A recent Poll by Play.Com to find the Greatest Book Of All Time has polled 3 fantasy titles in the Top Ten. It will come as no surprise to find that JRR Tolkien’s Lord of The Rings takes top fantasy title although it may surprise some people (not here at FBR) that this book rates a worthy 2nd place in a poll which covers all genres and eras. The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis made a very respectable 3rd place, whilst JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban completes the trio with 9th place.
Do you agree with the placing’s of these books or these authors? Don’t forget you can vote for the All Time Greatest Fantasy Author in our Poll.
TOP 10 BOOKS OF ALL TIME
1. To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee
2. Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C.S Lewis
4. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
5. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
6. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
7. Animal Farm - George Orwell
8. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
9. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - JK Rowling
10. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
JRR Tolkien and JK Rowling have written books that are amongst the list of the best selling books of all time. The list, topped by The Bible covers all genres and if fantasy readers ever felt that they were amongst a minority then this shows that they couldn’t be more wrong. I have listed below the top 20 selling books of all time and also included the fantasy books that appear in the top 50.
- The Bible - between 4 and 6 billion
- Quotations from Chairman Mao - 900 million
- The Qur’an - 800 million
- Don Quixote - 500 million
- Xinhau Zidian - 400 million
- Book of Common Prayer - 300 million
- Pilgrim’s Progress - 250 million
- Foxe’s Book of Martyrs - 150 million
- Book of Mormon - 120 million
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone - 117 million
- And Then There Were None - 110 million
- The Lord of the Rings - 100 million
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - 77 million
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - 66 million
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - 65 million
- The Catcher in the Rye - 65 million
- The Da Vinci Code - 64 million
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - 60 million
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - 58 million
- Heidi’s Years of Wandering and Learning - 52 million
Other notable fantasy entries are Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at #48 having sold between 25 and 30 million copies. This must make JK Rowling one of, if not the best selling authors of all time. I will find out who they are and post the results at a later date.
We can all remember the great fantasy books from our childhood. Some of us have gone back to these very same books as adults and enjoyed them over and over again, sometimes with the helping of a large dose of nostalgia. However, there are a few of these that stand the test of time and maturity and still read as well today as they did when we were younger.
JRR Tolkien, Julie Andrews, CS Lewis, Enid Blyton. The list is endless and we all have our favourites. In recent times JK Rowling and Philip Pullman have brought more great fantasy novels for the delight of children and adults delight.
This is list of the four fantasy books that I remember best from my own childhood, please feel free to email me with any books that you feel are a must read for the budding fantasy reader.
Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis
Travel to the magical land of Narnia and rejoin the four children as they join Prince Caspian and Reepicheep the mouse to battle the evil King Miraz. This is the fourth book in the Chronicles of Narnia series and in my opinion the best.
Duncton Wood by William Horwood
Enter the magical world of Bracken and Rebecca and all the moles of Duncton Wood. This is an enchanting story of a community losing it’s soul but being saved by courage and love.
Watership Down by Richard Adams
One of the best stories ever written and it’s about rabbits. Follow a warren of rabbits as they search for a safe place to live when their own warren is destroyed by man. This is a touching, enthralling piece of work that can be read again and again.
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
The tale of a comfort loving hobbit who unwillingly gets drawn into adventures involving dwarves, treasure and a dragon called Smaug the Magnificient. A must read for anybody with an imagination. Read our full review of The Hobbit here.
Magician by Raymond E. Feist is a simply fantastic book. It is a joy to read from beginning to end but there is one chapter that stands out above the rest. If you have never read the book before, please be warned that the following could give away a very important section of the story and spoil what might be one of the best fantasy books you have ever read. I wouldn’t want to do that. If you are happy to continue then please read on…
After becoming a slave Pug is found to have magical power. He is sent for training and has no knowledge of his past. Re-named Milamber, he has passed the first stages of his magician’s training and has shed his white robe for grey. He continues to learn quickly and then he is led to a large staircase which leads up and up to the top of a high tower. A spire sat on top of the stone tower with further stairs leading into the clouds. He stands precariously on a small platform and then begins a simply mind-expanding experience.
