• 2026-10-24

  Empires of Wa and of the sea

  Sean Russell's early duologies, The Initiate Brother and Moontide and Magic Rise, joined the ranking today.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • The Initiate Brother — Sean Russell
  • Moontide and Magic Rise — Sean Russell
  • Os Dragões Originais — Cristina Bomfim
  • Tale of the Kin — Douglas Hulick
  • The Psammead Trilogy — E. Nesbit
  • Matthew Swift — Kate Griffin

  Ranking update

  • The way the ranking is ordered has changed. Each universe's score now also weighs how many readers it rests on, so a handful of enthusiastic ratings can no longer outrank a series rated by millions. The readers' average shown on every page is unchanged; only the order reflects the adjustment.

  New books added

  • The Book of Words gains Sword of Shadows as a Core series

• 2026-10-23

  Up the Faraway Tree

  Enid Blyton's Faraway Tree books joined the ranking today.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • The Faraway Tree — Enid Blyton
  • The Power of Five — Anthony Horowitz
  • The Mennyms — Sylvia Waugh
  • Penryn & the End of Days — Susan Ee
  • The Grey Land — Peadar Ó Guilín
  • The Twistrose Key — Tone Almhjell
  • The Wrath of Ambar — Tanaz Bhathena

• 2026-10-22

  Blood and Fire

  Stuart Hill's Icemark Chronicles joined the ranking today.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • The Icemark Chronicles — Stuart Hill

• 2026-10-21

  Shadows at Biltmore

  Robert Beatty's Serafina books, spooky mysteries set at the Biltmore Estate, joined the ranking today.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • Serafina — Robert Beatty
  • Silverwing — Kenneth Oppel
  • The Last Dragonslayer — Jasper Fforde
  • Where the Mountain Meets the Moon — Grace Lin
  • The Deptford Mice — Robin Jarvis
  • Ghost World — Susan Price
  • Monster Blood Tattoo — D. M. Cornish
  • The New Policeman — Kate Thompson
  • Magic or Madness — Justine Larbalestier

• 2026-10-19

  Into the Archipelago

  Katherine Rundell's Impossible Creatures, the 2023 Waterstones Book of the Year, joined the ranking today.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • Impossible Creatures — Katherine Rundell

• 2026-10-18

  A door into the Greenwild

  Pari Thomson's prize-winning botanical portal fantasy Greenwild joined the ranking today.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • Greenwild — Pari Thomson
  • Eden Moore — Cherie Priest
  • Felix Castor — M.R. Carey
  • Goth Girl — Chris Riddell
  • Djinn City — Saad Z. Hossain
  • Everworld — K. A. Applegate
  • Nevermoor — Jessica Townsend

  New books added

  • Greenwild gains A Greenwild Adventure as a Core series

• 2026-10-13

  Bed-Knob and Broomstick enters the ranking

  Mary Norton's two stories of Miss Price and the flying bed now carry a score, rated through the volume that combines them.

  Full list

  Universes updated

  Bed-Knob and Broomstick enters the ranking: its 1957 combined volume is now the Core book

• 2026-10-12

  Elak of Atlantis enters the ranking

  Henry Kuttner's sword-and-sorcery cycle now carries a score, rated through the collection that gathers its four stories.

  Full list

  Universes updated

  Elak of Atlantis enters the ranking: its story collection is now the Core book

• 2026-10-11

  The gift of a dying witch, and the witches of Eileanan

  Fiona McIntosh's Quickening trilogy and Kate Forsyth's Witches of Eileanan joined the ranking today.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • The Quickening — Fiona McIntosh
  • The Witches of Eileanan — Kate Forsyth

  New books added

  The Quickening gains The Scrivener's Tale as a Core novel The Witches of Eileanan gains Rhiannon's Ride as a Core series

• 2026-10-09

  A slave who hears the god, a Keeper with a talking cat a friar between heaven and hell, the Misfits of Obernewtyn, the Mirror of Aachan, the last Stormlord and the harem of Percheron

  Karen Miller's Godspeaker trilogy Tanya Huff's Keeper's Chronicles Sara Douglass's The Crucible Isobelle Carmody's Obernewtyn Chronicles Ian Irvine's Three Worlds Cycle Glenda Larke's Watergivers and Fiona McIntosh's Percheron joined the ranking today.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • Godspeaker — Karen Miller
  • The Keeper's Chronicles — Tanya Huff
  • The Crucible — Sara Douglass
  • The Obernewtyn Chronicles — Isobelle Carmody
  • The Three Worlds Cycle — Ian Irvine
  • The Watergivers — Glenda Larke
  • Percheron — Fiona McIntosh

  New books added

  The Three Worlds Cycle gains The Well of Echoes as a Core series The Three Worlds Cycle gains The Song of the Tears as a Core series The Three Worlds Cycle gains The Gates of Good and Evil, completing its four series The Edge / Innkeeper Chronicles gains Breach Wars (The Inheritance) as a Core series

• 2026-10-08

  An alphabet of thorns, two mercenaries, five Moklins, the islands of Abarat, a boggart and a busload of witches

  Patricia A. McKillip's Alphabet of Thorn Barbara Hambly's Sun Wolf and Starhawk Bruno Matos's Portuguese Os 5 Moklins Clive Barker's Abarat Susan Cooper's Boggart trilogy and Diana Wynne Jones's A Sudden Wild Magic joined the ranking today.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • Alphabet of Thorn — Patricia A. McKillip
  • Sun Wolf and Starhawk — Barbara Hambly
  • Os 5 Moklins — Bruno Matos
  • Abarat — Clive Barker
  • The Boggart — Susan Cooper
  • A Sudden Wild Magic — Diana Wynne Jones

  New books added

  Book of the Ancestor / Book of the Ice gains Lawrence's second Abeth trilogy as Core

• 2026-10-07

  The Edge and the Innkeeper join as one world; Nola O'Grady, a Victorian fairy tale, Tiger and Del, the Hythrun Chronicles, Mordant's Need and the Beklan Empire too

  Ilona Andrews's Edge novels and Innkeeper Chronicles joined the ranking today as a single universe, Katharine Kerr's Nola O'Grady Ruskin's The King of the Golden River Roberson's Sword-Dancer saga, Fallon's Hythrun Chronicles Donaldson's Mordant's Need and Adams's Beklan Empire followed.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • The Edge / Innkeeper Chronicles — Ilona Andrews
  • Nola O'Grady — Katharine Kerr
  • The King of the Golden River — John Ruskin
  • Sword-Dancer — Jennifer Roberson
  • The Hythrun Chronicles — Jennifer Fallon
  • Mordant's Need — Stephen R. Donaldson
  • The Beklan Empire — Richard Adams

  New books added

  Nightrunner / The Tamír Triad gains Flewelling's prequel trilogy as Core

• 2026-10-06

  Fablehaven grows; Edward Eager, the Moomins, Mary Poppins and Cherryh's Fortress join

  Brandon Mull's 2025 spin-off joined the Fablehaven universe today, and Edward Eager's seven Tales of Magic Tove Jansson's nine Moomin books P. L. Travers's Mary Poppins and C. J. Cherryh's Fortress joined the ranking.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • Tales of Magic — Edward Eager
  • The Moomins — Tove Jansson
  • Mary Poppins — P. L. Travers
  • Fortress — C.J. Cherryh

  New books added

  Fablehaven gains The Gorgon's Fury (Tales of Newel and Doren) as a Core novel

• 2026-10-05

  Three Portuguese universes, Fablehaven and a sheep-pig join the ranking

  Madalena Santos's Terras de Corza, four novels in one invented world across four eras, Rafael Loureiro's gothic Trilogia Nocturnus and Sandra Carvalho's eight-volume Saga das Pedras Mágicas joined the ranking today.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • Terras de Corza — Madalena Santos
  • Trilogia Nocturnus — Rafael Loureiro
  • A Saga das Pedras Mágicas — Sandra Carvalho
  • Fablehaven — Brandon Mull
  • The Sheep-Pig — Dick King-Smith

• 2026-10-04

  Eight new universes, from a superhero squirrel to a Portuguese trilogy

  Kate DiCamillo's Flora & Ulysses and R. A. MacAvoy's Damiano Trilogy joined the ranking today.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • Flora & Ulysses — Kate DiCamillo
  • The Damiano Trilogy — R. A. MacAvoy
  • Exiles — Melanie Rawn
  • The Mither Mages — Orson Scott Card
  • Piratica — Tanith Lee
  • The Onyx Court — Marie Brennan
  • Sianim — Patricia Briggs
  • O Ceptro de Aerzis — Inês Botelho

