Some fine folks put together lists of the Top 25 Best Fantasy Books and then further created lists of standalone fantasy and fantasy series.

I love reading through these kinds of lists and finding books to delve into for the future.

But…

How in the hell is The Lord of the Rings not number one? I understand that these particular lists skew fairly contemporary, but come on! Seriously! This isn’t up for freaking debate. Tolkien is the greatest fantasy writer period. Full stop.

And by the way, numbers 2 and 3 (I’ll leave you to sort out the order) are C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia and Ursula K. LeGuin’s Earthsea novels.

Not cool, guys. Not cool. Too much testosterone. Not enough credit to Tolkien’s elegiac remembrances of a lost, pre-industrial English countryside, Lewis’ devote allegories, nor LeGuin’s gentle feminism.