Fantasy recs: Lois McMaster Bujold
Although she's probably better known for her Vorkosigan series, Lois McMaster Bujold has also written a number of fantasy novels and I wanted to rec one particular trilogy - I would start by saying, though, that it's only really a trilogy because it has three books (so far) all set in the same universe. It'll probably be easier to read them in order but it's not completely necessary to do so.
All three books are set in a universe that is also inhabited by five gods, all of whom often take an active part in messing with people's lives. The Curse of Chalion starts out very much like many fantasy books, with our protagonist coming back from the wars where he's been held as a slave and now wanting to remake his life at home. He is, of course, not allowed to stay in obscurity but finds himself in the centre of things. Standard fantasy fare that has supported a number of novels, but extremely well-written and the whole universe set-up works very nicely to give this a little something else.
In Paladin of Souls we follow one of the supporting characters of the previous book, and what I particularly like about Ista is that she's a complex and strong woman who's been labouring under a mental burden for years. During the course of this book, she discovers that some of the things she thought she knew about herself are just plain wrong.
And then The Hallowed Hunt is actually set before the previous two books and is about people who have animal spirits (and other things) inhabiting their body - our hero has learned to control his wolf spirit but again, nothing is quite as he thinks it is.
I didn't realise until recently that Paladin of Souls won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards, but it's richly deserved. Of the three books, it's certainly my favourite, but they're all good! Bujold has talked about wanting to write two more in this universe, and I hope she does...