(these are good sci-fi recommendations that I feel are at least well-written enough. I may have a different/lower standard though. I can’t say for sure)

Children of Time. Only read the first book so far but it’s exactly what I wanted. Nice creativity with some hard science but not too much if you’re not into that sort of thing (I’m not). Also it was a 600+ page book I actually thought was worth the 600 pages.

Also important: it doesn’t beat you over the head with world-building. I’m not into world-building very much at all and I’d been getting disillusioned with a lot of the sci-fi/fantasy stuff because of that. Also the book has themes out the ass and I thought it was all executed extremely well.

Alternatively, The Expanse was fun for the 3 books I read of it. I think it’s mostly just a good space opera from what I’ve read and it never blew my mind but it does what it does well. My enjoyment of each book mostly came down to how much I liked the additional characters that dipped in and out of the story.

The Three Body Problem is really good too in my opinion. Haven’t read the third book yet but I think the series is pretty unique and doesn’t come off as derivative to me at all. A more methodical pace than a lot of books but I like em.

Revelation Space by Alistair Reynolds had great pieces in place and I liked the writing a lot, but it took it’s time a little too much for me personally. Other than that I’m sure they’re great books.