Favorite epic science fiction fantasy series (literature)

[pokerfan]

Only room for ten so write in those not on the list...

[CBGLuthier]

1. Zelazny's Amber series

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Amber

Never cared much for Tolkien. The stories are good but the writing is horrible.

[fizzgig]

7. that would be my answer

i got a new copy of the great book of amber for christmas because i'd read the first one so much the first couple of chapters had fallen off.

[dimbear]

18. One more vote for Amber. Remarkable how many of these there are:

for the misogynists, Gor----for the antiquarian, Pellucidar or Barsoom. An embarassment of riches.

[Biker13]

32. Another Amber Fan Here!

I read the whole series once a year.

Biker's Old Lady

[NewJeffCT]

2. I voted Tolkien

Because either George RR Martin or I will be dead before either he or I finish the Song of Ice & Fire series.

[TZ]

3. Wheel of Time! Robert Jordan's mega series (RIP)

Brandon Sanderson will be giving us the concluding volume in this series late this year.

[Aristus]

4. Elric of Melniboné, by Michael Moorcock.

Still waiting for them to announce the film franchise... x(

[Alexander]

5. Honorable mention should at least go to Hyperion, by Dan Simmons.

[wysimdnwyg]

6. Thomas Covenant Chronicles

The first set. The second trilogy was good, but not up to par. The current set is OK, but nowhere near the quality of the others.

[Curmudgeoness]

8. I really enjoyed the Dragonriders of Pern series.

This was in the 1980's, so I am not sure how the more recent books were.

[sarge43]

9. Clarke's The City and the Stars. n/t

[kentauros]

10. Jack L. Chalker's "Well World" series.

The Saga of the Well World
plus
The Watchers at the Well

[kentauros]

11. The Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stainless_Steel_Rat

I'd really like to see a big-budget movie of at least the first book sometime, too :D

[denbot]

12. Fredrick Pohl's Gateway Heechee series..

If two books can be called a series Larry Niven and Larry Parnell's Mote in God's Eye, and The Gripping Hand.

[kentauros]

19. Did you like "Gripping Hand"?

Because I found it really difficult to read, like they weren't trying at all.

[denbot]

27. Yes I liked it.

Mote, and Gripping hand was a little hard to follow. The Gripping Hand's newer characters were not as interesting as Mote's, but I really liked the first book so much I'll forgive the inclusion of the Blaine kids. The attraction for me are the moties, one of my favorite sci-fi species.

[kentauros]

28. I vaguely remember the Moties, other than

that they were intriguing :)

I really did enjoy the Heechee saga. Frederick Pohl has created some fine stories over the years.

[krispos42]

44. I annoted mine in that I converted seconds to years

Got tired of figuring out how far in the past things were happening.

And I find it unlikely that the MacArther or Lenin would have missed an entire planet in the system. They were there for several months looking with a wide variety of telescopes; they couldn't find the planet?

[msu2ba]

13. Foundation, but...

...Doc Smith's Lensmen series is a close second.

[pokerfan]

23. Forgot Lensmen

[pscot]

14. Wow! No Pratchett fans?

FrankHerbert was a hack, compared to Sir Terry.

[Swede]

15. The Riftwar books by Raymond E. Feist, was one of my favorites.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Riftwar_Cycle#The_Riftwar_Cycle

[some guy]

20. I liked the first few

of those books. Then I may have got tired waiting for the next one, so moved on to something else.

hmm. It just occurred to me that maybe the reason I don't really read much fantasy fiction is that much of it is serial, and I simply get tired of waiting.

[tigereye]

16. Hyperion - I think that counts as a series...

[ismnotwasm]

17. My latest favorite

Is "The Dark Tower" series by Stephan King.

[kentauros]

21. John Varley's trilogy "Titan" "Demon" and "Wizard"

:)

[slay]

22. Ender was ruined for me when I found out Orsen Scott Card is a right-wing loon

i always knew he was mormon but after 9/11 he went full on right wing CRAZY. i know RIGHT - the guy who wrote so much cool shit turns out to be a teabagger nutjob. i was shocked. go read some of his batshit insane essays on his "world watch" site and you'll gasp in horror too. Here's an example:

"WorldWatch
First appeared in print in The Rhinoceros Times, Greensboro, NC
By Orson Scott Card December 20, 2009
Sarah Palin's Book

I'm still in the midst of reading Sarah Palin's book, Going Rogue. I have been angry for more than a year now about the way she has been, and continues to be, savaged by the liberal media. She has done nothing to warrant this treatment. If she had been a Democrat with the identical record of achievements, she would be celebrated as one of the heroes of the Left.

Her only crime was that when she was chosen as McCain's running mate, their poll numbers shot up fast and far enough that the Left realized she might actually be the thing that beat Obama! Therefore she had to be destroyed.

