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 — 692,085 ratings
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2

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4.52 avg rating — 1,097,042 ratings
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3

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4.41 avg rating — 3,189,473 ratings
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4

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4.45 avg rating — 2,765,705 ratings
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5

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4.19 avg rating — 601,207 ratings
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6

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4.49 avg rating — 1,016,258 ratings
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7

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4.30 avg rating — 4,519,145 ratings
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8

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4.29 avg rating — 1,656,887 ratings
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9

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4.19 avg rating — 414,944 ratings
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10

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3.94 avg rating — 140,376 ratings
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11

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4.23 avg rating — 78,156 ratings
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12

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4.41 avg rating — 92,872 ratings
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13

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4.16 avg rating — 357,782 ratings
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14

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4.29 avg rating — 289,745 ratings
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15

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4.54 avg rating — 738,177 ratings
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16

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4.12 avg rating — 254,406 ratings
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17

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4.01 avg rating — 123,315 ratings
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18

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4.30 avg rating — 348,709 ratings
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19

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4.54 avg rating — 11,925 ratings
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20

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4.13 avg rating — 114,324 ratings
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21

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4.17 avg rating — 103,895 ratings
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22

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4.16 avg rating — 112,178 ratings
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23

by
3.82 avg rating — 124,662 ratings
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24

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3.77 avg rating — 102,261 ratings
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25

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4.23 avg rating — 132,958 ratings
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26

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3.84 avg rating — 1,213,490 ratings
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27

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4.09 avg rating — 41,211 ratings
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28

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4.26 avg rating — 100,137 ratings
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29

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4.01 avg rating — 366,989 ratings
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30

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3.97 avg rating — 1,958,499 ratings
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31

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4.24 avg rating — 108,421 ratings
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32

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4.14 avg rating — 424,369 ratings
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33

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3.97 avg rating — 78,703 ratings
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34

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4.26 avg rating — 36,105 ratings
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35

by
4.07 avg rating — 113,412 ratings
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36

by
4.22 avg rating — 321,284 ratings
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37

by
4.24 avg rating — 27,156 ratings
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38

by
4.40 avg rating — 108,624 ratings
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39

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3.97 avg rating — 29,995 ratings
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40

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4.37 avg rating — 122 ratings
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41

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3.71 avg rating — 50,137 ratings
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42

by
4.04 avg rating — 61,269 ratings
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43

by
4.82 avg rating — 56 ratings
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44

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3.82 avg rating — 18,232 ratings
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45

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4.12 avg rating — 13,772 ratings
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46

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3.97 avg rating — 75,590 ratings
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47

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3.96 avg rating — 55,767 ratings
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48

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4.10 avg rating — 76,622 ratings
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49

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3.98 avg rating — 36,657 ratings
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49

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4.58 avg rating — 164,065 ratings
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51

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4.11 avg rating — 55,946 ratings
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52

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4.25 avg rating — 132,475 ratings
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53

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4.28 avg rating — 328,280 ratings
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54

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3.98 avg rating — 5,684 ratings
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54

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4.18 avg rating — 61,467 ratings
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56

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3.87 avg rating — 25,909 ratings
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57

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3.96 avg rating — 7,780 ratings
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58

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4.35 avg rating — 78,449 ratings
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59

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4.07 avg rating — 188,863 ratings
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60

by
4.44 avg rating — 179,607 ratings
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61

by
4.27 avg rating — 360,595 ratings
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62

by
3.97 avg rating — 157,096 ratings
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63

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 951 ratings
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64

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4.29 avg rating — 264,974 ratings
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65

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4.48 avg rating — 176,964 ratings
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66

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4.20 avg rating — 214,550 ratings
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67

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3.77 avg rating — 142,259 ratings
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68

by
3.88 avg rating — 31,561 ratings
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69

by
4.20 avg rating — 150,369 ratings
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70

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4.30 avg rating — 12,997 ratings
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71

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4.10 avg rating — 19,078 ratings
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72

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4.09 avg rating — 31,860 ratings
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72

by
4.13 avg rating — 64,848 ratings
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74

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3.89 avg rating — 6,845 ratings
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75

by
4.02 avg rating — 29,276 ratings
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76

by
4.09 avg rating — 41,777 ratings
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77

by
4.19 avg rating — 297,992 ratings
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78

by
4.55 avg rating — 55 ratings
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79

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4.44 avg rating — 10,164 ratings
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80

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4.08 avg rating — 17,728 ratings
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81

by
3.78 avg rating — 19,807 ratings
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82

by
4.04 avg rating — 992 ratings
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83

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3.91 avg rating — 17,199 ratings
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84

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3.86 avg rating — 17,003 ratings
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85

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4.14 avg rating — 5,522 ratings
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86

by
4.15 avg rating — 177,773 ratings
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87

by
3.23 avg rating — 10,703 ratings
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88

by
4.09 avg rating — 15,568 ratings
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89

by
4.03 avg rating — 27,548 ratings
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89

by
4.08 avg rating — 13,605 ratings
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91

by
4.38 avg rating — 53 ratings
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91

by
4.50 avg rating — 10 ratings
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91

by
4.13 avg rating — 60 ratings
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91

by
4.65 avg rating — 20 ratings
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91

by
4.28 avg rating — 89 ratings
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96

by
3.91 avg rating — 46 ratings
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97

by
3.93 avg rating — 30 ratings
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98

by
3.64 avg rating — 1,156 ratings
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98

by
3.81 avg rating — 9,723 ratings
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100

by
3.86 avg rating — 4,210 ratings
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170 books · 418 voters · list created February 18th, 2013 by Andrew Obrigewitsch (votes) .
82 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Andrew 2061 books
604 friends
Mike 875 books
21 friends
Tammie 4842 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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