other series as epic (or close ) as WoT

[KefkaPalazzo]

Has Stephen King's Dark Tower been mentioned yet? It's pretty good, IMO. Although it still suffers from Stephen King's usual problems, such as the opinion that he doesn't do well with endings, but it's still very enjoyable.

[Kenny Simi]

I am looking for a new series to read

I have gone through WoT,Tiger and Del, Star Wars (like 40 of them so far) Sword of Truth, and all the david eddings books and a couple of others but do any of you guys have any recommendations

 

S.M.Stirling's "Change Series" , Robert Adams"Horseclans" series(maybe the best series of all time), Roger Zelazny's"Amber" series, Anne McCafferey's "Dragonriders of Pern", "The Horus Heresy" series various authors in this set, Raymond Feist's original Darkwar series, Janny Wurts' "Wars of Lightand Shadow" series, Tad Williams "Memory,Sorrow<and Thorn" series. Did I miss some,probably...

[Kenny Simi]

Has anybody else read the "Horseclans" novels?

[Kenny Simi]

I know this has been said many a time but a song of ice and fire. Much more epic and realistic than WOT. Other series also include dragon lance and shannara novels

 

i liked "song of fire and ice" also, still wailting for the next book tho

[RembrandtQ.Einstein]

Dune

[Kenny Simi]

The Eisenhorn series and Ravenor series, both by Dan Abnett.

[Kenny Simi]

Dan Abnet and the other Warhammer 40K authors are great, I love "The Horus Heresy"

[Avalonjohn44]

Can't believe nobody listed the Alvin Maker series by Orson Scott Card, I love them. Only 6 out so far, at least one more on the way, one day...

 

I'd also like to voice my love for the Entire Robin Hobb Assassin/Live Ship/Fool/Rain Wild mega series. Ten books and counting...

 

Dune of course, but not the bilge by Herbert JR and Anderson, that was horridly disappointing IMO.

 

I love/hate Malazan Book of the Fallen. Just got Dust of Dreams, so will read through that one soon... From what I've read, the Erikson series will have several dangling ends that will be left for the other Malazan author to pick up in his own Malazon series. Don't know how I feel about this. Parts of MBOTF are absolutely brilliant and breath taking, parts are so franctured and senseless (like all of Toll the Hounds...).

 

I'll duck right now and say that I am also a fan of the Sword of Truth series. Enjoyed every book but 2 (Pillars of Creation and another one that I can't remember the name of with a bunch of evil birds - although not the chicken one that everyone seems so spun up about...)

 

And I'd also like to mention the Taltos Series by Steven Brust, each book is short, fast, and thoroughly enjoyable. Very cool back story mosaic that is being pieced together ever so slowly...

[Basel Gill]

David Gerrold - The War Against the Chtorr Series - an alien invasion/survival book series. Two warning on this series; one it is unlikely it will be finished and the other it does contain homosexual content.

 

Agreed wholeheartedly on this one. I read the first three in high school and not only enjoyed them immensely, but had the pleasure of turning on the school's other big SF&F reader to the series. Some of Gerrold's tangents are hilarious; there are significant stretches where it's easy to remember this is the same man who introduced the world to tribbles.

 

Thomas Covenant series by Stephen R. Donaldson

 

I read the first Covenant book and doubt I will bother with any more. I found it difficult to get sucked into the world and absorbed by the story, which made it a very slow read for me. Not only that, but there is no way I am willing to accept a rapist as the central hero of the series. From what I've been reading on DM, much has been made of Goodkind's rape fetishes, but every time (in the books I've read so far, I've completed the novels up to Temple of the Wind) there is rape, it is committed by the bad guys. To have a main good guy commit rape is just too much for me.

[ErnoGee]

The Earthsea books by Ursula Le Guin are a good read, and in some ways almost a classic.

 

Mythago Wood series, and the later Merlin Codex by Robert Holdstock work for people who want their fantasy with lots of classical myths weved in.

 

And the science fiction books of Iain M. Banks if that kind of setting interests you. I mention here the Culture series, although I just know someone will tell me it's annoying how much he force-feeds socialism to the reader... His non-Sci-fi/fantasy writing is also good, although odd at times.

[animals]

Anybody read Stephen King's The Dark Tower? That series is unbelievable.

[mb]

Have not read Dark Tower series; but I think I might have glanced at its name or perhaps cover some time.

Though I did read an omnibus containing a number of his short stories during a literature class.

[animals]

Well the Dark Tower can best be described as a mix of LOTR, Westerns, and science fiction, along with King's brand of horror.

[Foamy The Master]

Have not read Dark Tower series; but I think I might have glanced at it some time.

Though I did read an omnibus containing a number of his short stories during a literature class.

 

 

hehe you don't just glance at the dark tower if you read "the man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed" you kinda get sucked in hehe

[mb]

Edited my comment.

[WoTgirl111]

The Night Angels Trilogy by Brent Weeks

[Basel Gill]

Have not read Dark Tower series; but I think I might have glanced at its name or perhaps cover some time.

Though I did read an omnibus containing a number of his short stories during a literature class.

 

This has got to be the first time I ever heard of or even imagined anyone being assigned to read King for a class.

[Varg]

The dark tower was good, not crazy about every book there.

Not sure if anyone mentioned Ursula k Leguin's earthsea series.

[Kara]

I really enjoyed The Dark Tower series but I am not sure I like that Stephen King is now going to release a DT book based on events between the Wizard and the glass and The wolves of the Calla.

