If you're really looking for the books that influenced me most, I'd have to point you to to the Farseer Trilogy with the sequel trilogy, the Tawny Man Trilogy.
As a boy in middle school, I happened upon the the second book in the Farseer Trilogy, Royal Assassin. I've since read the 3rd and 1st book in series and come to the serious conclusion that I probably would not have continued the series if I had read the first book and hadn't read the second book first, inferring all I could from context about the events of the first.
Let me be clear. If you like happy endings or tales where such things fall neatly into place in the end, this is not for you. If you ever feel for the characters you read about, this will hurt. Game of Thrones/ a Song of Ice and Fire can't top this. The main protagonist goes through too much. Life isn't fair and it is thrown in your face in heap-fulls here. Ultimately this is a tale of loyalty and sacrifice. In the first three books, the protagonist stops a greedy,unscrupulous uncle from usurping the throne. At amazing cost to himself. The second trilogy involves him working to maintain the throne as he has tried to preserve in the previous 3 books, but even that bears the scars of events of the past. The weight of the world's future rides upon his actions, for he is the prophesized Catalyst. The one whose actions will change the future or damn mankind forever to a bleak existence. But nothing ever comes without a price. Ever a price... A pebble may turn the wheel of fate out of its rut, but it is seldom a pleasant experience for the pebble.
Even at the end, wisdom is never claimed by the main character. Just the wisdom of hindsight gathered far too late. Surprisingly, there is a new trilogy in the works with a short excerpt that more sharply defines motivations and shapes characters within events of the backdrop of the first trilogy than it gives new info. Every chapter has a short excerpt, written or studied by the narrator-protagonist that sheds light on relevant subjects to the story. They highlight how one's perspective changes over the course of time and experience. I present to you the writings of a royal bastard, trained as an assassin, loyal to the throne and the family that mostly chose not to recognize him. Here is a glimpse of what awaits the reader: http://io9.com/first-exclusive-look-at-robin-hobbs-next-novel-fools-1533631696