The Greatest Fantasy Books Since 1952

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 '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
7579 Speaker for the Dead Orson Scott Card 1986 American English
7596 White Gold Wielder Stephen R. Donaldson 1983 American English
7628 The Wee Free Men Terry Pratchett 2003 British English
7635 The Drawing Of The Dark Tim Powers 1979 American English
7636 Angels' Blood Nalini Singh 2009 New Zealander English
7636 Soulless Gail Carriger 2009 American English
7640 Lake Of The Devil Jessica Amanda Salmonson 1980 American English
7665 Victory City Salman Rushdie 2023 British English
7671 Shadow And Bone Leigh Bardugo 2012 American English
7671 Cinder Marissa Meyer 2012 American English
7671 The Raven Boys Maggie Stiefvater 2012 American English
7684 Among Others Jo Walton 2011 British English
7684 A Master of Djinn P. Djèlí Clark 2021 American English
7701 The Buffalo Hunter Hunter Stephen Graham Jones 2025 American English
7760 Black Leopard, Red Wolf Marlon James 2019 Jamaican English
7761 Butterfly Swords Jeannie Lin 2010 Unknown English
7779 The Red Magician Lisa Goldstein 1982 American English
7782 The Gunslinger Stephen King 1982 American English
7798 Dreamsnake Vonda N. McIntyre 1978 American English
7803 Anno Dracula Kim Newman 1992 British English
7838 The Invisible Life Of Addie La Rue V. E. Schwab 2020 American English
7847 The Darkangel Meredith Ann Pierce 1982 American English
7858 The Scorpio Races Maggie Stiefvater 2011 American English
7870 Незнайка на Луне Nikolay Nosov 1965 Russian Russian
7883 The Changeover Margaret Mahy 1984 New Zealand English
7883 Archer's Goon Diana Wynne Jones 1984 British English
7887 The Vampire Queen's Servant Joey W. Hill 2007 American English
7894 The Bone Clocks David Mitchell 2014 British English
7902 The House in the Cerulean Sea Tj Klune 2020 American English
7922 Uprooted Naomi Novik 2015 American English
7942 The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever Stephen R. Donaldson 1977 American English
7944 The Dark Tower And Other Stories C. S. Lewis 1977 British English
7978 Spinning Silver Naomi Novik 2018 American English
7983 The Ocean at the End of the Lane Neil Gaiman 2013 British English
8008 Fire And Hemlock Diana Wynne Jones 1985 British English
8008 The Hounds Of The Morrigan Pat O'Shea 1985 Irish English
8049 Red Queen Victoria Aveyard 2015 American English
8052 Neon Gods Katee Robert 2021 American English
8053 The Urth Of The New Sun Gene Wolfe 1987 American English
8058 The Dragon Republic R. F. Kuang 2019 American English
8066 Bunny Mona Awad 2019 Canadian English
8142 Mort Terry Pratchett 1987 British English
8143 Jerusalem Commands Michael Moorcock 1992 British English
8205 Waking the Moon Elizabeth Hand, Elisabeth Hand 1994 American English
8226 Unsouled Will Wight 2016 American English
8247 Fantastic Mr Fox Roald Dahl 1970 British English
8255 The Kraken King Meljean Brook 2014 American English
8267 That Time I Got Drunk And Saved A Demon Kimberly Lemming 2022 American English
8309 This Present Darkness Frank Peretti 1986 American English
8317 Moon Called Patricia Briggs 2006 Unknown English
8321 The Truth Terry Pratchett 2000 British English
8329 Wizard's First Rule Terry Goodkind 1994 American English
8328 Contemporary Science Fiction, Fantasy, And Horror Poetry Scott E. Green 1989 American English
8348 Guards! Guards! Terry Pratchett 1989 British English
8400 Graceling Kristin Cashore 2008 American English
8404 Wyrd Sisters Terry Pratchett 1988 British English
8410 Lost In A Good Book Jasper Fforde 2002 British English
8410 City Of Bones Cassandra Clare 2007 American English
8424 The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms N. K. Jemisin 2010 American English
