Have you read Steven Erikson? His The Malazan Book of he Fallen series is the best fantasy series I have ever read, by a long way.
There's seven (out of ten) books in the series already published, with the rest coming on an almost early basis, as well as a couple novellas - and another guy, who co-created the world, just recently got a 5 book deal writing Malaz books after his novella was met with reasonable success. In other words, if you do find you like it, you will have enough reading to last you a hell of a long time.
Erikson is not a writer by trade, but an archeologist and etymologist - and it really shows in his first book. The prose is often awkward, but that is more than made up for by the absurd amount of minute detail he is able to go into when describing the habits and nuances of the various cultures and characters he has created. There is a clear difference in the details when looking at someone who has studied these kinds of civilisations hs entire life, and someone who has not. The first book aside, Erikson's writing style really takes off in his later work.
It's a pretty damn epic story, the opening six books cover three major plotlines alternately. It can be disorienting and annoying to find you have to wait for book 3 to continue the story of book 1, but works out great in the end as there's utterly no stagnation, as with some other massive series. Book seven ties the threads together. Each individual book also works like this, somewhat, with overlapping storylines which converge toward the end. It's a style which works extremely well.
His magic system is intricate but easy to grasp, and is pretty much the best magic system I've experiened ever, in book, game or film. His races are not particularly original in their concepts, but are utterly singular in their culture and styIe. There is no good or bad, really - most characters are some shade of grey, and they know it. Erikson is also not afraid to borrow from other sources - for example, one of his major caracters is an Albino who wields a soul-consuming sword. *Cough*Elric*Cough. There are alot of nods and smiles at other great works.His books are very military-oriented (being compared with Glen Cook) and he leans towards the gritty and brutal. He's especially good at writing combat on grand scale. The writing is always well trimmed and engaging, but he does on occasion become overly-philosophical and even rambles at times.
I just cannot recommend it enough. The first book is called Gardens of the Moon.
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