• 2026-10-02

  Five more from familiar authors

  Five universes by authors already in the ranking joined today: MacDonald's Princess and Curdie books, Preussler's Little Witch, Anderson's merfolk, Brust's war in Heaven and Pratt's Blue Star.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • The Princess and the Goblin — George MacDonald
  • The Little Witch — Otfried Preussler
  • The Merman's Children — Poul Anderson
  • To Reign in Hell — Steven Brust
  • The Blue Star — Fletcher Pratt

• 2026-09-29

  Twelve new universes, and Damar grows

  A Trojan retelling, a bard's revenge and a cat's quest joined the ranking; Spindle's End joined Robin McKinley's Damar under the one-world rule.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • The Firebrand — Marion Zimmer Bradley
  • Song for the Basilisk — Patricia A. McKillip
  • Tailchaser's Song — Tad Williams
  • The Ship of Ishtar — A. Merritt
  • The Book of Atrix Wolfe — Patricia A. McKillip
  • The Bards of Bone Plain — Patricia A. McKillip
  • Miranda and Caliban — Jacqueline Carey
  • Plain Kate — Erin Bow
  • Rose Daughter — Robin McKinley
  • The Night Land — William Hope Hodgson
  • The Girl of Ink and Stars — Kiran Millwood Hargrave
  • The Devourers — Indra Das

  New books added

  The Chronicles of Damar / Spindle's End gains Spindle's End as a Core novel

• 2026-09-28

  Nine new universes, and old worlds grow

  An Arabian-Nights sword-and-sorcery debut, a Costa-winning Victorian mystery and a Shakespearean timeslip joined the ranking; Kij Johnson's The Fox Woman joined her Fudoki under the one-world rule.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • The Crescent Moon Kingdoms — Saladin Ahmed
  • The Lie Tree — Frances Hardinge
  • King of Shadows — Susan Cooper
  • Waking the Moon — Elizabeth Hand
  • The Bone Clocks / Slade House — David Mitchell
  • The Facts of Life — Graham Joyce
  • Moonheart / Spiritwalk — Charles de Lint
  • The Beginning Place — Ursula K. Le Guin
  • Hart's Hope — Orson Scott Card

  New books added

  The Fox Woman / Fudoki gains The Fox Woman as a Core novel The Folk of the Air / The Modern Faerie Tales gains The Darkest Part of the Forest as a Core novel The Eternal Champion gains the two Von Bek novels as a Core series

• 2026-09-27

  One world, one universe: seventeen entries merged into thirteen, and six classics join

  A new standing rule folds same-world series into a single universe: seventeen universes were merged into thirteen today, The Eyes of the Dragon joined The Dark Tower, The Return of the Condor Heroes completed its trilogy, and six classics from Nils to The Circus of Dr. Lao were admitted.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • The Wonderful Adventures of Nils — Selma Lagerlöf
  • The Changeover — Margaret Mahy
  • The Little Grey Men — BB
  • The Hounds of the Morrigan — Pat O'Shea
  • The Haunting — Margaret Mahy
  • The Circus of Dr. Lao — Charles G. Finney

  Universes merged

  Riyria / Legends of the First Empire now also holds Legends of the First Empire Under Heaven / River of Stars now also holds River of Stars Vampire Academy / Bloodlines now also holds Bloodlines Mercy Thompson / Alpha and Omega now also holds Alpha and Omega American Gods / Anansi Boys now also holds Anansi Boys The Nightside / Secret Histories now also holds Secret Histories The Condor Trilogy now also holds Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre The Riordanverse now also holds The Kane Chronicles, Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard The Fionavar Tapestry / Ysabel now also holds Ysabel The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue / Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil now also holds Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil The Dark Tower gains The Eyes of the Dragon as a Core novel The Eternal Champion now unites Elric, Hawkmoon, Corum and Erekose The Folk of the Air / The Modern Faerie Tales joined into one faerie world Conan / Kull / Bran Mak Morn now holds Robert E. Howard's three ages of the same Earth

  New books added

  The Condor Trilogy is complete: The Return of the Condor Heroes added

• 2026-09-25

  Ten standalone fantasies join the ranking

  Ten standalone novels joined the ranking today, from a 1920s witch novel and a Norse saga retelling to Till We Have Faces, The Tale of Despereaux and Tamsin.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • Lolly Willowes — Sylvia Townsend Warner
  • Hrolf Kraki's Saga — Poul Anderson
  • Sea Hearts — Margo Lanagan
  • Mio, My Son — Astrid Lindgren
  • James and the Giant Peach — Roald Dahl
  • Till We Have Faces — C.S. Lewis
  • The Tale of Despereaux — Kate DiCamillo
  • The Little White Horse — Elizabeth Goudge
  • Tamsin — Peter S. Beagle
  • The Perilous Gard — Elizabeth Marie Pope

• 2026-09-24

  Seven universes join, from Troy to Peter Pan

  David Gemmell's Troy trilogy, Kevin Hearne's Seven Kennings and Daniel José Older's Shadowshaper Cypher joined the ranking today, together with four classics: Peter Pan, Silverlock, Jim Button and Something Wicked This Way Comes.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • Troy — David Gemmell & Stella Gemmell
  • The Seven Kennings — Kevin Hearne
  • The Shadowshaper Cypher — Daniel José Older
  • Peter Pan — J.M. Barrie
  • Silverlock — John Myers Myers
  • Jim Button — Michael Ende
  • Something Wicked This Way Comes — Ray Bradbury

• 2026-09-23

  More completed fantasy series join the ranking

  Two new grimdark trilogies, a steampunk comedy-of-manners pentalogy, a banking-and-war epic fantasy pentalogy, a witches-and-demons romantasy trilogy, and a faerie urban fantasy pentalogy joined the ranking today.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • The Raven's Mark — Ed McDonald
  • The Worldbreaker Saga — Kameron Hurley
  • Parasol Protectorate — Gail Carriger
  • The Dagger and the Coin — Daniel Abraham
  • Kingdom of the Wicked — Kerri Maniscalco
  • Wicked Lovely — Melissa Marr
  • Millennium's Rule — Trudi Canavan
  • Sovereign Stone Trilogy — Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
  • The Covenant of Steel — Anthony Ryan
  • Rai-Kirah — Carol Berg
  • Precious Stone Trilogy — Kerstin Gier
  • Rusalka — C.J. Cherryh
  • The Dragon King Trilogy — Stephen R. Lawhead
  • Tales of Einarinn — Juliet E. McKenna
  • The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone — Greg Keyes
  • The Lost Years of Merlin — T. A. Barron
  • Second Sons Trilogy — Jennifer Fallon
  • The Seventh Sword — Dave Duncan
  • The Corax Trilogy — K. J. Parker
  • Spiritwalker — Kate Elliott
  • The Macht — Paul Kearney

• 2026-09-22

  12 new universes added

  Twelve new fantasy series joined the ranking today, including several completed trilogies, a completed quartet, and a classic martial-arts saga.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • Creature Court — Tansy Rayner Roberts
  • Children of the Black Sun — Jo Spurrier
  • Dark Heavens — Kylie Chan
  • The Moorehawke Trilogy — Celine Kiernan
  • Isles of Glory — Glenda Larke
  • Manifest Delusions — Michael R. Fletcher
  • Wellenläufer-Trilogie — Kai Meyer
  • Dragon Sword and Wind Child — Noriko Ogiwara
  • Farlander (Heart of the World) — Col Buchanan
  • Finnbranch — Paul Hazel
  • Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre — Jin Yong
  • Jon Shannow (Stones of Power) — David Gemmell

• 2026-09-21

  Fourteen new universes added to the canon

  Fourteen more fantasy universes joined the canon today: two acclaimed 2024 standalone novels, a classic Arthurian saga, a swashbuckling quartet, a beloved children's classic, an ongoing epic fantasy series, an award-winning middle-grade ghost story, a classic alternate-history novel, an award-nominated novel of Heian Japan, a horror-tinged standalone, an award-winning children's duology, an Irish mythic-fantasy quartet, a ten-book school-of-magic series, and a long-running urban fantasy sequence.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • The Siege of Burning Grass — Premee Mohamed
  • The Dead Cat Tail Assassins — P. Djèlí Clark
  • The Merlin Trilogy — Mary Stewart
  • The Greatcoats — Sebastien de Castell
  • The Phantom Tollbooth — Norton Juster
  • The Holy Mountain — W. P. Wiles
  • Doll Bones — Holly Black
  • Gloriana, or the Unfulfill'd Queen — Michael Moorcock
  • Fudoki — Kij Johnson
  • Faerie Tale — Raymond E. Feist
  • Fly By Night — Frances Hardinge
  • The Chronicles of Faerie — O.R. Melling
  • Children of the Red King — Jenny Nimmo
  • Chronicles of Elantra — Michelle Sagara

• 2026-09-20

  Every author now has a full biography, plus accessibility fixes across the site

  Two long-running content projects have wrapped up: every author in the canon now has a full, sourced biography, and the book-synopsis effort is likewise complete. Separately, a round of accessibility improvements landed: a "skip to main content" link on every page, better screen-reader support for the sortable tables and search box, and several dark-mode contrast fixes.

