New to the forums but not new to books.  I have come to the end of yet another series/anthology/set of books and I feel like another friend has died.  I read at the speed of about the average paperback in one to two days so I go through these quickly (especially with three sick kids home from school).  Most recently I've come to the end of the Dragonlance series by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, or what I could get my hands on through this site anyway :). It seems a lot of these are out of print now.

  I've read the Xanth novels by Piers Anthony, I've gone through Diana Gabaldon, Anne McCaffrey and her Dragons, etc. 

I've run my local library to the ground and they no longer have any inter-library loan that I can use, unless I can come up with some new authors.  So does anyone have any new suggestions?  I'll take any suggestions at this point!  :)  Thanks so much!

You might enjoy the works of David Eddings.  I loved  The Belgariad series when I first read it, five books in total  Pawn of Prophecy, Queen of Sorcery, Magicians Gambit, Castle of Wizardry, and Enchanters End Game.  He then continued the series with another five books called The Mallorean, and there was then @3 more books that focused on specific characters backstories.  Eddings invents a world, and then takes you on a journey through it.  I thought this was great, and then in the sequel, he took you on a tour of the other part of the world.  He has two linked trilogies with different characters (The Diamond Throne series, and ?The Tamuli?)  I gave up after the Diamond Throne, because it was the same thing, new World, a tour, hey sequel, lets do another tour.  So what I am saying is, if you went with one series (and I would choose The Belgariad), you will enjoy yourself, and maybe through it's sequel as well, but if you try to read everything, you might feel a little disappointed.  So I guess I can heartily recommend him with reservations (is that even possible?  ;)  )

I also liked the Dragonlance and Belgariad series when I read them some years ago.

Have you read Jennifer Roberson's "Sword Dancer" series? I think they call them Tiger and Del now after the main characters but I enjoyed those. Sara Douglass is another author who writes series books. I've only read one or two of them because I actually prefer books not in a series or at least not any bigger than a trilogy. :)  What about Terry Goodkind? His Sword of Truth series has a bunch of books. Again, I read the first one and enjoyed it but just get overwhelmed by that many books and pages.

Jacquline Carey

Kate Elliot

Terry Pratchett

Robert Rankin

Robert Asprin

Julian May

They all have series that I have read and enjoyed. The Kate Elliot books I got from PBS and is the reason I joined!

This isn't a long series, but if you like Weis/Hickman, their Death Gate Cycle is excellent.  It's 7 books.

David Eddings, Robert Jordan, oh you have lots of good reads here!

How about Terry Brooks, his Shanarra series? 

I use www.fantasticfiction.co.uk to figure out the order of books in series.  It's a great site.

You might try Mercedes Lackey and Katherine Kurtz; both have good series.

For a fantasy series with a twist, Lian Heron's Tales of the Otari are great! 

Good luck!

Vicky

I just finished a 6 book series that you might like -- actually it's 2 three book sets, but it all follows. The Dragon Prince series and the Dragon Star series by Melanie Rawn. I guarantee you will not finish one of THESE books in two days!

I have not posted these books to my bookshelf yet, but if you want all six in one fell swoop, send me a PM

i also recommend Mercedes Lackey.  her Valdemar books (25 novels, 4 anthologies) are mostly grouped by trilogies.  i'd suggest reading them the first time in the order that they were published, though i think there's some where she was doing two trilogies at once - read the whole trilogy where the first book was published first, then the next one.  when i re-read them i read them in chronological order as far as the events go, but the first time a lot of things won't make sense if you didn't read the Arrows of the Queen trilogy first.   her Joust series (4 books so far) is also particularly good.  i like nearly all of her books, but those are my top 2 series.

Julian May and Terry Pratchett were also previously mentioned and enjoyable.  Julian May's Pliocene Exile, Intervention, and Galactic Milieu series (really one large storyline - and you can read the Pliocene books first or last in my opinion), are favorite re-reads of mine.

The Sun Sword series by Michelle West was very good, and it's also quite long and complex, which always takes me longer to read.  only one of the 6 books is less than 700 pages - and not by a lot.

I'm loving these suggestions.  Thanks so much.

The almost 700 page War of Souls Dragonlance books took me two days each (I got through that trilogy in less than a week) so the longer the books the better, same with the sets, I like long sets.  The Dragonlance thing was hard to figure out where to start and what order to read so I'm really enjoying the suggestions on where to start and what order to read.  I hate starting a book only to find out I should have read 'such and such' book first, ya know?  And I like closure too, to some degree.  I like to read sets that have some sort of end, or a possibility of end anyway, not cliffhangers (I hated x-files on TV because of that! :) )

I'm writing these all down and now I just have to get more credits!

