Epic Fantasy's Hidden Doorstops

A Dance with Dragons: Dreams and Dust [Part 1] — George R.R. Martin

The fifth book in a series that may never finish, but if you're already in, you're not getting out now. This is the UK paperback split of A Dance with Dragons — the doorstop so massive it had to be cleaved in two. Part One returns to Tyrion, Daenerys, and Jon Snow after A Feast for Crows left them on the bench for an entire novel. Martin's prose hasn't lost its edge: the politics are as knotted as ever, the violence as sudden, and the pacing as glacial. If you've made it to Book Five, you know what you signed up for. The wait between instalments has become its own genre of suffering, but the pages still turn. Explore our current copy of A Dance with Dragons: Dreams and Dust [Part 1] Browse more Sci-Fi & Fantasy books at Patina

A Dance with Dragons: After the Feast [Part 2] — George R.R. Martin

The second half of the split paperback — because one thousand pages wasn't enough. After the Feast picks up exactly where Dreams and Dust left off, which is to say: mid-sentence, mid-scheme, mid-everything. Tyrion's still wandering Essos, Daenerys is still tangled in Meereenese politics, and Jon Snow is still making the kind of decisions that get you stabbed. The UK publisher's choice to split the book makes a weird kind of sense when you're holding it — these are physically manageable chunks of a story that refuses to resolve. You'll finish Part Two and immediately want The Winds of Winter, which remains the longest wait in modern fantasy. Explore our current copy of A Dance with Dragons: After the Feast [Part 2] Browse more Sci-Fi & Fantasy books at Patina

Lord of Chaos — Robert Jordan

Book Six is where the Wheel of Time stops being a quest and starts being a war. Lord of Chaos is the hinge point in Jordan's fourteen-volume saga — the moment Rand al'Thor's arc shifts from "chosen farm boy" to "unravelling messiah." The political manoeuvring gets denser, the magic system more intricate, and the final chapters deliver one of the series' most visceral set pieces. Jordan's prose can be exhausting (the braid-tugging, the skirt-smoothing), but the scope is undeniable. If you've read the first five, you're pot-committed. If you haven't, start with The Eye of the World and clear your calendar. Explore our current copy of Lord of Chaos Browse more Sci-Fi & Fantasy books at Patina

New Spring — Robert Jordan

The Wheel of Time prequel that actually works — because it's short, focused, and you already know how it ends. New Spring was published after Book Ten but set twenty years before the main series, chronicling Moiraine's journey from Accepted to Aes Sedai and her first encounter with Lan. It's Jordan without the sprawl: a single POV, a tighter timeline, and none of the fourteen-book obligation hanging over your head. If you've burned through the main sequence, this fills in the gaps. If you haven't, it's a surprisingly clean entry point — though you'll miss half the weight if you don't know where Moiraine's story leads. Explore our current copy of New Spring Browse more Sci-Fi & Fantasy books at Patina

Shadowmarch — Tad Williams

Tad Williams doing what Tad Williams does: slow-burn epic fantasy with fairy-tale dread baked into the worldbuilding. Shadowmarch opens with a castle under siege, a missing king, and twin heirs who've inherited a kingdom on the edge of collapse. Williams leans into Celtic mythology and courtly intrigue, building a world that feels older and stranger than most post-Tolkien fantasy. The pacing is deliberate — this is a trilogy that earns its reveals — but the prose has texture. If you loved Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, you'll recognise the architecture. If you bounced off Jordan's endless subplots, this might be the alternative. Explore our current copy of Shadowmarch Browse more Sci-Fi & Fantasy books at Patina

Shadowplay — Tad Williams

Book Two deepens the mythology and tightens the noose — Williams doesn't rush, but he also doesn't waste your time. Shadowplay picks up the threads from Shadowmarch and pulls them taut: the Shadowline advances, gods walk among mortals, and the fate of the Southmarch castle hinges on secrets buried in old songs and older blood. Williams's strength has always been his ability to make magic feel ancient and unknowable, and the second volume leans into that. The pacing is still methodical, but the stakes are clearer. If you finished Shadowmarch wanting more of the fairy-tale unease, this delivers. Explore our current copy of Shadowplay Browse more Sci-Fi & Fantasy books at Patina

Daggerspell — Katharine Kerr

The Deverry Cycle starter: Celtic magic, reincarnation, and a protagonist who keeps making the same mistakes across lifetimes. Daggerspell is the first of fifteen novels in Kerr's Deverry series, and it establishes the formula: characters bound by ancient oaths, reborn across centuries, doomed to repeat their worst choices until they get it right. The magic system (dweomer) is rooted in Welsh mythology, and the timeline jumps backward and forward through lives. It's not for everyone — the reincarnation structure can feel recursive — but if you want epic fantasy that treats destiny as a curse rather than a gift, Kerr wrote the manual. As of May 2026, Patina's fantasy collection includes rotating preloved copies of the Deverry books, most with that particular kind of foxing that only comes from sitting on a shelf since the '90s. Explore our current copy of Daggerspell Browse more Sci-Fi & Fantasy books at Patina These are the books you buy when you want to disappear for a month — or six. The kind of series where you forget what sunlight looks like and start dreaming in invented languages. All of them are waiting on Patina's shelves, spine-creased and margin-noted, ready for the next reader willing to commit.

Where can I buy secondhand copies of A Dance with Dragons in Sydney?

Patina Paperbacks stocks preloved copies of both UK paperback volumes (Dreams and Dust and After the Feast) when available, shipping Australia-wide from our Sydney base. Stock rotates, so if you're hunting a specific edition, check the site or follow along for restock updates.

Is the Wheel of Time worth reading if I haven't watched the TV series?

Honestly, yes — the books and the show are different beasts. Robert Jordan's fourteen-volume saga is dense, sprawling, and occasionally exhausting, but it's also one of the most complete epic fantasy arcs ever written. If you like multi-POV storytelling and intricate magic systems, start with The Eye of the World and give it three books before you bail.

What's the difference between Tad Williams and George R.R. Martin's fantasy?

Williams leans into fairy-tale dread and mythology; Martin leans into political brutality and moral ambiguity. Both write doorstops, but Williams's worlds feel older and stranger, while Martin's feel more cynical and human. If you want gods and prophecy, go Williams. If you want backstabbing and dragons as WMDs, go Martin.

Should I start the Deverry Cycle if it's fifteen books long?

Only if you're comfortable with reincarnation as a narrative engine. Katharine Kerr's series jumps between timelines and lives, so you're often reading the same souls make different (but thematically similar) choices across centuries. It's brilliant if you're into that structure; maddening if you're not. Daggerspell is a solid test drive.

Does Patina stock other epic fantasy series beyond these titles?

Yep — our secondhand fantasy stock rotates through everything from Robin Hobb's Realm of the Elderlings to Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen, plus standalone doorstops and forgotten '80s trilogies. Check the Sci-Fi & Fantasy collection to see what's currently on the shelves.

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