Suggestion?

OKay adamross, since it is obvious that only you and I have voted on this one, I take it we disagree. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore JKR, and the world she has created is phenomenal, but on a grand scale JRR Tolkien created a whole other world within our world with different peoples and languages. The man was a complete genius!

Err... out of those? I think I'd say JKR bacause I really like Harry Potter (the books, not the person) but I like the Hobbit too... It's pretty good. You should have an "other" option so people can say other stuff... Sorry, just thought I'd point it out. Well, I can't think of any others right now anyway!

if i had to choose from the options here, i'd say JKR because of course she's a fantastic author...if there was an 'other' option like Golden Phoenix suggested, i'd vote on that..even though i've always admired Enid Blyton's works since a very young girl, i'd say the 'greatest' of all time would definitely be Roald Dahl... that guy had some imagination...i just love that guy and his amazing mind...

for me...its definately JK Rowling...i havent read many fantasy books other than Harry Potter, and it definately is my favorite fantasy book series. and her writing style is just amazing, i love it, i love her characters, the storyline...everything.

oh and i like Roald Dahl, like chocobeer. love willy wonka and the chocolate factory, it was like...awesome. he had a creative mind.

I had to take JKR, of course, because I read her books so many times, it's just the best fantasy world. But one author, who did not only invent a fantasy world but a whole universe was Ralf Isau, a german writer. I don't thnik many of them know him, although I think that some of his books are translated into English...

I voted for CS Lewis (and I was the first one! woot!)
I find that the stories written by CS are a completely different type of fantasy, one that you don't find anywhere else.

Out of the ones you put I chose J.K.R. She is a mastermind and her books wonder full. But she is, sadly, not my favorite. My favorite is Robert Jordan. He is an American author and is working on the Wheel of Time series. So far he has 11 books, all about 2 inches thick. He is amazing. If anyone has read them please let me know. Only 2 people I know have read them. And they are great books.

SL28

J.K. Rowling is the best one up ther and the second best is JRR Tolkien because well of the Hobbit is a great book and the lord of the rings are fantastic. but no book will ever compare to the Harry Potter Books. they are just the ultimate fantasy books, nothing is better.

Well, I 'd say JKR. She's created a whole world, and that's just - very admirable, she's not only invented that, but also words, names... . I've re-read each book about 4 or 5 times

But, I also love Roald Dahl. When I read ''The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More'' I was awed. I started reading more of his books, ''Witches'' and many more. Then, I ended reading ''Boy'' and ''Going Solo'', and sometimes I re-read some of them.
I didn't read many fantasy stories aside from JKR and Roald Dahl, though. But, I do know that they're great.

Well out those that are listed I would have to vote Tolkien. Forgive me for saying this but I do not think JKR is in the same league as Tolkien. Do not get me wrong, I love her HP series. If I did not I would not be here.

However these is one contemporary Fantasy writer that has been left off. Stephen R. Donaldson. His work does rise to the level of Tolkien's and in some ways surpasses it. I do not know of any Fantasy writers other than Donaldson & Tolkien that have entire College courses dedicated to his books. That is quite an honor for a contemporary writer.

I would strongly recommend anyone who likes Tolkien's works read Stephen R. Donaldson's Thomas Covenant series. The books start with Lord Foul's Bane. In addition to this, Donaldson has another series called the The Gap series. These are more sci-fi books that takes place mostly in space in our distance future.

I love everyone on the list but I voted for C.S Lewis. I absolutely love the way he writes! I have recently read The Chronicles of Narnia and I love the way he describes things, and feelings and Narnia. He really makes it easy to read extensive books and he made me smile every 2 pages, literally. I like him a looooot!

He was actually part of a writers club along with Tolkien where they hung out to describe books, read, write and other stuff. I really like Tolkien too but there are parts in his books where one really falls asleep!

Fraggle

I naturally chose JK Rowling. She is an amazing author who created an entire world in detail and I admire her humor and style of writing. I love learning about Harry Potter and I will be so sad to see the series end.
I really don't care for Lord of The Rings for whatever reason. I'm just not into it.
Someone mentioned Roald Dahl. I love him! His books are amazing and I've read them since I was a little girl. I still read and love his books. He is so creative and his writing is so cute and makes me laugh. Another amazing author!

Greg -- I totally agree with you about JRR Tolkien and about Stephen Donaldson.

Of course JKR is a phenomenon. I love her books; read them about seven times now and I'm still finding new things in them to admire. Her plotting is simply superb.

The Thomas Covenant series is brilliant because the main character remains an Unbeliever despite his experiences. I also like it that he is a flawed hero - that makes him very human.

Another writer who deserves consideration is Robin Hobb. She has written a most amazing triple trilogy with unforgettable characters and many, many truly moving moments.

Lol, I've been trying to reply here for some time, but I just never remember at the right time.