You might try, Naomi Novik.  Link.

Classics:

Stephan R Donaldson's Thomas Covenant books. 

David Eddings is okay but later stories disappoint, the story stalls. 

The first Terry Pratchett Disc World.

The Earthsea books of LeGuin.

Marion Zimmer Bradley`s Darkover books. Huge series, lots of varied stories, multiple generations

Christopher Stasheff. He has multiple series of books.

I loved Katherine Kurtz Deryni series starting with CAMBER OF CULDI.

Another good (and long) series is the Deverry series by Katharine Kerr.  I believe the first book in this series is titled DAGGERSPELL.

Sara Douglass has 2 series that I really enjoyed - The Wayfarer Redemption series has 6 books and the Troy Game has 4 books.

Have you read David Eddings--he has several, the first ones I read are the Belgariad series.  I think he has lots, lots more by now--and I remember he had a sense of humor, which is always a plus.

Seconding a bunch of earlier recommendations:

--David Eddings'  Belgariad & Mallorean cycles are great.  The series has been nicely republished in a set of 4 trade PBs.

--Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series is also a keeper.   Start with either the 'Arrows' series (first written) or the 'Mage Wars' series (first chronologically). 

--Katherine Kerr's Deverry series is long, a bit complex and absolutely fabulous.  I can never remeber if Daggerspell or Darkspell is first...

These three series are all on my keeper shelf.  In fact, I've re-read all of them and had to replace most of them over time.  (My 'Last Herald Mage' series is in pieces, but they are first editions and I just can't part with them.)

The Death Gate cycle is good, but I didn't like it enough to keep it (each his own.)  Same with the Thomas Covenant.  Everyone who reads fantasy should give Pratchett a try, likewise LeGuin.

Ray Feist has a few linked series that aren't bad.  They aren't high art, but they're a decent read.  And he's still writing them so there's the potential for more.  (All of the previous are completed series.)

 I second Sara Douglass's Wayfarer Redemption, it's a great series.

 You may also want to try the Rhapsody series by Elizabeth Haydon. Fantastic writings and her first 3 books are quite long. The 2nd two are not as long, but the writing is just as good as the beginning books.

Don't forget Terry Goodkind's "Sword of Truth" series which starts with "Wizard's First Rule".

On a side note, this series is coming to a TV screen near you as TV series -- I am not sure they will do it justice, but hey, it's a fantasy series on TV....

I will second the Rhapsody series.  There is actually a sixth book in the series now called The Assassin King.

You've received a lot of recommendations for good fantasy series, so I'm going to recommend some historical series:

John Jakes' North and South Trilogy:  North and South,  Love and War, Heaven and Hell  (one of my favorite series, I own them all in hardback)

John Jakes' Kent Family Series:  8 books in total starting with The Bastard.  Check out total list on this FantasticFiction.com page /www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/j/john-jakes/. 

Bernard Cornwell's Grail Quest trilogy, Warlord trilogy or Saxon Chronicles.  Here's his page on Fantastic Fiction: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/bernard-cornwell/

I haven't read the Kent Family series or any of Bernard Cornwell's books yet, but have heard good things about them.

Morgan Llywelyn has a Celtic series that combines history and a bit of fantasy.  Bard might be the first one...

I LOVE Kristen Britain's Green Rider Series (There are only 3 - she needs to write faster! LOL)

Robin Hobb's trilogy of trilogies would be perfect for you.

The Farseer trilogy is first (Assassin's Apprentice is the first book).

Then the Liveship Traders trilogy (starts with Ship of Magic).

Then finish it off with the Tawny Man trilogy (Fool's Errand is first).

9 good-sized books to keep you entertained for a while.

Robin Hobb's trilogy of trilogies would be perfect for you.

plus the last book in her 'Soldier Son' trilogy was just released in HB - something like 1700 pages in those 3 books.   

the Tawny Man trilogy is a followup to the Farseer trilogy with some of the same characters.  i don't think the Liveship Traders trilogy is related to the the other two, though i believe it's set in the same universe.  (i know i haven't read the Liveship books because i simply can't get past the first few pages of the first book, but i totally enjoyed Farseer & Tawny Man.)

I really enjoyed Anne Rice's vampire series