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 — 690,363 ratings
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2

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4.52 avg rating — 1,095,878 ratings
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3

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4.41 avg rating — 3,187,121 ratings
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4

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4.45 avg rating — 2,763,315 ratings
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5

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4.19 avg rating — 600,563 ratings
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6

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4.49 avg rating — 1,013,040 ratings
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7

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4.30 avg rating — 4,513,770 ratings
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8

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4.29 avg rating — 1,654,170 ratings
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9

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4.19 avg rating — 413,760 ratings
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10

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3.94 avg rating — 140,184 ratings
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11

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4.23 avg rating — 78,080 ratings
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12

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4.41 avg rating — 92,808 ratings
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13

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4.16 avg rating — 357,019 ratings
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14

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4.29 avg rating — 288,926 ratings
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15

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4.54 avg rating — 737,454 ratings
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16

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4.12 avg rating — 254,357 ratings
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17

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4.01 avg rating — 123,268 ratings
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18

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4.30 avg rating — 348,167 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 — 114,270 ratings
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21

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4.17 avg rating — 103,808 ratings
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22

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4.16 avg rating — 112,122 ratings
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23

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3.83 avg rating — 124,565 ratings
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24

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3.77 avg rating — 102,206 ratings
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25

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4.23 avg rating — 132,883 ratings
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26

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3.84 avg rating — 1,211,826 ratings
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27

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4.09 avg rating — 41,191 ratings
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28

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4.26 avg rating — 100,054 ratings
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29

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4.01 avg rating — 366,483 ratings
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30

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3.97 avg rating — 1,957,226 ratings
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31

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4.24 avg rating — 108,093 ratings
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32

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4.14 avg rating — 423,814 ratings
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33

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3.97 avg rating — 78,626 ratings
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34

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4.26 avg rating — 36,077 ratings
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35

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4.07 avg rating — 113,299 ratings
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36

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4.22 avg rating — 320,530 ratings
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37

by
4.24 avg rating — 27,137 ratings
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38

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4.40 avg rating — 108,414 ratings
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39

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3.97 avg rating — 29,978 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 — 50,126 ratings
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42

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4.04 avg rating — 61,240 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 — 75,495 ratings
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47

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3.96 avg rating — 55,646 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 — 163,904 ratings
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51

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4.11 avg rating — 55,927 ratings
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52

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4.25 avg rating — 132,405 ratings
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53

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4.28 avg rating — 327,985 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 — 61,152 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 — 7,775 ratings
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58

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4.35 avg rating — 78,274 ratings
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59

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4.07 avg rating — 188,673 ratings
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60

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4.44 avg rating — 179,452 ratings
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61

by
4.27 avg rating — 360,249 ratings
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62

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3.97 avg rating — 156,910 ratings
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63

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 950 ratings
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64

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4.29 avg rating — 264,689 ratings
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65

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4.48 avg rating — 176,794 ratings
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66

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4.20 avg rating — 214,329 ratings
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67

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3.77 avg rating — 142,083 ratings
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68

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3.88 avg rating — 31,528 ratings
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69

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4.20 avg rating — 150,200 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 — 19,072 ratings
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72

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4.09 avg rating — 31,852 ratings
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72

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4.13 avg rating — 64,792 ratings
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74

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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

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4.09 avg rating — 41,764 ratings
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77

by
4.19 avg rating — 297,284 ratings
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78

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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

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3.91 avg rating — 17,190 ratings
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84

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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 — 177,697 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

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4.03 avg rating — 27,536 ratings
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89

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4.08 avg rating — 13,603 ratings
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91

by
4.38 avg rating — 53 ratings
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91

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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 — 9,721 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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