Greatest Fantasy Authors of All Time

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The Top Ten

1 J. R. R. Tolkien J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973), known by his pen name J. R. R. Tolkien, was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor who is best known as the author of the classic high-fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.

A Song Of Ice And Fire, Harry Potter, The Inheritance Cycle, The Wheel Of Time, and many other fantasy book series wouldn't be here without any influence by something that would only come from the mind of J.R.R. Tolkien.

The great story to the side, he has written the only fantasy books that were meaningful to me. For example the one ring is a treasure that can help people in many ways but it corrupts the user because that's the nature of power, if you give power to someone after a while the others will be destroyed because the user will only care for himself and that's why Gandalf chooses a hobbit to take it to mount doom because hobbits don't want power so they will not be corrupted fast unlike elves and men. Smaug is a great example to because it represents dictators. you see he takes erebor only to sleep on the gold as dictators do in rich countries. In my opinion these books are second to none in every aspect.

Pivotal. Such depth of characters and created story lines. So much of modern fantasy derives from Tolkien's works.

I have read his utterly marvelous books they are fantastic he deserves this spot.

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2 Robert E. Howard

Most visceral, gripping fiction ever! Especially for boys and men- no 'chick lit' here!

Conan the Barbarian is a staple of modern times television, the collection of the stories have charm within - possible why is in second rank. Uncertain of the other novels but Conan can be recognizable right away, good work from that. - iliescu

3 Brandon Sanderson

Author of the highest rated novel on Goodreads, Sanderson is one of the best up and coming writers today. He is already prolific in his work, and he doesn't leave his fans in the dark for years for new series installments as is common in the fantasy genre. Most of his books are long, but once you start reading you'll never want them to end.

One of the hardest working Authors out there today. He is a master or creating a world but his true strength is developing characters with depth that readers can't help but be invested in. If you are looking up any list of great authors his name should be on it regardless of genre. The length of his stories may be intimidating to some but the ease of which you will flow through his work will amaze you. If you haven't read any of his work yet, stop reading this and go start. Mistborn is a great place to start!

Hard to read anything else after finishing a Sanderson Novel.

he good

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4 C. S. Lewis

No matter what he was the one who brought the fantasy genre to a front seat.

I don't know what we would be without The Chronicles of Narnia. Seriously. We wouldn't be looking for worlds behind the wardrobe; we wouldn't be entranced by paintings of the sea, we would never have tried on the magic rings, we never would have met Aslan.

Never read the books, but I've seen 2 of the movies. Maybe I should check him out. - Alpha101

Books were good but movies were terrible

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5 J. K. Rowling

This author am closest to in writing style according to some test from a while ago. I never seen anything wrong with Harry Potter so then good for J.K. Rowling for the cool adventures in Science Fiction. - iliescu

She is the best author ever known to history

Rowling = next Tolkien

I love you JK Rowling. How dare you write some awesome books and make me cry

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6 George R. R. Martin George R. R. Martin George Raymond Richard Martin (born George Raymond Martin), also known as George R. R. Martin, is an American author known for his epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire, which was later adapted into the famous HBO series Game of Thrones.

They are Amazing!

Still have a deck of cards lying around from Game of Thrones. Good game from the tales of 'A Song of Ice and Fire'. It is fun and interesting though kind of odd in appearance it has heart and magic or something. Great! - iliescu

The Genius who came up with Game of Thrones...no one can beat this man

7 Terry Pratchett Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett (1948-2015) was an English author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for writing the comic fantasy book series Discworld.

There is much to learn from the Turtle and Discworld unwinds nearly the whole advantage. Well thought out! - iliescu

He is just great - Aleksei

The greatest

Terry Prachett is one of gems in literature.

8 Rick Riordan Rick Riordan

He should be number one on this list. The Best!

Only thing that I can say is : he's amazing he is amazing he IS amazing and perfect and perfect and perfect

Amazing author. Why isn't he higher on the list?

He is great and PJATO is classic especially with the new spinoffs Heroes of Olympus and the Trails of Apollo! Yeet go Percabeth!

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9 Raymond Feist

He is by far the best fantasy Author of all time.
Magician is just awesome.

Far better than Tolkien

God in the genre

10 Robert Jordan Robert Jordan James Oliver Rigney Jr. (1948-2007), better known by his pen name Robert Jordan, was an American author known for writing the epic fantasy series The Wheel of Time. He was also known for writing stories about Conan the Barbarian, and for writing other books with different pseudonyms. He died from cardiac ...read more.

Should be top 2. No more needs to be said. Its criminal that he is this low on the list!

