Fantasy Epics You Should Read

Reading is always fun and sometimes you need something more than a few featherweight pages. Sometimes you want a heavy, weighty read that digs deep into a beautiful and maybe horrifying world. Sometimes you want an Epic journey of fantastic proportions. If that's what you want here are four different series you should take a look at.

The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
It's a classic, so I won't be spending much time talking about Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. If you are interested in reading epic fantasy series you most likely have found the Lord of the Rings (like it, or not) already in the course of you're reading. I list it here because it IS an iconic work, and that it's worth taking a look at if you haven't managed to get to it. Even if you don't like Tolkien's style it might be worth a read, just to see where so many others have drawn influence from.

The Malazan Books of the Fallen by Steven Erikson
I will always rave about these Malazan Books of the Fallen. Steven Erikson has been an anthropologist, is an anthropologist. And in writing military scenes in this epic tale he has covered and focused on what he learned from reading soldier's accounts of Vietnam. It's an epic that covers the span of time, crossing ages entirely. Gods, ascendant beings and dragons plot in the shadows and a few grizzled soldiers swing in the wind defying, losing often and winning on occasion.

The Song of Fire and Ice by George R. R. Martin
Family members read this series first and suggested it to me. All I can say is. Read it. Read it. Read it. Martin's style is masterful, his prose wonderful and his ideas riveting. He has no problem delving into the twisted pieces of humanity, and what results is some truly awe inspiring characters. This is a series that I've never doubted or waned in my desire to continue reading. If you're looking for fireball and lightning bolts type magic this isn't the place to look but nonetheless there are fantastic works running through and through the series. Not to mention...whispers of dragons.

The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan
The first thing that needs being said is it really is worth reading. At times Jordan can seem very heavy handed with his prose. It can be awkward and overly weighted down. The ideas and the story at its heart is a wonderful one though. There can also be times where the female gender comes through as rather shallow...many of the heroines are unlikable at best and polygamy occurs with the main male protagonist and three female protagonists. The story is most definitely an epic one, and now after Mr. Jordan's death and Brandon Sanderson's rendering in Gathering Storm (After his death Brandon Sanderson was asked to continue the story using Mr. Jordan's notes). The vision is Robert Jordan's still definitely, but even as a fan of the series I prefer Sanderson's personal flair that he's added to the series. There will be two further novels in the series, and I can't wait to see where they lead.