I recently read Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree and I can already tell cozy fantasy is going to be a subgenre I keep going back to when I need something light in my life. In fact, it’ll probably be exactly what I look to when I’m done reading LOTR.
It’s not for everyone, but it’s exactly what it says it is. High fantasy with low stakes. I read it in one sitting while drinking coffee and wish I’d had some baked goods to eat too!
My favorite fantasy subgenre has got to be Techno fantasy. Settings where ancient civilizations were immensely technological advanced to the point it is almost biblical or spiritual but rooted in the technology of the world the story takes place in
After reading Seveneves and currently being part way through the Three Body Problem series I have decided I don't like sci-fi that isn't hopeful. I should probably see if there's any solarpunk novels!
Post-post apocalypse. The world ended so long ago that a new one has grown Amongst it's ruins.
Examples: Planet of The Apes, Nausicaa of The Valley of The Wind (I think Castle In The Sky counts here as well), Horizon Zero Dawn, Adventure Time, The Obsidian/Interplay Fallout Games (debateable), Certain Legend of Zelda games, etc.
Same! I love the idea that civilization has fallen, but people moved on and started new ones, and all that remains of the old world is ruins and myths. It's like somber and hopeful at the same time.
It's also cool seeing stuff we recognise from another perspective. Horizon Zero Dawn and Mortal Engines do this, and I guess Mistborn also kinda does?
Fallout 2 and New Vegas are certainly “post-post apocalypse” but in a different sense than the rest of your list.
Those games have new civilizations forming, but the pre-war world is not a lost mythical mystery to them. Contrasting to the rest of the list where the civilizations in it don’t have solid a conception of the past.
One suggestion that is repeated often is the Cradle series by Will Wight. The prose is a bit sparse, but the characters are well realized and believable. A lot of people find it funny, too. Another suggestion that has much heavier prose, and some mild pacing issues is Bastion by Phil Tucker. Bastion recently had a book two release, the series is that new, but the setting and themes are very clear and indicative of progression fantasy as a whole.
This may be me speaking, but to me, progression is all about not giving up, facing hardship, and becoming better for it. Both of these book series hold these themes heavily.
Cradle:
Sacred artists follow a thousand Paths to power, using their souls to control the forces of the natural world.
Lindon is Unsouled, forbidden to learn the sacred arts of his clan.
When faced with a looming fate he cannot ignore, he must defy his family's rules...and forge his own Path.
Bastion:
Reborn without memories, Scorio learns that he is a Great Soul, a legendary defender of the ancient city of Bastion. That within the hallowed halls of the Academy and under the stern eyes of the underworld’s greatest instructors he will enjoy enormous privilege, rediscover unique and wondrous powers, and one day return to the millennium-old battle against their infernal foes.
Until he is betrayed. Singled out and sentenced to die for crimes he can't remember, Scorio is hurled to his doom—and forgotten.
But from even the dimmest spark an inferno may one day rage.
Clawing his way back from oblivion, Scorio vows to return to the Academy at any cost. To emerge from the ruins and within those golden walls defeat his elite classmates in a quest to ascend the ranks and change the course of history. For only then will he learn about his forgotten past, and why his enemies have rightly feared him since the day he was reborn.
It's hard to beat the good old high fantasy, but there are some awesome urban fantasy and grimdark books out there. The subgenre is probably not that important as long as the book is good.
As for sci-fi, I love the science details, so it would be hard science fiction.
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