These are not ordered within groups, but I like the books in the first group more than the ones in the second.

I have only allowed myself one entry per author. Some entries are a single book; others (marked with a †) are a trilogy or series that I'm treating as a single story.

Best of the best

• Earthsea, by Ursula LeGuin
• The Lord of the Rings, by JRR Tolkien
• Mistborn†, by Brandon Sanderson
• The Curse of Chalion, by Lois McMaster Bujold
• Lankhmar, by Fritz Leiber
• Lirael and Abhorsen† by Garth Nix

Really good

• Rivers of London†, by Ben Aaronovitch
• Dresden Files†, by Jim Butcher
• Dark Sun Rising†, by Celia Friedman
• The Algebraist, by Iain M Banks
• Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville
• The Martian, by Andy Weir
• Lyonesse†, by Jack Vance
• The Queen's Thief†, by Megan Whalen Turner
• Thud!, by Terry Pratchett
• The Atrocity Archives, by Charles Stross