More like Burning with Optimism's Flames

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MalazanUniverse
universe36 books1999
Epic fantasy, set in secondary world.
“Pity the historian who tries to map this world; pity more the god who thinks he rules it.”
from the catalogue
Start with Gardens of the Moon →
includes Malazan Book of the Fallen, The Kharkanas Trilogy, Night of Knives, Path to Ascendancy, Witness Trilogy
World of Ice and FireUniverse
universe19 books1980
Epic fantasy and fantasy, set in secondary world.
“Winter is coming, and the men who forget it die first.”
from the catalogue
Start with A Game of Thrones →
includes A Song of Ice and Fire, Targaryen History
The Second ApocalypseSeries
series11 books2003
Epic fantasy and grimdark, set in secondary world.
Start with The Darkness That Comes Before →
WhoniverseUniverse
universe2034 books1964
Science fiction.
“Somewhere a blue police box that has no business existing folds a whole world in behind one door, and an old traveller wearing a brand-new face steps out onto a beach, a battlefield, the last warm afternoon of a dying sun.”
from the catalogue
Start with Timewyrm: Genesys →
includes Faction Paradox, Doctor Who 1985 unproduced episodes, Doctor Who: Time Lord Fairy Tales, Doctor Who (Telos) novellas, Doctor Who (poetry), Doctor Who BBC Past Doctors, Time Trips, Doctor Who BBC 8th Doctor
The Circle of the WorldUniverse
universe29 books2006
Grimdark and fantasy, set in secondary world.
“What sets it apart is the honesty of its cynicism — close, sardonic points of view, gallows humour, and a flat refusal to let anyone stay clean.”
from the catalogue
Start with The Blade Itself →
includes The First Law Trilogy, The Age of Madness
Gravity's RainbowNovel
Thomas Pynchonstandalone novel1973
Literary & general and postmodern, set in europe and early 20th century.
“The narrative is set primarily in Europe at the end of World War II and centers on the design, production and dispatch of V-2 rockets by the German military.”
from the catalogue