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Reddit's Top 105 Fantasy Series/Books of All Time

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
I'll give ten, in no particular order. I'm sure I've forgotten plenty of others that would supplant these, but here's what comes to mind this morning at least:

1. The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
2. Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
3. Gormenghast, by Mervyn Peake
4. Chance, by Joseph Conrad
5. Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
6. Moby Dick, by Herman Melville
7. Dubliners, by James Joyce (do short story collections count?)
8. The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
9. The original Conan stories, by Robert E. Howard
10. The Black Company, by Glen Cook (seems like an odd-man out, but based on the number of times I've read it, it should go on the list).
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
@Opiucha:

You may be the only other person I've ever met who has read Dr. Forward's "The Dragon's Egg."
 

Ophiucha

Auror
Good ten - James Joyce narrowly avoided my own list, primarily because I still have nightmares from reading Ulysses.

The thought of reading Dragon's Egg seems to terrify all my sf friends. Probably because they've seen the 'technical appendices' on the edition I own and have since refused to touch the thing.
 

Ravana

Istar
I had 64. As in pretty much all things, reddit and I disagree quite heavily. But there are some good ones on there that usually get left off Top 100s - I was happy to see Chalion.

I suspect the list says as much about reddit users (as an aggregate: all relevant present company excepted, of course) as it does about fantasy. Try to imagine what such a list might look like were it only you, me and Steerpike putting it together.…

Will have to track down Dragon's Egg. With those two recommendations, it's a can't-miss. And why would anybody be intimidated by hard SF with footnotes? I don't understand.… :D

[I would suggest to you two, and any like-minded fellow travelers, that the Brin and Cherryh books mentioned below are must-reads.]

•••

Top Ten—or Hundred—regardless of genre? I'm not even sure I could do that. Though I suppose I'd start out with Ophiucha's qualification of "avoiding non-fiction." Spares me from worrying about whether such things as the CRCC Handbook or OED make the list. ("Such things": those two absolutely make my top 100. The second is, without question, my favorite book of all time. No, I haven't read it all. Nor am ever likely to. Yes, I do sit down and read large chunks from time to time.)

I'll have a go at a top ten. Maybe I'll try for the longer one later… and try to figure out how one posts something behind a spoiler tag. :p In either case, they're certainly "in no particular order." I'll stick to one entry per author here, though I won't if I go for a longer list. Though half of these are multi-book entries anyway.…

1. Glen Cook, Black Company series. May seem like an "odd man out" to you when compared to the rest of your list, Steerpike… that alone ought to let everyone else know just how good these books are. (Though you still have three other traditionally "fantasy" genre entries; only thing that makes Cook "odd" is he's still alive and writing… heh.) I'm gonna get to see him this May; seriously looking forward to it.

2. Steven Brust, Taltos series. Inclusion would have made Cook seem less "odd." Without question the books I most enjoy reading. And re-reading. Frequently. To the extent that, as soon as I've finished whatever book is the most recent entry in the series—Hawk is scheduled for an October release: guess who's eagerly awaiting?—I find myself going back and re-reading all the rest. Anyone familiar enough with this series to know how many books that'll make for me this autumn?

3. J. R. R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings. …though Brust still has a ways to go to catch up to the number of times I've re-read this one. Anyone familiar enough with the Taltos series will now have an idea just how many times that has been.

4. David Brin, Uplift universe. With Startide Rising being the superlative entry, as well as the best starting point. Sundiver and Uplift War can be read in any order relative to it; Sundiver was both written and takes place earlier, but you lose nothing by reading it after. Might even gain a bit for having the additional context. The subsequent trilogy should definitely be read after Startide (it's a direct sequel); it can be read in any order relative to the other two, though it profits strongly from background acquired therein.

5. Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene. Okay, it's "poetry" in form, but it isn't poetry, really. (As, apparently, Ophiucha agrees.) And no, I have never finished it. Which means I still have the pleasure of looking forward to what happens next whenever I pick it up again between other reads.

