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To Reference: Top Fantasy Series,  Fantasy 100, YA Fantasy, Locus, Nebula and Hugo awards, Locus Index

Fantasy: Ursula K. LeGuin, Garth Nix, Peter Dickinson

Romantic fantasy: Robin McKinley, Juliet Marillier, Cecilia Dart-Thornton, Jules Watson

Fallback (flawed or not quite to my taste but enjoyable): Stephen Donaldson, C.J. Cherryh, Robert Jordan, Diana Wynne Jones, Lois McMaster Bujold, Patricia A. McKillip, Melanie Rawn, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Janny Wurts, Tad Williams, Amelia Atwater-Rhodes (YA)

To try: David Eddings, Caroline Stevermer & Patricia Wrede (Regency romance with magic), Simon R. Green (sci fi & fantasy), Piers Anthony (sci fi), David Mitchell (sf, ), Nalini Singh

Tried & didn’t take: George R.R. Martin(A Song of Ice and Fire series)

Outgrew: Anne McCaffrey, Eoin Colfer, Susan Cooper, Lloyd Alexander

Avoid: Alice Borchardt, Jasper Fforde, Diana Gabaldon, Philip Pullman

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Literary (modern): A.S. Byatt, Edith Wharton, Jhumpa Lahiri, Margaret Atwood

Thrillers: Kay Hooper, Iris Johansen, J.D. Robb

Adventure: Alistair MacLean, Jeffrey Archer

Brit humour: P.G. Wodehouse, John Mortimer (Rumpole of the Bailey series)

Mystery: Agatha Christie, Josephine Tey, Anne Perry(Victorian mystery), Iain Pears(art mystery), Jacqueline Winspear, P.D. James, occasionally G.K. Chesterton

Psychological thrillers: Jeffrey Deaver, Stephen White

Fantasy: Ursula K. LeGuin, Garth Nix, Peter Dickinson, Patricia A. McKillip, Diana Wynne Jones

Romantic fantasy: Robin McKinley, Juliet Marillier, Cecilia Dart-Thornton, Jules Watson

Romance/Chic lit: Lisa Kleypas, Barbara Cartland, Clare Darcy, Eloisa James, Meg Cabot(teen)

Christian romance: Lori Wick, Robin Lee Hatcher

Christian romantic thrillers: Dee Henderson

Gothic romance: Daphne du Maurier, Madeleine Brent, Victoria Holt,Mary Stewart, Michael Cox occasionally

Westerns: Louis L’Amour, Cormac McCarthy, Jack Schaefer

To try: Zane Grey, Larry McMurtry, The Shootist by Glendon Swarthout – This is the all-time classic novel chosen by the Western Writers of America as one of the best western novels ever wrttten. It is also the inspiration for John Wayne’s last great starring role–the acclaimed 1976 film, The Shootist.

Avoid:

Diana Gabaldon-her pages stretch on and nothing happens

Alice Borchardt – ugh, her The Silver Wolf was overdone and dripping in blood and sex

Jasper Fforde – The Eyre Affair was stupid and barely tolerable, and suffered from a misapprehension that it was charming

Elsa Watson, Mary Balogh-too flowery/flawed

Philippa Gregory, Sandra Brown, James Patterson

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