r/Fantasy • u/wishforagiraffe Reading Champion IX, Worldbuilders • May 19 '15
/r/Fantasy /r/Fantasy's "Best-of Standalones" RESULTS Thread
After almost 600 votes tallied from the voting thread, the results are in!
(My apologies for how long this took, the final part of the list is now posted with all the rest of the books which received one vote. Thanks all for voting, this is a GREAT list!)
Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay, 33 votes
Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, 32 votes
The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien, 30 votes
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Susanna Clarke, 27 votes
The Lions of Al Rassan, Guy Gavriel Kay, 23 votes
American Gods, Neil Gaiman, 23 votes
The Heroes, Joe Abercrombie, 16 votes
The Last Unicorn, Peter Beagle, 15 votes
The Princess Bride, William Goldman, 14 votes
The Golem and the Jinni, Helene Wecker, 13 votes
Best Served Cold, Joe Abercrombie, 12 votes
The Stand, Stephen King, 12 votes
Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman, 10 votes
Warbreaker, Brandon Sanderson, 10 votes
Perdido Street Station, China Mieville, 9 votes
Stardust, Neil Gaiman, 9 votes
Elantris, Brandon Sanderson, 8 votes
The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison, 8 votes
Red Country, Joe Abercrombie, 8 votes
World War Z, Max Brooks, 7 votes
Lord of Light, Robert Zelazny, 6 votes
Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien, 6 votes
River of Stars, Guy Gavriel Kay, 6 votes
A Song for Arbonne, Guy Gavriel Kay, 6 votes
The Emperor's Soul, Brandon Sanderson, 6 votes
The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman, 6 votes
Watership Down, Richard Adams, 6 votes
The City and the City, China Mieville, 5 votes
The Neverending Story, Michael Ende, 5 votes
To Ride Hell's Chasm, Janny Wurts, 5 votes
Under Heaven, Guy Gavriel Kay, 5 votes
City of Stairs, Robert Jackson Bennett, 4 votes
Last Call, Tim Powers, 4 votes
The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley, 4 votes
The Once and Future King, TH White, 4 votes
The Phantom Tollbooth, Norman Juster, 4 votes
The Redemption of Althalus, David and Leigh Eddings, 4 votes
Anubis Gates, Tim Powers, 3 votes
The Folding Knife, KJ Parker, 3 votes
Small Gods, Terry Pratchett, 3 votes
The Silmarillion, JRR Tolkien, 3 votes
The Troupe, Robert Jackson Bennett, 3 votes
Alif the Unseen, G Willow Wilson, 2 votes
Ash: A Secret History, Mary Gentle, 2 votes
Broken Monsters, Lauren Beukes, 2 votes
The Children of Hurin, JRR and Christopher Tolkien, 2 votes
The Death of the Necromancer, Martha Wells, 2 votes
Deathless, Catherynne M Valente, 2 votes
Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine, 2 votes
Fevre Dream, George RR Martin, 2 votes
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, Patricia McKillip, 2 votes
The Girl with All the Gifts, MR Carey, 2 votes
Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, Eliezer Yudkowsky, 2 votes
Havenstar, Glenda Larke, 2 votes
Illusion, Paula Volsky, 2 votes
Imagica, Clive Barker, 2 votes
Kraken, China Mieville, 2 votes
Lord of the Clans, Christie Golden, 2 votes
Od Magic, Patricia McKillip, 2 votes
Once a Hero, Michael Stackpole, 2 votes
One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez, 2 votes
Song of the Beast, Carol Berg, 2 votes
Sorcerer's Legacy, Janny Wurts, 2 votes
Summers at Castle Auburn, Sharon Shinn, 2 votes
Sunshine, Robin McKinley, 2 votes
The Barbed Coil, JV Jones, 2 votes
The Drowning Girl, Caitlin Kiernan, 2 votes
The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern, 2 votes
The Scar, China Mieville, 2 votes
The War of the Flowers, Tad Williams, 2 votes
War for the Oaks Emma Bull, 2 votes
Weaveworld, Clive Barker, 2 votes
Who Fears Death, Nnedi Okorafor, 2 votes
All of the following received 1 vote:
A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears, Jules Feiffer
A Dirty Job, Christopher Moore
A Monster Calls, Patrick Ness
