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Given the existence of other lists, curious to see a fantasy list with even more stringent requirements.

So - 50,000 ratings, first book in a series only, and an average rating of 4.0 or above and tagged at least 1000 times as fantasy

This list is in reaction to the blog entry Top 50 favorite fantasy novels on goodreads from Hayley Igarashi on July 29, 2017.

It is an attempt to turn an arbitrary definition into a precise definition.

===

Some Subgenres:
Best Epic Fantasy
Best Urban Fantasy

Fantasy by Time Period:
Pre-Tolkien Fantasy (Fantasy up through 1937)
Classic Fantasy (Fantasy written before 1980)

Fantasy by Decade:
1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s
1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s

Locus Recommended Fantasy:
2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015,
2014, 2013, 2012, 2011

Fantasy By Ratings:
More than 100000, 50000 to 99999, 25000 to 49999, 10000 to 24999
1000 to 9999, 100 to 999, Less than 100

Other Fantasy Lists of Note:
Best Fantasy Books of the 21st Century
Best Fantasy of the 20th Century
Best Forgotten Fantasy of the 20th Century
Popular Highly Rated Fantasy

See Also
Books With a Goodreads Average Rating of 4 and Above and at least 30,000 ratings
1

by
4.41 avg rating — 3,254,741 ratings
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2

by
4.66 avg rating — 737,027 ratings
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3

by
4.47 avg rating — 11,906,529 ratings
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4

by
4.30 avg rating — 4,666,733 ratings
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5

by
4.45 avg rating — 2,834,258 ratings
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6

by
4.52 avg rating — 1,126,687 ratings
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7

by
4.48 avg rating — 1,101,100 ratings
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8

by
4.18 avg rating — 2,753,963 ratings
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9

by
4.20 avg rating — 458,993 ratings
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10

by
4.24 avg rating — 3,244,996 ratings
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11

by
4.45 avg rating — 1,226,492 ratings
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12

by
4.19 avg rating — 617,509 ratings
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13

by
4.09 avg rating — 490,647 ratings
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14

by
4.31 avg rating — 3,585,630 ratings
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15

by
4.30 avg rating — 363,415 ratings
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16

by
4.16 avg rating — 570,560 ratings
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17

by
4.27 avg rating — 966,791 ratings
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18

by
4.25 avg rating — 851,025 ratings
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19

by
4.08 avg rating — 179,668 ratings
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19

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,897,114 ratings
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21

by
4.28 avg rating — 480,065 ratings
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22

by
4.16 avg rating — 222,669 ratings
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23

by
4.34 avg rating — 2,634,811 ratings
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24

by
4.30 avg rating — 892,395 ratings
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25

by
4.14 avg rating — 4,686,695 ratings
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26

by
4.29 avg rating — 309,860 ratings
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27

by
4.27 avg rating — 138,877 ratings
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28

by
4.06 avg rating — 485,385 ratings
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29

by
4.16 avg rating — 128,807 ratings
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30

by
4.14 avg rating — 222,565 ratings
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31

by
4.22 avg rating — 341,852 ratings
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32

by
4.10 avg rating — 1,008,999 ratings
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33

by
4.31 avg rating — 83,755 ratings
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34

by
4.16 avg rating — 377,830 ratings
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35

by
4.23 avg rating — 366,211 ratings
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36

by
4.15 avg rating — 133,196 ratings
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37

by
4.13 avg rating — 215,564 ratings
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38

by
4.26 avg rating — 1,093,199 ratings
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38

by
4.12 avg rating — 256,010 ratings
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40

by
4.28 avg rating — 358,253 ratings
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41

by
4.28 avg rating — 973,320 ratings
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42

by
4.27 avg rating — 1,192,220 ratings
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43

by
4.06 avg rating — 2,224,023 ratings
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43

by
4.16 avg rating — 113,564 ratings
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45

by
4.13 avg rating — 812,401 ratings
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46

by
4.07 avg rating — 116,353 ratings
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47

by
4.10 avg rating — 517,334 ratings
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48

by
4.20 avg rating — 315,086 ratings
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49

