A Song of Ice and Fire isn’t even the fifth longest epic fantasy series

There’s something about epic fantasy that seems to inspire authors go for broke. If you want a reading experience that will last you a long time, epic fantasy is really where it’s at, whether that means reading George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander, Stephen King’s The Dark Tower, and more, many of which are still being written today.

But which epic fantasy series reigns supreme when it comes to word count? Redditor u/Temibrezel compiled some of heaviest hitters into this handy dandy chart:

"Word Count of popular Fantasy and Science Fiction Series from Fantasy"

You know, around here we obviously read a lot of George R.R. Martin, and we’re intimately familiar with how long and dense his books are. So it’s a little surprising to see that A Song of Ice and Fire just barely cracks the top 10 fantasy series in terms of length. And although I’m guessing that will change when the final two books in his series are released — The Winds of Winter, we’re still waiting for you — if the length of those novels is consistent with what’s come before, I still don’t see A Song of Ice and Fire making it into the top 5.

And what series have made it into that rarefied company? The top spot is occupied by Raymond E. Feist’s Riftwar Cycle, about a pair of planets occupied by dimension hopping magicians. Feist has been putting out books in that series since 1982 and only finished in 2013, so that’s a lot of material to dive into.

Next is The Wheel of Time, a series started by Robert Jordan in 1990 and finished by Brandon Sanderson in 2013 after Jordan died before completing it. That should give you an idea of how long the series truly is. Also, interesting that 2013 is such a convergent year for the ends of long-running fantasy series.

In third place are Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books, although this is kind of cheating because although most of Pratchett’s books are set in the same world, many stand on their own and aren’t required reading to understand the rest. Still a lotta books, though.

In fourth place we have the Realm of the Elderlings series by Robin Hobb, consisting of three discrete trilogies of books. And in fifth place there’s The Saga of Recluce by L. E. Modesitt Jr., about the ever-changing relationships between the descendants of two technologically advanced cultures. That one is still being written.

I’d caution, however, that longer doesn’t necessarily mean more successful. The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings are both hugely successful book series, but they’re basically pamphlets compared to some of the works on this list. And Harry Potter may well be the most successful book series of all time and it’s in the low middle of the pack.

What do you all think? Does this give you any new reading ideas, or tell you which series to avoid?

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