1990 GOOD OMENS
BY NEIL GAIMAN AND
TERRY PRATCHETT
Good Omens, co-written by two
titans of genre fiction, follows an
angel and a demon, both of whom
have spent a long time on earth
and have grown accustomed to
what the material world can offer.
When hell sets the Antichrist
baby upon the world, marking the
beginning of the end of days, the
angel and demon strike an unlikely
bargain to keep Revelations from
revealing itself. Little do they know
that an accidental switcheroo
left the infant Antichrist in the care
of strangers.
1990 HAROUN AND
THE SEA OF STORIES
BY SALMAN RUSHDIE
Drawing on classic fantasy tales
as diverse as The Wizard of Oz
and The Arabian Nights, Haroun
and the Sea of Stories follows
the titular 12-year-old boy—who
resides in an ancient Eastern
city “so ruinously sad that it had
forgotten its name”—on a
quest to restore his storyteller
father’s lost gift for narrative.
It’s an allegory for the relationship
between art, tyranny and
censorship, and the kind
of ageless adventure story that
appears only a few times in
a generation.
1990 TIGANA
BY GUY GAVRIEL KAY
Wiped from the world’s memory
by a tyrant sorcerer’s spell, the
once prosperous province of
Tigana is remembered only by
the few survivors of a long-ago
battle. In this high-fantasy epic,
Tolkien disciple Kay masterfully
weaves an exploration of identity
and morality into the story of a
rebel faction’s plot to restore their
homeland to its former glory.
1991 OUTLANDER
BY DIANA GABALDON
Gabaldon’s debut novel is a
romance epic, a time-hopping
fantasy and a war story in one,
tracing the journey of WW II
British combat nurse Claire
Randall, who accidentally
transports herself into the
18th century Scottish highlands
one morning. Forced to marry
a young, virile Scotsman for
protection from a sadistic
military leader, Claire discovers
the joys of romantic passion and
1740s-era adventure—and the
realities of pain, torture and
pure evil.1995 THE GOLDEN COMPASS
BY PHILIP PULLMAN
After the kidnapping of her
friend, clever orphan Lyra
Belacqua unwittingly finds
herself at the center of a power
struggle involving a nefarious
church, fearless scientists and
a talking armored polar bear.
Pullman’s fantasy classic—
the first in the His Dark Materials
trilogy—kicks off an epic that
wrestles with the fate of the
universe, the definition of
consciousness and the loss
of innocence.1996 NEVERWHERE
BY NEIL GAIMAN
After stopping to help an injured
girl on the sidewalk, London
businessman Richard Mayhew
is ripped from his perfectly
average life: he is suddenly
unrecognizable to everyone he
knows. Richard must track down
the girl in London Below, the
menacing and magical city that
exists underneath his own. His
quest shines a light on the plight
of those who fall through the
cracks of society.1997 ELLA ENCHANTED
BY GAIL CARSON LEVINE
Featuring a strong-willed
and unforgettable heroine in
place of her damsel-in-distress
namesake, this retelling of the
Cinderella fairy tale follows
15-year-old Ella of Frell as she
struggles against a spell, placed
on her at birth, that forces her to
obey any command she’s given.1997 THE SUBTLE KNIFE
BY PHILIP PULLMAN
The second installment in
Pullman’s His Dark Materials
series follows Will Parry as
he finds his way into dangerous
parallel universes and joins
forces with Lyra from The Golden
Compass; together, they track
down Will’s missing father and
run from enemies both human
and supernatural with the aid
of a knife that opens pathways
between different worlds.
Both children had to grow up
too fast, but it’s their tenacity
and hunger for knowledge—
whether about their own
identities or the truth of
consciousness itself—that
unites them.1998 BROWN GIRL
IN THE RING
BY NALO HOPKINSON
Set in a blighted Toronto where
basic health care, working
vehicles and even running
water are unaffordable luxuries,
Hopkinson’s novel follows
Ti-Jeanne, a young woman of
West Indian origin who possesses
the unsettling ability to foresee
strangers’ deaths. A hybrid of
sci-fi, fantasy, eye-popping horror
and Afro-Caribbean lore, the
book is a true original—and the
savior at its center is a beacon of
strength in the body of a young
single mother.1999 HARRY POTTER
AND THE PRISONER
OF AZKABAN
BY J.K. ROWLING
Rowling’s anti trans comments
and writing have left readers to
grapple with the legacy and future
of the Potterverse—a global
phenomenon since the release
of her first novel. At the same
time, her series is one of the
most beloved and influential in
the history of fantasy. In the third
novel, Harry and friends grapple
with soul-sucking dementors,
time travel and the prison escape
of mass murderer Sirius Black.
They also begin to turn their gaze
outside the walls of Hogwarts
toward the larger battle against
injustice brewing in their world.2000 SPINDLE’S END
BY ROBIN MCKINLEY
In her retelling of the Sleeping
Beauty fairy tale, McKinley’s
twists are unexpected and the
characters well defined and
quirky. Rosie, her princess, is
cursed at birth—but a friendly
fairy smuggles her away to a
village to grow up in safety,
oblivious to her royal identity
and happy to get her hands dirty
as an animal healer. As Rosie’s‘At its heart,
great fantasy
is about
humanity—
all that we are
and all that
we could be.’
SABAA TAHIR,
panelistBooks
fateful 21st birthday approaches,
the magic of the curse reaches
a boiling point. But it’s the power
of selfless friendship, and not a
handsome stranger, that saves
the day.2000 A STORM OF SWORDS
BY GEORGE R.R. MARTIN
The third installment in Martin’s
A Song of Ice and Fire series
is unflinchingly brutal: the
so-called Red Wedding and the
Purple Wedding, both turning
points, unfold here. The breadth
of Martin’s vision comes fully
into focus, and if the first book
set the precedent for killing off
beloved characters, then A Storm
of Swords makes clear no one
is safe. These are the scenes
that became showstopping
centerpieces in HBO’s Game
of Thrones series and continue
to set the high-water mark for
shocking plot twists.2001 AMERICAN GODS
BY NEIL GAIMAN
Odin (the Norse god of war, or
Mr. Wednesday, as he’s called
here) hires Shadow, a recently
released convict, to drive him