  Full list

  Author biographies and book synopses: backlog complete

  • Every author in the canon now has a real, sourced biography. Every fact was drawn from an actually-fetched source (Wikipedia, official author sites, publisher pages, or dedicated fan wikis), never retail or rating sites.
  • The book-synopsis effort across the catalog is also complete, using the same sourcing standard.

  Accessibility & usability fixes

  • Added a "skip to main content" link to every page, so keyboard users can jump straight past the header and navigation.
  • The Rankings, Universes, and Authors tables now properly label their columns and announce which column is sorted (and in which direction) to screen readers.
  • The site-wide search box now exposes its results as a proper accessible list, and the highlighted result while using arrow keys is clearly visible in both light and dark mode.
  • Fixed the "page not found" screen's navigation and search links so they work correctly from any page depth, not just the top level.
  • Improved dark-mode color contrast on buttons and the search box border.

• 2026-09-14

  Three new universes, plus hundreds of missing book descriptions filled in

  Three new fantasy universes joined the canon: a New Zealand epic trilogy, a Regency-era historical fantasy sequence, and a classic English children's series. Alongside that, a big batch of previously-blank book synopses and author bios got filled in across the catalog.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • Fire of Heaven — Russell Kirkpatrick
  • Glamourist Histories — Mary Robinette Kowal
  • Green Knowe — Lucy M. Boston

  Book descriptions filled in

  • Added missing synopses and author bios for hundreds of books across the catalog, with more still on the way.

• 2026-09-13

  Three new universes added

  The canon grew by three: a historical-fantasy classic, a long-running urban-fantasy series, and a complete YA trilogy.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • Ash: A Secret History — Mary Gentle
  • Sandman Slim — Richard Kadrey
  • Simon Snow Trilogy — Rainbow Rowell

• 2026-09-11

  Jump-to-section nav on Discover, a hover style refresh, and a cover-image fix

  The Discover page now has the same "jump to section" pill nav as Statistics, and the pill style itself got a small refresh: hovering now fills the pill with the accent color instead of just tinting its border.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • Chanters of Tremaris — Kate Constable
  • Dante Valentine — Lilith Saintcrow
  • Diana Tregarde — Mercedes Lackey

  Also fixed

  • Two Wheel of Time records had swapped cover-image identifiers, so The Strike at Shayol Ghul was showing the wrong book cover while The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time showed none at all -- both fixed.

• 2026-09-10

  Three new universes added

  Three more fantasy universes joined the ranking.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • Beautiful Creatures — Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
  • Beyonders — Brandon Mull
  • The Cronus Chronicles — Anne Ursu

• 2026-09-09

  New universes added

  Four new series join the canon.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • Chicagoland Vampires — Chloe Neill
  • Cemetery Boys — Aiden Thomas
  • Dragon Jousters — Mercedes Lackey
  • Emily Windsnap — Liz Kessler

• 2026-09-08

  New universe added

  A new standalone novel joins the canon.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • Magic for Liars — Sarah Gailey

• 2026-09-07

  Feedback notifications made more reliable

  A maintenance fix to how reader feedback reaches the maintainer.

  Full list

  Site changes

  • The feedback form's behind-the-scenes email notification now reports its own health to the site maintainer, so a reader's suggestion can no longer sit unnoticed if that notification breaks. Nothing changes for readers: submissions were always saved, and still are.
  • New and updated pages are now announced to Bing and DuckDuckGo automatically at publish time, so they should appear in those search engines within days.
  • The site has a new home: ultimatefantasyranking.com. Old links keep working — they redirect to the same page on the new address — but please update any bookmarks.
  • The Support page now takes donations through Ko-fi (PayPal or card) instead of a direct PayPal.me link.

  Ratings and rankings

  • Eight more universes now have reader ratings and appear in the ranking: The Dragon Waiting, A Night in the Lonesome October, A Fine and Private Place, Acacia, Age of Misrule, The Rigante, Ile-Rien and The Ægypt Cycle. Barsoom, Time Quintet, The Minotaur Trilogy and The Twelve Kingdoms are now fully rated.

• 2026-09-06

  More fantasy universes added

  More fantasy universes joined the site today, including a German-language trilogy, a Japanese portal-fantasy novel, a classic Mars series, and several English children's classics.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • Arkadien — Kai Meyer
  • Brave Story — Miyuki Miyabe
  • Elidor — Alan Garner
  • Dogsbody — Diana Wynne Jones
  • The Borrowers — Mary Norton
  • Cuckoo Song — Frances Hardinge
  • Barsoom — Edgar Rice Burroughs
  • Bed-Knob and Broomstick — Mary Norton

• 2026-09-05

  More fantasy series added

  Three more fantasy universes joined the canon this week, plus two previously stuck universes finally got their reader-rating data.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • Dragonbreath — Ursula Vernon
  • The Dragon Knight — Gordon R. Dickson
  • The Book of Wirrun — Patricia Wrightson
  • Hamster Princess — Ursula Vernon
  • Tea with the Black Dragon — R.A. MacAvoy
  • Beauty — Sheri S. Tepper
  • The Minotaur Trilogy — Thomas Burnett Swann
  • The Salt Roads — Nalo Hopkinson
  • Ironskin — Tina Connolly
  • The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club — Theodora Goss
  • The Pandava Quintet — Roshani Chokshi
  • Time Quintet — Madeleine L'Engle
  • All the Birds in the Sky — Charlie Jane Anders
  • Avaryan Rising — Judith Tarr
  • Armed in Her Fashion — Kate Heartfield
  • Asunder — Kerstin Hall
  • Baltaragis's Mill — Kazys Boruta
  • The Sharing Knife — Lois McMaster Bujold
  • Nightrunner — Lynn Flewelling
  • Tam Lin — Pamela Dean
  • Blood and Chocolate — Annette Curtis Klause
  • Blanca & Roja — Anna-Marie McLemore
  • Beasts of Prey — Ayana Gray
  • Chronicles of Ancient Darkness — Michelle Paver
  • Dilvish, the Damned — Roger Zelazny
  • Elak of Atlantis — Henry Kuttner
  • Chronicles of the Cheysuli — Jennifer Roberson
  • Conjure Wife — Fritz Leiber

  Updated

  • The Books of Pellinor and Archer's Goon finally got their reader-rating data after being stuck for a few days.
  • The Minotaur Trilogy picked up a reader rating for its third book.
  • Tea with the Black Dragon, Beauty, The Salt Roads, and Ironskin all now show reader-rating data.
  • Added reader ratings for A Última Vida de Sir David, Crossroads, and Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne.
  • Finished collecting reader ratings for all six Avaryan Rising novels.
  • The Sharing Knife and Nightrunner both got reader ratings and cover-image ISBNs for all their Core books.
  • Chronicles of the Cheysuli and Conjure Wife now show reader ratings and rankings.

• 2026-09-04

  More new universes added

  A dozen more fantasy universes joined the ranking this week.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • Three new universes: Ile-Rien (Martha Wells), The Rigante (David Gemmell) and The Dragon Waiting (John M. Ford, a new author here), surfaced by this week's large-scale discovery sweep.
  • Three more new universes: A Night in the Lonesome October (Roger Zelazny), Acacia (David Anthony Durham, a new author here) and The AEgypt Cycle (John Crowley), from this week's discovery sweep.
  • Three more new universes: A Fine and Private Place (Peter S. Beagle), A Monster Calls (Patrick Ness, a new author here) and Age of Misrule (Mark Chadbourn, a new author here), from this week's discovery sweep.
  • Three more new universes: A Scattering of Jades (Alexander C. Irvine, a new author here), Burningblade & Silvereye (Django Wexler) and At the Back of the North Wind (George MacDonald), from this week's discovery sweep.
  • Aeons' Gate — Sam Sykes
  • Amari and the Night Brothers — B.B. Alston
  • Blood Books — Tanya Huff
  • The Books of Pellinor — Alison Croggon
  • Archer's Goon — Diana Wynne Jones
  • Three more new universes: All Souls Universe (Deborah Harkness, a new author here), Tristan Strong (Kwame Mbalia, a new author here) and The Wildwood Chronicles (Colin Meloy, a new author here), from this week's discovery sweep.
  • All Souls Universe — Deborah Harkness
  • Tristan Strong — Kwame Mbalia
  • The Wildwood Chronicles — Colin Meloy

• 2026-09-03

  Homepage differentiator line, and a livelier Compare page

  The homepage now states up front what makes this ranking different, and the Compare and Discover pages got easier to use.

