ISFDB Top 100 Novels - Popular List

Given by The Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB)

100 Works 620,181 Books 12,017 Reviews 4.1

All novels which have been nominated for an award are scored based on the number of award wins and nominations. The results are then sorted. This is not an attempt to list the best works in the

show more genre, just those which won the most awards. Since the proliferation of genre-related awards is a fairly recent phenomenon, these lists tend to favor more recent works.

The Popular List puts extra emphasis on those awards which are decided by popular vote. It attempts to construct a list which might appeal to a younger audience. It assigns an additional penalty to older works for being "dated".

Note that this version of the list hasn't been updated since 2005.
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Year Awarded:
2005
WorkOrder Label
Neuromancer (1984) by William Gibson
1
American Gods {original} (2001) by Neil Gaiman
2
Perdido Street Station (2000) by China Miéville
3
The Sword of the Lictor (1981) by Gene Wolfe
4
Little, Big (1981) by John Crowley
5
The Forever War (1974) by Joe Haldeman
6
Dune (1965) by Frank Herbert
7
The Dispossessed (1974) by Ursula K. Le Guin
8
Ringworld (1970) by Larry Niven
9
Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) by Robert A. Heinlein
10
Gateway (1977) by Frederik Pohl
11
The Time Ships (1995) by Stephen Baxter
12
The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) by Ursula K. Le Guin
13
The Scar (2002) by China Miéville
14
The Shadow of the Torturer (1980) by Gene Wolfe
15
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (1966) by Robert A. Heinlein
16
The Diamond Age (1995) by Neal Stephenson
17
Rendezvous With Rama (1973) by Arthur C. Clarke
18
The Claw of the Conciliator (1981) by Gene Wolfe
19
Doomsday Book (1992) by Connie Willis
20
Seventh Son (1987) by Orson Scott Card
21
Hyperion (1989) by Dan Simmons
22
The White Dragon (1978) by Anne McCaffrey
23
The Terminal Experiment (1995) by Robert J. Sawyer
24
Barrayar (1993) by Lois McMaster Bujold
25
Blue Mars (1996) by Kim Stanley Robinson
26
All the Weyrs of Pern (1991) by Anne McCaffrey
27
Golden Fleece (1990) by Robert J. Sawyer
28
The Little Country (1991) by Charles de Lint
29
A Deepness in the Sky (1999) by Vernor Vinge
30
Green Mars (1993) by Kim Stanley Robinson
31
The Lord of the Rings (1954) by J. R. R. Tolkien
32
The Fall of Hyperion (1989) by Dan Simmons
33
Mona Lisa Overdrive (1988) by William Gibson
34
Tea with the Black Dragon (1983) by R. A. MacAvoy
35
The Gods Themselves (1972) by Isaac Asimov
36
Red Mars (1992) by Kim Stanley Robinson
37
Virtual Light (1993) by William Gibson
38
Starplex (1996) by Robert J. Sawyer
39
The Sky Road (1999) by Ken MacLeod
40
Dreamsnake (1978) by Vonda N. McIntyre
41
Brittle Innings (1994) by Michael Bishop
42
Cyteen (1988) by C. J. Cherryh
43
Harpist in the Wind (1979) by Patricia A. McKillip
44
Carrion Comfort (1989) by Dan Simmons
45
The Snow Queen (1980) by Joan D. Vinge
46
Stand on Zanzibar (1968) by John Brunner
47
Our Lady of Darkness (1977) by Fritz Leiber
48
The Silmarillion (1977) by J. R. R. Tolkien
49
Timescape (1980) by Gregory Benford
50
Someplace to be Flying (1998) by Charles de Lint
51
Startide Rising (1982) by David Brin
52
Towing Jehovah (1994) by James Morrow
53
The Years of Rice and Salt (2002) by Kim Stanley Robinson
54
Ender's Game (1985) by Orson Scott Card
55
Calculating God (2000) by Robert J. Sawyer
56
Titan (1979) by John Varley
57
Mother of Storms (1994) by John Barnes
58
Speaker for the Dead (1986) by Orson Scott Card
59
Far-Seer (1992) by Robert J. Sawyer
60
The Prestige (1995) by Christopher Priest
61
Mythago Wood (1984) by Robert Holdstock
62
Darwinia: A Novel of a Very Different Twentieth Century (1998) by Robert Charles Wilson
63
China Mountain Zhang (1992) by Maureen F. McHugh
64
Tigana (1990) by Guy Gavriel Kay
65
To Your Scattered Bodies Go (1971) by Philip José Farmer
66
Permutation City (1994) by Greg Egan
67
Requiem (1995) by Graham Joyce
68
A Canticle for Leibowitz (1955) by Walter M. Miller Jr.
69
The Difference Engine (1990) by William Gibson
70
The Citadel of The Autarch (1982) by Gene Wolfe
71
The Fountains of Paradise (1979) by Arthur C. Clarke
72
The Curse of Chalion (2001) by Lois McMaster Bujold
73
The Chronoliths (2001) by Robert Charles Wilson
74
Ash: A Secret History (1999) by Mary Gentle
75
Bag of Bones (1998) by Stephen King
76
The Dolphins of Pern (1994) by Anne McCaffrey
77
Beggars in Spain (1993) by Nancy Kress
78
In the Country of the Blind (1990) by Michael Flynn
79
The Lathe of Heaven (1971) by Ursula K. Le Guin
80
Last Call (1992) by Tim Powers
81
The Vor Game (1990) by Lois McMaster Bujold
82
Bone Dance (1991) by Emma Bull
83
The Stand (1978) by Stephen King
84
Brown Girl In The Ring (1998) by Nalo Hopkinson
85
To Say Nothing of the Dog (1998) by Connie Willis
86
Memory (1996) by Lois McMaster Bujold
87
Blind Voices (1978) by Tom Reamy
88
A Civil Campaign (1999) by Lois McMaster Bujold
89
Excession (1996) by Iain M. Banks
90
Foundation's Edge (1982) by Isaac Asimov
91
A Spell for Chameleon (1977) by Piers Anthony
92
It (1986) by Stephen King
93
Lord of Light (1967) by Roger Zelazny
94
Dying Inside (1972) by Robert Silverberg
95
Jack Faust (1997) by Michael Swanwick
96
Declare (2000) by Tim Powers
97
Courtship Rite (1982) by Donald Kingsbury
98
The Ceremonies (1984) by T. E. D. Klein
99
The Wounded Land (1980) by Stephen R. Donaldson
100

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