I think you should rush right out and read The Intercontinental Union of Disgusting Characters and its one-and-a-half sequels.
One of the few fantasy serieses out there to present people like they really are: as a pile of hit points with a munchkin-level Armor Class and THAC0. 
I second Kat with Steven Brust’s books.
Then you can check out Katharine Kerr’s Deverry books. Daggerspell is the first one.
Then you should check out Kate Elliott’s Crown of Stars series. The first book is King’s Dragon.
Nobody’s mentioned Barbara Hambly yet? Go forth and read Dragonsbane, if you can find it (I think it’s out of print). While there’s a couple of sequels to this novel, it was originally written to stand alone, and you will probably figure out whether she’s to your taste or not. http://www.barbarahambly.com/ has a listing of her books. She has several series and some stand alones, as well.
I second Robin McKinley, she writes EXCELLENT fantasy.
Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling edit a series of fantasy anthologies, which feature updated retellings of classic fairy tales. This is not precisely a series, but I think that any fantasy lover would enjoy it.
Lawrence Watt-Evans has a few series, too.
If you haven’t read Ursula K. LeGuin’s Earthsea books you need to get them. These books are keepers, much like Tolkien. The first three books were written and published as children’s books, IIRC, but the fourth was written and published for the adult market. All of them, however, are worth reading and rereading.
I could recommend more, but you really DO need to read Hambly and LeGuin, if you haven’t yet.
Eh. He’s mediocre…if he were a magazine, he’d be “People”. Ok for reading while taking a crap, but nothing you’ll remember 5 minutes later. And the main characters are always dull and irritating.
And his other series (“The Soprano Sorceress”) features the single dumbest heroine in the entire history of the written word.
The book < cough > “borrows” < cough > the premise of Alan Dean Foster’s Spellsinger books. But unlike Foster who knows and apparently loves music so he could get some funny/interesting uses of song-magic (“Fly like an Eagle” for a haste spell, frex), this bimbo can only figure out like two songs, and she’s adapted the lyrics one of 'em to burn people alive. Then she snivells for pages about how she’s a monster for burning people alive (not killing them, it’s the burning part that bothers her). Then she does it again and again. :rolleyes:
I kept wanting to reach into the book and slap her saying "So if you’re a pyrophobe, stop burning people, you moron!. It’s just as easy to do something like
Magic, if I may be so bold,
Will make my enemies’ heads explode.
or
Blue, purple, yellow red
The opposing army will now drop dead.
or
For good and right I do attest
That phalanx will all have cardiac arrest.
or
Harmony, melody, dissonance and rhythms
Give my foes all brain anurysms
And that’s without any effort whatsoever. She’s supposed to be trained at singing/song writing. I shouldn’t be better at it then her.
I’d say: Don’t bother.
Fenris
I third it? Really, I think that Steven Brust is a must read.
Soulmurk: I was confusing them. Really deliberate, I was just exxagerating how many books there are, and mentioned that many were indeed compilations of short stories. The first time I did not know that, and I spent forever trying to figure out what book was the first. LOL.
Have not read it yet, will have to see about ordering it at the library. I have problems buying books that tiny. Under 200 pages. It is like buying a single short story. Yech. 6 bucks for a book that will take an hour to read.
Two words…
Tanith. Lee. She writes EXCELLENT dark fantasy. gleee!
I have no clue why she isnt more well-known…And her books lean to the shortish side.
I recommend Biting the Sun and * East of Midnight*.
Oh, and remember Peter S. Beagle? The guy who wrote The Last Unicorn? I love his other fantasy stuff…but thats just me.
I will also recommened Weis and Hickman’s work in the Dragonlance world. The beauty? They wrote so many books you will have a lot to read! Let’s see…what you need to read, in order, are:
The Chronicles Trilogy:
Dragons of Autumn Twilight
Dragons of Winter Night
Dragons of Spring Dawning
During this time, or a little after, you might want to read Tales of the Lance, some short stories that takes place during this time, some of which have characters from the trilogy. Then…
Legends Trilogy
Time of the Twins
War of the Twins
Test of the Twins
Next…
The Second Generation- a collection of short stories about the children of the heroes in the Chronicles trilogy.
and Dragons of Summer Flame- kinda a fourth installment to Chronicles that takes place after all these books inbetween.
