A thread asking for fantasy recommendations and no one mentions Andre Norton?
Her use of language is a bit different, but it works well with her world-building, and she's a very good author. My favorites are:
The Gates to Witch World (a trilogy of Witch World, Web of Witch World and Year of the Unicorn)
Gryphon Trilogy (The Crystal Gryphon, Gryphon in Glory, Gryphon's Eyrie)
The Key of the Keplian
Scent of Magic (not necessarily action-oriented, but it's got political intrigues, assassination, and magical kidnapping so I think it counts
)