I'm trying to find stories that have a generally feeling of epic story-telling. Stories that spin a tale with such feeling in them that you're compelled into following them until the end. The ideas in them and the scenes shown will basically blow people away when the story is read.

I can't really describe it, but stories I'd consider to have the "epic" feel are things like Wastelands of Time by joe6991, Reload by Case13, In the Breaking by nyet khan, and Nine Broken Mirrors by Ayien, Tight Spot by Hakanamu, and Emperor by Marquis Black.

That or crack that works to draw out a feeling of overwhelming awesome. i still can't really figure out what I'd throw under the label of "epic".

 

The Hero Trilogy also by Joe if you've yet to read it. Also By the Divining Light By Enembee and its sequel.

 

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3092103/1/Queens_Of_Darkness_Ladies_Of_Light

I hate Thal for writing this and then abandoning it.

 

I know a few that are not quite DLP standard fare, even though I'm sure many of us have read them and enjoyed them. I don't think there is any story as epic as Joe's trilogy, just in quantifiable epicness that transverses the literal universe.

There's a pretty long HP/RR founder's fic out there that is pretty epic. It gets drawn out in places, but the world is well built, and the OC's are well crafted. The writing quality isn't that great when compared to stories like Joe's trilogy, but it is unique. The author could benefit from a beta.

There is also the ring of gold trilogy. Again, not typical DLP fare, but the plot is very good. Starts off in Ginny's POV, but I wouldn't not read it because of that, as it is Harry centric

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2567446/1/The_Ring_of_Gold
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3067387/1/The_Amulet_of_Stone
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3548008/1/The_Jewel_of_Darkness

Also, I'll probably get lynched for mentioning this trilogy, but the R trilogy by greengecko. It's nearly 2 million words (written over 6 years, and still being updated). Its the only readable story that has Snape as Harry's adoptive father. Don't let that stop you. The pairing changes a bit, but it's Harry/Tonks for the most part. Harry's power in this story is quite awesome, as is the journey it takes him on.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1795399/1/Resonance
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2569561/1/Revolution
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3470741/1/Resolution

I read the latter 2 trilogys at hpff.com, so I don't know if the ffn versions are identical.

 

Let's see... When I think epic, I think the following:
(In order from older to newer)

Barb's Trilogy on fictionalley
Years of Rebellion on fanficauthors
Sacrifices Arc on FFN (by Lightning on the Wave if you can't find it)
Prince of the Dark Kingdom on FFN

PotDK is pretty much the only one that is universally accepted as a good fic on DLP, though significant segments of DLP like some of the others.

Barb's Trilogy "suffers" from being written post-GOF and thus you may feel a disconnect in regards to some characterizations. Out of the large multitude of romances in it, only one is actually any good and it's unfortunately the one least relevant to the plot. The ending of the last book sucked (though, to be fair, it didn't suck as bad as Voldemort's kill-off in DH), and many would argue that the last book itself wasn't as good as the first two. I would disagree in terms of writing quality, but it was simply too long.

Years of Rebellion is abandoned, but you should still read it. Outside of some iffy mood swings early on in the story (by more than just Harry), it's what every epic post-OotP fic ever wanted to be, really. Most of the romance is fairly well done, and the OCs are interesting and believable.

Sacrifices is retardedly long (3 million words). It is also retardedly angsty, and it's HP/DM slash. That being said, it has incredible world-building, incredible characterizations of both originals and OCs, and very solid writing. It's not for everybody, and the fifth book is sometimes difficult to get through, but I felt it worth it to read the last two. I should warn you that you only begin to get any idea of the true scope of the world she crafted in book 3, and a better idea in book 4.

Prince of the Dark Kingdom is a fairly brilliant AU that uses secondary (and primary) canon characters in new and interesting ways, oftentimes better than they were used in canon. Not much to say except that I highly recommend reading this.

 

No one would ever consider HP/DM slash as epic even if it is written brilliantly.

