Tam Lin
#5113.84 of 664 ranked universes · full ranking
Books 1 book Status Complete 1991 Reading commitment Low Pamela Dean Last reviewed 2026-09-05
Overview
A contemporary retelling of the traditional Border ballad of Tam Lin, set at a fictional college in Minnesota in the early 1970s. First-year student Janet Carter navigates college life, literature, and a mysterious young man named Thomas Lane, whose own story turns out to be older and stranger than it first appears. The novel was published as part of a shared line of fairy-tale retellings by different authors, edited by Terri Windling; each author's contribution is an independent, unconnected story, so this site registers only this novel, not the wider line.
Fairy-tale retelling · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (1 work) counts toward ranking
Tam Lin (1991) core · 3.84 (5,840 ratings); A contemporary retelling of the Border ballad, set at a fictional Minnesota college in the early 1970s. Published as part of Terri Windling's shared Fairy Tale line of standalone novels by different authors, each retelling one traditional story -- this admission covers only this one novel, following this project's usual practice of registering each author's own contribution to a shared line as its own single-work universe, not the whole multi-author line as one universe.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Tam Lin? Tam Lin's Core Canon is 1 book.
- Is Tam Lin finished? Complete (1991).
- How much reading does Tam Lin take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 1 Core Canon book).
- How is Tam Lin ranked? #511 of 664 ranked universes on this site, based on 5,840 reader ratings across 1 Core Canon book. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #511?
Ranked #511 of 664 ranked universes.
- Average reader rating of 3.84 across 1 core book.
- A smaller readership (5,840 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Less than 0.01 behind #510, The Butcher of the Forest (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?
Rated · 1 book · Complete · 6k ratings · Ranks #511 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment fairy-tale retelling 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)
- Mythopoeic Fantasy Award (Adult Literature), 1992: finalist: Tam Lin
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Suggestions computed from what Tam Lin and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- The Adventures of Mary Darling Fairy-tale retelling · Complete · Low commitment · 3.97
- Deerskin Fairy-tale retelling / Dark fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 3.94
- The River Has Roots Fairy-tale retelling / Mythic fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 3.94
- Thornhedge Fairy-tale retelling · Complete · Low commitment · 3.93
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.84 across 5,840 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: Tam Lin admitted as a single-work universe accepted 2026-09-05
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tam_Lin_(novel)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamela_Dean
- The Mythopoeic Society, official Fantasy Award finalists list Tier 1
Last reviewed: 2026-09-05
Rule: Single-work universe: one standalone novel, no sequel or connected work.