It helps most of us have read the same/similar shit! [@0 Azzy 0] 

Though I've not read [b]The Name of the Wind[/b]. I'll add one of my own, however. 
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[b]The Sword of Shannara[/b] by Terry Brooks, and the series of books that follow. The first book was published in 1977. I started this series in 10th grade and really started to love it. It's the series that convinced contemporary media that fantasy books had a real shot in being a major genre in literature. There's a lot of similarities in the book to Lord of the Rings, but it's [i]very[/i] different in a lot of ways and the following two books in the initial trilogy are quite different. I'll say the 2nd book The Elfstones of Shannara is my favorite, actually. It has unlikely heroes with unlikely magic, a demon army and an implacable demon assassin fighting Elven rangers, edltritch creatures, and it also has a cool gypsy too. 

The setting is a post apocalyptic world. Thousands of years before the current day, magic was awake and alive in our world, and the world was populated by various races and magical beasts. But as the younger race of man grew strong, the other races waned and magic fell asleep, turning into legend. Only the Elves survived, secluded and small in number in the deeper forests of the world. We grew technologically advanced, reaching lifespans of 150 years at least and traveling across planets, making advanced AI war machines to fight our wars. But one day, the last war of the world ended in 3 moments, nuclear warheads shattering the world and driving the human race close to extinction. Continents shifted, and humanity evolved into subraces.

The humans in the North transformed into Trolls from the radiation and rocky terrain. The east had humans who traveled underground and lived in swamps, evolving into Dwarves and Gnomes. The West, Elves returned from their seclusion and grew in number again, magic returning to the world. In the Southlands, the last untainted humans made their home. This led to a world full of magical beasts warped with lost technology, spirits and demons returning within the ruins of the ancient human civilization. It's very well written with a great setting. I have the companion for this series too, though I've only read 6 books out of the 18+ that have been written. 

The first book, the one I mentioned, is about a Warlock Lord returning to create another world war of the races. Two unlikely young men with elven blood need to seek the Sword of Shannara to slay him, and they get caught in the midst of the returning war and the intrigue that follows. They're protected by a prince from the small highland Kingdom of Leah, and they're guided by Gandalf-expy Allanon, though I will say Allanon is really badass in his own right. 

The series has a really cool take on Dwarves, making them forest loving guerilla fighters and gardeners. After they had emerged from their caves when the world was habitable again, they resolved never to be without the open sky and the natural world again, shunning the underground. Though if memory serves they're still good smiths.