Fantasy Book Recommendation

[Merlinios]

Well, at the "classic" level, I would put:

Shadow of the Torturer, Gene Wolfe

From what I've read of La Guin (which is admittedly not a whole lot), that might be the point you want to start. Though probably classifiable as SF and/or Fantasy in the abstract, she's pretty non-fantastical--plot progression is normally in terms of characters rather than setting-based. I'd plug Orson Scott Card on the same principle, but he seems to swing both ways in terms of random weirdness being inserted to drive the novel, though I like almost all of his work (just not the hardcore mormon plugs).

--me