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 — 686,411 ratings
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2

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4.52 avg rating — 1,093,413 ratings
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3

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4.41 avg rating — 3,181,904 ratings
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4

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4.45 avg rating — 2,757,872 ratings
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5

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4.19 avg rating — 599,214 ratings
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6

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4.49 avg rating — 1,005,508 ratings
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7

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4.30 avg rating — 4,501,635 ratings
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8

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4.29 avg rating — 1,648,233 ratings
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9

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4.19 avg rating — 411,185 ratings
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10

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3.94 avg rating — 139,696 ratings
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11

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4.23 avg rating — 77,912 ratings
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12

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4.41 avg rating — 92,659 ratings
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13

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4.16 avg rating — 355,365 ratings
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14

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4.29 avg rating — 287,166 ratings
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15

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4.54 avg rating — 735,969 ratings
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16

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4.12 avg rating — 254,231 ratings
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17

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4.01 avg rating — 123,167 ratings
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18

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4.30 avg rating — 346,862 ratings
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19

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4.54 avg rating — 11,873 ratings
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20

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4.13 avg rating — 114,151 ratings
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21

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4.17 avg rating — 103,598 ratings
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22

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4.16 avg rating — 111,994 ratings
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23

by
3.83 avg rating — 124,371 ratings
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24

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3.77 avg rating — 102,127 ratings
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25

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4.23 avg rating — 132,695 ratings
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26

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3.84 avg rating — 1,208,111 ratings
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27

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4.09 avg rating — 41,132 ratings
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28

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4.26 avg rating — 99,857 ratings
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29

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4.01 avg rating — 365,430 ratings
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30

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3.97 avg rating — 1,954,234 ratings
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31

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4.24 avg rating — 107,400 ratings
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32

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4.14 avg rating — 422,470 ratings
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33

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3.97 avg rating — 78,450 ratings
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34

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4.26 avg rating — 36,027 ratings
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35

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4.07 avg rating — 113,052 ratings
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36

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4.22 avg rating — 318,911 ratings
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37

by
4.24 avg rating — 27,093 ratings
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38

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4.39 avg rating — 107,978 ratings
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39

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3.97 avg rating — 29,953 ratings
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40

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4.38 avg rating — 121 ratings
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41

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3.72 avg rating — 50,080 ratings
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42

by
4.04 avg rating — 61,158 ratings
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43

by
4.83 avg rating — 54 ratings
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44

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3.82 avg rating — 18,220 ratings
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45

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4.12 avg rating — 13,760 ratings
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46

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3.97 avg rating — 75,273 ratings
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47

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3.96 avg rating — 55,363 ratings
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48

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4.10 avg rating — 76,605 ratings
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49

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3.98 avg rating — 36,606 ratings
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49

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4.58 avg rating — 163,492 ratings
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51

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4.11 avg rating — 55,886 ratings
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52

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4.24 avg rating — 132,241 ratings
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53

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4.28 avg rating — 327,332 ratings
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54

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3.98 avg rating — 5,678 ratings
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54

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4.18 avg rating — 60,568 ratings
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56

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3.87 avg rating — 25,886 ratings
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57

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3.96 avg rating — 7,761 ratings
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58

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4.35 avg rating — 77,914 ratings
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59

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4.07 avg rating — 188,232 ratings
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60

by
4.44 avg rating — 179,024 ratings
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61

by
4.27 avg rating — 359,517 ratings
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62

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3.97 avg rating — 156,534 ratings
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63

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 949 ratings
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64

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4.29 avg rating — 264,120 ratings
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65

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4.48 avg rating — 176,356 ratings
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66

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4.20 avg rating — 213,824 ratings
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67

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3.77 avg rating — 141,729 ratings
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68

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3.88 avg rating — 31,464 ratings
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69

by
4.20 avg rating — 149,856 ratings
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70

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4.30 avg rating — 12,971 ratings
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71

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4.10 avg rating — 19,043 ratings
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72

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4.09 avg rating — 31,819 ratings
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72

by
4.13 avg rating — 64,654 ratings
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74

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3.89 avg rating — 6,829 ratings
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75

by
4.02 avg rating — 29,255 ratings
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76

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4.09 avg rating — 41,745 ratings
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77

by
4.19 avg rating — 295,596 ratings
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78

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4.55 avg rating — 55 ratings
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79

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4.44 avg rating — 10,137 ratings
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80

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4.08 avg rating — 17,712 ratings
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81

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3.78 avg rating — 19,787 ratings
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82

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4.04 avg rating — 989 ratings
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83

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3.91 avg rating — 17,174 ratings
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84

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3.86 avg rating — 16,985 ratings
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85

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4.14 avg rating — 5,514 ratings
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86

by
4.15 avg rating — 177,553 ratings
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87

by
3.23 avg rating — 10,697 ratings
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88

by
4.09 avg rating — 15,559 ratings
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89

by
4.03 avg rating — 27,515 ratings
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89

by
4.08 avg rating — 13,591 ratings
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91

by
4.38 avg rating — 53 ratings
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91

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4.50 avg rating — 10 ratings
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91

by
4.12 avg rating — 59 ratings
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91

by
4.65 avg rating — 20 ratings
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91

by
4.31 avg rating — 88 ratings
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96

by
3.93 avg rating — 45 ratings
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97

by
3.93 avg rating — 30 ratings
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98

by
3.64 avg rating — 1,155 ratings
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98

by
3.81 avg rating — 9,701 ratings
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100

by
3.86 avg rating — 4,196 ratings
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170 books · 419 voters · list created February 18th, 2013 by Andrew Obrigewitsch (votes) .
82 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Andrew 2083 books
604 friends
Mike 851 books
22 friends
Tammie 4830 books
391 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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