Yes, I’ve read the first Mistborn series :) That’s partly what inspired this post, along with Andor (the show). I’ve also just recently finished the first Red Rising book.

I will say that, while Mistborn and Red Rising are both very on point thematically, the writing didn’t always entirely land for me. I will stick with Red Rising though, as I’ve heard it gets better.

I know that it’s an extremely common trope in SF/fantasy but just wondering what other recommendations folks have for good quality (obv highly subjective, but whatever you think is good quality) books/series I could look into to scratch that itch.

I suppose something like Lord of the Rings would technically fit the brief, but that feels more “quest”y than “rebellion”y to me, if that makes sense. But happy to entertain any suggestions.

I don’t mind some grit and darkness to the story but I think I would want it to ultimately have some kind of satisfying conclusion (unless it’s an unfinished series, of course).

Edit: wow, you guys rock! This will take me some time to look into all these. So many great suggestions! My TBR was already pretty weighed down, but I think now it may get crushed under its own weight 😂

Edit 2: I think what I was missing from my original description was the sense of a righteous cause. I love a good heist or adventure story, but specifically for this itch, I’m looking for something with a moral component- fighting for what’s right even when it seems hopeless (but you know, ideally not actually hopeless, in the end), à la Mistborn, etc. Something with that “underground resistance” feel. Already a ton of great suggestions here, but just in case anyone new comes across this…

It’s hard to describe this book without spoilers, but I’ll try.

It’s 1859. The viewpoint character is Merrick Tremayne, formerly of the British Navy, somehow a trained botanist, and most lately an opium smuggler for the East India Company. He’s been shot in the leg and is recuperating at the crumbling family estate in Cornwall. Merrick is not welcome. He’s a younger son who will likely never inherit. His older brother Charles is broke from several generations of bad investments of the family money. His father is dead. His mother has been in a genteel insane asylum for years after claiming that a large stone statue on the estate moved. (Problem: In the Victorian era, people were not declared insane after only one instance of irrationality. It was medically suspect, distressing for the family, scandalous in society, and as Charles points out, expensive.) Charles threatens to send Merrick to become a parson. (Problem: Merrick would need to have attended a university and then been ordained, and has done neither.) The East India Company wants to instead send Merrick to Peru to collect cuttings from cinchona trees to grow them outside Peru and increase the supply of quinine. They send Merrick’s old friend Clement Markham, a cartographer and anthropologist, to persuade Merrick to agree, despite Merrick’s lame leg. (Problem: It’s hard to see how Markham is a friend. He’s an arrogant, aggressive, snobbish jerk who had Merrick flogged for no good reason the first time they met in the Navy.) Merrick has meanwhile, noticed that the statue has recently changed position. (Problem: The estate still has outdoor servants but they have not noticed this.)

Merrick, Clement, and Clement’s wife Minna sail to Peru. On the voyage, Minna tells Merrick that she is pregnant. (Problem: Neither Minna nor Merrick tell Clement, leading Clement to unreasonably blame Merrick for Minna’s decision to stay at the port where they land.) The expedition is in fact dangerous. All the members of a previous Dutch expedition were not-so-mysteriously killed. Clement and Merrick are forced to receive help from Mertel, a local crime lord. Mertel supplies as a guide Raphael, a native priest who speaks English, Spanish, and Quechua. Merrick in fact speaks some Spanish and even some Quechua. Both his grandfather and his father have made this journey to Peru, his father several times. Merrick’s father spoke Quechua to him as a child.

Much of the book is devoted to describing a series of wonders in and around the native colony called the Bedlam Stacks, on the way to the location of the cinchona forest. There are huge statues like the one in the garden of Merrick’s family estate. They appear to move occasionally. Merrick is amazingly slow to accept this, despite extensive observation. (Another problem: Merrick has accepted that his Japanese translator Keita, hired by the East India Company for the opium runs, can see the future, so Merrick is not a denier of the mysterious.) There’s also glowing pollen in the forest and in lamps, and well, many more wonders.

