What was the first epic fantasy you read?

[ccharles000]

I have not been reading epic fantasies for all that long. When I was a teen I read Harry Potter but I'm not sure if that is an epic fantasy. Other than that I read redwall and that was about it for fantasy. The first books that I was sure were epic fantasy is The Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. About two years ago my boyfriend recommended them to me and I fell in love with fantasy.

 

[HellsGuardian]

The good old Lord of the Rings omnibus I inherited from my dad, then it was the Narnia Chronicles.

 

[Contrarius]

I don't remember if LOTR or Narnia came first. Not sure Narnia really qualifies as epic anyway....

 

[RTR]

I actually started out with Wheel of Time

 

[Carlyle Clark]

Feist's MAGICIAN series. I think.

Or maybe Gary Gygax's stuff. Don't remember if that's Epic though.

 

[murf99]

First epic fantasy I ever read was The Scions of Shannara by Terry Brooks. Absolutely fell in love with the genre. After that I read the first Shannara trilogy followed by LOTR, Wizards First Rule, and The Eye of the World respectively.

Its probably blasphemy for me to admit this but I enjoyed The Sword of Shannara much more than LOTR.

 

[Agassizii]

Haven't been into the fantasy genre for that long. I started out reading the Sword of Truth series and got bored with them after book 5. I moved onto the WoT series (currently reading book 3) and ASoIaF (currently reading book 1).

 

[Sipwood]

I remember my Dad reading me the Hobbit, and then I graduated to reading Lord of the Rings all on my own.

Pretty soon after that came the Shanara books (I think), and Narnia was in there somewhere.

 

[Loerwyn]

Most likely The Lord of the Rings, rather predictably. I'm not sure if The Hobbit counts as epic fantasy, but if so then that would almost certainly be the first.

 

[mars]

Lions of Al-Rassan by Kay or Conan (Hour of the Dragon)

I'd probably give up on reading if WOT, SOT or Shannara were the first

 

[DailyRich]

That exact edition. Those old Ballantine covers will always hold a certain mystique for me.

 

[Jeroen]

The Lord of the Rings

and then Feist's Magician

 

[PeteMC]

The same Hobbit -> LotR -> Shannara route for me too. Can't remember what was after that, Tanith Lee's Birthgrave or Storm Lord I think, or maybe Moorcock's Runestaff books.

 

[hippokrene]

I'll assume Narnia and the Wizard of Oz series aren't considered epic fantasy.

I *think* the first epic fantasy I read was some god-awful trilogy about a noble boy and his magic sword. It was a world where the nobles were all connected to one or more of the elements, and he wasn't connected to any so he was abandoned.

It was called the 'Darksword' trilogy.

 

[NickeeCoco]

The can't remember the name of the series or the author of the first epic series I read, but I do remember it was Arthurian legend and it liked the women's point of view, but no, it wasn't Bradley. It was in the YA section of the library.

 

[NickeeCoco]

I can't remember the name of the series or the author of the first epic series I read, but I do remember it was Arthurian legend and it liked the women's point of view, but no, it wasn't Bradley. It was in the YA section of the library.

 

[TooNice]

either Narnia or Conan. I forget which one exactly.

 

[algernoninc]

Shardik and Maya by Richard Adams, a few months before Lord of the Rings. and before both there was Helliconia by Bryan Aldiss and Dune by Frank Herbert, two borderline speculative fiction epics that made the transition for me from reading mostly SF to mostly fantasy.

 

[Nikita42]

It was Wheel of Time for me.

 

[sic's mom]

For me it was David Eddings Belgaraid and the Mallorean. Still love those books even though I have graduated to others that are more intense and better written. I do think they were a good starting point though. Caught my love of epic fantasy.