Meme from philmophlegm

[wellinghall]

The Top 100 Fantasy Books of All Time. Well, according to Fantasy Book Review, at any rate http://www.fantasybookreview.co.uk/top-100-fantasy-books/ . British site, so without the usual American bias these things tend to have.

Pausing only to note that several of these are actually series, not books ...

1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien

2. The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Steven Erikson
3. The Liveship Traders, Robin Hobb
4. Earthsea Saga, Ursula le Guin
5. A Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin
6. Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay
7. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke
8. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
9. The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
10. Ten Thousand, Paul Kearney
11. The Duncton Chronicles, William Horwood
12. Wheel of Time, Robert Jordan
13. Dark Elf Trilogy, R.A. Salvatore
14. The Inheritance Trilogy, N.K. Jemisin
15. The Jungle Books, Rudyard Kipling
16. The Reapers are the Angels, Alden Bell
17. The Wardstone Chronicles, Joseph Delaney
18. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen Donaldson
19. The Yiddish Policemen's Union, Michael Chabon
20. The Kingkiller Chronicle, Patrick Rothfuss
21. The Once and Future King, T.H. White
22. Nation, Terry Pratchett
23. The Iron Man, Ted Hughes
24. The Prophecy Keepers, Melaine Bryant
25. Heroes of the Valley, Jonathan Stroud
26. The Tawny Man, Robin Hobb
27. Watership Down, Richard Adams
28. Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling
29. Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan
30. Hyddenworld: Spring, William Horwood
31. The Moon and the Sun, Vonda McIntyre
32. The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
33. Under Heaven, Guy Gavriel Kay
34. The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Jonathan Stroud
35. Riftwar Saga, Raymond E Feist
36. The Edge Chronicles, Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell
37. War Horse, Michael Morpurgo
38. A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L Engle
39. The Gormenghast Trilogy, Mervyn Peake
40. Dracula, Bram Stoker
41. Skallagrigg, William Horwood
42. The Spiderwick Chronicles, Holly Black
43. The Dragonsdome Chronicles, Lucinda Hare
44. Kingmaker, Kingbreaker, Karen Miller
45. Young Samurai, Chris Bradford
46. Blood of Elves, Andrzej Sapkowski
47. The Ascendants of Estorea, James Barclay
48. X-Isle, Steve Augarde
49. Love Songs for the Shy and Cynical, Robert Shearman
50. Wyrmeweald, Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell
51. Chronicles of the Black Company, Glen Cook
52. The Chrestomanci Series, Diana Wynne Jones
53. The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien
54. The Last Unicorn, Peter S Beagle
55. The Anubis Gates, Tim Powers
56. Ravensoul, James Barclay
57. The Farseer Trilogy, Robin Hobb
58. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
59. Chronicles of Ancient Darkness, Michelle Paver
60. The Story of Cirrus Flux, Matthew Skelton
61. The Death Defying Pepper Roux, Geraldine McCaughrean
62. Palimpsest, Catherynne M Valente
63. Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine
64. Obernetwyn Chronicles, Isobelle Carmody
65. The Radleys, Matt Haig
66. The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis
67. Artemis Fowl series, Eoin Colfer
68. Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone, Greg Keyes
69. Southern Vampire series, Charlaine Harris
70. Kushiel's Legacy, Jacqueline Carey
71. Treason's Heir, Jacqueline Carey
72. The Ice Crown, Sean Beech
73. Endymion Spring, Matthew Skelton
74. The Little Prince, Antoin de Saint Exupery
75. The Soldier Son Trilogy, Robin Hobb
76. Life of Pi, Yann Martel
77. The Galaxy Boys and the Sphere, Andrew Steele
78. Return to Allapatria, Shelley E Parker
79. Shadow Forest, Matt Haig
80. The Runaway Troll, Matt Haig
81. The Midnight Charter, David Whitley
82. Two Pearls of Wisdom, Alison Goodman
83. Magyk, Angie Sage
84. The Shadow Year, Jeffrey Ford
85. The House of the Stag, Kage Baker
86. Tales of Terror from the Tunnel's Mouth, Chris Priestley
87. Before the Gods, K.S. Turner
88. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
89. The Dresden Files, Jim Butcher
90. The Tamuli, David Eddings
91. The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, Michael Scott
92. Kensuke's Kingdom, Michael Morpurgo
93. Who is Charlie Keeper, Marcus Alexander
94. The Black Magician Trilogy, Trudi Canavan
95. Fallen, Lauren Kate
96. Trojan War Trilogy, David Gemmell
97. Mercy Thompson, Patricia Briggs
98. The Children of the Lost, David Whitley
99. The Lions of Al-Rassan, Guy Gavriel Kay
100. Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll


I'm not going to attempt to justify them, but I'm surprised at the omission of "The Silmarillion", and the Discworld books.

Comments

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

I thought the Silmarillion was conspicuous by its absence. Similarly 'The Dying Earth'. And you would have thought a British fantasy author as successful and prolific as Michael Moorcock would have managed at least one book.

[tree_and_leaf]

Nation is Pterry's best 'stand alone' book by a mile - but then, why pick some series? Very strange.

[pellegrina.livejournal.com]

If it's a US list, it may be because they only seem to have started publishing US editions of Discworld surprisingly recently - I remember looking for them over there in 2005 or 2006 and they had only just published the first one or two, in very strange covers.

[frith_in_thorns]

I have to say that some of these surprise me - were they voted for? Ones like The Black Magician trilogy I certainly wouldn't include in best books of all time. I'd put Garth Nix above Canavan any day.
I guess maybe Discworld was too long a series to enable them to justify in a list of 'books'? Although there are eleven Edge Chronicles books if my memory serves, and they're there, so I have no idea! Maybe not 'compact' enough as one clear story, especially if voting was involved.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

It's not - it's British.

[elegaer.livejournal.com]

I particularly loved some of the things written about Tolkien in the actual top 100 article:

"The Lord of the Rings is timeless because it's the product of a truly top-shelf mind."
Oh yes, it's amazing what gazing at mags full of breasts can do for the literary soul ...