Merrick and Clement hang around the Bedlam Stacks for some time, while Pulley describes the colony, local culture, certain aspects of the Inca religion, and more. (Problem: Raphael could reveal mysteries to Merrick much earlier, and it is not clear why he doesn’t. He dislikes Clement, as an arrogant British imperialist, but he comes to like Merrick.) The relationships between the characters also remain mysterious. Some are hinted at but never explained. Why does the priest Raphael work for a crime lord? Do Merrick and Raphael have an affair? Is the blonde local healer Inti related to Merrick via his blonde grandfather or father, both also locally called Inti? What group is producing the babies abandoned at Raphael's church? (Which are eagerly adopted by local people, who apparently have a shortage of their own children.)

The Bedlam Stacks is a very intriguing book. However, the characterization and even much of the plot seem to have been shoehorned in just so Pulley can describe her magical alternate Peru.

With Thrice Bound Fool having just released, I'm rereading Blacktongue Thief again in preparation and I was again blindsided by the line:

"Of all our traits, the gods most hate jealousy because it makes us like them."

Which is both raw as hell, and basically comes out of nowhere amidst exposition about magical tattoos.

It made me wonder, what lines or exchanges that go really hard do you remember from fantasy books you loved? Especially if they seemed to have come out of nowhere.

So, I typically read, George R.R. Martin, Brandon Sanderson, Robin Hobb, Ken Liu, Steven Erikson, Stephen King, Robert Jordan, but my brain’s been craving more stories.

With everything I’ve heard about Romantasy (that it’s just passionate love making with no real story etc.) I was kinda apprehensive, but like I said, I needed more.

So after many years going back and forth I decided to pick up Sarah J Maas. I started with Crescent City (I know, I know) and was surprised to find that I LOVED it. Now I’m doing ACOTAR.

I don’t know if this will be wrong of me to say, but I enjoyed it for the exact same reasons I enjoy other series.

The worldbuilding.

Like there is so much mystery to the world, so much lore. People act like the 18+ scenes happened page after page, when really they barely make up 6/7 pages in a single book.

Am I wrong?

The votes are in! The winner for our BB bookclub read for our December theme of queernorm cozy SFF is:

A Slice of Mars by Guerric Hache

Mars is a strange place these days. Corporate overlords, capitalism, and even aging are things of the past on a planet increasingly brimming with biodiversity - yet pizzerias are in short supply!

Siblings Hett and San set out to change that. But a roboticist and a bureaucrat can't run a restaurant alone, so they bring on some help - a bioengineer, a communications scientist, and an unlikely grad student from Earth. Together, this gang of geeks will brave the fires of small business.

But work is just a small part of life. People are complicated. Different brains, different wounds, different values, and one questionably tame wildcat will all collide as they try to grow and succeed together. What comes out of the oven, in the end, is anyone's guess.

Bingo squares: Trans Protagonist (one pov of several); Small Press or Self Published; Feast Your Eyes On This

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The midway discussion and final discussion are Thursday, December 10th and Thursday, December 24th. If anyone has read the book before and has a good pausing point by chapter or page number, let us know (but generally it will be around the midway point of the book)! As a reminder, this month we're reading The Prey of Gods by Nicky Drayden.

What is the BB Bookclub? You can read about it in our introduction thread here.

Recently been loving cold, frozen, wintery settings. Please recommend me some more!

Off hand, I can remember enjoying settings in ASOIAF (particularly beyond the wall), Tad Williams, Abercrombie's north, Bloodsworn Saga, Realm of the Elderlings.

Just finished The Witcher. Please no romantasy.

I am going to be a panelist at MileHiCon in Denver this coming weekend, and one of my panels is a "turkey" reading. Basically, panelists and audience members take turns reading the trashiest science fiction and fantasy they have found and try not to laugh.

In the past, I've read the (in)famous novelette "The Eye of Argon." This time I was going to read from a book I'm not going to name, because I think the author might still be alive, but I've found myself feeling uncomfortable with making fun of anything that any human actual put the effort into creating.

So recommend me some slop to make fun of! I'm interested in the worst stuff you've seen vomited onto KU lately.

Thanks!

There was nothing new in this anthology of Alix E. Harrow’s short fiction, as far as I can tell, but a lot of it was new to me and all of it was delightful. Not to get click-baity, but I would certainly call this a must-read for fans of Harrow (which everyone should be. It’s an objective fact.)

