Fantasy Masterworks

[Drkshadow03]

One of the blogs I read OF blog of the Fallen (http://ofblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Fantasy%20Masterworks) has been making his way through and reviewing the 50 Fantasy Masterworks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasy_Masterworks). How many titles have you read off this list? What are your thoughts about listing these titles as "Fantasy Masterworks?" What titles would you include that are missing? Would you ever consider making your way through the entire fantasy masterworks?

[JBI]

Hmm, where do we draw the line on masterwork - are we opening it up to just classically accepted, or new works? and what do we draw the line on fantasy as? Is G. G. Marquez a fantasy author, for instance, or Margaret Atwood, or Italo Calvino?

But in a sense, it's an interesting list - it has all the old classics that defenders of the genre like to mention (I don't think I saw Dunsany's The King of Elf Land's Daughter on there, but I may have missed it), but I am not too well versed with some of the contemporary ones to really judge those - I don't think Stephen R. Donaldson made the list, which is good news, that is for sure, as he is one of the worst writers I have ever encountered.

There are a few I would add to the list of course (and some I wouldn't have included), but I'll wait to hear other people's impressions first, though I certainly would have put Tamora Pierce up there.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

First, is this list just books from this one publisher? From the Wikipedia page: "Fantasy Masterworks is a series of fantastic fiction classics released by Millennium, an imprint of the Orion Publishing Group, a UK publisher, as a companion series for their SF Masterworks line."

I looked at their SF Masterworks list, and found Dune at number 71. Dune not being in the top ten brings the credibility of these lists into serious question in my eyes.

As for the topic at and, I have read only two from the fantasy list: Fevre Dream and Something Wicked this Way Comes. I really like Fevre Dream, though I don't get why it is so high, and I liked Something Wicked. . . though I don't get why that is so low. I read part of Gene Wolfe's Shadow and Claw, but I think I was too young, and didn't really get it. I am going to give it another go soon.

One of my favorite fantasy books/series is A Game of Thrones, first in George R. R. Martin's (writer of Fevre Dream) "A Song of Ice and Fire" series. I don't know if it belongs on this list, but I find them very good.

Again, I really don't get these lists. Maybe I'm just off-base, but they seem questionable.

[Drkshadow03]

First, is this list just books from this one publisher? From the Wikipedia page: "Fantasy Masterworks is a series of fantastic fiction classics released by Millennium, an imprint of the Orion Publishing Group, a UK publisher, as a companion series for their SF Masterworks line."

I looked at their SF Masterworks list, and found Dune at number 71. Dune not being in the top ten brings the credibility of these lists into serious question in my eyes.

As for the topic at and, I have read only two from the fantasy list: Fevre Dream and Something Wicked this Way Comes. I really like Fevre Dream, though I don't get why it is so high, and I liked Something Wicked. . . though I don't get why that is so low. I read part of Gene Wolfe's Shadow and Claw, but I think I was too young, and didn't really get it. I am going to give it another go soon.

One of my favorite fantasy books/series is A Game of Thrones, first in George R. R. Martin's (writer of Fevre Dream) "A Song of Ice and Fire" series. I don't know if it belongs on this list, but I find them very good.

Again, I really don't get these lists. Maybe I'm just off-base, but they seem questionable.

I don't think they are meant to be in Order from Best to Worst so I would read too much into the numbering. I like A Song of Ice and Fire, but Epic fantasy seems almost entirely absent from the list. These are considered classics of the genre according to the publisher.

The first link leads to a blog where he is reading through the entire Fantasy Masterworks. One of the issues he raises in the review of each work is whether he thinks they are worthy of fantasy "masterworks" or not. It has been interesting so far. His review of Howard's Conan and Geoff Ryman's Was are particularly interesting in regards to this issue as he found Conan's ethnic and gender issues problematic and wondered if Ryman's story really counted as fantasy or not.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Yeah, I don't really think I would count Fevre Dream or Something Wicked This Way Comes as fantasy. I can see why they could be seen as fantasy, but they don't fit my definition. Fantasy usually needs swords, alternate worlds, and/or magic in one form or another. Of course, something can have none of these and still be fantasy as I see it, but it is rare.

And I'm glad these aren't ordered in a best-to-worst pattern. Makes the lists a lot better. Lots of new books I need to look into, because I haven't heard of 90% of those titles.