The Belgariad

I suppose there isn't much to say about your typical fantasy hero-quest novel: the protagonist is "just an average farmboy" who goes on an epic quest or two complete with magic, politics, intrigue, swordfighting, et cetera. The plot is nothing unique, but it's everything else that made me love the Belgariad: the vast majority of the characters are fantastic, the settings are unique, and the world-building is phenomenal.

There's a lot of similarity here to Lord of the Rings, where the story isn't the point so much as the characters, setting, languages, and such. That said, David Eddings is a fantastic writer -- he just chose to spend his time making the world-building utterly amazing rather than inventing a completely unique plotline.

Would absolutely recommend this one. One of my favorite YA series.