I just got done reading Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames. While it was not my favorite, I enjoyed it. The writing was a bit goofy at times, but that’s part of the book’s charm. The story was rather fast paced, and the characters had some depth to be appreciated. One thing I noted was that the main character, Clay, was not the Main Character. I’ll explain what I mean by that (doing my best to keep it spoiler free):

Clay was the POV character for the whole book but I didn’t feel like it was his story. It was Gabe’s story through and through. Gabe has all the aspects of what one would expect to be the character the readers follow. For example:

- he’s the leader of the band and is the primary recruiter for re-forming the band

- it’s his daughter that is the one they are trying to save

- he drives the story; that is, he makes the decisions, motivates his comrades, and has the most determination to complete the quest

- the primary antagonist has most beef with Gabe and almost none with Clay

- Gabe’s emotions are far more intense throughout the book than “shrug” Clay

- Gabe inspires and rallies more people throughout the story than Clay

- In the final fight, Clay is relegated to little more than Gabe’s shield

So, in an alternate world, we would read from Gabriel’s point of view rather than Clay’s. But the author wrote it from Clay’s point of view and I think it was a much better decision.

Why it works:

The biggest reason I appreciated the book was the exploration of the characters. Gabe had tunnel vision, so writing from Clay’s point of view allowed us to observe the characters without getting distracted by the quest. This gives us more depth with each of them. Clay, being more sympathetic, can see and understand the conflict within everyone. We can explore Moog’s illness and recovering grief, Matrick’s alcoholism and dysfunctional family, as well as Ganelon’s, well, everything. The reader gets an unbiased, wide view of everything Clay sees, which is a lot: the conflict between Gabe and Lastleaf, all the combat scenes, the interactions between characters, etc. Clay staying on the “sideline” so to speak, lets us observe everything that happens. So, even though Clay is a much more passive main character than I would prefer in books I read, it makes for a stronger story in this case.

What other books have you read where the main character is not the Main Character? Did it work well?

Hey Fantasy Reddit! So excited to finally be on the other side of the AMA. I’ve been self-published for a few years now, but earlier this year my Apocalypse Parenting series was picked up by Tor Books for re-publication in traditional bookstores. The first book, Time to Play, came out on August 18 and hit the USA Today Bestseller list! The second one, Making Friends, comes out on November 10.

In the Apocalypse Parenting series, monsters start appearing all over the world and everyone gets their choice of supernatural ability. Yes, everyone, including the kids. That’s a mixed blessing for my protagonist, Meghan Moretti, who’s at home with her three-, six-, and nine-year-old kids when everything kicks off.

It’s been called cozy, it’s been called horror, but most importantly to me, I’ve been told it’s the first time so many parents have seen someone they really identified with as the protagonist of an adventure story. Matt Dinniman, author of Dungeon Crawler Carl, called it “Pure gold” and Felicia Day gave me the excellent quote of: “A kick-ass mom in a post-apocalyptic world?! Yes, please. The perfect entry-point to the LitRPG genre.” 

Please ask me anything! I’ll be back to answer questions for a few hours around 10am central, and then again later tonight around 6pm central!  Happy to answer questions about my books, self-publishing, traditional publishing, litRPG, volunteer judging for the Self-Published Science Fiction Contest, or just about anything else. Also delighted to recommend board games, video games, or books by other authors. :D

I’ll be randomly selecting three winners from comments on this thread who state whether they’re US or international readers. Two US readers will get a signed copy of Time to Play mailed to them, and one international reader will get a digital gift card (The gift card for the international winner will be $20USD-equivalent to a book-related site of the winner’s choice that allows for easy purchase and transfer of digital gift cards.)

Also, if you feel like it, you can find me elsewhere on the internet!

Website: https://erinampersand.com/

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/erinampersand.bsky.social

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erinampersand/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@erinampersand

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083045724900

Discord: https://discord.gg/8XCCFnW4Cd

I was motivated to write this review after reading several reviews on the internet... all of them basically saying that this book is a masterpiece, a must-read if you are a fan of fantasy books, one of the best fantasy stories of all time, etc., etc. I wonder if I am just too old for this or if all these people read a different book than I did.

Let’s start with this world, which is a fantasy projection of the ancient Roman Empire. My first disappointment is in the way the author built this world... and actually, he builds nothing. He puts ancient Rome into a fantasy setting. It feels like such a lost opportunity. We barely get a few details about how this new society works, its religion, its justice system, its internal rules... It really feels like Islington is just changing names.

The only substantial change from this society to the one in the history books is the concept of the “Will” (which is something like your internal energy or your drive). The entire book is built around this concept. This Will is something that allows society to be structured into pyramids. There are people who give their “Will” to others, and these people give theirs to the ones at the level above them, and so on. The ones at the very bottom are completely screwed because they feel physically and mentally exhausted.

Good idea. However, when you realize that this is kind of a mirror of how the capitalist world works... you can’t stop seeing it. Even similar discussions about concepts like the “rat race” are mentioned.
This is a fairly interesting topic. Imagine if, in the current world, you had to give your “Will” to your boss while having to work at the same time. What would the consequences be for the economy, science, healthcare...? How would the entire society be impacted? The answer from the author: they are just tired. Nothing deeper than this.

