Recommended Fantasy Books

These range from merely good reads to really outstanding books; but rather than trying to rate each one, or (what would be more to the point) explain my ratings, I've merely listed them without any particular indication of rank. Horror novels are included here for want of anyplace better to put them. Titles are added as they occur to me.

Joe Abercrombie, The First Law [comments with spoilers]

The Blade Itself
Before They Are Hanged
Last Argument of Kings

Kage Baker

The Anvil of the World
The House of the Stag

John Barnes, One for the Morning Glory

Peter Beagle

I See by My Outfit [Not fantasy, and I have no idea what the title means, but lovely]
The Last Unicorn

Elizabeth Bear, New Amsterdam [comments]

K. J. Bishop, The Etched City

Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes

Patricia Briggs

Dragon Bones and Dragon Blood
Raven's Shadow and Raven's Strike
"Mercy Thompson" series
1. Moon Called
2. Blood Bound
3. Iron Kissed
4. Bone Crossed
Cry Wolf

Max Brooks, World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War [mini-review]

Steven Brust

The Vlad Taltos books [Enjoyable so far --- there're a good many more in the series, which hasn't ended, and will probably amount to seventeen books in all. Brust may be the last writer of real talent to be a follower of Trotsky.]
- Jhereg
- Yendi
- Teckla
To Reign in Hell [Making sense of Milton; see under Demonology]
The Khaavren books [Faithful pastiches of Dumas, consistently fit into a world Brust had already made up for the Vlad Taltos books --- and more fun than I remember Dumas being.]
- The Phoenix Guards
- Five Hundred Years After

Steven Brust and Megan Lindholm, The Gypsy

Lois McMaster Bujold

The Curse of Chalion
The Paladin of Souls
The Spirit Ring
The Hallowed Hunt
The Sharing Knife:
1. Beguilement
2. Legacy
3. Passage
4. Horizon

Emma Bull, War for the Oaks

Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow [online]

Suzy McKee Charnas, The Vampire Tapestry [A superb vampire novel; also science fiction]

C. J. Cherryh

The Dreaming Tree [=The Dreamstone, plus The Tree of Swords and Jewels, plus Cherryh's corrections and ending]
Fortress in the Eye of Time [I think the story ends best here, with the first book; certainly the sequels go downhill, and the last, Fortress of Dragons, had me wondering whether my copy was defectively printed and missing about, oh, two hundred pages. Sadly, no.]
The Gate of Ivrel
The Paladin

Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

B. W. Clough, The Dragon of Mishbil

Seamus Cooper, The Mall of Cthulhu

Avram Davidson [General Review: Avram Davidson's Afterlife]

Vergil Magus (unfinished):
- The Phoenix and the Mirror
- Vergil in Averno [Anyone have a copy they'd be willing to sell?]
Peregrine: Primus and Secundus
The Enquiries of Dr. Estzerhazy
Adventures in Unhistory [Essays on legendary subjects]
The Avram Davidson Treasury [The best of his numerous short-story collections]

Avram Davidson and Grania Davis, The Boss in the Wall: A Treatise on the House Devil

Pamela Dean, Tam Lin

L. Sprague de Camp

Stephen R. Donaldson [I read all his Thomas Covenant books, and cannot know imagine why, except for adolescent masochism; these are utterly different, and, to my mind, infinitely better]

The Mirror of Her Dreams
A Man Rides Through

Doyle and MacDonald, Literature of the Fantastic [Electronic texts of classic fantastic stories]

Lord Dunsany

The King of Elfland's Daughter
The Pegana books:
- The Book of Wonder
- The Sword of Welleran
The Shadow Valley books:
- Don Rodriguez
- The Charwoman's Shadow

Rosemary Edghill (a.k.a. eluki bes shahar)

The Sword of Maidens' Tears
The Cup of Morning Shadows
The Cloak of Night and Daggers