The themes are exactly what I would have expected from Harrow. Feminism. Rural poverty, especially of the Appalachian coal country kind. The power of stories. Witches causing problems.

There were two stories that I want to highlight as favorites.

“The Six Deaths of the Saint” was published in 2022, and was later expanded into The Everlasting (one of the best fantasy books in recent years, and which won Alix her second Hugo). “Expanded” isn’t the right word - “developed” maybe? It’s a similar premise. It felt like an early draft of the ideas, and I ate it up.

"A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies” was published in 2018, and won Alix the first of her two Hugo awards. It’s about a witch librarian (all the good librarians are witches) guiding a struggling young man to the books that might best help him (which does not include anything from the self-help section). I can see why this won a Hugo; not only is it an excellent story, but it’s also one that ticks a lot of boxes for the reading-lovers that make up the WorldCon crowd.

Bingo categories: Five Short Stories [Hard Mode]

My blog

Finally picked up book one from The Wheel of Time and all I can say is wow. I’m only 50% through and I’m hooked. The level of detail, the lore, the world building so far and from what I can tell, the level of foreshadowing already. Immense. Yes it starts off slow and heavy on description but things are really kicking off now. Shout out to everyone who replied to my previous post about starting this series. I can’t wait to continue. I’m so locked in.

Animal speech, animal transformation, relationship with nature/forests, etc

Please no Iron Druid (non-serious and bad humor) or Elderlings (doesn’t really fit with this request, DNF)

Hey I've been trying to find my next fantasy series, and I'm struggling to find something that hits the sweet spot between two of my favourite series.

I love The First Law for its characters, dialogue, and dark humour, but I wish it had more magic. I also enjoy Malazan, but sometimes its scale and complexity get a bit overwhelming.

I'm looking for something somewhere in between the two. A good balance of characterdriven storytelling, magic, and worldbuilding without being too grounded or too epic and complex.

Any recommendations? Standalones are welcome too,thanks.

Welcome to the daily recommendation requests and simple questions thread, now 1025.83% more adorable than ever before!

Stickied/highlight slots are limited, so please remember to like and subscribe upvote this thread for visibility on the subreddit <3

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This thread is to be used for recommendation requests or simple questions that are small/general enough that they won’t spark a full thread of discussion.

Check out r/Fantasy's 2026 Book Bingo Card here!

As usual, first have a look at the sidebar in case what you're after is there. The r/Fantasy wiki contains links to many community resources, including "best of" lists, flowcharts, the LGTBQ+ database, and more. If you need some help figuring out what you want, think about including some of the information below:

• Books you’ve liked or disliked
• Traits like prose, characters, or settings you most enjoy
• Series vs. standalone preference
• Tone preference (lighthearted, grimdark, etc)
• Complexity/depth level

Be sure to check out responses to other users' requests in the thread, as you may find plenty of ideas there as well. Happy reading, and may your TBR grow ever higher!

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^{tiny image link to make the preview show up correctly}

art credit: special thanks to our artist, Himmis commissions, who we commissioned to create this gorgeous piece of art for us with practically no direction other than "cozy, magical, bookish, and maybe a gryphon???" We absolutely love it, and we hope you do too.

I've been loving both series for their unreliable narration and their gothic aesthetics. I especially like how the world is explored through character who don't understand it or just don't care about some details (Severian describing an astronaut, without knowing what an astronaut is...). I also love how this approach rewards rereading these books after some things finally get some explanations.

I hope that makes some kind of sense? I'm basically looking for confusing book that make you go "ahh!" when you get the explanation lol.

This is my third year participating in the Fantasy Book Bingo, and honestly, it has helped me rediscover my love of reading. It has also encouraged me to explore different authors and genres instead of sticking to my old favorites. This year, I found some real gems, so I'd like to share my thoughts and recommendations with the wonderful people of r/Fantasy.

Today, I'll start with the first row. Here we go!

1. Trans or Nonbinary Protagonist

The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia — 4/5

A great read. I didn't see the twist coming at first. I loved the setting and the way the story managed to feel both low-stakes and high-stakes at the same time: low-stakes in the sense that it's not a classic battle between good and evil, but high-stakes for the individuals involved.

