Another good one, The Firekeeper Saga by Jane Lindskold, starting with Through Wolf’s Eyes. The protagonist is the sole survivor of a failed colony, and is raised by sentient wolves. The wolves name her Firekeeper, because she likes to ( and can ) build fires. Animals in this world come in two varieties, normal ( “Cousins” ), and sentient ( “Royal” ). Humans do not realize this, however. When she and her Royal Wolf friend enter the human world, they are engulfed by political intrigue and military conflict. There are plenty of strong women in the books, good and bad.
I would second the recommendation of any book by Martha Wells. Her greatest achievement so far is The Death of the Necromancer, a mystery story set in a city modeled on Paris in the mid-nineteenth century. It has tons of careful period detail, gothic settings and a tremendous plot.
Paula Volsky is a rising author with somewhere around six books to her credit. None of them are as good as Wells’, but they’re decently engorssing in their own right.
Neal Barrett, Jr., a long-time science fiction author, recently crossed over to fantasy with *The Prophecy Machine *and The Treachery of Kings. These books defy description, but I’ll say at least that they’re dark comedy with an edge. Like Terry Pratchett, though, Barrett never writes anything that’s only comedy.
Lastly I would give a nod for James Stoddard, author of The High House and The False House. Built on a great setting in a sprawling Victorian mansion with dinosaurs in the attic and tigers in the basement, this is an adventure story with all kinds of twists.
I was going to suggest this too 
I’m a picky fantasy reader, and I personally can’t stomach the stilted writing styles in His Dark Materials (beginning with The Golden Compass that Left Hand of Dorkness suggested) or the Lord Of The Rings trilogy possess, so take my recs with a grain of salt if you like those works…
My favorite fantasy writer is David Eddings and the first four series he did are very good; I haven’t read any of his stuff from the past 5 years, though. **The Belgariad ** and **The Malloreon ** series are probably the best, though I did enjoy the The Elenium and **Tamuli ** series too. The books in each are outlined here
The best fantasy novel I’ve read in a long long time is an urban fantasy by Emma Bull - The War For The Oaks. On the same theme **Tithe ** by Holly Black is a good read too but aimed at the YA crowd. Both have female protagonists, but they’re not terribly girly. Strangewood by Christopher Golden is up there too.
Actually, I’ve seen Pern more than once mentioned as an example of a cross-genre book, science fiction at the edge of fantasy (or vice versa). It’s got far more fantasy tropes than SF tropes, and the science doesn’t make any sense. The only reason anyone calls it SF is because it refers to spaceships and planets.
I don’t recommend them. But some folks like 'em. I’ll guess that few folks like both McCaffrey and Mieville.
Daniel
Wow - the Minuteman catalog lists it as the first in the series. Specifically the Assassin’s Quest MARC record has a 520 tag that states: “A fantasy tale on a man who carves a dragon out of stone with which to defend his kingdom from enemies. The novel is the last installment in a trilogy which began with Royal Assassin.” And it’s a DLC record. I’m shocked!!!
That, and because in the long run everything is explained by the use of technology rather than magic, and because the author believes it to be SF. Same with Darkover.
Nope. Assassin’s Apprentice is the first one. Hobb follows a pattern of titles for at least three of her trilogies. There’s Assassin’s Apprentice, Royal Assassin, and Assassin’s Quest, then Ship of Magic, Mad Ship, and Ship of Destiny, and then Fool’s Errand, Golden Fool, and Fool’s Fate. See the pattern? The first and last books in the trilogy have the same noun first, and the second book in each trilogy has the same noun as the last word in the title.
I checked with Hobb’s website to make sure, and I do have the books listed in the correct order. There are minor spoilers in that website, by the way.
This is a pattern she is (sort of) breaking in the current series (Soldier Son) First book was Shaman’s Crossing, Second book is going to be Forest Mage. However I suppose you could say that Shaman and Mage are synonymous. Will be interesting now to see what book 3 is called. I hadn’t noticed the naming pattern until your post Lynn and I’ve read these books several time.
Charles de Lint.
Well, the Tamir Trilogy by Lynn Flewelling definitely does NOT have a girlie female protagonist. And while I’m talking about her, the Nightrunner books too. (Not a trilogy, not a trilogy, not a trilogy…)
Quoted for emphasis. There’s more magical content than might suit your fancy, but this is not a world with wizards and fireballs. I’ve written and deleted a couple of sentences trying to explain what the magic is without giving anything away, so just read the books and solve my dilemma, already.
Oh, and look into Chicks in Chainmail and its sequels if you haven’t already. It’s a collection of short stories edited by Esther Friesner, and magic rarely plays a prominent role in the plots.
On Preview: Yes, Charles de Lint
Depending on how loose you want to be with your definition of magic, check out Roger Zelazny’s First Chonricles of Amber. There isn’t any really overt spell casting, wizard with a pointy hat kind of magic, but there’s definitely magical things. In my opinion it’s the best series of fantasy novels around (there’s 5 and they’re short); Zelazny’s writing style is so engaging and lively it’s really hard to stop reading. The second Chronicles aren’t nearly as good, and there’s a ton of magic, so avoid those.
The books are, in order:
Nine Princes in Amber
The Guns of Avalon
Sign of the Unicorn
The Hand of Oberon
The Courts of Chaos