What is the single best fantasy novel of all time?

[CleverNickName]

Except that Old Forest chapter. oof. SO MANY DESCRIPTIONS OF TREES.

I try and reread LotR once every couple years, and I really do love it, but that chapter is a slog every time.

I remember studying that writing technique back at university. Our professor was lecturing about story pacing, and how the scene description can be used as a device to "throttle" or "accelerate" the pacing. The example he gave was from Tolkien, specifically the parts where characters were either lost in the wilderness, or were struggling to cross Mordor...in those parts of the story, Tolkien would use large convoluted descriptions to make the reader struggle alongside the characters, or use repeating words to give the reader the sense of seeing the same tree over and over again, like the reader is also lost in the forest with them. Tolkien was a master of what my professor called "sympathetic narrative."

 

[RangerWickett]

One Thousand and One Nights, aka The Arabian Nights.

If we're allowed this, I pick Exodus.

Maybe more of a novella, but it's got an amazing setting and vivid imagery, and it provided an origin narrative for a group of people that persists today over two thousand years later.

 

[Irlo]

Mervyn Peake’s Titus Groan.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Mervyn Peake’s Titus Groan.

I have had the Kindle version of that sitting in my phone for a long time now. I'll bump it up my list!

 

[Irlo]

I have had the Kindle version of that sitting in my phone for a long time now. I'll bump it up my list!

I love it. I’ve known people who I respect who absolutely hate it. Let me know what you think!

 

[Riley]

Except that Old Forest chapter. oof. SO MANY DESCRIPTIONS OF TREES.

Our professor was lecturing about story pacing, and how the scene description can be used as a device to "throttle" or "accelerate" the pacing. The example he gave was from Tolkien, specifically the parts where characters were either lost in the wilderness, or were struggling to cross Mordor...in those parts of the story,

I absolutely love the Old Forest passages! I find them incredibly evocative.

The one part of the novel(s) that always feels like a slog to me is Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli’s hunt across Rohan. I first read that in the middle of the night, repeatedly falling asleep and reading the same pages over and over. Nice to hear that perhaps Tolkien did that to me intentionally!

 

[Parmandur]

Except that Old Forest chapter. oof. SO MANY DESCRIPTIONS OF TREES.

I try and reread LotR once every couple years, and I really do love it, but that chapter is a slog every time.

Try listening to Andy Serkis take, it's pretty fresh and engaging.

 

[nevin]

Operation Chaos by Poul Anderson.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

If we're allowed this, I pick Exodus.

Movement of Jah people, woh yeah...

 

[TheSword]

Drachenfels.

It’s a masterpiece.

[Edit] I’ll expand a bit and say that it is perfect. It’s not too long, every character is likeable and engaging, even the villains. It’s a murder mystery that genuinely keeps you guessing. The heroes are a vampire and a playwright. It is genuinely funny. The finale is epic. It’s also about as original a fantasy story as you can get.

There are other great novels, like LOTR but they have flaws. Drachenfels is flawless.