I noticed a few names that sounded suspiciously similar to Tolkien's work when I read A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. For example, Tyrion, Valar morghulis, Daeron etc. I read a
lot more, but right now I'm running out
But Martin happened to let slip that Tolkien had a huge influence on his work.
However, I must admit, Martin clearly made his own, very original plot line and characters. In truth, and it pains me to say this, his characters are much more developed than Tolkien's, who made it a general rule (with a few exceptions) that beautiful=good and ugly=bad. Martin works the other way round. Most of the ugly characters are good ones, and many, many of the beautiful ones are evil to the core. Plus, the story is based on the medieval era, and I wouldn't exactly qualify it as 'fantasy'. Low fantasy perhaps, but nothing more. Anybody read it?