“FOR A TIME he floats, nameless and lost. A pinpoint of flickering consciousness, an unknown swimmer through a black and empty sea. Then a single note invades the void. It reverberates, a soundless sound, a sense-lacking intruder on the senses. -Without senses, how is there perception?- his mind asks. His mind! -I am!- he cries, and a million philosophies cry out in wonder. -If I am, then what is not me?- he wonders.
An echo replies, -You are that which you are, and not that which you are not-
-An unsatisfactory answer- he muses.
-Good- replies the echo.
-What is that note?- he asks.
-It is the touch of an old man’s sleep the moment before death-
-What is that note?-
-It is the color of winter-
-What is that note?-
-It is the sound of hope-
-What is that note?-
-It is the taste of love-
-What is that note?-
-It is an alarm to wake you-
HE FLOATS. Around him swim a billion billion stars. Great clusters drift by, ablaze with energy. In riots of color they spin, giant reds and blues, the smaller oranges and yellow, and the tiny reds and whites. The colorless and angry black ones drink in the storm of light around them, white others pulse out energies in an unknown spectrum, and a few twist the fabric of space and time, sending his vision swimming as he tries to fathom their passing. From each to each a line of force stretches, binding them all in a net of power. Back and forth along the strands of this web energy flows, pulsing with a life that is not life. The stars know as they fly by. They are aware of his presence, but acknowledge it not. He is too small for them to be concerned with. Around him streches away the whole of the universe.
At various points in the web, creatures of power rest or work, each different from the others, but all somehow the same. Some he can see are gods, for they are familiar to him, and others are less or more. Each plays a role. Some regard him, for his passing in not without notice; some are beyond him, too great to comprehend him, and so being, are less than he. Others study him closely, weighing his power and abilities against his own. He studies them in return. All are silent.
He speeds among the stars and beings of power, until he espies a star, one among a multitude, but one that calls to him. From the star twenty lines of energy lead away, and near reach is a being of power. Without knowing why, he understands that here are the ancient gods of Kelewan. Each plays on the nearest line of power influencing the structure of space and time nearby. Some contest among themselves, others work oblivious to the strife, and still others do nothing that is descernible.
He moves closer. A single planet swings about the star, a blue-and-green sphere shrouded in white clouds. Kelewan.”
This chapter is but a small section of this wonderful chapter that follows Milamber through the final stages of his training. H witnesses the beginning of worlds and is shown how wars started. We hope this gave you a flavour of just how excellent it is. To appreciate this chaper in full it should be read in the context of the book as a whole and not as a stand alone entity.
If this has whetted your appetite, why not buy the book today and read it for yourself, you will certainly not regret it.
The dictionary describes fantasy as being of the imagination, especially when extravagant or unrestrained. It goes on to say that fantasy is the forming of mental images, especially wondrous or strange fancies; imaginative conceptualizing.
A fantasy novel is of the genre that includes magic and other supernatural elements as part of plot, setting or theme. Fantasy fiction in its modern form has been around for almost two centuries though it can be traced much further back.
The Epic of Gilgamesh is perhaps the earliest example of the fantasy genre. Gilgamesh was a Uruk King of Babylonia (modern day Iraq). It is believed that he ruled around 2700 B.C.. The first legends of Gilgamesh appeared around 2000 B.C., inscribed on clay tablets in the native Sumerian language. The version that is available today is believed to have been made up from twelve stone tablets found amongst the ruins of the library of King Ashurbanipal (King of Assyria 669-633 B.C.). These tablets named Shin-eqi-unninni as the author and he is possibly the first ever author that has been recorded.
George MacDonald, a Scottish author is widely regarded as the first author of fantasy books for adults. His works included The Princess and theGoblin and Phantastes. George MacDonald was a huge influence on both J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.
