Ah, my favourite genre. Reminds me of the many, many books borrowed from the John Medley Library during my uni days. Used to read about a book a week back then (almost all fantasy).

Eddings, Feist, Wurtz, Le Guin, Kay, Salvatore, Weiss & Hickman, etc... Strangely never touched Pratchett. One of my faves is Gemmell, who is sadly gone and won't have any more from him (read all his titles).

Thanks for all the recommendations here... will look for Malazan series, Robin Hobbs and Liveship Trader.