SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Wow, that's quite a lot of things. The only thing that comes to mind is actually ... my favorite book series. I might be biased but, ah, you know.
Starts with Luck in the Shadows. It might not offer anything on the 'sovereign state in rebellion' front but 'two countries regularly at war' with the main characters being something like spies (they're agents of the queen even she doesn't know about). There's also an 'ancient evil' but since the story was cut into two books you'll see more of it in the second part of the story rather than the first.
A huge part of the story is actually detective-esque subplots and of course how the relationships of the characters develop, as well as existing relationships that are nice to read about. There's also a character who has a rivalry based on envy with his former master's current apprentice.
Given the time this book was written, the female characters are surprisingly equal to the male characters. While the two main characters are male you encounter a lot of strong female characters in this book in different roles.

But maybe the plot isn't your thing, I guess? Because I think it might not quite match what you asked for except for some tiny points.

I'd second the Lightbringer series. From your description it's probably just up your alley.

Also take a look at The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

I would recommend John Varley's Eight Worlds series. John Varley is genuinely as good as it gets when it comes to writing, so any of his books are an easy rec.

Octavia Butler likewise fills the bill. Especially the Patternist series. Start with Wild Seed. It's got everything you're looking for and then some. It's basically the literature version of the X-Men.

More on the pulpy side you might try the Destroyermen series by Taylor Anderson. It's about an outdated American destroyer battling a Japanese battleship during WWII when they both encounter a bizarre storm which sends them to an alternate Earth where dinosaurs never went extinct and humans never evolved. It has as many bad guys and good guys as our world does, with numerous factions within each nationality, race and species. (Yes, species - the sailors find themselves in a global conflict between intelligent lemurs and sentient dinosaurs.) And yeah, plot twists galore as they explore more of the world. Even telling you who some of the characters are would ruin the surprise. The first book is Into the Storm.

A lot might disagree with me, but the best is currently the Honor Harrington series by David Weber.

You might want to try the Spectras Arise Trilogy by Tammy Salyer. Book 1 is "Contract of Defiance". I think it has some of what you are looking for.

Stephen, you might look at these books
The Steel Remains
Blood Song
Souls in the Great Machine (greatwinter destroys technology- a scientist tries to redevelop what was lost)

Soldier of the Mist by Gene Wolfe

Dale wrote: "A lot might disagree with me, but the best is currently the Honor Harrington series by David Weber."

I enjoyed at first that series, but I quickly grew exasperated in the later books by the (very) lengthy talking and also by the mindless slaughter of millions, written in for shock effect, an the unrealistic stupidity of the political opponents of the main heroine. There were also lots of plot repetitions. Go for maybe the first nine books, then quit when the endless talking and descriptions will get too much on your nerves.

Have you tried Margaret Atwood's Maddaddam trilogy? The first book is Oryx and Crake and it's one of my favorites.

Based on the type of book you requested, I can't recommend Throne Of The Crescent Moon highly enough! It's not your typical sword and sorcery novel - and that's a very good thing.

Pretty much everything that you were looking for (with the exception of science fiction) is present in the Dragonlance Chronicles (3 books) and subsequent Dragonlance Legends (3 books) series.

I read these many years ago, but remember them fondly.

Starts with:

Although you may consider them "regurgitated LOTR".

Often books that have an ultimate evil dont always have the very best of character development or characterisation. Here however is a longish list:-

The Stand - Stephen King - Not really Horror, more a post apocalyptic response to Lord of the Rings. Seems to have much of what you are looking for. I find his style a bit long winded but many love him. IT - also King would fit the bill if you dont mind horror.

Dragonlance Chronicles - Weis and Hickman Very enjoyable characterisation in a D&D book series. Ticks most of your boxes and is at the lightest end of what you might be looking for but it is well written for the type of story it is - so I second James' recommendation and whilst it is very much in the Post Tolkein mould and not trying to break new ground it is a very entertaining series.

Lord of the Rings - Has it all - Tolkein. If you find all the exposition and world building in Lord of the Rings a bit of a drag then Terry Brooks' version written as The Sword of Shannara is straight forwardly entertaining.

Jim Hines' Libromancer series is also worth checking out and ticks much of what you are looking for as urban fantasy. Although they centre on one character more than others he does have a small team that work with him.

It's nearly impossible to recommend books to someone who doesn't come in without a clear list of books read. So instead I'm going to drop down a baseline of bunches of stuff that is well loved.

Since your in the SFF group I'm going to limit this to SFF.

Space Opera:
Classics:
Dune
Foundation
First Lensman
Newish:
Revelation Space
The Honor of the Queen
The Warrior's Apprentice

Dystopian:
1984
Brave New World

Fantasy:
Classic:
The Lord of the Rings
Dragonlance Chronicles

Newish:
The Way of Kings
Blood Song
The Name of the Wind

Urban Fantasy:
Grave Peril
Hounded

Contemporary Fantasy:
Neverwhere
The City & the City

Contemporary Horror/Fantasy???:
The Stand
Monster Hunter International

In some of these you will notice I'm not recommending the first books, some of them you will notice I also really don't like if you check my reviews...like name of the wind but these are generally books and series that keep coming up and are some of the currently more well read series. Newer dystopians are tough recs, but basically any near future book is going to have some dystopian elements now a days.