The Elenium by David Eddings

This trilogy was written after his better known work The Belgariad and The Mallorean, and is at first glance the classic hero story. Also known as Boy meets girl; girl might die; boy runs around with a big sword trying to save her (and possibly the world). In fact this is exactly what this story is about although the 'girl' is a Queen and the 'boy' is her Champion. However the actual execution of the three books is incredible particularly so if you enjoy reading about how characters develop though their experiences. This is proved though the experiences of Sparhawk and his best friend Kalten. What is unusual is that the way characters use their talents to solve their problems; eg. using the network of spies and the orders of knights. The world that David Eddings creates is very like our own with the important difference that the laws of magic actually work. It is this aspect of fantasy writing that fascinates me is the way different authors set up their magic laws and customs in the worlds. In this series it is particularly good as the peoples resemble people of Earth culturally, especially with religion especially the 'Church' in Eosia, (the continent where the action takes place) which closely resembles the Catholic church before the Reformation.