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Originally Posted by missimpossible
My mum is a massive LotR fan, is very fond of the story and the characters and the general themes of the book. I'm looking for recommendations of similarly epic stories with high stakes involved and good triumphing over evil. I'm not awfully well versed in high fantasy but what I want to avoid is anything with graphic violence of any kind, or any overt/graphic sexual or other content like that as the total escapist/innocent air of LotR is part of what she likes about it. Also anything that brings the magic system to the fore isn't her cup of tea - she tried Sabriel and other similar things and was put off by the prominence of the magic system - "a wizard did it" type magic (if any) would be more suitable.
Does anyone have any recommendations? It doesn't need to be fantasy, just epic in scale, though a fantastical element would probably help.
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My go-to rec for escapist fantasy is Andre Norton or Patricia C. Wrede. Wrede's book usually involve magic that's innate or presented as a natural part of the world, Norton's magic is often mystical and poorly understood, and is part of the hero/ine's tools instead of being front-and-center.
Wrede's Enchanted Forest series is an excellent all-ages fantasy series that starts small and ends with saving a kingdom. Her Lyra series is good epic fantasy with more of an adventure focus. Her Kate and Cecy series is fantasy Regency fiction - hilarious and a good romance as well as a good adventure that covers all of Europe.
http://pcwrede.com/books/
Andre Norton's Witch World series is basically multiple series of epic fantasy interconnected. I really liked Key of the Keplian, the original Witch World series (although this is kind of science fantasy), and Year of the Unicorn. Her Carolus Rex series is also good escapist fantasy, and I also really liked The Smell of Magic from the Five Senses group.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_Norton_bibliography