I just finished The Stormlight Archive and immediately started Red Rising but I am really not impressed so far. Should I stick with it or try something different?
For context, this is with audiobooks. I just finished Wind and Truth, with Stormlight being the only thing I've listened to for months. I want to sink my teeth into another dense and immersive series, and I was recommended Red Rising and was told it gets you invested very quickly. I am really not far in, but I have to say I am really disappointed with it at this point. The writing style feels really amateur and really makes it hard for me to feel immersed, and I feel as if there is no intrigue to any of the characters or the world so far, and it just feels as if it's going towards a very cliche narrative. It doesn't help that I am not very impressed with the narration and find it difficult to follow the dialogue at points, but maybe I am currently still too used to Michael Kramer and Kate Reading, as I always find it weird to readjust to a new narrator at first.
I did nearly DNF The Way of Kings at one point because it felt very slow compared to Mistborn, but I stuck it out due to how unique the world felt with lots of intrigue and questions I wanted answered (I guess there was an element of trust for Sanderson, too, that kept me going). Looking online, it seems like opinions are quite split regarding Red Rising, so I am finding it hard to decide what to do, especially as audible credits cost money haha.
Should I stick it out? If not, what book series do you think would work better for me? Mistborn and SLA were my first proper fantasy series, as I had previously favoured sci-fi (Andy Weir and all that). Listening to Fantasy audiobooks has sort of become a replacement for watching long anime series for me in the past 6-12 months, so maybe that will help you understand my preferences. I really like dense, unique and immersive worlds with lots of payoffs as the story progresses (AoT, Into Abyss, HxH, Bleach, etc) and tend to get bored by narratives that rely heavily or completely on historical references (this is why I dropped Vinland Saga).
Suneater, Jade City and Cradle were some other suggestions I was considering.