Fantasy books in general

I dont tend to read so called Fantasy books in general ~ are there any recommendations from anyone that are worth a look.
Tolkien I view as something different.
I have a book called Orcs by Stan Nichols ~ which is nice to see things from the opposite end but have not read much of it yet.

Ahha, you've come to the right person, pull up a pew.....

The Orc's saga by Nicholls is good mate and like you said a breath of fresh air so worth the read.

Before I start I'll limit this to a couple of authors, the best ones for me, but if you need some more advice then just ask.

Raymond E Feist is absolutely awesome, for me his writing comes close to Tolkein. The Riftwar books are amazing and start with the fabulous Magician. Saying that though all his books are amazing and you will become addicted, I have read most of them. He also did a triology with Janny Wurts, Servant, Daughter and Mistress of the Empire, also very good reads.

And secondly, a very close second may I add is David Gemmell. The Druss the Legend volumes are great, gritty writing about a true hero. The Lion of Macedonia and Prince of Darkness are also good following Alexander the Great and his son. The Jon Shannow books are good as well, all about a gunslinger, and don't miss the tales of Skilgannon.

There you are mate for starters and main course, I hope you enjoy. If you're looking for anything inparticular then let me know and I'll try and elaborate and let you know what would work well for you.

Cheers for that.
Ill take a look and give you a shout when I have any questions....

I have just finished the Orcs saga and it was really good.
I found the characters quite entertaining and some of it quite moving.
Someone has given me The Cleric Quintet by R.A.Salvatore so will be having a look through that.
Will let you know my impressions of it.

Hey,

i remember reading R.A. Salvatore's Darkelf Saga in the early 90's. He was one of my favorites back than but thats more than 25 years ago.
I tried to read something new from him not that far ago and i found myself unable to read it to the end, it was really terrible written.
I am still unsure if one of the problems might have been the translation and wanted to try an english original but didnt do that yet.

But since your original post was asking for recommendations i would strongly suggest the following authors:

David Gemmell (as already mentioned) - I think he's one of the best in creating interesting and twisted characters.
David Eddings - I really liked his style and humor especially in The Belgariad and The Malloreon Saga.
George R.R. Martin - A Song of Ice and Fire is a nice series, well written with a "english-knight-touch" i liked.
Tad Williams - The Dragonbone Chair was a nice reading with a tolkinesque touch and i am reading the Otherland Series at the moment wich actually is a Cyberpunk/Fantasy mix.
Michael A. Stackpole - My first read of Stackpole was late 80's early 90's when he wrote a really good Trilogy for BattleTech but contrary to Salvatore i think he was able to grow
with his work. He wrote some nice fantasy books and just last year i read the Age of Discovery Series. His out of the ordinary story ideas are what makes him an interesting read.