A Night in the Lonesome October, Roger Zelazny
After Dark, Haruki Murakami
Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
American Elsewhere, Robert Jackson Bennett
Among Others, Jo Walton
Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman
Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire, Mike Mignola
Beowulf, Translated By JRR Tolkien
Boy's Life, Robert McCammon
Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was, Barry Hughart
Brokedown Palace, Stephen Brust
By the Sword, Mercedes Lackey
Creatures of Light and Darkness, Roger Zelazny
Deerskin, Robin McKinley
Dragonsbane, Barbara Hambly
Duma Key, Stephen King
Enchantment, Orson Scott Card
Fata Morgana, William Kotzwinkle
The Folly of the World, Jesse Bullington
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
Gagner la guerre, Jean-Philippe Jaworski
The Gone-Away World, Nick Harkaway
Heroes Die, Matthew Woodring Stover
Hollow World, Michael J Sullivan
The Idylls of the Queen, Phyllis Ann Karr
Instructions, Neil Gaiman
Into the Green, Charles de Lint
The Iron Dragon's Daughter, Michael Swanwick
Jack of Shadows, Roger Zelazny
Kindred, Octavia Butler
King Rat, China Mieville
Knights of Dark Renown, David Gemmell
Krabat, Otfried Preußler
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, Christopher Moore
Last Dragon, JM McDermott
Legend, David Gemmell
Little, Big, John Crowley
Macbeth, William Shakespeare
Magic Kingdom for Sale/Sold, Terry Brooks
The Master of White Storm, Janny Wurts
Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti, Genevieve Valentine
Medair, Andrea K. Höst
Nation, Terry Pratchett
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u/wishforagiraffe May 20 '15 edited May 20 '15
It, Stephen King
Needful Things, Stephen King
Nights at the Circus, Angela Carter
NOS4A2, Joe Hill
Ombria in Shadow, Patricia McKillip
Our Lady of Darkness, Fritz Leiber
Our Lady of the Snow, Louis Cooper
Ready Player One, Earnest Cline
Sabriel, Garth Nix
Seven Wonders, Adam Christopher
Shades of Grey, Jasper Fforde
Shadows Fall (u/hoosier_ham didn't specify which author)
Sharps, KJ Parker
Sixth of the Dusk, Brandon Sanderson
Some Kind of Fairy Tale, Graham Joyce
Soon I Will Be Invincible, Austin Grossman
A Stranger in Olondria, Sofia Samatar
Tailchaser's Song, Tad Williams
Talion: Revenant, Michael Stackpole
The Anvil of the World, Kage Baker
The Blue Girl, Charles de Lint
The Buried Giant, Kazuo Ishiguro
The Curse of Chalion, Lois McMaster Bujold
The Daylight Gate, Jeanette Winterson
The Enchantress of Florence, Salman Rushdie
The Etched City, KJ Bishop
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, Claire North
The Gate to Women's Country, Sherri S Tepper
The Ghost Bride, Yangsze Choo
The Girl Who Would Be King, Kelly Thompson
The Glass Bead Game, Hermann Hesse
The God Engines, John Scalzi
The Gone-Away World, Nick Harkaway
The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
The Hallowed Hunt, Lois McMaster Bujold
The Historian, Elizabeth Kostova
The Hunters' Haunt, Dave Duncan
The King's Buccaneer, Raymond E. Feist
The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
The Screwtape Letters, CS Lewis
The Secret History of Moscow, Ekaterina Sedia
The Sun, the Moon, & the Stars, Steven Brust
The Tower of Fear, Glen Cook
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami
Three Parts Dead, Max Gladstone
Tooth and Claw, Jo Walton
Tuf Voyaging, George RR Martin
Veniss Underground, Jeff VanderMeer
Wheel of the Infinite, Martha Wells
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang, Kate Wilhelm
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Gregory Maguire
Winter Rose, Patricia McKillip
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u/Ihrenglass May 19 '15
How is The Lord of Rings a standalone. It is three books?
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u/wishforagiraffe May 19 '15
u/LaPetiteBouteille is has the right answer, tolkien intended it to be one book, and considered it one book.
