled with what came after.
The lesson of your house is that winning is not the end of the story. Governing is. You are learning that too.
Highgarden · The Reach
🌹 House Tyrell
You understand that power does not always announce itself — that sometimes it arrives with flowers, good wine, and a smile that doesn’t quite reach the eyes.
Growing strong is your house’s motto, and you live it: patiently, strategically, always investing in the relationships and resources that will matter most when it counts.
You are charming by choice and calculating by nature — a combination that makes you one of the most effective players in any room you enter.
The Tyrells fed King’s Landing and shaped its politics without ever sitting on the Iron Throne — and they were arguably more powerful for it.
You know that the person who controls the food controls the kingdom. And you always know where the food is.
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‘Dungeon Crawler Carl’ (2020)
the front cover of “Dungeon Crawler Carl’ by Matt DinnimanImage via Ace Books
Nothing screams fantasy more than Dungeon Crawler Carl, which completely revolutionizes the modern literary format in the age of video games. The self-published work follows former Coast Guard veteran Carl and Princess Donut, his ex-girlfriend’s pampered cat, after Earth is destroyed by a powerful interstellar corporation. As two of the few survivors, they are forced into the World Dungeon, an eighteen-level death game akin to The Hunger Games or Squid Game, where every battle is livestreamed across the galaxy for entertainment. Along the way, the pair fight monsters, bosses, and even gods while leveling up, collecting loot, and completing quests.
There’s much to boast about with Dungeon Crawler Carl. For starters, the book series popularized LitRPG, a literary genre that incorporates traditional storytelling with video game mechanics like experience points, level progression, inventory systems, and quest logs. Even if audiences aren’t fans of video games, anyone can relate to the main character’s struggle as he is trapped in a sick system that feeds off human suffering as someone else’s entertainment. The only way to rebel is by showing compassion, which is exactly what Carl does for the other survivors he meets along the way. Set for adaptation under the guidance of Seth MacFarlane, and having amassed 14 million readers, it wouldn’t be surprising if Dungeon Crawler Carl would be a massive TV hit.
‘Fourth Wing’ (2023)
Small dragons amid scrollwork on the cover art for Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros.Image via Red Tower Books
An 18-week New York Times bestseller, Fourth Wing is a must-read for fans of House of the Dragon. The story follows Violet Sorrengail, a frail 20-year-old who has spent her life training to become a scribe until her tough mother orders her to join Basgiath War College’s deadly Riders Quadrant instead. Surrounded by cadets who see her as an easy target, Violet has to rely on her wit to stay alive. Against all odds, she bonds with not one but two dragons, unlocking incredible powers. But as she discovers long-buried secrets about her kingdom, Violet must question everything she thought she knew before war changes her world forever.
In true Hunger Games fashion, Violet and the cadets of Basgiath War College are thrown into a brutal, win-or-die environment. But while she lacks physical strength, she more than makes up for it with her intelligence and quick thinking. With Prime Video officially adapting Fourth Wing into a series, produced by Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society, there’s never been a better time to dive in. Jordan has already promised fans that they’re “making sure that this is going to be an exciting show that delivers on all of the things the fans want and some of the things that they won’t be expecting either.”
Image via Harper Voyager
Image via Donald M. Grant, Publisher
Image via Tor Books
Image via Ace Books
Image via Red Tower Books
