This is a list of real Epic Fantasy novels. If it's not actually Epic it will be removed.

Only the first book in series is allowed. And as the point of this list is to help people find new authors, only one book by author.

No Young Adult books allowed and no sword and sorcery type books, which includes Michael Moorcock, R.A. Salvatore and Scott Lynch.
1

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4.66 avg rating — 690,440 ratings
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2

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4.52 avg rating — 1,095,917 ratings
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3

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4.41 avg rating — 3,187,208 ratings
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4

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4.45 avg rating — 2,763,426 ratings
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5

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4.19 avg rating — 600,582 ratings
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6

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4.49 avg rating — 1,013,174 ratings
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7

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4.30 avg rating — 4,513,973 ratings
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8

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4.29 avg rating — 1,654,296 ratings
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9

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4.19 avg rating — 413,808 ratings
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10

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3.94 avg rating — 140,195 ratings
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11

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4.23 avg rating — 78,085 ratings
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12

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4.41 avg rating — 92,812 ratings
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13

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4.16 avg rating — 357,051 ratings
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14

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4.29 avg rating — 288,963 ratings
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15

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4.54 avg rating — 737,488 ratings
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16

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4.12 avg rating — 254,358 ratings
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17

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4.01 avg rating — 123,270 ratings
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18

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4.30 avg rating — 348,192 ratings
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19

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4.54 avg rating — 11,908 ratings
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20

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4.13 avg rating — 114,274 ratings
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21

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4.17 avg rating — 103,814 ratings
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22

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4.16 avg rating — 112,123 ratings
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23

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3.83 avg rating — 124,566 ratings
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24

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3.77 avg rating — 102,209 ratings
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25

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4.23 avg rating — 132,889 ratings
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26

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3.84 avg rating — 1,211,900 ratings
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27

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4.09 avg rating — 41,192 ratings
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28

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4.26 avg rating — 100,058 ratings
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29

by
4.01 avg rating — 366,508 ratings
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30

by
3.97 avg rating — 1,957,279 ratings
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31

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4.24 avg rating — 108,103 ratings
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32

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4.14 avg rating — 423,829 ratings
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33

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3.97 avg rating — 78,627 ratings
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34

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4.26 avg rating — 36,078 ratings
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35

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4.07 avg rating — 113,300 ratings
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36

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4.22 avg rating — 320,566 ratings
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37

by
4.24 avg rating — 27,136 ratings
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38

by
4.40 avg rating — 108,420 ratings
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39

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3.97 avg rating — 29,979 ratings
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40

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4.37 avg rating — 121 ratings
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41

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3.71 avg rating — 50,127 ratings
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42

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4.04 avg rating — 61,243 ratings
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43

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4.82 avg rating — 56 ratings
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44

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3.82 avg rating — 18,231 ratings
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45

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4.12 avg rating — 13,765 ratings
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46

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3.97 avg rating — 75,498 ratings
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47

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3.96 avg rating — 55,651 ratings
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48

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4.10 avg rating — 76,620 ratings
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49

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3.98 avg rating — 36,644 ratings
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49

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4.58 avg rating — 163,912 ratings
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51

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4.11 avg rating — 55,928 ratings
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52

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4.25 avg rating — 132,413 ratings
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53

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4.28 avg rating — 327,994 ratings
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54

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3.98 avg rating — 5,682 ratings
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54

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4.18 avg rating — 61,158 ratings
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56

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3.87 avg rating — 25,901 ratings
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57

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3.96 avg rating — 7,777 ratings
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58

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4.35 avg rating — 78,275 ratings
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59

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4.07 avg rating — 188,677 ratings
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60

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4.44 avg rating — 179,458 ratings
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61

by
4.27 avg rating — 360,261 ratings
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62

by
3.97 avg rating — 156,914 ratings
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63

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 949 ratings
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64

by
4.29 avg rating — 264,697 ratings
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65

by
4.48 avg rating — 176,800 ratings
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66

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4.20 avg rating — 214,336 ratings
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67

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3.77 avg rating — 142,089 ratings
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68

by
3.88 avg rating — 31,529 ratings
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69

by
4.20 avg rating — 150,204 ratings
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70

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4.30 avg rating — 12,984 ratings
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71

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4.10 avg rating — 19,073 ratings
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72

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4.09 avg rating — 31,853 ratings
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72

by
4.13 avg rating — 64,794 ratings
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74

by
3.89 avg rating — 6,840 ratings
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75

by
4.02 avg rating — 29,271 ratings
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76

by
4.09 avg rating — 41,764 ratings
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77

by
4.19 avg rating — 297,314 ratings
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78

by
4.55 avg rating — 55 ratings
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79

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4.44 avg rating — 10,158 ratings
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80

