Recommendations

[Swimmingly he/him]

Good Omens is the chocolate vanilla swirl of fiction - dryly dark comedy, richly clever comedy, and the haunting sound of Douglas Adams chuckling in the echoes.

[Arwyl she/her]

I echo the recommendation for Guy Gavriel Kay, specifically start with Tigana, The Lions of Al-Rassan, and A Song for Arbonne. I think Tigana is my favorite stand-alone yet epic fantasy. The characters appealed to me because of their gray nature (similar to aSoIaF, no clear good/bad, everyone gray). The story line spans years, with quests for vengeance, sorcery, battle for survival. GGK's genius is his ability to tell the story in just one book.

 

I would also recommend Daniel Abraham's The Long Price Quartet and The Dagger and the Coin Quintet.

 

Blood Song sounds appealing, I think I'll give it a try.

Edited June 29, 2014 by Arwyl

[ollie99 she/her]

I don't think I saw a mention of the Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan. It is always high up there on the list of epic fantasy books. I have only read the prequel and books one and two, so I've barely scraped the surface of the whopping 14 book series (I got sidetracked by Wise Man's Fear and a few other books), but so far I really enjoy the world building. 

[fievelgoespostal]

I don't think I saw a mention of the Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan. It is always high up there on the list of epic fantasy books. I have only read the prequel and books one and two, so I've barely scraped the surface of the whopping 14 book series (I got sidetracked by Wise Man's Fear and a few other books), but so far I really enjoy the world building. 

I second that. Just finished book 14 after starting book 1 a little over a year ago. 

 

Thats why I am reading this topic. Looking for something to fill the serious void that finishing WoT left.

[She Who Cannot Be Named she/her]

Discworld. All the Discworld. And Good Omens, which has the added benefit of being also by Neil Gaiman.

You've forgotten The Long Earth/War/Mars by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

 

Another beautiful fantasy series is from Alison Croggon: The Pellinor Saga (The Gift, The Riddle, The Crow and The Singing).

[Shaggai]

You've forgotten The Long Earth/War/Mars by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

 

Another beautiful fantasy series is from Alison Croggon: The Pellinor Saga (The Gift, The Riddle, The Crow and The Singing).

I've read the first two Long Earth books. I saw a mention of The Long Mars somewhere, but I wasn't sure if it was a sequel or just someone confused about the title. Thanks for confirming that.

[She Who Cannot Be Named she/her]

I've read the first two Long Earth books. I saw a mention of The Long Mars somewhere, but I wasn't sure if it was a sequel or just someone confused about the title. Thanks for confirming that.

The Long Mars just came out on June 19th, and is indeed the third book in the series

[Shaggai]

The Long Mars just came out on June 19th, and is indeed the third book in the series

That explains why I would not have heard about it.

[Briar King]

I second that. Just finished book 14 after starting book 1 a little over a year ago.

Thats why I am reading this topic. Looking for something to fill the serious void that finishing WoT left.

Have you tried Malazan saga yet? It's more high fantasy then WoT but it's epic.

[fievelgoespostal]

I have not, but I think it is next on my list.

[Briar King]

Good. 1st book seems to be the hardest for people cause your just thrown into stuff and the writing is intense for a 1st book. I tell people to bull through it cause it's worth getting to epicsness that is bk 2-10.

[-Deleted-]

Brian McClellan's Powder Mage (some of the best in a long time)

 

Daniel Abraham's Long Price and Dagger & Coin

 

Django Wexler's The Thousand Names

 

Brent Weeks' Lightbringer

 

Naomi Novik's Temeraire rocks.

 

These five authors are all new and fairly recent, are exceptionally talented and are fairly prolific.

 

And then the obvious: LotR, Narnia, Gormenghast and Terry Pratchett. I put these at the bottom because I guarantee these four have been recommended to everyone by now, but just in case somehow they weren't lol.

 

non-fantasy books you might like:

Book of the New Sun

Dune saga

Ender Saga (after first book)

Foundation

War & Peace

Clockwork Century series by Cherie Priest

[gjustice99 she/her]

These are more Sci-fi than Brandon (not fantasy) but I read both Prey and Jurassic Park (yes, its a book and the movie strayed pretty far) by Michael Chrichton and they are both very amazing novels. 

 

Back to fantasy, Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom are awesome. The Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer is also amazing (its it the teen books range but its still really good). 

 

A dystopian book I recently had to read for English class was very good its called We by Yevgeny Zamyatin (the version translated by Natasha Randall). Its a tough read but it has a great ending. It may be hard to get though, both in the buying and understanding sense, but its a great book.

Edited November 30, 2014 by gjustice99

[Orlion Blight he/him]

These are more Sci-fi than Brandon (not fantasy) but I read both Prey and Jurassic Park (yes, its a book and the movie strayed pretty far) by Michael Chrichton and they are both very amazing novels. 

You almost can not go wrong with Michael Crichton. I would also add Timeline to that list. 

[Asperity he/him]

Prey

Whoa, someone else has read that book?

 

Also I wanna recommend Revelation Space and its entire collection because it is some amazing hard sci-fi.

[vietnamabc]

Memory of flames serie by Stephen Deas. The guy really knows how to portrait the Big D.

Anything by Jim Butcher

Anything by John Scalzi

Edited January 5, 2015 by vietnamabc

[Orlion Blight he/him]

Has any one here read the Area X trilogy by Jeff Vandermeer?

 

If not, I recommend it! 

[Guest]

Quadrail series by Timothy Zahn. Not fantasy, but highly enjoyable.