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

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4.19 avg rating — 583,380 ratings
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6

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7

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4.01 avg rating — 354,167 ratings
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8

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9

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4.19 avg rating — 388,139 ratings
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10

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4.25 avg rating — 130,592 ratings
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11

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4.41 avg rating — 134,165 ratings
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12

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4.32 avg rating — 71,242 ratings
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13

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4.56 avg rating — 566,564 ratings
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14

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4.38 avg rating — 627,407 ratings
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15

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4.16 avg rating — 110,792 ratings
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16

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3.81 avg rating — 15,526 ratings
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17

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3.97 avg rating — 76,894 ratings
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18

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4.23 avg rating — 130,778 ratings
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19

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4.11 avg rating — 74,280 ratings
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20

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4.09 avg rating — 51,613 ratings
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21

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3.99 avg rating — 417,501 ratings
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22

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4.16 avg rating — 129,366 ratings
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23

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 48,091 ratings
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24

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3.96 avg rating — 54,076 ratings
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25

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4.17 avg rating — 55,295 ratings
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26

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3.77 avg rating — 100,994 ratings
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26

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3.86 avg rating — 124,467 ratings
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28

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4.04 avg rating — 22,171 ratings
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29

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4.33 avg rating — 14,048 ratings
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30

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3.94 avg rating — 89,058 ratings
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31

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4.18 avg rating — 37,419 ratings
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32

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4.06 avg rating — 478,380 ratings
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33

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4.23 avg rating — 76,105 ratings
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34

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3.98 avg rating — 371 ratings
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35

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4.45 avg rating — 5,043 ratings
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36

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4.33 avg rating — 10,776 ratings
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37

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4.15 avg rating — 175,735 ratings
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37

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3.84 avg rating — 23,318 ratings
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39

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4.12 avg rating — 15,538 ratings
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40

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3.84 avg rating — 15,421 ratings
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40

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4.10 avg rating — 76,344 ratings
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42

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4.10 avg rating — 52,362 ratings
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42

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4.22 avg rating — 301,517 ratings
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44

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4.21 avg rating — 56,763 ratings
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45

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4.14 avg rating — 132,618 ratings
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46

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4.39 avg rating — 51 ratings
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47

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4.12 avg rating — 13,611 ratings
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47

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4.30 avg rating — 5,511 ratings
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49

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3.93 avg rating — 33,523 ratings
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49

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3.93 avg rating — 19,385 ratings
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49

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4.07 avg rating — 53,356 ratings
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52

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4.12 avg rating — 6,152 ratings
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52

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4.03 avg rating — 7,039 ratings
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54

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4.09 avg rating — 23,110 ratings
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54

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3.93 avg rating — 134,382 ratings
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56

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4.46 avg rating — 5,477 ratings
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56

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3.63 avg rating — 11,154 ratings
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58

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4.22 avg rating — 40,413 ratings
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59

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3.97 avg rating — 29,648 ratings
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60

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3.62 avg rating — 703 ratings
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60

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 928 ratings
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60

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3.78 avg rating — 9 ratings
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60

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4.08 avg rating — 982 ratings
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60

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3.55 avg rating — 818 ratings
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60

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4.31 avg rating — 13 ratings
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60

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3.53 avg rating — 419 ratings
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60

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3.86 avg rating — 58 ratings
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60

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3.78 avg rating — 6,309 ratings
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60

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3.80 avg rating — 404 ratings
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60

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3.90 avg rating — 619 ratings
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60

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it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 4 ratings
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60

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4.18 avg rating — 2,284,750 ratings
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73

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4.24 avg rating — 107,892 ratings
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73

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4.02 avg rating — 2,795 ratings
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73

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4.67 avg rating — 3 ratings
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73

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73

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4.13 avg rating — 2,561 ratings
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73

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3.99 avg rating — 15,495 ratings
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73

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73

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3.99 avg rating — 71 ratings
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73

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it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 4 ratings
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73

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3.80 avg rating — 10,975 ratings
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73

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4.60 avg rating — 42,679 ratings
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84

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4.08 avg rating — 7,078 ratings
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84

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3.80 avg rating — 973 ratings
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84

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4.03 avg rating — 2,574 ratings
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84

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3.87 avg rating — 587 ratings
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84

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4.24 avg rating — 67 ratings
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84

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4.26 avg rating — 1,422 ratings
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84

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3.93 avg rating — 53,915 ratings
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84

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3.95 avg rating — 12,924 ratings
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84

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4.31 avg rating — 675 ratings
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84

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4.18 avg rating — 14,098 ratings
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84

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4.17 avg rating — 42 ratings
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84

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it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 4 ratings
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84

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4.14 avg rating — 39,667 ratings
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84

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4.21 avg rating — 90,913 ratings
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98

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3.91 avg rating — 9,563 ratings
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98

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4.27 avg rating — 360 ratings
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98

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4.69 avg rating — 42 ratings
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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 3385 books
853 friends
Bettie 15671 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.


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