50 Essential Fantasy Books

This is one of the 743 lists we use to generate our main The Greatest Books list.

About this list

Abe Books, 51 Books

Abe Books lists 50 Essential Fantasy books you should read. Here's what the description says on the website:

If you haven't read any fantasy since reading the The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien in school, you might still think it's a genre for kids. Think again. While you'll still find plenty of elves, knights, and magi, fantasy is now also home to gunslingers, poets and literary detectives. This selection of recommended fantasy books runs the gamut - it's time to discover fantasy all over again.

This list was originally published in 2018 and was added to this site about 2 years ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
3078 Dragonflight Anne McCaffrey 1968 American English
14139 Dragonquest Anne McCaffrey 1971 American English
14165 The White Dragon Anne McCaffrey 1978 American English
17 The Lord Of The Rings J. R. R. Tolkien 1959 English English
1003 The Dark Is Rising Susan Cooper 1973 British English
628 Titus Groan Mervyn Peake 1946 British English
9510 A Torch Against The Night Sabaa Tahir 2016 American English
4445 The Eye Of The World Robert Jordan 1990 American English
277 A Wizard Of Earthsea Ursula K. Le Guin 1968 American English
379 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe C. S. Lewis 1950 British English
15786 Year Of The Unicorn Andre Norton 1965 American English
3553 Magician Raymond E. Feist 1982 American English
13185 The Belgariad David Eddings 1982 American English
17007 Daybreak On A Different Mountain Colin Greenland 1984 British English
2482 The Golden Compass Philip Pullman 1995 British English
2128 The Worm Ouroboros E. R. Eddison 1922 British English
14901 Ship Of Magic Robin Hobb 1998 American English
17007 War For The Oaks Emma Bull 1987 American English
17007 Taltos Steven Brust 1988 American English
3437 The Summer Tree Guy Gavriel Kay 1984 Canadian English
146 The Hobbit J. R. R. Tolkien 1937 British English
17007 The Hills Have Spies Mercedes Lackey 2018 American English
3825 Lord Foul's Bane Stephen R. Donaldson 1977 American English
14901 In The Garden Of Iden Kage Baker 1997 American English
9220 The Sword Of Shannara Terry Brooks 1977 American English
1395 The Mists of Avalon Marion Zimmer Bradley 1983 American English
17007 Dawnthief James Barclay 1999 British English
14901 The Coming Of Conan The Cimmerian Robert E. Howard 2003 American English
16417 A Walk Out Of The World Ruth Nichols 1969 Canadian English
17007 The Serpent Mage Greg Bear 1986 American English
3223 Phantastes George McDonald 1858 British English
4597 Swords And Deviltry Fritz Leiber 1970 American English
17007 Dun Lady's Jess Doranna Durgin 1994 American English
2339 The Well Of The Unicorn Fletcher Pratt 1948 American English
5851 The Well At The World's End William Morris 1896 British English
3392 The Name Of The Wind Patrick Rothfuss 2007 American English
8384 Graceling Kristin Cashore 2008 American English
2212 Good Omens Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman 1990 British English
287 The Once and Future King T. H. White 1958 British English
2982 Eragon Christopher Paolini 2002 American English
8979 Inkheart Cornelia Funke 2003 German German
292 A Wrinkle In Time Madeleine L'Engle 1962 American English
2081 Howl's Moving Castle Diana Wynne Jones 1986 British English
17007 Rise Of The Dragons Morgan Rice 2014 American English
10927 The Magicians Lev Grossman 2009 American English
236 Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone J. K. Rowling 1997 British English
1115 The Fifth Season N. K. Jemisin 2015 American English
1621 Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell Susanna Clarke 2004 British English
6234 A Discovery Of Witches Deborah Harkness 2011 American English
17007 The White Tower Michael Wisehart 2017 American English
2181 American Gods Neil Gaiman 2001 British English