I fell utterly in love with these books and would love something similar. I tried the author’s other series (under the name Sarah Monette) but they didn’t have the same feel or voice.
Things I liked:
1) Protagonist succeeds partly through small acts of kindness
2) A well developed world, but not overly complicated.
3) The unique use of language (informal versus formal pronouns just tickled me pink)
4) Found family/developing friendships
by Healthy_Appeal_333