Top Ten Tuesday’s topic this week should be right up my street.  Top Ten favourite fantasy books.  Easy peasy.  Wrong!!  How on earth can I choose ten!!  I’ve gone with a little bit of a cheat here and have bent the rules so that I’m going with top ten fantasy authors (although I suppose some of these might not be  ‘fantasy’ authors only but may write in other genres.  Oh well, I can’t muster too much anxiety about the rights and wrongs of that.  I’m going with author because otherwise I would have to start choosing which book was the best of a trilogy or series, etc.  Author seems to narrow it down a little.  I’ve also tried to put these roughly in the order that these books first appeared on my radar.  So, Tolkien, for example, I read as a teenager (I’ve also reread since but that was my initial voyage of discovery).  So, without further ado:

1. JRR Tolkien – (I could have simply chosen Lord of the Rings but – strictly speaking – that is actually three books!)
2. Scott Lynch – I don’t know if I could choose a favourite, maybe Red Seas Under Red Skies
3. Charlaine Harris – because I read all of her Sookie Stackhouse series and it kept me pretty hooked throughout.
4. Patrick Rothfuss – both such excellent books – and if anyone has any news about No.3 just jump on in here!
5. Patricia Briggs – another series which has got stronger over the years.
6. George R R Martin – no explanation necessary
7. Jim Butcher – Harry Dresden – such a brilliant series that similarly goes from strength to strength
8. Mark Lawrence – one of the most original and dark fantasies that I’ve ever read.
9. Neil Gaiman – cover your eyes if you don’t like profanity – absolutely fucking brilliant.
10. This last one is a massive cheat because, Robert Bennett, Brandon Sanderson, Robin Hobb, Sarah Pinborough, Kage Baker, Terry Pratchett, Charles deLint, Gillian Philip, Chuck Wendig, Catherynne Valente and Lauren Beukes (plus a few others) won’t really all fit into one entry will they!!!!  Such a massive cheat but I just had to squeeze in a few more names!!   If you’re really going to make me choose it’s going to come down to ‘dip, dip, dip’ – in which case Robin Hobb just got picked!

Stop on over at the Broke and the Bookish to see everyone’s favourites.

Could you choose 10 from fantasy???