An Aficionado’s Guide to the top 100 Fantasy Books of All Time: Final

[Laura]

Thank you xxx :D

[Robert]

I don't know, guys...Eragon makes Twilight look like a masterwork by Joyce or Dostoevsky by comparison.

[Traci]

Wow, that's pretty harsh. Lol.
Eragon wasn't that bad. =)

[carol. , Senor Crabbypants]

Traci wrote: "Wow, that's pretty harsh. Lol.
Eragon wasn't that bad. =)"

Maybe he's saying Twilight is that good. ;)

[Robert]

I thought Twilight was mediocre at best (I read it because my daughter was so excited and wanted to talk about it).

I read about half of Eragon, and it may well be the single worst book I've ever had the misfortune of opening. And I've opened some bad ones :)

[Bill]

I thought Eregon read like it was written by a kid and it was so derivative.

[Weenie]

Kernos wrote:"I thought Eregon read like it was written by a kid and it was so derivative."

That's cos it was written by a 15 year old kid :-)

[Nyssa, Don't make me get the ruler!]

I've already read #s 1, 3, 13, 29, 37, 45 & 88

I owned #38 but it was borrowed and never returned.
I have #s 43 & 44 & 56 but have not read them as yet.
I've seen #s 44 & 48 a million times, each - they are all time favorites. :)
I'm planning on reading #64 this year.

[Melissa (ladybug)]

A lot of good books on this list. Also, a lot that I have never heard of before. :D

[Jacey]

Hmmm... only 34/100, but there are some titles on there that I wouldn't want to read. And there are some on there that I have read, but are way down at the bottom of my personal one-star list. But we all have individual tastes. Very pleased to see Lois McMaster Bujold's 'Curse of Chalion' on there, though. My favourite book of all time (So far).

[Jeanne]

Whew! 36/100 with many of the remaining on my "to read" shelf and a few I've not heard of. And I agree with Dana, no Dragonriders of Pern?

Shouldn't I get extra credit for reading entire series such as The Wheel of Time? ;-)

[Mike (the Paladin)]

Pern was "debated" heavily when we voted on the list. We went with it being science fiction. Finally.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "Pern was "debated" heavily when we voted on the list. We went with it being science fiction. Finally."

:-D


Sensei is right. The debate lingered for a while but someone produced proof that the Pern books were considered Sci-Fi by the author.

[Katy]

Derrick wrote: "Weenie wrote: "Kernos wrote:"I thought Eregon read like it was written by a kid and it was so derivative."

That's cos it was written by a 15 year old kid :-)"

That is one of the reasons I gave s..."

I have to agree with you here. Paolini's writing did not improve any with the later books. All four of them sounded like they were written by a 15-year old kid.

[Becky]

I have to disagree. One of the reasons I like Eragon is because it is written by a fifteen year old kid (lord knows I havent managed to write anything longer than my thesis papers lol), and I really feel its such an excellent window into the mind of a youth that was as hellbent on fantasy as I was. And I think that his later works progressed with his age. I mean, they certainly aren't earthshattering, but the emotions do become more complex, the sentence structure better, and the plot better supported.

Honestly, and I love Mercedes Lackey, but Brisingr is on par with some of her more recent stuff. Paolini is still so young that he lacks a lot of life's experiences that eventually translate themselves into author's works. He is still young, he still has a lot to learn. I hope he writes something when he is forty so we can really see if he has improved as a writer. I dont think that you can blame a twenty year old for not vastly improving on a world he created when he was fifteen, he still has to work within what he created.

Again, I'm not trying to say they are great books. Brain candy, entertaining, but hardly par excellence. I just think he gets undo criticisms :)

[Bill]

If we've read them, do we have to re-read them?

[Louise]

I've read 19 books/series on that list but there are an awful lot (as the maths suggests) that I haven@t. A couple of the others I've tried and not liked, but I'm amazed by how many of your top 90 I haven't heard of. better get cracking :)

[Lis]

48 down and still more than half to go. *sweatdroplet* I'm getting there, I'm getting there...

[carol. , Senor Crabbypants]

@Kernos: no, silly. Consider yourself applauded and lauded.
@Louise: well, it was a survey at the time. once it got down past the top 25 or so, it only took a few votes to make the list, which may explain why you haven't heard of some.
@Lizzy: you are awesome!

[Jonathan]

Kernos wrote: "If we've read them, do we have to re-read them?"

Depends if you want to... I'm using it as an excuse to re-read favourites like Lord of the Rings and Narnia...

[Adrianna [SypherLily]]

Wow. I have...a lot of reading to do. Only read 14/100
Thank you for the effort into this list :) I look forward to a lot of them!