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 146,536 ratings
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50

by
4.16 avg rating — 106,468 ratings
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51

by
4.34 avg rating — 1,159,264 ratings
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52

by
4.04 avg rating — 139,308 ratings
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53

by
4.25 avg rating — 278,221 ratings
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54

by
4.14 avg rating — 440,831 ratings
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55

by
4.18 avg rating — 228,900 ratings
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56

by
4.24 avg rating — 134,689 ratings
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57

by
4.41 avg rating — 115,061 ratings
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58

by
4.10 avg rating — 690,369 ratings
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59

by
4.04 avg rating — 137,050 ratings
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60

by
4.09 avg rating — 201,181 ratings
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61

by
4.26 avg rating — 102,295 ratings
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62

by
4.02 avg rating — 106,938 ratings
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63

by
4.12 avg rating — 167,308 ratings
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64

by
4.11 avg rating — 582,584 ratings
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65

by
4.29 avg rating — 73,906 ratings
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66

by
4.16 avg rating — 305,553 ratings
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67

by
4.51 avg rating — 283,982 ratings
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68

by
4.14 avg rating — 328,109 ratings
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68

by
4.37 avg rating — 143,918 ratings
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68

by
4.15 avg rating — 562,955 ratings
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71

by
4.23 avg rating — 543,564 ratings
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72

by
4.04 avg rating — 71,871 ratings
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73

by
4.03 avg rating — 380,510 ratings
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74

by
4.20 avg rating — 192,526 ratings
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75

by
4.17 avg rating — 956,706 ratings
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76

by
4.05 avg rating — 83,940 ratings
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77

by
4.10 avg rating — 94,142 ratings
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78

by
4.23 avg rating — 1,333,952 ratings
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78

by
4.13 avg rating — 115,757 ratings
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80

by
4.15 avg rating — 573,336 ratings
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81

by
4.16 avg rating — 95,437 ratings
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82

by
4.25 avg rating — 118,736 ratings
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83

by
4.08 avg rating — 247,246 ratings
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84

by
4.01 avg rating — 275,589 ratings
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85

by
4.41 avg rating — 94,449 ratings
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86

by
4.05 avg rating — 413,098 ratings
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87

by
4.15 avg rating — 179,726 ratings
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88

by
4.03 avg rating — 398,250 ratings
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89

by
4.04 avg rating — 130,711 ratings
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90

by
4.14 avg rating — 182,575 ratings
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91

by
4.56 avg rating — 300,990 ratings
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92

by
4.18 avg rating — 440,077 ratings
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93

by
4.02 avg rating — 584,880 ratings
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93

by
4.22 avg rating — 88,948 ratings
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95

by
4.03 avg rating — 519,221 ratings
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96

by
4.12 avg rating — 300,219 ratings
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97

by
4.01 avg rating — 192,840 ratings
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98

by
4.02 avg rating — 117,384 ratings
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99

by
4.15 avg rating — 96,236 ratings
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100

by
4.10 avg rating — 95,657 ratings
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193 books · 147 voters · list created July 31st, 2017 by Mitchell Friedman (votes) .
36 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Mitchell 11268 books
171 friends
Lora 2034 books
59 friends
Soumya 1374 books
38 friends
Elentarri 3633 books
189 friends
Su 476 books
115 friends
Mike 743 books
2 friends
Sandy 9790 books
11 friends
Alexey 81 books
35 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-9 of 9 (9 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman removed The Silmarillion and Hush, Hush for having an average rating of less than 4.0


message 2: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman for the 2018 version of the blog entry - see https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/1344


message 3: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman removed The Book of Three for having an average rating of less than 4.0


message 4: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman removed Shadow and Bone and The Queen of the Tearling for dropping below an average rating of 4.0


message 5: by Mitchell (last edited Jul 08, 2021 03:13PM) (new)

Mitchell Friedman Removed A Wrinkle in Time and Daughter of Smoke & Bone and Dragons of Autumn Twilight and Storm Front and Some Girls Bite and Eragon for dropping below an average rating of 4.0

Removed Becoming for not having 50,000 ratings.


message 6: by Muhammad (new)

Muhammad Fawwaz 101,107,108 and others have less than 50k ratings.


message 7: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman Removed Tigana and Malice and The Curse of Chalion and The Aeronaut's Windlass andThe Goblin Emperor for not having 50,000 ratings

Removed Spell Bound and Crooked Kingdom for not being first book in a series


message 8: by Mitchell (last edited Dec 27, 2023 04:08PM) (new)

Mitchell Friedman 60+ new entries for this list - come take a look


message 9: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman ❌ OUTLIER: [LOW AVG RATING] The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (Avg: 3.99, Pos: 18)
❌ OUTLIER: [LOW AVG RATING] My Lady Jane (The Lady Janies, #1) by Cynthia Hand (Avg: 3.99, Pos: 150)


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