For my own two cents, I give my highest recommendations to Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea stories, Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy, and Gene Wolfe's awe inspiring Book of the New Sun.
And avoid Terry Goodkind like the Black Death.
While we're on the subject,
Do folks here tend to approach BtVS as horror or fantasy?
I lean towards fantasy myself, more for tone than content.