My all time favorite epic fantasies come from Chinese literature.  If you want a Far Eastern version of Lord of the Rings, you'd have to read Journey to the West.  It is one of the most incredible fantasy stories ever!   at least to me anyway.  If you want more, you could read Outlaws of the Marsh and Three Kingdoms.  Its arguable that the last two aren't that  fantastical (subtle magic and fantasy elements at best), but they sure are epic.

I also love the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman.  Was surprised no one mentioned that.  It definitely blurs the line between science fiction and fantasy, but could easily be qualified as both.  I would also recommend the Orcs trilogy by Stan Nicholls.

Lastly, I highly recommend any of the Redwall books by Brian Jacques, at least read either Redwall, Mossflower or the Last Patrol.  And last but not least, the Chronicles of Narnia.  A far more readable fantasy series than Tolkien's.  Don't get me wrong, I have all the respect in the world for Tolkien's ideas, but his prose was kind of tiring to read after awhile, but that's just my personal preference.  I loved the Hobbit, and wish he had kept his writing style closer to that.

Redwall! I loved those books. They may be children's books but nonetheless some of the best fantasy out there.

I'd also have to echo Tolkien (taken as a whole - Silmarillion, Hobbit, LoTR), George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, and the first trilogy Stephen Donaldson's Thomas Covenant Chronicles. The second trilogy wasn't very good, and I strongly disliked what I've read of the 3rd trilogy.

I also have to mention three series that I almost never hear any mention of that I enjoyed immensely:

Riddle of the Stars, by Patricia A. McKillip (possibly my favorite book of all time)
The Coldfire Trilogy, by Celia S. Friedman. One of the most unique fantasy ideas I've ever seen.
The Rune of Unmaking, by Madeline Howard. The final book hasn't come out yet but I really enjoyed the first two. 

Edit: I just thought of another book that I need to mention: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke.

+1 for Pullman. I don't know how I managed to forget him, but damn, those are a good read.

Redwall is one that I forgot about and is a great read.  And since we've gone back to our childhood days by mentioning The Chronicles of Narnia, why not throw this classic children's series into the mix...The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander.

I still say that the whole saga of the Riftwar is very immense and well written.  And the series of books written by Jannuy Wurts...The Empire series.  This series is set in the Riftwar world as well, only on the other side of the Rift on the planet of Kelewan.  It follows the life and trials of Mara, who becomes a ruling lady in a violent world ruled by a very different sense of honour.

If you like the Riftwar series and have not read this series, then I highly recomment this one.

Tolkien is the prototype of epic fantasy and stands the test of time. 

C.S. Lewis' Narnia series is also a great epic story.

I enjoyed Stephen R. Donaldson's Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever trilogies.  Definitely epic in scope, but also definitely a difficult read.  And as someone else mentioned, Covenant is sort of an anti-hero, which makes it interesting and different. 

I don't believe anyone else has mentioned Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series.  I would call this "fantasy", and it certainly is epic (7 books).  Molds horror, sci-fi and fantasy elements into an enjoyable story.

At risk of (re) iteration, I think JRRT rules when you are talking about epic fantasy (although i haven't read him in years now). How he treats right and wrong is immense, but i suppose given when he was writing it isn't that incredible to believe and, despite his dry style, he still manages to convey incredible emotion. i remember being annoyed with him for making such a puny character into such a hero (when i was a teenager) but as i grew up i began to understand what he was attempting to do.

 i'm looking forward to getting my teeth into some of the authors mentioned here.

I also wanted to defend Goodkind  . While not the most brilliant story teller, his later books definitely up the ante on his earlier works. from book 3 (iirc) he perceptibly grows better at storytelling with each book. I think by about book 7 or  8 they are excellent. Unfortunately the last book tends to avoid the heights he scaled iwth the previous 2.

 the (original) Farseer trilogy was good but as for the T Covenant series, what a whining little

Spydyr, it's about time someone mentioned Lloyd Alexander. These were some of my favorite books as a kid and definitely qualify as epic fantasy.

+1 for Tolkien and Pullman. It's too bad they probably won't make any more of the Dark Materials books into movies; the first one was pretty good although it ended in a weird way. I'm still waiting for Peter Jackson's The Hobbit (with the cast from the LoTR movies, of course)!

