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A couple of times. Where does one go after that for quality epic fantasy (aka romance for students of literature)? I feel like I started at the top and anything else will just be sub par. Any recommendations? What's your favorite fantasy literature?

A Song of Ice and Fire for me.

Lots of stabbing of backs too!

Nothing wrong with a bit of Druss the Legend.

If you want something else epic and tragic with "literary merit", maybe try Bernard Cornwell's Warlord trilogy (The Winter King, Enemy of God, and Excalibur. It's his retelling of the Arthur legend set in a much-more-historical late 5th-early 6th century England; very much Arthur as he really could have been. It's not entirely true to what we have put together as likely history, as he does have Merlin as Arthur's contemporary, but it's REALLY, REALLY good. I'm only halfway through book two and it is great stuff. Cornwell surprises me sometimes; he just covered Tristan and Iseault in the middle of it in less than a chapter. Cornwell writes bloodier, earthier stuff than Tolkein, but I strongly recommend giving it a try.

Second recommendation is Gene Wolfe's Knght and Wizard. Wolfe is one of the most brilliant writers working today. This is a very different style from Tolkein, with an unreliable first-person narrator, but it's amazing. Lots of depth, layers and nuances, and understated uses of and references to classic mythology. Wolfe really rewards multiple reads, too.

My third recommendation is Jack Vance's incredible Lyonesse trilogy. Suldren's Garden, The Green Pearl, and Madouc. Vance is much more playful than Tolkein, with much more humor, and characters who revel in playful and circuitous dialogue, but this is another world based on real-world legends expanding on them with exceptional creativity. There is also a similar sense of a historical past which is fading and going into legend. This and LotR are tied for my favorite series of all time.

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A Song of Ice and Fire is good; if you're going to pick up a modern, excessively padded-out series by an author with no ambition of telling a good story efficiently you could do a lot worse. The first book in particular is quite good.

Edit: Legend, the original Druss book, is a bit of a classic, too. A nice fantasy re-write of a bit of a Thermopylae-type story.

Feist is crap. Sorry. He's fun when you're a teenage D&D nerd (as I was), but even then I realized what I was reading was glorified fan-fiction or adaptation of someone's RPG campaign. He, like the Dragonlance books, gets a lot of nostaliga nods.

Well Mannahnin, you've got my attention. I will definitely be looking into those. Just got to figure out where to start. It may be with Cornwell as I've always liked Arthur. Thanks for the advice.

I'd say take the serious factor down a few notches and check out Jack Vances series of Dying Earth books.
It's one of those types of series that you'll keep coming back to read.

Vance's Dying Earth is awesome as well, but it's a further departure. I think Lyonesse is an easier transition from more traditional fantasy.

Mannahnin wrote:
A Song of Ice and Fire is good; if you're going to pick up a modern, excessively padded-out series by an author with no ambition of telling a good story efficiently you could do a lot worse. The first book in particular is quite good.

It feels more real to me due to said padding, though the winners are obviously Jon, Dany, Tyrion, Arya, and Sansa. Maybe Barristan and Sandor too.

Also, I really want this to happen:

C: Who are you?
A: The God of death, and today is your day.

Also, no one mentioned Book of the New Sun.

"Perdido Street Station" (and "The Scar", and "Iron Council") while excellent is more of a steampunk/magic cross-over than a fantasy saga.

YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO!

The Worm Ouroborous by E.R. Eddison. Written in the early 20th C., it is an awesome story written in an 'epic' kind of style. Not quite Paradise Lost or Shakespeare, but definitely not your everyday prose. Really, really cool read, although the first 30 pages or so can be rough to get through. Once you find the groove, the characters, dialogue and situations are so epic, you'll want to read it again.

A decent recommendation. I read it when I was a kid and didn't really appreciate it, but I often think it deserves a re-read now.

Robin Hobb has a decent set of books in the Farseer, Liveship and Tawny Man trilogies, however I dunno if it would fit your criteria as "romance". I also enjoy Song of Ice and Fire however I agree with Mannahnin that there is a bit too much padding.

