Finised Elizabeth's Legacy today. It was okay. Really want more epic fantasy to read for upper MG though. Any suggestions? Some of my favorite authors in the space are Brandon Mull and Jonathan Auxier, though Auxier is less epic.
Throwing out a few at random...
I'll second the suggestion for Tamora Pierce. Her books tend to come in quartets, but can generally be read independently of other quartets, even in the same universe. Alanna/Song of the Lioness and the Protector of the Small, set in her magical medieval Tortall, are pretty good. Alanna was a pioneer of strong girl leads in a genre that did (and still does) lean toward men.
Also seconding Shannon Hale's
Princess Academy, though it might be more mid-MG. (On a similar vein by a different author, Gail Carson Levine does some fun yet interesting fantasies with strong heroines.)
Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus books. An alt-modern London is ruled by magicians, who only have power by enslaving spirits. Great fun but with a sharp story, and one of the most memorable MCs in the djinn Bartimaeus. Another fantasy with epic overtones from him is
Heroes of the Valley, which deconstructs classical ideas of heroism in a world where old stories are no longer the best guide to behavior. (Stroud also has an MG ghostbusting series, starting with
The Screaming Staircase, that's pretty good.)
Rick Riordan's modern takes on classical mythos count as epic, too. They may look simplistic and shallow, like they're trying to make old myths "cool" for kids, but don't be fooled; they have some interesting characters and some pretty good storytelling, and Riordan delves beyond the shallow surface of the myths.
And Patricia C. Wrede's take on fairy tales in
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles is still pretty fun. (She also has an epicish alt-history trilogy, her Frontier Magic books, set in a magical American past, though it looks to skew more YA.)