I haven't read the Silmarillion; it's intimidating for some reason, but the other books were great (LoTR and The Hobbit). BTW, Tolkien trivia fact: the adult komodo dragon at the Houston Zoo is named Smaug.

I like Lieber and especially Robert E. Howard but I'm not convinced their works qualify for the dictionary definition of epic fantasy; they're terrific reads though. (Also, if you enjoy any of Howard's work, you should check out the 1996 movie The Whole Wide World. If he hadn't killed himself, who knows how many fantastic books he would have written?)

I think the problem with the Silmarillion is that it reads more like a history textbook than a piece of fictional literature, which can make for some rather dry reading at times.  I myself didn't read it in its entirety until earlier this year -- I'd tried twice before in the last 10 years, but I simply couldn't get through it at the time. 

I think the key is to treat the Silmarillion not as a novel, but as more of a (pre-Numenor) "historical account" of Beleriand and Middle-Earth.  Once I got into the right mindset, I was able to enjoy it. 

The Silmarillion always felt like reading the Bible to me - I felt like I should know it backward and forward so that I know what I'm talking about when it's brought up, but it's long and boring and dreary and I just don't care that much - {G}.

Jonnan

LOLOL...

Fantasy is like religion, people read and interpret it how they want. I'm sorry you found it boring, I too found it hard work at 14 years old to get through the first few chapters. But beyond that, the rewards were many...

Its no coincidence that many authors claim inspiration for Tolkien works, and some in modern terms surpass him. But I do feel it was truly the first fantasy novel that opened up the genre to the masses.

Number 1 for me has always been all things Middle-Earth. (I have a tattoo around my waste invoking the blessing of the Eldar in Tengwar- I know I am a bit of a dork...)  I agree that Sil was a hard read until I became an adult, and I didn't get around to reading it until a few years ago.  His books are the only ones I will buy multiple versions of just to collect them at 80-100 bucks a pop.

Number 2 is Terry Brooks' Shannara/ Word and Void Series. (Especially now that he has combined them!)  I had a hard time at first with "Sword," but his writing vastly improved after the first one.  His writing has been rejuvinated with his fantastic Genesis of Shannara series.

Number 3 is Anne McCaffrey's Pern novels, while kind of sci-fi, they HAVE to be considered fantasy because of the Dragons!

Number 4 is David Edding's Belgariad and Mallorean, plus the single Belgarath and Polgara stories.  I couldn't get into The Dreamers- kind of felt like all the characters from previous books recycled somehow.

Number 5 is Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series (but he really could have shortened it by SEVERAL books.)

Number 6 is Guy Gavriel Kay- any and all of his books, but most especially The Fionavar Tapestry.  I really like him as an author, because each of his stories have a completely different feel to them, which signifies a keen imagination and rare talent, he doesn't seem to be in it just to churn out another Trilogy or two.

Last, but not least is R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt books.

I like this thread!  it's the first one here that made me want to post a reply.  There are a lot of books listed here that I have wanted to try- thanks for posting!

Dork no! Its merely a case of degree's of the faithful.

In religious terms, you're a fanatic. lol

I read the Shannara series, didn't get on with it for your reason stated. Terry Brooks writing was well, poorer than others I favour.

Moorecock's Eternal Champion series is fantastic.  If you read all the books in the series, not just the Elric ones you see how everything (everything) ties together.  His books have a great way of revisiting earlier works and expanding on them and adding to the characters in a way that does not rewrite or cheapen them.  Of the two character lines in his books, the von Bek series and the Elric series are the more entertaining, but they are all great.

Star Wars is Science Fantasy, fantasy with added technology. It has the classic good/evil theme and magic which are the hallmarks of fantasy.

As for epic fantasy: Stephen R: Donaldsons The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. Those are amazing.

For me it is definitely Terry Pratchets Discworld and George RR Martins Song of Ice and Fire but that doesnt make other Universes worse. Tolkien, Star Wars, Pendragon Cycle theri all good ... and a lot more

If you guys haven't read :-

Frank Herbert - Dune

Raymond E. Feist - Magician

Then you're really missing out on some ace fantasy novels.

As to the guy who had a negative comment about the LotR movies, what were you smoking when you said that??? 2nd to The Godfather they are perhaps the greatest movies made.

