If your reaction to the above is to roll your eyes because you LIKE dystopias and we live in a world without hope, thank you very much, move along, there is nothing to see here.
If instead you'd be interested in a medieval high fantasy trilogy that has elves, dwarves and men, but does NOT have:
- Magic
- An object that everyone wants and must be destroyed
- Blood, guts, sex, swear words
Yet does have:
- An exploration of what is the right way to exercise power
- A mix of personalities and motivations, and not everyone gets along
- A great adventure tale with lots of twists, turns and unexpected developments
- Deep emotions
This may be the book for you. Yes, it starts out in a cliched way ("A tavern scene, oh no!"), and yes the first part of this book takes the usual fantasy approach to this kind of story, but keep in mind that the trilogy is explicitly written with this structure:
Book 1: Thesis (here are your cliches)
Book 2: Antithesis (here I blow up those cliches)
Book 3: Synthesis (here we explore a third way)
If you want a fantasy tale that leaves you feeling good when you finish, please read my book.