I'm a huge LOTR fan. I used to be slightly scary, I think, my brother and I own the extended film versions and of course the originals, some of the covers of our volumes have gone AWOL, and what's left is as dog eared as books have ever been. I've read The Hobbit, the Appendices, and I tried to to read the Silmarillion, which counts for something. And Farmer Giles of Ham...

The thing is, I'm not to eager to place Tolkien on an unreachable pedestal. Sure, the scope and richness of the world he created is slightly mind-blowing, but the books have their things. Character development is almost null, for one thing. It's all suggested, but never really used to its full potential. For this, I think, the movies added very much to the legacy.

For example, the romance between Aragorn and Arwen was secondary to the plotline, yes, but Tolkien handled it in a very amateurish way. Not that romance has to be the centre point of all novels, and definitely not epic fantasy, but you can't deny that he didn't do that particular romance any justice. Most of it is explained in the appendix anyway, as a 'Oh yeah, this is why it mattered!'. The thing is, their love for each other was pivotal to the plotline, because of the choices they both made for each other. I feel it's asking too much of the reader to accept their love without ever letting us into their heads, nevermind not showing us their hearts.

Maybe I'm just girly, but I don't feel that JK Rowling has to stand back one inch to Tolkien. What makes her great isn't just the wonderfully mad and captivating world, but her quirky style and her character development and the dynamic of the group of characters. The scale of the story (or lack of scale or vastness) isn't necessarily an indication of the scale of genius. Harper Lee only ever wrote one novel about a little girl in a dusty town, and the book has had more impact than series upon series of books filled to the brim with characters and plotlines.

As for the rest of everyone listed, sadly, I can't express an opinion. I hardly touch fantasy, really, except for LOTR and HP, but Terry Pratchett is wonderful.

Well, i think Tolkien created a world that few will come and can create such a world. Lewis wrote also very nice storyes , fantasy, yes , magic and all stuff. But they are completely different. All the authors. I like JK, i like Tolkien, i like Lewis and now i am reading Eragon ( Christopher Paulini), but i can NOT compare them and tell wich one is the best author of fantasy.

JK Rowling. Easy. Harry potter is sooo amazing.
There is also another amzing author who i cant remember theyre name they wrote the doomspell does anyone know who they are
Edit: I remember Cliff Mcnish

Well i love Harry Potter books JKR was totally amazing writing them. But i have to admit that J Tolkien was brilliant! He came up with a whole other world and languages. He must have a genius mind!
Another good writer is Christopher Paolini, i love his books (still haven't seen the film )
And Garth Nix with his keys to the kingdom series. To tell the truth i love most of these writers!!"
.X.

Unfortunately I seem to have a slight disadvantage here because only JKR, KRR and C.S Lewis are authors that are sticking out to me at the moment, but just wait as soon as I'm finished posting I'll come to a realization. lol.
Well my vote went to JKR because obviously her magical world is my obsession. Unfortunately I'm almost equally intrigued by JRR's amazing series as well and I just wish I could've double voted.

That Neil Gaiman isn't on the list baffles and astonishes me! He is such an amazing and versatile author and storyteller. So many fantasy authors write about one world or have one "type" of character -- not so Mr. Gaiman! You've just got to read some of his short stories or one of his novels. He's even written a couple of children's books (creepy, but fun picture books)! And he penned the only comic book to receive the World Fantasy Award -- a freaking comic book!!!!! Really, look him up and read his work. My fav short story is titled "Chivalry".

Of the authors on the list, CS Lewis has always been a great favorite, but more for the religious nature of his work than the fantasy side. The Screwtape Letters is one of the most outstanding books about traditional Christian views on sin and temptation -- and it's written from the viewpoint of a devil!

Cheers!
Hermione

Tolkien is a great author and I love the Lord of the Rings trilogy but I am a much bigger Harry Potter fan and JKR is basically my hero! haha. So I'm going to have to say that JKR is definately 100% without a doubt the best fantasy writer of all time.

C.S.Lewis all the way. Narnia is the best world ever created. Although Martin Middleton is a close second but I seriously doubt anyone has heard of him, he an Australian author. Third for me would be Tolkien. The probably JKR. She's nothing special in my opinion because everything she's done has been done before. All she can do is elaborate on a pre-existing theme. Where as Lewis made up Narnia, Tolkien made up Middle-earth and Middleton made up the lands of Nuevah and the surrounding countries. So in my mind they are the best fantasy authors. I'll read and re-read their books for ever.

