The Greatest Fantasy Books of All Time

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 467 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
16 The Lord of the Rings J. R. R. Tolkien 1954 British English
25 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll 1865 British English
44 One Thousand and One Nights Unknown 800 Multiple Arabic
173 Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone J. K. Rowling 1997 British English
183 Watership Down Richard Adams 1972 British English
185 The Once and Future King T. H. White 1958 British English
189 A Wrinkle In Time Madeleine L'Engle 1962 American English
197 The Hobbit J. R. R. Tolkien 1937 British English
199 A Wizard of Earthsea Ursula K. Le Guin 1968 American English
203 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe C. S. Lewis 1950 British English
287 Peter And Wendy J. M. Barrie 1911 Scottish English
292 The Chronicles of Narnia C. S. Lewis 1950 British English
301 Where the Wild Things Are Maurice Sendak 1963 American English
339 His Dark Materials Philip Pullman 1995 British English
353 Journey to the West Wu Cheng'en 1592 Chinese Chinese
367 Gormenghast Mervyn Peake 1950 British English
374 Cloud Atlas David Mitchell 2004 British English
382 The Phantom Tollbooth Norton Juster 1961 American English
452 Froth on the daydream Boris Vian 1947 French French
455 The Princess Bride William Goldman 1973 American English
479 Titus Groan Mervyn Peake 1946 British English
489 Perfume Patrick Suskind 1985 German German
504 Lud-in-the-Mist Hope Mirrlees 1926 British English
516 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz L. Frank Baum 1900 American English
521 Nights At The Circus Angela Carter 1984 British English
537 Through the Looking Glass Lewis Carroll 1871 British English
544 Dandelion Wine Ray Bradbury 1957 American English
555 The Crying of Lot 49 Thomas Pynchon 1966 American English
560 The Third Policeman Flann O'Brien 1967 Irish English
571 Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl 1964 British English
659 The House On The Borderland And Other Novels William Hope Hodgson 1908 British English
677 Rhymes And Legends Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer 1871 Spanish Spanish
697 Le Morte d'Arthur Thomas Malory 1485 British Middle english
707 Conjure Wife Fritz Leiber 1943 American English
737 Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban J. K. Rowling 1999 British English
754 Little, Big John Crowley 1981 American English
757 A Game of Thrones George R. R. Martin 1996 American English
771 Something Wicked This Way Comes Ray Bradbury 1962 American English
774 The Fifth Season N. K. Jemisin 2015 American English
865 The Colour of Magic Terry Pratchett 1983 British English
868 Les Enfants Terribles Jean Cocteau 1929 French French
891 Invitation To A Beheading Vladimir Nabokov 1935 American Russian
899 A Hero Born Jin Yong 1957 Chinese Chinese
921 Winter's Tale Mark Helprin 1983 American English
926 Evenings On A Farm Near Dikanka Nikolai Gogol 1831 Russian Russian
929 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire J. K. Rowling 2000 British English
949 Sandman Neil Gaiman 1989 British English
969 Outlander Diana Gabaldon 1991 American English
977 The BFG Roald Dahl 1982 British English
980 The Last Unicorn Peter S. Beagle 1968 American English
1001 The Dark Is Rising Susan Cooper 1973 British English
1025 The Mists of Avalon Marion Zimmer Bradley 1983 American English
1065 Mary Poppins P. L. Travers 1934 British English
1077 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince J. K. Rowling 2005 British English
1084 The Baron in the Trees Italo Calvino 1957 Italian Italian
1087 Darker Than You Think Jack Williamson 1948 American English
1096 Jurgen James Branch Cabell 1919 American English
1123 Time and Again Jack Finney 1970 American English
1142 Hawksmoor Peter Ackroyd 1985 British English
1144 The Famished Road Ben Okri 1991 Nigerian English
