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Take a Reading Quest With Reader-Approved Epic Fantasies
For those of us on the nerdier end of the book-person spectrum, nothing satisfies quite like epic fantasy. There’s something about the grand themes, the detailed world-building, and, yes, the colossal page counts. Epic fantasy is the endurance sport of recreational reading. It toughens you up.
But with those book page counts that run into the thousands (and series that run into the dozens), epic fantasy demands commitment. If you’re embarking on a new quest, you want to know what you’re getting into.
We’ve gathered here several dozen of the most popular and beloved epic fantasies in this ever-expanding genre, from stone-cold classics (J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings) to recent and intriguing variations on the theme (R.F. Kuang’s The Poppy Wars).
Quite a few of the books here wander away from strict high fantasy categorization, but that’s a good thing. The epic flavor can be found in African mythology, secondary worlds inspired by medieval Italian city-states, or steampunk-adjacent adventures in an alternative city of Cairo, circa 1912.
Scroll over the book covers below for more details about each title, and add any promising leads to your own Want to Read shelf.
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What a shame Ian Irvine’s ‘the view from the mirror’ quartet is missing. I’m not the biggest fan of epic fantasy, but I devoured those four books
Lani are you talking about "The Druid by Jeff Wheeler" or another by the same name? If it is another I'd like to know the author please.
Stephen King`s Dark Tower epic. This list is incomplete without The Gunslinger!
err... and The Black Company series?? No?? Fortunately, The Wheel of Time is listed!! Yeah!! ^^
And Saaba Tahir's An Ember in the Ashes series? Where are those? I loved those.
Gabriella wrote: "Are there any for kids?"Look for the Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander. Start with The Book of Three. Wonderful stuff.
Where is:The Bone Ships by R. J. Barker?
The Cities of the Diviine by Robert Jackson Bennett?
The Babel Quartet by Josaih Bancroft?
The Riddle Master of Hed by Patricia McKillip?
Lyonesse by Jack Vance? Please don't forget Jack Vance!!
Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser by Fritz Leiber?
The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny?
The Worm Ouroborous by E.R. Eddison?
Epically missing Jay Kristoff, either for Nevernight or for Empire of the Vampire. I am eagerly awaiting book two, even though I haven't finished book one of EOTV yet.Also, I don't see Earthsea on here. How can anyone leave off Ursula LeGuin? I haven't read all her work but Earthsea is branded in my brain and I am due for a reread. Beautiful all the way through.
And finally, (okay, probably not finally) I would also suggest Sabriel by Garth Nix. Staying power over 20 years, with a new volume just released. I loved every book in this series, and the world building is deep and wide.
Speaking of deep world building (see? not finally), can we talk about Scott Lynch? And yes, I know, The Lies of Locke Lamora series isn't finished. And he's taking some flack for other stuff lately. But the world building in this! Just speaking for the first book, I found it so engrossing, so well done and so compelling.
There may be some who will say that some of these above are YA, but let me assure you, they are not.
My favourite epic fantasy is "The Book of Never" by Ashley Capes
Shouldn't there be Terry Pratchett be on this list? Just a thoughtp
SarahWW wrote: "Where is Terry Brooks??"Same .
The Raven Tower by Ann LeckieCrowfall by Ed McDonald
The Steel Remains by Richard Morgan
Master of Sorrows by Justin Call
Not to mention the likes of Erikson, Eddings and Pratchett!
Some great picks on here. I would highly recommend the following:The Dwarves series by Markus Heitz
The Wounded Kingdom Trilogy by R.J Barker
Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series by Tad Williams
The Faithful and the Fallen series by John Gwynne
Pretty much all of the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett (especially the City Watch novels)
Not known by many but one of the few epic Fantasy series that could hold my interest throughout 10 books isShadows of the Apt series by Adrian Tchaikovsky beginning with Empire in Black and Gold.
Already the worldbuilding here stands out from the usual Fantasy norms.
Sarah wrote: "Amy: Feist & Wurts are well known authors but would consider The Empire Trilogy a rare gem?"Yes: Totally a gem. Rare and beautiful.
Dragonlance. My all time favorite. Even though it has been a long time.
Claw wrote: "Dragonlance. My all time favorite. Even though it has been a long time."I suggest you don't re-read them. They may not have aged well. Keep the nostalgia intact.
Le Chat wrote: "Including "Game of Thrones" and "The name of the wind" is terrible in my opinion. Nobody knows if these series will ever get completed and encouraging readers to pick them up...at least highlight a..."🙌🏽🙌🏽
I agree!
I am looking forward to reading "The Druid"