# Which epic fantasy saga to read next? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 8, 2011, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-epic-fantasy-saga-to-read-next/577679 "2011-04-08T16:36:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Melniboen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@Melniboen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melniboen)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-epic-fantasy-saga-to-read-next/577679/1 "2011-04-08T16:36:57Z")
I’ve been on a pretty hardcore reading spree these last few months and I’ve run out of content that I know to be good. I’m just dusting off the last book in George R. R. Martins Song of Fire and Ice and I’m not sure where I should turn next. Stuff I’ve already read: Song of Fire and Ice Collected works of Jim Butcher Harry Potter, of course Terry Goodkinds Sword of Truth The books the Trueblood series is based off of Much of Terry Prachets Diskworld Before you recommend the Wheel of Time, I got about 8 1/2 books in put it down and never looked back, too much of women whining for pages and pages and not enough action, plus the whole not-being-finished-by-the-actual-author thing. I haven’t read Tolkien but I’ve heard it can be pages and pages of descriptions of rocks and trees and, though I am loathe to say it, I’ve seen the movies and would prefer something I didn’t already know the entire plot of. So, now that you’re caught up, where should I go from here? ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-epic-fantasy-saga-to-read-next/577679/2 "2011-04-08T16:41:29Z")
I very much recommend the recently finished ten book epic “Malazan book of the Fallen”, by Steven Erikson. Also, anything by David Gemmell is well worth a read. Start at the start with him, and “Legend”. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-epic-fantasy-saga-to-read-next/577679/3 "2011-04-08T16:43:08Z")
The [Dragonlance](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonlance) series, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-epic-fantasy-saga-to-read-next/577679/4 "2011-04-08T16:47:09Z")
I’m going to take a wild guess that you’ve already read Moorcock’s Elric series. Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser stories are very good right up through The Swords of Lankhmar, and less good after that. Zelazny’s first Amber series is pretty awesome. China Mieville’s series (Perdido Street Station, The Scar, Iron Council) is great if you don’t mind icky bodily fluids everywhere in your fiction. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-epic-fantasy-saga-to-read-next/577679/5 "2011-04-08T17:40:13Z")
Please give the Obernewtyn books by Isobelle Carmody a try. I think this series has been sadly overlooked. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-epic-fantasy-saga-to-read-next/577679/6 "2011-04-08T17:40:37Z")
I suggest [Earthsea](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthsea). It has an interesting world, great characters, and plenty of mood. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-epic-fantasy-saga-to-read-next/577679/7 "2011-04-08T17:55:08Z")
The Anteros Cycle by Allan Cole. The Far Kingdoms Cycle by Allan Cole and Chris Bunch. The rest of the Discworld. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-epic-fantasy-saga-to-read-next/577679/8 "2011-04-08T18:00:19Z")
Joe Abercrombie’s [First Law](http://www.amazon.com/Blade-Itself-First-Law-Book/dp/159102594X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1302285461&sr=8-1) series. Not a series, but Brandon Sanderson’s [Warbreaker](http://www.amazon.com/Warbreaker-Tor-Fantasy-Brandon-Sanderson/dp/0765360039/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1302285575&sr=8-7) was a really fun read. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-epic-fantasy-saga-to-read-next/577679/9 "2011-04-08T18:33:04Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > Joe Abercrombie’s [First Law](http://www.amazon.com/Blade-Itself-First-Law-Book/dp/159102594X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1302285461&sr=8-1) series. Oh, dit **TO**! The _Prince of Nothing_ series by Scott Bakker is pretty good, if you don’t mind a bunch of philosophizing. Not “epic” but fanciful and fun – John Morressy’s books about Kedrigern the wizard. They’re out of print but cheap in the secondary markets. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-epic-fantasy-saga-to-read-next/577679/10 "2011-04-08T18:39:36Z")
