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/lit/ - Literature

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1957184 No.1957184 [Reply] [Original]

/lit/ which book/series of books, has the greatest and most expansive universe.

Books like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter jump to mind, but I'm assuming there are others?

>> No.1957189

Star Wars?

Oddysey and the Illiad?

>> No.1957188
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1957188

>Harry Potter jumps to mind

>> No.1957191

I read Perry Rhodan once.

>> No.1957190

I'd say Asimov is pretty good for this matter and he continued to play with his own universe and it's rules for years.

>> No.1957192

>>1957188

Hey, I've got to start somewhere.

>> No.1957197

>>1957192

>/ck/, what nation has the best traditional ethnic cuisine? Taco Bell jumps to mind.

>> No.1957202

>>1957197

You're a real asshole aren't you?

>> No.1957203

The Second Apocalypse series by R. Scott Bakker

First book is The Darkness That Comes Before.

>> No.1957205

Well, there's Discworld.

>> No.1957207

Warhammer etc
culture novels

>> No.1957218

Thanks guys? Any others?

>> No.1957226

night's dawn trilogy - peter hamilton (sci-fi)

>> No.1957238

>>1957190


This. Read Foundation OP.

>> No.1957245

Malazan Book of the Fallen series is a contender.

>> No.1957249

>>1957238

And by that dictum, Niven's Known Space series counts too. I enjoyed that.

Also, the Book of The New Sun.

>> No.1957288

Try the Hyperion series. I've only read the first one but I was pretty amazed at how fully Simmons realized his universe. On top of that, he seems pretty knowledgeable about literature and history, and the writing itself pretty good.

>> No.1957301

>>1957197
i lol'd hard

I wouldn't count redwall as having "the greatest and most expansive universe," but since OP mentions Harry Potter as a proto-example, I feel it's fair game to mention. Even though the landmarks on Redwall's world map have a curious tendency of shifting about, expanding, shrinking, and sometimes disappearing, it is certainly more fleshed out than the Harry Potter series' World of ?Wizardry.

>> No.1957326

>>1957301

OP here, I'm not very knowledgeable on the subject and I just used Harry Potter as an example of a book with a stretched universe! I didn't really think that one through!

Anything with an expansive universe basically! Many thanks.

>> No.1957353

the davinci code

>> No.1957381

for the opposite of what you said, Gormenghast

>> No.1957408

George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire

>> No.1957421

I believe nothing comes close to Discworld and its 30-I-lost-count-ish books

>> No.1957431

>>1957421
The world isn't that expansive however. Terry spends more of his time fleshing out characters rather than the world they inhabit.

>> No.1957605

>>1957184

HP has a tiny universe. It all happens in one part of the country for a start, with slight hints and sections elsewhere.

Concur with Warhammer (and Warcraft) if you're into that shit, and obviously Tolkien.

Definitely Pratchett too, and whoever says he only fleshes out characters not places hasn't read nearly enough. Every new continent and place takes on a new and individual identity.

inb4 fanboy.

>> No.1957624

Get all this fake, fantasy bullshit off the board.

Hey, /lit/, who's the better wizard, Gandolf or Dumbledore?!
Hey, /lit/, which piece of shit fantasy series has the most terrain?
Hey, /lit/, I read discworld, will I ever get laid in my life?

Just fuck off. Fuck. Off.

>> No.1957644

The Bible. From beginning to end it has the most expansive universe.
and why is it the best? because it is our real universe.
And is about the expansive human.

>> No.1957656

>>1957624
Yes. Yes. Let the buttfustration flow

>> No.1957662

>>1957353
>>>The Davinci Code
You are stupid, sorry

>> No.1957669

>>1957644
>>>The Bible
What about any other religious text? The Kuran jumps to my mind ...

>> No.1957687

Dune, Discworld, Song of Ice and Fire

>> No.1957693

>>1957624
Are you a child? That you find it impossible to simply ignore threads which you do not like?

>> No.1957781

It's okay OP, I like you :3

>> No.1957791

Odyssey, Iliad, Aeneid, Metamorphoses.

>> No.1957802

Of Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit
Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste
Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,

How about Milton's Paradise Lost,

>> No.1957843

>>1957802
+1

>> No.1959210

>>1957238

/thread

Foundation series. Look no further.

>> No.1959224

DUNE REPRESENT

>> No.1959233
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1959233

the spice must flow

>> No.1959574

>>1957381
Shittiest and most claustrophobic universe? Yeah, that's Gormenghast in a nutshell. Incredible, and incredibly imaginative, worldbuilding, just on a uniquely small scale.

>> No.1959587

Shakespeare's collected works. Even one of Shakespeare's better plays is a world in itself.

>> No.1959589

Iain Banks' books have incredibly well fleshed-out universes. I recommend The Algebraist

>> No.1959596

Why the hell would Harry Potter come to mind?

They're well-written books, but by no means is the magical world well thought-out. Mostly it's slapstick and bizarre explanations (oh those darn muggles, always ignoring our shenanigans).

LOTR definitely is, though. If you haven't read the Silmarillion, do so: it's pretty much pure world building.

>> No.1959611

>>1959596
Silmarillion is filmcore. The real grognards read the Tales of Middle-Earth.

>> No.1959624

If you like detail. Wheel of Time. Sometimes I wonder if I really need to know the colour of the paint on every shop in every small town in the whole story, but then I realize I have nothing better to do with my time.