Top 10 Fantasy Novels by Female Authors

[Penforhire]

Huh. I knew less than half of those myself. I like most of the others proposed above.

Seems to me you can't ignore the market success of JK Rowling or Stephenie Meyer.

I'm more a fan of Anne McCaffrey, Kim Harrison, Anne Rice, or Ursula K LeGuin myself.

edit - Crap, I forgot Andre Norton is a woman as well! And I've certainly acquired a taste for Connie Willis.

[Xanthe]

Very odd list. I tend to read works by female fantasy authors and the only names I recognized were Jacqueline Carey, Juliet Marillier, and Martha Wells, but I've only read Martha Wells' Fall of Ile-Rien series. Carey's "Kushiel's Dart" has been sitting in my TBR bookcase for years and years now.

Where's:
Elizabeth Moon
Elizabeth Haydon
C. J. Cherryh
C. S. Friedman
Rosemary Edghill (eluki bes shahar)
Robin Hobb
Juliet E. McKenna
Andre Norton
Wen Spencer
Robin McKinley
Carol Berg
J. K. Rowling
Anne Bishop
Patricia Briggs
Anne McCaffrey
Kim Harrison
C. E. Murphy
Holly Lisle
Tanya Huff
Seanan McGuire
Faith Hunter
Kelley Armstrong
Liz Williams

[DrNefario]

Originally Posted by Penforhire

Seems to me you can't ignore the market success of JK Rowling or Stephenie Meyer.

I don't see why not. Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code would certainly never make a top 10 of mine, except maybe the Top 10 Books I'd Rather Eat Than Read Again.

I enjoyed the Harry Potter books, but I don't think they'd make my top 10.

Robin Hobb is the only really glaring omission, to me. You could argue that many of the others belong in different categories (SF, Urban Fantasy, Horror, whatever).

And Xanthe, good luck getting all of those into your Top 10.

[Elfwreck]

Top 10 on what scale? Where's The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley? LeGuin's Earthsea Trilogy? Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke?

I think this may be "10 books we get a bonus for recommending*," because I can't see anything on the list that singles those out above award-winning and other excellent fantasy novels. I'm sure they're all excellent novels, but I've read none of them and only recognize two by name.

If we're looking at popularity and widespread impact, Rowling is missing.

Gail Baudino, Mercedes Lackey, Phillis Eisenstein, Ellen Kushner, Diane Duane?

I suppose McCaffrey and L'Engle both maybe count as "science fiction."

* Maybe that's too cynical, and it's just "10 books we think you can still find in print form." Or "10 books published by agency publishers." (I didn't check.) Or possibly it's "this author honestly thinks these are the 10 best fantasy novels ever written by women," but that would be almost too pathetic to contemplate.

[kennyc]

WRT the O.P. - That's a whacked list, not even close to reality.

I note that the Title of the article says, "Top 10 Fantasy Novels by Female Authors (list inspired by 'The Killing Moon') "

WTF does that mean.

methinks this could provide us with greater insight to the op's employer.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by kennyc

WRT the O.P. - That's a whacked list, not even close to reality.

I note that the Title of the article says, "Top 10 Fantasy Novels by Female Authors (list inspired by 'The Killing Moon') "

WTF does that mean.

I can understand "10 great fantasy novels by female authors, which if you like The Killing Moon, you would probably enjoy." And of course, that's too long for a post title. But they could come a lot closer to it than "Top 10 [by which we mean the 10 that first sprang to mind after reading TKM]."

[pwalker8]

I haven't read a single one of those and haven't even heard of most of the authors. How can you have a list of top fantasy novels without including anything by top earlier female authors. First you have the originals - Andre Norton, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Anne McCaffery [note - most of these put a SF facade over their fantasy (Dragon Riders of Pern series, Darkover series)]. Then you had the writers from the 60's and 70's - Katherine Kultz (Deryni series), Le Guin (Earthsea) and many others. Then the writers from the 70's and 80's (Moon, Mercedes Lackey, Emma Bull's classic War of the Oaks). Then we have J.K. Rowling. You also have youth authors such as Tamora Pierce, modern fantasy authors such as Patricia Briggs and Patricia Bray. I know I'm leaving off a ton of them.

[Laine]

I loved Moira J. Moore's books. Unfortunately geo-restrictions cut me off after number 4.

Some of these books are familiar as I visit a scifi specialist shop quite often but I haven't read most of them.

[piperclassique]

Laine, if the problem is your ip address them you can get round it with a vpn. If it is the cc address then book tokens might help. Failing that, maybe a penpal who will swap books with you (you buy one and send it, they do the same for you)

[Xanthe]

Originally Posted by DrNefario

Robin Hobb is the only really glaring omission, to me. You could argue that many of the others belong in different categories (SF, Urban Fantasy, Horror, whatever).

And Xanthe, good luck getting all of those into your Top 10.

The problem is, I think, that in order to be considered legitimate "fantasy" in "official" lists like this, the characters usually have to wear homespun clothing, they have to be either a orphan/kidnapped at birth/a courtesan/thief, there has to be a swordfight, some kingdom is always threatening another kingdom, and there's always a mage involved. In fact, the closer to Tolkein the story seems to be, the better.

To me, urban fantasy is legitimate "fantasy" too. And all of the authors I mentioned have written fantasy even if they also write in other genres.

I wonder if it's easier for a male author to get an ongoing fantasy book deal than a female author? Because a lot more female authors seem to branch out into other genres after having managed to sell only a couple of their fantasy books, which is why they might be better known in other genres. And if you read the acknowledgements of books, you often see that a fantasy book being released now by an established female author was actually written years ago but no publisher would buy it then.

[carld]

No spot for Anne McCaffrey's The White Dragon? I'm surprised, as it's often mentioned as one of the best fantasy novels period.

[charlesatan]

In retrospect, I think the list is more to introduce readers to:

1) relatively new writers
2) that are female and
3) feature female protagonists

[GreenMonkey]

Originally Posted by charlesatan

In retrospect, I think the list is more to introduce readers to:

1) relatively new writers
2) that are female and
3) feature female protagonists

Yes, that's more accurate, I think.

Any list without Robin Hobb is blasphemy.

[Elfwreck]

I've never read anything by Robin Hobb; I ran across her Rant Against Fanfic before I'd seen any of her books, and it convinced me that, whatever worlds she might have made, they weren't supposed to be interesting enough that I wanted to play in them. So I don't bother.

I'm not exactly opposed to reading her books, but there's always been something else higher on the TBR list than a fantasy series where the author gets offended if people enjoy making their own what-if stories about it.

[charlesatan]

I'm neutral on Hobb.

I think her Liveship books for example were better than her Assassin books. The series after that was significantly different but you have to forget some consequences from the Assassin books...

Side note, interview with her at Geek's Guide to the Galaxy: http://geeksguideshow.com/2012/02/17/ggg54-robin-hobb/