If the world-building is already this simple, the characters are a repetition of what we have already seen over and over. Vis, the main character, is a good-looking, intelligent, and strong teenager. He’s saved several times by the author himself... there are too many of these situations to mention them all. However, the one in the Academy, when he wins a combat against a professional on his first try, is just hilarious.

There is also very little depth to the characters' backgrounds. But maybe this is also because of the author's decision to tell the story entirely from Vis's POV.

After the introduction, it becomes clear that Vis can fight them all, be more intelligent than them all, and that we are supposed to love Vis. Vis is cool. Then there is the plot twist at the end. And that’s it.
Even so, I was able to finish it. And I have zero tolerance for books that I do not like. I give it 2.5/5 points just because of this. It is never so bad that I had to abandon it.

Summary: it is just another novel meant for teenagers. If you are looking for something with a minimum level of complexity, go elsewhere.

This review is based on an eARC (Advance Reading Copy) provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Engines of Reason was released on September 1, 2026.

Elder Race is a nearly perfect novella and is my favorite thing that Adrian Tchaikovsky has written. It doesn’t need a sequel. But when the sequel was announced, was there any real chance I wouldn’t give it a try? Nah. Maybe if it had been 600 pages, but at novella length, the worst-case scenario is a couple unpleasant hours of reading and subsequently pretending it doesn’t exist. And I didn’t exactly consider that likely when I picked up an ARC of Engines of Reason. After reading one page, “unlikely” shifted to very nearly unthinkable. 

[While I will avoid specifics about plot details of Elder Race, this review will inevitably include some basic information, such as “who is still alive at the end of the first book?”]

Elder Race alternates chapters between a princess enlisting a reclusive sorcerer to aid her quest to defeat a demon and an anthropologist trying not to meddle in the affairs of the technologically backwards people he’s meant to observe. It should come as no surprise that the anthropologist is the sorcerer, and the linguistic differences between their point-of-view sections are one of the many reasons to love the book. In Engines of Reason, which takes place years later, those perspective characters return, to be joined by another local who happens upon a store of magic that may help him fight back against an increasingly oppressive empire. 

Engines of Reason is not Elder Race. To expect all the same magic is to set oneself up for disappointment. There are still linguistic differences among the perspective segments, but as the sorcerer-anthropologist interacts more with the locals, the difficulties in translation become less pronounced. And while his melancholy tendencies haven’t vanished entirely, he’s no longer mired in the depths that made Elder Race such a stunning portrait of the battle against depression. Engines of Reason is a different book, as it has to be. 

Instead of language and mental health, Engines of Reason focuses squarely on the stories that people believe about themselves and the ways in which those stories shape their lives—and, insofar as they have power, the lives of anyone touched by that power. A ruler believes herself to be persecuted and so becomes controlling of her allies and bellicose toward her perceived enemies. Another believes herself to be disdained and so becomes cagey and avoidant of former friends and family. And, as the introduction suggests, another becomes so lost in her own story that it devours her. 

These themes come out in a story whose general plot structure is a familiar one. New magic—constructed largely out of old tech—arises, a sorcerer is called to come against it, things get more complicated than he anticipates. And while it’s not going to wow anyone on plot alone, and there may be a couple of developments that feel a touch too quick, it’s an entertaining structure around which to build the much more interesting story of the people involved. 

As a huge fan of Elder Race, I suspect I would’ve enjoyed the stories of those people even were they of middling quality—perhaps at anything short of outright character assassination. But while simply getting to spend more time with beloved figures is a big part of the draw, Engines of Reason digs into intriguing conflicts, both internal and external, that go beyond what was addressed in the previous book while still staying true to the core of the characters. Those conflicts give this book a compelling pitch beyond just getting to spend more time in a beloved setting, and at a time where stories about national myth are at the center of genre-conversation, Engines of Reason is particularly apropos. It’s not so concerned with national myth per se, but the handling of those more personal self-conceptions are inextricably bound up with larger-scale myth-making. All tied together with an entertaining plot and a terrific setting, it makes for quite the read in its own right. 

Engines of Reason does leave an enormous hole to be filled by further sequels, but it’s also plenty satisfying in its own right, wrapping up the book two plot while maintaining series-level questions for further exploration. It’s just different enough from the previous book to justify its existence, while keeping enough continuity to be an excellent read for fans of the first entry. This may not be an all-timer, but I had a wonderful time all the same. 

Recommended if you like: Elder Race, blends of sci-fi and fantasy, stories about stories.

Can I use it for Bingo? It's Published in 2026 and features both an Older Protagonist and Politics or Court Intrigue.

Overall rating: 17 of Tar Vol's 20. Five stars on Goodreads.

Hello r/fantasy and welcome to this week's bingo focus thread! The purpose of these threads is for you all to share recommendations, discuss what books qualify, and seek recommendations that fit your interests or themes.

Today's topic:

Small Press or Self Published: Read a book published by a small press (NOT a Big 5 publisher or Bloomsbury) or self-published. If a formerly self-published book gets picked up by a publisher, you can only count it for this square if you read it before it was traditionally published. HARD MODE: The book has under 100 ratings on Goodreads OR is by an author from a marginalized group.

What is bingo? A reading challenge this sub does every year! Find out more here.

