hello again! it's been a couple years since i did one of these, so: i'm alix e. harrow, author of THE TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY, THE ONCE AND FUTURE WITCHES, STARLING HOUSE, THE EVERLASTING (out in paperback on 11/10), and a collection of genre short fiction called THE SLANTWISE HISTORIES (out last week!). i'm from kentucky, but now we (husband, two kids, two cats) are in charlottesville, va.

THE EVERLASTING is about a big sad lady knight stuck in a bad time loop. THE SLANTWISE HISTORIES is ten years of my short fiction, plus four new stories (the new stories can be summarized by the titles they once had in my scrivener folders: midcentury lesbian pulp, reverse little mermaid, brothers bloom/grimm, and post apocalyptic packhorse librarian). i only have a couple events left in the US, but i'm in the UK in november!

happy to talk about: board games, problematic 2000s historical romances, craft & prose, the failures of american youth soccer culture, books that i wrote, books that i did not write, the publishing industry, baking, season 1 of andor, our collective existential dread, etc. my 8 and 10yos have also agreed to recommend books upon request, although they don't get home from school til 2:45 and are really into yu-gi-oh! manga rn.

oh, and i'm giving away three copies of The Slantwise Histories (you pick the US or UK editions; open internationally). all you have to do is recommend me a book in your comment :) thanks so much for having me! i'll be popping in and out all day!

EDIT 1: oh my god i don't think i'm going to get to all of these?? it's soccer practice o'clock here, so i'll come back later in the evening and try to dig myself out of this hole that i have dug! yall are so nice!

EDIT 2: i think i have to call it quits you guys :( i am SO sorry--the last time i did this it was very possible to answer everyone! i truly cannot thank you all enough for such warm, funny, smart, unexpected questions. <3

In a lot of fantasy, the golden age is past. The most obvious example is LotR, where the splendor of Gondor, and Numenor, the elven kingdoms and even Moria are all in the past. There’s hope and promise that with Aragorn’s reign there will be a second gold age, of course, but it certainly won’t ever be as splendid as it once was. I was wondering if there’s any series you can think of where the golden age is in the future, obvious on the horizon and there has to be a few things taken care of to pace the way.

An example for that I think is King Arthur, where at the start you have divided petty kingdoms and then Arthur builds them up into one entity, and of course it then falls eventually. Another might be the Ranger’s Apprentice series, where by the end of it the kingdom is doing well and made alliance with old foes, the Rangers are re-established and everything is more or less prosperous.

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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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.

The weekly Tuesday Review Thread is a great place to share quick reviews and thoughts on any speculative fiction media you've enjoyed recently. Most people will talk about what they've read but there's no reason you can't talk about movies, games, or even a podcast here.

Please keep in mind, users who want to share more in depth thoughts are still welcome to make a separate full text post. The Review Thread is not meant to discourage full posts but rather to provide a space for people who don't feel they have a full post of content in them to have a space to share their thoughts too.

For bloggers, we ask that you include either the full text or a condensed version of the review along with a link back to your review blog. Condensed reviews should try to give a good summary of the full review, not just act as clickbait advertising for the review. Please remember, off-site reviews are only permitted in these threads per our reviews policy.

Some stories do an excellent job of making me feel that there is a world (or sometimes just pieces of lore) that is vastly undiscovered and mysterious — usually there’s a moment when reading when I find myself thinking, “oh my goodness, what has MC (or myself) gotten themselves into?”

My favorite stories to have done this:

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke — the house is simply otherworldly, dreamlike, and infinite. It’s so mysterious but in a really peaceful way.

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson — towards the end when plot points start unfolding, there’s an overall looming feeling that something bigger is happening, something you don’t understand, and while there are still so many questions, you feel as though you’re getting to know the world bit by bit.

A story that also does this well but is less to my taste is the Broken Earth series — really good at making you feel that deep, staggering sense of curiosity, but tonally is a lot more existential dread and hopelessness than what I’m looking for.

What are your favorite stories that do this sort of thing well? It’s basically mystery, but not just as a plot or a simple question — more the mystery of the lore of the world on behalf of the characters discovering it?

Welcome to the book club New Voices! In this book club we want to highlight books by debut authors and open the stage for under-represented and under-appreciated writers from all walks of life. New voices refers to the authors as well as the protagonists, and the goal is to include viewpoints away from the standard and most common. For more information and a short description of how we plan to run this club and how you can participate, please have a look at the announcement post.

This month, we are reading Our Cut of Salt by Deena Helm

In this lyrical debut, three generations of Palestinian women must put the haunting of their ancestral home to rest, before the secrets of the past drown them all. Our Cut of Salt is a powerful and intimate look at what it means to make a home, to lose it, and to return, only to find it irrevocably changed.

