--- title: How We Chose the 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time description: Here's how TIME made a list of the 100 best fantasy books, with help from a panel of leading fantasy authors including Neil Gaiman, N.K. Jemisin and more. canonical: https://time.com/5900236/how-we-chose-100-best-fantasy-books/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-10-15T11:53:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T09:19:20.833Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: How We Chose the 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time og:description: With a panel of authors including Neil Gaiman, N.K. Jemisin and more og:url: https://time.com/5900236/how-we-chose-100-best-fantasy-books/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta555c75eec78b88e/698a1335096a9465646a8b98/100-best-fantasy-books-how-we-chose-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 100 Best Fantasy Books: How we Chose og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How We Chose the 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time twitter:description: With a panel of authors including Neil Gaiman, N.K. Jemisin and more twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta555c75eec78b88e/698a1335096a9465646a8b98/100-best-fantasy-books-how-we-chose-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How We Chose the 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Oct 15, 2020 11:53 AM CUT  by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Oct 15, 2020 11:53 AM CUT In a year defined by grim reality, we look to artists to help us understand—and escape. TIME celebrates the best, most captivating and essential fantasy books of all time, dating back to the 9th century. [**See the full list of the 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time**](https://time.com/collection/100-best-fantasy-books/ "undefined") To develop our list, we began in 2019 by recruiting a panel of leading fantasy authors—Tomi Adeyemi, Cassandra Clare, Diana Gabaldon, Neil Gaiman, Marlon James, N.K. Jemisin, George R.R. Martin and Sabaa Tahir—to join TIME staff in nominating the top books of the genre (panelists did not nominate their own works). The group then rated 250 nominees on a scale, and using their responses, TIME created a ranking. Finally, TIME editors considered each finalist based on key factors, including originality, ambition, artistry, critical and popular reception, and influence on the fantasy genre and literature more broadly. The result is a list that underscores the imaginative breadth of fantasy fiction—from early roots in the oral storytelling tradition that brought about works like [_The Arabian Nights_](https://time.com/collection/100-best-fantasy-books/5898459/the-arabian-nights/ "undefined"), to modern classics like [_A Wrinkle in Time_](https://time.com/collection/100-best-fantasy-books/5898444/a-wrinkle-in-time/ "undefined") and groundbreaking recent novels like [_Black Leopard, Red Wolf_](https://time.com/collection/100-best-fantasy-books/5898529/black-leopard-red-wolf-marlon-james "undefined"), [_The Poppy War_](https://time.com/collection/100-best-fantasy-books/5898525/the-poppy-war/ "undefined") and [_Elatsoe._ ](https://time.com/collection/100-best-fantasy-books/5898537/elatsoe/ "undefined")Together, these titles help us trace our history and understand our reality. “These are fraught times—but there have always been fraught times for someone in the world, somewhere,” Jemisin writes in her [introduction to the list](https://time.com/collection/100-best-fantasy-books/5898000/nk-jemisin-fantasy-novels/ "undefined"). “And there have always been those whose mastery of the art of storytelling has helped us understand how powerfully stories shape the world.” This project is led by TIME staffers Lucy Feldman, Annabel Gutterman and Megan McCluskey, with writing, reporting and additional editing by Aryn Baker, Emily Barone, Eliza Berman, Judy Berman, Raisa Bruner, Andrew R. Chow, Peter Allen Clark, Kelly Conniff, Samantha Cooney, Eliana Dockterman, Kathy Ehrich Dowd, Mariah Espada, Mahita Gajanan, Sam Lansky, Belinda Luscombe, Cate Matthews, Lily Rothman, Simmone Shah, Elijah Wolfson and Stephanie Zacharek; art and photography by Kim Bubello, Katie Kalupson and Sangsuk Sylvia Kang; and production by Nadia Suleman and Paulina Cachero. Illustrations by Corinne Reid. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5900236/how-we-chose-100-best-fantasy-books/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5900236/how-we-chose-100-best-fantasy-books/"},"headline":"How We Chose the 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time","datePublished":"2020-10-15T11:53:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T09:19:20.833Z","description":"Here's how TIME made a list of the 100 best fantasy books, with help from a panel of leading fantasy authors including Neil Gaiman, N.K. 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