The 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time

This is one of the 759 lists we use to generate our main The Greatest Books list.

About this list

Time, 98 Books

With a panel of leading fantasy authors—N.K. Jemisin, Neil Gaiman, Sabaa Tahir, Tomi Adeyemi, Diana Gabaldon, George R.R. Martin, Cassandra Clare and Marlon James—TIME presents the most engaging, inventive and influential works of fantasy fiction, in chronological order beginning in the 9th century.
*note* I combined some of the books here. All the Lord of the Rings books are combined.

This list was originally published in 2020 and was added to this site over 2 years ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
46 One Thousand and One Nights Unknown 800 Multiple Arabic
548 Le Morte d'Arthur Thomas Malory 1485 British Middle english
35 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll 1865 British English
547 Through the Looking Glass Lewis Carroll 1871 British English
3547 Five Children And It Edith Nesbit 1902 British English
4818 Ozma Of Oz L. Frank Baum 1907 American English
1736 Mary Poppins P. L. Travers 1934 British English
381 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe C. S. Lewis 1950 British English
859 The Palm-Wine Drinkard Amos Tutola 1952 Nigerian English
1833 The Voyage of the Dawn Treader C. S. Lewis 1952 British English
17 The Lord Of The Rings J. R. R. Tolkien 1959 English English
6330 My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts Amos Tutuola 1954 Nigerian English
1805 A Hero Born Jin Yong 1957 Chinese Chinese
286 The Once and Future King T. H. White 1958 British English
1444 James and the Giant Peach Roald Dahl 1961 British English
522 The Phantom Tollbooth Norton Juster 1961 American English
293 A Wrinkle In Time Madeleine L'Engle 1962 American English
6330 The Wandering Unicorn Manuel Mujica Lainez 1965 Argentinian Spanish
3086 Dragonflight Anne McCaffrey 1968 American English
1793 The Last Unicorn Peter S. Beagle 1968 American English
278 A Wizard Of Earthsea Ursula K. Le Guin 1968 American English
2123 The Crystal Cave Mary Stewart 1970 British English
2244 The Tombs Of Atuan Ursula K. Le Guin 1971 American English
224 Watership Down Richard Adams 1972 British English
1005 The Dark Is Rising Susan Cooper 1973 British English
676 The Princess Bride William Goldman 1973 American English
1879 Tuck Everlasting Natalie Babbitt 1975 American English
2829 A Swiftly Tilting Planet Madeleine L'Engle 1978 American English
2104 The Bloody Chamber And Other Stories Angela Carter 1979 British English
1397 The BFG Roald Dahl 1982 British English
4577 Alanna Tamora Pierce 1983 American English
2087 Howl's Moving Castle Diana Wynne Jones 1986 British English
2950 Redwall Brian Jacques 1986 British English
2212 Swordspoint Ellen Kushner 1987 American English
6123 The Lives Of Christopher Chant Diana Wynne Jones 1988 British English
4451 The Eye Of The World Robert Jordan 1990 American English
2224 Good Omens Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman 1990 British English
1744 Haroun and the Sea of Stories Salman Rushdie 1990 British English
842 Outlander Diana Gabaldon 1991 American English
4997 Tigana Guy Gavriel Kay 1990 Canadian English
2488 The Golden Compass Philip Pullman 1995 British English
3213 Neverwhere Neil Gaiman 1996 British English
3891 Ella Enchanted Gail Carson Levine 1997 American English
3825 The Subtle Knife Philip Pullman 1997 British English
5758 Brown Girl In The Ring Nalo Hopkinson 1998 Canadian English
1017 Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban J. K. Rowling 1999 British English
8646 Spindle’s End Robin McKinley 2000 American English
6105 A Storm Of Swords George R. R. Martin 2000 American English
2193 American Gods Neil Gaiman 2001 British English
7629 The Wee Free Men Terry Pratchett 2003 British English
1755 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince J. K. Rowling 2005 British English
3451 Mistborn Brandon Sanderson 2006 American English
3398 The Name Of The Wind Patrick Rothfuss 2007 American English
9826 City Of Glass Cassandra Clare 2009 American English
6917 Where the Mountain Meets the Moon Grace Lin, Janet Song 2009 Chinese English
8425 The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms N. K. Jemisin 2010 American English
4935 Who Fears Death Nnedi Okorafor 2010 Nigerian English
3489 Akata Witch Nnedi Okorafor 2011 American English
3190 The Night Circus Erin Morgenstern 2011 American English
1330 The Song of Achilles Madeline Miller 2011 American English
10087 Angelfall Susan Ee 2011 American English
6533 A Stranger In Olondria Sofia Samatar 2013 American English
7895 The Bone Clocks David Mitchell 2014 British English
4944 The Buried Giant Kazuo Ishiguro 2015 British English
4190 An Ember In The Ashes Sabaa Tahir 2015 American English
1117 The Fifth Season N. K. Jemisin 2015 American English
7103 Get In Trouble Kelly Link 2015 American English
9257 The Grace Of Kings Ken Liu 2015 American English
10847 Shadowshaper Daniel José Older 2015 American English
4709 Six Of Crows Leigh Bardugo 2015 American English
10847 The Wrath & The Dawn Renée Ahdieh 2015 American English
6091 All the Birds in the Sky Charlie Jane Anders 2016 American English
9532 A Torch Against The Night Sabaa Tahir 2016 American English
10971 The Wall Of Storms Ken Liu 2016 American English
9701 Beasts Made Of Night Tochi Onyebuchi 2017 American English
9701 The Black Tides Of Heaven Neon Yang 2017 Singaporean English
7050 The Changeling Victor LaValle 2017 American English
7141 Jade City Fonda Lee 2017 Chinese English
5276 The Stone Sky N. K. Jemisin 2017 American English
9908 Aru Shah And The End Of Time Roshani Chokshi 2018 American English
11268 Blanca & Roja Anna-Marie McLemore 2018 American English
4079 Children Of Blood And Bone Tomi Adeyemi 2018 Nigerian English
2652 Circe Madeline Miller 2018 American English
11268 Empire Of Sand Tasha Suri 2018 British English
3927 The Poppy War R. F. Kuang 2018 Chinese English
11268 Song Of Blood & Stone L. Penelope 2018 American English
11268 Trail Of Lightning Rebecca Roanhorse 2018 American English
8577 Witchmark C. L. Polk 2018 Canadian English
7761 Black Leopard, Red Wolf Marlon James 2019 Jamaican English
11428 Children Of Virtue And Vengeance Tomi Adeyemi 2019 American English
8059 The Dragon Republic R. F. Kuang 2019 American English
11428 Gods Of Jade And Shadow Silvia Moreno-Garcia 2019 Mexican English
7189 Pet Akwaeke Emezi 2019 American English
8940 Queen Of The Conquered Kacen Callender 2019 American English
8940 The Rage Of Dragons Evan Winter 2019 Canadian English
11428 We Hunt The Flame Hafsah Faizal 2019 American English
11608 Elatsoe Darcie Little Badger 2020 American English
11608 Woven In Moonlight Isabel Ibañez 2020 American English