Ive just finished the final book in the Fire and Ice Saga, and need some inspiration for what to read next. Something along the same lines would be great, an Epic tale across a few volumes. Any suggestions?

Julian May’s “Saga of the Exiles” is excellent and has recently been reprinted I think… It is Sci Fi but only just..

Wiki

There is a related “Galactice Mileu Trilogy” and a book “Intervention” to bridge the two.

Wiki

Joe Abercrombie’s “The First Law” Trilogy…

Raymond Feist – Rift War Saga

Still one of the best IMHO

+1 for the first law trilogy, say one thing for logan nine fingers say hes a c…..

if you have time to kill Robert Jordan’s wheel of time series will keep u going until the next rr martin and at least its finished

The first law is great, as above
wheel of time is good
Patrick Rothfuss is very much worth checking out, although he’s only published two books so far

Robin Hobb’s done some great stuff
Janny Wurts has written with Raymon Feist, the empire trilogy is a spinoff from the riftwar, but her solo stuff in the wars of light and shadow is great too

I found Neal Stephenson’s The Baroque Cycle really good
Quicksilver, The Confusion and The System of The World

Baroque Cycle

I’m on the second of the Dark Law trilogy at the moment. Some great characters, and a dark humour in places. Recommended.
We should forgive our enemies, but not before they are hanged.

Steven Erikson – Malazan empire series. Brilliant books.

wheel of time is good

Not that good, could have done with some serious editing in some of the later books.

Orcs by Stan Nicholls is pretty enjoyable.

+ 10 for Julian may, best read I’ve had in a long time, must be now rereading them for the 5th time.

Ash, by Mary Gentle- maybe a bit over-clever in places but it is fantastic.

Roger Zelazny’s Amber series… The first 5 in the series especially. It’d feel fresh and exciting if it came out today, never mind 40 years ago.

Already recommended … Joe Abercrombie is excellent- it does get a bit samey over time though- the same characters get used and used, sometimes with different names and faces. Definitely fits into the George RR Martin genre of “fantasy in which everyone is a dick”

Wheel of Time- yep, has good bits but they’re a bit drowned in the bad. Reading the Brandon Sanderson ones really does show up how badly Jordan had lost it. Not really sure I’d recommend it, too much of an investment in time. Radio edit required 😉

Speaking of Brandon Sanderson- again a little bit formulaic, it’s the same recipe every time- think of some interesting form of magic, write a story round it. But when it works, it works.

Haven’t read any Ray Feist for a while, I ended up not being able to tell which ones I’d read and which ones I hadn’t, they’re all basically the same. X of an angry Y. But the first few are excellent, as are the Janny Wurts crossovers.

Someone has just asked G.R.R. Martin the very same question on his blog. This is what he had to say about it :-

http://grrm.livejournal.com/316785.html

If you haven’t already ..

Stephen Donaldson
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever

Julian May’s “Saga of the Exiles” is excellent

+1

Stephen Donaldson
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever

+1 – but it’s a harder read than May’s books

Agree with you there John but worth sticking with as it’s also a fantastic read.

indeed it is

Has anyone read ‘The Lies of Locke Lamora’ the first of the Gentlemen Bastard series by Scott Lynch? It’s on my read list – seems well recommended.

If you something a bit more light-hearted – Chris Wooding’s trilogy; ‘Retribution Falls’, ‘The Black Lung Captain’ and ‘The Iron Jackal’..?

Robin Hobb’s done some great stuff

haha, female mentalist badly writing the thoughts of a young lad with a cop out deus ex ending and some bollocks about ships.

I’d rather read more of that terry goodkind rubbish (which is halfords apollo levels of bad) or poke my eyes out with a blunt thing.

Tad Williams

Old but well worth a look – The Winter of the World Trilogy (Anvil of Ice, Forge in the Forest and Hammer of the Sun) by Michael Scott Rohan.

Tim Lebbon’s “Fallen” is pretty good. one off book but set in a world called “Noreela”, and there are IIRC three other books set there – all stand-alone if I read his website correctly

The lies of Locke lamora is a good read but he only wrote the first 2 books and then went off the radar due to personal problems, Joe Abercrombie is a good read in a similar vein. I started out on Raymond E Feist, David Eddings and David Gemmell. Eddings and Gemmell may be a bit easy reading for some but if you want some good heroic fantasy and great characters I’d start there along with Magician by Raymond E Feist. Terry Goodkind’s Wizards first rule started off great along with Jordan’s wheel of time but both got lost along the way.

The left hand of god is worth a read by Paul Hoffman although he messed up the finish by copying his ‘favourite’ battle from history rather than inventing his own.

http://www.joeabercrombie.com/2013/03/12/bargain-electronic-blades/

Otherland by Tad Williams? Like some of the others it loses its way a bit in the middle, but is a great sprawling SF/fantasy read.

wouldn’t recommend wheel of time, as the writing is pretty immature.

KJ Parker wrote several interesting books, but not quite the same epic trilogy type.

…and of course there is Tolkein!