Score

When "The Sword of Shannara" beats "Elric of Melniboné", and "Three Hearts and Three Lions", "Bridge of Birds" and "Nine Princes in Amber" don't appear in the top 10, you know a "best of 20th century fantasy" list is horribly broken. This one shows just how off the mark popular polls always are.

Richard wrote: "When "The Sword of Shannara" beats "Elric of Melniboné", and "Three Hearts and Three Lions", "Bridge of Birds" and "Nine Princes in Amber" don't appear in the top 10, you know a "best of 20th centu..."

This list has very few voters per book. So the list itself is better than the order of the list. Help make this list better by voting

Hi Mitchell

Thanks for the note.

Great point. And one that everyone should know.

Perhaps a number ranking shouldn't be done?

Just an alphabetized list of the most voted 25 or something like that?

Take good care,

RC

Richard wrote: "Hi Mitchell

Thanks for the note.

Great point. And one that everyone should know.

Perhaps a number ranking shouldn't be done?

Just an alphabetized list of the most voted 25 or something like tha..."

Feel free to create a google spreadsheet and publish it here. Say 4 columns - title, author, number ratings, average ratings. and even separate tabs for related lists.

Hi! Just wanted to say that Dracula, Elantris and the one Holly Black book that I found in the list should be removed, given how none of them were first published within the twentieth century.

C.E.C. wrote: "Hi! Just wanted to say that Dracula, Elantris and the one Holly Black book that I found in the list should be removed, given how none of them were first published within the twentieth century."

I appreciate the callout. In the future on a multi page list like this one, if you could point out what number you saw the entry, that would be helpful to any librarian trying to do the deletion.

Dracula is from 1897
Elantris is from 2005
The Queen of Nothing is from 2019

all were removed

Mitchell wrote: "C.E.C. wrote: "Hi! Just wanted to say that Dracula, Elantris and the one Holly Black book that I found in the list should be removed, given how none of them were first published within the twentiet..."

Gotcha!

This list is too small to ever be definitive. Needs more Lackey, McCaffrey, and Norton.

Nicole wrote: "This list is too small to ever be definitive. Needs more Lackey, McCaffrey, and Norton."

This list has 540 books on it. Mercedes Lackey has at least 20 books written before 2000 with over 1000 ratings. Andre Norton also has at least 20 fantasy books with over 1000 ratings. You have 100 votes, please feel free to add 100 fantasy books written before 2000 and not already on this list, to this list.

McCaffrey is a bit tougher - I consider most of what she wrote as science fiction, and so really doesn't fit this list. But she definitely has some fantasy by my memory.

I don't agree with your assessment that horror and fantasy are the same things. Werewolves and vampires are horror elements, not fantasy. Most Stephen King and Lovecraft books on this list are horror, not fantasy.
I also don't think children's animal stories are fantasy. Especially The Mouse and the Motorcycle the mouse is supposed to be a real mouse.

But there are books on this list that don't belong there, how ever liberally one sees the genre definitions.
Octavia E. Butler's Xenogenesis
Animal Farm
Holes
The Last of the Mohicans
Ivanhoe
The Hound of Baskervilles
Beloved
The War of the Worlds
The Handmaid's Tale
The Complete Sherlock Holmes
The Oracle Glass
Pincher Martin
Robinson Crusoe
No Exit

Also, The Priory of the Orange Tree is from 2019

Definitely there is some deletions that are absolutely needed. Anything not published in the correct years or without the minimum number of ratings, are always a sure thing not requiring discussion.

Deleted The Last of the Mohicans and The Hound of the Baskervilles and The War of the Worlds and The Priory of the Orange Tree and Three Men in a Boat and Gulliver's Travels: Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. and Grimm's Fairy Tales and Robinson Crusoe and Ivanhoe

Deleting books for not being fantasy are a harder call

Deleted The Handmaid’s Tale

If you spot books that need deleting - please call out what page they are on.

Also you may note that I absolutely don't consider horror and fantasy the same things - you can definitely write horror without fantasy elements. But I absolutely do consider werewolves and vampires fantasy elements - see Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson series for werewolves and vampires without being horror - and it is even possible to do werewolves and vampires as science fiction but it is rare.