As requested, here is a list of some of my favorite fantasy novels. It is completely arbitrary, and if I haven’t read a book, obviously that book won’t have made it on the list.

They’re vaguely organized into categories, however, those categories are entirely mine, and certainly won’t be found anywhere else. (For instance, I draw a distinction between urban and supernatural fantasy.

Oh. The author links are to another portion of my website. If you click on the book links from there you’ll be sent to Amazon, where I’ll eventually receive pennies for anything you buy after the click.

I have to fund my reading habit somehow.

Fantasy Fantasy

Steven Brust The Phoenix Guards
This may be on of my all time favorite books. The best description I’ve read is that if you can’t read The Three Musketeers in the original French, read The Phoenix Guards. Except that the story is so much more than that. Draggera is where the Vlad Taltos novels are set (another series I highly recommend) only instead of Vlad’s hard boiled attitude, we instead get amazing feats of language, description, and insult. I can read this again and again and never tire of it. Steven Brust is also good at writing very strong female characters. They aren’t the main characters in his stories, but you wouldn’t want to mess with any of them. There is a sequel Five Hundred Years After, however Guards is a stand-alone book. Assuming you can read one Brust book and not want to read everything else he’s ever written. There is also a sequel to Five Hundred Years After, but I would classify that as Epic fantasy, as the story requires three books to tell.

Ellen Kushner Swordspoint
In some ways, Swordspoint hardly counts and fantasy. What we have is a world that is similar to ours, only it never quite existed. It’s sword and sorcery only without the sorcery. Ellen Kushner’s characters are vivid and striking, and the story is so good you’ll be mad that Ellen Kushner has only written a handful of books. Really, she should be writing a book a year, not two books a decade or fewer. There is boinking of the male-male variety, but it helps define the relationship between the two characters and is central to the story. Her characters are vivid and the storytelling is some of the best I’ve ever read.

Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett Good Omens
Both Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett are pretty obvious choices for best fantasy authors, and I admit I was completely unable to select a single book from each to put on this list and will just say that you need to read Discworld and if you haven’t read Gaiman, well, there may be no helping you. But as good as Gaiman and Pratchett are separately, I think they’re even better together.

Sean Russell The Initiate Brother and Gatherer of Clouds
Sean Russell is another author who has not written nearly enough books in my opinion. And these two books–although not all of his series–don’t actually have much in the way of magic. They’re simply written in a world that isn’t quite ours. Two things stand out for me about Sean Russell novels: the characters and the scenery. Although the stories are very good, they are a second to he amazing worlds he creates that are so much like our own world, and yet so different. The other thing I love Sean Russell for is his ability to write duologies. His novels are books to be read slowly and savored for the atmosphere is as wonderful as the stories themselves.

Guy Gavriel Kay The Sarantine Mosaic: Sailing to Sarantium and Lord of Emperors
Like Sean Russell, Guy Gavriel Kay take great care in creating the worlds in which his stories are set. And like Ellen Kushner and Sean Russell, those worlds are in so many ways parallel to our own, and yet not the same at all. Sarantium is based upon Byzantium, but in a way that allows Kay to create characters whole cloth and not have to follow any historical characters or times. And in these two books in addition to the human characters, chariot racing and creating mosaic are almost characters in and of themselves. Boring you say? Not to me. Fascinating instead. Again, these are stories to be read slowly and savored, rather than devoured in a single sitting. And like Russell, Kay is able to create a world and a story in a single book or two books, which is a skill that is coming to impress me mightily.

Lian Hearn Across the Nightingale Floor
One thing I discovered in recent years is that there is a good deal of absolutely amazing fantasy being written for young adults. Across the Nightingale Floor is the first book in her Tales of the Otori, however the entire series is well worth reading, despite he fact there was little resolution at the end of the first two books. The main characters are teens, except they are a teens in a world where they are expected to act and live as adults. The world is not quite Japan, and the time is not quite our past, and like other books, that familiarity allows her to quickly and easily build a world we feel that we should already know.

Garth Nix Sabriel
Sabriel is another excellent fantasy that is found in the young adult section. Although this book expanded into a trilogy, Sabriel can be read on its own without reading the following two books. Sabriel falls more into the traditional fantasy category with magic and fantastic creatures, and like many other young adult novels, has teenage characters, but don’t let that turn you off. I’ve loaned these books to several people who are not fantasy readers, and they all loved them.

Alternate History

Susanna Clarke Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
Like Kay and Russell, Susanna Clarke is an author whose work should be savored and enjoyed slowly. This is a monstrous tome that I couldn’t zip through even if I would have wanted to. Her world is so like, and yet so unlike Victorian Britain. Characters we recognize from history appear throughout the story, only in a realm of magic over technology, things are just subtly different. One thing I loved about the books that bothered some people (like Michael) was the footnotes. Rather than detracting from the story, they added even more color and a great deal of humor into her monumental work.

