Ambitious fiction

[nancylebov]

I'm currently reading Kim Stanley Robinson's climate disaster trilogy, and while I'm underwhelmed by the economics (a subject for another post) and think he woefully underestimates the impact of his bad weather (D.C. isn't remotely well enough insulated for -50F weather, and the death toll would be huge), I still admire his attempt at covering an epic subject.

So, what's the most ambitious fiction of various sorts you can think of? Egan's _Diaspora_ is probably the most ambitious science fiction. Anything other than _Lord of the Rings_ for fantasy? Maybe _Moonwise_ for most ambitious prose in fantasy.