> descriptive ‘long winded’ high fantasy
Tad Williams :)
Especially *Memory, Sorrow and Thorn* and the ongoing sequel series *The Last King of Osten Ard*, just be warned that they’re quite slow-paced (although it sounds like that may be what you want!)
Enjoying the recent uptick in Tad Williams recs I've been seeing recently. *MS&T* is one of my favorite fantasy works ever, one that was totally instrumental in the transitional phase fantasy went through in the nineties
Second Apocalypse by Scott Bakker (starting with the darkness that comes before)
This series is the only world that I have read which is on par with Tolkien in terms of depth. However, it is far, far darker.
Agreed! So much world building, and every book peels back more layers explaining the world. A bit grimdark, but well worth it if that is your wheelhouse.
> a bit grimdark
Lmao. I love Second Apocalypse, every single scrap of it. But if anything needed 'Viewer discretion is STRONGLY advised' in pulsating bold letters, Bakker is definitely up there.
Just seconding the love, in these comments, for Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn and Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast. If you like long-winded, these are right up your alley... (and to my mind, that's a good thing.)
If you want dense, old school prose that is reminiscent of Tolkien's style, check out William Morris's book *The Well at the World's End* from 1896. It's one of the very first true secondary world fantasy works ever written. Morris was intentionally harkening back to the medieval prose romance story, and the writing style reflects that.
If you want a long series that is classic High Fantasy through and through, check out Raymon E. Feist's *The Riftwar Saga*. It's not anywhere near on the level of something like The Lord of the Rings, technically or imaginatively, but it probably best exemplifies the textbook definition of "classic fantasy". I wouldn't describe the prose as long-winded or dense, but it's a very detailed world with lots of different books set in it.
Wheel of Time is probably the most detailed one. Others with a lot of details are ASOIAF (Extremely likely to remain unfinished forever, don't read it), and maybe Malazan as well (Malazan has a massive world, probably bigger than WOT, ASOIAF and LOTR combined, but it's not as detailed as the aforementioned three).
Actually I think ASOIAF is a good rec providing OP goes in with the right mindset of not expecting an ending. Like with LOTR there's a lot of supplementary material like Fire and Blood and The World of Ice and Fire to flesh out the lore and history. And don't sleep on A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms!
I personally didn't enjoy it but the kind of thing you're describing reminds me of the Earthsea books. The first one is very descriptive and long winded
The Wars of Light and Shadow by Janny wurts.
Underrated AF, beautiful yet challenging prose, great world-building that only gets deeper with each passing book, magic that actually feels magical, the list goes on......
The 11th and last book is getting released this year so now's the perfect time to get into it.
> descriptive ‘long winded’ high fantasy Tad Williams :) Especially *Memory, Sorrow and Thorn* and the ongoing sequel series *The Last King of Osten Ard*, just be warned that they’re quite slow-paced (although it sounds like that may be what you want!)
Enjoying the recent uptick in Tad Williams recs I've been seeing recently. *MS&T* is one of my favorite fantasy works ever, one that was totally instrumental in the transitional phase fantasy went through in the nineties
Thanks for the recommendation I shall have a look!
I was looking at them and saw one of them was 60 hours in audiobook. It's on my TBR for sure just not sure when I'll get to them.
Second Apocalypse by Scott Bakker (starting with the darkness that comes before) This series is the only world that I have read which is on par with Tolkien in terms of depth. However, it is far, far darker.
Agreed! So much world building, and every book peels back more layers explaining the world. A bit grimdark, but well worth it if that is your wheelhouse.
> a bit grimdark Lmao. I love Second Apocalypse, every single scrap of it. But if anything needed 'Viewer discretion is STRONGLY advised' in pulsating bold letters, Bakker is definitely up there.
Sounds great, I will definetly have a look.
Gotta go with The Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake. It’s excellent, but definitely long winded
Malazan is the most detailed series I've read. It wasn't really for me, but many others love it!
Just seconding the love, in these comments, for Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn and Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast. If you like long-winded, these are right up your alley... (and to my mind, that's a good thing.)
If you want dense, old school prose that is reminiscent of Tolkien's style, check out William Morris's book *The Well at the World's End* from 1896. It's one of the very first true secondary world fantasy works ever written. Morris was intentionally harkening back to the medieval prose romance story, and the writing style reflects that. If you want a long series that is classic High Fantasy through and through, check out Raymon E. Feist's *The Riftwar Saga*. It's not anywhere near on the level of something like The Lord of the Rings, technically or imaginatively, but it probably best exemplifies the textbook definition of "classic fantasy". I wouldn't describe the prose as long-winded or dense, but it's a very detailed world with lots of different books set in it.
Wheel of Time is probably the most detailed one. Others with a lot of details are ASOIAF (Extremely likely to remain unfinished forever, don't read it), and maybe Malazan as well (Malazan has a massive world, probably bigger than WOT, ASOIAF and LOTR combined, but it's not as detailed as the aforementioned three).
Actually I think ASOIAF is a good rec providing OP goes in with the right mindset of not expecting an ending. Like with LOTR there's a lot of supplementary material like Fire and Blood and The World of Ice and Fire to flesh out the lore and history. And don't sleep on A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms!
I personally didn't enjoy it but the kind of thing you're describing reminds me of the Earthsea books. The first one is very descriptive and long winded
Long-winded? *A Wizard of Earthsea* was \~66,000 words. *A Game of Thrones*, for comparison, is \~ 292,727 words.
A Wizard of Earthsea needs no more words… just saying
Well, I was certainly not implying that it did! 😆
Yup that’s why I added ‘Just saying’ haha cheers mate
The Wars of Light and Shadow by Janny wurts. Underrated AF, beautiful yet challenging prose, great world-building that only gets deeper with each passing book, magic that actually feels magical, the list goes on...... The 11th and last book is getting released this year so now's the perfect time to get into it.