Haven't been reading much fantasy recently, but I will second George RR Martin, Stephen Donaldson, Herbert and Le Guin.
Why not try something a little different, with the humor/fantasy of Terry Pratchett? I think he's funnier than almost any writer around, yet can pull depth and emotion when needed. Try Good Omens, his collaboration with Neil Gaiman.
And in fact, try Neil himself. Borrow some Sandman comics then never look back. His novels are pretty good as well.
And maybe later, try something like The Chess Garden by Brooks Hansen. Allegory dressed with fantasy elements.
Finally, if anyone hasn't read The Once and Future King, you are missing out big time.
Why not try something a little different, with the humor/fantasy of Terry Pratchett? I think he's funnier than almost any writer around, yet can pull depth and emotion when needed. Try Good Omens, his collaboration with Neil Gaiman.
And in fact, try Neil himself. Borrow some Sandman comics then never look back. His novels are pretty good as well.
And maybe later, try something like The Chess Garden by Brooks Hansen. Allegory dressed with fantasy elements.
Finally, if anyone hasn't read The Once and Future King, you are missing out big time.
One thing that annoyed me in Wheel Of Time was that it putted unnecessary amount of details, substory after substory to the point that it became rather complex and instead of progressing the main story the book started to solve love triangles and other character relationships. I mean, I love those stuff to death but enough was enough. Thats why I slowly forgot the serie as I had a lot of other fantasy books to read at the time.
LOTR was one exception.
