Unsuccessful epic fantasy?

Brian G Turner

Fantasist & Futurist
Staff member
Supporter
Joined
Nov 23, 2002
Messages
26,417
Location
UK
Can any one point me to epic fantasy series - multiple heroes, and multiple books - that have been forgotten by the world, or are otherwise rarely mentioned?
 
Excellent - that's the sort of example I'm looking for. :)

It's more to provide context, as otherwise it would be easy to think that epic fantasy = instant reader hit. I want to see where it hasn't been, and why.
 
How about Hugh Cook's books? I'm not sure if they'd count, because they don't follow the traditional epic structure, as far as I know. I suspect that his strange titles didn't help, either.
 
CC, that list had a lot of the books I read as a teenager in it! I have a soft spot for popcorn fantasy or cozy fantasy. I prefer the more current stuff, but reading Feist or Eddings is still fun because I have great memories of it.

I've read Lackey, Eddings, Feist, King, Anthony, Goodkind, Clemmens, Farland, Brooks from that list so I guess I've read a lot of bad fantasy!
 
i think the stuff we need to find is not necessarily "failed", but more "forgotten" - i can't think of anybody else who even knows of Oath of Empire, let alone has read it, yet there are reviews aplenty on Goodreads. it clearly has done some business over time, but it was never the mega-hit series that, say, Rothfuss, Lynch, Sanderson, Hurley, Elliott etc et al, have all turned in. what about Paul Kearney's Sea Beggars, or Monarchies of God? had great critical reviews, yet barely anybody has read them or mentions them.
 
None come to mind at the moment.
 
Last edited:
Read Shardik, otherwise Maia doesn't make much sense? However Maia is a very much darker grittier story. I'm not sure I can read it again I (read it twice).
 
Read Shardik, otherwise Maia doesn't make much sense? However Maia is a very much darker grittier story. I'm not sure I can read it again I (read it twice).

Haven't seen a copy of that book in 15 years . Is Maia even still in print?
 
Well, Maia is available in Kindle, but not technically "in print" other than used. I remember it making sense. Maybe I would have gotten more out of it had I read Shardik, but I'm not so inclined after reading Maia. I just found it gratuitous. As one reviewer on Amazon stated:

Some parts don't really ring true; I did not find it convincing, for example, that Maia could be excited to orgasm by the whipping of a fellow concubine, and then so thoroughly revulsed by all the violence (and there is plenty) that comes later.

I would think it would take a hell of a lot of Pavlovian training to accomplish this. But hey, it's fantasy...and it comes off that way...oh dear, that pun was not intended! (but I'm going to leave it anyway--the :devilish: made me do it)
 

Similar threads


Back
Top