Someone came up with this idea in the comments and I thought it would be interesting, especially because I recently started reading two would-be epic fantasies that are, in a word, DEEE-readful. About which more anon. Here are the epic series I’m considering for the list, but feel free to add more in if you feel they belong. To qualify, an epic fantasy has to be epic, it has to be big and fat and set in its own distinct, sprawling fantasy world. If the books in the series aren’t at least 600 pages apiece, (and 750 is better), they don’t count, although I’m willing to consider exceptions. For example, Glen Cook’s Black Company, in or out? I vote in due to the size and scope of the series, though not the individual books themselves. Harry Potter, on the other hand, is definitely out.
The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien
The Wheel of Time, Jordan
The Riftwar Saga, Feist
Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Donaldson
Shannara, Brooks
The Sword of Truth, Goodkind
Malazan Book of the Fallen, Erikson
A Song of Ice and Fire, Martin
First Law, Abercrombie
Prince of Nothing, Bakker
The Black Company, Cook
The Kingkiller Chronicle, Rothfuss
The Belgariad, Eddings
The Mallorean, Eddings
Dragonlance, Weis & Hickman
The Deathgate Cycle, Weis and Hickman
The Long Price Quartet, Abraham
The Stormlight Archive, Sanderson
Mistborn, Sanderson
The Red Knight, Cameron
The Demon Cycle, Peter Brett
I was a little surprised to go back and discover that Silverberg’s Majipoor Cycle was a short as it is. I remember Lord Valentine’s Castle being a huge book, not a mere 479 pages. Anyhow, feel free to suggest any other epic fantasies that you would argue merit consideration, but note that I’ve already decided that Guy Gavriel Kay’s, Lloyd Alexander’s and Robin Hobb’s books are of insufficient scale to qualify as epic fantasy, whereas John Fultz’s and Mark Lawrence’s books are simply too short to make the cut. And while one could make a perfectly rational argument for Pratchett’s Discworld in its totality, I don’t think it belongs here for stylistic reasons, if nothing else.