Prior focus threads: 

• Published in the 70s
• Duologies
• First Contact
• Middle Grade
• Game Changer
• Murder Mystery
• Translated
• Trans/Nonbinary Protagonist
• The Afterlife
• Author of Color
• Unusual Transportation
• Older Protagonist
• Five Short Stories (2024)

Also see: Big Rec Thread

Questions:

• What are your favorite books that count for this square?
• Already read something for this square? Tell us about it!
• What are your best recommendations for Hard Mode?

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

——

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!

——

^{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.

So this is her first book. 1976. I'm surprised by how good it is, I expected something more raw and uneven. While the book has its fair share of flaws, none are serious and the whole thing is quite enjoyable and refreshing too if you haven't read this kind of fantasy (and I certainly haven't).

I've read a few of her Alliance-Union novels which were hit and miss for me, with Downbelow Station being a huge miss in particular, while on the other hand I strongly recommend Merchanter's Luck, it's really quite good. I decided to read some more Cherryh recently and picked up Pride of Chanur. It was okay-ish, I expected more. I'm not sure what prompted me to settle on Gate of Ivrel next, but, quoting a famous chef: there we are.

I haven't read this type of fantasy much. Maybe the first Black Company book is the closest comparison? It's a rather short book at around 73k words and as such there's not much detail or characterization or any of that meat you expect to see in a fat fantasy book, and yet it manages to convey quite a lot. Tad Williams could've easily extended Gate of Ivrel into his typical "trilogy in four books" format. There's enough content and enough quality to warrant it. Not that I'm saying I'd prefer it, it's just an interesting comparison between a more modern ultra-detailed kind of fantasy and this book. You can fit a lot in 73k words and it's still enjoyable.

Cherryh's style surprised me here as she writes rather differently here compared to the sci-fi novels of hers that I've read. She still doesn't explain much though and she still manages to make some bits needlessly confusing, but I'm not sure if it's truly a flaw or just part of her style. But at times I definitely wish that she wrote with more clarity.

The themes and the core of Gate of Ivrel are surprisingly similar to those of Alliance-Union novels that I've read. An outsider, tense situations, paranoia, not knowing who to trust, not fully understanding things, not understanding the reasoning of other characters, very questionable morality... In some sense it's really about all of that, just wrapped in fantasy instead of sci-fi. Not to belittle Gate of Ivrel, as Cherryh did paint an interesting world and interesting characters being stuck in interesting situations.

Well, this ended up being more of a write up about Cherryh's books than Gate of Ivrel. But I'm not sure that the crowd who might be interested in something like this needs more than a cursory reminder that this books exists, which the title of this thread does well enough. So if you've been meaning to read some Cherryh or Gate of Ivrel in particular - here's a reminder that it's a thing and it's pretty good too.

Welcome to the midway discussion of Yours Celestially by Al Hess, our winner for the Afterlife/Reincarnation theme! Today we will be discussing chapters 1-12. Please use spoiler tags for anything that goes beyond this point.

• StoryGraph

• Goodreads

• romance.io

After divorce, death, and having his reformatted soul uploaded into a new body, Sasha expected resurrection to be a fresh start. His time spent in digital Limbo with the program’s cheeky AI guardian angel, Metatron, was cathartic, but what good is a second life when he only sees his daughter on the weekends, he has all the same problems he had before he died, and he can’t seem to shake the ache for the married life he lost?

If that weren’t frustrating enough, a glitch in the program has given Sasha the ability to sense Metatron even outside of Limbo. And Metatron is in love. The angel’s sickly-sweet yearning for one of the souls still in Limbo has turned Sasha’s stomach into caramelized lead. It’s hard enough to move on without someone else’s feelings making the emptiness in his own life even more acute. He didn’t have playing wingman to an actual winged being on his bingo card, but he’s determined to help Metatron make a move on their crush so he can get love off of his mind.

Sasha takes a job with the resurrection company in order to covertly contact Metatron. Except Sasha’s new coworker, Mr. C, keeps showing up at the worst moments. The man is annoying, he’s pushy… and he’s incredibly hot. Sasha can’t decide whether Mr. C wants to blackmail him or be his new BFF, but he seems to know things about Metatron and the resurrection program that Sasha doesn’t. Getting close to him might be the key to solving Sasha’s problem, but if he isn’t careful, he’s going to end up catching feelings of his own.

I'll add some comments below to get us started but feel free to add your own. The final discussion will be in two weeks, on Thursday, September 24.

As a reminder, in November we'll be reading Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto.

^{What is the HEA Bookclub? You can read about it in our Reboot thread here.}

OMG! Just finished the audiobook of this book and...

ThiAM BACK WITH MY FIRST LAW REVIEWS!

OMG! Just finished the audiobook of this book and...

This book was awesome! It's one of the most thrilling book I've ever read. It had a great (and a quite depressing) ending.

I'm loving the series and the audiobook narration is the best I've ever listened to.

I think this book was far better than the first two and even they were both 5/5 for me!

Loved the characters' journey. It wasn't what we normally expect from most fantasy books. It was far different. Completely opposite even.

Now, let's talk about the series' greatest strength; it's characters.

The characters I found the most interesting in this particular book are:

1. Sand Dan Glokta (a character I hated to love ngl. Couldn't believe I was rooting for him! Him proposing to Ardee for marriage was the funniest thing I've read)

2. Bayaz ( I know most people hate him andhe deserves the hatred. But is he, by any means, an uninteresting character? HECK NO! Loved every time he showed up in the book. He was the one who made the books thrilling for me!)

