The Ultimate Fantasy Series Ranking

Author page

Robin McKinley

4 universes Last reviewed 2026-09-29

Robin McKinley is an American fantasy author born November 16, 1952, in Warren, Ohio, who began her writing career in 1978 with her debut novel Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast. Known for fairy-tale retellings and bildungsroman fiction featuring strong, independent heroines, her most celebrated works include The Hero and the Crown, which won the 1985 Newbery Medal, and The Blue Sword, a 1983 Newbery Honor book. Other notable novels include Deerskin (1993) and Sunshine (2003), which won the 2004 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature. She also won the 1986 World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology as editor of Imaginary Lands and received a Phoenix Award Honor for Beauty in 1998. In 2022 the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America named her the 39th Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master in recognition of her career contributions to the genre.

Universe(s)

The Chronicles of Damar / Spindle's End

  • Core Canon books: 3
  • Current rank: #177 in the official ranking
  • Weighted average: 4.14
  • Award recognitions: 1 won, 1 honor mention

Sunshine

  • Core Canon books: 1
  • Current rank: #676 in the official ranking
  • Weighted average: 3.84
  • Award recognitions: 1 won

Deerskin

  • Core Canon books: 1
  • Current rank: #514 in the official ranking
  • Weighted average: 3.94
  • Award recognitions: 1 finalist mention

Rose Daughter

  • Core Canon books: 1
  • Current rank: #734 in the official ranking
  • Weighted average: 3.79
  • 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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