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 — 674,908 ratings
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2

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4.52 avg rating — 1,086,249 ratings
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3

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4.41 avg rating — 3,162,981 ratings
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4

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4.45 avg rating — 2,742,348 ratings
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5

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4.19 avg rating — 595,275 ratings
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6

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4.49 avg rating — 983,145 ratings
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7

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4.30 avg rating — 4,469,929 ratings
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8

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4.29 avg rating — 1,634,419 ratings
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9

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4.19 avg rating — 404,244 ratings
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10

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3.93 avg rating — 138,100 ratings
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11

by
4.23 avg rating — 77,383 ratings
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12

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4.41 avg rating — 92,265 ratings
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13

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4.17 avg rating — 350,261 ratings
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14

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4.29 avg rating — 282,123 ratings
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15

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4.54 avg rating — 732,589 ratings
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16

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4.12 avg rating — 253,812 ratings
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17

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4.01 avg rating — 122,871 ratings
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18

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4.30 avg rating — 343,003 ratings
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19

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4.54 avg rating — 11,782 ratings
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20

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4.13 avg rating — 113,772 ratings
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21

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4.17 avg rating — 103,037 ratings
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22

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4.16 avg rating — 111,653 ratings
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23

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3.83 avg rating — 123,787 ratings
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24

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3.77 avg rating — 101,816 ratings
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25

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4.23 avg rating — 132,137 ratings
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26

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3.83 avg rating — 1,197,845 ratings
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27

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4.09 avg rating — 40,935 ratings
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28

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4.26 avg rating — 99,294 ratings
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29

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4.01 avg rating — 362,449 ratings
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30

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3.97 avg rating — 1,945,513 ratings
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31

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4.24 avg rating — 105,601 ratings
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32

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4.14 avg rating — 418,375 ratings
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33

by
3.97 avg rating — 77,962 ratings
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34

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4.26 avg rating — 35,830 ratings
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35

by
4.07 avg rating — 112,273 ratings
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36

by
4.22 avg rating — 313,886 ratings
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37

by
4.24 avg rating — 26,968 ratings
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38

by
4.39 avg rating — 106,811 ratings
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39

by
3.97 avg rating — 29,868 ratings
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40

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4.43 avg rating — 111 ratings
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41

by
3.72 avg rating — 49,945 ratings
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42

by
4.04 avg rating — 60,964 ratings
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43

by
3.82 avg rating — 18,178 ratings
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44

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4.12 avg rating — 13,708 ratings
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45

by
3.97 avg rating — 74,680 ratings
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46

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3.96 avg rating — 54,555 ratings
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47

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4.10 avg rating — 76,518 ratings
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48

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3.98 avg rating — 36,529 ratings
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48

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4.58 avg rating — 162,356 ratings
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50

by
4.11 avg rating — 55,768 ratings
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51

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4.25 avg rating — 131,769 ratings
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52

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4.28 avg rating — 325,209 ratings
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53

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3.97 avg rating — 5,667 ratings
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53

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4.17 avg rating — 58,891 ratings
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55

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3.87 avg rating — 25,833 ratings
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56

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3.96 avg rating — 7,752 ratings
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57

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4.35 avg rating — 76,824 ratings
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58

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4.07 avg rating — 187,012 ratings
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59

by
4.44 avg rating — 177,963 ratings
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60

by
4.27 avg rating — 357,135 ratings
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61

by
3.97 avg rating — 155,426 ratings
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62

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 947 ratings
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63

by
4.29 avg rating — 262,334 ratings
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64

by
4.48 avg rating — 175,266 ratings
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65

by
4.20 avg rating — 212,389 ratings
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66

by
3.77 avg rating — 140,640 ratings
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67

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3.88 avg rating — 31,217 ratings
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68

by
4.20 avg rating — 148,804 ratings
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69

by
4.30 avg rating — 12,905 ratings
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70

by
4.10 avg rating — 18,930 ratings
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71

by
4.09 avg rating — 31,712 ratings
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71

by
4.13 avg rating — 64,186 ratings
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73

by
3.88 avg rating — 6,801 ratings
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74

by
4.02 avg rating — 29,201 ratings
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75

by
4.09 avg rating — 41,661 ratings
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76

by
4.19 avg rating — 290,697 ratings
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77

by
4.55 avg rating — 55 ratings
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78

by
4.44 avg rating — 10,068 ratings
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79

by
4.08 avg rating — 17,692 ratings
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80

by
3.78 avg rating — 19,754 ratings
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81

by
4.03 avg rating — 987 ratings
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82

by
3.91 avg rating — 17,113 ratings
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83

by
3.86 avg rating — 16,948 ratings
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84

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4.14 avg rating — 5,509 ratings
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85

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4.15 avg rating — 177,056 ratings
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86

by
3.23 avg rating — 10,685 ratings
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87

by
4.09 avg rating — 15,534 ratings
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88

by
4.03 avg rating — 27,416 ratings
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88

by
4.08 avg rating — 13,573 ratings
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90

by
4.37 avg rating — 52 ratings
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90

by
4.67 avg rating — 9 ratings
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90

by
4.12 avg rating — 59 ratings
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90

by
4.63 avg rating — 19 ratings
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90

by
4.25 avg rating — 60 ratings
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95

by
3.93 avg rating — 45 ratings
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96

by
3.93 avg rating — 30 ratings
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97

by
3.64 avg rating — 1,154 ratings
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97

by
3.81 avg rating — 9,675 ratings
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99

by
3.85 avg rating — 4,178 ratings
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100

by
3.87 avg rating — 7,651 ratings
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167 books · 411 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 815 books
22 friends
Tammie 4791 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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