6. Mahabharata, attr. to Vyasa. Have I "read all of" this? No… not if you mean a complete, unabridged version. I'm working on one of those right now, one of only two things I have going on a Kindle. (The other is Clausewitz… but that's "non-fiction.") I have read four different abridged versions, including the comic book one. (Was totally geeked when I found that on ebay for c. $100; I'd been wanting it for years.) Also means I may or may not have just beat Ophiucha for oldest text on the list, depending on which date attestations you favor.

7. Roger Zelazny, Lord of Light. May help explain why I love the preceding entry so much. Here's where I will have to restrain myself regarding how many works from one author might appear on a longer list; otherwise, he'll constitute about ten per cent of it.

8. C. J. Cherryh, Alliance-Union universe. More specifically, the "Company Wars" and "Era of Rapprochement" subdivisions (taken together, ten books), which are more tightly connected than the various works set at later periods or are otherwise separated (such as the excellent Chanur series). If I had to pick one book, it would be Downbelow Station, partly because it's the one that best sets the stage which unites all the others, partly because it's probably the best one anyway. Anyone wishing to look into this universe should definitely start there.

9. Samuel R. Delany, Dhalgren. Probably not for those traumatized by Joyce. On the other hand, if it's only Joyce's style causing the nightmares, go for it. Though I also wouldn't recommend this as an introduction to Delany; work your way up to it.

10. H. P. Lovecraft, "Mythos" stories. Note that he never categorized his stories as being part of any given "universe"; this is the retro-category based on the inclusion of common themes… ones which spawned their own genre. He still did it better than almost anyone else who's followed in his footsteps (or, for that matter, whose footsteps he followed: some of the stories classified as "Mythos" today were written by his contemporaries or immediate predecessors). Unlike the rest of the list, I'm pretty solid on this entry ranking at #10… since I know which one it bumped to #11.

•••

My longer list would show considerable overlap with Ophiucha's. Who Fears Death—I cannot possibly recommend this book strongly enough; just finished reading it. Freedom and Necessity would definitely be on there… one reason I wouldn't be limiting myself to one entry per author. (Since that's co-authored, I suppose I could use that as a cheat.) Were I limiting myself to one work per author, I might've chosen Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World; then again, I haven't gotten to The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle yet (soon!), so I may end up liking it more. Glad to see someone else likes Eco; not at all surprised to see who. Dorian Gray… here's where narrowing genre and limiting to one per author might throw me: if I had to choose one work from Wilde, it would be The Importance of Being Earnest. Then again, other dramas make the list, so I suppose that one's fair game. Not sure if Flatland will make it, but it'll certainly be in the running. Good to see Morris and Dunsany on someone's list; not sure if they'll make the final cut for me. I'd've chosen a different Le Guin, but she'd be there somewhere. Márquez, yes (though it'll probably be hard for me to choose which one); Stoker, yes; Lewis, you got the right one; Goethe, yes; Homer, yes; Euripides, yes… you left Virgil off? I don't see Milton there either; he'd make mine, if perhaps with qualifications (the same ones which caused you to select only one part of the Comedia, no doubt… heh). Would I be correct in guessing you flat-out forgot about Carroll? I can't imagine any other reason for his absence, given the rest of the list. (That's the one which lost narrowly to Lovecraft. Now there's a competition for you.… :balanced: )

I gotta confess there's a fair amount on your list that's on my "have to get to it some day" list, too. Even more on my "started it but set it down and haven't gotten back to it yet list." (For Les Miserables, it's "just recently got back to it." Yes, I am reading it, Clausewitz and the Mahabharata at the same time. Among other things. But, hey, I know the musical forwards and backwards, so I have a fair idea of the major plot elements, at least.)

One big difference which might be noted between even my short-list faves in comparison to Steerpike's short and Ophiucha's longer lists: I strongly favor "escapism," in at least some form, when I crack a fiction book. Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy are unlikely to make my lists; I doubt Austen would; Alcott… not so much. That's just what I like to read—when I'm not reading non-fiction, at least, and I probably read about three times as much non-fic as I do fiction. If I feel a need for fiction about normal people doing normal things, I can always turn on the news. Gets it over with quickly, so I can return to pretending I live in some other world. :rolleyes:
 
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Ravana

Istar
[P.S. @Ophiucha: how the blazes did you manage to assemble a list of this nature while you had a migraine?]
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
I almost put Brust on the list. And Zelazny. If I were making an SF/F list, they'd definitely go on it, along with Delany, Lovecraft, Tanith Lee, and Angela Carter :)
 

