30 of the Best Fantasy Novels of All Time

The Standard (U.K.) ^ | SASKIA KEMSLEY

[SamAdams76]

Good list. I've read most of those books.

A Song Of Ice And Fire" by George RR Martin has had 5 of 7 books completed. I've given up waiting for the final two volumes but the first five are well worth the effort. (This is what the TV series "Game Of Thrones" is based on.)

I actually never saw the TV series, by the way. Nor have I seen the "Lord Of The Rings" movies directed by Peter Jackson.

[Bullish]

‘The Crystal cave’ trilogy

And...

‘The Clan of the Cavebear’ also a trilogy or more.

[No name given]

I prefer “I am legend” by Richard Matheson.

[KC Burke]

Let’s add Joe Abercrombie’s First Law series.to have something recent.

[circlecity]

I would not consider 100 years of Solitude a fantasy novel but it is one of the best novels of the last 50 years. I was reading it on an air flight. The stewardess, a Latino, saw what I was reading and gave me a wink and a nod. She then gave me free drinks for the rest of the flight. I guess Latinos really love their authors. It is a very deep book.

[sevlex]

They forgot the “Out of Oz” series by Gregory Maguire.

[radu]

How could they leave out The Dragon Riders of Pern (I have all the books in that series) and the Thomas Covenant trilogies (I have all those too)? I thought surely they’d be on the list.

[buwaya]

“Lyonesse Trilogy

Jack Vance”

Ditto

[buwaya]

A Canticle for Leibowitz is usually considered Science Fiction, but thats a complex argument.

[buwaya]

The original Howard Conan stuff is all short stories.

[wbarmy]

SO correct. Dragonriders of Pern was probably the beginning series for many SF and fantasy readers. The Covenant series was a little more specific in it’s readership. You had to really want to read it to get through his verbosity. Great story but very long.

[buwaya]

“Roger Zelazny’s Amber”

A major miss on this list.

[buwaya]

“Thomas Covenant series”

A major miss on this list.

[Kenny Bania]

Not a novel, but certainly a fantasy:

[rfreedom4u]

I enjoyed the Shanara books by Terry Brooks.

[LegendHasIt]

The Wheel of Time series by “Robert Jordan” (Finished by Brandon Sanderson) is way up there among my favorites... Although I get it that some people with short attention spans hate it, even if they enjoyed the basic plot.)

[Flavious_Maximus]

I concur. You cannot discuss Sword and Sorcery without mentioning Conan of Cimmeria and the Frost Giants Daughter by Robert E. Howard.

In fact the first 10 paperbacks that were Part of the Conan the Barbarian Series.

[reasonisfaith]

Let’s add the work of fantasy, Morals and Dogma to that list.

[nickcarraway]

I liked Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortazar, and Juan Rulfo more than Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Pedro Páramo may be the best Spanish novel since Cervantes. Interestingly, it influenced Garcia Marquez greatly, especially OHYS.

[BlueLancer]

The Covenant series was a little more specific in it’s readership. You had to really want to read it to get through his verbosity. Great story but very long.

What made it so unbearingly long and boring was also the fact that Thomas Covenant was not the most sympathetic of main characters.