I completely agree with you about C.S Lewis, although I would say that Tolkein is not far behind...did you guys know that they were friends? I think that that is really hilarious..don't ask me why, it just is cool. They both wrote these amazing classics and they were friends, and they both had movies made about their books that were really well donr, for the most part on Lord of the Rings, but anyhow, they are probably the most intricate plots and delighting characters....I just love Aragon and Gandalf....and everyone has got to love Aslan. I don't think that Christopher Poaloni came up with any of his things...and if he did, they were very small. He basically copied off most of the ideas from other dragon books, but don't get me wrong, I love his characters and story. I just don't think that he comes close to Lewis and Tolkein. J.K.R is a little bit better because she came up with a lot of the names of places, except for Hermione which is form Homer's Odyssey, and most of the magical creatures have been heard of before except a ....omg, just blanked on what type of animal/creature buckbeak is...oh well. Anyhow, there is my little shpeel on authors!

i have not read Middleton but have read and loved both tolkien and C.S. Lewis who were both part of the inclings together. THough i must beg to differ on the fact i think TOlkien is better than C.S. Lewis because of the humogus depth to middle earth. He has many full languages, he has a full history dating back to the begining of the earth (middle earth to the coming of the Noldor) he has so mutch depth and the storys about the similmerion are fantatstic mabie better than the LotR (without hobbits) C.S. Lewis i belive is a great writer but i count him lower on the fact that his books tha lacek the historical depth, though i think it is amazing how his world is a Cristain anology. i love both of these author's and could see how you though of him.

though i am confused about someone namimng Paulinne ERagon is a very readable book byt the books lack any depyth at all, the languages consist of random pharses he made up. and he is a poor man's tolkien. he is not original and his books tell not show. for the record i liked eragon thought eldest was bad and consider TOlkien the best fantasy writer of all time. I mean he spent so mujtch time rewritting and restarting if he did not like what he wrote.

I love JKR, but I voted for Tolkien. Tolkien created a universe of imaginary creatures and people, a dwarf and elvish language, and basically he was so creative. I mean, talking trees called Ents who speak their own form of old speech...who thinks of that? Tolkien was a genius! Generations of fans, films, music, fanfic...even modern day authors attempt to copy Tolkien's form of writing. He was one of the modern fantasy authors. Fantastic.

JKR's pretty good, but i dont know if this could classify as "fantasy" exactly, but my favorite author besides JKR is Stephenie Meyer, author of "Twilight" and "New Moon" and the latest book, "Eclipse". She's REALLY good!

I'm going to have to say J.K. Rowling. I love Lord of the Rings and a thousand other fantasy books but I've been completely hooked on HP since the movies came out and I read the books before I saw them.

Okay, of course I, like veryone else, loves JRK's books and world and... everything! But I had to say Garth Nix. The Abhorsen trilogy is amazing!! It is extremely complicated to explain, but once you read it you know what it means... it's just great!!

My other favorite author that isn't up there is Sarah Dessen. Her books are real life situations, but still fiction cause it's not about real people. Very interesting cause she keeps you suspended by not telling you the main conflict until way later, so half the book your really confused, then it makes sense.

JKR forever! If Harry Potter never existed, I'd be bored to tears! I don't really like those other series (no offense to the people who do!), so I have JKR to thank for my life!

Okay. I love the Harry Potter books and all, but the Lord of the Rings comes first. Before I even read the HP books, LOTR was a memorized story that I could recite. My whole family has always been and always will be LOTR fans. The Chronicles of Narnia are great too. I have every book. They're all favorites! But I voted JRR Tolkien. He was an amazing writer. Look, he created a whole nother language!

Harry Potter all the way!

Although there is another author whose writing I absolutely love, Stephenie Meyer. Author of Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse. I suggest that you read it.




Potters Princess

I think the greatest fantasy author of all time is either JK Rowling for the HP books or Stephanie Meyer for the Twilight series and the Host (although I havent read that I just heard it is awesome). Honorable mention goes to Tolkien and Lewis.

I voted for Tolkien, because I feel that The Lord of The Rings is a magnificent piece of work, in a different league to many if not all other fantasy works. C. S. Lewis is another favourite of mine but I have noticed that many of the authors on that list have specialised in what is commonly referred to as Children's Fantasy. I know that the Harry Potter books are classed in this regard, but shouldn't a poll about fantasy authors be more reflective of the whole genre?

One other writer I feel has been left off is David Eddings. I particularly like his Belgariad/Malloreon story, and tend to re-read that at least once a year. I am not so fond of his latest series though.

I sort had to vote for JK Rowling. I didn't know anyone else on the list and JKR was able to do so many things in her life. Part of being a great fantasy author is how you act outside your books. When you look at it she sort of is this author. Don't you see the obssion that was created? Do you see how some people behave? My cousin, whose name and age escapes me (sad, yes), was reading HP when we gathered for my grandpa's funeral. I too was reading it, but I couldn't then (had to wait for the next book).
JKR made us forget what world we live in and she allows us to read until she can't write any more. She does leave many questions unanswered, as would all Great Authors. A good magican never reveals their secerets right? So a good writer shouldn't reveal hers. No answeresmore to the Great Mystery that is the Harry Potter World and why it puts a spell on us.