1145 The Voyage of the Dawn Treader C. S. Lewis 1952 British English
1164 Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell Susanna Clarke 2004 British English
1171 Tuck Everlasting Natalie Babbitt 1975 American English
1182 The Sound Of His Horn Sarban 1952 British English
1183 Billy Liar Keith Waterhouse 1959 British English
1186 Dragonflight Anne McCaffrey 1968 American English
1190 The 13 Clocks James Thurber 1950 American English
1203 The Street of Crocodiles Bruno Schulz 1934 Polish Polish
1221 The Golden Compass Philip Pullman 1995 British English
1225 Howl's Moving Castle Diana Wynne Jones 1986 British English
1241 The Last Battle C. S. Lewis 1956 British English
1245 Peace Gene Wolfe 1975 American English
1274 The Owl Service Alan Garner 1967 British English
1281 Aspects of the Novel E. M. Forster 1927 British English
1282 Lanark Alasdair Gray 1981 Scottish English
1308 Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets J. K. Rowling 1998 British English
1316 The October Country Ray Bradbury 1955 American English
1333 The Song of Achilles Madeline Miller 2011 American English
1340 Titus Alone Mervyn Peake 1959 British English
1351 A Voyage To Arcturus David Lindsay 1920 Scottish English
1355 She H. Rider Haggard 1887 British English
1361 James and the Giant Peach Roald Dahl 1961 British English
1372 A Swiftly Tilting Planet Madeleine L'Engle 1978 American English
1425 Haroun and the Sea of Stories Salman Rushdie 1990 British English
1444 Blow Up And Other Stories Julio Cortazar 1968 Argentinian Spanish
1446 The Swords Of Lankhmar Fritz Leiber 1968 American English
1449 Out Of Space And Time Clark Ashton Smith 1942 American English
1471 Conan The Conqueror Robert E. Howard 1935 American English
1490 A Sport and a Pastime James Salter 1967 American English
1496 The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter Unknown 900 Japanese Japanese
1517 The Dying Earth Jack Vance 1950 American English
1540 Tom's Midnight Garden Philippa Pearce 1958 British English
1542 The Lorax Dr. Seuss 1971 American English
1552 The Neverending Story Michael Ende 1979 German German
1586 Stormbringer Michael Moorcock 1965 British English
1592 Fancies And Goodnights John Collier 1951 British English
1595 American Gods Neil Gaiman 2001 British English
1619 Something About Eve James Branch Cabell 1927 American English
1652 Lolly Willowes Sylvia Townsend Warner 1926 British English
1653 The Crystal Cave Mary Stewart 1970 British English
1654 The Infernal Desire Machines Of Doctor Hoffman Angela Carter 1972 British English
1668 Star Maker Olaf Stapledon 1937 British English
1673 The Wind on the Moon Eric Linklater 1944 British English
1685 Amadis of Gaul Garci R. de Montalvo 1508 Spanish Spanish
1685 The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby Charles Kingsley 1863 British English
1753 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix J. K. Rowling 2003 British English
1760 The Tombs Of Atuan Ursula K. Le Guin 1971 American English
1774 The Book of the New Sun Gene Wolfe 1980 American English
1779 The Witches Roald Dahl 1983 British English
1784 The Land Of Laughs Jonathan Carroll 1980 American English
1818 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows J. K. Rowling 2007 British English
1829 Good Omens Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman 1990 British English
1839 The Unpleasant Profession Of Jonathan Hoag Robert A. Heinlein 1942 American English
1841 The Bloody Chamber And Other Stories Angela Carter 1979 British English
1848 Witch World Andre Norton 1963 American English
1849 Betrayed by Rita Hayworth Manuel Puig 1968 Argentinian Spanish
1856 The Book Of Ptath A. E. van Vogt 1943 American English
1860 The Little Demon Fedor Sologub 1907 Russian Russian
1878 Delta of Venus Anaïs Nin 1977 French English
1889 Love and Rockets Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, Mario Hernandez 1982 American English