Fallen out of love with Romantasy

Jasper Fforde's books? Starting with 'The Eyre Affair'? Utterly bananas but I loved the characters and I loved seeing favourite characters from books behaving like actual humans. Plus funny, I increasingly tire of the humorless and po-faced heroes and heroines in literature.

Brandon Sanderson absolutely doesn’t write sexist female characters. They’re emotionally nuanced, fully fleshed out, and fascinating. They’re some of my favourite characters full stop and the polar opposite of what you tend to see a lot of in Romantasy. Mistborn and the standalones (Warbreaker, Tress, Yumi etc) are easy reads but Stormlight is much heavier, with a lot more lore to it. Incredible books and well worth the read, but as he says himself, Stormlight is what you read when you already trust him!

Jim Butcher, on the other hand…probably not for you.

Yes to Garth Nix old Kingdom trilogy for an easier YA read, and Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb!

Cinderella is Dead - Kalynn Bayron a reworking of the story
Angel of the Crows - Katherine Addison - reworking of Sherlock Holmes with women in the roles of Holmes (angel) and Watson, quite funny at times
The Bright Sword - Lev Grossman The knights of the Round Table after Arthur's demise, no female lead but a different take on the legend, I enjoyed this

I'd not set out to read reworkings, they just seemed to happen but have enjoyed them

I can't remember if anyone has mentioned these authors although I think someone has mentioned Jen Williams, I have just finished Talonsister and Titanchild. Unfortunately Libby doesn't have any more of her titles

How did I forget…Julian may saga of the exiles!!! More (very light) sci fi than fantasy tbh but absolutely brilliant!

He is very hard work. I don't think I will ever finish the ones I have left

The Gap, yes, I couldn't remember the name. Thank you! They were very hard work and I didn't finish them in the end.

I think you are referring to The Gap series for the more SF series I didn't enjoy that at all.

I hadn't really thought about it, but you are correct and it's right there in Thomas Covenant as well. Possibly why nobody recommends it but I just got tied up in the minor characters and the land. I haven't finished Thomas Covenant I have the final two to read but have struggled with them - I need to have a thesaurus with me - I think Donaldson got very much above himself. Although one benefit is that my vocabulary increased

I stopped buying Stephen Donaldson books when I noticed there's a theme in all the ones I read (not Thomas Covenant but Mordant's Need and something more SF) of men hurting women, or at least thinking about it, for fun. I decided at that point to not give him any more of my money.

Oh I’ve just remembered Godkiller/Sunbringer/Faithbreaker, by Hannah Kaner great reads and interesting female protagonist.

If you want gritty then the Poppy Wars trilogy by RF Kuang, truly amazing but they get increasingly grim (in a good way!) Chinese folklore/history influences which is refreshingly different.

I really enjoyed The First Law series by Joe Abercrombie.

Ben Aaronovitch - Rivers Of London series. Male lead but strong female characters.

Oldie YA - Diana Wynne Jones.

I don’t think anyone’s mentioned Garth Nix’s Old Kingdom trilogy - Sabriel/Lirael/Abhorsen

I love Naomi Novik, both Uprooted and Spinning Silver but also the Scholomance trilogy and the Temeraire books (only read the first few) which are quite different.

I’d second many of those mentioned especially the Strange the Dreamer duology and the Kingdom of Copper trilogy, Vespertine and Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson are good fun,

I forgot Trudy Canavan snd Peter v Brett the warded man/ demon cycle series

as someone above said robin j hobb so sad I’ve finished all her books

Nk jemusin is so creative with her series. Broken kingdoms, the fifth season

Eliza Chan - fathom folk duology
shelley parker chan - he who drowned the world duology is excellent

generally the Hugo awards are good for new fantasy writers i think both Shelley and NK have won

brandon Sanderson is a nice easy read and the mistborn series has a female lead. Sanderson is a very effective writer and not too much meandering like GoT or WoT.

i agree about romanatasy it’s gotten so lazy and carbon copies of Sarah J Maas. It’s honestly disrespectful the slop these publishers are churning out.

YES thank you!!! 🙏 It was killing me not remembering!

I second Guy Gavriel Kay. Tigana is my all time favourite but A Song for Arbonne, the Sarantine Mosiac and The Lions of Al Rassan are very close contenders

Very few people mention Stephen Donaldson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. Not sure if this is because of Covenant's behaviour in the first book but some of the other characters are just so wonderful. The giants never cease to break my heart. His other duology Mordants Need (The Mirror of her Dreams and a Man Rides Through) bit romancy but a good plot, many twists and turns and many of the side characters I grew to love

Laini Taylor - Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy. Again thread of romance but oh so much more, side characters I again learnt to love. She has also written a duology Strange the Dreamer and Muse of Nightmares. So beautifully written.

Many of the other books I have read have already been mentioned

@banivani the Graceling Realm books by Kristin Cashore? Loved them and would recommend. Interestingly I think they were published as YA in the States and as adult in UK (it's been a while so could be wrong!).

Absolutely Bujold - start with The Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls, both with brilliant characters, and then move on to her sci-fi Vorkosigan saga, which not at all about spaceships and wormholes but has equally fabulous characters.

I also really like Sharon Shinn’s Twelve Houses books, written about 20 years ago - mildly romantic fantasy for young adults but absolutely not romantasy.

I would second lots of these recs, especially Katherine Arden, Naomi Novik, Katherine Addison and Trevor Baldree. @banivani could the series you're thinking of be the Annals Of The Western Shore series (I think it was a trilogy) by Ursula K Le Guin? I think they were called Gifts, Powers and Voices. Like you I also loved the Dark Lord book, lots of fun!

One more to add to the list might be The Kingdom Of Copper by SA Chakraborty. Another trilogy and very enjoyable although I haven't read the last one yet.

I also really enjoyed the Winternight Trilogy by Catherine Arden and Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik and agree with a previous posters that A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett is very imaginative and entertaining. The audiobook is excellent.

For authors who have already been mentioned I would specifically recommend Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson as the story centres around two sisters and it is a standalone so you don't have to commit to a whole series. I like it better than Mistborn which is also great.

My favourite (non-horror) T Kingfisher books are: Nettle and Bone (fantasy/fairytale vibes), The Raven and the Reindeer (Snow Queen retelling) and Jackalope Wives (folklore/fairytale short story collection).

Some more that haven't been mentioned yet:

The Adventures of Amina Al-sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty.

Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett.

Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor. And Strange the Dreamer Duology by the same author.

The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi.

If you like fantasy that it's bit grittier then I recommend The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan (Empire of the Wolf Trilogy).

This last one doesn't really fit the bill as it's about male character who is good at everything but still have to recommend The Will of the Many by James Islington as it's a great time.

I’ve got a left field one that doesn’t really feel like your pint of ale OP but someone else might enjoy it: How to become the Dark Lord or die trying, by Django Wexler. It was amusing, not that deep but fun. He’s making a series of it, I don’t except it to be good to the end (I liked Nemesin’s first book but it didn’t last did it).

Can I pick the readers’ brains? Years ago (yeaaaaars) I read a fantasy series that were all independent novels set in the same universe/lands. The theme was that some people where born with ”gifts” (they had different coloured eyes maybe? Something so three couldn’t hide anyway) and they were abominations but the kings claimed them so they had to work for him. Except in one country? The book that made an impression was about one man whose voice made everyone do what he said and he took over a kingdoms and it got pretty dark. Anybody know what I’m talking about?