I must be reading completely different sorts of fantasy, then... oh yeah, that's right, it's YA fiction . Nuthin' grubby going on there. Good YA fantasy authors include Maggie Stievater (Shiver, Lament, etc), and Holly Black (White Cat, Tithe). I also enjoyed Gregory Maguire's books, based on fairy stories, like Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Mirror, Mirror and Lost. Hmmm it was a while back that I read them but I don't remember any weird stuff going down in those. Also Diana Wynne Jones wrote a few novels for adults/crossover that are very entertaining, eg Deep Secret. These books aren't really choppy/army/dragonny/elvesy type books but they're still fantasy and a good read.

FWIW I think there are so many fantasy books that are set in essentially the same kinds of worlds with essentially the same kinds of things happening in them, there's a lot of pressure to come up with some kind of twist, and having something that's more "out there" than the others is guaranteed to make it stand out/sell well. Same goes for big hollywood movies too, come to think of it.