The 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time

This is one of the 743 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
547 Le Morte d'Arthur Thomas Malory 1485 British Middle english
35 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll 1865 British English
546 Through the Looking Glass Lewis Carroll 1871 British English
3542 Five Children And It Edith Nesbit 1902 British English
4808 Ozma Of Oz L. Frank Baum 1907 American English
1734 Mary Poppins P. L. Travers 1934 British English
379 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe C. S. Lewis 1950 British English
859 The Palm-Wine Drinkard Amos Tutola 1952 Nigerian English
1832 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
6318 My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts Amos Tutuola 1954 Nigerian English
1804 A Hero Born Jin Yong 1957 Chinese Chinese
287 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
292 A Wrinkle In Time Madeleine L'Engle 1962 American English
6318 The Wandering Unicorn Manuel Mujica Lainez 1965 Argentinian Spanish
3078 Dragonflight Anne McCaffrey 1968 American English
1792 The Last Unicorn Peter S. Beagle 1968 American English
277 A Wizard Of Earthsea Ursula K. Le Guin 1968 American English
2115 The Crystal Cave Mary Stewart 1970 British English
2233 The Tombs Of Atuan Ursula K. Le Guin 1971 American English
229 Watership Down Richard Adams 1972 British English
1003 The Dark Is Rising Susan Cooper 1973 British English
674 The Princess Bride William Goldman 1973 American English
1878 Tuck Everlasting Natalie Babbitt 1975 American English
2822 A Swiftly Tilting Planet Madeleine L'Engle 1978 American English
2097 The Bloody Chamber And Other Stories Angela Carter 1979 British English
1397 The BFG Roald Dahl 1982 British English
4570 Alanna Tamora Pierce 1983 American English
2081 Howl's Moving Castle Diana Wynne Jones 1986 British English
2943 Redwall Brian Jacques 1986 British English
2199 Swordspoint Ellen Kushner 1987 American English
6112 The Lives Of Christopher Chant Diana Wynne Jones 1988 British English
4445 The Eye Of The World Robert Jordan 1990 American English
2212 Good Omens Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman 1990 British English
1742 Haroun and the Sea of Stories Salman Rushdie 1990 British English
841 Outlander Diana Gabaldon 1991 American English
4985 Tigana Guy Gavriel Kay 1990 Canadian English
2482 The Golden Compass Philip Pullman 1995 British English
3207 Neverwhere Neil Gaiman 1996 British English
3885 Ella Enchanted Gail Carson Levine 1997 American English
3820 The Subtle Knife Philip Pullman 1997 British English
5746 Brown Girl In The Ring Nalo Hopkinson 1998 Canadian English
1013 Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban J. K. Rowling 1999 British English
8629 Spindle’s End Robin McKinley 2000 American English
6094 A Storm Of Swords George R. R. Martin 2000 American English
2181 American Gods Neil Gaiman 2001 British English
7613 The Wee Free Men Terry Pratchett 2003 British English
1753 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince J. K. Rowling 2005 British English
3445 Mistborn Brandon Sanderson 2006 American English
3392 The Name Of The Wind Patrick Rothfuss 2007 American English
9807 City Of Glass Cassandra Clare 2009 American English
6906 Where the Mountain Meets the Moon Grace Lin, Janet Song 2009 Chinese English
8407 The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms N. K. Jemisin 2010 American English
4925 Who Fears Death Nnedi Okorafor 2010 Nigerian English
3485 Akata Witch Nnedi Okorafor 2011 American English
3184 The Night Circus Erin Morgenstern 2011 American English
1327 The Song of Achilles Madeline Miller 2011 American English
10066 Angelfall Susan Ee 2011 American English
6520 A Stranger In Olondria Sofia Samatar 2013 American English
7879 The Bone Clocks David Mitchell 2014 British English
4934 The Buried Giant Kazuo Ishiguro 2015 British English
4184 An Ember In The Ashes Sabaa Tahir 2015 American English
1115 The Fifth Season N. K. Jemisin 2015 American English
7090 Get In Trouble Kelly Link 2015 American English
9237 The Grace Of Kings Ken Liu 2015 American English
10816 Shadowshaper Daniel José Older 2015 American English
4699 Six Of Crows Leigh Bardugo 2015 American English
10816 The Wrath & The Dawn Renée Ahdieh 2015 American English
6080 All the Birds in the Sky Charlie Jane Anders 2016 American English
9510 A Torch Against The Night Sabaa Tahir 2016 American English
10940 The Wall Of Storms Ken Liu 2016 American English
9680 Beasts Made Of Night Tochi Onyebuchi 2017 American English
9680 The Black Tides Of Heaven Neon Yang 2017 Singaporean English
7037 The Changeling Victor LaValle 2017 American English
7127 Jade City Fonda Lee 2017 Chinese English
5266 The Stone Sky N. K. Jemisin 2017 American English
9887 Aru Shah And The End Of Time Roshani Chokshi 2018 American English
11236 Blanca & Roja Anna-Marie McLemore 2018 American English
4072 Children Of Blood And Bone Tomi Adeyemi 2018 Nigerian English
2646 Circe Madeline Miller 2018 American English
11236 Empire Of Sand Tasha Suri 2018 British English
3921 The Poppy War R. F. Kuang 2018 Chinese English
11236 Song Of Blood & Stone L. Penelope 2018 American English
11236 Trail Of Lightning Rebecca Roanhorse 2018 American English
8560 Witchmark C. L. Polk 2018 Canadian English
7744 Black Leopard, Red Wolf Marlon James 2019 Jamaican English
11397 Children Of Virtue And Vengeance Tomi Adeyemi 2019 American English
8044 The Dragon Republic R. F. Kuang 2019 American English
11397 Gods Of Jade And Shadow Silvia Moreno-Garcia 2019 Mexican English
7173 Pet Akwaeke Emezi 2019 American English
8923 Queen Of The Conquered Kacen Callender 2019 American English
8923 The Rage Of Dragons Evan Winter 2019 Canadian English
11397 We Hunt The Flame Hafsah Faizal 2019 American English
11582 Elatsoe Darcie Little Badger 2020 American English
11582 Woven In Moonlight Isabel Ibañez 2020 American English