Elizabeth Bear New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam isn’t quite Steampunk, although it has a similar feel. It has a world where magic is common, and perhaps due to that magic, the American Revolution has never taken place. So we have a Victorian world with magic, where America is still a British colony. If that isn’t enough to intrigue you, the writing and characters are excellent, and sucked me into the story from the very start.

Urban Fantasy

Charles de Lint Tapping the Dream Tree
I love Charles de Lint’s writing. I think he is an absolute master of the short story, and so his short story collections are some of my favorite books to read. He has a recurring cast of characters who you grow to love through the stories, but you don’t need to know the characters to enjoy any of his stories. What you get instead of a growing understanding of these individuals the more you read about them/ Tapping the Dream Tree is my favorite collection (so far) though the first Newford collection, Dreams Underfoot is also excellent, and was the first of his books/collections I ever read. In Newford, the edges between our world and the world of magic seems to be thinner, and so the those who live there see the unusual with startling frequency. That is, they see it if they are willing to accept its existence. So many people claim they don’t like short stories and short story collections, but I am sure that is only because they’ve never read Charles de Lint.

Jane Lindskold Child of a Rainless Year
I love Jane Lindskold’s writing, however, I still have yet to read her epic fantasy series. Why? Because I haven’t been in the mood to read epic fantasy in several years. Lucky for me, Jane Lindskold has written several books outside her Wolf series. Each (so far) is a stand alone book. Each is set in a unique world. The feel of the story is similar to that of Charles de Lint, where magic exists, but is only hidden beneath the surface of our own world. But what I liked best about Child of a Rainless Year is the main character, a fifty-something art teacher who has settled comfortably into her age and job, and has no special beauty or gifts that she knows about, other than her art. She is a real character, even as she is increasingly surrounded by unreal events.

Nina Kiriki Hoffman A Fistful of Sky
Nina Kiriki Hoffman writes urban fantasy in a similar vein to Charles de Lint. Magic exists in the world we inhabit, but for most of us, that magic is hidden from all but a few individuals. Gyp comes from a family where magical powers are commonplace, although she stands out in such a family with her initial lack of powers, and sensibilities so different from that of others in her family. She’s a very down to earth girl and woman, and I loved seeing her deal with the upheavals in her world. Nina Kiriki Hoffman’s writing strengths are in creating characters I am interested in and care about, and placing those characters in a world that is familiar yet completely alien.

Pat O’Shea The Hounds of the Morrigan
I know nothing about Pat O’Shea. As far as I can tell she(?) never wrote another book. However, The Hounds of the Morrigan remains a favorite through multiples readings. Two children accidentally become involved in faerie, and their world is turned around by the Morrigan. What draws me to this book is that I love all aspects of it, from the writing to the characters to the Celtic mythology to the story. So many aspects of this book are simply “just right” I remain astounded that I have never found another book written by Pat O’Shea.

Supernatural Fantasy

Sergei Lukyanenko Night Watch
The first book in a trilogy, Night Watch is a supernatural fantasy series set in Moscow, Russia. There are two groups of magical powers in the world, one group that thrives on joy and happiness, and the other that takes their powers from suffering. There two watches, the Night Watch, and the Day Watch, to keep watch over each other, and to maintain a balance so that a magical war does not break out between the two groups that would destroy the world. Each book contains three separate story arcs–complete stories in and of themselves–that eventually tie together. First off, I loved the idea of the watches. Second, I loved the stories within stories, and how the more you read,the more complex the entire story becomes.Thirdly, I loved the world of the watches and the magic they watch over. Nightwatch is very different from other supernatural fantasy books, but I think it is also very good.

Rob Thurman Nightlife
This is another very good supernatural fantasy book. About halfway through the story takes a completely unexpected twist that for me takes the story from good to great. What is interesting is that the focus of the story is as much upon family as it is about magical powers and creatures.

Simon R Green Nightside
I have a weakness for supernatural fantasy, and Simon R Green is once of the reasons I keep picking up and trying new books in he genre, because I really want to find and read the next Nightside series. Excluding a handful of books towards the end of the current series, where the arc about John Taylor’s parentage took on a life of it’s own, each book is a mystery and dark supernatural fantasy all rolled into one. In many ways the character reminds me of Robert B Parker’s “Spenser” only with magical powers. And since I have a weakness for Spenser, this series hits the sweet spot of combining magic and fantasy.

