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 — 659,798 ratings
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2

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4.52 avg rating — 1,074,723 ratings
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3

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4.41 avg rating — 3,125,174 ratings
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4

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4.45 avg rating — 2,719,030 ratings
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5

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4.19 avg rating — 589,064 ratings
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6

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4.49 avg rating — 955,479 ratings
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7

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4.30 avg rating — 4,428,380 ratings
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8

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4.29 avg rating — 1,614,205 ratings
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9

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3.93 avg rating — 136,133 ratings
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10

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4.19 avg rating — 395,540 ratings
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11

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4.17 avg rating — 343,745 ratings
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12

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4.23 avg rating — 76,720 ratings
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13

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4.41 avg rating — 91,807 ratings
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14

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4.29 avg rating — 275,697 ratings
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15

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4.54 avg rating — 727,594 ratings
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16

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4.01 avg rating — 122,479 ratings
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17

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4.12 avg rating — 253,265 ratings
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18

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4.30 avg rating — 338,379 ratings
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19

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4.54 avg rating — 11,651 ratings
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20

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4.13 avg rating — 113,341 ratings
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21

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4.16 avg rating — 111,208 ratings
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22

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4.17 avg rating — 102,321 ratings
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23

by
3.83 avg rating — 122,999 ratings
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24

by
3.77 avg rating — 101,399 ratings
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25

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4.23 avg rating — 131,465 ratings
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26

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3.83 avg rating — 1,183,228 ratings
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27

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4.26 avg rating — 98,559 ratings
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28

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4.09 avg rating — 40,733 ratings
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29

by
4.01 avg rating — 358,444 ratings
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30

by
3.96 avg rating — 1,930,683 ratings
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31

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4.14 avg rating — 412,132 ratings
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32

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3.97 avg rating — 77,440 ratings
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33

by
4.26 avg rating — 35,589 ratings
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34

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4.24 avg rating — 103,591 ratings
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35

by
4.07 avg rating — 111,393 ratings
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36

by
4.22 avg rating — 307,708 ratings
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37

by
4.24 avg rating — 26,826 ratings
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38

by
3.97 avg rating — 29,759 ratings
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39

by
3.72 avg rating — 49,803 ratings
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40

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4.39 avg rating — 105,474 ratings
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41

by
4.05 avg rating — 60,684 ratings
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42

by
4.73 avg rating — 73 ratings
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43

by
3.82 avg rating — 18,152 ratings
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44

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3.97 avg rating — 73,920 ratings
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45

by
3.96 avg rating — 53,686 ratings
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46

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4.10 avg rating — 76,426 ratings
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47

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3.98 avg rating — 36,439 ratings
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48

by
4.11 avg rating — 55,629 ratings
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49

by
4.25 avg rating — 131,182 ratings
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50

by
4.17 avg rating — 57,010 ratings
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51

by
3.87 avg rating — 25,755 ratings
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52

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3.96 avg rating — 7,730 ratings
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53

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4.12 avg rating — 13,653 ratings
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54

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4.58 avg rating — 160,844 ratings
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55

by
4.35 avg rating — 75,552 ratings
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56

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4.28 avg rating — 322,439 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 — 30,945 ratings
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59

by
3.97 avg rating — 5,652 ratings
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60

by
4.30 avg rating — 12,826 ratings
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61

by
4.10 avg rating — 18,859 ratings
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62

by
4.09 avg rating — 31,578 ratings
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62

by
4.13 avg rating — 63,668 ratings
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64

by
4.07 avg rating — 185,382 ratings
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65

by
3.88 avg rating — 6,768 ratings
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66

by
4.02 avg rating — 29,151 ratings
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67

by
4.44 avg rating — 176,543 ratings
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68

by
4.09 avg rating — 41,558 ratings
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69

by
4.27 avg rating — 354,042 ratings
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70

by
3.97 avg rating — 153,979 ratings
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71

by
4.19 avg rating — 284,451 ratings
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72

by
4.28 avg rating — 260,070 ratings
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72

by
4.48 avg rating — 173,872 ratings
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74

by
4.20 avg rating — 210,474 ratings
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75

by
3.77 avg rating — 139,300 ratings
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76

by
4.20 avg rating — 147,486 ratings
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77

by
4.55 avg rating — 55 ratings
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78

by
4.44 avg rating — 10,006 ratings
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79

by
4.08 avg rating — 17,654 ratings
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80

by
3.78 avg rating — 19,728 ratings
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81

by
4.03 avg rating — 982 ratings
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82

by
3.91 avg rating — 17,022 ratings
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83

by
3.86 avg rating — 16,920 ratings
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84

by
4.15 avg rating — 176,395 ratings
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85

by
3.23 avg rating — 10,672 ratings
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86

by
4.09 avg rating — 15,497 ratings
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87

by
4.03 avg rating — 27,269 ratings
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87

by
4.08 avg rating — 13,547 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
4.50 avg rating — 14 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 — 9,647 ratings
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98

by
3.85 avg rating — 4,154 ratings
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99

by
3.87 avg rating — 7,590 ratings
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99

by
3.89 avg rating — 4,140 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
605 friends
Mike 815 books
22 friends
Tammie 4752 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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