Unless you are a fucking fangirl.

 

If it's written brilliantly then it's written brilliantly. That's what I'm looking for most of all.


Not that it ever is written brilliantly, however.

 

Ectomancer by Rusty Red, for amazing world building and tone of the story.

 

If good world-building is something that makes a story epic, than Circular Reasoning fits the bill handily. It's got that excellent Deep Alternate History vibe that the better post-OotP fics have - combined with time travel, violence, insanity, and pure awesome.

 

Hmm...there's been so many epic stories that I've read over the years.

Here's a list of, maybe not the top three, but some good ones that people haven't mentioned.

Harry Potter:

I haven't followed Harry Potter in a while, but here are some old classic fics.

Reign Of Power - Classic independent Harry fic of the genre that's died out. Highly recommended, epic world, although the ending was a bit of a letdown compared to the epic world she was building (one that perhaps would have been impossible to fully explore).

Harry Potter and the Hero's Path - Bewarned, the first few chapters are pretty meh. But afterwards the author really starts getting his stuff together, and weaves an amazing story. It's the genre of Harry's childhood is completely changed, and then he spends seven years at Hogwarts (although the author only got to the fourth year). I honestly have no idea when and why he stopped writing. A shame.

Of Blood and Power - Probably the most stereotypical, but best-written, of the old independent Harry genre. You can't read independent Harry without reading this.
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If you read fanfiction outside Harry Potter, there's also:

Fuinjutsu - This is a story I remember as extremely good. The last chapter was simply haunting, and one of the chapters that have affected me most in my time reading fanfiction.

Twenty Times Uzumaki Naruto Didn't Die - You probably have heard of this story, but it's amazing and sad at the same time. Explores a concept more fully than any other fic in the Naruto fandom.

Dry Heat, Cold Rain, Green Blade Trilogy - I don't know if you follow Bleach, but most of the fandom is fairly lacking. I found this series a very nice change from that. The battles are great, the humour is awesome, and some pretty serious themes are explored. The first fic is alright, but the second fic is great. Best of all, it's short: 10K words for the first story, 30K for the second.

Cast Away - This is a Lord of the Rings - actually a Silmarillion - one-shot. It's sad, tragic, and amazingly written. I highly recommend all of the author's work.

 

Eh, if we're going for the questionable classics, you might as well include things like

Power of Time
In the Company of Secrets
Taking Control (yeah, just kidding)
A lot of Ruskbyte's earlier work

 

What about one of the coolest most epic story series around. I submit for your consideration The Denarian Trilogy by the great Shezza88.

 

The Path of Decision by lulu42. The first two chapters turned me off of it, but the rest of the story was spectacular and it was my favourite WIP back when Denarian Trilogy was still going.

 

A Meeting Between Heaven and Earth - Oneshot with a badass sage Naruto.

 

In no particular order:

Renegade Cause by our own angelofdreams13 Silens Cursor (unfinished)

On the Way to Greatness by mira mirth (unfinished)

Forging the Sword by DLP's own Myst Shadow (unfinished <-- dammit)

VINCET by nos tres reges (complete, but the sequel isn't)

Breach of Contract by our own MattSilver3k (complete)

Summer of '96 by respitechristopher (complete)

The Golden Age by Arsinoe de Blassenville (complete)

What Lies Beneath by MasterSlytherin (complete)

Harry Potter and the Trademark Dispute by Clell65619 (complete, and complete crack)

Altered Destinies by DobblyElfLord (complete)

The last dinosaur's roar by long-time DLPer IP82 (complete, one-shot)

Dimension Hopping for Beginners by our own nonjon (complete and soooo crack-y)

After the End by Arabella and Zsenya (complete)

A Mother In Law's Love by DLP's uber-scientist Pers (complete)

enembee's stuff (already mentioned)

Full Pensieve's stuff (already mentioned, and I've lost the actual link)

No doubt I'm leaving off a lot of great ones, and YMMV on how "epic" some of these are considered. While I thought the first of the Denarian series was certainly well thought-out, I didn't like it enough to continue with the sequels. <-- that's blasphemy here, but after the 473rd time I read "his dark power", it was all I could do to finish the first installment. <?shrugs>

Cheers.