Harlan Ellison, see under science fiction

Charles Finney, The Circus of Dr. Lao

John M. Ford

Casting Fortune
The Dragon Waiting [Almost an alternate history of Renaissance Europe, except that magic works.]
The Last Hot Time

Diana Pharaoh Francis

The Cipher
The Black Ship

Esther Friesner, Yesterday We Saw Mermaids

Neil Gaiman

American Gods
The Sandman [Yes, I mean the ten-volume graphic novel cycle]

Randall Garrett

Murder and Magic
Too Many Magicians
Lord Darcy Investigates

Mary Gentle

Rats and Gargoyles
The Book of Ash [Owing to the manifold crimes and wickedness of American publishers, I've only seen the first half of this]
1. A Secret History: The Book of Ash, #1 [Review: Vera Historia Fraxini]
2. Carthage Ascendant: The Book of Ash, #2

Felix Gilman, Thunderer

Charlaine Harris, Dead Until Dark [series fatigue sets in rapidly after that]

P. C. Hodgell

God Stalk
Dark of the Moon
Seeker's Mask
To Ride a Rathorn

Barry Hughart

Bridge of Birds
The Story of the Stone
Eight Skilled Gentlemen

Diana Wynne Jones

Dark Lord of Derkholm
Deep Secret
Hexwood
The Tough Guide to Fantasyland [Review]

Guy Gavriel Kay, The Lions of Al-Rassan

Caitlín R. Kiernan

Threshold [Southern Gothic Lovecraftian horror, with Beowulf and trilobites]
Daughter of Hounds

Stephen King [What can I say? When he's good, he is good; but his novels, increasingly, need ruthless editing, which they do not, sadly, receive. The short stories remain excellent.]

The Dark Half
The Dark Tower:
1. The Gunslinger
2. The Drawing of the Three
3. The Wastelands
4. Wizard and Glass [Review]
5. Wolves of the Calla
6. Song of Susannah
7. The Dark Tower ["There I will sing all their names..."]
Desperation
Everything's Eventual
Eyes of the Dragon
Four Past Midnight
Misery
Nightshift
Salem's Lot
The Shining
The Stand
Danse Macabre [Reflections on the horror genre]

Stephen King and Peter Straub

The Talisman
The Black House

Rosemary Kirstein

Steerswoman's Road [=Steerswoman + The Outskirter's Secret; comments]
The Lost Steersman [comments]
The Language of Power [comments]

Ellen Kushner, Swordspoint

Sarah Langan, The Keeper [Comments]

Sheridan LeFanu, Carmilla [After whom I once named a computer]

Ursula K. Le Guin

A Wizard of Earthsea
The Tombs of Atuan
The Farthest Shore
Tehanu [This book caps the series, but it was written much later, and is very different from the others; I'm not sure how I feel about it.]

Fritz Leiber

Conjure Wife
Our Lady of Darkness

Jane Lindskold, The Buried Pyramid

Jeff Long, The Descent [A case could be made for this being science fiction, but anything with possession and Satan in it is fantasy in my book. I hesitate to recommend it, because it's got plot- and world-building- holes big enough to drive tanks through, but in the end I couldn't put it down, or put it out of my mind once I was done.]

H. P. Lovecraft

At the Mountains of Madness [Arguably, however, this is pure science fiction]
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
A collection of Lovecraft's horror stories, rejoicing in the title Blood-curdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre (title and stories selected by August Derleth) contains nearly the complete canon of the "Cthulhu Mythos."

Scott Lynch

The Lies of Locke Lamora
Red Seas Under Red Skies

Elizabeth A. Lynn, Dragon's Winter

R. A. MacAvoy

Tea with the Black Dragon [The sequel, Twisting the Rope, is good, but not nearly so good as Tea, and hard to find]
The Lens of the World trilogy:
1. The Lens of the World
2. King of the Dead
3. Belly of the Wolf

George R. R. Martin [This is the kind of multi-volume, multi-threaded fantasy epic which is supposed to be absolute dreck, at least by the end of the second lap-breaking book. Sadly, it is excellent fun. He just needs to write more!]

