Top 100 Fantasy Books

Long Price Quartet (Long Price Quartet)

by Abraham, Daniel

Western settings. Farm boys. Spoilt rich kids. Often, coming of age fantasy hits you over the head with unsubtle interactions and world-building. Abraham's Long Price Quartet does not fit into that category. It's a...

The Last Unicorn (The Last Unicorn) Start here

by Beagle, Peter S.

The short sequel to The Last Unicorn and is the quest of a young girl who seeks to make her village safe from a mean griffon.

Told from the perspective of the unicorn herself, this novel is as much satire as it is fairytale. The journey begins when she overhears a conversation insinuating that the unicorns are probably gone out of the world,...

Gormenghast (Ghormenghast)

by Peake, Mervyn

The first real Fantasy of Manners series and is set in a Byzantium kingdom rife with intrigue, treachery, manipulation and murder.

A startling work of imagination that will evoke feeling when you read it. Reading Gormenghast is like feasting your eyes on a masterfully drawn painting -- you might not always get the context, but you're drawn to the be...

Perdido Street Station (New Crobuzon) Start here

by Miéville, China

The cycle blends multiple genres, including Steampunk, Sci Fi, and Horror. Magic is commonplace and practiced by skilled professionals.

The famous (or infamous, depending how you view the New Weird movement) novel is generally considered one of the founding pillars of the New Weird genre. This novel meets many of the criteria of Steampunk as well, with s...

Watership Down: A Novel (Watership Down) Start here

by Adams, Richard

On one level a classic tale of adventure, with anthropomorphized rabbit characters. On another level, it is an epic struggle between tyranny and freedom.

Yes, we're talking about that book about bunnies. No, we haven't lost our minds. Take note: This isn't a children's book, despite it being about fluffy animals. If you've read Watership Down, you'll understand it's on th...

Tigana

by Kay, Guy Gavriel

Tigana is based on Renaissance Italy. Kay uses Italian politics to make the story seem plausible.

Tigana is both a sweeping epic and a look into human nature – flaws and all. The characters and plot exist in an area of grey where good and evil aren't absolutes. The plot follows a culture that – after an intense war –...

Lyonesse (Lyonesse) Start here

by Vance, Jack

If you were to open a copy of Lyonesse and give it a good shake, a bunch of (very annoyed) fairies would fall out. Because they're everywhere in this book. It sounds hella cheesy but it's actually a good thing. When read...

The Hobbit (The Lord Of The Rings) Start here

by Tolkien, J.r.r.

Smaug is the classic dragon figure lying under the mountain—a scary creature who keeps the dwarves from their home and who must be defeated.

The Hobbit is one of the most well-loved fantasy novels of all time. Written by J.R.R Tolkien as a bedtime story for his children, The Hobbit is a light-hearted tale, focussing on the exploits of an increasingly adven...

Elric Of Melnibone (Elric) Start here

by Moorcock, Michael

The first of the Elric Saga, this novel is signficant because the protagonist is a magic user and a bit frail—not quite the typical Sword and Sorcery hero.

Elric is the prince of a dying race, a pale, morose champion of right, despite the cards stacked against him. He's a physical weakling who needs to take drugs and relies on evil magic to survive. This puts him at odds wi...

The Darkness That Comes Before (The Prince Of Nothing) Start here

by Bakker, R. Scott

This book and the Prince of Nothing trilogy, as well as the other books that follow, are so dark that you'll need a shower after reading them. And therapy. This bad-boy was nominated for the Locus Award for Best First No...

Chronicles Of Amber (Amber Chronicles)

by Zelazny, Roger

A 10 book chronicle--these stories combine other worlds, magical elements, mystery, shadow, and science.

The Amber Chronicles is a complex blend of genres and plot. It starts like a murder mystery, drawing the reader in, then it moves on to a mixture of sci-fi and fantasy. However, while Zelanzy's tension-building goes a...

The Worm Ouroboros

by Eddision, E. R.

If there was an award given out for the Most Influential Fantasy Novel Ever Written That No One Ever Reads, this book would get it. The book tells a stylized story of the epic battle between the Lords of Demonland and t...

Lord Foul's Bane (The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever) Start here

by Donaldson, Stephen R.

Epic Fantasy that's also very High Fantasy. Features an antihero hero.

Lord Foul's Bane begins the epic Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, a series in which a leprosy-stricken man in the real world is transported to a stereotypical fantasy world. However, what ensues isn't a c...

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

by Jemisin, N. K.

First book in The Inheritance Trilogy, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms centers on the novel's narrator, Yeine, granddaughter of the ruler of the world. Yeine suddenly is named heir to this throne, despite the fact that she...

Memory, Sorrow, And Thorn (Memory, Sorrow, And Thorn) Start here

by Williams, Tad

Epic fantasy with attention to characters and details.

Tad Williams' series was the source of inspiration for many of the titles on the listand some outside of it. Authors like R.R. Martin, Patrick Rothfuss, and more all cite The Dragonbone Chair as a turning point in fantas...

The Eyre Affair (Thursday Next) Start here

by Fforde, Jasper

Imagine an alternate world where the world of books and people collide. It does in this delightful series by Jasper Fforde. I could spend the next 10,000 words trying to explain the alternate world created by Fforde, but...

The Curse Of Chalion

by Bujold, Lois Mcmaster

Lois McMaster Bujold is famous for her very atypical characters. She demonstrated this with her Miles Vorkosigan character, and she does the same thing with the Curse of Chalion. The main character, Cazaril, is an comple...

Good Omens

by Gaiman, Neil

A sushi-loving angel, a gearhead demon and Death as a gamer nerd. Do we even need to be a plot?Why it's on this listSometimes fantasy (and its audience) takes itself too seriously. After you've been bogged down in yet an...

Neverwhere

by Gaiman, Neil

An example of the crossover between Urban Fantasy and Crossworlds. An ordinary man is transported to a world of shadows and darkness and must make his way home.

Most (all?) of Gaiman’s works are urban fantasy. The crowd favorite is Neverwhere, which is an interesting take on the whole multiverse conceit found in science fiction. The premise is that people can fall through the cr...

Mythago Wood (Mythago Wood) Start here

by Holdstock, Robert

There are many novels and novellas in this cycle which take place in a forest that has been untouched since the last ice age. It is a labyrinth, a place of peril and living myths.

'Unique' is a vastly overused word. It has about as much meaning as Kim K's twitter feed. But in the case of Mythago Wood, it's warranted. Firstly, Holdstock tells the story from the protagonist's point of view – in firs...

Mistborn (Mistborn) Start here

by Sanderson, Brandon

Though Sanderson's main criticism is a lack of character depth, it's hard to deny the satisfying coming of age stories in Mistborn. The novel describes a classic rags-to-riches story, Vin progressing from street scamm...