I enjoy very much RA Salvatore''s books (thanks ShotgunPhil!). He has an excellent writing style and has matured over the process of writing his books. Start with teh Dark Elf Trilogy.

I enjoyed that one a lot, although the ending was sort of unsatisfying. I''ve been meaning to pick up Mieville''s other stuff...I like his style a lot.

If you''re looking for something different than the usual sword and sorcery fantasy epics, I suggest Tad Williams Otherland series. Although it starts slow, the blend of sci-fi and fantasy makes for a unique experience. Also features one of the best villains ever created.

About a Feast for Crows

The short of it: He hopes to be done by year end.

Iron Council? Mieville''s 3rd book in the series? Definitely a good read. His ability to create unique fantasy races is very impressive considering a lot of authors just stick with the standard elf/dwarf/human combination.

In fact I named my new Troll warrior on Blackhand Stiltspear after one of the races introduced in this book.

Steven Erikson, Gardens of the Moon and other Tales of Malazan Book of the Fallen
Erickson is also a favorite around here, the first book in the series (Gardens on the Moon) takes a bit of perseverance because a lot of characters are introduced and you''re practically thrown right into the middle of a plot although the payoff is immense. The series tightens its focus around half-way through the first book and gets better and better as it goes on . Erickson has an incredible knack for world building and really gives the history of his world a lot of weight.

Outlaws of the Marsh
by Shi Nai''An

It is the book the Suikoden games are based on and is bloody fantastic. It is expnesive and hard to find but a great read.

Well, I think the best ones have already been covered, but I''ll offer up a few of my own.

Stephen King The Dark Tower. I haven''t read the final book yet, but plan to pick it up soon. I''ve enjoyed the story, and the fact that it''s not your ""typical"" fantasy. Plus, King makes fun of himself in the 6th book, so he''s not taking himself too seriously.

Ricardo Pinto The Chosen. I''m sure most here have never heard of this guy. I picked up his first book on a trip visiting my dad and it had not yet been released in the U.S. (both it and the second book are available here now, however). It''s a fairly bizarre tale, and definately grim. I wouldn''t recommend it for everyone, but some people might enjoy it.

Eric Van Lustbader The Ring of Five Dragons. The first book in the series isn''t that great, but each one seems to improve. A nice blend of sci-fi and fantasy, with an interesting world and an overarching backstory that you actually want to learn about. Well, at least I do. Series isn''t done yet.

C.S. FriedmanThe Coldfire Trilogy. I read this a long time ago, and hope it has withstood the test of time, but when I read it I really enjoyed it. A unique setting and unusual blend of Sci-fi/fantasy that really leaves you thinking ""what if?""

I''ve got more, but I think that''s enough for now.

Fritz Leiber''s series starring Fahfard and the Grey Mouser has some excellent stories in it. So do Robert Howard''s several Conan books. Likewise, Fletcher Pratt was one of the greats and is often found in used bookstores and such.

For horror fantasy, HP Lovecraft has the most distinctive style and if you have an interest in New England history, you''ll enjoy his work. August Derleth is a worthy admirer of Lovecraft''s and worth hunting down, if you like the genre.

http://rinkworks.com/bookaminute/b/jordan.eyeworld.shtml

Save yourself the time and aggravation.

I''m also going to HIGHLY recommend anything written by Gene Wolf. New Sun, Long Sun, short stories, novellas, anything and everything. Always a beautiful, interesting read, but keep dictionary.com handy.

For easier Wolfe to get your teeth into, I''d recommend his latest couple of books, The Knight and The Wizard.

The New Sun and Long Sun books are great but they can be.. intimidating. The Wizard-Knight (as he calls the two together) is much easier to get into and also damn good. Basically he''s doing a fairly cliched ''stolen by fairies'' and ''person from the real world becomes a hero in a fantasy world'' story, but many times better than other authors would do it.

Also, his books Soldier of the Mist and Soldier of Arete are great fantasy for those into the classics. Following a Latin mercenary from Xerxes'' army in the Persian invasion of Greece, it presents the world as the people back then thought of it - gods, nymphs and monsters are all real and often get involved.

Another recent find is another New Zealander, Russell Kirkpatrick. I''ve only read the first book of his trilogy (called ""Across the Face of the World"") but it was very good indeed. Similar style to Tolkien without just being a rip off. He''s a geographer and mapmaker, apparently, and his love of that comes through in the story the way Tolkien''s love of languages and history did in his work. Not sure if you North American''s can get it yet, as the edition I read was from an Australian publisher.

Granted, I''m a bit biased because generic high fantasy really bores me. But, IMHO, even for that genre Jordan is predictable, mundane, lengthy and tedious. It''s all the worst parts of Tolkien times ten. I''d prefer something that forges some new ground instead of the lowest common denominator of every other fantasy series.

Well for an interesting change of pace, some/all of you might consider the ""Amber"" series by Roger Zelazny- I read about the first five, then kind of lost interest. I believe there are 2 or 3 ""combined"" volumes now.

I''ll second the recommendations for Leiber''s Fahfard and the Grey Mouser books, as well as Robert E. Howard''s Conan books and HP Lovecraft generally.

Zelazny is required reading. He''s one of the most graceful writers I''ve ever read.

Gene Wolfe is interesting, but can be very difficult. I very much ... admired the New Sun books, but failed to get into the Long Sun series. I recommend starting with a book of his short stories to acclimate yourself to his style.

China Mieville: I recently read Perdido Street Station. For the first third, I was fascinated and amazed by his imagination. By the end of the book, I was absolutely disgusted with his writing. Like many writers, he is incapable of plotting. He has a neat imagination, but it is undisciplined and he threw interesting scenes and events into the book without any attempt to connect them to his overall story. These are forgivable sins, however. What absolutely disgusted me about the book was the horrible, horrible resolution at the end. It seemed that at every point through the final pages where he had the chance to tie up a thread into a satisfying conclusion, he deliberately chose an infuriating and painful alternative. The experience was so unpleasant that I doubt I''ll ever read another of his books again.

I''m reading Philip Pullman''s His Dark Materials trilogy. The first book is great. The second book is mostly great. I''m only a little way into the third book, but other people have told me that they have lots of problems with the way it wraps up.

I recommend looking into a mostly forgotten writer named Jack Vance. You can probably find a compendium titled Tales of the Dying Earth at your local bookstore. The first volume in that compendium, The Dying Earth, is probably my favorite book. I also recommend any of his other short story collections. The Last Castle and The Dragon Masters won major awards. The Lyonesse trilogy is the closest thing he''s done to a traditional high fantasy trilogy, but I wouldn''t start with it.

Vance has an unusual writing style that takes a while to get used to and doesn''t appeal to everybody. George R.R. Martin has said that he much admired Vance''s works, and one of Martin''s short story collections - Tuf Voyaging - looks like a deliberate attempt to write a series of stories in Vance''s odd and unusual style.

I have very much enjoyed reading and re-reading Steven Brust''s Vlad Taltos series. His other books are ok but you really have to like him as an author to get past the somewhat funky style of writing he uses in the prequel series. He has done several other books outside his usual fantasy world one of which was called Cowboy Feng''s Space Bar and Grill which was also excellent though more cyberpunk than fantasy I suppose.

I can''t currently remember the author''s name but the Dragon Sleeping (first book I think) was very good as was the whole Silver Gryphon series (again can''t remember the author.)