The Ultimate Fantasy Series Ranking

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Guy Gavriel Kay

5 universes Last reviewed 2026-09-27

Guy Gavriel Kay is a Canadian writer born November 7, 1954, in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, the son of a Jewish immigrant doctor from Poland and an artist mother, who holds a philosophy degree from the University of Manitoba (1975) and a law degree from the University of Toronto (1978), was called to the Ontario bar in 1981, and, while studying at Oxford, assisted Christopher Tolkien in editing J.R.R. Tolkien's unpublished work, including The Silmarillion. He later worked as principal writer for the CBC radio and television series Scales of Justice. He began his writing career in 1984 with his debut novel The Summer Tree, part of The Fionavar Tapestry trilogy, and is known for The Sarantine Mosaic and standalone novels such as Tigana, Under Heaven, River of Stars, and the interconnected Mediterranean-inspired works Children of Earth and Sky, A Brightness Long Ago, and All the Seas of the World. His honors include the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 2008 for Ysabel, Aurora Awards in 1987 and 1991, the Sunburst Award in 2011 for Under Heaven, the Prix Elbakin in France in 2015 and 2017, and appointment to the Order of Canada in 2014 for his contributions to speculative fiction. His fiction has been translated into at least 22 languages.

Universe(s)

The Fionavar Tapestry / Ysabel

  • Core Canon books: 4
  • Current rank: #407 in the official ranking
  • Weighted average: 4.00
  • Award recognitions: 3 won, 3 finalist mention, 1 nomination

Tigana

  • Core Canon books: 1
  • Current rank: #252 in the official ranking
  • Weighted average: 4.08
  • Award recognitions: 1 won, 1 finalist mention, 2 nomination

Under Heaven / River of Stars

  • Core Canon books: 2
  • Current rank: #144 in the official ranking
  • Weighted average: 4.17
  • Award recognitions: 2 won, 2 finalist mention, 5 nomination

A Song for Arbonne

  • Core Canon books: 1
  • Current rank: #81 in the official ranking
  • Weighted average: 4.25
  • Award recognitions: 2 nomination

The Lions of Al-Rassan / The Sarantine Mosaic

  • Core Canon books: 7
  • Current rank: #80 in the official ranking
  • Weighted average: 4.24
  • Award recognitions: 2 nomination

Books

Aggregate across all universes

These are separate, unrelated universes; the totals below are plain sums of already-published per-universe facts, never a blended or averaged score across them. See each universe's own figures above.

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