,

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 — 601,753 ratings
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6

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7

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9

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4.19 avg rating — 416,085 ratings
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10

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4.25 avg rating — 132,553 ratings
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11

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4.41 avg rating — 137,279 ratings
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12

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4.56 avg rating — 617,724 ratings
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13

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4.32 avg rating — 72,520 ratings
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14

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4.38 avg rating — 685,185 ratings
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15

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4.16 avg rating — 112,220 ratings
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16

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3.81 avg rating — 15,616 ratings
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17

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3.97 avg rating — 78,764 ratings
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18

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4.23 avg rating — 133,036 ratings
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19

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4.11 avg rating — 74,894 ratings
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20

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4.09 avg rating — 52,017 ratings
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21

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3.99 avg rating — 426,862 ratings
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22

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4.16 avg rating — 133,014 ratings
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23

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24

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3.96 avg rating — 54,548 ratings
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25

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4.18 avg rating — 61,714 ratings
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26

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3.77 avg rating — 102,310 ratings
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26

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3.86 avg rating — 125,580 ratings
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28

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4.04 avg rating — 23,164 ratings
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29

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4.33 avg rating — 14,193 ratings
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30

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3.94 avg rating — 89,656 ratings
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31

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4.18 avg rating — 37,711 ratings
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32

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4.06 avg rating — 482,133 ratings
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33

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4.23 avg rating — 78,226 ratings
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34

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3.99 avg rating — 373 ratings
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35

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4.44 avg rating — 5,995 ratings
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36

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4.33 avg rating — 12,475 ratings
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37

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4.15 avg rating — 177,850 ratings
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37

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3.85 avg rating — 24,063 ratings
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39

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4.12 avg rating — 15,683 ratings
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40

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3.84 avg rating — 15,514 ratings
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40

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4.10 avg rating — 76,627 ratings
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42

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4.10 avg rating — 53,555 ratings
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42

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4.22 avg rating — 321,940 ratings
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44

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4.22 avg rating — 57,651 ratings
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45

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4.14 avg rating — 137,857 ratings
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46

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4.40 avg rating — 52 ratings
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47

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4.12 avg rating — 13,783 ratings
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47

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4.31 avg rating — 5,591 ratings
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49

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3.93 avg rating — 33,973 ratings
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49

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3.93 avg rating — 19,582 ratings
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49

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4.06 avg rating — 55,958 ratings
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52

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4.13 avg rating — 6,330 ratings
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52

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4.03 avg rating — 7,239 ratings
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54

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4.09 avg rating — 23,503 ratings
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54

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3.94 avg rating — 140,553 ratings
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56

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4.46 avg rating — 5,886 ratings
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56

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3.63 avg rating — 11,264 ratings
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58

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4.22 avg rating — 41,697 ratings
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59

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3.97 avg rating — 30,004 ratings
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60

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3.62 avg rating — 704 ratings
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60

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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 — 981 ratings
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60

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3.55 avg rating — 837 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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3.52 avg rating — 420 ratings
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60

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3.87 avg rating — 60 ratings
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60

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3.78 avg rating — 6,477 ratings
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60

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3.80 avg rating — 409 ratings
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60

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3.90 avg rating — 628 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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4.19 avg rating — 2,527,436 ratings
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60

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4.42 avg rating — 31 ratings
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74

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4.24 avg rating — 111,511 ratings
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74

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4.02 avg rating — 2,831 ratings
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74

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4.67 avg rating — 3 ratings
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74

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4.22 avg rating — 81 ratings
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74

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4.13 avg rating — 2,618 ratings
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74

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74

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74

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 72 ratings
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74

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it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 5 ratings
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74

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3.80 avg rating — 11,089 ratings
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74

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4.60 avg rating — 47,127 ratings
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85

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4.08 avg rating — 7,151 ratings
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85

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3.80 avg rating — 983 ratings
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85

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4.04 avg rating — 2,663 ratings
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85

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3.87 avg rating — 591 ratings
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85

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4.21 avg rating — 68 ratings
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85

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4.26 avg rating — 1,451 ratings
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85

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3.93 avg rating — 55,473 ratings
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85

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3.95 avg rating — 13,257 ratings
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85

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4.31 avg rating — 680 ratings
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85

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4.18 avg rating — 14,552 ratings
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85

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4.16 avg rating — 44 ratings
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85

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4.60 avg rating — 5 ratings
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85

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4.13 avg rating — 40,060 ratings
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85

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4.21 avg rating — 92,073 ratings
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99

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3.92 avg rating — 9,606 ratings
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99

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4.27 avg rating — 362 ratings
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151 books · 221 voters · list created May 6th, 2012 by Emil Karajić (votes) .
45 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Emil 392 books
33 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads 3388 books
851 friends
Bettie 15685 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)

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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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