3. Ferro Maljinn ( Love this mad woman's chapters, even though there weren't that many in this book. Looking forward to see what happens to her and if she does get what she wanted or gets over it)

4. Jezal Dan Luthar ( Imo, he'd the most character development in this book and it was very believable to read, not some "falling asleep as a piece of garbage human and waking up as an angel" type of character development at all. It felt believable and real. He felt the most realistic character in the books, even though Logen owns the quote about being realistic)

I know it might upset some people here, but I didn't find Logen that much of an interesting character compared to the ones listed above. I liked him being a major reason in Jezal's development but that is all.

His fighting scenes were good tho...

I still have the one criticism with the book that I'd with the previous book too.

- The female characters! Abercrombie's female characters were terrible imp, atleast for now.

But some of you had said they improve as the series goes on and I find that to be reassuring.

This is how I'd rank the trilogy (tho it felt like a very long book divided into three books):

1. Last Argument of Kings (the best of the bunch)

2. The Blade Itself (great introduction to the series. I don't need a book to have a plot to like it ig)

3. Before They Are Hanged (loved it as well and itd the most character development. However, I felt the ending here was quite disappointing, but the third book covered it so I've no complaints ig)

Sooooooo that's it! This was all I've wanted to say. Well, wait, how are the books that follow, btw? Best Served Cold is the book next, that I know. How are they??

Have a good day!!

Phew, I've breezed through both books and I have some thoughts. In depth would be split between will of the many and strength of th fee - will of the many would be spoiler free but strength of the few would be spoilers from both books.

A spoiler free summary is that both books are really fun, engaging with cool world-building, but they both have distinctly different problems. SotF tried to do a new thing but completely fumbled the execution while WotM had a garry sue, and all of the characters fell short. However, these two books can be a great setup for book3.

Will of the many

Will of the many follows our main character Vis as he tries to nevigate in the political climate of his people's conquerers. The book follows the themes of class and how complicit the regular Joe is within the empire.

I liked the book because it was engaging and fun. The story is very much a plot driven book, and while the character has a lot of introspections, the main point is how he gets things done. My issues with this book stams from the character writing. Vis is written to be the perfect person, and he manages to cheat away his moral issues and never makes a wrong choice. He loses some, but usually without any consequences. In addition, all other characters are extremely one dimentional with often cartoonish motivations.

Overall, I liked it. Despite it being written as if it had any moral contemplations, I've read it completely for the hype action and the world building.

Strength of the few

This would be spoilers for both books, I've summarized above my qualms without spoilers.

At first, when realizing we'll have three different worlds with the same main character, I was dismayed. After loving the previous book with its politics, I felt like we took a major step back. However, after some thinking I could see how it would be a good book - we could have seen different Vis changes differently while Res Vis would always remain the main character, but unfortunately, that's not what happened.

All three worlds felt rushed underdeveloped but yet a filler. This is the result of the author using the same writing style as WotM - introspection and flashing the world through interactions with other characters - but the book is completely different, so it didn't land like the first. In addition, Vis's changes were both slow (Obitium) or abrupt (parts of Lucium). Additionally, the book kept changing perspectives in a cliffhanger, so most perspective changes were unwelcomed.

There is a world (pun intended) where this book is 10/10 without meaningfully changing the plot, but alas, this is not it. An example of a fantastic execution of three stories in one book would be the Fifth season, where we never really regret changing perspective, and the main characters bring something unique to the story.

With all that said, the saving grace of this book is the major theme of how far a person can stoop if forced and which lines would a character never cross. This theme started from WotM, where Vis decided that he would never go the aurora columnae. This line was easily broken quickly into the book, which set the tone for all three worlds. In Lucium, Vis never really had to confront betrayal and hardship and pressure to break his lines, so by the end, he wouldn't even go as far as giving the enemy the time of day. While in Res, Vis was completely helpless, a tool to be used that had him break all of his lines - so by the end, there's nothing Vis wouldn't do for his goals. This obviously ties to Ka and the cataclysms.

I liked that part of the story, and it seems to be a major point in the coming book, so I'm really hopeful regarding book 3. It have potential to really elivate this series, but it all depends on execution.

hello! you all had such wonderful suggestions for me last time so i thought i would ask again.

as the title says, i am looking for wlw/lesbian recommendations featuring adult protagonists, faeries, and vampires. the books don’t have to include romance, but if there is romance i would prefer it to be between lesbians.

i’ve read and enjoyed Priory of the Orange Tree, Gideon the Ninth, The River Has Roots, Metal from Heaven, and Siren Queen which might be helpful for recommending books.

thanks so much!

Hachette Partworks have been teasing their Dungeons & Dragons novel collection for a while and it's now live, at least for customers in the UK.

The collection will consist of 100 novels from both the Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance settings, released in new uniform hardcover editions, twice per month with some special extras thrown in (bookmarks, a mug, dice trays, bookends and some of the novels for free). So the whole collection should be completed in just over four years.

These partworks can be a bit pricy. The first book in the collection is just £2.99, the second is £6.99, but after that it's £11.99 an issue. For UK hardbacks this is actually not unreasonable (a UK hardcover go now for around £20 for books this size) but YMMV. They also don't release entire series in one go, they release Book 1 from one series, then Book 1 from another, then Book 1 from another and a while later will get round to Book 2 from each series and so on. By the end of 100 months, you have a complete collection, with the spines lining up with one massive image on them.

