Help, I don’t know what terms to search for! I’m looking for books with consequential plots.

Hi everyone! I'm sure there is a term for this, but I rather dislike what I call "plot convenience".

Here are some examples of things I would call "plot convenient":

• When it feels like something was written backwards – the author came up with something cool and had to bend some rules to "make it happen."
• Villains that I can't empathize with or evil forces that don't make real, in-universe sense.
• When things just "work out."
• When characters have ability/competence that they didn't earn through blood, sweat, tears, and/or sacrifice.
• When character deaths are forgotten about or glossed over, or when injuries don't bear real consequence for the characters.
  • Example: A bad guy gets gut-stabbed and they die on the spot. A good guy gets gut-stabbed and they're fine after a nap in the hospital.
• Plot armor.
  • I want characters' actions to always have a sense of risk. Their actions should always have repurcussions.
• Basically any hand-waviness. I have very little tolerance for hand-waviness.

My list there doesn't at all mean that there can't be fantastical science fiction or magic, just that the science and magic have to have real limitations and boundaries. I don't want a character to suddenly whip out a "crazy-powerful move because of passion" or whatever.

It also doesn't mean that it has to have a bad ending, though I do like those. Gray endings are fun too, or good endings with sacrifice.

I'm only just getting back into reading so I don't have a ton of books I can give as positive examples. Here are some various things that have tickled me right though:

• A Short Stay in Hell (book): Bad things can happen to good people. There is real gravity to their situation and real consequence for their actions.
• The Mist (movie): The ending (spoiler!) The main character mercy-kills his family at the end… with ultimately horrible timing, as the military rolls in soon after.
• Game of Thrones (the show): Characters actually die or are imprisoned, etc. Subplots have permanence. Events generally matter.
• Final Fantasy XIV (game): In my opinion one of the best-written game plots ever. Character deaths continue to be brought up far down the line. Characters have truly meaningful connections that feel earned. Villains typically do things that make sense from their perspective and you empathize with them. In one case, you end up rather emotionally attached to the villain. I love that.

I started off looking for a "hard science fiction book with an unforgiving plot" and was recommended Project Hail Mary. The science itself was unforgiving which I liked. But the main character was simply too competent at everything given his background, and it felt like the author wrote backwards to force his very-unlikely "high school teacher in space" hook.