Any epic books I shoud read

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The Count of Monte Cristo is epic in size, and also a fantastic storyline. Written by Dumas :)

It's most definitely my favourite book to date :)
 
It's a bit different to most of what's been suggested so far but I have always been partial to Wilbur Smith's books. River God + The Seventh Scroll in particular make for a great combination, alternating between a portayal of ancient Egypt and a modern day, Indiana Jones style of treasure hunt, packed full of adventure.

I've always thought of David Gemmell's books as epic also, in a 'heroic' sense at least. The Lion of Macedon + Dark Prince make for a nice pairing to start with and the Waylander books are also pretty good. Hell, if you find you enjoy his style of writing then all of his books will appeal, although they do tend to churn out the same cliches and character types time and again.
 
Ones that haven't already been mentioned:

Otherland series - Tad Williams
The Elric books - Micheal Moorcock
The Chronicals of Amber - Roger Zelazny

All very epic in scale and size.
 
For an absolute hoot, Simon R Green's "Deathstalker" series. There's five (big) main books, as well as about three prequels. They're full of the most OTT action imaginable, but the humour carries them along.


M
 
JBod said:
I didn't say it is necessarily better, but the series is around 5 times the size (without pages of songs) and Jordan describes things in far higher details than Tolkien ever did.

Obviously it is no where near as ground breaking as LOTR but I'd definitely say it is more "epic".
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Have you read all the background stuff for LotR?
 
I don't believe Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series has been mentioned yet but it is indeed most epic. Up to 8 books with 2 more to come.
 
bakes0310 said:
If i was to get into LotR what books would i have to read, could you postt them in order please:)
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For story alone The Hobbit and then LotR would be the way forward.

For historical facts and deeper information read the Silmarillion.

If you read the Hobbit and LotR and want some more story kinda thing, read the Unfinished Tales and the Children of Hurin.

There's a few other history books. You have to be a big fan to bother though.
 
Gilly said:
For story alone The Hobbit and then LotR would be the way forward.

For historical facts and deeper information read the Silmarillion.

If you read the Hobbit and LotR and want some more story kinda thing, read the Unfinished Tales and the Children of Hurin.

There's a few other history books. You have to be a big fan to bother though.
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Indeed, I've got the History of Middle Earth Volume 1 and Im only half way through it, it is very hard going and I'm a pretty big fan.

Tales From The Perilous Realm are also worth reading.
 
Gilly said:
Dark Materials, it's juvenile literature.

You need to be juvenile.
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Personally I thought that the first 2 books were remarkable, and that the third was incredibly poor. Yes, it's very easy reading, and yes, it's made for younger people, but does that necessarily make it juvenile literature? You've made the term juvenile sound somewhat derogatory.

One book which hasn't been mentioned yet, and is utterly epic, if in a wholly different way to something like LotR, is Oil! by Upton Sinclair. It's the book that There Will Be Blood was (very loosely) based on, and is simply an exceptional read, if a little hard work in places.

I'd also strongly suggest David Gemmell's Rigante series (or any of his other books as a matter of fact!)
 
jasonmorris said:
Checkout R.A. Salvatore - Drizzt etc and any Dragonlance stuff is quite good.
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Homeland/Exile/Sojourn by R.A Salvatore with Drizzt are some of the best fantasy ive ever read.

Dragonlance books are worth a punt also.

Harry Potter books are ok (i listened to free audiobooks at work)

Wheel of time by Robert Jorden is great also, possibley even more "epic" than LOTR, at least the first five books are good, not so sure about the rest as thats all ive got upto!
 
bakes0310 said:
Cheers for the LOTR advice i gone and bought the following:
The Hobbit
The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy
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The hobbit is one of my favorite books of all time, Lord of the Rings is great also but be warned it takes a HELL of a lot of book before you get into it, some people i know havent been able to get past the start.

I really recommend the Dark Elf Trilogy (drizzts first three books) by R.A. Salvatore. You can pick it up for about 6-7quid online and its fantastic dark fantasy with a lot of magic/sword fighting/tretchery.
 
Meridian said:
Guy Gavriel Kay's "Fionavar Tapestry" trilogy - it may not be the longest trilogy out there, but I bet it's the most epic.
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Doubtful. The Fionavar Tapestry is a good read but I'd hardly say Epic is the word. His other books - The Lions of Al-Rassan, Tigana and The Sarantine Mosaic are all far better books. Tigana especially is a work of genius.

I'll echo the comments about George R R Martin - I'm reading A Song of Ice and Fire and it's absolutely wonderful.

Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time is very much an epic. It lost it's way towards the latter half and I think many people's interest faded a bit but book 11 finished very well. According to the guy who's writing the 12th, Jordan had completed the final chapters before his death and these will form the end of the series unedited.

On a different tack the books by Peter F Hamilton are certainly 'epic', escpecially the incredible Nights Dawn trilogy.
 
This is my list of top fantasy series - everyone of these is certified as rather good by myself.

The Farseer Trilogy - Robin Hobb
The Tawny Man Trilogy - Robin Hobb
The Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan
Malazan Book of the Fallen - Steven Erikson
Memory, Sorrow, Thorn - Tad Williams
Harry Potter - J K Rowling
His Dark Materials - Phillip Pullman
The Discworld Novels - Terry Pratchett
The Riftwar Saga - Raymond E Feist
The Book of Words - J V Jones
The First Law - Joe Abercrombie
The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss (series not complete but very good start)
A Song of Ice and Fire - George R R Martin

Should last you awhile! :p
 
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