Re: Lord of the Rings, while the language itself is a bit outdated and it can be quite tedious in a lot of places, it still set a benchmark that - at least as far as I'm aware - hasn't been met yet in other books in the wider fantasy genre. I've read a few, some of the serialized form, but they often feel awkward and derivative; often full of male power fantasies, coming-of-age hero's journey tropes, worldbuilding that somehow always feels derivative of LotR (which in itself was derivative of others as well I'm sure, but said others have been forgotten or replaced by that of LotR), and they often seem like the goal of the author is volume, write as many books as they can (thinking of Robert Jordan and the like) just to get all their worldbuilding in there.
Check out Stephen Donaldson's The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever.
It's about a leper from the modern day who finds himself in a fantasy world he doesn't believe in, and rejects the power he has. That's pretty original.
I agree with your critique of many of the derivatives (without naming any in particular), but feel it also applies to the original. And while the original has some bright points, so do many of the derivatives.
