Who's like Robin Hobb now?

[Rich.]

A question for the fantasy fans:

Which new authors (last three to five years, say) are writing in the spirit of authors like Robin Hobb and Lynn Flewelling?​

I've just finished reading Hobb's Liveship Traders (again) and am wondering to whom that particular style of fantasy torch has been passed.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

@Nikky Lee 's new book, The Rarkyn's Familiar, tends towards the grimdark of Hobb's stories. (And I bet she'll have some good thoughts on this, as it's her jam). Helen Lowe's Wall of Night series also has a similar feel (the first of those books is 12 years old, but the third is more recent, and I know she's working on the fourth...).

 

[Brayati]

Patrick Rothfuss, Scott Lynch, Brandon Sanderson, FondaLee.
For a start.
Or are you looking specifically for a 'style' of Hobb's?
For Flewelling:
Martha Wells, Becky Chambers, Courtney Schafer

Also, Kate Elliott, Jennifer Fallon.

 

[Hannah F]

Bex Hogan's Isles of Storm and Sorrow Trilogy (book 1 Viper published 2019) is very much of the same vein.

 

[Nikky Lee]

Hmm, the closest Live Ship Traders book/series I've read recently would be RJ Barker's The Tide Child trilogy. I've only read the first book in the series so far (The Bone Ships) but it is excellent.

I also second anything by Martha Wells. Her raksura series is the closest thing I've read to rival Hobb's lush worldbuilding. The Cloud Roads is the first book.

In terms of grimdarkness, Preist of Bones by Peter McLean is fantastic with a great voice. Think Peaky Blinders but set in a low fantasy world.

If you like the politicking in Robin Hobb, I also recommend The Poison War Books by Sam Hawke. Her opening lines are a thing of envy.

 

[Rich.]

@Nikky Lee 's new book, The Rarkyn's Familiar, tends towards the grimdark of Hobb's stories.

I had the pleasure of being a Rarkyn's beta reader! And thanks for the other recommendation.

And @Brayati, @Hannah F, @Nikky Lee, thanks for your recommendations. Plenty of authors there to go on my reading list!

It's Hobb's characters that really hook me and her generally humanist outlook on things. I find there's something fundamentally uplifting about her stories, even though some pretty awful stuff happens to her story people.