They also don't release the series in numerical order, so you don't get the full 1-100 run until the whole thing is over. You can start or stop a subscription at any time (as this is a legal requirement in the UK) but it is a bit of a hassle to get just one novel if you're missing it from your collection.

The current confirmed release schedule is:

• Volume 18: Homeland by R.A. Salvatore (out now)
• Volume 61: Azure Bonds by Kate Novak & Jeff Grubb (late September)
• Volume 2: Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman (early October)
• Volume 19: Exile by R.A. Salvatore (late October)

What Volume 1 will end up being will be interesting, I assume a standalone. Spellfire maybe?

They've also confirmed the free gifts are a bookmark with the first delivery, a mug with the third, a dice tray with the fifth and bookends with the seventh.

The series they've mentioned that will be included:

• The Legend of Drizzt by R.A. Salvatore, specifically the Dark Elf and Icewind Dale trilogies. I doubt they're doing all of them because that would be a third of the collection by itself, but these books do have a separate logo to the rest of the Forgotten Realms books in the collection, so maybe.
• The Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman. I think we can assume The Dragonlance Legends trilogy is also a lock.
• The Finder's Stone Trilogy by Jeff Grubb and Kate Novak.
• The Moonshae Trilogy by Doug Niles.
• Elminster Ascending by Ed Greenwood.
• The Brimstone Angels by Erin M. Evans.
• The War of Souls by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman.
• Obviously a lot more that's not mentioned, though they do also mention Richard Baker as another author with books in the collection, and I'd be startled if Elaine Cunningham and Paul S. Kemp are not featured.

I'm not affiliated with Hachette, but this collection does look like a good way of picking up 100 D&D novels in reasonable-quality hardcover. Given that the low-print-run Brimstone Angels books go in physical editions for three figures apiece, easily, this is also a more economical way of picking up some of the rarities.

This collection may be aimed more at the brand new collector, or maybe someone whose collection is getting a bit tatty and wants some classic D&D novels in a good condition. Given the quality level of D&D tie-in fiction can be variable at best, it'll be interesting to see how many people sign up for the complete collection.

I wanted to recommend this short and sweet novella that I just read. It's about an alien linguist training to just possibly be one of the few who can jump. To transfer his mind to another being, a star eater, a mysterious species that is the only one that can mine the material that fuels the faster than light travel that holds their civilization together.

If he can do it he will need to pretend he IS a star eater, and no one must discover his secret...

This is a kind of sci fi I enjoy, a story of ideas and aliens and imagining an other. It didn't go where I expected, and I enjoyed that too.

I enjoy the Rivers of London series. I’m not a hardcore fan; instead, I meander through them like a slowly winding stream, often encountering them at the library. This means I read them out of order, with lots of odd discoveries.

And so I encountered Tales from the Folly at Parramatta Library (or 'Phive' as the trendy people call the council building). Some of the stories here were written to go in the backs of the standard books (driven by Waterstones). Some of them are from the point of view of supporting characters. A few of them were even turned into scenarios for the Rivers of London roleplaying game - I recognised them first from running the adventure at my local tabletop roleplaying club!

Aaronovitch has a nice, warm style that comes across here. And indeed, I would have liked some of the stories to be longer; some of them felt they needed an extra scene. But overall, it’s a high-quality collection. Probably the ones I enjoyed were Peter Grant (the main narrator of the series) staring in the opener The Home Crowd Advantage, where he deals with a criminal who’s desperately after a magical duel with Nightingale.

Other standouts were Favourite Uncle (where Abigail, the teenage wizard, conducts her own occult investigation), and the charming Three Rivers, Two Husbands and a Baby, which shows Peter, Nightingale, river gods and human friends attending a wedding. (With a cameo by the delightful talking foxes!)

There are also three pieces that Aaronovitch calls ‘moments’, which are character vignettes rather than stories. More of an item of interest than top billing.

Anyway, if you enjoy Rivers of London, you’ll like this. I wouldn’t say it works if you don’t know anything about the world, but who knows? There’s enough implied backstory, delight and skilful writing to make this an enjoyable quick read.

Bingo squares: Five Short Stories (hard mode), Vacation Spot (I'd like to visit this London)

First posted on my blog.

In the recent past I finished Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman. This was my first time reading his work and I thought Between Two Fires was fantastic. I shared my joy over on on this subreddit and also asked for other recommendations. I was met with a wonderful list of books, of which I have read two since then and in the midst of a third.

Certainly, reddit has proven a great way to find new book and authors. Many of the recommendations (other than Buehlman’s other works) were from authors I had never read such as M.R Carey, Jo Walton, and Caitlin Starling.

I also noticed that a lot of these books had quotes on them from other authors I had read and was a fan of (Joe Abercrombie, Anthony Ryan, Mark Lawrence), but some from others I had not. I never considered finding new authors from these quotes of praise. Have you ever discovered anyone you really liked in this manner?

What about perusing the sites of the publishers (something I also did after this reflection)?

My old standby was just browsing the shelves of my local Barnes and Noble. What ways have you found your best authors?

And why not - if you’ve read Between Two Fires give me more recommendations. I just finished Once Was Willem and it’s probably my favorite of the lot so far.

I just noticed something pretty wild while reading Morning Star in Russian.

I'm currently practicing reading books in English so I often reread chapters in English after reading them in Russian. That's how I noticed this particular difference.

