Looking for a sci-fi with a focus on characters to keep my imagination healthy.

Looking for a book that can keep my imagination healthy when I'm too low energy to work on personal projects. The books I've enjoyed most usually focus on both characters and world building- not just one or the other.

I'm looking for something similar to –

• The Expanse (James S. A. Corey)
• The Dark Tower (Stephan King)
• The Stand (Stephen King)

I do enjoy harder sci-fis (such as the first book of the Three Body Problem), I've just found that they occasionally have characters who aren't very complex.