[Brenda ╰☆╮]

24 and a half....hmmm...
I'm giving a half to one I'm sure I read, because I have it from years ago. Just can't remember what it was about.
Many are on my: to read list presently.

[carol. , Senor Crabbypants]

ha! I started a "I-know-I-read-this" shelf for that reason. :)

[Brenda ╰☆╮]

That's a good idea...maybe I'll start a shelf like that.
The question is.....do I want to read it again?

[Becky]

I was trying to hit a certain amount of these books, but considering I had read some last year, I didnt want to reread them already. Annnnd then I found series I was in love with, and I got sidetracked :) I ssume thats what such a great list was really for, but I've saved it on my desktop for years to come!

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

The challenge is supposed to end next month! How many people are close to finishing?

[Traci]

I failed. So failed. :(
But in my defense I've read more than half of these. :)

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

:-D

[Lis]

/sigh

I tried, and therefore no one should criticize me! xD

[Becky]

Reading is not a contest! Its just importnat that you enjoyed yourself while you did it!

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

Becky wrote: "Reading is not a contest! Its just importnat that you enjoyed yourself while you did it!"


It's not a contest but this was a personal challenge. Of course, you should always have fun...but still challenge yourself if possible.

[Traci]

And you got to set your own pace, if I had gone for 1-5 books I'd have been good.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

Traci wrote: "And you got to set your own pace, if I had gone for 1-5 books I'd have been good."

I made my 25! (But it wouldn't have happened without my new love: Curran)

[Becky]

Mine was 25 as well. Ive read 25 works if you were counting each work in a series separately. I'm almost done with Dresdin Files now. Once I started them I just couldnt finish! sooooo I got sidetracked, oh well, it was a good sidetrack hehe.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

Becky wrote: "Mine was 25 as well. Ive read 25 works if you were counting each work in a series separately. I'm almost done with Dresdin Files now. Once I started them I just couldnt finish! sooooo I got sidetra..."

Yep! Each is counted separately. I need to finish the Dresden Files so bad.

[Traci]

Mine was 25, maybe 30, and I got around 15.

[Kaila]

I finished mine last week! I set it for 35. I think about 10 of them ended up being Wheel of Time books, and I read the whole Narnia series. One that I am very proud of reading that I might not have gotten around to otherwise was Mists of Avalon. Man that thing was a tome.

[Kim]

I've got 23 out of the 25 I set for myself. I think I should be able to get the other 2 in before then end of November.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

Kaila wrote: "I finished mine last week! I set it for 35. I think about 10 of them ended up being Wheel of Time books, and I read the whole Narnia series. One that I am very proud of reading that I might not hav..."


Ooh Congrats!

I remember the first time I tried to powerdrive through that one. It was...stressful, lol. I still don't quite get what happened with the poet in the tree.

[Linette]

I challenged myself to at least 1 in 16 different series - I just hit that last month, but have read 29 altogether if I include multiple books I've read in a series. Have one more in my pile for this month. This has been fun, and excellent reading - I'll keep working my way through the list.

[Weenie]

Epic fail by me - got distracted by reading non-fantasy stuff!

[Jim]

I've read about 35 of these & they're some of my favorites. I've tried over a dozen others, but didn't like them for one reason or another. Good list!

[Traci]

Alright, I put myself down for 30 and just finished my 17th book...

But altogether I've read 66/100. Assuming the world doesn't end in December maybe I'll try for next year...

[Adrianna [SypherLily]]

When this challenge ends, will a new one replace it? :)

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, *good karma*]

Adrianna wrote: "When this challenge ends, will a new one replace it? :)"

That's a great question.

I'll have a talk with Carol and see what we can come up with.

[Jonathan]

Unfortunately I still fell 2 short of even my altered goal. I think I had the idea that it was till December for some odd reason and didn't pick up the pace at the end till it was too late.

[Sara]

Ok so I got distracted and didn't read anything off the list that I hadn't already read. I got caught up in the Game of Thrones series and some other books. But now that its Christmas shopping time does anyone have any suggestions from either the nominations or the final list that I should add to my Christmas list?

[carol. , Senor Crabbypants]

Sara, I see you tend to like humorous fantasy. What about A. Lee Martinez? He tends to be lighter in style.

[Adam]

I have 16 off the list(Though, that is more than 16 books). But it is interesting that in some cases there are whole series that take up 1 slot, and in other cases (Game of thrones/The Blade Itself) we just see a single book listed.

Either way, I have a lot to go.

[Traci]

Sara, have you read Another Fine Myth? I find Asprin a little sillier than Pratchett but good.