12-25-2025, 03:53 AM
I've just finished reading Brandon Sanderson's "The Way of Kings" and I'm completely hooked on epic fantasy again, but I'm worried I've started at the peak and everything else will feel like a letdown. I'm looking for recommendations for the best fantasy novels that offer a similar blend of intricate world-building, complex magic systems, and deep character development, but perhaps from a less mainstream author. I've already read the major series by George R.R. Martin, Patrick Rothfuss, and Robert Jordan. Are there newer authors or completed series from the last decade that have really captured that sense of scale and originality without relying on overly familiar Tolkien-esque tropes?