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 — 3,210,776 ratings
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2

by
4.66 avg rating — 707,126 ratings
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3

by
4.47 avg rating — 11,668,991 ratings
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4

by
4.30 avg rating — 4,567,472 ratings
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5

by
4.45 avg rating — 2,786,695 ratings
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6

by
4.52 avg rating — 1,106,928 ratings
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7

by
4.18 avg rating — 2,595,358 ratings
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8

by
4.48 avg rating — 1,044,705 ratings
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9

by
4.20 avg rating — 426,995 ratings
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10

by
4.24 avg rating — 3,202,315 ratings
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11

by
4.45 avg rating — 1,192,875 ratings
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12

by
4.19 avg rating — 606,676 ratings
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13

by
4.09 avg rating — 486,361 ratings
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14

by
4.31 avg rating — 3,520,082 ratings
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15

by
4.30 avg rating — 353,525 ratings
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16

by
4.16 avg rating — 566,813 ratings
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17

by
4.27 avg rating — 958,700 ratings
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18

by
4.25 avg rating — 837,709 ratings
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18

by
4.34 avg rating — 2,558,432 ratings
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18

by
4.06 avg rating — 483,305 ratings
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18

by
4.28 avg rating — 463,808 ratings
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18

by
4.16 avg rating — 220,549 ratings
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18

by
4.30 avg rating — 885,631 ratings
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18

by
4.08 avg rating — 178,036 ratings
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18

by
4.27 avg rating — 137,992 ratings
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18

by
4.29 avg rating — 296,619 ratings
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18

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,822,250 ratings
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18

by
4.15 avg rating — 4,457,754 ratings
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19

by
4.16 avg rating — 125,842 ratings
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20

by
4.14 avg rating — 220,997 ratings
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21

by
4.22 avg rating — 327,863 ratings
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22

by
4.10 avg rating — 999,939 ratings
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23

by
4.31 avg rating — 83,367 ratings
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24

by
4.16 avg rating — 364,680 ratings
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25

by
4.23 avg rating — 358,487 ratings
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26

by
4.15 avg rating — 131,559 ratings
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27

by
4.13 avg rating — 214,406 ratings
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28

by
4.26 avg rating — 1,080,260 ratings
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28

by
4.12 avg rating — 254,943 ratings
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30

by
4.28 avg rating — 347,793 ratings
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31

by
4.29 avg rating — 959,469 ratings
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32

by
4.27 avg rating — 1,175,021 ratings
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33

by
4.06 avg rating — 2,200,448 ratings
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33

by
4.16 avg rating — 112,681 ratings
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35

by
4.13 avg rating — 796,778 ratings
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36

by
4.07 avg rating — 114,434 ratings
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37

by
4.19 avg rating — 311,438 ratings
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38

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 145,184 ratings
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39

by
4.17 avg rating — 104,743 ratings
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40

by
4.34 avg rating — 1,136,843 ratings
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41

by
4.10 avg rating — 511,770 ratings
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42

by
4.05 avg rating — 137,358 ratings
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43

by
4.25 avg rating — 275,573 ratings
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44

by
4.14 avg rating — 429,285 ratings
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45

by
4.18 avg rating — 225,373 ratings
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46

by
4.24 avg rating — 133,204 ratings
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47

by
4.40 avg rating — 110,567 ratings
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48

by
4.10 avg rating — 686,155 ratings
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49

by
4.04 avg rating — 136,077 ratings
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50

by
4.10 avg rating — 200,296 ratings
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51

by
4.26 avg rating — 100,841 ratings
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52

by
4.13 avg rating — 166,228 ratings
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53

by
4.37 avg rating — 137,858 ratings
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54

by
4.17 avg rating — 945,059 ratings
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55

by
4.10 avg rating — 93,466 ratings
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56

by
4.24 avg rating — 1,302,657 ratings
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56

by
4.13 avg rating — 114,811 ratings
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58

by
4.15 avg rating — 569,789 ratings
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59

by
4.16 avg rating — 95,008 ratings
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60

by
4.25 avg rating — 111,589 ratings
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61

by
4.08 avg rating — 242,577 ratings
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62

by
4.02 avg rating — 270,588 ratings
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63

by
4.41 avg rating — 93,369 ratings
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64

by
4.05 avg rating — 408,047 ratings
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65

by
4.15 avg rating — 178,411 ratings
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66

by
4.03 avg rating — 397,629 ratings
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67

by
4.04 avg rating — 130,156 ratings
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68

by
4.14 avg rating — 180,675 ratings
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69

by
4.02 avg rating — 576,283 ratings
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70

by
4.03 avg rating — 516,022 ratings
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71

by
4.02 avg rating — 111,057 ratings
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72

by
4.10 avg rating — 346,913 ratings
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73

by
4.02 avg rating — 106,440 ratings
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74

by
4.11 avg rating — 566,335 ratings
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74

by
4.29 avg rating — 72,524 ratings
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76

by
4.16 avg rating — 293,023 ratings
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77

by
4.51 avg rating — 279,816 ratings
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77

by
4.14 avg rating — 321,682 ratings
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79

by
4.23 avg rating — 536,440 ratings
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80

by
4.04 avg rating — 71,660 ratings
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80

by
4.15 avg rating — 528,346 ratings
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82

by
4.03 avg rating — 377,588 ratings
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82

by
4.20 avg rating — 191,946 ratings
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84

by
4.05 avg rating — 83,516 ratings
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84

by
4.05 avg rating — 191,848 ratings
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86

by
4.15 avg rating — 149,508 ratings
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87

by
4.17 avg rating — 156,913 ratings
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88

by
4.02 avg rating — 154,508 ratings
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88

by
4.02 avg rating — 177,472 ratings
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90

by
4.28 avg rating — 1,747,566 ratings
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192 books · 141 voters · list created August 1st, 2017 by Mitchell Friedman (votes) .
36 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Mitchell 11170 books
171 friends
Lora 1993 books
59 friends
Soumya 1374 books
38 friends
Elentarri 3560 books
182 friends
Su 479 books
115 friends
Mike 716 books
2 friends
Sandy 9687 books
11 friends
Alexey 80 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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