The Ultimate Fantasy Series Ranking

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Jack Vance

2 universes Last reviewed 2026-08-11

Jack Vance was born on August 28, 1916, in San Francisco, California, and died on May 26, 2013, in Oakland, California, at age 96. He studied mining engineering, physics, journalism, and English at the University of California, Berkeley, over six years, graduating in 1942. Weak eyesight kept him out of military enlistment during World War II; he instead worked as an electrician at the Pearl Harbor naval shipyards before memorizing an eye chart in order to join the Merchant Marine as an able seaman in 1943. Before establishing himself as a full-time writer in the 1970s, Vance held numerous jobs including rigger, ceramicist, surveyor, and carpenter. Over his career he published more than sixty books spanning science fiction, fantasy, and mystery. His most celebrated works include The Dying Earth series, the Lyonesse trilogy, the Demon Princes series, and novellas such as The Last Castle and The Dragon Masters. Vance's richly ornate prose style and inventive far-future and fantastical settings were hugely influential on later fantasy and science fiction writers. His honors include three Hugo Awards (1963, 1967, 2010), a Nebula Award (1967), an Edgar Award (1961), the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement (1984), the title of SFWA Grand Master (1997), and induction into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame (2001).

Universe(s)

The Dying Earth

  • Core Canon books: 4
  • Current rank: #431 in the official ranking
  • Weighted average: 3.99
  • Award recognitions: 3 nomination

Lyonesse

  • Core Canon books: 3
  • Current rank: #322 in the official ranking
  • Weighted average: 4.05
  • Award recognitions: 1 won, 3 finalist mention, 3 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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