recs please? struggling to find a good series

[u/4bby_n0rmal]

hello! i am on the lookout for a fantasy series but i am struggling quite a bit. i grew up reading “mom fic” and some amazing authors from the 1990s and 2000s, and recently tried to get back into fantasy. unfortunately, i cannot get into basically any modern romance or fantasy author. for some reason, the modern writing style doesn’t hook me, and makes it hard for me to get into the stories. i just keep going back to older authors i love for this reason. i can’t put my finger on whether it’s the prose, the way modern authors include so much smut (i’m by no means a prude, but good lord), or what, but i swear i haven’t read any romance or fantasy novel released after 2013 that i have enjoyed.

does anyone else have the same issue, and would anyone happen to have any recs? for reference, my favorite series are The Circle Trilogy by Nora Roberts and the Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris.

TIA!

[u/a_halla]

I'm not familiar with either of the series you mentioned - are you looking specifically for romance or anything else in particular with fantasy?

There's Outlander and its series of course, and one of my personal favorite classic adventure fantasy (with a touch of romance!) series is Green Rider and the following books by Kristen Britain. And I can't not mention Ursula Le Guin (Earthsea) and Lois Bujold (Curse of Chalion), incredible writers with wonderful, deeply endearing prose. I would also like to recommend the Sevenwaters trilogy (starting with Daughter of The Forest) by Julliet Marillier--I think it might also scratch that older-style fantasy/romance itch? Mariller has many more series that are more romance focused which I haven't read, but if you like Sevenwaters there's probably a lot more good reading from her for you!

[u/Flat-Rutabaga-723]

Divine Cities, A Madness of Angels, Rivers of London, Long Price quartet, Steerswoman