OT: good fantasy books

[BigandScary]

Ok, everyone here seems to be going over the same stuff, so let me add something new.
I would suggest, with most of my heart and a lease on my soul, the work of David Gemmel. Seriously, it is magical.

A relatively new auther that has grabbed me is Jim Butcher. His Dresdan Files stuff is good, and i really have enjoyed his new series, The Alera Codex. The first two are a little off, the second fixing the first one's mistakes but loseing the first ones sucesses, but the third brings everything good about the other two into a brilliant novel.

L.E. Moddessitt Jr. is a good writer, but each book is a 50/50 chance of genius or boredom. I really liked "THe Magic Engineer", but everyone is different.

Micheal Stackpole is hard to describe because his stuff starts out good, but it tends to get sidetracked.

Cook has been mentioned but I would like to concur. The Black Company is fantastic and his new books (Instrumentalities of the Night) are pretty good.

I would also like to express my opinions on Robert Jordan and Martin. One major point of a good writer is the ability to kill a developed character. Jordan and Martin are the two extremes in this. Jordan can't let them die and Martin kills them off like they're nothing. Something in between is the sweet spot, but both authers are still good, they just annoy me so.