Jordan at #16...really!? Jordan has made such an impact on the genre and has left such a legacy behind, which that alone should place him higher. Jordan is #1 in my opinion, but at the very least should be in the top 5! He is easily better than Lewis, Rowling, Pratchett, Hobb, Anthony, Salvatore (though I love the Dark Elf series), Feist, Riordan, and Moorcock.!

The Wheel of Time: Long, Engaging, and Epic.

Why he's all the way down here?! He wrote Wot which better than pj and harry pottr combined - Themattster12

The Contenders

11 R.A. Salvatore
12 Robin Hobb

The series about Fitz and the Fool is one of the best. Outstanding writer that captivates the reader from beginning to end,

A really good author. Should be higher on the list.

13 Steven Erikson
14 Jules Verne Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne was a French novelist, poet, and playwright best known for his adventure novels and his profound influence on the literary genre of science fiction.

Have read the Novel name as 'The Golden Volcano' write of Jules Verne which is neat but kind of drastic at the end their prize goes to the ocean. Also another of classic towards modern is 'White Fang' written of Jack London. These encompass a lot of key points in nature of imagination and somewhat hold relevance despite time passages supposing. A good read, yeah could be. - iliescu

15 Ursula K. Le Guin

If you haven't read Left Hand of Darkness consider yourself under educated.

A Wizard of Earthsea is influential and still astounding to find. Wish there is more courage to familiarize with it, this author does good with it. Normal can find as the top fantasy authors list from searching. Has a nice surprise in that segment of writing. - iliescu

16 Patrick Rothfuss
17 Michael Moorcock Michael Moorcock Michael John Moorcock is an English author of science fiction and fantasy. He is best known for his series of books centering around the fictional character Elric of Melniboné.

Told beautiful stories that were individual masterpieces linked together

18 Tad Williams
19 Stephen King Stephen King Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, science fiction, and fantasy. Many of his most well-known novels include Carrie, It, The Shinning, The Stand, Misery, The Dark Tower series, and Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, which was later ...read more.
20 David Gemmell

The best by far.

21 Piers Anthony
22 Christopher Paolini

Your books are my geywey ignasia! - Swiftdawn

THE INHERITENCE CYCLE= MY ENTIRE LIFE. "Atra Gulai un ilian tauthr ono un atra ono waise skolir fra rauthr" (sorry the accents aren't there) "Let Luck and happiness follow you and may you be shielded from misfortune" Christopher Paolini, your books are my "gedwey ignasia" - Swiftdawn

23 Fritz Leiber
24 Terry Brooks
25 Wolfgang Hohlbein
26 Joe Abercrombie
27 Andrzej Sapkowski

He perfectly captures the classic fantasy conventions of high and epic fantasy. His works encapsulate both fantastical conception and the struggles of modern day Poland.

28 Susanna Clarke
29 Guy Gavriel Kay
30 David Eddings
31 Philip Pullman
32 Gary K. Wolf
33 Markus Heitz
34 Roald Dahl Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short story writer, poet, screenwriter, and fighter pilot. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide.

15. The Enormous Crocodile
14. Charlie And The Great Glass Elevator
13. The Minpins
12. The Magic Finger
11. The Giraffe And The Pelly And Me
10. Georges Marvelous Medicine
9. Esio Trot
8. The Twits
7. The BFG
6. James And The Giant Peach
5. The Witches
4. Fantastic Mr. Fox
3. Danny The Champion Of The World
2. Matilda
1. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory






Remember, this is my opinion! Don't hat on my opinion!

35 Diana Wynne Jones

Castle In The Air is one of the only books I will continue re-reading over the years.

36 Neil Gaiman Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre, and films.

He should be in the top ten. He's a legend.

37 H.P. Lovecraft H.P. Lovecraft Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author who achieved posthumous fame through his influential works of horror fiction. Virtually unknown and published only in pulp magazines before he died in poverty, he is now regarded as one of the most significant 20th-century ...read more.
38 China Miéville
39 Stephen R. Donaldson
40 Charles de Lint
41 Taran Matharu

The summoner series is so good - sjd

42 Roger Zelazny
43 Gary Paulsen

Gary Paulsen didn't write about fantasy, he wrote about survival and the wilderness. get your facts right.

44 Bernhard Hennen
45 Alyson Noel
46 Jeff Smith
47 John Flanagan

Pure awesomeness

48 Lloyd Alexander Lloyd Alexander Lloyd Chudley Alexander (1924-2007) was an American author of fantasy novels for children and young adults. His most famous work is the fantasy series The Chronicles of Prydain (which was later adapted into the 1985 Disney film The Black Cauldron, which has also earned a reputation for being one of ...read more.
49 Peter S. Beagle
50 Brian Jacques
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