8513 Expecting Someone Taller Tom Holt 1987 British English
8534 Tehanu Ursula K. Le Guin 1990 American English
8576 Witchmark C. L. Polk 2018 Canadian English
8593 The Wise Man's Fear Patrick Rothfuss 2011 American English
8632 Red Prophet Orson Scott Card 1988 American English
8632 The Knight And Knave Of Swords Fritz Leiber 1988 American English
8645 Spindle’s End Robin McKinley 2000 American English
8648 The Leiber Chronicles Fritz Leiber 1990 American English
8659 Krabat Otfried Preußler 1971 German German
8672 From Blood And Ash Jennifer L. Armentrout 2020 American English
8685 The Poetic Fantastic Patrick D. Murphy 1989 American English
8689 Wicked Gregory Maguire 1995 American English
8694 Throne Of Glass Sarah J. Maas 2012 American English
8706 What We Can Know Ian McEwan 2025 Unknown English
8748 Reaper Man Terry Pratchett 1991 British English
8759 Rats And Gargoyles Mary Gentle 1990 British English
8762 Prentice Alvin Orson Scott Card 1989 American English
8772 Four Ways To Forgiveness Ursula K. Le Guin 1994 American English
8819 The Werewolves Of London Brian Stableford 1990 British English
8864 Dungeon Crawler Carl Matt Dinniman 2020 American English
8867 Death Of The Author Nnedi Okorafor 2025 Unknown English
8877 Tongues Anders Nilsen 2025 American English
8887 Theft Of Swords Michael J. Sullivan 2011 American English
8904 Left Foot, Right Nalo Hopkinson 1996 Canadian Unknown
8913 Paladin of Souls Lois McMaster Bujold 2003 American English
8939 Queen Of The Conquered Kacen Callender 2019 American English
8939 The Rage Of Dragons Evan Winter 2019 Canadian English
8944 Wolf in White Van John Darnielle 2014 American English
8957 Stardust Neil Gaiman 1999 British English
8984 Bury Our Bones In The Midnight Soil V. E. Schwab 2025 Unknown English
8987 Sunrise On The Reaping Suzanne Collins 2025 Unknown English
8995 Inkheart Cornelia Funke 2003 German German
9061 The Book Of Records Madeleine Thien 2025 Canadian English
9080 Wolf Gone Wild Juliette Cross 2019 Unknown English
9085 The Dream Hotel Laila Lalami 2025 Unknown English
9093 River God Wilbur Smith 1993 South African English
9095 He Who Fights With Monsters Shirtaloon 2021 Unknown English
9128 The Very Secret Society Of Irregular Witches Sangu Mandanna 2022 British English
9139 George's Marvellous Medicine Roald Dahl 1981 British English
9179 Off To Be The Wizard Scott Meyer 2013 English
9239 The Sword Of Shannara Terry Brooks 1977 American English
9240 Soul Music Terry Pratchett 1994 British English
9256 The Grace Of Kings Ken Liu 2015 American English
9287 Cemetery Boys Aiden Thomas 2020 American English
9332 Authority Jeff VanderMeer 2014 American English
9332 Acceptance Jeff VanderMeer 2014 American English
9339 Not Before Sundown Johanna Sinisalo 2000 Finnish Finnish
9363 Night Watch Terry Pratchett 2002 British English
9527 Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia Of Faeries Heather Fawcett 2023 Canadian English
9530 A Torch Against The Night Sabaa Tahir 2016 American English
9569 The Land Aleron Kong 2015 Unknown English
9575 The Ex Hex Erin Sterling 2021 American English
9585 Lord of Light Roger Zelazny 1967 American English
9603 Hogfather Terry Pratchett 1996 British English
9686 Moominpappa At Sea Tove Jansson 1965 Finnish Swedish
9690 A Spell For Chameleon Piers Anthony 1977 American English
9699 Beasts Made Of Night Tochi Onyebuchi 2017 American English
9699 The Black Tides Of Heaven Neon Yang 2017 Singaporean English
9720 The Moon and the Sun Vonda N. McIntyre 1997 American English
9727 Gagner La Guerre Jean-Philippe Jaworski 2009 French French
9781 The Undertaking Of Hart And Mercy Megan Bannen 2022 Unknown English