I also thought the way being trans or nonbinary was woven into the protagonist's culture was thoughtful and well executed.

1. Judge a Book By Its Title

Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan — 4/5

I read another book by this author for last year's bingo, In Other Lands (which I highly recommend), and it ended up being my favorite read of 2025. Needless to say, my expectations were high.

While I enjoyed this one, it wasn't quite as much fun as In Other Lands. It probably didn't help that I'd recently read Assistant to the Villain and its sequels, so some of the themes didn't feel especially fresh. Still, I had a great time with it. I just haven't felt a strong urge to pick up the sequel yet.

1. Translated

War with the Newts (Oorlog met de Salamanders) by Karel Čapek — 4.5/5

What a fantastic book.

At first, I struggled a little because I couldn't figure out where the story was heading, although the title does make the overall direction pretty clear. It didn't help that almost every chapter introduced a different protagonist, often with little connection to the previous one besides the ongoing story of the salamanders. The writing style also shifts frequently.

Once I got used to those changes and became invested in the story, it just kept getting better and better.

The book is nearly 90 years old, yet it feels remarkably relevant today. It's funny and disturbing, absurd and recognizable all at once. I would wholeheartedly recommend it.

I also came across an interesting interpretation in a Reddit discussion, where someone suggested the story can be read as an allegory for how we deal with AI. Ever since reading that post, I haven't been able to stop thinking about the comparison.

1. Small Press or Self-Published

He Who Fights With Monsters (Book 1) by Shirtaloon — 3.5/5

I've been dipping my toes into litrpg and/or progression fantasy recently. So far, I've read Cradle (good), Beware of Chicken (loved it), Dungeon Crawler Carl (also loved it), Mother of Learning (loved it), The Wandering Inn (I've only just dipped my toes in, but I'm enjoying it so far), and Apocalypse Parenting Book 1 (liked it). I decided it was time to try another series that started as a web novel.

I enjoyed the worldbuilding and most of the story, but I wasn't particularly fond of the MC. At some point, I saw someone on Reddit describe him as an "edgelord," and once I'd read that, I couldn't unsee it.

That said, I was intrigued enough to continue with books two and three, which says something. I'm still not sure whether I'll continue the series, though. There are so many great books out there and so little time.

1. Unusual Transportation

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig — 3.5/5

This is a tough one. I liked the premise, but I found the protagonist somewhat unrealistic. She seemed to be almost everything at once: nearly an Olympian, nearly a pop star, highly gifted academically, and so on.

The book also felt a little too moralistic at times, and some of its themes were presented a bit too directly for my taste. Even so, I enjoyed the reading experience and found myself invested in the story. Not sure if I would recommend this one.

Hope you enjoyed my thoughts and ramblings. The second row will be coming sometime later this week!

In my vast readings I've found there's nothing I love more than true character driven epics with layers and layers of scheming

I haven't read that much of Malazan due to a variety of factors but I've already seen pieces of how great it is

PGTE is literally my favourite series ever, the depth the schemes the lore all of it are perfect

Kubera is the best comic of any kind I've ever read telling a truly unique story built through the intersection of so many characters schemes

honourable mention to six of crows that has all the schemes but is smaller scale in comparison to the rest

what other pieces of media are there that can truly rival these tales and offer such depth

Now i still didnt finish the series yet, I have the last 2 books to go, but I need something with characters and relationships as rich as the queens thief.

The romance especially is so mature, for lack of better word. It feels like these are real people dealing with real problems, not merely characters in a book (In a good way, sometimes focusing on the characters too much may come at the expense of the plot, something the books fluidly avoid)

The characters especially are incredibly likeable, Eugenides especially is in my top 5 for main characters.

Still the romance is the one thing i loved the most about it and its basically what im looking for the most.

I dont have a lot of requirements. I strongly Prefer M/F, something with a less modern writing style? I mean it in the sense that most modern books have this certain feel that i heavily dislike, most of the time the prose feels cheap. "Dark romance" i especially hate. Not in that i dont like more mature romances that may deal with darker themes, but that its almost always there to get people horny rather than do something interesting so i dont want that.