  Full list

  Updated

  • Homepage adds a line explaining the ranking's approach, linking to the full explanation.
  • Every universe dossier now has a "Quick answers" section: book count, reading order, status, and current rank.
  • The Compare page shows each universe's rating and rank, and highlights whichever side is higher.
  • Discover now leads with "What should I read next?"
  • Fixed: books with no cover no longer show a blank box.

• 2026-09-02

  Nine new universes

  Nine new universes joined the canon: The Runelords, Inda, Saga of Pliocene Exile, The Hound and the Falcon, Doctrine of Labyrinths, The Ballad of Perilous Graves, Thistlefoot, Audition for the Fox, and The Secret Market of the Dead.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • The Runelords — David Farland
  • Inda — Sherwood Smith
  • Saga of Pliocene Exile — Julian May
  • The Hound and the Falcon — Judith Tarr
  • Doctrine of Labyrinths — Sarah Monette
  • The Ballad of Perilous Graves — Alex Jennings
  • Thistlefoot — GennaRose Nethercott
  • Audition for the Fox — Martin Cahill
  • The Secret Market of the Dead — Giovanni De Feo

• 2026-09-01

  Four small fixes from today's usability pass

  A status label on the Universes page could show an internal spelling instead of "Unfinished" when filtering; the About page's data-coverage line read oddly now that every universe is ranked; the Page Not Found note about removed titles no longer names one specific batch (removals are ongoing and each is recorded in these updates); and a dossier's works tables only show the "Internal chron." column when a series actually records internal chronology, instead of a column of N/A.

• 2026-08-31

  Incarnations of Immortality now fully rated

  Reader ratings have been collected for all seven Core Canon books of Incarnations of Immortality, completing the series' data and its place in the ranked list.

  New universes added

  • The Lord of the Ice Garden — Jarosław Grzędowicz
  • David Mogo, Godhunter — Suyi Davies Okungbowa
  • The Leviathan of Babylon — Hagar Yanai

  Removed

  • Mother of Learning — nobody103 (removed: web-original fiction, out of scope)
  • A Batalha do Apocalipse — Eduardo Spohr (removed: web-original fiction, out of scope)

• 2026-08-30

  Reader ratings added for six recently added series

  Deepgate Codex, A Land Fit for Heroes, The Darksword Trilogy, Novaria, La Horde du Contrevent, and The Bird That Drinks Tears now show reader ratings and appear in the ranked list.

  New universes added

  • Journey to the West — Wu Cheng'en
  • The Letter for the King — Tonke Dragt
  • The Master and Margarita — Mikhail Bulgakov
  • Bloodlines — Richelle Mead
  • Lightbringer — Brent Weeks
  • Shadows of the Apt — Adrian Tchaikovsky
  • Incarnations of Immortality — Piers Anthony
  • Pendragon Cycle — Stephen R. Lawhead
  • Myth Adventures — Robert Lynn Asprin
  • The Elemental Masters — Mercedes Lackey
  • Dread Empire — Glen Cook
  • Alpha and Omega — Patricia Briggs
  • The Wolves of Mercy Falls — Maggie Stiefvater
  • Merry Gentry — Laurell K. Hamilton
  • The Imager Portfolio — L.E. Modesitt Jr.
  • Garrett P.I. — Glen Cook
  • The Corean Chronicles — L.E. Modesitt Jr.
  • Lives of the Mayfair Witches — Anne Rice
  • The Spellsong Cycle — L.E. Modesitt Jr.
  • Dark Swan — Richelle Mead
  • The Thief Lord — Cornelia Funke
  • Georgina Kincaid — Richelle Mead
  • Dragon Rider — Cornelia Funke
  • The Near Witch — V.E. Schwab
  • City of Ghosts — V.E. Schwab
  • Reckless — Cornelia Funke
  • The Dwarves — Markus Heitz
  • Ulldart — Markus Heitz
  • The Elven — Bernhard Hennen
  • Legado Ranger — Raphael Draccon
  • Chronicles of the Emerged World — Licia Troisi
  • GameWorld Trilogy — Samit Basu
  • Beasts Made of Night — Tochi Onyebuchi
  • The Legend of the Ice People — Margit Sandemo

  Updated

  • Chronicles of the Emerged World — expanded with two direct continuation trilogies (Wars, Legends of the Emerged World)

  Removed

  • The Innkeeper Chronicles (Ilona Andrews) has been removed: it originated as free web-serial fiction on the authors' own blog before later self-publication, which is out of scope for this canon regardless of later print publication or popularity.

• 2026-08-29

  More fantasy books and series added to the site

  Added several more titles this week, spanning a British folklore mystery series, a historical fantasy duology set in 1880s Egypt, two standalone Norse-mythology novels by the same author, a Palleseen-empire fantasy sequence, an imperial-law grimdark trilogy, a reality-spanning-library trilogy, and three standalone award-winning novels: a modern urban-fantasy changeling story, a dark fairy-tale retelling, and a time-travel historical fantasy.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • The Green Man — Juliet E. McKenna
  • Time of Iron — Sarah Rees Brennan
  • Secrets of the Nile — Isabel Ibañez
  • The Witch's Heart — Genevieve Gornichec
  • The Weaver and the Witch Queen — Genevieve Gornichec
  • The Tyrant Philosophers — Adrian Tchaikovsky
  • Empire of the Wolf — Richard Swan
  • The Library Trilogy — Mark Lawrence
  • Ash and Sand — Richard Nell
  • The Tensorate Series — JY Yang
  • Lockwood & Co — Jonathan Stroud
  • The Changeling — Victor LaValle
  • Tender Morsels — Margo Lanagan
  • The Anubis Gates — Tim Powers
  • Deepgate Codex — Alan Campbell
  • A Land Fit for Heroes — Richard K. Morgan
  • The Darksword Trilogy — Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
  • Alex Verus — Benedict Jacka
  • The Legend of Eli Monpress — Rachel Aaron
  • Secret Histories — Simon R. Green
  • The Raven Cycle — Maggie Stiefvater
  • The Iron Fey — Julie Kagawa
  • Novaria — L. Sprague de Camp

  Updated

  • The FAQ on the About page is now click-to-expand, one question at a time, and explains what each fantasy subgenre label means.

• 2026-08-28

  12 titles removed for being out of scope, plus reader-reported fixes and rankings tweaks

  We removed 12 titles that don't fit this site's scope of prose fantasy novels -- stories that originated as manga or webtoons, and "LitRPG" series built around explicit game-like level/stat systems. Also: author-page award summaries no longer read a finalist mention as an award won, the language flag on book pages is now a small picture so it shows up everywhere, author pages show a cover picture per book, and the Rankings page now remembers what you had open when you come back.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • The Memoirs of Lady Trent — Marie Brennan
  • Brown Girl in the Ring — Nalo Hopkinson
  • Return to Nevèrÿon — Samuel R. Delany
  • Imaro — Charles R. Saunders
  • Masquerade — O.O. Sangoyomi
  • Fathomfolk — Eliza Chan
  • Faebound — Saara El-Arifi

  Updated

  • Author pages: award summaries no longer read finalist/nominated/honor mentions as if they were awards won -- relabeled "Total awards" to "Award recognitions" and each result now says what it is ("finalist mention", "nomination", "honor mention").
  • Book pages: the language flag is now a small picture instead of a text symbol, so it shows up on more devices.
  • Author pages now show a small cover picture next to each book in their list.
  • Rankings page: the filter panel and an expanded universe card on mobile now stay open after you refresh the page, instead of closing again.
  • Rankings page: trimmed two lines of intro text that just repeated what the page controls already show.
  • Homepage: the four "Where to start" icons are now simple line drawings instead of emoji.
  • Universe pages: the Core Canon and Expanded book lists now appear right after the Overview, before the other sections.
  • Rankings page: the small rank-change arrow next to two-digit ranks (10 and above) now sits next to the number like it does for single-digit ranks, instead of dropping to its own line.
  • Rankings page (mobile): a long universe name no longer pushes the rating number down onto its own line — it now stays lined up the same way for every entry.
  • Rankings page: the "Reset filters" button no longer shows up when nothing is actually filtered — it only appears once you change a filter.
  • Universes page: two titles with an "unfinished" status (including Grimpow) were being hidden everywhere, even from a direct name search — a missing filter option. Fixed.
  • Small fixes: the Rankings search box now says what it actually searches, a "1 universes" wording slip, and the site header now shrinks on short/landscape phone screens too.
  • A link to one of the 12 titles removed on 28 Aug now explains why on the not-found page instead of leaving you guessing.
  • Search: the author Nghi Vo still wasn't showing up for a "vo" search after this morning's fix — a second, related cause. Fixed for real this time, with a test that covers the exact shape of the bug.
  • Fixed the global search dropdown showing its Series/Authors/Books group headers inline instead of on their own row.
  • Cleaned up 89 leftover internal rating-history entries for previously removed books.
  • Removed two confusing statistics from the Statistics page (top-rated-in-common, highly-rated-but-little-known).
  • Statistics page: simplified the series-structure chart's labels to plain language.
  • Data audit found and fixed 78 universes ranked off stale reader-rating data; the underlying cause is now fixed for good, not just patched.
  • Added real ISBNs for 53 more Core Canon books across 32 universes, so their pages can show a cover image.
  • Data audit follow-up: verified 13 award records against the award bodies' own official sources and corrected one wrong year.

