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 — 665,480 ratings
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2

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4.52 avg rating — 1,079,161 ratings
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3

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4.41 avg rating — 3,140,734 ratings
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4

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4.45 avg rating — 2,728,575 ratings
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5

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4.19 avg rating — 591,392 ratings
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6

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4.49 avg rating — 965,305 ratings
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7

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4.30 avg rating — 4,444,713 ratings
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8

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4.29 avg rating — 1,621,865 ratings
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9

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4.19 avg rating — 398,337 ratings
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10

by
3.93 avg rating — 136,726 ratings
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11

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4.17 avg rating — 345,914 ratings
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12

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4.23 avg rating — 76,948 ratings
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13

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4.41 avg rating — 91,981 ratings
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14

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4.29 avg rating — 277,975 ratings
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15

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4.54 avg rating — 729,571 ratings
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16

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4.12 avg rating — 253,470 ratings
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17

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4.01 avg rating — 122,631 ratings
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18

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4.30 avg rating — 339,883 ratings
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19

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4.53 avg rating — 11,703 ratings
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20

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4.13 avg rating — 113,491 ratings
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21

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4.17 avg rating — 102,566 ratings
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22

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4.16 avg rating — 111,366 ratings
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23

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3.83 avg rating — 123,232 ratings
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24

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3.77 avg rating — 101,550 ratings
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25

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4.23 avg rating — 131,725 ratings
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26

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3.83 avg rating — 1,189,032 ratings
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27

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4.09 avg rating — 40,808 ratings
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28

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4.26 avg rating — 98,819 ratings
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29

by
4.01 avg rating — 359,868 ratings
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30

by
3.96 avg rating — 1,936,850 ratings
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31

by
4.24 avg rating — 104,259 ratings
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32

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4.14 avg rating — 414,402 ratings
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33

by
3.97 avg rating — 77,624 ratings
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34

by
4.26 avg rating — 35,680 ratings
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35

by
4.07 avg rating — 111,709 ratings
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36

by
4.22 avg rating — 309,784 ratings
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37

by
4.24 avg rating — 26,867 ratings
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38

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4.39 avg rating — 105,900 ratings
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39

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3.97 avg rating — 29,786 ratings
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40

by
4.66 avg rating — 82 ratings
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41

by
3.72 avg rating — 49,862 ratings
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42

by
4.04 avg rating — 60,780 ratings
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43

by
3.82 avg rating — 18,161 ratings
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44

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4.12 avg rating — 13,673 ratings
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45

by
3.97 avg rating — 74,195 ratings
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46

by
3.96 avg rating — 53,971 ratings
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47

by
4.10 avg rating — 76,457 ratings
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48

by
3.98 avg rating — 36,473 ratings
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48

by
4.58 avg rating — 161,412 ratings
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50

by
4.11 avg rating — 55,685 ratings
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51

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4.25 avg rating — 131,372 ratings
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52

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4.28 avg rating — 323,403 ratings
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53

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3.97 avg rating — 5,658 ratings
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53

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4.17 avg rating — 57,576 ratings
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55

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3.87 avg rating — 25,773 ratings
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56

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3.96 avg rating — 7,740 ratings
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57

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4.35 avg rating — 75,989 ratings
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58

by
4.07 avg rating — 185,965 ratings
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59

by
4.44 avg rating — 177,075 ratings
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60

by
4.27 avg rating — 355,150 ratings
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61

by
3.97 avg rating — 154,495 ratings
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62

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 942 ratings
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63

by
4.28 avg rating — 260,902 ratings
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64

by
4.48 avg rating — 174,355 ratings
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65

by
4.20 avg rating — 211,185 ratings
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66

by
3.77 avg rating — 139,776 ratings
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67

by
3.88 avg rating — 31,023 ratings
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68

by
4.20 avg rating — 147,978 ratings
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69

by
4.30 avg rating — 12,858 ratings
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70

by
4.10 avg rating — 18,880 ratings
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71

by
4.09 avg rating — 31,633 ratings
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71

by
4.13 avg rating — 63,859 ratings
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73

by
3.88 avg rating — 6,782 ratings
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74

by
4.02 avg rating — 29,165 ratings
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75

by
4.09 avg rating — 41,598 ratings
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76

by
4.19 avg rating — 286,673 ratings
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77

by
4.55 avg rating — 55 ratings
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78

by
4.44 avg rating — 10,018 ratings
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79

by
4.08 avg rating — 17,670 ratings
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80

by
3.78 avg rating — 19,735 ratings
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81

by
4.03 avg rating — 982 ratings
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82

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3.91 avg rating — 17,058 ratings
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83

by
3.86 avg rating — 16,933 ratings
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84

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4.14 avg rating — 5,502 ratings
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85

by
4.15 avg rating — 176,612 ratings
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86

by
3.23 avg rating — 10,676 ratings
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87

by
4.09 avg rating — 15,505 ratings
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88

by
4.03 avg rating — 27,328 ratings
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88

by
4.08 avg rating — 13,556 ratings
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90

by
4.35 avg rating — 51 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
4.71 avg rating — 17 ratings
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90

by
4.38 avg rating — 29 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 — 9,657 ratings
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99

by
3.85 avg rating — 4,162 ratings
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100

by
3.87 avg rating — 7,615 ratings
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166 books · 411 voters · list created February 18th, 2013 by Andrew Obrigewitsch (votes) .
82 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Andrew 2082 books
604 friends
Mike 815 books
22 friends
Tammie 4775 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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