The 30 Greatest Fantasy Books Ever Written

We love to highlight fantasy books on our website as often as possible. And this week, we will be looking at the 30 greatest fantasy books of all time according to one publication. Keep reading to see what books made their list!

Fantasy books is one of the best ways to spend a day and to forget about all your problems. With thousands of fantasy novels out there, choosing which ones to read can be a challenge. Which is why lists such as these are usually helpful.

Today’s list comes from Telegraph and from their editor who is also an avid fantasy reader and a historian. You will see from this list why the latter is important. You can see the full list below!

The 30 Greatest Fantasy Books Ever Written

1. The Sandman by Neil Gaiman
2. The Belgariad by David Eddings
3. Chrestomanci by Diana Wynne Jones
4. The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey
5. The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
6. The Witcher Series by Andrzej Sapkowski
7. The Dark Tower by Stephen King
8. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
9. Sláine by Pat Mills
10. Conan the Barbarian by Robert E Howard
11. The Epic of Gilgamesh by Anon
12. Saga of the Exiles by Julian May
13. Elidor by Alan Garner
14. The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper
15. His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
16. Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll
17. Cerebus the Aardvark by Dave Sim
18. Vurt by Jeff Noon
19. The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
20. The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett
21. Elric of Melniboné by Michael Moorcock
22. The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish
23. Perdido Street Station by China Miéville
24. Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake
25. A Song of Ice and Fire Series by George R.R. Martin
26. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
27. The Once and Future King by T.H. White
28. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien
29. Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came by Robert Browning
30. Beowulf by Anon

When I saw Sandman start the list off, I was lulled into a false sense of security. After that, the list goes into mostly obscure and old fantasy novels. This list contains classics such as The Epic of Gilgamesh, Conan, and Beowulf. And it doesn’t stop there because there are a bunch of other fantasy novels that are a century or older.

The title of this list feels wrong because it is not the list of the greatest fantasy books ever written. They are just one person’s personal preference and while yes, that is what most lists are, this one feels too biased. We can clearly see that this person has a preference for older novels and most people will not have read them.

As the list progressed, I was getting more and more frustrated. But I did expect it to return to fantasy books that I and many others consider the greatest fantasy books ever written. And I was happy to see books such as A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin and A Song of Ice and Fire series near the top.

But the last straw was not seeing The Lord of the Rings at the top of this list. Listing two other books better than The Lord of the Rings seems criminal. Even without that slight, I would still have rated this lists as one of the worst ones I have come across.

And while the list does contain some of the classics that many people agree are the greatest fiction books, they are rated too low. No list is ever going to get it fully right but there are lists that are wrong and this one is one of the worst ones I have seen.

What do you think of this list and did your favorite fantasy books make this list? Let us know in the comments below. Happy reading!