 

I mean how can that add anything to the story especially considering how he ended things...

[Locke]

Blizzard (a company that makes PC games) I noticed has fiction about some of their PC games; though I have not yet read any of those.

Ones I have been interested in getting::

Starcraft:

-Liberty's Crusade

-Shadow of the Xel'Naga

-Speed of Darkness

-Ghost/Nova

Warcraft:

-Day of the Dragon

-Lord of the Clans

-The Last Guardian

-Sunwell Trilogy

--Dragon Hunt

--Shadows of Ice

--Ghost Lands

Really? That's interesting. I read somewhere that if all the content for the new StarCraft game (Wings of Liberty) were to be written in book format, it would take like 3-9 books.

Recently purchased the Wrinkle in Time series. I recall some class of mine going through the 1st book; I think 6th grade. Read a portion of the second sometime within middle school; do not remember how much nor exactly when.

Oh, yes, I completely forgot about those. I read them in...5th grade I believe. Don't remember much about them except liking them. (and something about extra dimensions; it was science fiction)

Come to think of it, I believe there was another book that was sort of in the series, except the characters went back in time to the time of Noah and the Ark.

 

I've heard a lot of recommendations for Name of the Wind and Wise Man's Fear, so maybe I'll read those next.

[Shomofo]

Have just read through the list and can recommend some of them and also have some hints where I can go next for something to read.

My favourites are Feist, Eddings, Robert Jordan. RA Salvator to name a few (although I did quite like the early Sword of Truth books)

 

A few I'd like to add are:

 

The Gap Series by Stephen Donaldson (more SciFi and a bit nasty in places but different).

Baker's Boy Trilogy by JV Jones (fairly easy read)

Wit'ch Wars by James Clement

Tairen Soul Series by CL Wilson (mixture of Fantasy and romance. Got strangely hooked)

Star of the Guardians by Margaret Weis (Fairly light heated Sci-Fi with Star wars themes).

[The Fallen One]

I highly recommend the Mistborn Trilogy (which I am currently rereading.) It is extremely well thought out and quick paced. Most the characters are pretty awesome though some of them do not really get developed until the second book. Finally, the magic system is really creative and different without it feeling like Brandon was trying to create something different just to be different.

 

Elantris was good too, but it takes a while to get in to.

 

The Dexter series by Jeff Lindsay is really good, though it is neither epic nor fantasy. Makes for a quick read in between other books though.

 

I would also recommend the early Drizzt novels by Salvatore. The later ones got a little repetitive.

 

If you have read LotR and not the Silmarillon(spelling?) I would say pick that up. It is a bit of a challenge to read some parts of it, but it is def worth it.

 

Has anyone heard of Ian Irvine (or may Irving?) Anyways, he wrote and interesting series, I think it was called A View From the Mirror. It was pretty good, though I don't think that it ever got big. The first book was called A Shadow on the Glass.

 

I enjoyed the most of the Dragonlance Novels that Weis and Hickman wrote. Though from what I have seen, a lot of people dislike them.

 

My two cents on Goodkind: I do not like him as a person and do not buy in to his philosophy, but I did enjoy his some of the Sword of Truth. I liked books one and two, and most of the last three. I say most of the last three, because the end is horrible and taints the entire series. My problem with him was that he made the first book with characters that developed and felt real and kept it up through most of the second. After that, a lot of the decisions and changes that characters made did not feel right to the character. It was like he had a plot in mind and just forced the characters in to it. Second, at about book five, he starts hijacking the characters to insert his anti socialist opinion. While I feel that fiction often is a way to express the author's opinion and that is part of the point, Goodkind did it in a very jarring manner. It was like he broke the fourth wall. That being said, I think he has potential to be a really good writer if he learns to put a not fall into inserting himself into the story to the extent he did in books 4-8.

[mb]

War & Peace I guess could also be considered a series. I am at the 6th book and in my first time through the omnibus; 15 books plus 2 epilogues.

 

 

Edit:: The copy I have I take to be part of Great Books of the Western World.

[Reeve]

I know this is a thread about fantasy trilogies, and I never read science fiction, but I have to recommend Stephen Donaldson's "The Gap" series.

 

This 5 book series is so great on so many levels. I only read it because I liked the Thomas Covenant series and had nothing else to read. I have never been interested in space ships and aliens etc etc, and whenever I have read Sci Fi it has always bored the crap out of me - weird really, because I love Fantasy and have read many of the epics mentioned in this thread.

 

Anyway, The Gap series starts off with a small book, barely a novel, and a small story which is quite harsh but focused on character. The vast majority of the space elements are realistic - people cant breath in space, no laser beams, gravity is a problem etc etc and much of the technology is projected science rather than make believe science. Plus those elements are background rather than foreground anyway.

The small story expands into an amazingly epic one which I literally couldn't put down. Its filled with brilliant characters that you feel you really know and who behave realistically in desperate situations. It builds and builds and builds, and then actually delivers. I find a lot of great books can do the build up, but cant deliver on the climax. LOTR is a good example - all that build up then saved by the eagles. Its still a great book, but....

 

It is my all time favorite book, and its nothing short of criminal that it isn't more popular.

 

I will get off my soapbox now, lol, but I reckon if you love the depth and scope of WoT and GRRMs work, and also liked the first Dune books and The Dark Tower series, you would probably like The Gap as much if not more.

[mb]

I know this is a thread about fantasy trilogies

I take this thread to be about any book series (not just fantasy) of any size (not just trilogies).