Book reader community.
People need to stop recommending Pat Rothfuss. His stuff is awesome but he'll never be done it and as such were just adding more people to this waiting room of misery. Books that are equally excellent AND the author delivers:
First Law and Red Rising are my top favourites!
I’ve been hard avoiding Kingkiller because I don’t want to become invested in what sounds like a truly spectacular first couple of books.
They are really good but they're not earth-shattering, you MUST read these.
If I knew then what I know now I would never have read them until the 3rd book is out.
Well, I was promised that the 3rd book will be out. The description said that Rothfuss had already completed the trilogy and its all in the matter of editing, so I was confident going in thinking the chance of a complete series in the next few years is high. I would never imagined that he would go George RR Martin's route, even Martin had wrote five books in the series.
Wheel of Time doesn't really fit "recent," but still fantastic.
Way of Kings is great. Codex Alera is a fun read as well
+1 on the way of kings
Great book, great series
Jim butcher is great the Dresden files were fantastic. I have codex alera haven't read it yet.
I've read all of Dresden and just started codex 3. Personally, while it's a different genre, his codex books are written Much better Imo. It's worth a read
I'm in the middle of dragonbone chair. The codex books are next.
My 3 main recommendations were already mentioned but I'll mention them again for visibility.
Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson. There are actually multiple main characters, but the world building is top notch. I haven't finished the series yet (it's my "read during lunch" series atm) but so far there are 2 male main characters in the 18-25ish range
The Codex Alera by Jim Butcher. The main character starts around 12 and there are arguably multiple main characters, but it's a damn good series. Think ancient Rome but everyone controls elementals
Lightbringer by Brent Weeks. A fantastic series where the government and religions of the world are built around the magic system. The series happens over a few years but the main character starts at around 15
Since I mentioned Lightbringer I also want to mention The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks. It's a dark fantasy series featuring magically gifted assassins. Most of the good guys are criminals and murderers. It's a brutal series with an excellent cast of characters and a world that feels like it's been through hell. The main character starts off as a kid, but is in his 20s by the end of the series
Stormlight archives fits everything except protagonist. It has multiple protagonists, not just one. Some of the protagonists are indeed male and around that age.
I enjoyed the lightbringer series by Brent Weeks which matches your criteria.
Classics:
Those don't sound "recent(ish) as OP put it.
They don't really fit the criteria from op, but they're both must reads
If you want something a little darker anything by Joe Abercrombie
As others have said, the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson is a great one (has other main characters though) as well as the Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss. It’s also encourage branching out past the male 18 year old main character though! The Broken Earth Trilogy by NK Jemisin is one of my favorite series and one of the better written I’ve read as well
Cradle series, by Will Wight. Fast paced, fun. Started on book one and could not stop myself from reading all the way to the end!
Was going to suggest Cradle as well!
I'd add Mage Errant by John Bierce - magical academy, 4 member student group who trust each other, competent teachers, amazing worldbuilding, big battles (in later books), etc.
Others have mentioned these, no doubt. But I think they’re worth mentioning again. Sanderson’s Cosmere material is a superb starting point to get into fantasy.
Mistborn era 1 is a tight, fast paced trilogy with fantastic world building and fun, loveable characters. The setting of these books, just the world itself, is one of my favorites for sure.
Stormlight Archive is an enormous fantasy series, essentially Sanderon’s magnum opus. He’s halfway through writing his fifth book in the series out of a planned 10 and it is so so fun. There are some older protagonists in this book, but they are all fantastic.
Third, not Sanderson (except the last three, sort of) is Wheel of Time. I started reading fantasy with WoT, because a 14 book series just sounded like a really fun adventure to go on. I was hooked after book one. It’s a huge series that follows a fairly small cast of main characters who undergo so much growth. The three core characters are all 18 year old males, give or take a couple years. It has what might forever be my favorite ending to a series. Maybe not though. I haven’t read a ton of fantasy yet.
Give any of those three a spin and I think you’ll find that you really like fantasy.
Red Rising series by Pierce Brown. It’s like stratified human civilisation / Roman Empire in Space. First book is very Hunger Games-y but the rest of the series is excellent.
And Light Bringer just came out today!