My favorite series in this genre would be The Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan, the sheer scope of this story is just epic! Anybody who loves reading Tolkien should definitely read this. I also would recommend Dragonlance Series and Forgotten Realms Series for those Role Playing Game fanatics.
We are where we are suppose to be, nothing happens by chance.
Star wars... Like everybody else, got hooked with the movie and i found myself wanting for more... Now I am following the saga of the Skywalkers!!!... I started with jude watsons stories - jedi apprentice (young obi wan still training), then jedi quest (anakin's training) and now i finished the books for episode 4,5,6 and the supposed stories for movie 7,8,9.
I'd like to say Lord of the Rings but that would be too cliche. My next favorite is the Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steve Erikson. Always a consistent top fantasy series in best fantasy lists. Its not as known as the Wheel of Time and A Song of Fire and Ice series but deserves to be. If you like Game of Thrones, give this one a try.