| Well everyone's recommended my favorites (Erikson's Malazan and Martin's ASoIaF) I don't really read a lot of contemporary fantasy but I worship a lot of the older pulp masters. Someone's already mentioned Michael Moorcock, I'd toss in Fritz Lieber's Ill Met in Lankhmar and the whole Fahfrd and the Grey Mouser saga. Seriously great classic pulp fantasy that, along with Howard's Conan stuff, arguably kickstarted the RPG industry (TSR licensed the Fahfrd property in the early 70's). This was gritty, sexy, whores-and-assassins fantasy written a DECADE before tolkien's LOTR.
Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy, especially Titus Groan, is definitely worth reading if you're looking for 'high' fantasy. It's lush and dark and is probably the best expression of literate 'fantasy'. Gormenghast was a fully realized, baroque world published in 1946. Also a full decade before LOTR. If you enjoyed GRRM's meticulous character development and byzantine intrigue, Gormenghast is its grandaddy (Peake does it better imo, although often excruciatingly british). Peake was later pronounced insane, how badass is that? |