other series as epic (or close ) as WoT

[NetSlider]

The Song of Ice and Fire is kind of the dark horse when it comes to books I've read. A billion people told me to read Enders Game. It was ok. Then my girl friend lent me this series that I had never heard of. Wow so good. SO DIRTY. It's like jerry springer meets the game of houses. Can't say enough about it. I just hope it get finished before the Author pulls a RJ.

 

I have to say that Ender does loose its appeal starting with Speaker for the Dead. You should really give Ender's Shadow and other books following Bean a try, especially if you like intrigues and "the game of houses." Just put it this way, the last book about Bean was the ONLY book that ever made me tear up!

I personally do not like Orson Scott Card that much (other works are just too...christian) and his social views are something I do not share, yet all this being said, Bean by far one of the best and most complex characters ever created. IMO, of course...:)

[Locke]

Personally, I love all of Dekker's books.  The 4th book in the series...well, it was crazy. :D

 

 

[mb]

Personally, I love all of Dekker's books.  The 4th book in the series...well, it was crazy. :D

I guess you mean Green of the Circle series.

Had not read it yet; though I read about it from Wikipedia some time back.  I can see someone considering the book as crazy; though it seems to be a good kind of crazy to me.

 

[Locke]

Yup that one.  The book is also tied to the Showdown series and Lost Books series.

[mb]

The book is also tied to the Showdown series and Lost Books series.

I knew about both for some time.  That former one, both Barnes & Noble and Wikipedia identify the series as Paradise; Showdown is just the first.

 

[Locke]

Yeah, Paradise, the series is called.  I THINK Dekker is making a 4th book to that series, but that's just based on what I've gathered from reading his books.

[seasnake]

Lord of the Rings is still the best, include Hobbit and Silmarillion and Lost Tales and you'll get the most epic fantasy experience out there.

 

Then, read "The Name of the Wind" the first series in the Kingkiller Chronicle.  I read that for the first time, it is now my second favorite fantasy book of all time.  (LOTR wins with sentimental value).  If someone offered my a preview of Wise Man's Fear, the next book in that series, I'd take it over Towers of Midnight any day.  Caveat, it's been a while, he's really taking his time to finish, but the finished product

 

Stop by www.jim-butcher.com and look at his two series, Harry Dresden and Codex Alera.  Great reads, each book feels like a complete story but manages to build towards a strong over-arching story.  Dresden is set in our world and manages to integrate magic and modern day really well.  Codex Alera is a ton of fun and has a wonderfully realized world.

 

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling. 

 

Chronicles of Prydain are wonderful books aimed at a younger audience, but it has one of the best versions of the hero epic I've ever read.  Quick read, but fun re-read so it works out great.

 

Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis are pretty good, very thoughtful.  A lot of people don't like the religious overtones and allegories, but because I happen to agree with those philosophies it feels pretty good to me.  That one can go either way, depends a lot on your personal views.

 

Percy Jackson is funny and interesting (the movie is garbage).  The books also get better and better, so get some real great material in the last two. 

 

Mistborn trilogy is good, but really looking forward to The Way of Kings.  That could be incredible.

 

Finally don't forget Discworld:  Read them by storyline, I think that's best.  Read all of the City Watch books, then read the wizard books, then read Moist Von Lipwig, etc.  Funniest fantasy series ever.  It's often compared to Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy but it is so much better.

 

I can't recommend four series even though they are well-written and mostly well done ... A song of ice and fire by George R.R. Martin, The Dark Tower by Steven King, The Wicked Years by Gregory Macguire, and His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman.  I admit they are well written and intriguing with lots of originality.  But some of their message and content, and some of the extreme crudeness in the first two, that occurs in these series just isn't to my taste.  People say it is "adult" material but I believe it is "disgusting" material and there is no maturity in being foul.  That is merely my opinion on the content, nothing more.

 

I say avoid Eragon by Christopher Paolini and Shannara by Terry Brooks.  Not good enough to merit the time invested in those series.  The Enderverse by Orson Scott Card is really hit or miss with me, some books I really liked and others I really didn't.  Parts of it were pretty great.

 

That's my opinions on the OP question.  Thanks for reading.

