Dickens but Sci-Fi or Fantasy

As a child I loved to read fantasy stories but as an adult I've been more into literary fiction, classics and character-driven work.

I'd like to try and get back into fantasy again, or explore Sci-Fi for the first time. I'm looking for a book with minimal lore dumps (if that's possible) and I struggle with very direct storytelling ("They did this. Then they went here, and it was difficult, so they did that instead.")

Slight controversial opinion but a lot of the big fantasy recommendations, whose stories are brilliantly imagined, I still find a bit tell-heavy. Although I enjoy reading them, I find it takes me longer to read and stay focused without getting bored.

One of my favourite authors is Dickens and I soak up anything he has written. I particularly love the atmospheric descriptions, satire, vivid characters and social criticism. I like any book with a strong theme or message tying it all together. Maybe there are some Dickensian fantasy/sci-fi books?

Thanks for reading, any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!