I will preface this by saying that, in general, I'm not big on fantasy, so I rarely ever recommend the genre. Having said that:
I read The Wheel of Time series written by Robert Jordan for a while which was a sprawling fantasy epic that regularly gets compared to Lord of the Rings.
Each book begins with: The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again.
This particular tale takes place in the forgotten myth of the hero who was needed to save the world from The Dark One, only to destroy it in trying. Rand al Thor is the reincarnation of this original hero. Again, he has no memories initially and doesn't really believe in what he's doing because suddenly things from stories he was told as a child are coming out of the woodwork and living and breathing. He will eventually begin to hear the voice of the original hero in his head, and he will converse with it. It will scream at him to kill certain people on sight before they can betray him (because everyone else is a reincarnation of that 'myth' as well, but Rand keeps the urge in check.
It's magic system is pretty cool, too. Magic users channel a power called The One Source that works differently through men than it does women (basically, each side is more proficient in a certain set of elemental forces than the other), and if men and women channel together, the channel is even more powerful. The Dark One has, however, managed to taint the male half of the power, and they are eventually driven insane from using it. The women have a task to still all male magic users (essentially magickal castration) before this can occur.
While it seems like a straightforward Light vs. Dark scenario, it's not popcorn in the slightest. I could never convey to you the density of the story in a few lines here, but remember what I said about my not digging fantasy in general. One of the series' neatest conventions is that each chapter is written in first person from the perspective of a particular character in the story. So you'll sometimes get more than one viewpoint on something that happened in the story depending on who's eyes you were seeing it through. And the three main male characters, Rand, Mat and Perrin will individually comment to themselves on how easy the other two have it with women. It can also confound the reader by having a character walk straight into an ambush that you knew was coming, but they were clueless about. It's also kind of neat to see things like Rand talking to the voice in his head from another's perspective, where the reader knows what's going on but the character thinks Rand's losing his mind.
Now for the drawbacks: the series is on the 11th book I think, and each one is between 600-700 pages - these are not light reads, but more of a commitment. I've read through the 10th book, but the story just keeps getting bigger. It's supposed to lead to some final battle, but the number of tangents the author goes on are lengthy and tedious at times. Basically, I see no end in sight...
And, worst of all, the author died last year, so it's potentially unfinished - his wife is supposed to take up the mantle, but I dunno...
I don't read much fantasy, but I read these for quite awhile and there's some cool stuff in there.
Note: Do not play The Wheel of Time video game.
Ever.
