All right, an attempt at ranking my favourite fantasy authors, from best to worst.

1. John Ronald Reul Tolkien. As much as I try to hide it, Tolkien is my favourite. His works introduced me to the genre, and his books are still the ones that made the biggest impression on me. Versatile, intelligent and wise.

2. George R. R. Martin. Based on his “A Song of Ice and Fire”, I rank Martin as my second favourite. His characterizations are sharp, his story is original, his setting has a lot of depth, and his style of writing is gritty, realistic and to-the-point.

3. Tor Åge Bringsværd. The only Norwegian on my list, but he is in return an amazing writer. His books are all written in a very personal style, following one or more main characters from a first person point of view. This allows the reader to really connect with his characters. When Bringsværd in addition to this writes stunning, dystopic science fiction, as well as almost avantgarde low fantasy, he’s bound to end up high on my list.

4. Neil Gaiman. If I include “Sandman” in the “fantasy” genre, and include comic book writers as authors, then Gaiman belongs in the top five of this list. “American Gods” secures him the fourth place, with its unique setting, brilliant characterizations, and exciting plot. However, because of “Neverwhere”’s relative lack of quality, he’ll get demoted if “Anansi Boys” disappoints me. If I ever get around to actually buying and reading it. :P

5. Steven Erikson. I’ve mentioned extraordinary settings in my praise of the above authors, too, but there’s nowhere that description is more fitting than in the case of Steven Erikson’s “Tales of the Malazan Book of the Fallen”. His world, its history, its peoples and cultures and races, and the plots that unfolds in this world, is nothing but extraordinary. The way he starts out with several apparently unconnected stories, and then sends them accelerating towards an explosive convergence, is amazing. However, he loses the fourth place because his characters, although likeable, cannot match those of Bringsværd, Gaiman, Martin and Bakker.

6. R. Scott Bakker. Based on the first two volumes of his “Prince of Nothing” trilogy, I feel forced to rank him as number 6. If “The Thousandfold Thought” is as good as “The Darkness That Comes Before” and “The Warrior Prophet”, and if he can perform as good with another couple of books, he’ll overtake both Erikson and Gaiman. Because this is rich, top-shelf storytelling, with interesting characters, intricate plots, a fascinating setting, and first-class descriptions.

7. Robin Hobb. I haven’t read her “Soldier’s Son” trilogy yet, but based on “The Farseer”, “Liveship Traders” and “Tawny Man” trilogies, she’s bound to be ranked high. Although not as brilliant as Martin Bringsværd, Gaiman or Erikson, Hobb is nevertheless a talented writer. Her world is interesting, her characters are well-rounded and sympathetic, even the cynical bastards, for the most part, and the plots are refreshing. Not so much violence or open warfare as in a lot of other fantasy, which I find a relief (don’t get me wrong, I love a bloody, well written battle just as much as the next guy, but sometimes you just need change, you know?), especially as her stories manage to be both thrilling and captivating in spite of this.

8. Susanna Clarke. Clarke has only written one book so far, at least that I know of, but that book is in return so fun, so captivating and so special that it wins Clarke the 8th place. “Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell” — if you haven’t read it yet, make amends!

9. J. K. Rowling. I love her Harry Potter books. For a long time, I was a total skeptic, ridiculing the Harry Potter books as childish nonsense. After all, I was 15 (possibly 14), and had read “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Silmarillion”; what did I care for these probably boring and silly books? :roll: Then I actually sat down and read them (the first three, anyway, as they were the only ones published at this time), and from the first page, I was wholly captivated. Her humour was perhaps the first thing that appealed to me, but it didn’t take long before I developed a real fascination for both er world, her characters and her story.

10. Robert Jordan. Overrated, but yet a decent author. As said before, I’m something of a Jordan fanboy, and although “The Wheel of Time” barely can be said to have any progression, and in spite of Jordan’s abysmal style of writing, he ends up this high because of the impact tWoT made on me when I started reading it five years ago. Naturally, he’s not totally bereft of skill; the setting of tWoT is still among my favourites, the actual plot of the same series is excellent (though not so excellently executed), some of his characters are fascinating and well described, and he writes good introductionary fantasy.

11. Katharine Kerr. Celtic fantasy that may deserve a higher rank, too, although I find much of what I’ve read of her to be bland and easily forgotten. But that could just be related to the fact that I’ve till now read her while studying for my exams. And that tends to have a spill-over effect on most things. Kerr has good characters, decent plots, and an interesting twist to the entire dwarves-and-elves thing.

12. C.S. Lewis. I’m not really a big fan of Lewis’ Narnia-books. His descriptions are too scarce, and the morale is despicable. But the stories he tell are never the less quite entertaining, and trying to win children over to the faith through fantasy is.. charming, although perhaps not entirely original.

13. Terry Pratchett. The funniest guy in fantasy. His “Discworld” novels are hilarious, intelligent and thorough, but he doesn’t climb any higher because he’s best in small doses. Too much Pratchett, and it’s just not fun anymore. And if it’s not fun, well…

14. China Miéville. I read “Perdido Street Station” with towering expectations. And it looked so promising: Awesome. twisted characters, one of the most innovative, magnetic and living settings I’d seen in a one-volume fantasy, and the beginnings of a decent 1984-like plot. But then what does dear China do? He makes the plot revolve around a couple of giantic, dream-eating moths, who flies around New Corbuzon, spreading terror and apathy. This is probably a metaphor for something, but I’ve never bother to think more about it, because I realized that I’m not very fond of “villains” who are nothing but hungry animals. I want sentience, and I want plans. Not just instincts and randomness. Boooo!

15. Raymond E. Feist. Based on the “Riftwar Saga”, I cannot rate Feist any higher than this. Sure, the story and the characters weren’t that bad, but lets face it. This is little else than introductionary high epic fantasy, following the genre’s tropes almost slavishly. I enjoyed it, though.

16. Terry Goodkind. Goodkind is a decent writer of adventure fantasy, but he imagines himself to be more. Also, I despise Richard Rahl, around whom most of “The Sword of Truth” revolves, and the last four books have been boring.

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So, that was my list. If you, my readers has any thoughts on it, or if you want to list your own favourites, please do so. Like all human beings, I am a sucker for attention. :P

EDIT September 20, 2006: Added C.S. Lewis and added some text on J.K. Rowling.