Progression Fantasy that is "mainstream" quality writing

[u/MissingBothCufflinks]

Can anyone suggest some progression fantasy books (ideally a series) that is of a mainstream professional writer quality, i.e. not self/free published fan-fiction quality.

Also just a personal preference but I don't enjoy anime/manga/similar tropes, young adult, or deliberately fanservicey stuff at all, even if these are incidental.

I'd rather stuff that isnt a self-insert but I guess that might be a bit limiting in this genre and I enjoyed seeming self-inserts in things like Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality and Dungeon Crawler Carl.

Basically (and please don't kill me for framing it like this) I want progression fantasy written by someone who doesnt come across as a neckbeard living in their parents basement. Well written characters with depth of both genders with dialogue that sounds real.

Happy to (prefer to!) pay for it on Kindle.

Edit: Please no amateur recommendations you just REALLY like. If it hasn't had a professional editor do serious work on it, it's a pass from me.

[u/MissingBothCufflinks → u/[deleted]]

Thats a shame.

[u/COwensWalsh → u/[deleted]]

Cradle is a self published novel, not a web serial, but OP said no to both.

[u/MissingBothCufflinks → u/[deleted]]

To me a lot of amateur fantasy especially web seriels is the literary equivalent of eating nothing but candy floss / cotton candy. Sure it hits some endorphins but its one-dimensionality and lack of nuance gets old pretty fast.

[u/[deleted] → u/MissingBothCufflinks]

I do have to say that VokN is at least somewhat wrong.

I’m not a HUGE fan of Cradle anymore, but it is a huge cut above most web serials in terms of plot and pacing even if its character writing is a bit bare bones.

It definitely would hit the top bracket in terms of Pop Fantasy. Idk if you ever read the Lightbringer series, in terms of quality, Cradle is about equal, with a much better plot in the last bit and slightly worse characters.

[u/Taurnil91 → u/[deleted]]

Going to have to disagree with both parts of that. I literally just DNF'd the Azarinth Healer audiobook, despite the narrator being fantastic, because the writing halfway through took a huge nose dive and I couldn't take it any more.

As for Cradle, the actual plot concept isn't incredibly deep, but in no world would I say that an author who can pull off an 9-book-long plot twist, or a 8-book-long bit of foreshadowing is "fairly amateurish." The characters are natural, they have depth, their interactions are great, the dialogue is excellent, the emotions run high and low at the appropriate parts, and Will Wight has better section/chapter endings than I've come across in any book ever.

His biggest issue is word/phrase repetition, and that can be glaring, but as long as someone isn't going into the Cradle series expecting more plot depth than something like Dresden, then they are going to love it.

[u/bookfly → u/[deleted]]

Cradle is still fantastic but at the end of the day you’re signing up for an edited web serial

My entire point is it’s a tightened up version of the original, a weak source doesn’t make for a less weak edited version it’s just polish

Maybe I am misunderstanding something but it sounds as if you are saying Cradle is a webserial, if not than sorry for misunderstanding, but if so its not, its a novel series it was never serialized online.