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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 — 736,905 ratings
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2

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4.52 avg rating — 1,126,599 ratings
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3

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4.41 avg rating — 3,254,569 ratings
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4

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4.45 avg rating — 2,834,073 ratings
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5

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4.19 avg rating — 617,456 ratings
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6

by
4.48 avg rating — 1,100,847 ratings
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7

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4.23 avg rating — 80,721 ratings
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8

by
4.30 avg rating — 4,666,400 ratings
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9

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4.33 avg rating — 5,205 ratings
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10

by
4.29 avg rating — 1,726,816 ratings
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11

by
4.20 avg rating — 458,855 ratings
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12

by
3.94 avg rating — 146,056 ratings
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13

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4.15 avg rating — 39,155 ratings
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14

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3.91 avg rating — 14,003 ratings
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15

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4.14 avg rating — 106,069 ratings
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16

by
4.02 avg rating — 19,534 ratings
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17

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4.32 avg rating — 37,015 ratings
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18

by
4.18 avg rating — 70,614 ratings
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19

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4.27 avg rating — 6,073 ratings
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20

by
4.17 avg rating — 38,513 ratings
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21

by
3.93 avg rating — 11,354 ratings
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22

by
4.41 avg rating — 94,445 ratings
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23

by
4.16 avg rating — 377,787 ratings
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24

by
4.02 avg rating — 5,736 ratings
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25

by
4.29 avg rating — 309,799 ratings
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26

by
3.97 avg rating — 9,249 ratings
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27

by
4.55 avg rating — 753,349 ratings
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28

by
3.93 avg rating — 28,167 ratings
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29

by
4.12 avg rating — 256,001 ratings
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30

by
4.01 avg rating — 124,500 ratings
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31

by
4.30 avg rating — 363,371 ratings
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32

by
4.54 avg rating — 12,406 ratings
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33

by
4.13 avg rating — 115,753 ratings
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34

by
4.16 avg rating — 106,462 ratings
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35

by
4.16 avg rating — 113,560 ratings
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36

by
3.82 avg rating — 127,264 ratings
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37

by
3.77 avg rating — 103,593 ratings
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38

by
4.22 avg rating — 135,102 ratings
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39

by
3.86 avg rating — 1,301,497 ratings
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40

by
4.09 avg rating — 41,826 ratings
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41

by
4.26 avg rating — 102,291 ratings
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42

by
4.01 avg rating — 380,364 ratings
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43

by
3.97 avg rating — 1,995,280 ratings
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44

by
4.25 avg rating — 118,701 ratings
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45

by
4.14 avg rating — 440,778 ratings
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46

by
3.98 avg rating — 80,859 ratings
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47

by
4.26 avg rating — 37,052 ratings
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48

by
4.07 avg rating — 116,349 ratings
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49

by
4.22 avg rating — 341,800 ratings
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50

by
4.24 avg rating — 27,620 ratings
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51

by
4.41 avg rating — 115,047 ratings
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52

by
3.98 avg rating — 30,369 ratings
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53

by
4.22 avg rating — 150 ratings
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54

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3.71 avg rating — 50,672 ratings
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55

by
4.04 avg rating — 62,202 ratings
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56

by
4.65 avg rating — 116 ratings
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57

by
3.82 avg rating — 18,385 ratings
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58

by
4.12 avg rating — 14,055 ratings
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59

by
3.97 avg rating — 78,052 ratings
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60

by
3.96 avg rating — 59,884 ratings
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61

by
4.10 avg rating — 76,938 ratings
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62

by
3.98 avg rating — 36,940 ratings
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62

by
4.59 avg rating — 168,637 ratings
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64

by
4.11 avg rating — 56,376 ratings
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65

by
4.24 avg rating — 134,686 ratings
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66

by
4.28 avg rating — 336,135 ratings
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67

by
3.98 avg rating — 5,746 ratings
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68

by
3.87 avg rating — 26,165 ratings
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69

by
3.96 avg rating — 7,902 ratings
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70

by
4.35 avg rating — 83,092 ratings
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71

by
4.07 avg rating — 193,965 ratings
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72

by
4.44 avg rating — 184,105 ratings
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73

by
4.27 avg rating — 369,271 ratings
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74

by
3.97 avg rating — 161,568 ratings
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75

by
3.99 avg rating — 958 ratings
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76

by
4.29 avg rating — 271,826 ratings
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77

by
4.49 avg rating — 181,425 ratings
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78

by
4.20 avg rating — 220,342 ratings
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79

by
3.76 avg rating — 146,523 ratings
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80

by
3.88 avg rating — 32,594 ratings
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81

by
4.21 avg rating — 154,626 ratings
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82

by
4.31 avg rating — 13,291 ratings
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83

by
4.09 avg rating — 19,437 ratings
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84

by
4.09 avg rating — 32,347 ratings
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84

by
4.13 avg rating — 66,582 ratings
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86

by
3.89 avg rating — 6,946 ratings
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87

by
4.02 avg rating — 29,444 ratings
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88

by
4.09 avg rating — 42,120 ratings
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89

by
4.19 avg rating — 318,219 ratings
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90

by
4.55 avg rating — 55 ratings
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90

by
4.53 avg rating — 162 ratings
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92

by
4.43 avg rating — 10,346 ratings
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93

by
4.09 avg rating — 17,845 ratings
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94

by
3.78 avg rating — 19,981 ratings
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95

by
4.04 avg rating — 1,008 ratings
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96

by
3.91 avg rating — 17,461 ratings
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97

by
3.86 avg rating — 17,103 ratings
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98

by
4.14 avg rating — 5,576 ratings
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99

by
4.15 avg rating — 179,717 ratings
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100

by
4.24 avg rating — 3,244,804 ratings
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191 books · 482 voters · list created February 18th, 2013 by Andrew Obrigewitsch (votes) .
83 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Andrew 2070 books
602 friends
Mike 979 books
21 friends
Tammie 4955 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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