Reddit mentions of Spellmonger: Book One Of The Spellmonger Series

Spellmonger definitely has combat, but it isn't a progression story in that respect after the traditional sense.

The protagonist starts out as a small village hedge wizard, slowly growing in power and importance until he's eventually a feudal lord and more. So if you consider gaining new titles and ranks in the peerage progression, then you might find it to be a fun read.

> Spellmonger

Added to my list. Any other suggestions? I love sci-fi / fantasy but I'm tired of reading novels with xir pronouns or with the "white savior" trope only reversed.

I'll throw the Galaxy's Edge as a sci-fi suggestion.

Spellmonger, humans were space faring, but their society collapsed. I don't know if it comes up later, but for now in the story it's not the most important bit.

What about original English novels? Because there is this series: http://www.amazon.com/Spellmonger-The-Series-Book-ebook/dp/B004Q9TD7W

It's a long series, and the development you want happens in book 3 and 5. Book 4 is from the supporting characters' viewpoint.

If you have a Kindle and don't mind an indie title, there's Terry Mancour's Spellmonger series.

It's pretty standard medieval sword and sorcery with big battles, and the main character has a good sense of humor.

There's a lot of great authors publishing independently(self and small press) now, but it can be hard to pick the ones you'll enjoy out of the flood of new releases on Amazon. I'll link to a few of the authors and books I've enjoyed.

Super hero novels

The Blackjack novels by Ben Bequer are fun.

I also enjoyed Confessions of a D-List Supervillian by Jim Bernheimer. They share similar themes of a super-villain forced out of their comfort zone.

Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillain by Richard Roberts is the start of a great young adult series about the daughter of super heroes charting her own path.

Fantasy and SF

Anything by Andrea K Höst is great. The Touchstone series is great comfort reading about a young woman who walks around a corner and ends up in another world. It's the most SF of her works.

Terry Mancours' Spellmonger series is a fun fantasy about a mage who retires to the backwoods but ends up in the center of a continent spanning conflict. It spends a lot of time on the details of living in a fantasy world, but there's plenty of action too.

John Conroe's Demon Accords is a contemporary fantasy about a cop turned holy warrior. Fun action/fantasy, a couple of the books focus on side characters for a change of pace.

Jack L. Knapp has a couple enjoyable SF series. I'm partial to his New Frontiers series about the rediscovery of a space drive technology and humanities expansion in to the solar system.

Military SF

Marko Kloos is great as mentioned by others.

Christopher Nutall has a ton of books, both SF and fantasy(I tend to prefer his fantasy).

I personally love worldbuilding in stories, probably to the same extent you do. Someone wrote below that they don't want to read a D&D guide, I DO want to read a D&D guide. We probably are in a minority, but there are a few ways I've seen authors cover for the fact that their stories are very heavy on world exposition:

1. Young characters learning about the world, or characters in school. The character can be learning things at the same time you are teaching the reader. Harry potter takes this format.
   
2. Portal fantasy. A person is transported to another world. Its a justification for why they know absolutely nothing about that world, and anytime they learn new things its an opportunity for the author to go on some exposition. The schooled in magic series did this a lot.
   
3. Do it shamelessly, but spread it out and try to always keep it really interesting. I've enjoyed all of the books in the Spellmonger series because it dumps exposition everywhere, but its also why I rarely recommend the books because I know I'm kinda weird for how much I like exposition.
   
4. Appendices, and separate areas where you keep the majority of your exposition. Just keeping most of the background separate from the story but available to curious readers can also work. Most famously, Lord of the Rings did this.
   
   My advice as a wanna-be author (a few unfinished stories) is to just do something that you feel good and comfortable doing, but just make sure you have some good editors that can understand what you are trying to do. Amazon self publishing is a thing, and there are a bunch of websites where you can also share your stories. There are way more readers than authors out there

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more fantasy than scifi, ive been enjoying the spellmonger series. book 1 https://www.amazon.com/Spellmonger-Book-One-Terry-Mancour-ebook/dp/B004Q9TD7W

latest book has a scifi twist which the author has been foreshadowing since quite early on. there is 10 books so far and it is on kindle unlimited.

other books ive been splurging on is the litrpg genre.

Here

Because it's Spellmonger, by Terry Mancour But i have to agree its an awesome series. It is kinda indie but damn its one of my favorite.

http://www.amazon.com/Spellmonger-Book-1-Terry-Mancour-ebook/dp/B004Q9TD7W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407696655&sr=8-1&keywords=spellmonger