The Worm Ouroboros

By far the oldest book on this list (published well over a century ago) but a classic of fantasy nevertheless. This is a highly influential work on the fantasy genre as a whole, helping to shape the (then) nascent fantasy genre into what it is today. The Worm Ouroboros inspired the likes Tolkien and Lewis. It's a great work of English literature and a foundation fantasy novel....and it can be a bit hard to read, so be prepared. This is not a work you rush through in a day, but a story and experience to be slowly savored, page by page. It's a work influenced by the highest levels of literature, drawing on the epic traditions laid down by classics such as Homer's Odyssey and Iliad and epic poetry like of Milton's Paradise Lost. The language is rich, the vocabulary vast. The landscape is populated by noble heroes and dastard villains. There's war, love, loss, and betrayal -- grand and noble themes through and though. This book hails from another time, a time when writers were schooled in the classics, a time when writers had large vocabularies and wrote with lush, ornate, and descriptive prose.It's a work that (now) few fantasy readers have read (and few will ever bother to read), but it's one of those great works that leaves an indelible imprint on you after you finish. For one of the greatest fantasy books every written... no, one of the great works of English literature even, read The Worm Ouroboros -- a true classic.