What about Terry Goodkind and his fantastic series The Sword of Truth, the great characters, the interesting and engaging story. Whose work has now being turned into a television series, I shudder to think and can't bare to watch.

Or perhaps David Eddings, admittly he never varies his writing, but still good work and enjoyable reading.

 

You might want to check out this book as well, Chris Evan's Iron Elves Series:

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To those asking if it's worth starting the Malazan series, my answer would be a definite yes. It is one of the few new fantasy stories that doesn't just rehash all the old cliches out there. My guess is that 9/10 people that have read it would agree that you should read it.

 

Lol you know there's a thread just a few below this one full of people slating that series.

Anyway, this list seems to have a few glaring missing entries (Harry Potter, Pratchet, Trudi Canavan) and a few massively undeserved entries (I wouldn't put Wheel of Time in the top 100 Fantasy books list, never mind top 25).

 

I know it's not fantasy, but I'm in the middle of reading Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan, and it is absolutely fantastic so far. It's the first in a series of books; of which I think there are three.

I'm not sure if I would call it hard sci-fi, but regardless, it is very good fiction.


also: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell is highly underrated. It is a period piece with tons of magic, situational comedy, and a very interesting plot. It has a lot of footnotes ala Terry Pratchet, but it is definitely on my top 10 list.

 

Many of the authors that you mentioned are under "Great Fantasy Books," (Including Potter) or "Good Fantasy Books" if you put your mouse over the "Top 25" tab at the top of the page.

 

Harry Potter definitely deserves a mention. Just because it isn't classy, puff-puff, pass the pipe material doesn't mean it's not in the same league as Earthsea.

The very fact we're on this site is testament alone to HP's significance as a fantasy book.

 

I have to agree, even if it is a children's book turned into an international craze, there is something in the story that pulls you in and doesn't let go.

 

Being a children's book was not disqualifying, apparently. Earthsea was targeted at the YA crowd and won children's book awards; The Hobbit was also written for a child.

 

Top fifty, maybe, but not top twenty-five.

Its a good book series, for the most part, and a hugely interesting and engaging world. But it just handles a lot of stuff wrong, and too many contradictions to put it that high. And Rowling's mishandling of a few of the plot points hurt it as well. The poorly done 'romance' between Ginny and Harry, as just one.

 

Wow. Great list. I have a lot of reading to do. Right now I'm currently reading A Game of Thrones which is pretty awesome so far.

And where the hell is Terry Pratchett? That's a glaring mistake. The man has been writing for over 25 years and is one of the best selling authors of all time. And then there's the simple fact that his series is the greatest ever!

 

Hmmm. Elantris was good, but not nearly as good as his Mistborn Trilogy. Mistborn is easily in my top 10.

Also, the lack of Trudi Canavan is disappointing.

 

Mistborn is pretty good. The magic system is just awesome, and the characters are good, with a good plot. The only real complaint I have is the name of the villain for the first book, I mean come on, 'The Lord Ruler"? Super creative.

 

Looks like I've got a lot of reading to do.

 

Disappointed that Dragonlance isn't on there (although Weis and Hickman's other series, the Deathgate Cycle made the "great" list). I really enjoyed Chronicles as well as Legends myself, as well as Soulforge and Brothers in Arms.

 

Heinlein is pretty much science fiction. However, to my mind, science fiction just is fantasy - albeit with magic replaced by incredibly advanced technology. But, including sci-fi would have probably made the selection process even harder - or maybe the blogger felt he'd like to restrict himself to fantasy "period."

However, Salvatore would be nice here. And don't series like Star Wars straddle the fence between sci-fi and fantasy anyway, for example?