Besides those already mentioned

David Dalglish - Shadowdance Trilogy
Ty Johnston - Kobalos Trilogy
Michael Sullivan - Riyria Revelations

A second vote for Barbara Hambly.

Darwath - original trilogy, haven't read the added stuff.
Sun Wolf and Starhawk- very good pure fantasy without inter-dimensional travel (if memory serves)
Winterlands- interesting series looking for the latest book in this series
Sun-Cross- also interesting, hoping she adds another book though
Windrose- decent trilogy

Except for Sun Wolf, they all have a strong dimensional traveling aspect that means they will have people from earth going to magical lands or magical things coming to earth. I really liked that in Darwath, it is key to the Windrose story and Sun-Cross stories. So if you hate that story device, you are forewarned.

I've been told to read The Dark Tower a hundred times. Should you read all/most/a selection of King's work before you get into it?

I read one pure fantasy by King and I hated the first few dozen pages, so I put it down and never touched him again. But I'm sure I'm a mistake when it comes to The Dark Tower. Everyone I know praises it.

Others have mentioned them, but they are worth repeating:
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
The Riftwar Saga
The Sword of Truth

and for humoristic fantasy of course anything by Terry Pratchett.

but stay away from the Wheel of Time. It starts out OK, but it drags incredibly and distributes the plot that would usually fill one book over five of them.

Was it because of the main character's despicable behavior very early in the first book? I read the series, but I found it very difficult empathize with Covenant after that, and this made it more difficult to enjoy the story. Still, it's a solid tale, and the settings are terrific.

I find myself wanting to issue a warning anytime I recommend it.

Well not really just because of that, i dont mind evil / wicked main characters in anyway as such. Thomas is just so ridiculously cynical and in general jerk, that i found it "unbelievable". Unbelievable fantasy book? :D

Anyways, just silly personality that wasnt so fun to read. There were other, far more interesting characters really, but i wont spoil more. Also "Lord Foul" ... Well, that was one of the least interesting bad guys ive ever come across really. The world in itself the books depict was the most interesting part for me.

I think being a leper for a fairly long time would make you pretty cynical though.

The original Conan the Barbarian stories by Robert E. Howard
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser by Fritz Leiber

That would be open to debate (id say depends person to person)

...But the main point was that, if i do my best to avoid assholes in real world - why would i want to waste my precious free time to read about one? Has to be some pretty damn interesting asshole, which Thomas -most of the time- was not. Sure he had his moments, but like i said - i read the book mostly because of the world. Thomas and the foul named dude were unfortunate cracks there.

Cynical, asshole could be made in "cool way" as well. Check the dwarf guy, what was his name in the Game of thrones. He was interesting. Thomas was not. The dwarf was simply more believable and did not feel like being hateful because the author wanted to have hateful main character.

Just my opinion ofcourse and its been quite few years since i read Covenant.

I can't believe nobody mentioned Robert Jordan's saga "Wheel of Time". It's like 13 books or something (can't remember exactly, but it's huge) and very good read. I've just finished book 8, and I want more.

Mentioned at least 4 times (posts 2, 13, 25, and 35). ;)

For anyone wanting to read Wheel of Time, I have a few phrases for you:

"blushed furiously"

"tugged on her braid"

"crossed her arms under her bosom"

"smoothed her skirt"

Oh, and a bunch of pointless information about scrollwork

People did mention it in the thread before, maybe you should actually read posts instead of skimming them before you complain about them (see posts 25, 31 and 35). Besides, the first 6 books are ok, the rest are horrible as Jordan drags the same time period on and on and on, from different perspectives, but still.
And the blatant, omnipresent sexism, from both genders, is frankly very grating after a while.

To the OP: It's hard to recommend books to someone without knowing what their tastes are, and it also depends on what kind of fantasy you like since it's a very broad genre, but I'd say Brandon Sanderson and Patrick Rothfuss are probably the 2 best fantasy writers around these days.

Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy (and its sequel) is pretty good as long as you don't mind a really flawed protagonist and dark setting, Glen Cook's early books about the Black Company are good with the same disclaimer.
I'd also recommend David Eddings for fun reads, Trudi Canavan is pretty good too in a different style, as is Jennifer Fallon.

If you like urban fantasy (books that takes place in a world similar to ours but where magic and nonhuman species exist), I'd highly recommend books by Ilona Andrews and Jim Butcher's Dresden Files.

And of course I absolutely have to mention Terry Pratchett, but it took a while for him to hit his stride, the first few books aren't really good, you should probably start with Guards! Guards! for the most fun.

Don't forget willow switches.

For anyone wanting to read Wheel of Time, I recommend the abridged versions.

/watches stock soar