,

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 — 692,537 ratings
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2

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4.52 avg rating — 1,097,366 ratings
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3

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4.41 avg rating — 3,190,158 ratings
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4

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4.45 avg rating — 2,766,357 ratings
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5

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4.19 avg rating — 601,365 ratings
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6

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4.49 avg rating — 1,017,202 ratings
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7

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4.30 avg rating — 4,520,583 ratings
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8

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4.29 avg rating — 1,657,653 ratings
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9

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4.19 avg rating — 415,279 ratings
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10

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3.94 avg rating — 140,432 ratings
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11

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4.23 avg rating — 78,173 ratings
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12

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4.41 avg rating — 92,881 ratings
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13

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4.16 avg rating — 358,015 ratings
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14

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4.29 avg rating — 289,966 ratings
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15

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4.54 avg rating — 738,390 ratings
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16

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4.12 avg rating — 254,427 ratings
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17

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4.01 avg rating — 123,322 ratings
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18

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4.30 avg rating — 348,865 ratings
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19

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4.54 avg rating — 11,929 ratings
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20

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4.13 avg rating — 114,337 ratings
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21

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4.17 avg rating — 103,923 ratings
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22

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4.16 avg rating — 112,191 ratings
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23

by
3.82 avg rating — 124,694 ratings
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24

by
3.77 avg rating — 102,272 ratings
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25

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4.23 avg rating — 132,984 ratings
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26

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3.84 avg rating — 1,213,930 ratings
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27

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4.09 avg rating — 41,224 ratings
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28

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4.26 avg rating — 100,158 ratings
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29

by
4.01 avg rating — 367,120 ratings
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30

by
3.97 avg rating — 1,958,864 ratings
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31

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4.24 avg rating — 108,534 ratings
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32

by
4.14 avg rating — 424,525 ratings
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33

by
3.97 avg rating — 78,718 ratings
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34

by
4.26 avg rating — 36,115 ratings
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35

by
4.07 avg rating — 113,448 ratings
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36

by
4.22 avg rating — 321,476 ratings
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37

by
4.24 avg rating — 27,162 ratings
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38

by
4.40 avg rating — 108,674 ratings
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39

by
3.97 avg rating — 29,994 ratings
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40

by
4.37 avg rating — 122 ratings
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41

by
3.71 avg rating — 50,144 ratings
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42

by
4.04 avg rating — 61,275 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 — 18,233 ratings
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45

by
4.12 avg rating — 13,777 ratings
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46

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3.97 avg rating — 75,609 ratings
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47

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3.96 avg rating — 55,795 ratings
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48

by
4.10 avg rating — 76,624 ratings
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49

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3.98 avg rating — 36,663 ratings
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49

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4.58 avg rating — 164,120 ratings
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51

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4.11 avg rating — 55,951 ratings
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52

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4.25 avg rating — 132,500 ratings
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53

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4.28 avg rating — 328,375 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 — 61,534 ratings
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56

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3.87 avg rating — 25,911 ratings
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57

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3.96 avg rating — 7,781 ratings
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58

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4.35 avg rating — 78,493 ratings
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59

by
4.07 avg rating — 188,914 ratings
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60

by
4.44 avg rating — 179,658 ratings
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61

by
4.27 avg rating — 360,702 ratings
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62

by
3.97 avg rating — 157,144 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 — 265,053 ratings
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65

by
4.48 avg rating — 177,001 ratings
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66

by
4.20 avg rating — 214,614 ratings
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67

by
3.77 avg rating — 142,297 ratings
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68

by
3.88 avg rating — 31,566 ratings
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69

by
4.20 avg rating — 150,419 ratings
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70

by
4.30 avg rating — 12,999 ratings
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71

by
4.10 avg rating — 19,081 ratings
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72

by
4.09 avg rating — 31,867 ratings
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72

by
4.13 avg rating — 64,870 ratings
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74

by
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 — 41,782 ratings
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77

by
4.19 avg rating — 298,202 ratings
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78

by
4.55 avg rating — 55 ratings
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79

by
4.44 avg rating — 10,170 ratings
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80

by
4.08 avg rating — 17,729 ratings
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81

by
3.78 avg rating — 19,808 ratings
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82

by
4.04 avg rating — 992 ratings
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83

by
3.91 avg rating — 17,199 ratings
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84

by
3.86 avg rating — 17,002 ratings
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85

by
4.14 avg rating — 5,523 ratings
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86

by
4.15 avg rating — 177,794 ratings
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87

by
3.23 avg rating — 10,705 ratings
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88

by
4.09 avg rating — 15,567 ratings
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89

by
4.03 avg rating — 27,553 ratings
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89

by
4.08 avg rating — 13,606 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 — 9,724 ratings
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100

by
3.86 avg rating — 4,211 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 877 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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