Too much fantasy is derivative of Tolkien, and much is formulaic, One of my favourite books is a fantasy one though, but it's not at all predictable (lowly farm boy does not become king) and the magic is treated logically: it uses energy.
Sorry, I was about to go to work and didn't have time to get it out. It's Empire of the East by Fred Saberhagen. My copy contains three 'books' which I think originally came out separately, but you need to read all three together. Book One is 'The Broken Lands', book two is 'The Black Mountains', and book three is 'Ardneh's World'. Personally I regard them as sections rather than a trilogy; the paperback I have is 558 pages with all three. I love this story and have read it at least three times.
Ah. It says in my book that Empire of the East was first published in 1979, and that the three parts were published in substantially different form as 'The Broken Lands', 'The Black Mountains', and 'Changeling Earth' in 68, 71, and 73 respectively. I'd say go for the complete thing; it works wonderfully.
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I seem to be coming fairly high on these interests things!
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Ah. It says in my book that Empire of the East was first published in 1979, and that the three parts were published in substantially different form as 'The Broken Lands', 'The Black Mountains', and 'Changeling Earth' in 68, 71, and 73 respectively. I'd say go for the complete thing; it works wonderfully.