Well-written prose & other pie-in-the-sky wishes
I'll start this by saying I know I'm picky. I blame this on authors. After reading excellent writers such a N. K. Jemisin I find it difficult to pick up just any book and read. Don't get me wrong I often do just that, pick up any fantasy book and read, but I walk away with that unsatisfied feeling of having eaten a McDonald's Quarter Pounder. What do I want? Good prose, well-drawn characters, a decent plot line that's not full of tropes. Is that too much to ask for? My hope Is that I will stumble across this MacGuffin in my search through the many books and series of the fantasy world. My desire is that this hoped for saga would be either dark, grimdark or black fantasy. I have read Glenn Cooks The Black Company, Erickson's Malazan series, R. Scott Bakker, Moorcock's Elric books, Mark Lawrence and Joe Abercrombie and George R. R. Martin as well as Jemisin. These writers have had a profound impact on how and what I read. So, I often find myself pining away, searching for the perfect fantasy series to get lost in.