[krazydawg005]

I know I posted here a while back, but due to being so busy, I haven't really been reading. Now that life has calmed down considerably, I want to really get into some good fantasy.

Here is my age in case age matters for your recommendations..i'm a 22 year old who is finishing up his last semester of college this spring

As I think I've mentioned on this site before, I have read some Dragonlance novels around 8-10 years ago and that is about it in terms of my fantasy experience. I have read some of LOTR, but it was a bit too "slow" for my tastes. I also read a book you guys had in the book club a few months back about Issac Newton and Ben Franklin..."Newton's Cannon" i think it was called

I'm looking for some good epic fantasy, maybe some stuff that is a good series (finished series would be great)....
There is so much fantasy out there...it is so hard to know where to begin

[Brys]

I'll start off with the usual recommendations for epic fantasy:
Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen - 5 out of 10 published (though he's been pretty reliably publishing 1 book a year)
George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire - 4 out of 7 published
R Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing series (now finished though last book isn't yet published)

But as you said you liked Newton's Cannon, you'd probably enjoy the Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson, which starts with Quicksilver - it's a historical fantasy/historical novel/science fiction about Newton, Hooke, Leibniz, William of Orange, Charles II, James II, Louis XIV etc.

You may also want to try some other fantasy than just epic fantasy, so:
Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake (my favourite fantasy series so far, a lot of people complain that it's slow, but IMO it's a lot faster paced than LotR, not to mention almost infinitely better written).
Perdido Street Station by China Mieville (read it for his imagination, which is pretty much unmatched).
Heroes Die by Matthew Stover - epic fantasy with a twist

[Ouroboros]

I recommend ... the recommendations thread! See the sticky at the top of the forum. :) I'd cut and paste the link, but I'm on one of those bizarre airport lobby computer terminals which has a distinct lack of tool bars and buttons.

[Rob B]

HERE is a thread (http://www.sffworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12027&highlight=beginner) addressing your specific concerns, so I am closing this one.