Donaldson *S@CKED* with a capital 'S'. If I had to read "Leper...outcast, unclean!" one more time I was going to hurl. Donaldson's was the worst thing I've ever read, and the next biggest Tolkien rip-off to the Shanarra stuff by Brooks, in my opinion, though I at least enjoyed the Shanarra books. I barely made it through the first three Donaldson books and couldn't make it past the first of his second series. God those books were
awful.
One you didn't mention, that was fantastic, were the first six "Dragonlance" books by Weiss & Hickman. Everything else they've written is utter crap, in my opinion, but those first six books were outstanding. For a series based on Dungeons and Dragons modules, it actually was fantastic.
Michael Moorcock's "Elric" series is the best thing written next to Tolkien.