Just, NO. there are waaaay to many glaring faults in the movies that it's not even funny.... the greatest heroes in the world almost get wiped out croosing from rivendale to the elfqueen butt some pesky princess just did it faster / safer than them lol -- making the river swell and take out the Naz'gul without the power of the blue ring of power lol -- and uncounteble others makes the movies a joke if you know the world. they are still good movies ( if we are talking directors cut) but they do not even get to top 5 best fantasy movies / television series.

As for what is the best fantasy book, i geuus it depends on why you read them. if you just want to read about battles and magic the dragonlance and forgotten realms are both worlds that have lots of well written novels as well as feist's novell's but if you read them as statements on ideology then the malazan book of the fallen series reign supreme followed by a song of ice and fire and the series that started with wizards first rule( arghh can'r remember the name of the series atm).

and don't cheat yourself of the 2 Thrawn series by Zhan in the starwars universe. by far the coolest chr ever invented... he is pure win.

See, it's lists like this that keep me convinced that Samuel R. Delany is right about the 'root' genre name. SF = speculative fiction. SciFi and Fantasy are subgenres and sometimes they overlap, at least for some readers. I'm sure many, many folks balk to see Dune called an epic fantasy even though the notion of prescience is a core theme of the stories. For others, the mere fact that Bene Gesserit are called "witches" might automatically make the thing a fantasy. But the important part is that Herbert tried to fuse good, character-based storytelling with some Big Ideas that included stuff he knew he was making up from whole cloth. And I won't even get started about how 'prescient' he seems now for having centered an early 1960s novel on both water scarcity and 'global' dependence on a limited resource that was essential for long-distance transportation.

Man, if the 'rethought 4X economy' could help something like melange appear in the occasional Elemental game, or at least the occasional GalCiv 3 game...

I'd like to add my opinion on the debate over Eddings.  For a long time, his books were some of my favorite fantasy books.  Admittedly, they were also the first fantasy novels I independently read (I was something like 7 or 8 at the time), and that probably causes me to feel nostalgia for them.  Now that I've read much more widely, I can still occasionally enjoy them, but they are no longer towards the top of my list.  I will say that the Belgariad were good, even now.  However, in the Mallorean, he tended to repeat the same plot points and characters (and I don't consider his plot based reason a valid excuse for doing that).  After those, I tried to read some of his other books, but I could never get into them.

One author you may want to look into, assuming you can find any of her books, is Andre Norton.  She is one of the more influential Fantasy/Scifi authors this side of Tolkien (And no matter what your personal opinion of his writing is, you can't deny his influence on the genre).  Norton did a huge number of novels, but unfortunately most of them are out of print.  My personal favorite series was her Crystal Gryphon series.

Alright, I went out and purchased Gardens of the Moon this weekend.  Want to see how good it is since so many peeps on here have recommended it.

Another good read are the Order books from L.E. Modesitt.  An intersting twist on the battle of Good v. Evil.

My favorite is The Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski, but not sure if you can count that as "epic"

My recommendations:

Robin Hobb - although as another poster pointed out some of characters are quite unlikable.

Russell Kirkpatrick - Fire of Heaven/Husk series.

Guy Gavriel Kay - The Sarantine Mosaic/Fionavar Tapestry series.

J V Jones - The Book of Words/Sword of Shadows series.

Brandon Sanderson - Mistborn series. Elantris is worth reading as well. He also has a lot of interesting material on his website, chapter notes, sample chapters, even a draft of one of his books.

Katherine Kerr - Deverry series.

Raymond Feist - Riftwar Saga. Magician is the first book in the series and well worth a read. Haven't found the later books in the series to be as good though.

David Eddings - Belgariad/Mallorean series. They're both pretty similar, so probably best to read something else between these series.

Kay Kenyon - The Entire and The Rose series. 3rd book isn't coming out until next year, and is more SciFi than Fantasy, but still

George R. R. Martin - A Song of Fire and Ice.

Sean Williams - Books of the Cataclysm. Only just started reading this, but seems interesting so far...

Agreed on all three of these, haven't read the others.

Glen Cook - Chronicles of the Black Company

Joel Rosenberg - The Guardians of the Flame (More of a guilty pleasure actually)

Some Russian Author - Nightwatch

L.E. Modesitt, Jr - The spellsong stuff, or the order/chaos stuff. He also writes good science fiction.

If you're ok with urban fantasy, try the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher.

If you want science fiction, I have recommendations in spades.