  Removed

  • Solo Leveling — Chugong
  • Overlord — Kugane Maruyama
  • Sword Art Online — Reki Kawahara
  • That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime — Fuse
  • Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World — Tappei Nagatsuki
  • Kiki's Delivery Service — Eiko Kadono
  • Record of Lodoss War — Ryo Mizuno
  • Beware of Chicken — Casualfarmer
  • Dungeon Crawler Carl — Matt Dinniman
  • Cradle — Will Wight
  • He Who Fights with Monsters — Shirtaloon
  • The Wandering Inn — pirateaba
  • Worth the Candle — Alexander Wales

• 2026-08-27

  More fantasy universes added

  Two dozen more universes joined the catalogue, from Zothique to Solo Leveling, and Rankings got several fixes: a broken sort, a rank-movement indicator, and an Enter-key search fix.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • Zothique — Clark Ashton Smith
  • Mother of Learning — nobody103
  • The Nameless Republic — Suyi Davies Okungbowa
  • Wars of Vis — Tanith Lee
  • Kiki's Delivery Service — Eiko Kadono
  • The Wounded Kingdom — RJ Barker
  • Kai Lung — Ernest Bramah
  • Beware of Chicken — Casualfarmer
  • Solo Leveling — Chugong
  • The Jumbies — Tracey Baptiste
  • The Engelsfors Trilogy — Sara Bergmark Elfgren & Mats Strandberg
  • The Palm-Wine Drinkard — Amos Tutuola
  • Vassa in the Night — Sarah Porter
  • Kaikeyi — Vaishnavi Patel
  • Overlord — Kugane Maruyama
  • Sword Art Online — Reki Kawahara
  • That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime — Fuse
  • The Song of the Shattered Sands — Bradley P. Beaulieu
  • The Hussite Trilogy — Andrzej Sapkowski
  • Brooklyn Brujas — Zoraida Cordova
  • Watership Down — Richard Adams
  • The Axis Trilogy — Sara Douglass
  • Zamonia — Walter Moers
  • The Cardinal's Blades — Pierre Pevel
  • The Birthgrave Trilogy — Tanith Lee
  • Wings of Fire — Tui T. Sutherland
  • Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World, The Vagrant Trilogy, and The Draconis Memoria, with reader ratings collected for nearly all of their books.
  • Little, Big; The Raven Tower; and Caraval, with reader ratings collected for all of their books.

  Updated

  • Rankings page: fixed the Ratings column sort (it silently did nothing), and moved the Reset filters button so it stays reachable even when the filter panel is collapsed.
  • Rankings page: removed the "low sample size" filter and badge, and universes that aren't ranked yet no longer clutter the ranking table (they still appear on the full Universes list).
  • Rankings page: each universe's rank now shows a small arrow when its position has moved since the last check (or "NEW" the first time it's ranked) — so a returning visitor can see what changed.
  • The search box at the top of every page now works if you just type and press Enter, without needing to touch the arrow keys first.
  • Long universe pages now have a "Jump to" menu near the top, so you can skip straight to a section instead of scrolling.
  • Cleaned up some internal notes that had leaked onto universe pages and the Statistics page (an unexplained "906 Decisions" tile, a repeated disclaimer, and a few stray abbreviations).

• 2026-08-26

  More fantasy series added

  33 more universes were added (including Record of Lodoss War, The Vampire Chronicles, and Dungeon Crawler Carl) and reader ratings caught up for 32 previously-added universes.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • The Moon Pool — A. Merritt
  • Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice — James Branch Cabell
  • The Ayesha Series — H. Rider Haggard
  • Record of Lodoss War — Ryo Mizuno
  • The Watch Series — Sergei Lukyanenko
  • The Band — Nicholas Eames
  • The Traitor Son Cycle — Miles Cameron
  • Elements of Cadence — Rebecca Ross
  • Alchemical Journeys — Seanan McGuire
  • The Frostblood Saga — Elly Blake
  • The Girl Who Drank the Moon — Kelly Barnhill
  • Gallant — V.E. Schwab
  • Starling House — Alix E. Harrow
  • The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox — Barry Hughart
  • Crown of Stars — Kate Elliott
  • Eternal Sky — Elizabeth Bear
  • Tales from the Flat Earth — Tanith Lee
  • The Morgaine Cycle — C.J. Cherryh
  • War for the Oaks — Emma Bull
  • Ella Enchanted — Gail Carson Levine
  • The Vampire Chronicles — Anne Rice
  • Dungeon Crawler Carl — Matt Dinniman
  • Blood and Ash — Jennifer L. Armentrout
  • The Harold Shea Series — L. Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt
  • The Shadow — Lila Bowen
  • The Library at Mount Char — Scott Hawkins
  • Moribito — Nahoko Uehashi
  • Tomes & Tea — Rebecca Thorne
  • Cradle — Will Wight
  • He Who Fights with Monsters — Shirtaloon
  • The Wandering Inn — pirateaba
  • The Legend of the Condor Heroes — Jin Yong
  • Krabat — Otfried Preussler
  • Saga of the Borderlands — Liliana Bodoc
  • The Well of the Unicorn — Fletcher Pratt
  • Regency Faerie Tales — Olivia Atwater

  Updated

  • Reader-rating and ISBN catch-up: 16 universes now have reader ratings for every book (The Hexologists, The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, Under the Whispering Door, The Scapegracers, Gods of Jade and Shadow, Six Crimson Cranes, Sistersong, Serpent & Dove, A Dowry of Blood, The Moon Pool, Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice, The Ayesha Series, The Watch Series, An Enchantment of Ravens, and Ash Princess's remaining books); real ISBNs also added for The Faithful and the Fallen, The Bloodsworn Saga, The Licanius Trilogy, Chronicles of Ixia, and The Winnowing Flame Trilogy.
  • Reader-rating collection: 8 more universes now have reader ratings for every book (The Band, The Traitor Son Cycle, Elements of Cadence, Alchemical Journeys, The Frostblood Saga, The Girl Who Drank the Moon, Gallant, and Starling House).
  • Reader-rating collection: 8 more universes now have reader ratings for every book (The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox, Crown of Stars, Eternal Sky, Tales from the Flat Earth, The Morgaine Cycle, War for the Oaks, Ella Enchanted, and The Vampire Chronicles).

• 2026-08-25

  More fantasy series added

  A big batch of roughly 90 more universes joined the catalogue, spanning classic and modern fantasy alike, plus rating fixes for The Copper Cat and Xanth.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • Vita Nostra — Sergey & Marina Dyachenko
  • The Shadow Campaigns — Django Wexler
  • The Deathless — Peter Newman
  • The Godblind Trilogy — Anna Stephens
  • The Lot Lands — Jonathan French
  • Malice Duology — Heather Walter
  • The Wolf and the Woodsman — Ava Reid
  • The Copper Cat — Jen Williams
  • The Books of Babel — Josiah Bancroft
  • Green Rider — Kristen Britain
  • The Bone Witch — Rin Chupeco
  • The School for Good and Evil — Soman Chainani
  • The Wrath and the Dawn — Renée Ahdieh
  • Witchlands — Susan Dennard
  • The Books of the Raksura — Martha Wells
  • Swords and Fire / Rooks and Ruin — Melissa Caruso
  • The Invisible Library — Genevieve Cogman
  • Seven Realms — Cinda Williams Chima
  • Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter — Laurell K. Hamilton
  • Vampire Academy — Richelle Mead
  • The Southern Vampire Mysteries — Charlaine Harris
  • Hidden Legacy — Ilona Andrews
  • The Blacktongue Thief — Christopher Buehlman
  • Thessaly — Jo Walton
  • Skulduggery Pleasant — Derek Landy
  • The Nightside — Simon R. Green
  • Ash Princess — Laura Sebastian
  • Kencyrath — P.C. Hodgell
  • The Hierarchy — James Islington
  • The Poison Wars — Sam Hawke
  • A Chorus of Dragons — Jenn Lyons
  • The Sandsea Trilogy — Chelsea Abdullah
  • Letters of Enchantment — Rebecca Ross
  • Saga of the Unfated — Danielle L. Jensen
  • A Study in Drowning — Ava Reid
  • The Hexologists — Josiah Bancroft
  • The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi — S.A. Chakraborty
  • The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches — Sangu Mandanna
  • Under the Whispering Door — T.J. Klune
  • The Scapegracers — H. A. Clarke
  • Gods of Jade and Shadow — Silvia Moreno-Garcia
  • Six Crimson Cranes — Elizabeth Lim
  • Sistersong — Lucy Holland
  • Serpent & Dove — Shelby Mahurin
  • A Dowry of Blood — S. T. Gibson
  • The Queen's Thief — Megan Whalen Turner
  • Celestial Kingdom — Sue Lynn Tan
  • Their Bright Ascendency — K Arsenault Rivera
  • The Hands of the Emperor — Victoria Goddard
  • The Scorched Throne — Sara Hashem
  • The Endsong — Sascha Stronach
  • The Powerless Trilogy — Lauren Roberts
  • The Ghost Bride — Yangsze Choo
  • The Mabinogion Tetralogy — Evangeline Walton
  • The Vandarei Trilogy — Joy Chant
  • Nifft the Lean — Michael Shea
  • The Chronicles of Tornor — Elizabeth A. Lynn
  • The Atlan Saga — Jane Gaskell
  • Kane — Karl Edward Wagner
  • Tekumel — M.A.R. Barker
  • The Monarchies of God — Paul Kearney
  • Wraeththu — Storm Constantine
  • The Rages Trilogy — Kritika H. Rao
  • Nampeshiweisit — Moniquill Blackgoose
  • The Dark Star Trilogy — Marlon James
  • The Shiva Trilogy — Amish Tripathi
  • The Star-Touched Queen — Roshani Chokshi
  • The Gilded Wolves — Roshani Chokshi
  • The Shadow Histories — H.G. Parry
  • The Broken Sword — Poul Anderson
  • Three Hearts and Three Lions — Poul Anderson
  • Jirel of Joiry — C.L. Moore
  • Dark Sun: The Prism Pentad — Troy Denning
  • Gotrek and Felix — William King
  • Between Two Fires — Christopher Buehlman
  • The Butcher of the Forest — Premee Mohamed