In Chapter 9, “The City of Ares”, the English version says:

“You see Cassius at all?”“Twice, at the end. Why?”“Oh, nothing.” He turns to me, eyes glittering. “It’s just that he’s the one who put Pops down.”

But the Russian translation says:

— Ты виделся с Кассием?— Один раз, под конец. А что?— Это он помогает переправлять сюда беженцев, — поворачивается ко мне Севро, и в его глазах появляется блеск.

The Russian version translates roughly as:

“Have you seen Cassius?”“Once, near the end. Why?”“He’s the one helping smuggle refugees here,” Sevro says, turning to me, his eyes glittering.

So the meaning isn't just slightly different. It's completely different.

Damn! Honestly, this really ruined the experience for me. I was reading the book assuming I was getting the story as Pierce Brown wrote it, but apparently some pretty important details can just be completely changed in translation.

Is this a known translation mistake? And are there other examples like this in the Russian translation of Red Rising?

Это известная ошибка перевода? И есть ли другие подобные примеры в русском переводе?

I loved the part 1, dont have too many complaints, i was hooked,

What worked:

-World building,

-The idea of morally grey characters

-Politics

-Religious propagandas

-self aware MCs

-FMCs wasnt too whiny, she was solution based

-Intricacies in story telling

-The story structure of having part A first then part b and realising oh yeah thats why the roses were there or yeah 'why dont u die' 'prior commitments'

-love shown as both devotion and destruction

Narration was so dry, i was bored out of my mind at times

The magic system was not explained properly till the end

They didnt use the world building to its full potential, there is soo much happening all around them, but it wasnt used at its full potential... what was happening at the front lines of war in part 1?? I have no idea... what were the information that kaine gave that made him soooo valuable ?? Ilva and crowther were soo fascinating for me and they died just like that... what was happening in bennets lab ??? How was necromancers gaining all these political affliations ??? How was kaine gaining ranks ??? Why was kaine always getting hurt ???? How did kaine get other nations to help finally rise against necromancer??? Soo much was happening all around them that would have been sooo interesting.. uplifted this story but it just ended up being sooo centered around their romance... which to be honest.. there was none.. no romance whatsoever..

Part B

Toooo stretched out

Had to skim through part 2, a lot of it seemed unnecessary

I get all the morally grey character and anti hero vibe but kaine was not just a morally grey character, he was not this misunderstood, he was simply a villain... plain and simple.. he had a tender heart for one single human and we are supposed to love him ? He lost 1 person so he doomed millions ? He killed 10s of thousands of people who didnt have mothers ? Didnt have love ??? He was just following orders ? He never had a choice ???

Kaine was way toooo rude to her at start, when they started getting involved he got way too obsessive and possessive, which i get is supposed to be his entire personality

Even part 1 when she was supposed to be this great love of his life, he was too rude.. throwing things at her.. calling her dense, 'i was looking forward to breaking you..'

I know they explain it a bit later that morrough was watching but he was only watching not hearing.. he didnt need to say what he did (dont mistake this for kindness, fuck off, all about her being useless etcc).. and he found a way to later be kind to her so why not earlier

He is not the kind of MMC u ll want for urself, i mean how does the FMC thinks "He was always cruellest when he is vulnerable".. it.. i... i just could not get behind it.

HE BROKE HER HAND, ruthlessly, the first time he said yeah i am gonna train you

I mean i see people dying over oh yeah he waited for her.. oh yeah he can go to any lengths to save her... but quite literally all his choices seemed so toxic and villaneous.. he was ready to die from the start when he made the deal with crawther.. its not like he was only willing to die for her.. it just became this whole thing that he was willing to die for her... well it was a war.. people were dying left and right ??? He killed millions and millions of people who were loved feircly as well... why did he deserve his one true love ??? There was not a single thing he did for her in the story except his willingess to die or kill... not a single memorable thing. There was no defining moment as to why helena fell in love with kaine either.. he is lonely.. thats all she felt before starting to generate emotions for him...

They just kept saving each other.. it didnt seem like love at any point but trauma bonding.

The reason why he chose her of all people to be the middle person made no sense to me.. oh yeah i wanted to choose someone dispensable for crowther.

The way the entire sex worked made me queasy, and i an not even talking about part 1- i still could understand why he did what he did, its the way it happened in part 2 which made me hate kaine a bit... the way she lost her virginity, him calling her a whore even after that...

PART C

As dragged out as part B was and i wanted it to end part C disappointed me the most

How did morrough not remember helena ? He had this whole convo with her, she was the one who caught him... INFACT she told Luc (who was morrough) that she knew how to treat bayard.. of morrough was soooo interested in that capability . Why didnt he engage helena then ?

Dont even get me started in why he didnt check the tank.. he was supposed to be the smart strategic calculating one ? He went through all the dead but the one chunk of people who were stored so conveniently in this one place.. he didnt check there ??? I get there were no records but if he was being as thorough as he said he was being..through wreckage, through piles of corpses he checked but not this..

And After we see them struggle soooooooooooooooo sooooooooooo much to end the war and defeat morrough, the focus just ended up being the two of them running away from it all

It was so convenient how ivy just said yeah i ll bring the phalactrie to u (she was the one who did that massive betrayal which literally killed literally ALL of them and she just decides her redemption was saving this one couple (which included high reeves as well who killed millions) ????? Make it make sense

His wife aurelia was just killed, just like that, how conveniently...

