Brent Week's Night Angel trilogy is pretty great, though he gets a few of the weapon descriptions wrong. (Though I'm apparently the only one I know who's noticed that.)

In a similar vein are Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos novels. They can be read one of two ways: You can start with Jhereg, and read them in publication order, or you can start with Taltos and read them in chronological order. The series makes sense either way.

Also recommended if you like fantasy is Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series.

Alternatively, if you're more of a Sci-Fi fan, Spider Robinson is a must, especially his Callahan's Cross-Time Saloon series. Incidentally, if you find The Callahan Touch, Callahan's Legacy, and/or The Free Lunch, will you let me know where yo found them? Those are the only three I've not read yet.

I would recommend The First/Second/Final Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson. It gets pretty dark at places, but it is quite good.

The only problem is that the last book in the Final Chronicles is not yet out.

Some of my favorites have been mentioned already, but here are a couple I haven't seen yet:

1. Anything by Charles de Lint, who writes fantastic urban fantasy short stories and novels. His stuff is interesting because it's all set in the same world, and sometimes different stories share characters, but it's not necessary to read anything in order. It's all one big tapestry you can move over as you will.

2. The Temeraire series by Naomi Novik. It's set during the Napoleonic wars, but with dragons. Each dragon has a captain he imprints on at hatching (similar to Pern, yes, but without the telepathy or any guarantee that the pairing will be a healthy one), and when they are big and well-trained enough, they and their captain and crew fight in Britain's (or whichever country's) Aerial Corps. The dragons are intelligent and can speak, but the level of intelligence varies by breed and individual.

I'll also second the recommendation for the Death Gate Cycle. I'm not a huge fan of the authors' better-known Dragonlance series, but they really did well with DGC. It's much more their own creation; far and away less derivative of the basic D&D scenario, though some familiar races may appear. Well, sort of. You'd have to see for yourself. *g*

~Neshomeh

Gone by Michael Grant, any Neil Gaiman, and the Hunger Games.

For straight fantasy, I usually turn to Garth Nix's Old Kingdom Trilogy. The books (Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen) are a great read. Also, the "Age of Fire" series by E.E. Knight are fantastic. The main characters are dragons, and the world-building is often times breathtaking.

I'm a big reader of what would be considered "urban fantasy", and highly recommend the Kitty Norville series by Carrie Vaughn, as well as the Mercy Thompson and Alpha and Omega series by Patricia Briggs. If you like well-written novels about werewolves, vampires, and how they would interact in our modern-day world, you'll love these.

If you like a little steampunk with your fantasy, read "The Parasol Protectorate" series by Gail Carriger. They're fast paced, a great read, and fun to boot. I mean, how can you not like a vibrant and engaging protagonist whose main weapon is a brass-tipped parasol?

Well, I pretty much recommend anything by Neil Gaiman. Tamora Pierce, too; just make sure you read the different series in order, otherwise it won't make as much sense. (Chronological order of the sets are the Song of the Lioness quartet, The Immortals Quartet, the Protector of the Small quartet, and Daughter of the Lioness, which is just two books. She's also still writing another series in the same universe, the Beka Cooper series, which is sort of a prequel series to the others.

On principle, I also must recommend the Redwall series, the Artemis Fowl series, and Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles. There's also a book series by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, called the Death Gate Cycle, which is rather good. I'm still in the middle of reading it myself.

You'll notice a pattern here. I practically never read anything that's not fantasy.

Read it. Love it. Worship Lilac (*fangirl squee* *metaphysical Gibbs-slap to self*)
And I also suggest the Hunger Games : D

It's a really awesome but not very well-known series by.. *checks* Gayle Greeno. The first book, and admittedly the only one I have read so far, although the other two are waiting for me at home, is called Finders Seekers. It's kind of sci-fi disguised as fantasy, a bit like Dragonriders of Pern.

And it has giant telepathic cats!

To Labranum and Techo-Dan:

I haven't read anything on either of your lists. They certainly look interesting though. Thanks!

Guvnor of Space

Full of swears and horrifying acts of violence, but if you read Stephen King that shouldn't bother you. I don't think I can adequately describe why I like his stuff, but he's my current favourite.

I like pretty much anything written by Anne McCaffrey. Her Pern series is always a good bet and there are, I'm pretty sure, more than thirty books in that one series alone, so it will keep you busy for a while.

I like Xanth novels by Pierce Anthony. They have a sort of plot thread that tenuously winds through all of them, but the way they are written really does not require you to read them in order.

I liked the first few novels in the A Wizard In Rhyme series by Christopher Stasheff, but it jumps the shark after about the 4th or 5th one.

There is the Han Solo Trilogy and the Corellian Trilogy and the X-Wing Series that are all very good in Star Wars without really requiring you to invest heavily in the Extended Universe.

Oh! I can't believe I didn't think to mention this one sooner. Wen Spencer. Amazing writer. I read her Ukiah Oregon series (Hmm, I don't think I can sum this one up quickly other than AWESOME!) and instantly fell in love. She has two other series one starts with Tinker (urban fantasy with Elves, mechanics, and much more!) and and the other one starts with A Brother's Price (kind of dystopian future). I haven't the last two, but I've heard enough discussion of them and seen enough excerpts to know that they will also be very good when I do get around to them.

I liked Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan series. I haven't had time to read them lately. They are too long to read in a day or two with my kids running around distracting me. They are wonderfully complicated books.

The Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Very good and after you read them you can watch the Granada TV series of them. :)

Artemis Fowl is good, up until the last book.

Then there are stand-alones and classics. Watership Down; The Children of The New Forest; (not a stand alone, but I've never read the rest)--A Wrinkle in Time; The Ear, The Eye and The Arm (One of my all time favorites); The Iceberg Hermit; Carry on Mr. Bowditch

Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson is a great read - Douglas Adams meets William Gibson. The rest of Stephenson's stuff is also quite good, if you're a math nerd.

Now that I've already mentioned him, William Gibson does good stuff. It's a lot more heavy philosophy than Stephenson's more approachable works.

Yet another author I really enjoy is Jim Butcher - the Dresden Files are great noir urban fantasy.

As far as sci-fi goes, Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars are rather epic. Stephenson also wrote some sci-fi, The Diamond Age is definitely worth reading. Louis McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga is also rather awesome, and available for free (legally!) here.

On the fantastic side, I'm a fan of Mercedes Lackey. She can be hit or miss at times, but she writes incredible characters. I'd suggest staying away from the Phoenix series, as they're on the miss side of the picture.