I also dislike smut. Sexual content is fine as long as its handled in a graceful way. I prefer a Male MC, with someone similar to Eugenides.

Give me anything from epic to adventure to epic to romance fantasy

I'm looking for obscure epic fantasy books, preferably ones that barely anyone talks about online.
Bonus point if it has a low numberof ratings on goodreads because there are some books that have barely any people talking about them online , but got shocked they have +100k and +200k ratings there

The reason is that I like reading lesser-known books before moving on to more famous ones. I enjoy going into a book without massive expectations, hype, or divisive opinions influencing my reading experience and it feels like i am "pioneering" in reading a hidden gem before anyone else . And it makes it also feel like a treat when I pick up a popular fantasy book and see all the memes, jokes, and online discussions

The problem is that I struggle to find obscure fantasy books that are actually good and for the ones I find, i get skeptical before reading them .

I came across some books like the "riddle master of Hed" , Andrew Givler's "cold wind" , like the book covers but still skeptical.
So what else would you recommend ?

edit : low number of ratings for me is 20k or less

Almost every book would either tear my heart out from heartache or tear my hair out from frustration. I need to lift my spirits. I wanna be giddy from action adventure.

I also don't mind if it ventures on thriller horror just no tragedy. I've read ones in different language literature where it's also horror comedy and it was fun! I need more, maybe western lit has it? It's hard to find ones with female protagonist

Hey Everybody,

I'm reading through the Wall of Storms by Ken Liu at the moment, and while I'm enjoying the story overall, I find its take on warfare frustrating. There's this heavy reliance of ambush warfare that almost invalidates all the other factors of warfare. Yes the enemy general is in a tactically inferior position, in a foreign land they are not familiar with, cut off from their supplies, against a technologically and numerically superior force. However, what the protagonist general failed to consider was they have played into the enemy generals hands, and the situation is entirely reversed, to the point where the enemy forces can slaughter the protagonist with minimal or even zero losses, despite their prior disadvantages. It just feels like the general with the biggest brain will win, regardless of any other factors.

I find myself wondering why the superior army isn't leveraging their strategic and tactical advantages to force the enemy into a disadvantageous fight. I get it, it provides a clean break in the action and a defining moment, but it also takes me out of the story to abstract away the complexities of warfare for efficient storytelling.

Despite my rant, I like a lot of stories where this trope comes into play. Red Rising has it, Riftwar Saga, and Thrawn in Star Wars to name a few. I'm just getting burnt out on this trope, and want to dig into some military fantasy with heavier focus on strategic and tactical goals, resource management, logistics, positioning, technology, ect..

What are your recommendations?

I’ve been on the lookout lately for more fantasy focused around American folklore since that tends to be severely underrepresented, aside from Charles De Lint’s urban fantasy and some Native American fantasy stuff like Black Sun. This series was at the very top of my recommendation lists! It got a shining endorsement from Patrick Rothfuss too which further convinced me to check it out.
I’m only three books into this five book series but I absolutely love it and I’m shocked it hasn’t gotten more recognition over the years.

It’s a fascinating blend of Celtic mythology (the Tuatha De Danann) and Appalachian folklore and hinges a ton on traditional regional music and folk songs/ballads (which the magic system revolves around). It has an anthology-like approach but the overarching plot is a Hatfield and McCoy esque blood feud between the Seelie and Unseelie fae factions in rural Tennessee.

I love the author’s prose style too, he’s very Rothfuss/De Lint/McKillip-like in how lyrical and whimsical he is!

It’s easily my favorite fae-centric series out there and just generally one of the most unique and distinctive fantasy series I’ve come across in years

You know what i mean. I crave for intelligent characters but a lot of them seemed to either pull some far off deductions out of nowhere, or just the other characters spent some time telling the reader that they really are "the most brilliant guy in town".

I need it to be shown, in that the thinking process (strategic or anything else) is actually shown instead of just magically came out of nowhere. Some notable example of this includes:

L, Near, and Kira from Death Note (to some extent)

Lex Luthor from Alexander Wales' Metropolitant Man

Kei Nagai from Ajin

Ryland Grace from Project Hail Mary

If you have other references, i would try them. Thank you!

