CBG Fantasy Book Rankings

[Polycarp]

Haven't heard of most of these as I don't read a lot of fantasy, but here are my two votes.

The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R Tolkien - 8
A little dense at times, but a great world, a fun style, and generally a great read and re-read.  Gets maximum points for originality.

The Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan - 3
The first book was good, but I'm rating the series, which falls precipitously in quality as it goes on.

Beowulf - Some guy - 6
All I have to say about this is HWÆT

[SDragon]

Phoenix, you have LotR twice in your rankings so far.

No, that's a misreading. He has LotR and Lords of Darkness.

[Matt Larkin (author)]

I may have had a typo at some point. Should be up to date with Polycarp.

Edit: You mean Terry Prachet, snakefig?

[snakefing]

yeah, right... my bad.

[Matt Larkin (author)]

More Phoenix votes:
Beowulf - 4
Drizzt - 3
Cleric Quintet - 2
Cthulu - 6

[Elemental_Elf]

Drizzt Series - RA Salvatore: 8
Harry Potter Series - JK Rawling: 6
Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien: 7*
The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien: 9*
Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis - 7
Iliad - Homer: 4
Odyssey - Homer: 7
Beowulf - ??? - 7
Gilgamesh - ??? - 6
L5R: Clan Wars Saga - Various Authors - 7
The Tempest - Shakespeare: 8



  * If forced together, I would give the 4 books an 8.

[Matt Larkin (author)]

Ach, EE no editing your votes like that, please.

If anyone really must change their vote, make a new post stating the old vote and what you're changing it to so I can keep the running tally up to date.

[Poseptune]

Lord of the Rings - 9
Sword of Truth (Terry Goodkind) - 8
Hobbit - 8
Odyssey - 5
Chronicles of Narnia - 7

[Elemental_Elf]

Ach, EE no editing your votes like that, please.

If anyone really must change their vote, make a new post stating the old vote and what you're changing it to so I can keep the running tally up to date.

Sorry about that, I had a change of heart (i figured no one was watching in the short amount of time it took me to edit it), it won't happen again! :)

[Lmns Crn]

Okay, lemme see.

George R. R. Martin - A Song of Ice and Fire series - gets a 9. I will not be giving anything a higher score.

Garrison Keillor - Lake Woebegon Days and other similar stories - gets a 9. No joke. This is how you do worldbuilding.

Roger Zelazny - Amber series - gets an 8. Damn, I wish he had lived to finish the Merlin arc.

J. R. R. Tolkien - Middle Earth (all assorted writings) - gets an 8.

Edward Gorey - assorted works - get an 8. Because damn, man, jeez.

J. D. Salinger - The Catcher in the Rye - gets an 8.

Terry Pratchett - Discworld series - gets a 7.

Neil Gaiman - Neverwhere - gets a 7. You should read this, if you haven't already.

Richard Bach - Illusions, The Bridge Across Forever - get a 6, but my feelings about these books are constantly shifting.

Terry Brooks - The Word and the Void series - gets a 5, but I'll clarify that my main complaint is that I wish there were more of it.

Neil Gaiman - American Gods - gets a 5. I think the world-building and the characters (some of them, at least) outshine the plot.

Janny Wurtz - Cycle of Fire series - gets a 4. A lot of worn-out tropes, but masterfully executed. The prose gets higher marks here than the worldbuilding does, but I can taste the salt of the sea in the pages.

Terry Goodkind - Sword of Truth series - gets a 2. I really tried to like these books, but they wouldn't let me.

There, that's the list of things on my bookshelf at the moment. I listed the ones that I think are most interesting, whether I liked them or not. I'll be glad to discuss these rankings if you have questions. I'll even go ahead and assert that they're all fantasy books. Even the Keillor, the Bach, and the Salinger.

P.S. - The edit was just for formatting.

[Hibou]

Lord of the Rings - 2
Harry Potter - 5
Drizzt Saga - 8
Cthulhu Mythos - 8
Discworld - 10
The Hobbit - 9

These are the only series' I've actually read from that list (I am working my way through Beowulf and am trying to get some such as Frankenstein and Dracula).

[LordVreeg]

AArg.  I am NOT going down into the basement to check the library.  I will work from memory only.


Tolkien-LotR-9
Rawlings-Potter-7
Martin-Fire and Ice-9
Jordan-Wheel of Time-4
Lewis-Narnia-6
Rice-VAmpire-3
Le Guin-Earthsea-4
Beowulf-3
Gaiman-Gods/Anansi-9
Howard-Conan-6
Lovecraft-Cthulu-7
King-Dark Tower-6
Weis/Hickman-Dragonlance-5
Pratchett-Discworld-8
Stoker-Dracula-8
Moorcock-Elric-8
Moorcock-Hawkmoon-7
Moorcock-Corum-6
Gilgamesh-5
Pullman-His Dark Materials-8
Tolkien-The Hobbit-6
Tolkien-The Silmarillion-7
Homer-The Illiad-9
Book of the Long Sun-9
Homer-the Odysee-5
Brooks-Shannara-3
Goodkind-the Sword of Truth-3
Brust-Taltos series-7
Anthony-Xanth-3
Anthony-Blue Adept-4
Anthony-INcarnations of Immortality-5
Feist-Krondor-6
Glen Cook-The Black co-8 (the definition of gritty)
Chris Tolkien-Children of Hurin-8
Kurtz-Deryni-6
Williams-Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn-8
Rawn-The Golden Key-7
Saberhagen-Book of Swords-4
Rawn-Sunrunner saga-5
Mccaffery--Pern-5
Donaldson-Covenent first 4 books-9, then stop reading them
Keys-Age of UNreason-7
Zelazney-Amber/corwin-8
Zelazney-Amber/Merlin-6
Zelazney-Lord of Light-10
Hobb-Assassin series-8
Card-Alvin AMker-5
Jones-Master of the Word-6
Macdonald-Lilith-6
Mckiernann-Mithgar-5

Maybe more tomorrow

[Ishmayl-Retired]

I forgot about Goodkind... I said there are rarely books that I can't finish (speaking of Elantris).... Sword of Truth was a series I couldn't finish.  Books 1-6 at least held my interst, with 2 of the books (Temple of the Winds, Faith of the Fallen) being almost decent (5) and the other four being mostly gag-worthy (3).  Book 7, I put down in disgust, and then attempted just to read book 8 without reading 7, and sold it the day after I bought it.  I will not finish that series.  Overall, I rank it as a 3 max.

[Ishmayl-Retired]

Garrison Keillor - Lake Woebegon Days and other similar stories - gets a 9. No joke. This is how you do worldbuilding.

I love anything that comes out of this man's mind or mouth.

[Kaptn'Lath]

great... i get to follow up ^that^

well a slightly shorter list, with some oldies.

LOTR - 6
Hobbit - 7.5
Narnia Series - 6
Dragon Riders of Pern - Anna Mcaffrey 9 <- how has this not been listed yet?
Vampire Lestat - 6
Memnoch the Devil - 8
Oddessy-Homer - 8
Beowulf - 9 (The ORIGINAL, not a novel... thank you English Lit...)