 

P.S.  If anyone has any recommendations based on my choices of books, I'd be interested in hearing them.  I'm picking up the Belgariad in a few days or so, but I read pretty quick and have some vacation coming up in a month or so.  Thanks in advance.

 

SS

[mb]

seasnake, I recall a number of your recommendations being recommended before in this thread; some of them by multiple people (including myself).

 

 

Lost Tales, those are the first 2 books of the Histories of Middle-Earth.

books 1 through 5 are chronologically same as Silmarillion.

books 6 through 9 are chronologically same as Lord of Rings.

10 & 11, I take are like appendix material.

book 12 tells about the development of the Lord of Rings appendixes.

I read all except for the 10th & 11th.

 

[chelseafan]

Instead of starting a new thread I'd ask here, I'll read back to check though for other reccomendations..but basically I'm looking for new material to read :D

 

I've read Wot/Asoiaf/MALAZAN (just finished dust of dreams)/Robin Hobb and The Dark Tower too. Oh read LOTR too obv.

 

So I'm looking for something fantasy-ish I guess. I've read Goodkind, too (Yuck) so don't reccomend him lol.

 

But is there anything out there of a similar vein?

What's the Mistborn series from Sanderson like, or other novels of good quality will do too. Fantasy is obviously a preference.

[The Fisher King]

I can give you 3 right now that have not been mentioned and that also are VERY not well-known but that are VERY Good series:

 

1 The Chronicles About The Cheysuli. (Robertson)

 

2 The Last of The Herald Mages. (Lachey)

 

3 The Dread Empire Series. (Cook)

 

 

Fish

 

 

''Treasures. Dealings. Lots of things in books.''

[Locke]

Magnus by Sigmund Brouwer.  DEFINITELY recommend this book.

[Braolainn]

I'll just pimp some aussie authors...

 

Seconding the recommendation of Sara Douglass (her new book comes out next month *dances*)

 

Kate Forsyth

Jennifer Fallon - still finding her feet though imo

Trudi Canavan

Karen Miller

 

I also love Obernewtyn Chronicles by Isobelle Carmody - which was originally a children's series but has grown up in the last few books (and the conclusion is coming out this year *another dance*.

 

If you want a long and convoluted tale with wide and far reaching arcs you can't go past Katherine Kerr.

[lvemebe]

Another decent author that doesnt get mentioned often is Michelle West.  Her first series if I remember correctly is two books, hunter something or other, ties in well with her next set.  Her last book from what I heard was kind of a rehash of something she wrote earlier.  I havent read it though so I cant comment.  You need to read the first series to grasp the landscape of the rest of the books though.  I read them out of order and it wasnt till I went back and read the first two that it started to make sense to me.

 

Also if you can find Tuf Voyaging by GRRM it is a great read and has one of my favorite main characters of all time.  Its Sci-fi but definitely worth the time and effort to get.  :D

[Mr.Big]

Another decent author that doesnt get mentioned often is Michelle West.  Her first series if I remember correctly is two books, hunter something or other, ties in well with her next set.  Her last book from what I heard was kind of a rehash of something she wrote earlier.  I havent read it though so I cant comment.  You need to read the first series to grasp the landscape of the rest of the books though.  I read them out of order and it wasnt till I went back and read the first two that it started to make sense to me.

 

Also if you can find Tuf Voyaging by GRRM it is a great read and has one of my favorite main characters of all time.  Its Sci-fi but definitely worth the time and effort to get.  :D

I read West's main trilogy, which I think was named "The Sun Sword". I really enjoyed it, it had good world building and characters, and it also had some excellent adult oriented themes without having creepy sex scenes. I also read her latest novel, which is set in the same world as the trilogy, but it is a prequel that tells the back story of one of the main characters. If you enjoyed the trilogy, you should enjoy this.

[ZWizzle]

C.S. Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy is epicly awesome. You have a warrior/magician/priest who ends up being more comfortable with evil deeds than he ever wanted to be for the greater good and a Villain that is by far the most interesting character I have ever read and rooted for. This is a must read for any fantasy fan.

 

I love reading what everyone else reads. It really helps me to pick out my next series.

[mb]

Not really a series, but I consider Barnes & Noble Classics good; those are generally paperback. They seem to also do leather bound books.

Both have many books.

[aunt_pol]

So surprised there was only one mention of the His Dark Materials trilogy, by Philip Pullman. And even more surprised that it wasn't recommended!

