Hmm, I don't want to see things rolled back to the Tolkien archetype, both because I don't think anyone can do what he did better than he did it, and because I really do want to see world building and characterization that reflects human diversity better than what we see in middle Earth. And I like more nuanced treatments of good and evil (though to be fair, he did have some gray characters).
I don't mind stories that explore the darker side of human experience, and in general, I prefer conflicts between sides where who the good and bad guys are and what is the right thing to do are less clear cut. BUT, I'd like to see more stories where the struggle to do the right thing (even if one screws up) is portrayed as laudable, even noble, not hopelessly naive and doomed to fail. I'd like to see characters who have a core of decency that isn't completely pounded out of them by the end of the book, and I'd like to see some romantic relationships work out, and some good deeds that actually go unpunished (or if the deeds are punished, they're still worth it and not used as an example of how pointless it is to try and be decent).
I'd like to see a return to fantasy worlds that aren't relentlessly sexist as well, and where female characters aren't dealing with the threat of rape ever five minutes. We can argue all day about what history was *really* like for women, and about what's realistic as per human nature, but darn it, I want to be able to escape to a world where the little guy (or gal) can make a difference--worlds that fall somewhere in the middle of the utopian to dystopian scale.
And while we're at it, some more stories where there's a good relationship between at least some humans and animals (I'm a sucker for wise beasts and empathy bonds between humans and other species--I'll admit it), or at least ones where the animals are more than just mindless props with no personalities. I'm sick of stories where the protagonist kills a dog to assist a magical process, or the horses are like motorcycles that never respond or react to the things happening around them (like just walking into an ambush) and where people get to the mountains and decide to kill and eat their mounts without batting an eye (except for the party idiot).
One thing that grimmer, darker fantasy has done is show how awful monarchies (and other systems where one person wields a disproportionate amount of power) are. You may get a really good ruler now and again, a social, military, and ethical genius. But most rulers who were good for their country also did some pretty questionable things, both to their enemies and to some of their own people (look at Queen Elizabeth I). Of course, democracies, constitutional monarchies, and representative systems of government are far from perfect too, and well-meaning revolutions have a tendency to turn dark, so it would be cool to see more fantasy that explores the alternatives. But showing that something is imperfect doesn't mean you can't also emphasize some of the good (and improvements) in people and institutions.
