# Essential Fantasy Novels?



## Arcbound Phyrexian (Oct 10, 2011)

What are the essential fantasy novels? I don't mean the "best" novels, or the "classics", but the ones everybody knows (or should ). The ones everything else gets compared to? What are the _Star Wars_, _The Lord of the Rings_, and _The Matrix_es of the novel world?

I think _The Lord of the Rings_, again, is definitely one. Everybody knows it, even if they've, for some God unknown reason, not read it, and it's one of the "standards" we've based an entire genre on.

What else should be on the list?


----------



## myrddin173 (Oct 10, 2011)

I feel as though this is a little to close to the Fantasy Must Read List.


----------



## mythique890 (Oct 10, 2011)

I never saw the Fantasy Must Read List, so I'll respond to this thread.

I think the Narnia books are pretty essential, _The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe_ at the very least.  And I'd add _The Hobbit_ in with LOTR, perhaps especially because we tend to read it as children (can't wait until my kids are old enough to read it out loud to them!!).

I think one could argue for the inclusion of Harry Potter on this list.  I don't know for sure that it belongs, but it certainly had a huge effect on an entire generation of readers.  HP kind of made reading cool again, and it definitely did amazing things for YA fantasy as a genre.

As for modern high fantasy, I think people should at least be aware of The Wheel of Time and A Song of Ice and Fire... and from how much I've seen it mentioned, The Kingkiller Chronicle (have yet to read _The Name of the Wind_, but I got the audiobook from the library and it's next on my list).  I also think _Mistborn_ by Brandon Sanderson is important to know about.  Not quite as epic, but I think as an author, he's having revitalizing effect on the high fantasy genre.  I'm eager to read his big series, _The Way of Kings_ when I have a little more time.

Though it's Sci Fi, I think _Ender's Game_ by Orson Scott Card is a pretty important read.

Anyway, this is all IMO, and I mostly read in the YA section, so I'm sure there are people out there with much better ideas.


----------



## myrddin173 (Oct 10, 2011)

The Fantasy Must Read List is a sticky.

I'm going to lock this thread so we can keep this topic to one thread.


----------