A Game of Thrones
A Clash of Kings
A Storm of Swords
A Feast for Crows

A. Lee Martinez, Gil's All Fright Diner

Misty Massey, Mad Kestrel

Patricia A. McKillip

Alphabet of Thorn
The Book of Atrix Wolfe
The Changeling Sea
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld
In the Forest of Serre
Od Magic
Ombria in Shadow
Riddle-Master [Originally published as a trilogy]
Solstice Wood
Song for the Basilisk
The Sorceress and the Cygnet and The Cygnet and the Firebird
The Tower at Stony Wood
Winter Rose

Robin McKinley, Sunshine [As a wise man has said, "nearly perfect". I have a problem with the ending, but it'd be a massive spoiler to say what it is, so I'll bite my tongue.]

Brian McNaughton, Throne of Bones [Imagine an even more twisted and pervy version of Clark Ashton Smith]

Christopher Moore [No relation of my friend and sometime co-author, Cristopher Moore.]

Bloodsucking Fiends: a Love Story
Coyote Blue
Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings
Island of the Sequined Love-Nun
The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove
Practical Demon-Keeping
The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror

Richelle Mead, Succubus Blues

Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden, Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire: An Illustrated Novel

James Morrow

Bible Stories for Adults
Only Begotten Daughter [A smart Jewish girl from New Jersey, of course]
Towing Jehovah [When God dies, what happens to His Corpse?]

Justine Musk, Blood Angel

Garth Nix, Sabriel

Naomi Novik

His Majesty's Dragon
Throne of Jade
Black Powder War

Paul Parks, A Princess of Roumania [Recommended by Henry Farrell]

Tim Powers, Declare

Terry Pratchett

Discworld novels [merely my favorites among the ones I've read; alphabetical order]
- The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents
- Carpe Jugulum
- Feet of Clay
- Guards! Guards!
- Going Postal
- A Hat Full of Sky
- Hogfather [A delight "on many levels, not least of which is a deep reminder of the old blood-on-snow huge sweating bristly virile boar nightmare ice age aspects of Christmas" --- Bill Tozier]
- Interesting Times
- Jingo
- Maskerade [Not for opera-lovers]
- Monstrous Regiment
- Mort
- Men at Arms
- Night Watch
- Reaper Man
- Small Gods
- Soul Music
- The Truth
- Witches Abroad
- Wyrd Sisters
- Pyramids
- Thief of Time
- Thud!
- The Wee Free Men
Nation
and Neil Gaiman, Good Omens

Christopher Priest, The Prestiege

Philip Pullman

The Golden Compass = The Northern Lights
The Subtle Knife

Cat Rambo and Jeff VanderMeer, The Surgeon's Tale: And Other Stories

Kat Richardson

Greywalker
Poltergeist
Underground

Phil Rickman

Curfew = Crybbe [Part rural comedy, part New Age satire, entirely a well-written, scary horror novel]
December [Way too much about John Lennon, but still good]
The Man in the Moss
Merrily Watkins series [Procedural-style mysteries about a contemporary Church of England exorcist; addictive]
1. The Wine of Angels
2. Midwinter of the Spirit
3. A Crown of Lights
4. The Cure of Souls
5. The Lamp of the Wicked
6. Prayer of the Night Shepherd
7. The Smile of a Ghost
8. The Remains of An Altar
9. Fabric of Sin

Michelle Sagara

Cast in Shadow
Cast in Courtlight
Cast in Secret
Cast in Fury

Brandon Sanderson, The Final Empire [first book of a trilogy which I haven't finished; comments]

Will Shetterly

Cats Have No Lord
Elsewhere
Witchblood

Susan Shwartz, Shards of Empire

Dan Simmons

Carrion Comfort
Children of the Night [Really SF, but it's about vampires, and told like a horror novel]
Fires of Eden [Comic horror novel]
Song of Kali [Scarry as Hell]
The Terror

