Fantasy Book Club Series discussion
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If you don't mind to read a series that is not yet finished, I would suggest Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind. Great prose and writing style. Lovely characters, both dark and serious, although not so sure on what you mean by serious.
Mod
To me, I'm currently ..."
Yes, the books get somewhat "less juvenile", although silly bickering & stupid antics do continue. I am glad I read the series (I read the whole thing within the past few years, having never read it before). I thought it got better and more complex, but it takes a while. I think tighter editing would have helped. I think Sanderson did a masterful job of finishing the series while staying true to Jordan's vision and, for the most part, his voice.
But if you want to dive into something darker and more mature, I highly, highly recommend Malazan.
It has been widely discussed in many of the WoT forums that there is this unusual interaction between men and women in Robert Jordan's series. It has been suggested that his WWII experience gave him good battle knowledge which led to great battle writing, but his level of understanding about relationships always seemed less knowledgeable. There is this old school approach to "teaching" women how to behave that included spankings, or whipping which had turned many people off or made them feel like the material they were reading was as you stated, "juvenile."Personally, I did have to force myself to overlook some of the stuff like how badly the relationship stuff was written, and enjoy the good parts. In a sense, Jordan was trying to make a statement about how things in life do affect our life and others' lives. Things like poor communication (how many things could have been avoided if the core group would have just talked to each other?) So bad communication was Jordan's plot device, I got it, and I looked past it. For me, it was still a mind blowing experience. I understand now, looking back, where some of Jordan's weaknesses were, and that's okay with me. I got to experience one of the greatest stories ever told, and live in an amazing world for several years of my young adult life.
Zab
YES! YES. Read the Malazan books! A thousand times yes!
I've added the Malazan books to my list after consistently seeing them praised in a few different forums lately, but they will have to wait until I finish WoT and then reboot my brain.
Wheel of Time is great. Also check out Cephrael's Hand. Also, Dreams and Shadows & Woven Peril by Jeffrey Collyer are fantastic.
To me, I'm currently doing a reread (AGAIN) since I stopped reading the books when Jordan died, these books deal with mature content but in a superficial, undetailed way that is suitable for a highschooler. I don't know that I really read stuff that people would consider dark though, that's not really my thing.
If you're looking for super mature, dark sex topics I would suggest Kushiel's Dart series, again, I haven't read it, but the reviews I've read seem to fit the bill.