Fantasy/epic fantasy book recommendations

Hi everyone! I'm currently reading ASOIAF: A Clash of Kings, but I like to read at least two books at the same time. Any recommendations for my seond book? It's gotta be within the Fantasy/Epic Fantasy realm. Is the Wheel of Time series any good? halp

I very highly recommend The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson (first book in the series is The Way of Kings, unfortunately there are only two books in the series released so far). Along with a stand-alone book Elantris that he also wrote, these are two of the best fantasy novels/series out there. Sanderson's Mistborn series is also quite popular, although personally I think Stormlight Archive and Elantris are much better.

LOTR seconded.

@fnevaeva: The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind, as is the Belgariad and Mallorean series by David Eddings.

The Garret P.I. series by Glen Cook is good, and I have heard his Black Company series is also worth a read.

If you want a more historical series, Stephen Lawhead has some good series, the King Raven trilogy being my favorite.

@TheKokopelli: I have the Omnibus (3 book edition) of The Black Company, Shadows Linger, and The White Rose. It's collected some dust with me quitting right away with the very advanced language (which confused me while trying to understand just the first few pages lol). But maybe i'll give it another heave ho.

And if I read the LOTR trilogy, would it be a bore since I've seen the movies? (and yes, I did read the hobbit b4 the first hobbit movie came out).

I'll do some research on these other suggestions that you guys have given me so far. Keep up the recommendations in case these may or may not interest me. i'll respond in a bit after some reading up

I liked the series by Garth Nix. First book is called Sabriel.

king killer chronicles are nice

The Death Gate Cycle

Eisenhorn Omnibus by Dan Abnett. Really enjoyed this series not just because it's 40K sci-fi/fantasy but it's a legit good story with fun characters.

I really wish someone in Hollywood would make a full featured trilogy (LOTR style) out of it!

Lord of the rings trilogy is boring wether or not you saw the movies.

Maybe you can try fantasy that isn't in medieval like times so that there is more variety like The powder Mage trilogy (2 books out so far) or Dark Tower series, I ate the first three books in DT up while I struggled getting through the three LOTR books even though I had enjoyed the hobbit.

The Odyssey.

I'm definitely going to try the Dark Tower series. Anything by the god writers of Dragonlance is bound to be good =P

@korvus:

The Dark tower books are by Stephen king. Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis did Dragonlance.

I'll add this to my growing book list. Might be a year or so before I get to it though.

Yeah, never mind. I meant to reply to @br0kenrabbit since he mentioned the Death Gate Cycle and somehow got all confused and replied to you XD Probably because I also want to read the Dark Tower series.

Read the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson, you won't be disappointed.

The Malazan Book of the Fallen puts the "epic" in epic fantasy. It'll take you forever to read, and it's very difficult to follow, but with the last couple of disappointments in ASoIaF, it's my favorite fantasy series overall.

i would say the devil's advocate by taylor cauldwell is one that is amazing but nobody has heard of.

If you decide to get into this, be prepared for an extremely disappointing deus ex machina ending that completely negates everything you're read. He wrapped it up with Confessor but then continued it several years later with Omen Machine, which was awful. The Third Kingdom isn't fairing much better.

As others have said, Brandon Sanderson has quite a few books that you might be interested in, I would look into any books that are a part of his "Cosmere" universe (Elantris, Warmaker, Stormlight Archives, Mistborn trilogys and spinoffs, etc.), as they are somewhat interconnected, and he is planning on writing 10+ more with more and more world connections (from what I understand) to make quite an epic (as long as he finishes it!) universe.

The Wheel of Time is a somewhat popular series, I'm still working on the first book so I can't give you much feedback on it unfortunately.

I would highly recommend the Name of the Wind and the sequel, hopefully the third will one day be published. This was the first book that got me out of my ASOIAF hangover.

If you haven't read LoTR or the Hobbit I would recommend them as well.

I recently finished The Night Angel trilogy and Codex Alera series, both were above average, same with the first two books in the Pathfinder Trilogy (Orson Scott Card, fast paced as only he can write).

The Kingkiller Chronicles series is great

You should prioritize it :P

Brent Weeks and Jim Butcher are two of my favourite fantasy writers.

The Farseer Trilogy is fairly good. Not what you would call high fantasy and with enough believable drama that it's easy enough to read. I have yet to find any fantasy novels that are like ASOIF. I don't think any exist.

The Ranger's Apprentice is a pretty good series, which has twelve entries. It's a long saga of Historical-Fiction, not necessarily Fantasy.

Faded Sun Trilogy. It's considered sci-fi but actually has a bit of fantasy elements IMO.

@airshocker: If you like the Farseer books, you should also probably read all of the...um...dragons-ship books and fool books that continue the story (I don't remember the names - haven't read them since high school).

Anyway, I'd like to throw in something a little different: The Anubis Gates.

It's sort of a time-travelling historical fiction novel, but it's full of ancient Egyptian sorcerers and bizarre serial killers and whatnot.

It's definitely epic. There's twists, there's humour, there's huge confrontations all over the place, and it all wraps together very neatly indeed. I highly recommend it!

So many good suggestions I don't know where to start! Maybe I'll give The Fellowship of the Ring a go and if I find that most of the book is just like the movie (meaning there just isn't much extra stuff missing) then I'll have to pick up one of these books @ the library & save some MOOLA. Thanks for all the help guys, it's always nice to hear personal opinions on different books. Keep it comin!

Will put an extra vote for The Kingkiller Chronicle. Became my favorite books <3

I know of them. I'll get around to reading them.

Tales of Dunk and Egg as well as The Princess and the Queen.

@GamerForca: i was going to recommend Malazan but i was beat to it. Amazing series that I honestly have enjoyed better than anything I've read in the epic fantasy genre. That includes GRRM, though his work is right up there.

read the book of the new sun

don't read wheel of time it is shit straight out of a butt

Malazan Book of the Fallen series is really good.

Anything written by Terry Pratchett is worth reading btw, even if it's now waht you asked for.

@bwb2: Don't bump the threads. This is an old thread from October 2014. Oh yeah, welcome to Gamespot.

The Sword of Shannara trilogy by Terry Brooks is a great start to fantasy novels and they are relatively easy to find in local book stores.

Malazan

@davillain-: Got it. Thank you.

Glad you understand :) nonetheless it's a 9 month old thread, so locked it is.