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u/camphorguitar May 19 '15
It was intended to be published as a single book but due to paper shortages it was split into three volumes, "largely due to post-war paper shortages, as well as being a way to keep down the price of the book". source
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u/lyrrael May 19 '15 edited May 19 '15
Hey, just a quick thing: I voted for Illusion by Paula Volsky, not Frank Peretti. Otherwise this is awesome, thank you! Your hard work is appreciated and will be read!
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u/wishforagiraffe May 19 '15
ach, sorry about that. i was doing my best to double check (when i compiled the list that i organised with, i didn't include authors, and i should have. it was easier to just type than copy/paste, but typing enough for the authors would have slowed me down. but having to ctrl+f the original list to find the author also slowed me down...).
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u/callmedanimal May 19 '15
Lord of light was written by Roger Zelazny, there is no Robert. Small typo :P
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u/wishforagiraffe May 19 '15
Damn, thanks. I got his name right everywhere else I think
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u/potterhead42 May 21 '15
Biggest surprise for me was seeing World War Z. I've read the book, but it never really stuck me as "fantasy", even with the super broad definition that we go with here.
And I could punch myself for forgetting to vote for The Stand. That book is totally awesome.
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u/wishforagiraffe May 21 '15 edited May 21 '15
I initially wasn't going to let world war z stay, but I read the Wikipedia for it and it seems very broadly to fit. I realized I really need to read the stand now
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u/SoulShock May 19 '15
Thanks for all your hard work on this. I don't want to be 'that guy' but I feel the need to challenge City of Stairs (4 votes).
It's fantastic, it's fully deserving of a place on a list of great books, but it's the first in a series. Are we saying that because the remaining novels in a series have not been published yet we count the first one as a stand-alone? The second is due for publication next year, and the ending of the first was largely about setting up for the ongoing series.
Loved the book, don't think it qualifies.
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u/MikeAWants May 19 '15
Actually, it might be down to that it was actually planned as a stand-alone and only later, after the big success, made into a series. But yeah, I stumbled about it too when reading the list.
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u/sir_writer May 19 '15
Warbreaker and Elantris might receive sequels as well.
For me, I'm okay with that because I can still read the book on it's own without the sequel, especially since the sequel isn't out yet. You could also nitpick The Hobbit since it still takes place on Middle Earth.
Edit: Just noticed LOTR listed as well. That one feels stranger to me since, even though it was originally written as one book, it wasn't released that way.
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u/Sereness-the-Warlock May 19 '15
That thread made me realise that I have read a grand total of two standalone Fantasy novels. Now I have a great list to start rectifying that problem, so thanks! :D
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u/xetrov May 19 '15
So much GGK... :)
And I should probably get around to reading Last Unicorn. Only book in the top ten I haven't gotten to yet.
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u/m1ndcr1me May 19 '15
I'm going to be "that guy" and say that JRR Tolkein's Beowulf should not be considered the definitive translation of the work that is included here. While I don't want to take away from his work on the poem (as a fellow Old English scholar, I am beholden to him forever), Seamus Heaney's translation is simply a better work of literature in its own right.
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u/wishforagiraffe May 19 '15
That was the translation that was voted for, so that's what's in the list
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u/think4yerslf May 27 '15
Pretty good list, read many in the top 20 or so. One thing on here cannot stand without comment however: "The Redemption of Althalus"?!? On a "best ever" listing? No way in hell. I really enjoyed many of Eddings earlier works, but Redemption is a crapfest from start to finish. Heck it has over 140 1-star reviews on Amazon. Truly that book does not deserve to be on here IMO.
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u/wishforagiraffe May 27 '15
Well, it is a popular vote, and that's just how popular votes work sometimes. I certainly wouldn't have chosen it, but I'm sure as shit not going to censor someone's vote
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u/wishforagiraffe May 19 '15
FYI Folks- I ran out of characters, so there's still about 40 more 1 vote books that I have to finish posting in a comment. I realize now I should have typed them all in one post and then cut and pasted, but it's past my bedtime and I'm not on the top of my game. Also, apparently the hide function doesn't work the way it's supposed to.