Dear Kellerica, I also love Earthsea!
I have just read the third volume "The Farthest Shore", first published in my country this year. And man, her dragons are really something, half beasts and half gods! And the whole underworld dusty and empty, the variety of cities and climates. Her world has some vivicity doesn't it? You said you prefer your worldbuilding baked with a good story, I remember reading Ursula herself was also like this. She would unravel her world as Ged would travel and land in its shores. I guess mapmaking could be like that also. Do you feel like that in your creative process?
I also have a soft spot for Phantásien (Michael Ende: The Neverending Story). When I was reading the book as a child I so desperately wanted to enter this world just like Bastian did and I also love the original ideas like the colour desert Goab and the house of Aiuóla.
Mine would be Miéville's Bas-Lag.
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I have to give another vote for the Map of Middle-Earth by Christopher Tolkien.
What is it about that map? It is not the most artistically well done fantasy map. Any time spent looking at the ones on this forum will confirm that. But to me it has a special way of capturing magic and mystery. It is as special to maps as The Lord of the Rings is to fantasy novels.
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