It was at the turn of the 19th century that fantasy fiction started to become popular with Lord Dunsany writing novels and short stories on the theme. Rudyard Kipling and Edgar Rice Burroughs also contributed to the genre at this time. Peter Pan (J.M. Barrie) and The Wizard of Oz (Frank L. Baum) were also published around this time.
In the 1950’s heroic fantasy began to find itself a much larger audience with Conan the Barbarian proving very popular. However, it was high fantasy, in the form of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings that enabled the fantasy genre to burst fully upon the nation’s conscience. C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia helped keep an already interested audience hooked on the genre.
The fantasy novel is still alive and well in the 21st century with J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series proving to be a phenomenon amongst both children and adults of all ages. The film versions of the Harry Potter series and The Lord of the Rings trilogy has also brought fantasy to a whole new generation.
In the following article we will attempt to provide a condensed guide to fantasy literature. This is by no means complete as many sub genres have not been included as we focus on the most popular and most commonly used forms.
What is a good example of fantasy literature?
We need look no further than J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings. The use of magic is prevalent throughout the three books. The magical ring itself, which is centerpiece to the entire story and the magic of Gandalf, reinforce this aspect. The world of Middle-earth is similar in many aspects to our own, another element of modern day fantasy. The Elves, Orcs and other peoples that inhabit this world require an imaginative belief that marks this piece of work down as fantasy literature, specifically high fantasy.
The origins of fantasy
There is already an article concentrating on the beginnings of fantasy literature / fiction. Read the Origins of Fantasy Fiction article.
We have already mentioned that The Lord of the Rings can be placed into the sub genre of high fantasy; now let’s look in a bit more detail at some of the most popular sub genres of fantasy literature.
High fantasy
This form is sometimes also called epic fantasy. Integral to a high fantasy story is the struggle between good and evil, for example the battle between Gandalf the White and the Dark Lord Sauron strongly illustrates this point. The outcome of these struggles normally carries world-altering consequences and a strong moral vein running throughout differentiates a high fantasy novel from that of sword and sorcery. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen Donaldson is another great example of high fantasy.
Sword and sorcery
The sword and sorcery sub genre become very popular in the 1950’s with the Conan the Barbarian novels by Robert E. Howard. In these novels the hero’s are usually atypical and are far from perfect and walk a fine line between doing good and serving their own self interest. More recently, David Gemmell added to this sub genre with his novels featuring Waylander.
Comic fantasy
This genre of fantasy parodies (mostly affectionately) all fantasy sub genres. It could be said that the primary objective of comic fantasy is to amuse and as such has been occasionally regarded as Low Fantasy due to not being a “serious” piece of work. The most famous author of comic fantasy is Terry Pratchett. Pratchett’s Discworld series, which began with The Colour of Magic, is an immensely popular series of comic fantasy novels.
Contemporary fantasy
J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series is a good example of contemporary fantasy. This is a difficult genre to define, one definition might say that the story must contain magical elements within the real world but these magical elements must remain unknown to the majority of the world’s population. The Chronicles of Narnia would not however belong in this category, as the wardrobe is just a portal to the fantasy world, this again is the case in Guy Gavriel Kay’s Fionavar Tapestry.
Saga, myth and legend
The Arthurian legends, Beowulf and the tale of Robin Hood would all fall under this genre.
Historical fantasy
This genre takes a period of history from this world’s past and introduces fantasy elements to it. One of the finest exponents of historical fantasy is Guy Gavriel Kay, his best novel, Tigana, was set in a medieval style Italy whilst The Lions of Al-Rassan has the flavour of medieval Spain. Another author who uses historical themes in his work in George R. R. Martin.
OK, so this completes our whirlwind guide to fantasy literature and it’s sub genres. We will go into these and many more in much more detail at a later date.
The World Fantasy Awards is an annual award ceremony that has been running since 1975. The 2006 ceremony was held in Austin, Texas in November and here are the winners.
Novel
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
Novella
Voluntary Committal by Joe Hill
Short Fiction
Comm Comm by George Saunders
Anthology
The Fair Folk edited by Marvin Kaye.