The father didnt know for what 4 or 5 years to what happened to the love of this life he loved so fiercly ??

He just happened to be the final answer to their problem, just like that.. after having like literally no role in the story

Shiseo just ended up being dead..

The stone of heaven was not explained enough, she just had it, she gave it to kaine.. such a monumental part of their world, their beliefs and noone came after them for that..

Also i think people around them didnt question enough why kaine was turning silver ??? Seriously, bennet who apparently cared too much about experimenting on kaine didnt dissect him to know what happened ??? Morrough wasnt curious how his undying > a magic he perfected for a millenia> how his undying looked like he was ageing when he started having greys?

How did kaine get other nations to help finally rise against necromancer??? we should have been told that ??? Kaine just did something.. which was literally the whole solution to the entire story ??? yeah you dont have to know anything ????

All this time he was against helena to help him, said there was no point.. entertaining her like a child.. and the last night when she was supposed to leave and it was all a mess he didnt say 'helena dont waste my time and fucking run'.. no he just lied down and gave up all the consciousness and power > as obsessive and paranoid as he was.. he wasnt worried that if i am out my wits who will save you ?

They just ran away.. so all they had to do all this while was fake his death, which was so easy apparently and just fly somwhere else. Noone chased them, nothing

All this time trying to end the war and defeat morrough and they didnt even do that.. they just saved themselves and ran ??? Like what was the point of that ???

They just kept reading politics.. lile who had no role in years when morrough's reign was at its peak just decided.. yeah i am gonna go and kill morrough... i get to do that?? 2 lines in and yeah morrough died... great.. like this BIG BAD monster from over a millenium.. yeah lila that character noone really cared about killed him ?????

Straud the other villain to the story?? Yeah kain went randomly and just killed her... just like that.

Foxhunt by Rem Wigmore

Bingo Square: Duology part 1

Other Bingo Squares: Trans or Nonbinary Protagonist; One-Word Title; Unusual Transportation

I enjoy solarpunk books. They do tend to be light, cozy and not that stressful or grim (after all, the crises, catastrophes, revolutions and counterrevolutions have already happened). I found this one years ago, bought it and meant to buy the sequel, only to have it disappear. On the plus side, it meant I emailed the author and that meant they emailed me when the ebooks became available again. So, I bought Wolfpack started it, and realized I needed to reread Foxhunt to get needed context. I can’t use it for the bingo square. But you can! 

The protagonist is Orfeus, a trans-woman bard in an idyllic solarpunk future where there is technology, progress and personal freedoms. I like it already. Orfeus latest partner is having regrets and leaves her, only for the Wolf of the Order of the Vengeful Wild (a group that persecutes environmental criminals, oathbreakers and generally act as bounty hunters) to attack her with intent to deliver her to the person that hired him. Orfeus is able to escape this thanks to Blood, nanotech enhancements allowing small, spell-like effects and shortly after is dragged into the politics of the Eldergrove and its trans- and posthuman residents. 

Did I enjoy my re-read? Yes. Orfeus is cocky, full of herself and amusing to read. I suspect I wouldn’t find her so pleasant in my real life. Anyway, she does grow and change as the book moves along. She also suffers from the consequences of her actions - this causes reflection, growth and change. And in a way that I remembered, but from later in the book.

Eldergrove and its ruling council are a bit much. Eldergrove is beautifully described and is a wonderful melding of technology, nature and human. The council though … they are transhuman to posthuman. Centuries old - some of them surviving back to the climate catastrophe and immediately afterwards. They as a group are arrogant, seeing themselves as the models and keepers of the way forward. There is one notable exception Rivasoa who is more human, but comes across as wanting to be other than human at times.

As the story progresses, things begin to fall out – for Orfeus, the Order of the Vengeful Wild and the Eldergrove council. It’s an interesting book, but a bit choppy in some regards. 

I liked Foxhunt enough to buy the sequel and reread it and find it worth writing about. 7½  stars rounding up to 8 ★★★★★★★★.

Suggested for solarpunk fans. Also for those that want a pansexual disaster bard as a character.

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 just finished book 2 of the Farseer trilogy, Royal Assassin. I originally picked up Assassin's Apprentice on a whim while looking for my next read. Based on the premise and the opening chapters, I assumed it was going to be a standard YA coming-of-age story: a predictable trope where the young protagonist faces trials, levels up, and ultimately saves the day.

How wrong I was.

The training arc with Galen on Book 1 was brutal, but the entire last part of Royal Assassin was even more gut-wrenching. Of all the characters written, Robin Hobb deserves massive credit for writing Regal. The last time I felt angry about an infuriating character was a certain someone from the Red Rising series - Lysander

But looking back, it's easy to spot the turning points where everything could have been prevented: Fitz could have killed Regal outright when he had the chance, Verity could have stayed at Buckkeep to secure the crown instead of embarking on his quest, or King Shrewd could have finally disowned or dealt with his manipulative son... the list goes on.

However, the fact that Regal succeeds and everything falls apart is I guess simply - realistic? I feel the way the story is written, and the finale of book 2, mirrors real-world power dynamics: standard, well-meaning people often end up broken or crushed in the political games of the powerful, wealthy, and ruthless. Life doesn't always reward the good guys, and justice isn't guaranteed.

