so what new-ish (last 5 years or so) series are the hottest shit nowadays?
i know n k jemisin's broken earth kept winning awards so i've got that in my sights sometime in the future
i'm a big fan of locke lamorra series
If you are big fan of Locke Lamora may I recommend
The Greatcoats series by Sebastien de Castell? It has a very similar tone and humour to it IMO and is one of my favourite newer series, and it's complete! It also has very intelligently written fight scenes as the author is a trained swordsman who used to do fight choreography.
I also recommend reading anything and everything by
Mark Lawrence.
Michael J. Sullivan's
The Riyria Revelations might be right down your alley too, Hadrian and Royce have a very good friendship reminiscent of Locke and Jean. It's complete but the author has written many more books in the same world.
For something a little different,
The Powder Mage series is a great twist on the newly popular musket-era fantasy. Think mages who gain power by snorting gunpowder and then realize that the series treats that completely seriously. It's complete but a sequel series has begun.
The Traitor Son Cycle is a very odd take on Arthurian myth and with a historian behind the helm has some very detailed and accurate medieval battles against monsters. It can be quite dense, but it's a great series and just finished up!
The
Lightbringer series has a really interesting magic system (magic users draw on different colours of light to create effects based on the colour of light they are born able to use) and has a ton of great, witty dialogue and political intrigue. It's a twisty one! One more book to go before it is complete, which I believe is aimed to be out next year.
The Faithful and the Fallen is a non-stop downhill ride into a chosen one story gone wrong. The author delights in demolishing tropes and twisting them to his whims. It's a complete series but also has a sequel series underway.
The Long War starts off a bit weak to be honest, but it ended up being a really interesting take on a 'High Fantasy' world that ties into the Lovecraft mythos. It is complete.
If you really want something that everyone is raving about then check out
The Books of Babel it's about a school teacher and his adventures in a tower the side of a country and it is incredibly unique and well written. Not complete yet but the books are coming out at a good pace.
I would say
Arcane Ascension is pretty hot now too with the influx of 'LitRPG' books. This one is a step above the rest though. It is really fun to read a world that seeks to weave an explanation for JRPG mechanics into the world and narrative in a way that doesn't make it feel super game-y.
Cradle is a western authors take on xianxia fiction, it's a light fun read and the books are coming out at a crazy pace (there are 5 books so far and the first came out in 2016).
The Licanius Trilogy is a spider web of a tale with connections between events and character that are sometimes obvious and sometimes very surprising. I've seen it compared to a lot of the classic complicated and lengthy fantasy series, but somehow it is only three books! The last book comes out in August.
I am not even sure what to say about this next recommendation, it's something you just have to read. It's a complex high fantasy tale set in a desert city with a badass woman as the main character:
Song of the Shattered Sands.
Will I ever stop adding to this post?
The Goblin Emperor is loved by any human who reads it that has a heart. It's a beautifully written standalone character study with a fantasy backdrop.
Chronicles of the Black Gate is a very solid, complete self-published series that starts a little meandering but really finds its stride in the later books. The author managed to release all five books within a year.
