Epic Books

Is there a book series epic enough that it can even rival lord of the rings? I'm starting to think not.

I think we're all forgeting Divine Comedy here.

>>41
I think we're all forgetting lots of things . and remembering things that don't matter

>>12

Why would this be trolling?  Great book series.  Better than Lord of the Rings imo.  Can't wait til next year.

Fourthing "A song of ice and fire"

Tolkien invented an amazing world (stealing most of it from european myths) and filled it with tons of lore and backstory (oh gee, an extra book filled just with family trees) but that doesnt make it the best story every written.  Possibly the most complete, but far from the one Ive had the most fun reading.  Or discussing with other people.  He gets bonus points for being the first of his kind, and the most complex, but that doesnt make him the best.

ASOIAF is just completely riveting from the first page, till the 4000th page, and Ive been eagerly awaiting the conclusion for years.

I'm FURIOUS that I'm only seconding Malazan book of the fallen- especially when some of you guys are recommending things like MTG novels or paradise lost (canonical literature =/= enjoyable literature). I'm of the VERY FUCKING STRONG opinion that it complete surpasses LOTR in almost every way (it loses on the create-your-own-language side of things).

The series is epic in length, epic in scope, and epic in cast. The first few novels also have the benefit of being completely interchangeable, so you're able to read them in whatever order you can find the books in. The latest novel left me amazed at how well the author is beginning to draw things together, and I honestly can't wait to read the next two entries in the series to know how everything will end.

Try Steven Erikson out; I promise that you will not be disappointed by what he has accomplished :). 

Side note: I don't hate paradise lost, but there's so much other stuff out there now that would make for a much better read. Milton's epic does have 12 books, but more than a few of them can be finished in 20-30 minutes, and that's while reading critically. The first few are pretty amazing though- satan makes for quite the charismatic general.

Dark fucking Tower

Im on Toll the Hounds.  Its not very good.  Lot of good times with some of the other books though.

I can't believe that nobody here has mentioned the Dragon lance Chronicles.

If you have not read them yet, I suggest you do ASAP.

Personally, I don't find Malazan that good. I'm only on book four but this guy seriously has diarrhea of the pen and not in a good way. I also recently just finished reading the first 3 books of The Black Company and I find Malazan MUCH to similar to it. I know Steve Erikson is inspired by Glenn Cook and GRRM but he needs to make it less obvious. I liked the 3rd book a bit more though, but holy shit the second book was tedious to get through. That fucking desert was the Malazan version of Freiza's 'lol 5 minutes'.

>>45
Well, inspired by your post, started reading the first book (Moon something somehting).

What is this horrible pulp?

>>50
Um, it's a fantasy book? What in the world were you expecting from it?

>>51
Can't fantasy books be written by someone who actually is a writer?

>>52
They could in theory, but that doesn't mean they are.