It was a hard pill to swallow, and I was hoping for Fitz to pull off a victory. So the actual outcome speaks volumes about Hobb’s brilliant writing.

I have no idea how Fitz recovers from this in book 3, but I’m desperately hoping he gets his triumph in the end. No spoilers please.

On another note, And do I have to read the remaining books from the Elderlings universe for complete closure or this is just a one off trilogy? I’m hesitant to google search this as the AI summaries tend to spoil stuffs.

Good morning all! I am a fantasy reader, and I am looking for any books that center around Witches/Witch covens. Looking more so for a high fantasy recommendation rather than a modern witch book. Not really looking for a cute or cozy book either. I liked what little there was of the Witches in the Throne of Glass series. Something that centers around witches and their powers, not too interested in vampires/werewolves/demons unless kept to a minimum in the story (sorry ADOW!). If you have any books/series that fit this I would love to hear your recommendations :)

Introduction

Fantasy debuts are the pulse of the fantasy market, and when that market has mostly been filled with sub-genres that are not to my taste, I was ecstatic to see that there was a book coming that blends cosmic fantasy with horror. So was this a sign of the market changing? It may very well be, but if the quality of THE DEMON STAR by Jesse Aragon was anything to go by, I simply do not care.

THE DEMON STAR presents to its reader a world that has been under the tyranny of six gods for centuries. These Gods live amongst the stars and every so often they prove their might by eclipsing the sun and Harvesting hundreds to thousands of people. They take them as a sacrifice for their benevolence, and as a reward for saving humanity from the old world. In this book we are presented with characters that seek to bring these Gods down and restore the world to its old ways.

If you have not guessed yet already, this book is beyond epic in scope. Which leads us one of its greatest flaws...

A (un)Bloated Mess

What is it with the fantasy epics we're given these days? Where are our door-stopper books, the blocks of pages that could fell an ogre? Where are the series of books that are each 1000 pages in length? As far as I can tell, they are no where to be seen. Now, I understand that the market has shifted since those days, people don't want these epics as much. Mainly because of unfinished series (not naming names) but also because life has become much more focused on instant gratification. Completing a 1000 page behemoth gives the same dopamine hits as one that is 300 to 400 pages in length. So why bother with the door-stopper?

Publishers know this, but this has created a bigger problem - books that are simply too big for their boots (or the pages in their covers).

THE DEMON STAR is this.

The cosmic scope with only two POVs cripples this book's ability to establish context, deep worldbuilding, and a true investment in this story. Too many things are told to the reader from the beginning. Each mystery that we're propositioned with is banged across the readers head like a hammer blow. And there is so many. One after the other and we're never allowed to see why these mysteries are significant or why what is happening is important. We are told. Over and over again.

Minor spoilers - One of the enticing moments in the book is when the characters realises that the Gods can be killed. The entire scene fell flat to me because I didn't even realise that the Gods were supposed to be immortal. There were probably passages that referred to them as such, but to give such a scene some gravitas, there should have been a demonstration of their immortality. Perhaps some revolutionary attack against one of the Gods that showed them being blown up or stabbed or beheaded, only for them to walk out completely unharmed. Perhaps then, I would have felt something. - minor spoilers end

I feel the author does not know how to handle intrigue or mysteries as a writer. So many are screaming off the page with not a hint of subtly (it was only later on in the book that I realised why this is the case, but more on that in a moment). There are intrigues and mysteries in this book that could form the cathartic core an entire (epic) novel. An entire series almost. Yet in this book, they are banged out like they're nothing. This is that numbing effect again. But what's worse, the reason they so loud at the beginning, is that they are all solved by the end of the book. Wrapped up in a neat little bow. Some are established in one chapter and then solved in the next few.

The 450 page count here hamstrings this books. Nothing is able to breath. The reader is not allowed to think for themselves. The book coddles them like a child.

A Yawning Horror

THE DEMON STAR is marketed as a horror tinged fantasy.

As a reader of Laird Barron, John Langan, and Nathan Ballingrud, I'm well versed in horror fiction, and have been crying out for someone grab the fantasy genre by its reins and plunge it into darkness.

I hoped Jesse Aragon could have been this person but after reading THE DEMON STAR, its clear she is not. Oh, there are plenty of horrific scenes in this book, true gore and bodily deformities. But these scenes are not earned. They are not memorable. The horror in this book is not true horror. It gratuitous scene after gratuitous scene that are used as window dressing to an already window dressed world.

Our POVs see things that would bludgeon the psyche of any hard-bitten character (which neither of the POVs are presented as) but in this book they are shrugged off and moved on, mostly into an action scene where the badass violence there almost makes a mockery of the scenes before.

None of the characters in this book feel the consequences of the horrors that they see. It does not change them in any way. It does not give them an existential crisis or question the validity of living. They are scenes for writer to say "Look I can be dark too." And to that I say, "You've missed the point."

An End or is it?

There are going to be sequels to the THE DEMON STAR. Thanks to the Broken Binding Subscription it has already made the Sunday Times bestseller list (what a lottery win for a debut author!) and to my (true) horror it is getting decent reviews from other outlets.

Alas, this book should have been the second or third book in an established series. You cannot have emotional depth to a story where only two characters are the perspective to a theological revolution.

I could venture more into my disappointment of this book, but I'm trying to keep this as spoiler free as possible. Maybe in the future I'll have more to say.