The writer I am going to recommend to you that I am currently a HUGE fan of right now is Jim Butcher.
His first series is an urban fantasy setting called The Dresden Files. Now if you have seen the Sci-Fi Channel's (SyFy now... Ugh) TV show The Dresden Files, I apologize. That show was absolute crap. The books however are great!
There are currently 13 books. I had the pleasure of going to a book signing when he was in Omaha, NE when I lived there and he said the series is going to go up to around 20 something and be this all out war and just pure awesomeness.
Harry Dresden is the main character and is a wizard living in Chicago, Ill. He uses his abilities to solve cases that are just too odd for the police to figure out. It starts out as this detective/mystery type story but as the series progresses it really amps up the fantasy elements. On top of the gripping plots, the characters - especially Harry Dresden - are very likable. Dresden is so sarcastic, sometimes at the worst of times, that I am often laughing out loud (Reason I no longer read these books in public. I've made a fool of myself many times laughing my butt off and sometimes in tears).
Seriously, you have to check out The Dresden Files. I recommend this series to everybody whenever I can. Haha.
Book 1 of the Dresden Files is Storm Front.
Jim Butcher wrote another series called The Codex Alera series. This series is only 6 books and sadly did not seem to get as much of a fan base as The Dresden Files. I understand why though. Most went into the series expecting The Dresden Files, but he did a great job writing something quite different. The series is a high fantasy setting and it starts out a bit slow unlike The Dresden Files. The magic system is really interesting being that everyone in the world has it, except the main character.
I don't want to talk about it too much out of fear of giving anything away. But believe me, I know it starts slow but stick with it and read them all. You won't regret it one bit. The realm the series takes place is in quite interesting (on top of the unique magic system) because it is very similar to the Roman empire (Roman military ranks and combat doctrine, the cities and the peoples culture).
Book one of The Codex Alera series is Furies of Calderon (quite slow, gets good around middle/end but good beginning for the series as a whole).
If you love Lord of the Rings you seriously have to check out The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. His writing was a major influence to Jim Butcher and to a lot of other current fantasy writers (on top of J.R.R. Tolkien). This series is often compared to being similar to Lord of the Rings in its writing, story, depth, etc.
Book one is The Eye of the World. There is a prequel before the first book called New Spring that takes place 20 years before, but I went with the original order he wrote them. He didn't write the prequel until after book 10.
Sadly the author Robert Jordan died after book 11 while working on book 12. Brandon Sanderson has been working on finishing the series though (chosen to complete the series by his wife . They are currently working on book 14 and it is due out early 2012.
Well those are my suggestions
Jim Butcher's books are shorter but very good and enjoyable and I can't speak highly enough for his works.
If you have a Used Bookstore near you I recommend you go there for Robert Jordan's books. I got the first 6 for around a dollar each (and these books aren't tiny). Jim Butcher's would probably be there for a cheap price as well.