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant are quite good, if odd. I could also recommend Steven Ericson's Mazalan Book of the Fallen series. A bit pulp at times, but pretty epic and has a huge scope, too.

Soladrin wrote:

That series is awesome.

Also, surprised no one has mentioned this yet:

After LoTR I have read little in the way of fantasy
If you want to read Arthurian tales you would do well with Mallory imho

Stephen Brust's Vlad Taltos novels are pretty interesting, too. I highly recommend them. He has a few other books set in that realm which are good, but the ones about Vlad are his best works IMO.

George R.R. Martin's works are epic. I'll add my voice to the others who are recommending his stuff.

+1 to George R.R. Martin. He can be frustrating at times, ie "Get back to Tyrion's story, fool! I don't care about the Ironmen!" but of course, the suspense is half the fun. I don't think I've ever hated a character in a book more than Cersei Lannister. Actually, I don't think I hate anyone in real life as much as I hate her.

I like Dragonlance (most of it. Anything by Weiss and Hickman is usually reliable. Check out the Deathgate Cycle as well) and the whole Dark Elf storyline from R.A. Salvatore. The Dark Tower series by Stephen King is pretty friggin' awesome as well, though I'll be the first to admit that I'm a bit of a King fanboy so YMMV. Also, there's still more Tolkien for you to read if you enjoyed LoTR. The Silmarillion is pretty much the bomb, if a bit intense to read. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I always considered the Dune series to have a distinct "fantasy" feel to it, so it wouldn't be a bad choice either.

Personally, I think the entire Shannara series is garbage. Terry Brooks is a complete hack.

It's epic! It's fantasy!

How in the bloody hell did I forget about Terry Pratchett?

Chowderhead once again shows that he is a man of class and impeccable taste.

No love for Moorcock? Its a bit trippy/kinda dark (and seems inspired by a bad acid trip, you can definitely feel the 1960s/70s oozing off the pages at times... ), but the Elric of Melniboné series is a good start, and definitely a favorite of mine, I enjoyed it much more than Tolkien's works. While Tolkien is definitely a better writer and gave more thought to his writing, I prefr Moorcock's Sword and Sorcery style to Tolkiens High Fantasy style.

Monster Rain wrote:Chowderhead once again shows that he is a man of class and impeccable taste.

bs! Just last week I only helped 17 old ladies across the road!

Edgar Rice Burroughs (John Carter on Mars)
James Branch Cabell
H Rider Haggard
L Sprague de Camp
Ursula K Le Guin (Earthsea)
Fritz Leiber
Robert E Howard (Conan)
Roger Zelazny (Chronicles of Amber)

if you havent read it already, The Silmarillion by Tolkien is good

Pratchett is probably my favourite author and he is definitely worth reading, but it's not really in the same vein as LOTR.

Do pick it up though. And don't feel you have to start at colour of magic.

Well Pratchett obviously and I also enjoyed the Dragonlance books when I was a young un. The twins follow up is pretty good too (think a human Tyrion and Teclis where Teclis is utterly evil).

And how has The Black Company not been mentioned yet?

I like the look of this fellow.

The Worm Ourobouros is supposed to be great, but I haven't read it yet. Same with Hodgson's The Night Land.

Leiber (particularly his eallier works) is fantastic, but his oeurvre is short fiction, and the picaresque. Likewise with Moorcock and Howard. Howard never wrote longer; Moorcock and Leiber's longer works tend to be weaker. Moorcock in particular.

Pratchett doesn't write serious stuff, but his comedy sometimes has some real profundity. Reaper Man is an absolute classic.

Definitely agree about Pratchett being profound at times. Night Watch and Wee Free Men both have extemely powerful sequences.

Also, the Johnny series is generally very underated but it's absolutely excellent in my view.

Second the Terry Pratchet suggestion, especially the Night Watch books.

I'd also suggest.