Tolkien is with no doubt the king and creator of "second world" fantasy. "Second world" meaning stories, mostly epics, set in a completely fictional world with its own unique culture. But what of the post-Tolkien era authors?


Which is the best "second world" fantasy (series or novel) written after J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth epics.
1

by
4.45 avg rating — 2,712,741 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
2

by
4.52 avg rating — 1,071,406 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
3

by
4.49 avg rating — 947,204 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
4

by
4.66 avg rating — 655,015 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
5

by
4.19 avg rating — 587,213 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
6

by
4.30 avg rating — 336,801 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
7

by
4.01 avg rating — 357,003 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
8

by
3.96 avg rating — 1,926,659 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
9

by
4.19 avg rating — 393,051 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
10

by
4.25 avg rating — 130,980 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
11

by
4.41 avg rating — 134,838 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
12

by
4.32 avg rating — 71,510 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
13

by
4.56 avg rating — 576,845 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
14

by
4.38 avg rating — 638,503 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
15

by
4.16 avg rating — 111,063 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
16

by
3.81 avg rating — 15,542 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
17

by
3.97 avg rating — 77,262 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
18

by
4.23 avg rating — 131,234 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
19

by
4.11 avg rating — 74,393 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
20

by
4.09 avg rating — 51,689 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
21

by
3.99 avg rating — 419,376 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
22

by
4.16 avg rating — 130,240 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
23

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 48,183 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
24

by
3.96 avg rating — 54,162 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
4.17 avg rating — 56,414 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
26

by
3.77 avg rating — 101,265 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
26

by
3.86 avg rating — 124,663 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
28

by
4.04 avg rating — 22,340 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
4.33 avg rating — 14,078 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
30

by
3.94 avg rating — 89,206 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
31

by
4.18 avg rating — 37,476 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
32

by
4.06 avg rating — 479,245 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
33

by
4.23 avg rating — 76,522 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
3.98 avg rating — 370 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
35

by
4.45 avg rating — 5,271 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
36

by
4.33 avg rating — 11,168 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
37

by
4.15 avg rating — 176,192 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
37

by
3.84 avg rating — 23,464 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
39

by
4.12 avg rating — 15,574 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
40

by
3.84 avg rating — 15,438 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
40

by
4.10 avg rating — 76,403 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
4.10 avg rating — 52,618 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
4.22 avg rating — 305,582 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
44

by
4.21 avg rating — 56,953 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
45

by
4.14 avg rating — 133,762 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
4.39 avg rating — 51 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
47

by
4.12 avg rating — 13,638 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
47

by
4.31 avg rating — 5,523 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
49

by
3.93 avg rating — 33,638 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
49

by
3.93 avg rating — 19,434 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
49

by
4.06 avg rating — 53,920 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
52

by
4.12 avg rating — 6,195 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
52

by
4.03 avg rating — 7,083 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
54

by
4.09 avg rating — 23,173 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
54

by
3.93 avg rating — 135,548 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
56

by
4.46 avg rating — 5,568 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
56

by
3.63 avg rating — 11,176 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
58

by
4.22 avg rating — 40,653 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
59

by
3.97 avg rating — 29,717 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
3.63 avg rating — 707 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 937 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
3.78 avg rating — 9 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
4.08 avg rating — 982 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
3.55 avg rating — 820 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
4.31 avg rating — 13 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
3.52 avg rating — 420 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
3.86 avg rating — 58 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
3.78 avg rating — 6,341 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
3.80 avg rating — 404 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
3.90 avg rating — 622 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 4 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
4.18 avg rating — 2,329,504 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
4.24 avg rating — 108,632 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
4.02 avg rating — 2,804 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
4.67 avg rating — 3 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
4.22 avg rating — 81 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
4.13 avg rating — 2,572 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
3.99 avg rating — 15,588 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
4.13 avg rating — 3,077 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
3.99 avg rating — 71 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 4 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
3.80 avg rating — 10,985 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
4.60 avg rating — 43,695 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
4.08 avg rating — 7,094 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
3.80 avg rating — 974 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
4.04 avg rating — 2,599 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
3.87 avg rating — 587 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
4.21 avg rating — 68 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
4.25 avg rating — 1,424 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
3.93 avg rating — 54,258 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
3.95 avg rating — 13,002 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
4.31 avg rating — 676 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
4.18 avg rating — 14,177 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
4.17 avg rating — 42 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 4 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
4.13 avg rating — 39,744 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
4.21 avg rating — 91,163 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
98

by
3.92 avg rating — 9,578 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
98

by
4.27 avg rating — 360 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
98

by
4.69 avg rating — 42 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
150 books · 219 voters · list created May 6th, 2012 by Emil Karajić (votes) .
44 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Emil 392 books
34 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads 3386 books
852 friends
Bettie 15673 books
19 friends
Alessandra 2196 books
62 friends
Smc 35 books
0 friends
Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) 546 books
365 friends
Libby 10282 books
63 friends
Heidi 227 books
1 friend

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-4 of 4 (4 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

Susanna - Censored by GoodReads I guess because none of us wanted to vote for it.

You could add it; it's easy to add books to lists. At the top of the list, at the tab next to "all votes."


message 2: by Clay (new)

Clay I don't know if Shannara counts in this list. The concept of this list is a total fictional "second world" where as Shannara is supposed to be the far future of THIS world.


message 3: by Clay (new)

Clay Hmmm. You know, you are quite right. I found this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle-e... It gives references as well. Given that, I suppose that if TLOtR is being used as a baseline, then the Shannara books should qualify (Personally, I really liked the original Shanara trilogy, but could not get into the following books)


message 4: by Brent (new)

Brent Seabrook Conan came before Tolkien.


back to top