The Ultimate Fantasy Series Ranking

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Orson Scott Card

3 universes Last reviewed 2026-10-04

Orson Scott Card was born August 24, 1951, in Richland, Washington, and is a great-great-grandson of Mormon leader Brigham Young. Raised in Utah and California, he earned a bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University and a master's degree in English from the University of Utah in 1981, having served as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Brazil. He married Kristine Allen in 1977 and has five children. Card published his first short story in 1977 and won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer the following year, launching a prolific career spanning more than 50 novels across science fiction, fantasy, historical, and horror fiction. His best-known work, Ender's Game, began as a 1977 novella before being expanded into a 1985 novel, followed by the more introspective sequel Speaker for the Dead (1986); Card remains the only author to win both the Hugo and Nebula Awards in consecutive years for a pair of connected novels. The Ender universe later expanded through additional sequels and a parallel shadow series co-written with Aaron Johnston. Card's major fantasy work is The Tales of Alvin Maker, an alternate-history series reimagining the life of Joseph Smith in a magical frontier America; its first volume, Seventh Son (1987), won the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award. In addition to his three Hugo and three Nebula Awards, Card received the Margaret A. Edwards Award in 2008 for his contributions to young adult literature.

Universe(s)

The Tales of Alvin Maker

  • Core Canon books: 7
  • Current rank: #715 in the official ranking
  • Weighted average: 3.80
  • Award recognitions: 1 won

Hart's Hope

  • Core Canon books: 1
  • Current rank: #828 in the official ranking
  • Weighted average: 3.48
  • Award recognitions: None recorded

The Mither Mages

  • Core Canon books: 3
  • Current rank: #757 in the official ranking
  • Weighted average: 3.75
  • Award recognitions: None recorded

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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