  Updated

  • Filled in reader-rating data for the remaining Copper Cat novels.
  • Xanth now has reader ratings for its three core novels.

• 2026-08-24

  Discover: a similar-universes lookup and a new shelf

  Discover gained a "similar to" lookup and a shelf for translated fantasy, universe pages got a quick-summary panel, and 20 new universes were added, including Empire of the Vampire and The Others.

  Full list

  Updated

  • Discover grew a "similar to" lookup — pick a universe and see others like it — plus a new shelf for well-reviewed fantasy originally written in a language other than English.
  • Universe pages now show a quick "why explore this" summary — rating, book count, status and rank in one place.

  New universes added

  • Empire of the Vampire — Jay Kristoff
  • Godkiller (The Fallen Gods Trilogy) — Hannah Kaner
  • The Sword of Kaigen — M.L. Wang
  • His Fair Assassin — Robin LaFevers
  • Chronicles of the Wolf Queen — K.S. Villoso
  • The Nevernight Chronicle — Jay Kristoff
  • Crowns of Nyaxia — Carissa Broadbent
  • The Spear Cuts Through Water — Simon Jimenez
  • Sorcery of Thorns — Margaret Rogerson
  • Vespertine — Margaret Rogerson
  • The Atlas Six — Olivie Blake
  • Sisters of the Salt — Erin A. Craig
  • The Others — Anne Bishop
  • Sands of Arawiya — Hafsah Faizal
  • The Masquerade — Seth Dickinson
  • The Last Binding — Freya Marske
  • The Chronicles of Castellane — Cassandra Clare
  • Raven's Shadow — Anthony Ryan
  • A Song of Wraiths and Ruin — Roseanne A. Brown
  • The Bound and the Broken — Ryan Cahill

• 2026-08-21

  Fantasy Through Time, rebuilt

  Fantasy Through Time became a full visual history of the genre, 49 more universes were added (completing Xanth's full 49-book catalogue), and 487 missing award/source citations were found and added.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • Artemis Fowl — Eoin Colfer
  • Ranger's Apprentice — John Flanagan
  • The Edge Chronicles — Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell
  • Septimus Heap — Angie Sage
  • The Books of Bayern — Shannon Hale
  • The Enchanted Forest Chronicles — Patricia C. Wrede
  • Kate Daniels — Ilona Andrews
  • Found and added a Dresden Files anthology, Paranormal Payback, that a canon check turned up was missing.
  • Black Jewels — Anne Bishop
  • Xanth — Piers Anthony
  • The Shadowhunter Chronicles — Cassandra Clare
  • The Demon Cycle — Peter V. Brett
  • Newford — Charles de Lint
  • Night Angel Trilogy — Brent Weeks
  • Thieves' World — Robert Lynn Asprin and Lynn Abbey
  • The Deed of Paksenarrion — Elizabeth Moon
  • The Death Gate Cycle — Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
  • The Saga of Recluce — L.E. Modesitt Jr.
  • The Wars of Light and Shadow — Janny Wurts
  • Dragon Prince — Melanie Rawn
  • Song of Albion — Stephen R. Lawhead
  • Liavek — Emma Bull and Will Shetterly
  • Mistborn — Brandon Sanderson
  • The Hollow Kingdom — Clare B. Dunkle
  • The Chathrand Voyage — Robert V. S. Redick
  • The DemonWars Saga — R.A. Salvatore
  • The Book of Words — J. V. Jones
  • Guardians of the Flame — Joel Rosenberg
  • Rose of the Prophet — Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
  • Tales of the Otori — Lian Hearn
  • The Bone Season — Samantha Shannon
  • Young Wizards — Diane Duane
  • The Modern Faerie Tales — Holly Black
  • The Curse Workers — Holly Black
  • The Charlatan Duology — Holly Black
  • Magisterium — Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
  • The Tales of Alvin Maker — Orson Scott Card
  • Deltora Quest — Emily Rodda
  • The Bitterbynde Trilogy — Cecilia Dart-Thornton
  • The Steerswoman — Rosemary Kirstein
  • Weaveworld — Clive Barker
  • The Hollows — Kim Harrison
  • Mercy Thompson — Patricia Briggs
  • The Iron Druid Chronicles — Kevin Hearne
  • The Faithful and the Fallen — John Gwynne
  • The Bloodsworn Saga — John Gwynne
  • The Licanius Trilogy — James Islington
  • Chronicles of Ixia — Maria V. Snyder
  • The Winnowing Flame Trilogy — Jen Williams
  • An Enchantment of Ravens — Margaret Rogerson

  Updated

  • Xanth's catalogue is now complete — all 49 published Piers Anthony novels are added.
  • Fantasy Through Time is now a full visual history — when every universe began, how long each ran, and how genres rose and faded by decade. Find it in the Explore menu.
  • Every bar in Statistics and Fantasy Through Time now opens to show exactly which universes are behind the numbers.
  • Search got a bit smarter: type a book title and the result now shows where it sits in its series (for example, "Book 2 of 5"), so you can see at a glance what comes next without leaving the search box.
  • Award and confidence citations on book pages now live only in the one consolidated Sources list at the bottom of the page, instead of also repeating inline after every award bullet — and checking the data first turned up 487 award citations that weren't in that list yet, now added rather than dropped.
  • The Bone Season — added its fifth novel, The Dark Mirror.

• 2026-08-20

  More fantasy series added, plus Wheel of Time character/place mapping

  More fantasy universes were added and Wheel of Time joined the small set of universes mapped in full behind the scenes, alongside a redesigned homepage, filterable rankings, and a new Discover page.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • Les Sentiers des Astres — Stefan Platteau
  • Capitale du Sud — Guillaume Chamanadjian
  • The Craft Sequence — Max Gladstone
  • Mad Sisters of Esi — Tashan Mehta
  • Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil — V.E. Schwab
  • The Tale of the Serpent's Heart — Radek Rak
  • The Spellshop — Sarah Beth Durst
  • The Stonewater Kingdom — Rachel Gillig
  • Shield of Sparrows — Devney Perry
  • A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping — Sangu Mandanna
  • Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore — Emily Krempholtz
  • Bibliomantik — Kai Meyer
  • Dragões de Éter — Raphael Draccon
  • The Red Abbey Chronicles — Maria Turtschaninoff
  • A Batalha do Apocalipse — Eduardo Spohr
  • The Raven Rings — Siri Pettersen
  • The Shamer Chronicles — Lene Kaaberbol
  • El Ciclo de la Luna Roja — José Antonio Cotrina
  • Grimpow — Rafael Ábalos
  • Krönikan om den femte konfluxen — Erik Granström
  • Five Hundred Kingdoms — Mercedes Lackey
  • The Seventh Tower — Garth Nix
  • The Derkholm Series — Diana Wynne Jones
  • The Bromeliad Trilogy — Terry Pratchett
  • Bobby Dollar — Tad Williams
  • The Sundering — Jacqueline Carey
  • The Black Magician Trilogy — Trudi Canavan
  • Age of the Five — Trudi Canavan
  • The Inheritance Cycle — Christopher Paolini
  • An Ember in the Ashes — Sabaa Tahir
  • The Folk of the Air — Holly Black
  • The Spiderwick Chronicles — Holly Black & Tony DiTerlizzi

