The Sword and Laser discussion

On Twitter, Pat Rothfuss posted this link to a recent reddit poll of the best fantasy novels of all time in which he came in third. Do you agree with the results? How many have of these books have you read? Discuss.

I'm a bit surprised that The Lord of the Rings isn't first. I suspect that the TV show bumped Song of Ice and Fire up higher. While I like Kingkiller more than Song of Ice and Fire, I do think more people have read the latter. They're probably fairly equal.

Well, I've read about 40 of those on the list. I think it should have a few more of the older works, like Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar or Saberhagen's Swords, maybe Mary Stewart's Merlin and Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. (I went through it pretty fast, might not have seen everything.) It seemed like a decent selection, just maybe a little too much newer stuff or more trendy instead of books that will pass the test of time.

I've read 37 on the list. I agree with Michelle that it seems to be more a list of what's popular right now rather than what's "best".
Some I would have rated higher were Tigana, the Thomas Covenant series, The Belgariad, and Good Omens.

Yeah, every few years somebody does a poll like this and LotR comes in at or near the top (deservedly so, in my opinion) and some other classics pop up here & there but it's mostly the New Hotness (for whatever values of "new" and "hotness" are appropriate at the time). Not that there's anything wrong with that -- it's a useful snapshot of people's thinking.

(I've read somewhere in the 60-70 range, although that's counting series entries where I've only read the first few installments.)

32 here. Yeah it looks like a lot of the voting was for current favorites and lots of books by a small number of authors - Robin Hobb, GGK for example.

"Another best of" poll is right ... these things pop up every few years and largely reflect trends/fads, especially for the newer "it" writers. Will they stand the test of time? Here's one from 20+ years ago (but somehow "new" again):

https://sites.google.com/site/sftop10...

What I don't particularly like about Rothfuss' list is the number of votes: ideally you'd end up in the 1000s ... the numbers tend to average out over time.

Read 61 myself.

Phil wrote: "I've read 37 on the list. I agree with Michelle that it seems to be more a list of what's popular right now rather than what's "best".
Some I would have rated higher were Tigana, the Thomas Covenan..."

Polls are always about "what's popular right now". This counts as much for official elections as award voting as random internet polls. That has never been different and it's never going to change.

It's near impossible to get a group of people to agree on a definition for "best" let alone which subject up for discussion then fits that definition the most.

Nothing about this is good or bad, it just is.

Sean wrote: "On Twitter, Pat Rothfuss posted this link to a recent reddit poll of the best fantasy novels of all time in which he came in third. Do you agree with the results? How many have of these books have ..."

If it's "of all time" I'm frankly surprised he's on the top 30 at all. Now I love me some Pat and his stories are great, but it is indeed too soon to judge and that is certainly discounting a lot of very, very good writing that has stood the test of time.

Kevan wrote: "Polls are heavily influenced by the 'recency effect'. I think it's awesome that LOTR came second in spite of it, and despite the current preference for grimdark.

I also think it's a little premat..."

The second was even more brilliant.

Sean wrote: "Do you agree with the results? How many have of these books have you read? Discuss."

My count is 49, but I'm including series if I've read at least one book in it. If I were to count only series I've read in their entirety, it'd be much less.

I don't agree with the results, but I'm also not surprised my interests don't align with the readers of r/fantasy.