Collection
The Keyhole Opera by Bruce Holland Rogers.
Artist
James Jean
Special Award
Sean Wallace for Prime Books
Special Award: Non Professional
David Howe and Stephen Walker for Telos Books
A short history of the awards
Some notable winners of a world fantasy award include Patricia A. McKillip’s The Forgotten Beasts of Eld in 1975, Robert R. McCammon’s Boy’s Life in 1992.
Ursula Le Guin, an author that fantasybookreview.co.uk respects greatly, was awarded a lifetime achievement award in 1995 and then won the award for best novel in 2002 for her excellent story, The Other Wind.
So near, so many times, the Stephen King story
The world famous fantasy / horror author Stephen King has been nominated for the best novel award seven times for the books It , The Stand , The Talisman (with Peter Straub), Misery , Salem’s Lot , The Mist and Pet Semetary . Although he never actually won the best novel award, he was awarded a lifetime achievement award in 2004. Being unsuccessful so many times in main category obviously did not upset Stephen King too much as he has since sat on the panel of judges several times.
A recent winner of a World Fantasy Award was Susanna Clarke for her debut novel, the wonderful Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. She received this award in 2005.
The World Fantasy Awards 2007
The judges have been announced for the 2007 awards and they are Gavin Grant, Ed Greenwood, Jeremy Lassen, Jeff Mariotte, Carsten Polzin. The awards will be chaired by Joseph T. Berlant. The master of Ceremonies will be the esteemed Canadian author Guy Gavriel Kay.
The winners of the lifetime achievement award
Forrest J. Ackerman, Lloyd Alexander, Everett F. Bleiler, Robert Bloch, Jorge Luis Borges, Ray Bradbury, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Italo Calvino, Edd Cartier, Hugh B. Cave, John Crowley, Roald Dahl, Avram Davidson, L. Sprague de Camp, Tom Doherty, Harlan Ellison, Carol Emshwiller. Stephen Fabian, Philip José Farmer, Edward L. Ferman, Jack Finney, Frank Frazetta, Donald M. Grant, Stephen King, R.A. Lafferty, Madeleine L’Engle, Ursula K. Le Guin, Fritz Leiber, Frank Belknap Long, Richard Matheson, Michael Moorcock, C.L. Moore, Andre Norton, E. Hoffmann Price, Ray Russell, George Scithers, Theodore Sturgeon, Jack Vance, Evangeline Walton, Donald Wandrei, Manly Wade Wellman, Jack Williamson, Gahan Wilson, Gene Wolfe.
A selection of these winning novels can be purchased in our online aStore, simply click on the following aStore link and select World Fantasy Awards 2006 from the category menu.
I have always enjoyed listening to audiobooks. My first purchases were Ray Dotrice’s magical reading of Watership Down and Douglas Adam’s fantastic Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Since then I have continued to use audiobooks, in parallel with reading, to widen my reading and listening enjoyment.
Let’s just quickly explain what an audiobook is for those who have never come across them before. An audiobook is a book that is read out aloud by a narrator and was originally mainly available in the tape format but can now be purchased on CD and also downloaded in mp3 / mp4 format. Audiobooks are extremely useful because they can help children learn to read and are also invaluable to the blind.
The audiobook’s popularity has increased over the last five to ten years due to the many activities that can still be carried out still being able to listen to them. For example, you are able to listen to an audiobook whilst driving, doing the housework or even naughtily in bed after lights out.
We have put together a selection of the finest fantasy tales available in the audiobook format today.
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
This is an excellent unabridged telling of Susanna Clarke’s debut novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. At more than thirty two hours this is certainly brilliant value for money. The narrator Simon Prebble has an excellently descriptive voice that perfectly fits the story and captures the period setting of the novel. As already mentioned, this is over thirty two hours worth of audiobook and may take you a while to get through but the tale of the two competing magicians should keep you enthralled throughout.
