BTW: I notice this thread was bumped from 2013...
For reference, I'm a big fan of Robin Hobb with GRR Martin at the #2 slot, so I prefer more character-driven books.
But I'm a sucker for a more standard epic fantasy if it's solid, and some would be in my top 10. Feist's Magician and Serpentwar are fantastic, Dragonlance Legends (Raistlin is awesome), Terry Brooks Shannara up until the Jerle Shannara series, Edding's Belgariad/Mallorean..although I will say I didn't like their later stuff as it felt like I was reading the Belgariad again.
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Originally Posted by JSWolf
Another recommendation is Janny Wurtz's Wars of Light and Shadow series.
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2nd'd, especially if you read Feist's Riftwar Empire books (co-authored with Wurtz). I consider them the best of the Riftwar books, hands down, and the Light & Shadow books are pretty solid (although not completely finished yet, she's moving along at a pretty decent clip).
I'll throw out one I haven't seen yet - Kate Forsyth's Witches of Eileanan series. Enjoyed that a lot. Not literary genius or anything, but like Celtic-flavored epic fantasy.
If you like shades of gray (less clearcut/"good" heroes and villains), another favorite of mine is C.S. Friedman - both the Magister trilogy and the Coldfire trilogy - I think she does this masterfully.
Kind of along the same gray heroes lines as Friedman, Glen Cook's Black Company is really interesting. I saw others mentioned it.