  Updated

  • The Authors table no longer shows two stray internal codes where author names belong; comparing two universes now links straight to each universe's page and its authors.
  • The homepage's quick actions are now descriptive tiles, with the how-it-works overview moved to the About page.
  • Universe pages and breakdowns now describe each world more clearly: who writes it (a single author, a writing team, or a shared world with many authors), and whether it is a standalone book, one series, or a world with several series.
  • Cleaner navigation and a simpler homepage; the ranking now shows how many books and reader ratings stand behind each score.
  • Every ranked universe now explains why it sits where it does, in plain words.
  • Rankings and universe pages show completion status (Complete / Ongoing / Unfinished) and publication span; Statistics gains a popularity-vs-quality chart of the whole ranking.
  • Statistics now breaks fantasy down by genre, decade and author — and shows which universes punch above their popularity.
  • The full ranking can now be filtered by completion, reading commitment, audience and genre, with a quick search by universe or author, and sorted by score, books or ratings; every universe keeps its official rank number while you filter.
  • Universe pages now lead with what readers want — rank, score, the books, reading order and awards — with the research detail moved to a collapsed section at the end of the page.
  • A new Discover page collects hidden gems, quick reads, big sagas, complete series ready to binge and the most-read heavyweights; every universe page now suggests similar worlds you might also like.
  • Search results now say what each match is — its rank and score, an author's universe count, or the series a book belongs to.
  • Compare now shows completion, publication span, current rank, rating volume and a new reading-commitment level (Low / Medium / High) for each universe, plus a factual "Best for..." line; the same reading-commitment estimate appears on every universe page.
  • Ten universes added this week — including Edinburgh Nights, The Echo Archives, Emily Wilde, and The Shepherd King — now have reader ratings for every book and appear in the rankings.
  • Wheel of Time is now mapped in detail behind the scenes (characters, places, factions, timeline), joining Middle-earth, Forgotten Realms, Dragaera, Neverwhere, and A Song of Ice and Fire in that pilot.
  • Reader ratings and ISBNs finished for the remaining books in Five Hundred Kingdoms, The Seventh Tower, and The Derkholm Series.
  • Angel Maker and The Works of Vermin were reviewed and are NOT being added — they're a Western and a satire, not fantasy.
  • Juliet Marillier's six universes double-checked; missing page counts filled in for nine older books.

• 2026-08-19

  38 new universes added; Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance catalogues completed

  39 more universes were added, Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance's wider catalogues were completed, and A Song of Ice and Fire got the same detailed behind-the-scenes mapping as Wheel of Time.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • Witch King — Martha Wells
  • Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon — Wole Talabi
  • Shadowmarch — Tad Williams
  • Magids — Diana Wynne Jones
  • The Windsingers — Megan Lindholm
  • Shades of Magic — V.E. Schwab
  • The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue — V.E. Schwab
  • Rook & Rose — M.A. Carrick
  • The Melancholy of Untold History — Minsoo Kang
  • The Incandescent — Emily Tesh
  • Katabasis — R.F. Kuang
  • The Bog Wife — Kay Chronister
  • The Everlasting — Alix E. Harrow
  • Sour Cherry — Natalia Theodoridou
  • The Isle in the Silver Sea — Tasha Suri
  • The Witch Roads — Kate Elliott
  • The Raven Scholar — Antonia Hodgson
  • The River Has Roots — Amal El-Mohtar
  • Once Was Willem — M.R. Carey
  • The Raven and Eagle — Caskey Russell
  • Little Thieves — Margaret Owen
  • Written on the Dark — Guy Gavriel Kay (folded into The Lions of Al-Rassan / The Sarantine Mosaic)
  • Household Gramarye — Oliver Darkshire
  • Snake-Eater — T. Kingfisher
  • The Checquy Files — Daniel O'Malley
  • Seraphina — Rachel Hartman
  • Cities of the Weft — Alex Pheby
  • House of Dusk — Deva Fagan
  • The Keeper of Lonely Spirits — E.M. Anderson
  • Edinburgh Nights — T.L. Huchu
  • The Echo Archives — Melissa Caruso
  • Harmattan Season — Tochi Onyebuchi
  • The Magpie and the Wolf — Maggie Rapier
  • The Adventures of Mary Darling — Pat Murphy
  • Lessons in Magic and Disaster — Charlie Jane Anders
  • Cinder House — Freya Marske
  • The Devils — Joe Abercrombie
  • Emily Wilde — Heather Fawcett
  • The Shepherd King — Rachel Gillig

  Updated

  • The canon now holds 845 universes.
  • Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance's wider catalogues are now complete: 86 more books added across 22 series. Their core reading lines are unchanged.
  • Two newly published books added: War Wizard (Dragonlance) and A Long and Speaking Silence (Singing Hills Cycle). Announced-but-unpublished titles (new ACOTAR, Cosmere, Malazan, etc.) are tracked in Coming Up instead.
  • Four missing books found and added to universes already marked complete: a 4th Inkheart book, a Winterlands novelette, six later Darkover novels, and a new Shades of Magic sequel (that universe is no longer marked complete).
  • Crónicas de Allaryia's 10 books now show their publisher's own cover art (our usual source had none for this Portuguese press).
  • Witch World grows: 11 more High Hallack Cycle novels added.
  • A Song of Ice and Fire is now mapped in detail behind the scenes (characters, houses, places, timeline).
  • The Starving Saints was reviewed and is NOT being added — trade reviews call it horror, not fantasy.

• 2026-08-18

  21 new award-winning universes added

  21 award-winning universes were added, book covers are now essentially complete across the catalogue, and one old award claim that couldn't be verified was removed.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • Binti — Nnedi Okorafor
  • Fairyland — Catherynne M. Valente
  • A Stranger in Olondria — Sofia Samatar
  • Fault Lines Trilogy — Emily Foster
  • The Well-Built City — Jeffrey Ford
  • Ring Shout — P. Djèlí Clark
  • Alif the Unseen — G. Willow Wilson
  • The Singing Hills Cycle — Nghi Vo
  • Bone Universe — Fran Wilde
  • The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps — Kai Ashante Wilson
  • Greenhollow Duology — Emily Tesh
  • The Saint of Bright Doors — Vajra Chandrasekera
  • The Reformatory — Tananarive Due
  • Saint Death's Daughter — C.S.E. Cooney
  • Trouble the Saints — Alaya Dawn Johnson
  • The Chimes — Anna Smaill
  • Islands of Blood and Storm — Alex Pheby
  • Osama — Lavie Tidhar
  • Or What You Will — Jo Walton
  • Our Lady of Darkness — Fritz Leiber
  • Even Though I Knew the End — C.L. Polk

  Updated

  • The canon now holds 845 universes.
  • Book covers are essentially done across the catalog. A planned "author photos" feature was dropped; a universe banner image is still planned (see Coming Up).
  • More missing ISBNs and covers filled in across hundreds of books.
  • Award claims double-checked against official sources; one old award claim (The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, 1970) turned out to have no surviving record and was removed.
  • Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance's wider catalogues grew by roughly 220 books across 45 series. Core reading lines unchanged.

• 2026-08-17

  New favicon and header art, plus a cleanup pass

  A new favicon and header artwork landed alongside a sitewide wording cleanup, a stray Portuguese-language page fixed, and this news page switching to one entry per day.

  Full list

  Updated

  • New favicon and header/footer skyline artwork.
  • Cleaned up wording sitewide; fixed a page accidentally left in Portuguese; moved source-tier definitions into one spot in the FAQ.
  • Added a "Support this project" footer link and a visible RSS link on this page.
  • Coming Up now separates site features from book releases.
  • This news page now shows one entry per day, as a timeline.
  • Fixed missing companion books in 8 major universe listings (Middle-earth, Discworld, Harry Potter, and others).
  • Explore Rankings can now sort by award wins/nominations.
  • Universes can now be ranked once just one core book has a rating, not all of them — newly ranks Crónicas de Allaryia, Conan the Barbarian, and Darkover.
  • Book cover images have started appearing, growing gradually as ISBNs get added.

• 2026-08-16

  Repository housekeeping

  A behind-the-scenes repository cleanup, with no visible effect on the site.

  Full list

  • A large generated data file is no longer tracked in the project's source repository, to keep it lean; no visible effect on the site itself.

