Here are some authors to try out instead, biased towards Science Fiction -
Greg Bear - Amazing science fiction author who builds incredible far future worlds. He is asking questions like "what will humanity be like 10k years in the future".
Charles Stross - First off, wonderful characters. His Laundry Files series is like "what is a 1990s geek, complete with a Palm Pilot, worked for a secret government agency that handles occult issues" but over time it gets deeper and the characters get really fleshed out. It is also awesome because you get to see technology move with the time, since the books take place concurrent with our technological progress, so technology like PDAs make way for smart phones.
Elizabeth Bear - Just all around great characters.
Greg Egan - Science Fiction but deeply rooted in real science and math, his homepage https://www.gregegan.net often dives deeper into the math behind his books and includes citations for further reading! Many of his books lack the "science fiction gadgetry" feel (although some have it) if you are trying to avoid that.
Cory Doctorow - He used to be huge in the open source community (not sure, maybe he still is?) his books all explore interesting social issues through the lens of technology driven change.
FWIW many people do not like Brandon Sanderson and I avoid recommending his books.
IMHO all of the above authors have good characters, Doctorow tends to write younger characters (early to mid 20s), but the rest focus on mature characters. Some, such as Stross, let you watch a character start out young and mature throughout the books (I think his main character has gone from his 20s to his 40s, and it shows in how the character acts and approaches issues).
If you really like math, try Greg Egan. Quite a few of his books have the premise "what would be the impact if this odd bit of, real world, complete with citations, math was just a little bit different?" If that is your thing, then you'll be delighted at what he writes. :-D
e.g.
> In the universe containing Seth’s world, light cannot travel in all directions: there is a “dark cone” to the north and south. Seth can only face to the east (or the west, if he tips his head backwards). If he starts to turn to the north or south, his body stretches out across the landscape, and to rotate to face north-east is every bit as impossible as accelerating to the speed of light.
Greg Bear - Amazing science fiction author who builds incredible far future worlds. He is asking questions like "what will humanity be like 10k years in the future".
Charles Stross - First off, wonderful characters. His Laundry Files series is like "what is a 1990s geek, complete with a Palm Pilot, worked for a secret government agency that handles occult issues" but over time it gets deeper and the characters get really fleshed out. It is also awesome because you get to see technology move with the time, since the books take place concurrent with our technological progress, so technology like PDAs make way for smart phones.
Elizabeth Bear - Just all around great characters.
Greg Egan - Science Fiction but deeply rooted in real science and math, his homepage https://www.gregegan.net often dives deeper into the math behind his books and includes citations for further reading! Many of his books lack the "science fiction gadgetry" feel (although some have it) if you are trying to avoid that.
Cory Doctorow - He used to be huge in the open source community (not sure, maybe he still is?) his books all explore interesting social issues through the lens of technology driven change.
FWIW many people do not like Brandon Sanderson and I avoid recommending his books.
IMHO all of the above authors have good characters, Doctorow tends to write younger characters (early to mid 20s), but the rest focus on mature characters. Some, such as Stross, let you watch a character start out young and mature throughout the books (I think his main character has gone from his 20s to his 40s, and it shows in how the character acts and approaches issues).
If you really like math, try Greg Egan. Quite a few of his books have the premise "what would be the impact if this odd bit of, real world, complete with citations, math was just a little bit different?" If that is your thing, then you'll be delighted at what he writes. :-D
e.g.
> In the universe containing Seth’s world, light cannot travel in all directions: there is a “dark cone” to the north and south. Seth can only face to the east (or the west, if he tips his head backwards). If he starts to turn to the north or south, his body stretches out across the landscape, and to rotate to face north-east is every bit as impossible as accelerating to the speed of light.
Fun mind bending stuff. :-D