Essential fantasy

Just like the sci-fi thread, but for fantasy novels.

Richard Adams

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Watership Down
• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Plague Dogs

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Lloyd Alexander

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Prydain Chronicles

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Robert Asprin

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Myth-Adventures series

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Clive Barker

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Weaveworld

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">L. Frank Baum

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Oz books

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Marion Zimmer Bradley

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Mists of Avalon
• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Darkover books

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Terry Brooks

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Sword of Shannara
• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Elfstones of Shannara

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Steven Brust

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Vlad Taltos books

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Edgar Rice Burroughs

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Tarzan books

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Orson Scott Card

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Tales of Alvin Maker

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Lewis Carroll

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Alice In Wonderland
• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Through the Looking-Glass

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Stephen R. Donaldson

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The First Chronicles of Thoman Covenant

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">David Eddings

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Belgariad

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Raymond Feist

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Magician
• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Silverthorn
• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">A Darkness at Sethanon

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Neil Gaiman

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Neverwhere
• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">American Gods

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Good Omens

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">William Goldman

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Princess Bride

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">H. Rider Haggard

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Allan Quartermain books

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Robert E. Howard

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Conan saga

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Brian Jacques

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Redwall series

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Guy Gavriel Kay

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Tigana

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Ursula K. LeGuin

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Earthsea books

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Fritz Leiber

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser books

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">C.S. Lewis

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Chronicels of Narnia

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Anne McCaffrey

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Dragonriders of Pern

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">George R.R. Martin

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">A Song of Ice and Fire

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Elizabeth Moon

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Deed of Paksenarion

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Michael Moorcock

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Elric saga

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Robert O'Brien

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Terry Pratchett

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Discworld books

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">J.K. Rowling

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Harry Potter books

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Fred Saberhagen

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Book of Swords

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">J.R.R. Tolkien

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Hobbit
• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Lord of the Rings
• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Silmarillion

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Dragonlance Chronicles

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">T.H. White

• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Once and Future King
• <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">The Book of Merlyn

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Obviously, I'm a little more well-read in fantasy than I am in SF!

Would that be Solomon Kane?

Crap, I totally forgot Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber. Man, I should be flogged for that.

Well, I really don't consider him essential. He's written some good stuff, but I think you have to read Dragonlance -- it's the best book TSR/WOTC ever put out, and it got the whole ball rolling that made it possible for Salvatore to have a career.

Tindalos, I'll give you the first Xanth book and the first three or four Incarnations books, but the man simply needs to learn when to stop -- the series started decades ago with Blue Adept is finally drawing to an end, and there's no end in sight for the Xanth books even though that well ran dry around book nine or ten. I think Asprin and Pratchett are your essentials for humorous fantasy.

Anthony's Bio of a Space Tyrant did just barely miss going on my essential sci-fi list though.

One of the most recent Wheel of Time books (and lord was there ever a more appropriate title for a series of books) covered one day of story time.

One day.

You want some fun? Go to the Robert Jordan newsgroups and read the raging debates about whether Jordan intended this thing to be this long all along or if it was originally a trilogy that he busted open to keep the cash rolling in. The people who claim you can find signs of the second argument all over The Great Hunt are as rabid as the Kennedy conspiracists.

Me, I have the last two books sitting on my shelf, one half-read, one untouched, and there they will stay. I'm out.