Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time. I'm on book 9, Winter's Heart. I love the rich world Jordan creates full of vastly differing cultures, social stigmas, and generally "real" people even if they do get predictable at times. When the guy who turned me onto the books warned me "It'll be pretty dry until book three," I was understandably hesitant. But he was right, and the first books are like the introduction to any good story: exposition.
Even given my investment in the series and the months of entertainment, I'd only recommend this to fans of fantasy novels. It's very "Lord of the Rings" in that there are extreme fantasy elements like magic and warfare mixed with a lot of political intrigue and subtleties. The story also rapidly breaks into multiple story arcs, sometimes not touching base with a character for an entire book or more. It's a test of patience, but if you can keep up with that sort of thing and have a year or more to dedicate to a single author, go for it.