Among Others
#7723.72 adjusted 3.73 for sample size in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 1 book Status Complete 2011 Reading commitment Low Jo Walton Last reviewed 2026-08-13
Overview
A standalone contemporary-set fantasy novel by Jo Walton about a Welsh teenager, Morwenna, who can see fairies and is sent to live with relatives in England after a magical confrontation with her unstable mother leaves her disabled and her twin sister dead. Told as her diary of a year at a girls' boarding school in Wales and western England around 1979-1980, it is as much a love letter to 1970s science fiction and fantasy fandom, as Morwenna reads voraciously and discusses the genre's own history throughout, as it is a story about magic and moral responsibility in using it. Published in 2011, the novel swept genre fiction's major honors, winning the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the British Fantasy Award for Best Novel, and was also shortlisted for the World Fantasy and Mythopoeic Awards.
Urban fantasy, Mythic fantasy · For YA
Core Canon: Reading Order (1 work) counts toward ranking
Among Others (2011) core · 3.72 (26,256 ratings); Standalone novel (Tor Books, January 2011) -- registered as a single-work universe per the LOTR-analogy/Once-and-Future-King precedent (this canon's existing convention for a genuinely one-off novel, not a series entry).
Quick answers
- How many books are in Among Others? Among Others's Core Canon is 1 book.
- Is Among Others finished? Complete (2011).
- How much reading does Among Others take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 1 Core Canon book).
- How is Among Others ranked? #772 in this site's official ranking, based on 26,256 reader ratings across 1 Core Canon book. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #772?
Ranked #772 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.72 across 1 core book.
- A smaller readership (26,256 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Less than 0.01 behind #771, O Ceptro de Aerzis (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
- A single standalone novel: ranked on that one book alone.
Why explore this universe?
Modestly rated · 1 book · Complete · 26k ratings · Ranks #772 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment urban fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
A single Core Canon work: no sequencing question to resolve.
Awards (verified)
- Hugo Award (Best Novel), 2012: won: Among Others
- Nebula Award (Best Novel), 2011: won: Among Others; SFWA's own site labels this the 2011 award (ceremony held in Washington, D.C. in 2012) -- registered per SFWA's own convention, consistent with this project's established practice for Nebula year labelling.
- British Fantasy Award (Best Fantasy Novel (Robert Holdstock Award)), 2012: won: Among Others; Contemporary trade press (Damien G. Walter, a Guardian genre columnist) and sfadb both label this the 2012 ceremony; one aggregator (shelfevident.com) labels the same win '2011' instead -- a known BFA year-labelling inconsistency, not a substantive dispute about who won.
- World Fantasy Award (Novel), 2012: nominated: Among Others; Corrects a Wikipedia infobox error found during this admission's research: Wikipedia's table implied a win; the World Fantasy Convention's own 2012 results page shows the actual winner was Osama by Lavie Tidhar -- Among Others was one of 5 nominees, not the winner.
- Locus Award (Best Fantasy Novel), 2012: finalist: Among Others; 2nd place in the Locus poll per sfadb's own chronology (the no-cutoff Locus-poll convention) -- also corrects the same Wikipedia infobox error: the actual 2012 Locus Best Fantasy Novel winner was Among Others' fellow nominee A Dance with Dragons, not this book.
- Mythopoeic Award (Adult Literature), 2012: nominated: Among Others; Corrects the same Wikipedia infobox error a third time: the Mythopoeic Society's own 2012 results page shows the winner was Lisa Goldstein's The Uncertain Places -- Among Others was one of 5 finalists, not the winner.
Related universes
- Same author Tooth and Claw: Both by Jo Walton, confirmed separate continuities -- Among Others (contemporary Wales, fairies) shares no characters, setting, or continuity with Tooth and Claw (a Victorian-novel pastiche world of dragons).
You might also like
Suggestions computed from what Among Others and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- Blood and Chocolate Urban fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 3.80
- The Owl Service Mythic fantasy / Dark fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 3.66
- A Monster Calls Mythic fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 4.34
- When the Angels Left the Old Country Mythic fantasy / Historical fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 4.25
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.72 across 26,256 ratings on 1 Core Canon book. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Among Others admitted; Core Canon = the single novel accepted 2026-08-13
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Wikipedia: Among Others Tier 2
- The Hugo Awards: 2012 Hugo Award Winners Tier 1
- SFWA: Nebula Award Winners Announced (2011 cycle) Tier 1
- World Fantasy Convention: 2012 World Fantasy Awards Tier 1
- Mythopoeic Society: Mythopoeic Awards 2012 Tier 1
- Damien G. Walter: British Fantasy Awards 2012 Results Tier 3
- sfadb: Jo Walton Chronology Tier 3
Related universes: see the Related universes section above.
Last reviewed: 2026-08-13
Rule: single-work: a genuinely one-off novel, registered per this canon's Once and Future King/LOTR-analogy precedent for a work with no series structure. Confirmed separate continuity from Jo Walton's other admitted universe, Tooth and Claw (a Victorian-novel-pastiche world of dragons), no shared characters or setting.