After that you might want to read a book or two that is set in Fifth Age (I think Weis and Hickman edited a collection of short stories that takes place during this time. Myself? I skipped past Fifth Age stuff, not interesting to me.)
Finally, end with:
War of Souls Trilogy
Dragons of a Fallen Sun
Dragons of a Lost Star
Dragons of a Vanished Moon (not out yet, but soon! Preorder your copy now!)
Another good one if you like Mercedes Lackey, but are bored with sword & sorcery as I am: She wrote a series in the early nineties about a witch/private investigator. The first one was called Burning Water, and the best one was Jinx High (set in my home town of Tulsa, OK), There was another one that I read but forget the title of- it was a prequel of sorts, about the college days of the witch when she falls in love with a vampire. I think there were only three books, but they were very interesting.
Just looked it up, the books I was talking about in my last post were the Diana Tregard mysteries (occult mysteries, really they are modern fantasy). The second book was called Children of the Night. I would recommend all three of them to Mercedes Lackey fans, especially Jinx High.
I liked Jack Chalker’s series, “The Four Lords of the Diamond”. My younger brother introduced me to the series. It’s pretty light reading, however. It took me about five days to read the four books.
I VERY strongly agree. And then try Tiganna.
I recommend David Gemmel. He does have a few “series” but he is a prolific writer and I love his stuff. Try Morningstar and Legend first (Legend has several sequels, so be sure to get the first one.)
Zelazny was one of the greats and I recommend him.
Ooh, two more. Diane Duane’s Wizardry series - technically they’re YA fantasy, but if you’re the kind of person that doesn’t mind that, they’re really very good.
And Diana Wynne Jones. Her stuff is usually classified as juvenile fiction too, but I’m going to recommend it even if you don’t usually read juvenile fic, 'cause it’s that good. Fantastic, unexpected plot twists and wonderful characters. You might start with Fire and Hemlock, a standalone retelling of “Tam Lin” which is probably the most “grownup” of her stuff. Oh, and if you’re a fantasy fan you really must read The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, a really hilarious satire on the cliches of the genre.
Cruelly underrated.
A) Dave Duncan’s A Man of His Word and A Handful of Men series are both wonderful
B) Lyndon Hardy’s Master of the Five Magics is fantastic, the sequel is good and the third is bleah.
C) Lawerence Watt-Evan’s Esthshar books are uniformly fantastic. While they can be read more or less in any order, it makes sense to read The Misenchanted Sword first and Spell of the Black Dagger last.
D) I also recommend Brust’s Jhereg stuff
Fenris
Thanks yet again, everyone. I’m putting these all in my Palm Pilot. In alphabetical order. Next time I’m at the used bookstore, I’m in trouble…
I never made it through the sequel to Master of the Five Magics. Which was disappointing since the first one was so good.
You do know that Lawrence has a new book set in Ethshar out? Night of Madness tells about the night when warlocks were created. And he has more coming, thank goodness. You can get more info at his Ethshar website. He also has other fantasy books out, including what I think is his best, Touched By The Gods. It is a completely seperate stand alone novel, out in paperback.
I haven’t read any L.E. Modesitt, but your description of the magic sounds like it is right out of Piers Anthony’s Blue Adept books. The first of which was good, the next two were worth reading, and after that, Run Away! Which is a pretty good description of most of his stuff.
grendel,
I don’t think the Diana Tregarde stuff is still in print. She quit writing it because some of her fans were taking it too seriously.
Lok
I’ve reread that series I don’t know how many times, and there are parts of it where I still cry.
That’s sad. I knew there were only the three novels, but I thought they were just not popular enough to keep writing.
Of her stuff I’ve read I would rank those books just below the Last Herald Mage series in quality.