S. M. Stirling’s Dies the Fire series was good IMHO. I’m enjoying T. Anderson’s Destroyermen series right now…so far so good. I’m also looking forward to the next book in D. Webber’s Off Armageddon Reef series. How about The Summoner series by G. Martin? That was pretty good. Those are a few off the top of my head that I’ve enjoyed…there are tons. -XT ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-epic-fantasy-saga-to-read-next/577679/11 "2011-04-08T18:41:03Z")
Try Hugh Cook’s [Chronicles of an Age of Darkness](http://www.chroniclesofanageofdarkness.info/index.php?title=Chronicles_of_an_Age_of_Darkness). Few people in the United States known about these books–the author comes from New Zealnad–but for action-packed, sword-slinging fantasy they’re tough to beat. There’s a huge cast of characters and a massive world spanning several continents, without countless warring factions and all kinds of unique touches. Not for children, however. Some scenes are quite brutal. At ten books, most of them fairly hefty, it should keep you busy for a while. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-epic-fantasy-saga-to-read-next/577679/12 "2011-04-08T18:43:57Z")
I hesitate to mention it (I know a large number of 'dopers hate the series), but there is always the Wheel of Time…now might be a good time to try it out or finish it if you started it, as the last book in the series is due out at the end of the year IIRC. The long journey is nearly over. -XT ---
**Author:** ![Vihaga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Vihaga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vihaga)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-epic-fantasy-saga-to-read-next/577679/13 "2011-04-08T19:03:49Z")
I really enjoyed Robin Hobb’s Farseer, Liveship, and Tawny Man trilogies (they’re really all related, so it’s more of a series of 9, though the middle three involve barely any characters from the first and last three). ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-epic-fantasy-saga-to-read-next/577679/14 "2011-04-08T19:26:30Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > I hesitate to mention it (I know a large number of 'dopers hate the series), but there is always the Wheel of Time…now might be a good time to try it out or finish it if you started it, as the last book in the series is due out at the end of the year IIRC. The long journey is nearly over. > > -XT Someone didn’t read the first post all the way through! Though I have to concur - Brandon Sanderson is doing an amazing job finishing it up. Speaking of BS, I loved the Mistborn trilogy, and I wasn’t expecting to. Now my wife has been sucked deeply into it, and she never reads that sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-epic-fantasy-saga-to-read-next/577679/15 "2011-04-08T19:28:34Z")
Yeah, I missed that in the last paragraph. Sorry about that. -XT ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-epic-fantasy-saga-to-read-next/577679/16 "2011-04-08T19:34:58Z")
**Melniboen** , there’s a series with this guy named Elric, and he’s from, um… Oh, never mind. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-epic-fantasy-saga-to-read-next/577679/17 "2011-04-08T19:36:35Z")
You know the name of my Night Elf Druid in WoW?? That’s…incredible! -XT ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-epic-fantasy-saga-to-read-next/577679/18 "2011-04-08T19:42:10Z")
For something similar to Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series, I like Mike Carey’s Felix Castor novels, starting with [The Devil You Know](http://www.amazon.com/Devil-You-Know-Felix-Castor/dp/0446618705). They’re set in London, and they are a little darker, without as much snark. But Castor reminds me of Harry Dresden. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-epic-fantasy-saga-to-read-next/577679/19 "2011-04-08T19:44:26Z")
Two new series with two books written so far, both from first-time writers: The Kingskiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss:\* The Name of the Wind \*and _The Wise Man’s Fear_ (published just last month), with one book to go; and The Gentleman Bastard Sequence by Scott Lynch: \*The Lies of Locke Lamora \*and \*Red Seas Under Red Skies \*, the first two of a projected 7-book series (although each pretty much features a self-contained story). They are, without a doubt, the finest two new fantasy writers of the past ten years. And I’m \*very \*picky. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-epic-fantasy-saga-to-read-next/577679/20 "2011-04-08T19:44:39Z")
I’ve thought about getting the Dresden Files on audio…is it worth it? How good is it? -XT [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-epic-fantasy-saga-to-read-next/577679.md?page=2)