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 — 678,299 ratings
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2

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4.52 avg rating — 1,088,371 ratings
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3

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4.41 avg rating — 3,170,046 ratings
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4

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4.45 avg rating — 2,746,631 ratings
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5

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4.19 avg rating — 596,426 ratings
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6

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4.49 avg rating — 989,801 ratings
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7

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4.30 avg rating — 4,477,886 ratings
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8

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4.29 avg rating — 1,638,465 ratings
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9

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4.19 avg rating — 406,199 ratings
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10

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3.94 avg rating — 138,576 ratings
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11

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4.23 avg rating — 77,517 ratings
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12

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4.41 avg rating — 92,376 ratings
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13

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4.17 avg rating — 351,757 ratings
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14

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4.29 avg rating — 283,550 ratings
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15

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4.54 avg rating — 733,609 ratings
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16

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4.12 avg rating — 253,914 ratings
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17

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4.01 avg rating — 122,952 ratings
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18

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4.30 avg rating — 344,170 ratings
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19

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4.54 avg rating — 11,807 ratings
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20

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4.13 avg rating — 113,881 ratings
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21

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4.17 avg rating — 103,211 ratings
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22

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4.16 avg rating — 111,755 ratings
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23

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3.83 avg rating — 123,928 ratings
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24

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3.77 avg rating — 101,896 ratings
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25

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4.23 avg rating — 132,307 ratings
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26

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3.83 avg rating — 1,200,874 ratings
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27

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4.09 avg rating — 40,993 ratings
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28

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4.26 avg rating — 99,454 ratings
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29

by
4.01 avg rating — 363,382 ratings
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30

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3.97 avg rating — 1,948,043 ratings
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31

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4.24 avg rating — 106,134 ratings
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32

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4.14 avg rating — 419,709 ratings
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33

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3.97 avg rating — 78,109 ratings
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34

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4.26 avg rating — 35,881 ratings
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35

by
4.07 avg rating — 112,524 ratings
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36

by
4.22 avg rating — 315,403 ratings
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37

by
4.24 avg rating — 27,013 ratings
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38

by
4.39 avg rating — 107,156 ratings
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39

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3.98 avg rating — 29,894 ratings
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40

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4.42 avg rating — 113 ratings
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41

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3.72 avg rating — 49,978 ratings
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42

by
4.04 avg rating — 61,015 ratings
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43

by
4.86 avg rating — 49 ratings
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44

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3.82 avg rating — 18,192 ratings
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45

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4.12 avg rating — 13,728 ratings
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46

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3.97 avg rating — 74,852 ratings
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47

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3.96 avg rating — 54,757 ratings
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48

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4.10 avg rating — 76,543 ratings
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49

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3.98 avg rating — 36,548 ratings
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49

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4.58 avg rating — 162,687 ratings
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51

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4.11 avg rating — 55,798 ratings
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52

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4.25 avg rating — 131,898 ratings
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53

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4.28 avg rating — 325,780 ratings
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54

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3.97 avg rating — 5,671 ratings
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54

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4.18 avg rating — 59,344 ratings
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56

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3.87 avg rating — 25,848 ratings
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57

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3.96 avg rating — 7,750 ratings
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58

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4.35 avg rating — 77,177 ratings
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59

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4.07 avg rating — 187,380 ratings
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60

by
4.44 avg rating — 178,282 ratings
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61

by
4.27 avg rating — 357,836 ratings
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62

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3.97 avg rating — 155,737 ratings
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63

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 947 ratings
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64

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4.29 avg rating — 262,844 ratings
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65

by
4.48 avg rating — 175,586 ratings
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66

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4.20 avg rating — 212,792 ratings
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67

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3.77 avg rating — 140,945 ratings
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68

by
3.88 avg rating — 31,284 ratings
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69

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4.20 avg rating — 149,096 ratings
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70

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4.30 avg rating — 12,923 ratings
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71

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4.10 avg rating — 18,964 ratings
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72

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4.09 avg rating — 31,747 ratings
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72

by
4.13 avg rating — 64,325 ratings
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74

by
3.89 avg rating — 6,807 ratings
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75

by
4.02 avg rating — 29,214 ratings
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76

by
4.09 avg rating — 41,680 ratings
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77

by
4.19 avg rating — 292,146 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 — 10,089 ratings
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80

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4.08 avg rating — 17,696 ratings
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81

by
3.78 avg rating — 19,766 ratings
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82

by
4.03 avg rating — 988 ratings
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83

by
3.91 avg rating — 17,129 ratings
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84

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3.86 avg rating — 16,963 ratings
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85

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4.14 avg rating — 5,511 ratings
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86

by
4.15 avg rating — 177,193 ratings
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87

by
3.23 avg rating — 10,686 ratings
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88

by
4.09 avg rating — 15,538 ratings
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89

by
4.03 avg rating — 27,447 ratings
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89

by
4.08 avg rating — 13,577 ratings
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91

by
4.37 avg rating — 52 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
4.63 avg rating — 19 ratings
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91

by
4.25 avg rating — 72 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 — 1,154 ratings
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98

by
3.81 avg rating — 9,683 ratings
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100

by
3.86 avg rating — 4,184 ratings
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168 books · 417 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 815 books
22 friends
Tammie 4806 books
390 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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