I think the lesson is not to try to ape Tolkien in any way, shape or form. All these writers like Brooks and Jordan have done that to a greater or lesser extent, i.e. followed the 'Tolkien model' and while they may provide great entertainment (which they must do or they would not have sold by the bucket load) they also attract a lot of criticism, most of it along the lines of "not as good as Tolkien", "Tolkien rip-offs" etc.
Do your own thing instead, like Peake (who was before Tolkien anyway, so that was easier for him
) or like Gaiman, Pullman or Clarke. One of the joys of really, really good fantasy and sci-fi is in discovering new worlds and if they're carbon copies of another one, those worlds aren't quite as much fun to explore
