Hi all,
I want to start an epic fantasy book but I have very little experience with the genre.
I’m looking for an epic fantasy book/series with a unique world, characters that I can follow and really feel for, care about, root for and follow for a while, and something a little faster paced.
My hesitation in getting into bigger epic fantasy is the fear of being confused with multiple POVs, maps, and tons of names and new terms to remember. but I really want to try!
my background with the genre:
I’ve read Kings of the Wyld and The Hobbit and liked both but I’m looking for something a bit more serious and EPIC feeling. Outside of prose I’ve read Berserk which I LOVE because as cool and huge as the fights are, the best parts (for me) are seeing Guts develop in realistic and meaningful ways throughout the series. I’m also a big Final Fantasy fan for their unique worlds with wild locations and characters that I can spend time getting invested in (my favorite is 9 and I really enjoyed the story of the recently released 16)
Thanks for your help!
by Aggressive-Tea-4770
7 Comments
I haven’t read the last one in this series, so beware, but I loved *The Inheritance Cycle* series by Christopher Paolini. It’s about dragons. Can’t go wrong with dragons.
A few more that are popular at the library I work at are:
* Malazan Books of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson
* The Way of the Kings by Brandon Sanderson
* The Shepard King by Rachel Gilig
* The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfus
* Old Kingdom by Garth Nix
Try Robin Hobb, starting with The Assassin’s Apprentice.
Jim Butcher Codex Alera series,
What you are describing is Epic Fantasy. Game of Thrones, that sort of thing, loads of characters, maps etc.
There are plenty of other types. T.Kingfisher does stand alones. Short books, no maps, no many POVs. Often funny, some a bit dark but nor grim.
Probably the 2 extreme ends of Fantasy.
In between heaps. Have you asked over in Fantasy? Plus there are lists there to select from, the Reading Guides.
Have you tried Abercrombies First Law? Epic but only one map and it doesn’t matter anyway….a few POVs but not tons.
Or skip the series and read the stand alones: Heroes, Red Country, Best Served Cold etc….the only warning I have with that is it may be a bit confusing if you don’t know the First Law story.
There’s another: SHarp Ends. Has a couple of other tales about others in it but mostly Shev and her friend
Shevedieh, the self-styled best thief in Styria, lurches from disaster to catastrophe alongside her best friend and greatest enemy, Javre, Lioness of Hoskopp.
Or as Javre puts it: Javre and her sidekick Shev….LOL. Humour as well in this.
*Priory of the orange tree* by Samantha Shannon
*Lord of the rings* by J.R.R. Tolkien
The *Black Company* series by Glen Cook
Any or all books by Joe Abercrombie are what you are looking for.
I’ve really been enjoying the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. Beware its very long series spanning 14 volumes and definitely an epic. There’s many complex characters and locations and subplots. Currently on book 7.