 

Ambient by Caliburn does it for me, but that depends on your definition of 'epic feeling'.

 

The Unforgiving Minute by Voice of the Nephilim is fucking epic.

 

Idk if you like Star Trek TNG, but I remember reading this trilogy with baited breath, years ago. Very well constructed characters & villain and it goes beyond the silly gimmicks the TV show was a slave to.

 

the writing is kinda shitty. And the main villian is more powerful than the borg. :/

 

1. There was a time travel Naruto fic that was amazing, but it hasn't been updated for a year and was getting to the point where Naruto simply couldn't catch a break. "Time and Again" and its sequel (updated last April, I think) "Here and Now". I didn't like Naruto much in this fic, and I felt the plot was a bit too contrived (Naruto is the most unlucky person ever, I feel), but it does take the plot in interesting directions. Naruto is very underpowered as well, compared to Orochimaru and the like. I liked it and it felt very epic. I can't really quantify why, though.

2. ShaperV is a strange case; his world-building is pretty interesting, and the powerups he makes up are invariably interesting and original...but I don't like his writing style at all, and his characters and plots vary tremendously in quality. But they're always epic feeling, if only because of the massive power the characters wield.
Time Braid is his best work, IMO. Decently interesting characters (Sasuke is amazing, IMO, though in the beginning he sucks), very cool powers and training, a plot that's intricate as hell (confusing, unfortunately), world-building that takes a lot from many other animes (Bleach comes to mind)...but the romance (if it can even be called that) is shitty.

3. Joe goes without saying, to be honest. To be clear, I've read only Wastelands, so I don't know if what I said applies to Hero Trilogy. I don't like his romance much (because Harry already is in love with Fleur and Tonks and Tessa and so you can't really develop that) but everything else, IMO, is nearly without peer. Writing is lyrical, if a bit tongue-in-cheek, action is suitably epic without becoming comical, characters develop over time (though Harry's is set in stone due to his long-lived nature), they're fascinating (Dumbledore, Voldemort, and Harry especially) and draw you in, and his plot is fast-paced, without sacrificing depth. Pretty amazing. I still think that Harry not having a healing spell of some sort for Dumbledore and his hand is contrived, but that's about the only plot flaw I can think of. Read it now.

4. Enembee is just amazing. His writing is, like Joe's, lyrical, though in a completely different manner. Enembee is more understated and restrained, as opposed to Joe's grandiose style. I like his characters the best, and his action is always creative, though it doesn't have Joe's trademark "OMG reality just shat out a massive hell-thing army to kill me so I'll destroy it with copious cool magic :fire:fire " action. read his works for cool plots, excellent world-building (I hate you for not continuing Skitterleap!), poignant characters, and some really nice writing.

5. Renegade Cause is really in a completely different genre than the ones I listed above. Its gritty, dirty, realistic (in a fantasy world sort of sense), and has a cast of characters that are fun to read bout. Many have called his characters assholes (I may have once or twice, though I don't remember) but they're really just...real. They're alternately selfish, loving, jealous, irrational, calculating, manic, scary, pitiful, giving,...In short, they act very much like real people might in those circumstances. I can't really explain why he's epic, but I (and most on this site) find his work nothing short of amazing.

6. Everyone else I forgot. Some shout-outs that I don't have the energy to write about are:
Nuhuh (who finally updated The Harry/Ariana story)!!!!
SwimDraconian (13thadaptation has fangirled for him quite eloquently on one occasion at least, so I don't need to here).
"Prince of the Dark Kingdom" (someone already explained its excellence).
Inverarity (loved and hated on DLP, personally I love "Alexandra Quick", third book especially).
'The Other Boy who Lived" by Santi