For a fantasy classic, you could try John Crowley's Little, Big, which was reputedly the late lit critic Harold Bloom's favorite novel. Bloom notoriously hated

For a fantasy classic, you could try John Crowley's Little, Big, which was reputedly the late lit critic Harold Bloom's favorite novel. Bloom notoriously hated most fantasy novels - the Harry Potter series in particular - so that's a noticeable endorsement. For an older fantasy series, you could also try Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy (starts with Titus Groan), which actually predates the Lord of the Rings and has a crowd that thinks it's better written. I think Neil Gaiman has worked on a TV series adaptation.