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4.08 avg rating — 17,724 ratings
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81

by
3.78 avg rating — 19,802 ratings
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82

by
4.04 avg rating — 991 ratings
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83

by
3.91 avg rating — 17,190 ratings
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84

by
3.86 avg rating — 16,994 ratings
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85

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4.14 avg rating — 5,521 ratings
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86

by
4.15 avg rating — 177,698 ratings
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87

by
3.23 avg rating — 10,700 ratings
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88

by
4.09 avg rating — 15,565 ratings
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89

by
4.03 avg rating — 27,536 ratings
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89

by
4.08 avg rating — 13,603 ratings
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91

by
4.38 avg rating — 53 ratings
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91

by
4.50 avg rating — 10 ratings
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91

by
4.12 avg rating — 59 ratings
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91

by
4.65 avg rating — 20 ratings
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91

by
4.28 avg rating — 89 ratings
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96

by
3.93 avg rating — 45 ratings
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97

by
3.93 avg rating — 30 ratings
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98

by
3.64 avg rating — 1,156 ratings
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98

by
3.81 avg rating — 9,720 ratings
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100

by
3.86 avg rating — 4,207 ratings
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170 books · 419 voters · list created February 18th, 2013 by Andrew Obrigewitsch (votes) .
82 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Andrew 2083 books
604 friends
Mike 871 books
21 friends
Tammie 4836 books
391 friends
Ross Willard 317 books
17 friends
Ryan 5368 books
0 friends
Savanna 1773 books
11 friends
Carlo 213 books
6 friends
Thomas 0 books
2 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-10 of 10 (10 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Andrew (last edited Feb 11, 2015 09:21PM) (new)

Andrew Obrigewitsch Please let me know if any of the books on the list are not epic fantasy.

Edit: I made this list with the misguided notion that I would be able to control what ends up on my list. But alas I was wrong and this list is filling up with non-grenre crap just like all other lists.


message 2: by [deleted user] (new)

Andrew wrote: "Please let me know if any of the books on the list are not epic fantasy.

Edit: I made this list with the misguided notion that I would be able to control what ends up on my list. But alas I was wr..."


You should be able to remove stuff if you're the list creator, I think.


message 3: by Artemas (new)

Artemas I removed a bunch of books that were not the first in the series. Seems Mercedes Lackey fans lack attention to detail. Plenty more still remaining but I gave up.

Tons of books on this list don't seem to be "Epic Fantasy" at all.


message 4: by Artemas (new)

Artemas Andrew wrote: "Please let me know if any of the books on the list are not epic fantasy.

Edit: I made this list with the misguided notion that I would be able to control what ends up on my list. But alas I was wr..."


You might need to be a Goodreads Librarian to make list changes.


message 5: by Sara J. (new)

Sara J. (kefuwa) Removed the rest that weren't first books and one duplicate (Mistborn Boxed set vs Mistborn Book 1). And all YA and outside the genre books.

Don't know whether those sub-series should be pruned also (Valdemar, Elenium/Tamuli, The Belgariad series)... meh...

Yes, you do need to be a Goodreads Librarian to edit lists.


message 6: by Rhy (last edited Jan 07, 2016 10:52PM) (new)

Rhy Moore I'll help, assuming I can (theoretically I'm a librarian) if you let me know what you want off. I have a very specific definition of epic fantasy that isn't wholly aligned with the canonical definition, so some of what I would be inclined to remove should perhaps not be removed.

e.g. Robin Hobb definitely writes epic fantasy, but I consider the Assassin trilogy heroic fantasy, between which I make a distinction.

Edit: per the original intentions of the list, I removed the Lackeys that are YA. Left a few that are more debatably epic even if they are technically YA. Also removed Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell--while a very awesome book, it doesn't meet any definition I've ever come across, neither is it categorized as epic by the author or others on Goodreads or on Amazon.


message 7: by Andrew (new)

Andrew Obrigewitsch So much to list, but:

Michael J. Sullivan (more sword and sorcery)
Scott Lynch (sword and sorcery)
Michael Moorcock (sword and sorcery)
Mark Lawrence (sword and sorcery)
R.A. Salvatore (sword and sorcery)
Jim Butcher (pretty YA)

and there's lost more, but I don't have time at the moment. Plus there's a lot I haven't read, so if it obviously not epic, YA or not the first book in a series then remove it.


message 8: by Ryan (new)

Ryan Kluzak I would argue that the Midkemia books by Feist are all a part of a single series.


message 9: by Andrew (new)

Andrew Obrigewitsch Ryan wrote: "I would argue that the Midkemia books by Feist are all a part of a single series."

I agree with this. So many people on here that can't follow directions, or just don't know what a genre is.


message 10: by Andrew (last edited Feb 29, 2016 08:41PM) (new)

Andrew Obrigewitsch I would also like the Hobbit removed, it's basically part of the LOR series and it's YA.

His Majesty's Dragon is in no way epic fantasy.


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