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 — 660,992 ratings
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2

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4.52 avg rating — 1,075,713 ratings
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3

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4.41 avg rating — 3,128,279 ratings
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4

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4.45 avg rating — 2,720,895 ratings
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5

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4.19 avg rating — 589,537 ratings
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6

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4.49 avg rating — 957,564 ratings
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7

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4.30 avg rating — 4,431,574 ratings
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8

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4.29 avg rating — 1,615,855 ratings
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9

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3.93 avg rating — 136,280 ratings
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10

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4.19 avg rating — 396,094 ratings
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11

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4.17 avg rating — 344,245 ratings
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12

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4.23 avg rating — 76,770 ratings
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13

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4.41 avg rating — 91,857 ratings
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14

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4.29 avg rating — 276,179 ratings
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15

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4.54 avg rating — 728,023 ratings
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16

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4.01 avg rating — 122,514 ratings
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17

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4.12 avg rating — 253,311 ratings
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18

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4.30 avg rating — 338,720 ratings
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19

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4.53 avg rating — 11,669 ratings
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20

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4.13 avg rating — 113,377 ratings
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21

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4.16 avg rating — 111,246 ratings
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22

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4.17 avg rating — 102,371 ratings
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23

by
3.83 avg rating — 123,060 ratings
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24

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3.77 avg rating — 101,444 ratings
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25

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4.23 avg rating — 131,520 ratings
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26

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3.83 avg rating — 1,184,299 ratings
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27

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4.26 avg rating — 98,624 ratings
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28

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4.09 avg rating — 40,746 ratings
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29

by
4.01 avg rating — 358,796 ratings
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30

by
3.96 avg rating — 1,931,855 ratings
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31

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4.14 avg rating — 412,631 ratings
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32

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3.97 avg rating — 77,486 ratings
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33

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4.26 avg rating — 35,613 ratings
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34

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4.24 avg rating — 103,749 ratings
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35

by
4.07 avg rating — 111,466 ratings
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36

by
4.22 avg rating — 308,171 ratings
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37

by
4.24 avg rating — 26,836 ratings
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38

by
3.97 avg rating — 29,763 ratings
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39

by
3.72 avg rating — 49,820 ratings
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40

by
4.39 avg rating — 105,574 ratings
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41

by
4.05 avg rating — 60,714 ratings
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42

by
4.73 avg rating — 74 ratings
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43

by
3.82 avg rating — 18,155 ratings
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44

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3.97 avg rating — 73,997 ratings
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45

by
3.96 avg rating — 53,749 ratings
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46

by
4.10 avg rating — 76,432 ratings
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47

by
3.98 avg rating — 36,445 ratings
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48

by
4.11 avg rating — 55,639 ratings
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49

by
4.25 avg rating — 131,216 ratings
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50

by
4.17 avg rating — 57,109 ratings
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51

by
3.87 avg rating — 25,759 ratings
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52

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3.96 avg rating — 7,732 ratings
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53

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4.12 avg rating — 13,656 ratings
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54

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4.58 avg rating — 160,994 ratings
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55

by
4.35 avg rating — 75,648 ratings
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56

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4.28 avg rating — 322,660 ratings
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57

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 939 ratings
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58

by
3.88 avg rating — 30,961 ratings
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59

by
3.97 avg rating — 5,653 ratings
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60

by
4.30 avg rating — 12,832 ratings
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61

by
4.10 avg rating — 18,866 ratings
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62

by
4.09 avg rating — 31,592 ratings
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62

by
4.13 avg rating — 63,723 ratings
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64

by
4.07 avg rating — 185,512 ratings
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65

by
3.88 avg rating — 6,771 ratings
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66

by
4.02 avg rating — 29,155 ratings
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67

by
4.44 avg rating — 176,671 ratings
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68

by
4.09 avg rating — 41,571 ratings
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69

by
4.27 avg rating — 354,292 ratings
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70

by
3.97 avg rating — 154,113 ratings
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71

by
4.19 avg rating — 284,924 ratings
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72

by
4.28 avg rating — 260,263 ratings
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72

by
4.48 avg rating — 174,003 ratings
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74

by
4.20 avg rating — 210,641 ratings
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75

by
3.77 avg rating — 139,421 ratings
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76

by
4.20 avg rating — 147,608 ratings
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77

by
4.55 avg rating — 55 ratings
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78

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4.44 avg rating — 10,011 ratings
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79

by
4.08 avg rating — 17,657 ratings
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80

by
3.78 avg rating — 19,731 ratings
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81

by
4.03 avg rating — 982 ratings
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82

by
3.91 avg rating — 17,029 ratings
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83

by
3.86 avg rating — 16,924 ratings
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84

by
4.15 avg rating — 176,449 ratings
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85

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3.23 avg rating — 10,675 ratings
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86

by
4.09 avg rating — 15,498 ratings
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87

by
4.03 avg rating — 27,284 ratings
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87

by
4.08 avg rating — 13,548 ratings
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89

by
4.35 avg rating — 51 ratings
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89

by
4.67 avg rating — 9 ratings
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89

by
4.12 avg rating — 59 ratings
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89

by
4.71 avg rating — 17 ratings
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89

by
4.40 avg rating — 20 ratings
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94

by
3.93 avg rating — 45 ratings
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95

by
3.93 avg rating — 30 ratings
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96

by
3.64 avg rating — 1,153 ratings
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96

by
3.81 avg rating — 9,648 ratings
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98

by
3.85 avg rating — 4,155 ratings
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99

by
3.87 avg rating — 7,597 ratings
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99

by
3.89 avg rating — 4,143 ratings
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165 books · 408 voters · list created February 18th, 2013 by Andrew Obrigewitsch (votes) .
81 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Andrew 2082 books
604 friends
Mike 815 books
22 friends
Tammie 4753 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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