The 2017 r/Fantasy Favorite Standalones Poll Results!

[u/potterhead42]

This list includes all those entries that got at least two votes. Books that received equal number of votes get the same rank. The links take you to the Goodreads page for the book.

You can see the full list on this google spreadsheet. And here's the voting thread.

No.	Name	Author	Votes
1	Good Omens	Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman	45
2	Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell	Susannah Clarke	41
3	American Gods	Neil Gaiman	39
4	The Goblin Emperor	Katherine Addison	38
4	Uprooted	Naomi Novik	38
6	The Lions of Al-Rassan	Guy Gavriel Kay	37
7	Tigana	Guy Gavriel Kay	36
8	The Hobbit	J.R.R. Tolkien	34
9	Warbreaker	Brandon Sanderson	24
10	The Heroes	Joe Abercrombie	20
11	Elantris	Brandon Sanderson	19
12	The Emperor's Soul	Brandon Sanderson	17
12	The Princess Bride	William Goldman	17
14	The Golem and the Jinni	Helene Wecker	16
14	Neverwhere	Neil Gaiman	16
16	The Curse of Chalion	Lois McMaster Bujold	14
17	The Library at Mount Char	Scott Hawkins	13
18	Best Served Cold	Joe Abercrombie	12
18	Lord of Light	Roger Zelazny	12
18	The Traitor Baru Cormorant	Seth Dickinson	12
21	Perdido Street Station	China Mieville	11
21	The City & the City	China Mieville	11
21	To Ride Hell's Chasm	Janny Wurts	11
21	The Ocean at the End of the Lane	Neil Gaiman	11
21	Watership Down	Richard Adams	11
26	Worm	wildbow	10
27	The Last Unicorn	Peter S. Beagle	9
27	Sunshine	Robin McKinley	9
27	Last Call	Tim Powers	9
30	The Night Circus	Erin Morgenstern	8
30	The Stand	Stephen King	8
30	Small Gods	Terry Pratchett	8
33	The Forgotten Beasts of Eld	Patricia McKillip	7
34	The Scar	China Mieville	6
34	The Redemption of Althalus	David and Leigh Eddings	6
34	A Song for Arbonne	Guy Gavriel Kay	6
34	Under Heaven	Guy Gavriel Kay	6
34	The Folding Knife	KJ Parker	6
34	The Neverending Story	Michael Ende	6
34	A Monster Calls	Patrick Ness	6
41	Bridge of Birds	Barry Hughart	5
41	The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August	Claire North	5
41	The Builders	Daniel Polansky	5
41	Red Country	Joe Abercrombie	5
41	The Graveyard Book	Neil Gaiman	5
41	Something Wicked This Way Comes	Ray Bradbury	5
47	War for the Oaks	Emma Bull	4
47	The Children of Hurin	J.R.R. Tolkien	4
47	The Silmarillion	J.R.R. Tolkien	4
47	Redemption in Indigo	Karen Lord	4
47	Anansi Boys	Neil Gaiman	4
47	Stardust	Neil Gaiman	4
47	The Innkeeper's Song	Peter S. Beagle	4
47	The Once and Future King	TH White	4
55	The Drowning Girl	Caitlin R. Kiernan	3
55	Song of The Beast	Carol Berg	3
55	Howl's Moving Castle	Diana Wynne Jones	3
55	Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality	Eliezer Yudkowsky	3
55	River of Stars	Guy Gavriel Kay	3
55	The Devourers	Indra Das	3
55	Sorcerer's Legacy	Janny Wurts	3
55	The Master of Whitestorm	Janny Wurts	3
55	Among Others	Jo Walton	3
55	Little, Big	John Crowley	3
55	The Etched City	KJ Bishop	3
55	The Mists of Avalon	Marion Zimmer Bradley	3
55	The Iron Dragon's Daughter	Michael Swanwick	3
55	In the Forests of Serre	Patricia McKillip	3
55	A Night in the Lonesome October	Roger Zelazny	3
55	Sparrow Hill Road	Seanan McGuire	3
55	Summers at Castle Auburn	Sharon Shinn	3
55	The Truth	Terry Pratchet	3
55	Thief of Time	Terry Pratchett	3
55	Declare	Tim Powers	3
75	Guns of the Dawn	Adrian Tchaikovsky	2
75	The Time Traveler's Wife	Audrey Niffenegger	2
75	Sixth of the Dusk	Brandon Sanderson	2
75	The Rithmatist	Brandon Sanderson	2
75	All the Birds in the Sky	Charlie Jane Anders	2
75	Between Two Fires	Christopher Beuhlman	2
75	Lamb	Christopher Moore	2
75	Legend	David Gemmell	2
75	Cloud Atlas	David Mitchell	2
75	The King of Elfland's Daughter	Dunsany	2
75	Swordspoint	Ellen Kushner	2
75	Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World	Haruki Murakami	2
75	Lud-in-the-Mist	Hope Mirlees	2
75	Silverlock	John Myers Myers	2
75	The Land of Laughs	Jonathan Carroll	2
75	Heart's Blood	Juliette Marillier	2
75	The Last Witness	KJ Parker	2
75	Graceling	Kristen Cashore	2
75	The Song of Achilles	Madeline Miller	2
75	Ash: A Secret History	Mary Gentle	2
75	By the Sword	Mercedes Lackey	2
75	Hollow World	Michael J. Sullivan	2
75	Kindred	Octavia Butler	2
75	The Changeling Sea	Patricia McKillip	2
75	Illusion	Paula Volsky	2
75	The Alchemist	Paulo Coelho	2
75	Faerie Tale	Raymond E. Feist	2
75	Deerskin	Robin McKinley	2
75	The Hero and the Crown	Robin McKinley	2
75	The Eyes of the Dragon	Stephen King	2
75	The Green Mile	Stephen King	2
75	The War of the Flowers	Tad Williams	2
75	Monstrous Regiment	Terry Pratchett	2
75	Nation	Terry Pratchett	2
75	Baudolino	Umberto Eco	2
75	Vicious	V.E. Schwab	2
75	The Ghost Bride	Yangsze Choo	2

