Top 100 Sci-Fi/Fantasy Books

NPR Books did a survey asking people their favourite Sci-Fi/Fantasy books of all time. Out of 5,000 nominations and 60,000 votes, they put together the top 100.

Here's the top 10 -

1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien

2. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card

4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert

5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin

6. 1984, by George Orwell

7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov

9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman

Nice to see Hitchhiker's getting some love - though I'd rank it #1!

Some surprises for me on the list - the biggest being Piers Anthony's Xanth series - I've been a fan of it since the 80's yet have never met anyone who's even heard of it before, so it was nice to see it make the list.

The full list can be seen here.

Anyone remember the part with the parasite and Jack saying the people who want it aren't human? Then when the 3 men made the deal for Jack, they made the triangle handshake thing. I think their going to be connected and in the end be the ones behind all this.

Well,I have read 5 of the top ten, then I don't get anymore until the 40's!! But after that,I have read a ton of them!!

I'm impressed with the amount I have read myself. I like sci fi, but never had a lot of interest in original fiction that didn't have a tie in with movies or tv series.

Let's see... I've read 5 of the top 10- LOTR, Hitchhikers Guide, Enders, Dune, and 1984. Going into top 20, that number only increases by one with Frankenstein (and that one I consider more horror than sci fi). 6/20

Top 50- only 11... adding 2001, 20000 Leagues, Time Machine, War of the Worlds, and Starship Troopers. I only count the ones I have read on my own. I did read Childhood's End, Left Hand, and Canticle... but those were a part of my History of Sci Fi Lit course I took in college and I wouldn't have known about or read them otherwise). 11/50

Top 100... just 3 more. World War Z, Conan the Barbarian, and the Heir to the Empire (Thrawn) trilogy. 14/100


I see they are going to be doing a horror one in the future. King will probably take many of the top 10 spots (not a King fan myself). I hope they disqualify the vampire chick lit stuff.

I've only read about 5 on the whole list! But 2 of them - Conan and Xanth - are about 50 books between the 2 of them.

Cruel Angel wrote:

I see they are going to be doing a horror one in the future. King will probably take many of the top 10 spots (not a King fan myself).

He probably will. Not a King fan, either, and I was scratching my head wondering why he was included on this list.

In the top 10....1, 2,4, 8 and 9. I missed 24 and 27 before!! Then it jumps to 44, 46,47,50,58,61,and 88,that's my list!! But I have seen the movies of a lot more of them!!

Ronpur wrote:

In the top 10....1, 2,4, 8 and 9. I missed 24 and 27 before!! Then it jumps to 44, 46,47,50,58,61,and 88,that's my list!! But I have seen the movies of a lot more of them!!

Same for me. Seen a lot of the movies but never read the original work. Clockwork Orange, F 451, Princess Bride, Watchmen, Androids... Sheep/ Blade Runner, Martian Chronicles, and Something Wicked this Way Comes

If we're counting movies then I've seen most of them! Except...

Cruel Angel wrote:

F 451

They made a movie of that? I gotta find it! Was it any good? I was introduced to it through a Commodore 64 text game. It was actually a triple pack - F451, Dragonriders of Pern, & Rendezvous with Rama.

they are supposed to be remaking Fahrenheit but not certain it is happening. The movie deviates from the book a bit, I had to read the book last semester for philosophy.

rdks wrote:

If we're counting movies then I've seen most of them! Except...

Cruel Angel wrote:

F 451

They made a movie of that? I gotta find it! Was it any good? I was introduced to it through a Commodore 64 text game. It was actually a triple pack - F451, Dragonriders of Pern, & Rendezvous with Rama.

Yeah, it was made in 1966. I saw it once a long time ago and barely remember anything about it.

I looked, and it is available on DVD... Netflix has it on streaming too. Shouldn't be hard for you to find and check out

Cruel Angel wrote:

Yeah, it was made in 1966. I saw it once a long time ago and barely remember anything about it.

I looked, and it is available on DVD... Netflix has it on streaming too. Shouldn't be hard for you to find and check out

Awesome! Thanks, gonna check it out later tonight.

Whoosier Whovian wrote:

The movie deviates from the book a bit

That's ok, I barely remember the book. I read it about 15 years ago. I actually remember the text game more than the book! Always running into those blasted hounds....

Julie Christie plays both female leads, and YES that is Anton Diffring who played DeFlores in Silver Nemesis as one of the firefighters. Also, the actor who played Cully in The Dominators plays one of the stomach pumping technicians.

I have it on DVD.

Disappointing to see the overhyped Song of Ice and Fire placed so high on the list. Is it well written? Yes. But it has a meandering plot with zero resolution in sight. I think he's completely forgotten about the Outsiders at this point. I'm shocked it placed above the Wheel of Time considering WoT is currently wrapping up and even at his worst, Jordan never went six years between novels.

Also perplexing is Jim Butcher's Codex Alera is on the list, but not his long running Dresden Files series.

Baffling is the lack of David Weber's Honor Harrington series, or anything from John Ringo, Eric Flint, and David Drake.


Finally, for those interested in Fantasy/Sci-Fi novels, I'd recommend checking out Brent Weeks' Night Angel Trilogy. A really fantastic tale.

Rust wrote:

Baffling is the lack of David Weber's Honor Harrington series, or anything from John Ringo, Eric Flint, and David Drake. .

Yeah, I had expected Honor to show up somewhere... oh well. They don't know what they are missing.

I'm almost through X Wing again (on the 2nd Wraith Sqd book), then I will be going back through Honor

Heh, I'm currently re-reading through all of Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar books. Still so many gapping holes in the tale though. It's never fun, jumping in 20+ years after the start of the saga.

... Wicked gets on the list but no Baum? I've read and own the Wicked series, but the books that inspired them are so much better.