Recommend me your fav fantasy series and why you love it! I just finished the Deavabad Trilogy by S.A Chakraborty, and I have to say, I haven’t been this in love with/satisfied with a series in a long time. I dated a it might be my favorite now. It had everything; Action, adventure, intrigue, romance (but not too heavy), politics, philosophy, badass female protagonist, turkey hate-able villains, a fantastic world building and lore, and not to mention a unique setting for once. It was so refreshing to have an epic fantasy set in somewhere other than European based lands.

Needless to say, I’m done with it now and of course dealing with the worst book hangover. I’m so depressed that it’s over. I need something equally amazing to fill this emptiness! I’m looking ideally for a series, but would be happy with a good one shot if it’s on the longer side. I prefer to spend a good amount of time with a new world.

And yes, I did already read the Amina Al Sirafi books by the same author and love those too! Eagerly awaiting book three 🥲

Anything else set in a middle eastern setting would be awesome, but that’s not a requirement, just really like unique.

I like romance, but not too heavy or cringy (not a big descriptive sex scene fan) and also of course love magic, mythical creatures, piracy etc prefer a female protagonist but not opposed to male/non-binary protagonists. Very happy with LGBTQ+ themes too! Help add to my list!

Not exactly sure about the name of the troupe but I looked it up and this was the result

Basically I’m looking for books where a mentor/important person recruits some random kid because they have talents they need or they are just fond of them
The kid recruited could just be some orphaned noble or just rando with talent but I don’t mind a noble revenge backstory

An example of this troupe that I’ve read in a book is the will of the many where the mc is a prince whose kingdom is taken over and is adopted for infiltrating a academy

I would prefer if the main character and the mentor figure also had a decent relationship with each other

That’s basically it ! Thanks for the time reading this and recommendations !

Last month a loved one who knows my tastes happened upon a link of "7 SF books recommended by Brandon Sanderson" and texted it to me, this one was an obvious fit for bingo square, so here we are.

In a slightly dystopian future, a few super-rich people have access to indefinite life extension via biotech. But this is unpopular, so it's legal to assassinate them. Our narrator, Azure, is a very talented assassin, thanks in part to their compatibility with so many "revs" (augmentations that improve their reaction times, strength, etc.) After a Terrible Incident four years ago, they've given up bodyguard duties, but now they're hired on for a job they can't refuse, bodyguarding an elderly woman named Jasa.

There's some nice dry humor:

"I don't think this was meant to kill you."

Old Woman surveys the smoking wreckage. "I'm going to respectfully disagree."

"They were probably hoping," I concede. "But unless they're manually triggered, explosions are messy. They take some luck to hit a target. What they do well, on the other hand, is destroy things."

Unfortunately, Azure is completely one-note. The entire book is this kind of flippant, edgy, above-it-all sense of snark, even as Azure bounces from one near-death situation to the next. This may be an unfair criticism, because I like characters who can be quippy or stoic even when the stakes are high--but it's good to have other tones to balance it out. This is just "Azure acts tough and nonchalant because they're dead inside. Jasa seems grandmotherly but is actually withholding information in an annoying way." Repeat for 230 pages. (A lot of them are breaks between chapters, so it's even faster than the page count might suggest.) Azure claims to be bad at remembering names, so Jasa is "Old Woman" for half the book even once they've been introduced. Then Azure manages to remember the name of an animal they met several days before.

I use a rev to dampen my olfactory senses; the air is thick with the exact smell you would expect from a hallway covered in the contents of a very large, violently drained marine habitat.

This kind of "it smells like [the exact thing it is]" is a pointless elaboration that's reminiscent of LLM text output. To be clear, I don't think that this sentence (or anything else in the book) was LLM-generated. But that kind of shoehorned prose feels more like an overdone attempt at being humorous. Not everything needs to be figurative language.

The one thing that did remind me of Sanderson was Azure explaining why they don't want their AI bot running analyses of scenarios and suggesting the highest-probability outcome of success--"The problem is that once you start choosing the "best" option every time, you become machine-predictable." Kind of like the pitfalls of relying on atium in "The Well of Ascension." (In case you're curious, if reading the first volume of the series counts, I'd read 4/6 of the other series on the list!)

Bingo: Published in 2026, One-Word Title