These books have transported scores of readers from the Shire, to Westeros and to mid-20th century China
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Fantasy literature has a long history of beckoning readers to escape into fleshed-out magical worlds, where wizards and dragons are the norm. Over the years, several titles have established themselves as pinnacles of fantasy fiction, molding the genre into the multifaceted entity it is today. Here are the best fantasy books of all time.
The first entry published in C. S. Lewis’ seven-volume “Chronicles of Narnia” has drawn in a legion of fans across decades, said Time. The series was the “literary spark that ignited dozens of contemporary fantasies,” in which a child “suddenly discovers that magic exists.”
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There have always been “fraught times,” and there have always been “those whose mastery of the art of storytelling” has helped us understand how “powerfully stories shape the world,” fantasy author N. K. Jemisin said at Time. Lewis is undoubtedly one of those greats who “sought to comfort children with faith.”’ ($11, Harper Collins, Amazon)
When it comes to fantasy world-building, J. R .R. Tolkien set a standard with Middle Earth. Starting as a sequel to his novel “The Hobbit,” the book evolved into one of the most recognizable and celebrated fantasy series of all time.
The world of elves, hobbits, dragons and wizards has a dedicated fanbase, many of who are Tolkien scholars. The author created a “great work of literature” that has the “power to engage an immense range of readers” and “most importantly, engage them in fundamentally different ways than its predecessors, contemporaries or imitators,” English literature scholar Michael D.C. Drout said at Lit Hub. ($26, Harper Collins, Amazon)
The fantasy genre, like other speculative fiction, is male-dominated. But there have been more than a fair share of women writing amazing fantasy books. Ursula K. Le Guin’s canon is a master class in what women can do in fantasy literature.
The author’s “A Wizard of Earthsea” challenges readers to “see the tropes and themes of a familiar genre in a way that doesn’t line up with the history of the canon,” said Lit Reactor. The world she creates with Earthsea feels “populated and alive in the way that the best fictional worlds always do,” but it also “doesn’t feel overly precious.” A “Wizard of Earthsea” is “smart, conscientious and morally responsible,” but also a “dude fights a dragon!” ($20, Harper Collins, Amazon)
Two years before a bespectacled boy named Harry Potter took young-adult fantasy by storm, Philip Pullman’s “The Golden Compass” was making a name for itself as a classic of the subgenre. While both are “wildly popular,” only J. K. Rowling’s series “inspired a theme park,” The Atlantic said.
Still, Pullman’s legacy endures. After more than 30 years, his books “retain an idiosyncratic spikiness,” said The Atlantic. While Rowling’s work has a “glossy, optimized feel” and is “engineered for your comfort,” Pullman’s epic doesn’t “leach into the cultural groundwater quite so readily.” The author’s abilities as a storyteller are “stupendous,” and his stories “flood you.” ($13, Penguin Random House, Amazon)
Another master world builder is Robin Hobb, the pen name of Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden. If you enjoy Tolkien’s Middle Earth or George R. R. Martin’s Westeros, then you’ll be an “instant fan of the Realm of the Elderlings,” said BookTrib.