Clark Ashton Smith, Complete Online Works

Lucy A. Snyder, Installing Linux on a Dead Badger, and Other Oddities

Alexandra Sokoloff, The Harrowing [Comments]

Nancy Springer, Apocalypse

Brian Stableford, The Last Days of the Edge of the World [" 'Vanity,' said the mirror in tones of mild reproof, 'is not nice.' "]

Caroline Stevermer

A College of Magics
When the King Comes Home

Peter Straub

Floating Dragon
Ghost Story
In the Night Room
lost boy lost girl
Mr. X
Shadowland

Charles Stross [Lovecraftian spy fiction]

The "Laundry" series
1. The Atrocity Archive [Basically upbeat, with happy ending. The second half is free online now, actually.]
2. The Jennifer Morgue
3. A Colder War [Deeply horrifying]

J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings [Does it need to be said?]

Henry Turtledove, Between the Rivers [Review: The Voices Told Me to Clean the Ziggurat Today]

Catherynne Valente, The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden

Jack Vance [Deserves his own page]

Carrie Vaughn

Kitty and the Midnight Hour
Kitty Goes to Washington
Kitty Takes a Holiday
Kitty and the Silver Bullet
Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand
Kitty Raises Hell

Paula Volsky [Volsky might --- a bit unfairly --- be called a poor person's Jack Vance. Vance writes this sort of thing better, and has for about as long as Volsky's been alive, but she's still quite good, and, besides, what is one to do in the intervals between acquiring new books by Vance?]

The Curse of the Witch-Queen
The Gates of Twilight
The Grand Ellipse
Illusion
The Luck of Relian Kru
The White Tribunal
The Wolf of Winter
A trilogy (with no title that I know of) set in Lanthi Ume (roughly, Venice with the government of Naples, plus magicians):
1. The Sorceror's Lady
2. The Sorceror's Heir
3. The Sorceror's Curse

Lawrence Watt-Evans

The Lords of Dûs
1. The Lure of the Basilisk
2. The Seven Altars of Dûsarra
3. The Sword of Bheleu
4. The Book of Silence
The Misenchanted Sword
Touched by the Gods

Martha Wells

City of Bones
The Wheel of the Infinite
A series of loosely connected novels in a common universe:
- The Element of Fire [now free online]
- The Death of the Necromancer
- The Wizard Hunters
- The Ships of Air

Elizabeth Willey

A Sorceror and a Gentleman
The Price of Blood and Honor
A Well-Favored Man

Tad Williams

Tailchaser's Song
Memory, Sorrow, Thorn:
1. The Dragonbone Chair
2. The Stone of Farewell
3. To Green Angel Tower

Walter Jon Williams [Not what is usually meant by "urban fantasy," but rather much better: this has brains]

Metropolitan
City on Fire

Gene Wolfe

The Devil in a Forest
Free Live Free
There Are Doors

Gene Wolfe and Neil Gaiman, A Walking Tour of the Shambles (volume 16 of Little Walks for Sightseers)

N. Lee Wood, Bloodrights

Patricia Wrede [Wrede's books are all more or less pitched at younger readers (except The Seven Towers). Lucky kids.]

The Book of Enchantments
The Seven Towers
Duology in a Regency England with period squalor, and scholarly magic:
1. Mairelon the Magician
2. Magician's Ward
Lyra books [Now back in print in an omnibus, Shadows over Lyra, except for Raven]:
- Shadow Magic
- Daughter of Witches
- The Harp of Imach Thyssel
- The Raven Ring

Roger Zelazny

The first Amber series (of five books) is the only one worth bothering with, and even then the first two books are by far the best:
- Nine Princes in Amber
- The Guns of Avalon
A Night in Lonesome October
The Unicorn Variations

Roger Zelazny and Jane Lindskold, Lord Demon

Notebooks

Recommended Fantasy Books