,

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 — 695,385 ratings
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2

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4.52 avg rating — 1,099,240 ratings
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3

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4.41 avg rating — 3,194,294 ratings
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4

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4.45 avg rating — 2,770,356 ratings
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5

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4.19 avg rating — 602,461 ratings
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6

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4.49 avg rating — 1,022,599 ratings
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7

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4.30 avg rating — 4,529,701 ratings
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8

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4.29 avg rating — 1,662,451 ratings
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9

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4.19 avg rating — 417,369 ratings
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10

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3.94 avg rating — 140,768 ratings
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11

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4.23 avg rating — 78,311 ratings
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12

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4.41 avg rating — 92,970 ratings
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13

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4.16 avg rating — 359,313 ratings
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14

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4.29 avg rating — 291,263 ratings
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15

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4.54 avg rating — 739,478 ratings
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16

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4.12 avg rating — 254,540 ratings
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17

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4.01 avg rating — 123,400 ratings
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18

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4.30 avg rating — 349,760 ratings
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19

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4.54 avg rating — 11,951 ratings
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20

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4.13 avg rating — 114,419 ratings
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21

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4.17 avg rating — 104,088 ratings
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22

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4.16 avg rating — 112,278 ratings
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23

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3.82 avg rating — 124,862 ratings
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24

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3.77 avg rating — 102,371 ratings
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25

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4.23 avg rating — 133,108 ratings
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26

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3.84 avg rating — 1,216,947 ratings
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27

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4.09 avg rating — 41,273 ratings
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28

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4.26 avg rating — 100,308 ratings
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29

by
4.01 avg rating — 367,927 ratings
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30

by
3.97 avg rating — 1,961,178 ratings
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31

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4.24 avg rating — 109,093 ratings
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32

by
4.14 avg rating — 425,450 ratings
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33

by
3.97 avg rating — 78,850 ratings
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34

by
4.26 avg rating — 36,169 ratings
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35

by
4.07 avg rating — 113,647 ratings
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36

by
4.22 avg rating — 322,712 ratings
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37

by
4.24 avg rating — 27,191 ratings
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38

by
4.40 avg rating — 109,056 ratings
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39

by
3.97 avg rating — 30,019 ratings
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40

by
4.37 avg rating — 123 ratings
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41

by
3.71 avg rating — 50,177 ratings
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42

by
4.04 avg rating — 61,334 ratings
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43

by
4.83 avg rating — 59 ratings
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44

by
3.82 avg rating — 18,245 ratings
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45

by
4.12 avg rating — 13,798 ratings
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46

by
3.97 avg rating — 75,755 ratings
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47

by
3.96 avg rating — 56,009 ratings
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48

by
4.10 avg rating — 76,636 ratings
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49

by
3.98 avg rating — 36,681 ratings
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49

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4.58 avg rating — 164,421 ratings
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51

by
4.11 avg rating — 55,972 ratings
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52

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4.25 avg rating — 132,649 ratings
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53

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4.28 avg rating — 328,929 ratings
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54

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3.98 avg rating — 5,687 ratings
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54

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4.18 avg rating — 61,967 ratings
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56

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3.87 avg rating — 25,924 ratings
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57

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3.96 avg rating — 7,788 ratings
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58

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4.35 avg rating — 78,770 ratings
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59

by
4.07 avg rating — 189,264 ratings
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60

by
4.44 avg rating — 179,971 ratings
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61

by
4.27 avg rating — 361,314 ratings
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62

by
3.97 avg rating — 157,440 ratings
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63

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 952 ratings
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64

by
4.29 avg rating — 265,531 ratings
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65

by
4.48 avg rating — 177,309 ratings
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66

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4.20 avg rating — 215,004 ratings
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67

by
3.77 avg rating — 142,605 ratings
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68

by
3.88 avg rating — 31,628 ratings
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69

by
4.20 avg rating — 150,698 ratings
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70

by
4.30 avg rating — 13,024 ratings
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71

by
4.10 avg rating — 19,101 ratings
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72

by
4.09 avg rating — 31,883 ratings
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72

by
4.13 avg rating — 64,975 ratings
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74

by
3.89 avg rating — 6,852 ratings
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75

by
4.02 avg rating — 29,288 ratings
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76

by
4.09 avg rating — 41,800 ratings
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77

by
4.19 avg rating — 299,538 ratings
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78

by
4.55 avg rating — 55 ratings
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79

by
4.44 avg rating — 10,190 ratings
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80

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4.08 avg rating — 17,736 ratings
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81

by
3.78 avg rating — 19,817 ratings
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82

by
4.04 avg rating — 993 ratings
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83

by
3.91 avg rating — 17,220 ratings
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84

by
3.86 avg rating — 17,007 ratings
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85

by
4.14 avg rating — 5,525 ratings
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86

by
4.15 avg rating — 177,930 ratings
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87

by
3.23 avg rating — 10,710 ratings
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88

by
4.09 avg rating — 15,576 ratings
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89

by
4.03 avg rating — 27,578 ratings
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89

by
4.08 avg rating — 13,608 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
4.29 avg rating — 90 ratings
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91

by
4.50 avg rating — 14 ratings
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97

by
3.91 avg rating — 46 ratings
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98

by
3.93 avg rating — 30 ratings
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99

by
3.64 avg rating — 1,157 ratings
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99

by
3.81 avg rating — 9,733 ratings
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171 books · 420 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 893 books
21 friends
Tammie 4856 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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