First of all, I don't agree with you. I think I maybe post my honest feelings about all the books I read here more often than some.
Never said your feelings weren't honest or that you were too picky, just that your preferences are specific. You like certain kinds of books -- epic battle fantasy set in pre-industrial secondary worlds, leaning towards the grimdark part of the spectrum. (Yes, author Sam Sykes, there you go, I will use the term; it seems to be working.) There's nothing wrong with that, but it is harder to come up with recommendations with narrower criteria. And someone not being able to find books they like the look of with a narrower criteria doesn't mean the fantasy field as a whole for everybody else has stagnated.
I've liked a range of plot depth from Malazan to Night Angel or Mistborn. From Feist to Rothfuss. Honestly, I can count on ONE HAND how many books/series I have disliked. Farseer, Perdido Street, Coldfire, EarthSea..that's pretty much it.
Feist to Rothfuss is not a wide range -- they are in the exact same neighborhood. Likewise, Malazan, Night Angel and Mistborn are all the same neighbors too -- grimdark epic battle fantasy, not that far from Feist and Rothfuss. You don't really mention anything contemporary fantasy, so that's thousands of titles you don't like. Ditto historical fantasy, futuristic fantasy, etc. You're not a big fan of YA. You don't like certain styles of secondary world fantasy. You're not against women authors, but haven't expressed much interest in them either. None of this is bad, it just makes it harder to rec. It's a thinner slice of the fantasy pie. (But I'll take a look at your list in the other thread and see if I can help any there. Where we intersect in tastes, we're not that far off often on titles.)
Everyone has their own preferences, if you like everything written then that's kind of a boring way to perceive things.
Everybody does, which is why the fantasy field is not stagnating for everybody.
It's not that I don't want a big list. What I find as my problem with my "big list" is that I rank them from books I really want to read to books that I should eventually read but not too excited for.
Unless you are taking a class with a required reading list, there are no fantasy titles that you should eventually read. So if you have no interest in them, don't read them. Very few series that have been written in the last fifteen years are finished. Even when an author moves off and does something else, they often come back to the world they created to finish a long story or do other, sequel ones. So if you want to read the newer people, you have to gamble a bit, I'm afraid. Of course, Sanderson or Weeks can keep one person busy for a while.
If you don't think Abercrombie has a finished series, then you don't quite grasp what that word means.
I do actually believe certain series are finished, yes. But Abercrombie's is most certainly not. Abercrombie is doing serialized trilogies to tell a large story of the war between Bayaz (North) and his opponents in the South (Empire,) which began thousands of years ago when they were apostles and is continuing on a very large, years spanning chessboard in his world. The first trilogy covered Bayaz's reappearance on the scene and involved his first large opening salvo battles with his opponents, in which some questions about the past were answered but most not. His second trilogy consists of "stand alone" books that do offer stories with stopping points, but which also contain forays that advance the larger story of the war and follow in progression with overlapping characters. All three progress the story of the war as a side part and an undercurrent of the central story for that episode. After he does his YA books, Abercrombie is doing another trilogy that won't be as episodic as the second one. I don't know if he will finish Bayaz's war in that trilogy or not and we will have the fate of the apostles and the end of the war, or if it will just be another campaign of the on-going war, like the First Law trilogy. It will be interesting to see if the door to the demon dimension that supplies the magic does get opened up this time, changing the war. I am curious to see how Abercrombie will end his story and resolve his mythology. However, it may be quite a while down the road before we actually get to that story ending.
If, however, you are comfortable with serialized trilogies that do contained stories (Bakker's are kind of semi-contained,) or overall arching ones like Abercrombie's books and Glen Cook's Black Company books that you are currently reading, then that makes it easier. You can read a first trilogy that may be done and stop or continue. There are also the episodic series like suspense series that are most popular in contemporary fantasy but also show up for some secondary world fantasy. They have contained stories in each book but overarching plotlines related to the main characters in the series as the characters' lives progress, so they can go on for decades. I don't know if you'd count that as finished and not a problem or not finished and a problem. For instance, Stephen Brust's Jhereg series could be one.
I understand that you like to binge read and again, there's nothing wrong with that. But it does make it again harder to rec for you, especially if you are going, no older people! Older people are more likely to have finished series. Then again, Tad Williams is returning to Memory, Sorrow and Thorn world -- but he did finish that story in a trilogy, so this is essentially a new story in the same world.
I'll give you an example of what I mean. Here is a list of fantasy books I've been reading the last several months. It isn't the sort of list that would work for you, because the titles don't fit most of your usual preferences.
Life After Life, Kate Atkinson (standalone, historical parallel universe fantasy novel set 1910-1967, that one I'm guessing no for you)
Locke Lamora: Republic of Thieves, Scott Lynch (book three in an episodic series with ongoing over arch plot; I forget if you've tried these, they are satiric grimdark)
Shadow's Son, Jon Sprunk (pre-ind sec world with grimdark and some dark satire, first of a trilogy that is finished so maybe if you haven't read already, Jon can answer any questions)
Esther Diamond: The Misfortune Cookie, Laura Resnick (on-going satiric/farce suspense contemporary fantasy series, book #6, def not for you, but wife might like?)
Codex Born, Jim C. Hines (book 2 in Jim's Libromancer series, a satiric suspense contemporary fantasy series)
Garrett P.I.: Wicked Bronze Ambition, Glen Cook (latest in long running satiric suspense pre-ind sec world fantasy series)
Nysta: Duel at Grimwood Creek, Lucas Thorn (book #2 in what I'm not sure is a trilogy or a series or a serialized trilogies series -- pre-ind sec world satiric thriller dark western flavored fantasy series, def can be considered grimdark, might be workable for you, and at least the first trilogy is done, which completes a story, Lucas can answer any questions)
Death and Resurrection, R.A. MacAvoy (serialized novellas novel, contemporary fantasy, parallel dimensions, prob not for you)
Red Country, Joe Abercrombie (you read already)
Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues and White Trash Zombie Apocalypse, Diana Rowland (Books 2 and 3 in ongoing satiric suspense contemporary fantasy series -- there are science fiction underlays to the zombism but also some supernatural stuff, def not for you)
Circus Tresaulti: Mechanique, Genevieve Valentine (somewhat tech-dead post-apoc story kept vague whether future Earth or sec world, complete story but leaves room for others in same world, dark (New Weirdish) fantasy but not grimdark battle -- though it has battle scenes -- I'm guessing given the reaction to Perdido that it would be a no)
The Corpse-Rat King, Lee Battersby (pre-ind sec world dark satire adventure fantasy, edges grimdark, the book itself does have an ending as a standalone, however there are major threads left open for sequels, which he hasn't been putting out yet)
And there was also Feed, Mira Grant, which is science fiction but it's post-apoc zombies, so fantasy readers may like, although it's not a tech-dead post-apoc Earth
So see, I can't just say, I read this, it was great, or fun or...because you do not like to read those, except for Red Country, which you already read. For me, this list shows fantasy isn't stagnating, but lately I have only been reading a few sec world epics. But I'll look through your list in the other thread and I'll comb if I can while sorting book titles to see if anything pops up. The grimdark sec world epic field is large: Mark Lawrence, Sam Sykes, Douglas Hulick, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Daniel Abraham, Joe, Peter V. Brett, Michael Sullivan, Jon, Lucas, Erickson, Weeks, Sanderson, Bakker, Stover, etc. but I don't know how many of those you've read, so I'll check your list.
