Thread:BunsenH/@comment-25404524-20181121083223/@comment-24577221-20181123175207

Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, of course. Declaration of bias: I thought that Jackson's movie trilogy made excellent use of the New Zealand landscapes, and butchered the plot and the characters. Jackson removed critical chunks of the story to allow for stupid and implausible action sequences, some of which were never in the original books even by implication, and chopped out characters' essential nobility and dignity by having them act on whim instead of on principle. Tolkien was a consummate storyteller.

Anything by Robin McKinley. Many of her books are retellings of classic fairy tales, excellently done, though she has many completely original stories as well. Many people suspect that Disney's animated Beauty and the Beast was ripping off McKinley's Beauty: a number of story elements that were original to Beauty appeared in the Disney movie. McKinley's Deerskin is very well done, though disturbing in spots, and potentially problematic for people who are sensitive on the subject of sexual abuse.

I enjoy Patricia Wrede's work. Her Enchanted Forest Chronicles, starting with Dealing With Dragons, are aimed at an audience a bit younger than you, but I still recommend them. Her trilogy that begins with Thirteenth Child is good. A number of her books are set in an alternate England of about a hundred years ago in which magic is common, such as Mairelon the Magician, and several are cowritten with Caroline Stevermer, such as Sorcery and Cecelia.

Seanan McGuire is a friend of mine who has somewhat taken the F&SF field by storm. Her work is a bit dark for my taste, but well-written, and she has won a number of major awards in the field. Her "October Daye" series, beginning with Rosemary and Rue, is urban fantasy. Every Heart a Doorway is set in a home for children who have found their way into some kind of fantasy world, and then forced to return to our world. Some of her books which are more on the horror end of things are written under the pen name of Mira Grant -- she wanted to make the distinction so that fans of one style of work wouldn't pick up books of the other style and be disappointed. These include her Feed series, which are political thrillers set in a background a couple of decades after the zombie apocalypse. Her trilogy beginning with Parasite is set in a world in which most Americans are kept healthy by bioengineered tapeworms.

A couple of non-SF authors:  Farley Mowat was Canadian and wrote many books from a Canadian perspective; I particularly enjoy The Dog Who Wouldn't Be, Never Cry Wolf, and Owls in the Family. Sterling North wrote a number of novels set in the American wilderness or on the frontier, and The Wolfling is excellent.