T. Kingfisher!!!! Start with Clockwork Boys and continue through that world. It's awesome and funny.

https://www.goodreads.com/series/307546-the-world-of-the-white-rat

The order:
Clockwork Boys
The Wonder Engine
Swordheart
Paladin's Grace
Paladin's Strength
Paladin's Hope
Paladin's Faith

She's still writing in this world, so there should be more!

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K.Jemisin. Fantasy/romance.

^correction: AUs = Alternative Universes (like Pride & Prejudice in space)

Fanfiction with "fix it"endings or AUs (alternative endings).

You need to use your sleuthing skills to identify the best stuff (through fan recs). And the work's not totally polished. But a good fic indulges the interest in more worldbuilding and further character development.

There are fics for HP, LOTR, Star Trek, Star Wars, Avatar, Naomi Novik books, etc.

archiveofourown.org (best modern site)

fanfic.net (old infrastructure - but the OG site)

Reddit and Quora are good places to get recs

Anonymous wrote:This might be too lowbrow for you - or not fantastic enough - but if you're not opposed to a spy story, how about the Slow Horses books?

NP, I have a few books from the series but never started. I can say the TV show is great!

Do you like speculative fiction? That’s pretty far away from quotidian issues!

Jeff VanderMeer is fantastic. “Annihilation” is the kind of book that will take out completely out of this world.

Nobody's Baby But Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. A nerdy college professor tricks a dumb NFL quarterback into having a baby. Except he's not so dumb...

Very escapist, it takes a nice, empowering frontier-ladies-feminist turn toward the middle of the book.

For the classic in escapism that is fantasy-ish, Beauty: a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, by Robin McKinley

Also, Wool by Hugh Howey. Once you spot it the premise, the rest of the story was like clockwork in my opinion. Immersive and entertaining, especially if you like dystopian sci fi.

Altered Carbon, Richard Morgan. Sci Fi neo-noir with a logical plot that plays out the implications of some of the technologies in a rational and entertaining way. Think Raymond Chandler meets the Matrix.

The Secret History, Donna Tartt. College setting, murder involved, the writing is delightful.

I read about Medieval, Plantagenet and Tudor England.
Brother Cadfael, Matthew Coldwater, Stephen Attebrook, Brother Athelstan series.

Pretty vague criteria, but I'll take a stab. Your examples are more fantasy so I'll lean in that direction.

The House in the Cerulean Sea
Starter Villain
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet

This might be too lowbrow for you - or not fantastic enough - but if you're not opposed to a spy story, how about the Slow Horses books?

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure I understand the "escapist" framing here. It sounds like you just want well written fiction, right? There is lots. Stay away from self-published stuff and anything that got famous on Tik Tok and you'll be fine.

From your examples, you would enjoy Guy Gavriel Kay.

I actually think I have liked (and enjoyed) Guy Gavriel Kay.

By escapism, I mean *not* about everyday life (work, marital issues, raising kids, aging), not about real-world problems (poverty, war, politics), and ideally not brutally depressing (childhood trauma, grisly violence, etc. though I realize there may well be death and disaster in any epic/adventure). All the above is the basis for great literature, just not what I'm craving now...

I'm not sure I understand the "escapist" framing here. It sounds like you just want well written fiction, right? There is lots. Stay away from self-published stuff and anything that got famous on Tik Tok and you'll be fine.

From your examples, you would enjoy Guy Gavriel Kay.

I would like a fun immersive escapist read—but don’t want to be always inwardly groaning at the writing or plot holes. So LOTR. Circe, the Daevabad Trilogy would be great. Harry Potter probably would make the cut (politics aside). Read Fourth Wing and loved the dragons, but this would be the perfect example of terrible editing, repetitive phrasing, and nonsensical premises making me squirm throughout a read.

Doesn’t have to be sci fi/ fantasy. I was thinking about Krakauer, who poses the opposite problem, good writing, but often heavy (important) subject matter. So I would love an Into Thin Air (b/c although disaster strikes, most of us, and certainly I would never in a million years climb Everest)--but an Under the Banner of Heaven, while a great book, is way too real, relevant and (actually) frightening.