Already mentioned but i would really recommend the Steven Erikson epic 'Malazan Book Of The Fallen' series. 10 books of full on awesomeness
These are not books that you can speed-read through due to the nature of the entire story. Everything has it's place in the overall tale -even small references are important elsewhere-so it needs to be read at a leisurely pace.
You will not find a single Elf, Goblin, or Orc, but you will find plenty of battles, humour that could only come from comrades upto their eyeballs in bhedren dung but willing to instantly give their lives to their friends.
I'm on my second reading and it's on my 'wish i never read it before', just so i can discover it again
Regards