Ophiucha

Auror
Alright, I really need to read Glen Cook's Black Company series. Both of you have it on your Top 10 and I still haven't read it; it's on the list of things to get to, but something else always get pushed up to the top before I pick it up. I haven't read Taltos either, even though I like Steven Brust's short stories and collaborative stuff and his interviews. I'm really bad at prioritizing what I read. :p

Carroll, yeah, I think I just overlooked him. It's tough to come up with 100 and not fry your brain a bit in the process. I think I was debating which book I liked more and then just forgot to put on the list at all. But let's say the Alice books take the spot of Jurassic Park. (Which, let's be honest, isn't that great a book, but I basically got into science fiction and started reading adult novels because of it, so it's got a place in my heart.)

Lovecraft is tough, for me, because if I included him on the list, I'd have to make it like 'Collected Works', and while the things I like of his I adore, the things I dislike... yeah, it's tough to put those on. Now, a Top 100 Short Stories list, Lovecraft is in the Top 5, without a doubt.
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
I like Brust's histories even better. Set in same world as Taltos, but with a different flair...kind of like Alexandre Dumas meets fantasy.
 

Ravana

Istar
But let's say the Alice books take the spot of Jurassic Park.

LOL[SUP]2[/SUP]! I was actually thinking, while double-checking your list to make sure I hadn't missed it: "Well, you could always put it in place of Jurassic Park.…" :D

Lovecraft is tough, for me, because if I included him on the list, I'd have to make it like 'Collected Works', and while the things I like of his I adore, the things I dislike... yeah, it's tough to put those on. Now, a Top 100 Short Stories list, Lovecraft is in the Top 5, without a doubt.

Yeah, sometimes you just gotta fudge what counts as a "book" or "work." I was contemplating a longer list, and trying to figure out how Harlan Ellison's gonna show up, since he doesn't do novels. (Well… wasn't that hard, really.) I've seen omnibus editions containing everything important HPL wrote–letters aside, but those don't count here anyway–so I didn't feel too bad about it. Just as it would have been the Alice books together, had it tipped that way.

A bigger difficulty for me is going to be deciding whether and how to incorporate Geisel's work.

[ …eep. Just had an epiphany. And here I'd been wondering about that for simply ages, too.…]

Question for the style judges (which has nothing to do with the foregoing sentence): does philosophy with a thin veneer of fiction–or fiction with a thick one of philosophy–qualify? Though I suppose it ought to, since we've got mythological works on the lists already.

-

Not surprised you favor Brust's histories, Steerpike. But what do you mean, "kind of like"? That's exactly what they are. He says as much in a couple places (I couldn't tell you offhand where). And, yep, they're great… I just happen to like the Taltos books more.

Speaking of which: don't try too hard to put those into a chronology in advance, Ophiucha. They jump around quite a bit. Apart from generally recommending reading Yendi before Jhereg, I usually tell people to read them either in publication order if they can, or in whatever order they pick them up if they can't. (Jhereg was the first book, Yendi the second; unfortunately, reading them in that order produces the single biggest spoiler in the series to date. Others aren't quite as, ehh… derailing? Over time, you even come to expect them, as episodes referenced from Vlad's past get expanded upon in future installments.)

(No, strike that: second biggest spoiler. I'll let you know which book you don't want to read too early once you have a couple under your belt, if you like.)

Oh, and if you liked James in Freedom.… ;)
 
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Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
Yeah, they are exactly like that. Freedom and Necessity is great. Emma Bull is another author I like, so when I saw they had a collaboration....
 

Ravana

Istar
Ya know how most collaborations tend to disappoint…?

…are there any late-night bookstores still open out where you are? :)

-

(If not, you're forgiven for still sitting here reading this. Chances are it's too old to be in stock most places anyway. Which means sitting in front of a computer is the perfect place to be. Amazon is my friend. As well as, I think, a relative of my wife's credit cards–by marriage at a minimum. Bloody well ought to be by now.)
 
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Ravana

Istar
["You" being anyone other than Steerpike, of course. On second inspection, I see he's already read that one. D'oh.]
 
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