And having once treated her with such gross unfairness and indecency (if you view their records dispassionately, there was nothing wrong with her, like inexperience or ignorance, that was not wronger with Obama!), the Left has to keep proving that their victim somehow deserved the vicious, snarling, tearing attacks on her.

So ever since her book came out, we have seen it reviewed as if it had been scrawled on toilet paper by a child. Many have reviewed the book as if its author were well-known for her stupidity, though in fact nothing is clearer than her vivid intelligence -- she is far smarter than any of the people I have heard call her stupid. For one thing, they are so stupid they call someone stupid without actually checking to see if she really is. That's stupidity."

oh but he's not done - read more if you can stomach it at: http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2009-12-20-1.html

[pokerfan]

24. Had no idea

:wow:

[slay]

25. I know right?!

i mean for such a talented writer to have so much hatred and be SO WRONG - I just can't read his books anymore. Ever again. There are far more open-minded authors who are just as good who I would rather spend my time on. Stephen King has a similar style as does Clive Barker in that they all flow well while covering deep and odd subjects. I've thought about going around to my local libraries and putting bookmark warnings in all of Card's novels telling people just what his deal is. Sad to see such a talent in the wrong hands - he's like the Frank Luntz of sci-fi. Doh.

[Posteritatis]

39. He went around the bend sometime after Ender's Game, at least

I don't feel bad for keeping a copy of that one on my shelf, not least because I found it at the age where a smart-social-outcast kid tends to benefit from stumbling over one of those.

[csziggy]

26. I'd vote for Pern, but there are so many others

C. J. Cherryh's Chanur Saga and her company wars series (Downbelow Station, etal)
Elizabeth Moon's Heris Serrano/Esmay Suiza group that start with Hunting Party

Any of the numerous series that started with an Anne McCaffrey book or two that were continued with other authors.

Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover series.

H. Beam Piper's Fuzzy series.

Spider Robinson's Callahan's Crosstime Saloon series.

The entire range of Andre Norton's spectrum of worlds.

And my favorite fantasy series of all time - Fritz Lieber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series.

[MilesColtrane]

29. Larry Niven's "Ringworld" books

[pokerfan]

31. especially if you include all the known space novels

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Known_Space#Stories_by_Niven

[Ikonoklast]

41. The writing was consistently good throughout.

Tough to accomplish.

I hope they make the movie before I die.

[Tikki]

30. Farmer's Riverworld...

Tikki

[Biker13]

34. "To Our Scattered Bodies Go"...

still haunts me! Good choice, Tikki!

Biker's Old Lady

[petronius]

33. Iain Banks - the whole Culture series (nt)

[retread]

35. Robin Hobb's three(9) : Farseer Trilogy, Liveship Traders Trilogy, and the Tawny Man trilogy.

So far as it has progressed. Patrick Rothfuss's The Kingkiller Chronicle: 1. The Name of the Wind and 2.(just released) The Wise Man's Fear

[Tikki]

36. Not so much epic but fun...the "Greenwich Village Trilogy"...

'The Butterfly Kid'....Chester Anderson
'The Unicorn Girl'....Michael Kurland
'The Probability Pad'....T. A. Waters

All dated from the late '60's...imagination gone wild...

Tikki
Hard to find...worth the search..check with local library.

[Iggo]

37. Barsoom.

My first, and my favorite.

[jp11]

38. The Death Gate Cycle.

[riderinthestorm]

40. Lots of good recs already but will add The King Raven Trilogy by Stephen Lawhead

I'm not sure why this trilogy is in sci-fi since it has a more historical fiction feel to it than sci-fi, but since the booksellers categorize it as sci-fi, I'll put it here too.

Really excellent series with lots of new twists on the classic Robin Hood story. I suspect Lawhead's series gets placed in sci-fi because he takes the myths and legends about Hood's "magical" abilities seriously. This is a "completely re-imagined epic of the man known as Robin Hood--told in a far more earthy, eerie and elemental way than ever before." In a lengthy appendix to the book, the author explains his belief that the story of Robin Hood may well have originated in Wales and provides ample proof that this just may be the case.

[Riftaxe]

42. Glen Cook's The Black Company series

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Company">The Black Company

for Humor in fantasy his rip off of Rex Stout's stuff is great in the garrett P.I. series, for me that and Terry Pratchett's discworld series are about a tie.

[distantearlywarning]

43. I love the Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

Only two books out so far, but can't wait for the next!

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

45. John Brunner

Stand On Zanzibar/The Sheep Look Up/The Shockwave Rider

Classified as sci-fi by The Powers That Be- I disagree, but there it is. This loose trilogy is more real-world relevant today than ever before.