• 2026-08-15

  27 more universes added

  27 more universes were added (including further McKillip, Zelazny, and Wolfe titles) and a stray technical notice box was removed from this page.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • Winter Rose — Patricia A. McKillip
  • Od Magic — Patricia A. McKillip
  • Kingfisher — Patricia A. McKillip
  • Who Fears Death — Nnedi Okorafor
  • The Merlin Codex — Robert Holdstock
  • Hemlock & Silver — T. Kingfisher
  • A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking — T. Kingfisher
  • plus more, including further universes from Marion Zimmer Bradley, Roger Zelazny, Gene Wolfe, Barbara Hambly, Andre Norton, Ellen Kushner, and Alan Garner — see Universes for the full list

  Updated

  • Removed a small technical notice box from this page.

• 2026-08-14

  4 new universes, plus a cleanup pass

  Four new universes were added (Thornhedge and other T. Kingfisher/John Wiswell titles), tools now fetch data more securely, and Authors and Rankings both gained new columns.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • Someone You Can Build a Nest In — John Wiswell
  • Wearing the Lion — John Wiswell
  • Thornhedge — T. Kingfisher
  • A Sorceress Comes to Call — T. Kingfisher

  Updated

  • Interactive tools now fetch data more securely through the site's own server.
  • Removed an unused bulk-download feature, a duplicate Search page, and the Universe Connections graph.
  • Scrubbed leftover internal jargon from ordinary pages; moved technical docs out of public view.
  • Authors gained sortable columns; Rankings gained a book-count column; Explore Rankings now shows each universe's rank.

• 2026-08-13

  35 new universes, plus genre tags and filters

  35 more universes were added, every universe now shows its subgenre and audience with new filters, and a few display glitches were fixed.

  Full list

  New universes added

  • Among Others — Jo Walton
  • Nettle & Bone — T. Kingfisher
  • The Song of Achilles / Circe — Madeline Miller
  • Majipoor Cycle — Robert Silverberg
  • Legendborn — Tracy Deonn
  • Graceling Realm — Kristin Cashore
  • Redwall — Brian Jacques
  • Inkheart — Cornelia Funke
  • Oz — L. Frank Baum
  • Alice's Adventures in Wonderland — Lewis Carroll
  • The Starless Sea — Erin Morgenstern
  • plus more — see Universes for the full list

  Updated

  • Every universe now shows its subgenre and audience (adult/YA/middle grade), with new filters on Universes.
  • Rankings gained an Author column and a one-line premise.
  • New About page; some tool pages renamed for clarity.
  • Fixed a display glitch on Kingkiller Chronicle, a stuck view on Rankings, and a missing error page.

• 2026-08-12

  Plainer wording, an automatic theme, and a data-loading fix

  Explanatory pages were reworded in plainer language, the light/dark toggle was replaced by following your device's setting, and a data-loading bug on several tool pages was fixed.

  Full list

  • Replaced jargon with plain language across explanatory pages; no facts or rankings changed.
  • Removed the light/dark toggle; the site now just follows your device's setting.
  • Rankings gained a "By tier" view (S/A/B/C/D bands) for a quicker read.
  • Added a small search box to every page's header.
  • Fixed several tool pages (Compare, Explore Rankings, Statistics) that weren't loading data after launch.

• 2026-08-11

  A cleaner site after launch: navigation, support, and the canon reaches 140 universes

  Post-launch cleanup: simpler navigation, a real feedback form, privacy-friendly analytics, and the canon reaching a new universe-count milestone.

  Full list

  • Simplified the menu into four groups (Explore, Analyse, How it works, Project).
  • Homepage now shows the top 5 straight away, linking to the full ranking.
  • Scores now show as simple two-decimal numbers in tables.
  • Tables now reflow into cards on phones.
  • Suggestions & Feedback now has a real form, no account needed.
  • Added a donation link on Support and privacy-friendly analytics (no cookies, no personal data).
  • Fixed a handful of stale notes sitewide; no ranking or fact about a universe changed.

  New universes added

  • Several more Neil Gaiman standalones
  • Inheritance Trilogy — N.K. Jemisin
  • Dreamblood — N.K. Jemisin
  • Legends & Lattes — Travis Baldree
  • plus more — see Universes for the full list

  Updated

  • The canon reached 845 universes.

• 2026-08-10

  A page for every book, over 130 first editions and ISBNs added, and new research-maturity levels

  Every book got its own page, 130+ first editions and ISBNs were added, and this page's RSS feed went live.

  Full list

  • Every book now has its own page.
  • Universe pages gained a "How do we know this?" panel showing sources for each fact.
  • First-edition dates and ISBNs added for 130+ books (Chronicles of Amber, Valdemar, Shannara, and others).
  • Added deeper research checks; Middle-earth is the first universe to pass the strictest one.
  • Rankings gained a "low sample" badge and row filters.
  • This page's RSS feed went live.
  • Added scoring-rule notes on comparing ratings across languages/platforms.

• 2026-08-07

  The canon reaches 100 universes

  A milestone: the canon's 100th universe was admitted, alongside four others in the same batch.

  Full list

  New entries

  • A milestone set early in the project's life: once the canon held 100 universes, with the site otherwise built out, public launch would become a real possibility. The 100th universe was admitted on this date, alongside four others in the same batch.

• 2026-08-06

  Almost the whole canon is now ranked

  Nearly the entire canon is now ranked by reader ratings, with Forgotten Realms joining the list after a one-off fetch problem was cleared.

  Full list

  Updates

  • 845 of the project's 845 fantasy universes now have a real, reader-rating-backed ranking; just 0 are still unranked, each for a specific, documented reason (see Rankings for the current list).
  • Forgotten Realms (R.A. Salvatore's Legend of Drizzt line and the wider setting) joins the ranked list, after a retry cleared a one-off fetch problem.

Coming Up

These are not-yet-published books from series already covered on this site, not new series waiting to be added.

• queued The Gates of Midnight (The Golem and the Jinni, book 3, Helene Wecker) · The Golem and the Jinni · Sep 15, 2026
• queued Horngard (Elizabeth Moon) · Paksenarrion · Oct 6, 2026
• queued A Song of Sugar Sparrows (Wayward Children, book 12, Seanan McGuire) · Wayward Children · Jan 2027
• queued Dead Beat (Ninth House / Alex Stern, Leigh Bardugo) · Ninth House · Sep 15, 2026
• queued A Court of Splintered Harmony (A Court of Thorns and Roses, book 6, Sarah J. Maas) · A Court of Thorns and Roses · Oct 27, 2026
• queued A Court of Forgotten Melody (A Court of Thorns and Roses, book 7, Sarah J. Maas) · A Court of Thorns and Roses · Jan 12, 2027
• queued The Fires of December (Cosmere, Brandon Sanderson) · Cosmere · Winter 2026
• queued Legacies of Betrayal (Malazan, Ian C. Esslemont) · Malazan · Oct 1, 2026
• queued The Splintered Sun (Osten Ard, Tad Williams) · Osten Ard · 2026 (exact date TBC)
• queued A Divided Duty (October Daye, book 20, Seanan McGuire) · October Daye · Sep 2026
• queued The Lord of Demons (The Burning, Evan Winter) · The Burning · Sep 2, 2026
• queued They Cry (The Chronicles of the Black Company, Glen Cook) · Black Company · Nov 3, 2026
• queued The Fox in Winter (Eternal Path Trilogy, book 2, Antonia Hodgson) · The Raven Scholar · Oct 5, 2027
• queued Empire (Heir duology finale, Sabaa Tahir) · An Ember in the Ashes · Sep 22, 2026
• queued The Heretics (sequel to The Devils, Joe Abercrombie) · The Devils · May 11, 2027
• queued The Wild Zone (Camp Half-Blood, book 1, Rick Riordan and Annabelle Oh) · Camp Half-Blood Chronicles · Sep 29, 2026
• queued The Eagle in the Mountain (The Raven and Eagle, book 2, Caskey Russell) · The Raven and Eagle · Sep 22, 2026
• queued The Knave and the Moon (The Stonewater Kingdom, book 2, Rachel Gillig) · The Stonewater Kingdom · Sep 1, 2026
• queued Blythin Castle (The Riyria Chronicles, book 6, Michael J. Sullivan) · Riyria · Apr 10, 2027
• planned Collecting reader ratings for Bed-Knob and Broomstick so it can join the ranking.

Planned site features

This is a different list from the one above: not the next book or universe, but what the site itself will do next.

• planned Universe banner images

  A banner image for each universe's page, likely reusing that universe's own Core Canon book cover art (already copyright-cleared and live sitewide) rather than sourcing separate thematic fan art. Exact placement (above or below the universe title) is still to be decided.

• planned Character and place pages

  Dedicated pages for the characters, places, and other entities documented for a handful of universes so far, currently only summarized inside each universe's own page. Planned for later; still needs a decision on what such a page would show that the universe's own page doesn't already.

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