Romantic Fantasy

Sharon Shinn Summers at Castle Auburn
This is a fantasy and a romance and a coming of age story, which initially sounded like a horrible combination to me. However, Sharon Shinn is such a skillful story teller that is didn’t feel like a romance or coming of age story, but instead was simply the story of Corie, bastard daughter of a lord and herb witch who is brought to the castle yearly to be a companion for her older half-sister. Although it is most definitely fantasy, it is accessible and enjoyable to those who don’t normally read fantasy, such as my grandmother. (Sharon Shinn is one of several authors on this list who my grandmother read and enjoyed)

Sarah Zettel In Camelot’s Shadow
In Camelot’s Shadow is another book that is easily accessible to those who do not normally read fantasy. Both fantasy and romance, it takes place in Autherian England. Although many familiar characters make appearances, the story instead revolves around a woman who is trying to escape from an evil sorcerer. Notice I said escape. Although she wouldn’t mind being rescued, she isn’t going to wait around for a hero who may never come, but sets around trying to rescue herself. I also have to admit that the other thing that makes this book a favorite is the absolutely gorgeous cover. If I had to pick a book whose cover matched it perfectly, this may be that book.

Epic Fantasy

Robert Asprin & Lynn Abbey Thieves’ World
If there is a place where dark deeds live and thrive, that place is Thieves’ World. An anthology of sorts, the various and many authors (from Philip Farmer to Marion Zimmer Bradley to CJ Cherryh) each created their own characters who inhabited Thieves’ World, and then wrote stories involving each others characters with the only rule that you couldn’t kill or reform someone else’s character. Nothing good ever happens in Thieves’ World. All the characters are flawed, many hate one another, and revenge is always around the corner. Yet the characters that came out of those books are some of my favorites. Hanse Shadowspawn. Ischade and Roxanne. Illyra. Moira. Gilla. I know these characters deeply, in a way I’d know a friend. A very flawed and dangerous friend mind you, and a friend I wouldn’t want to see in a dark alley if she were mad at me, but a friend nevertheless. A second series was attempted several years ago, but seems to have petered out after two books. Although it was good, it somehow lacked the vicious spirit of the first series.

Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman The Death Gate Cycle
Although I have not been in the mood for epic fantasy in a couple years, I would be remiss not to list some of my favorite series. First and foremost is the Death Gate Cycle. A seven book series, filled with dwarves and elves and dragons and magic, it has a very different feel from other epic series, and touches on a variety of subjects throughout the books though the main theme is truly a look at how we treat one another, and how tradition can be twisted if the reasons behind the tradition are lost.

Megan Lindholm/Robin Hobb The Farseer Trilogy
A young child–the eventual acknowledged bastard of a prince–is eventually taken in by his family and tutored by his uncle–another bastard–into a skill useful for the kingdom: that of the assassin. The book is full of magic and intrigue and misery, and a story that ranged all over, never letting me guess where things were heading.

David Eddings The Belgariad
In college, this is the series that drew me back into fantasy. Although I recognize there are many complaints about the series, the story and characters draw me back in time and again. When I want to read for comfort, this is a series I can pick and and lose myself in, no matter how many times I read it.

Graphic Novels

Neil Gaiman & Yoshitaka Amano The Dream Hunters
Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention so comic series/graphic novels. Although part of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series, The Dream Hunters is truly an illustrated story and not a comic. It’s a good introduction to Sandman and Neil Gaiman’s writing, but even more wonderful are the drawings. Because Dream plays only a very small part in the story, you can easily read this without having read any other books in the Sandman series. Though if you enjoy it, I highly recommend reading the entire series.

Bill Willingham Fables: 1001 Night of Snowfall
I adore folktales, fairy tales, and mythology. I have an entire collection of books on those subjects, although I have to admit that folktales are probably my favorite of the three. Fables takes on these characters and gives them a life outside of their tales, including integrating the stories from many different cultures into a single character (let’s just say that in Fables, Prince Charming is a bit of a jerk, all things considered.) An on going comic series, Fables follows these fables as they live mundane lives in the modern world, while trying to discover how they can return to their Homeland, which was taken over by the Adversary. This is a series that gets stronger and stronger the longer I read it.

And last but not least, I will pick up and read any anthology edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling. I like short stories, and everything with their names on it is going to be fantastic.

You may also be interested in my list of top fantasy/science fiction heroines. Although the list badly needs updated, that won’t be happening soon. I think the list of heroines is important, because I really hate fantasy where the females are either eye candy or men with female plumbing. It’s also why I own every volume of Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Sword & Sorceress Anthology. (Yes, Xena is missing from the list. Because I still haven’t watched the series.)