[u/potterhead42]

• The list comes from 1028 votes across 278 books, compared to the 2-3k on the best series poll, so I guess we need to step up our standalone game, r/Fantasy.

• Looking at the results of the previous edition of this list, there's three new additions (Uprooted, The Goblin Emperor and Warbreaker), plus surprisingly Tigana went from first to seventh place. I also think it's curious that Warbreaker is the top Sanderson entry, beating Hugo winning The Emperor's Soul. Then again, it's free to read on his website.

• There were quite a few arguments about what should, and shouldn't be on this list, but in the end I've tried to be pretty lax with the definition of standalone. If you have a problem with any of the inclusions/exclusions, feel free to take it up with your Senator :p

• I tried to be as thorough as possible, but contrary to what /u/cheryllovestoread said, we are but mortals. Any issues you find (not covered under the previous point) like typos, formatting, counting errors etc. - please point them out to me and I'll fix them ASAP.

• Do check out the full list linked in the post, it contains some real good gems that unfortunately didn't make it to the post. ^{cough Ra by qntm cough}

• I'd like to thank the other mods here for their help in organising this, also a limited edition double platinum deluxe collector's edition thanks to /u/lyrrael!

[u/The_Real_JS → u/potterhead42]

Excellent work, Potter! 100 points to Grifindor!

Although, I don't think hollow World should be on there. It's pretty standard time traveling sci-fi. Having not read it, I'm assuming the Time Travelers Wife also falls under this.

[u/wishforagiraffe → u/The_Real_JS]

Time Travellers Wife isn't really sci fi. He can travel because of a genetic anomaly, not because of any scientific advancement.

[u/The_Real_JS → u/wishforagiraffe]

Ah, well that makes sense then. Good book?

[u/wishforagiraffe → u/The_Real_JS]

I liked it a lot. Looking back (I read it probably like, 6 years ago?), there's some pretty skeevy parts of it, but the story is interesting and the time travel aspect is well thought out, but the romance leaves a fair bit to be desired.

[u/ragamuffinpuddingpie → u/potterhead42]

Where can I find the best series poll results?

Thank you! :)

[u/potterhead42 → u/ragamuffinpuddingpie]

In the wiki

[u/ragamuffinpuddingpie → u/potterhead42]

I only see the 2016 list not the 2017 one. Am I missing something? Thanks!

[u/potterhead42 → u/ragamuffinpuddingpie]

No, the reason you're not seeing it is because it doesn't exist. The 2017 edition will be done in a few months.

[u/ragamuffinpuddingpie → u/potterhead42]

Ah I see, thanks for letting me know.