The Hobbit
This is J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic tale of Bilbo Baggins and Smaug the Magnificent brought to life on audiobook. Rob Inglis narrates The Hobbit and this is an abridged version of the children’s and adults ,favourite. Due to this being in abridged form it is only 11 hours in length but that is more than long enough to get this wonderful story across to the reader. This audiobook is also available with the narration of Martin Shaw, who has already done such a good job on Tolkien’s collection of ancient tales, The Silmarillion.
The Lord of the Rings - Fellowship of the Rings
Following on from The Hobbit, is of course, The Lord of the Rings. This audiobook is also narrated by Rob Inglis and The Fellowship of The Ring is the first installment of J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterpiece. This is a beautiful unabridged reading and really brings The Lord of the Rings to life. I would still have to honestly say that reading the book is the best way to enjoy this classic but this audio version is also of an excellent standard. This could make a long journey considerably easier…
THUD!
This audiobook is a recent addition and features Stephen Briggs as the narrator of Terry Pratchett’s discworld book THUD! Ten hours worth of pure enjoyment!
These are just a few titles that can now be purchased in stores or online as audiobooks. There are many, many more, why not visit Aubible.co.uk to see what they have to offer? These titles are also available within our online aStore. Simply go to either the UK aStore or the US aStore and select the audiobooks category.
The fantasy genre has always been very good at portraying characters that are good or evil. In recent times this distinction has become blurred due to the new breed of authors creating sympathetic villians and flawed heroes.
We have put together a collection of our favourite characters from the fantasy genre. We have focused mainly on the best known and loved characters. Please feel free to email us with your favourite characters and we will add them to our list.
We will begin with the Lord of The Rings. Where better to start? In the good corner we have Gandalf, a kindly, yet powerful wizard who is a friend to all Hobbits. Gandalf is possibly one of the most readily identifiable characters in fantasy, from his first appearance in The Hobbit through to his starring role in The Lord of the Rings, he became known within and outside fantasy circles.
We will stay with wizards for our next selection. Ged, or Sparrowhawk, the young boy who becomes a Wizard in Ursuala Le Guin’s Earthsea series is an endearing character whom we follow for childhood through to old age. He is a character that we can all identify with in that although he always tries to do good, there is always a darker side to us that is fighting the other way. He is, in our opinion, the greatest wizard in fantasy after the great Gandalf. If you want to read more about The Earthsea books, we have a full review of The Earthsea Quartet on this site.
Let’s move on and look at an character that would be classified as evil…
We have gone for Lord Foul, “The Despiser” from Stephen Donaldson’s The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant to be our first evil character. In a style similar to Sauron, he never appears in the flesh in the books but his spoken word is pure venow. His aim is to break the Arch of Time and gain revenge upon his enemy “The Creator”. Lord Foul oozes unpleasentness and evil throughout the series and his harm is often more pyschological than physical in its manisfestation.
Bilbo Baggins, no further explanation is needed! Bilbo has been enchanting readers for over fifty years. A comfort-loving Hobbit and star of the The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, Bilbo’s reluctant adventures in The Hobbit remain with anybody who has ever read and enjoyed the books. Perhaps it his unwillingness that makes him more appealing than most, a Hobbit who would be quite happy at home with the kettle boiling, he finds himself in conversations with a dragon, meeting trolls and fighting at the Battle of Five Armies. Bilbo has indeed taken his rightful place amongst the best-known literary characters.
If you prefer your heroic fantasy characters then David Gemmell’s Druss the Legend should keep you going for years. He is an old-fashioned hero, a man not without flaws but a great man who lives by a code of decency. He can combat unsurmountable odds and even travel into the Netherworld to help friends. In Druss, Gemmell has given us a hero worth the name.
I think that David Gemmell was the foremost writer of heroic fantasy. Druss will appeal to readers of all ages and in Sieben, his loyal friend we have a great partnership that brings humour into a world full of violence, hurt and sadness. If you have never read any eroic fantasy before, give this a try, you will not be sorry. Read our review for Druss in The Legend of Deathwalker here.