I’m currently on the hunt for a new book series. I just finished the Stormlight Archive up to the current book, and while I did enjoy my time with the series it definitely had a lot of shortcomings in my eyes. For most of the books it felt like all of the main characters are Mary Sues, and I found MANY of the plot points to be extremely predictable and could see things coming a mile away. I have this issue with many of the stories in shows or books that I’ve watched/read, and I would say that it is one of the main things I really enjoyed about the Game of Thrones series is that Martin really subverted my expectations throughout a lot of its plot. I’ve read a lot of romantasy books over the past year, but took a break from that type of book to read the Stormlight Archive. I didn’t realize quite how bad the writing in a vast majority of romantasy books are until I stepped away from them.
Anyways, for what I’m looking for: I love world building, a big epic story, fantasy elements. I would prefer a mature, adult type of writing style and plot.
I’ve read the Wheel of Time series, GoT, Stormlight Archive, LoTR, Dragonlance. I also LOVE the Dragonriders of Pern series I never see people bring up but that’s a childhood favorite. I don’t know if I’ve forgotten to include more details but happy to do so.
by ThrowRACanteloupe786
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Malazan
The Black Company
Have you read Magician?
The Faithful and the Fallen
Second Apocolypse Series by R Scott Bakker
The books in the Grishaverse by Leigh Bardugo – Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm, Ruin and Rising and then Six of Crows & Crooked Kingdom. Creative world building, big epic stories, fantasy elements, more mature/adult (but still PG), and actual plot. Mostly character dev/plot, not so much romancing.
Will of the Many by James Islington was my favorite book last year.
It is new so there aren’t more books out yet. I think we’re getting the next book in early 2025. I know that deters some people so want to put that out there.
The fantasy world, both aesthetically and politically, is inspired by ancient Rome. It takes a lot of fantasy tropes and takes them in unpredictable, original directions. It’s one of those books where after I read it, I immediately wanted to reread it.
Joe Abercrombie will subvert the hell out of you. Start with The Blade Itself. It’s a big story so it takes a minute.
I really really enjoyed the Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb. I’d say the writing and character work are by far its best qualities (or at least my favourite), so if you’re looking for more of that, maybe you’ll like it. It’s not nearly as vast in POVs as A Song of Ice and Fire, but there are several trilogies within the same series following different characters, so if you like this first one, then there’s a lot more to look forward to 🙂
My first epic fantasy trilogy that I read is The Time Master Trilogy by Louise Cooper. I loved it so much that I stole them from my father when I moved out.