It's not really epic, and I guess the religious/atheist conflict might bother some people, but if you want to bond with the characters, these books are really good.

The Harry Potter books are also far better than they're given credit for.

[Wheel of Thyme]

Hi all....

I second many of your choices. But Ive not seen Niven and Pournelle's Mote in Gods Eye series (well, 2 books anyhow) on this list, and it was a great read. Niven and Pornelle also wrote Footfall, which I found entertaining and give them credit for developing their alien species as complex real creatures instead of characatures.

 

Also, I didnt see mention of Harry Turtledove, though his genre is a subgenre in fantasy, that of alternate history. His Worlds at War series is not bad; basically, smack in the middle of WW2, Earth gets invaded by aliens...

 

Also Turtledove's book Guns of the South is phenonemal, and won kudos from BOTH science fiction sources and military writers groups.

 

Happy readings, Sincerely, Wheel of Thyme

[Owayn The Traveller]

Harry potter yuke! read order of the peonix and I thought crossroads if twilight was boring. I was wrong.

Farseer books by Robin Hobb not epic but really good.

[DocBean]

You don't sell millions of copies of your books world wide if they're that terrible.

 

 

 

Sounds like a Twilight fan.

 

Goodkind is awful. I forced my way through his first book, and couldn't do any more.

I then started noticing all the regular bashing of Goodkind on forums like these and am glad I didn't finish Sword of Truth.

 

With scenes like "A chicken that's not a chicken"

and the protagonist of the story cutting down innocent, unarmed people that are against a war? - Yeah, that's a guy I want to root for.

Goodkind is just a right-wing nut-job.

 

 

George RR Martin's Song of Ice and fire; however, is great.

It's coming to HBO soon, so read them now before the rest of the world jumps on the bandwagon.

His series is the only one I'd put on par with Wheel of Time, and I'd actually say his is better.

The best part about the series is you don't have humans fighting Trollocs, or Orcs, it's not nearly so black and white as Tolkein or Jordan.

His characters actually are in the gray area. You'll go from hating a guy to loving him, and from loving a guy to hating him.

and there are some that you love to hate, and others you love no matter what they do.

Game of Thrones is the first one. That's what the HBO series is going to be called. The first season will go over the first book.

[mb]

it's not nearly so black and white as Tolkein or Jordan

There are some "gray" characters in Wheel of Time. Elaida is one; Whitecloaks & Seanchan could be others. Possibly also Fain & Slayer. Taim seems to be another.

 

Gollum could be considered a "gray" character in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Saruman could be considered another.

[Owayn The Traveller]

You will have humans fighting them Zombie yokes and the cold ones .

[RedRaider]

Codex Alera - Jim Butcher

 

Legend ***** David Gemmell

Sword in the Storm - David Gemmell

Lion of Macedon - David Gemmell

The Stones of Power series - David Gemmell

 

The Runelords - David Farland

 

The Bretheren Trilogy - Robyn Young (Knights Templar Fiction)

[Imperium]

Although its not what I would call strictly an epic as it is only trilogy I really enjoyed The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks (he seems to have been mentioned earlier but not the series)

 

Yet again, a trilogy and already referenced by someone I really enjoyed David & Stella Gemmell's Troy Series

 

I have also really enjoyed reading Lian Hearn's Tales of the Otori and the 2 other books that go with it.

[hotpocket2006]

I know a lot of people have already metioned this series, but I will mention it again because it's just that dang good: A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin. The most ah-mazing series I've read in my whole entire life.

 

Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. It's Day 1 (book 1) in the right now labeled trilogy (I know how often three books turn in to four) of the Kingkiller Chronicle. The next one, Wise Man's Fear comes out in March, and let's just say I'm almost as excited for this book and I am for George's A Dance with Dragons, and that's saying something.

 

Also Tad William's Shadowmarch quadrology is pretty good so far. I've read the first two, and as soon as I get a chance to drive two hours to the nearest book store, I will be buying the third one.

 

The Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon is also amazing. It's not really classified into the fantasy genre, but it does have some fantasy in it, along with historical fiction, and romance. Right now there are seven books, I've read all seven and they're really good.

 

I could write a lot more recommendations, but those are just some of my favorites and/or most recent reads.