A reading journey: The 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time
Fantasy has always been my go-to genre when reading. No matter the mood I am in, fantasy seems to cover all my needs. At some point, I…
Fantasy has always been my go-to genre when reading. No matter the mood I am in, fantasy seems to cover all my needs. At some point, I found myself rereading the same books and going back to the same type of plots, and fantasy started to feel like it lacked something.
I struggled a little with exploring new authors and sub genres, but then I came across the list TIME set up in 2020: The 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time.
The 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time
In 2020, TIME published their list of the 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time. A list they had spent the previous year mapping out, by putting together a panel consisting of leading fantasy authors and TIME staff, who were tasked with nominating the top books in the genre.
They ended up with 250 nominations before they proceeded to continue with ranking the books. The editors considered each nominated finalist on some key factors:
Originality
Ambition
Artistry
Critical and popular reception
and lastly: influence on the fantasy genre and literature
What caught my interest with this list was it seemed to have a different approach, compared to many of the other lists I’ve seen over the years. Add the fact that it did have many authors I had not heard of, despite being a fantasy lover for years, I could not stop thinking that this might give me a little spark into discovering new authors and series I would enjoy.
By November 2020, I made the decision that this would be my reading project for the unforeseeable future. Going through the list and starting to plan out where I would start, I discovered that some books are part of series. Sometimes book two or even three is on the list, but not the first book. Obviously I would need to read all the books in a series, not just jump into the middle of one.
And then it hit me. This list is then so much bigger than “just” a 100 books. By including all the books in a series, I ended up with a list consisting of 267 books. Safe to say this is the largest reading project I’ve ever committed myself to.
Ready — steady — go read!
I had read a couple of books on the list, some recently, while others I could barely remember. There will be some rereads, as I would like to see how certain books hold up today, compared to what I thought of them as a child/teenager. And to be honest: there are so many things I’ve forgotten that it would be nice to dive back into these different universes that I used to adore.
Up until now, I have kept my reviews short and sweet on my instagram account: bookstrider. Collecting them in a guide there and posting updates on my stories. But the more I read, the more I would like to write longer reviews, some shorter updates in between, and — well I miss writing.
This blog will be it.
The place I can rant a little more about the books I read, the list, which books I love or hate (there are a few there too). So in others words: Welcome to my very ambitious reading journey.
Current numbers (updated October 8th 2024):
32/100 — original list
51/267 — extended list
Current read: A Storm of Swords part II: Blood and Gold by George R.R. Martin.