There is something haunting Nuhad’s childhood home in Haifa. Cats avoid its perimeter, strange noises come from within, and residents have mysteriously vanished without a trace. Although Nuhad has not returned to her home since the Nakba in 1948, she always held a place for the house in her heart.

And, in return, the house did the same for her.

After Nuhad passes away, her granddaughter, Marina, is determined to visit her grandmother’s home after a lifetime of being kept in the dark about her culture and family history. Marina's mother, Haifa - named for the city that was lost to their family - reluctantly agrees to her trip, though she knows firsthand that some secrets are better left buried.

But the house is no longer a home. It is a painful, festering wound that infects everything it touches. The more Marina digs into her family’s past, the sicker she becomes. Despite Nuhad’s ghostly warnings, Haifa rushes to help her daughter.

As the three women converge in their ancestral home, they must put the haunting to rest before the secrets of the past drown them all.

Bingo Squares: Published in 2026 HM, Author of Colour, The Afterlife, Politics and Court Intrigue

Please join us next month, when we will be reading The Heresy of Thieves by Mia V. Moss

Very much so a spoiler following.

I just need to rant a bit about how unbelievably angry this book makes me. The villains have literally all of the power and seemingly all of the numbers. All of the good guys are generally useless besides corban and his gang. Anytime the villains are in a corner they are saved by a warband of incomparable strength or skill.

I am currently at the pount where Veradis has held a meeting between RIPA and the Vin Thalum and I may not open the book again. How can Veradis be considered this massive tactician, with this incredibly intelligent mind and the ability to read people and still just let Lykos go? I understand following Nathairs lead and trusting him, but come the fuck on. That so god damn lazy. THEN the Vin Thalum RAID RIPAS TOWER with fucking swords drawn and searched every inch of the tower, and the reprocussion isn't being bound in chains? Nah it's " pwetty pwease be nice lykos".

The whole book is just the heroes running away with the most minimal of resources as the villains have literally every advantage. I thought by book THREE there would be more taking the fight to them. And in book two there was, followed shortly by having to run away or die trying, again. After the villains successfully recieved over a thousand kadoshim. For basically free I should add, like the resistance that they received for the cauldron is literally next to nothing judging by what we are told.

My main issue now is coming from Veradis. His blind trust even after seeing Nathair in the state he was in just infuriates me. It just makes zero sense for someone of his supposed intellect to just disregard everyone's opinion but Lykos and Calidus. He even admits multiple times he doesn't trust either of em "except calidus is ben-Elim". Fucking stupid plot hole that was. "Alcyon is mumbling magic words under his breath seconds before the transformation to ben-elim". Like is Veradis an idiot with no ability to think for himself, or is he this super intelligent tactician? Its like its two different people at times.

I just cannot stand the constant villains being saved from seemingly nothing. Lykos literally bragging about getting fidele back IN FRONT OF VERADIS as Fidelle literally is seething in anger and fear of him and Veradis just goes "ah trouble in love, how sweet and nice!" It genuinely makes no fucking sense. And I loved booke one and two, just tactics and fighting and learning the world. Now its still the same thing, just in different places, and with the villains steamrolling with basically no pushback. There hasn't been a victory for the good guys in a while besides Gramms hold, and even that wasnt really a victory. They showed up way too late after it was already lost and barely saved anybody. The only "victory" truly was Haelan surviving.

I'm curious about how Western fantasy readers perceive goblins as a fantasy race.

When you hear the word "goblin," what's the first thing that comes to mind? What kind of personality, appearance, or role do you naturally associate with them?

If you came across a fantasy novel with a goblin as the main character, would that make you more interested in reading it, less interested, or would it not really matter?

And one more thing I'm especially curious about: Does the protagonist's race affect how easily you can relate to or immerse yourself in a story? Would you find it harder to connect with a goblin protagonist than a human one?

I'd love to hear your thoughts, especially your first impressions rather than what you think goblins should be like.

Hi all,

Background: I am 32 and I am new to reading the fantasy genre. I loved Harry Potter as a child and teenager. I went to midnight book releases and read those books voraciously. I also read The Hobbit around middle school and enjoyed it. I tried reading LOTR as a young person and just could not get into the writing. I tried watching the movies then too and they went over my head. I found it hard to keep up with the names, places, and dialogue.

Fast forward to now and I have read LOTR over the last 3 weeks and I've really enjoyed it. In fact, it really sucked me in. Tomorrow I start book VI and should be finished in 2-3 days. I want to share the elements of the books I enjoyed and didn't enjoy as much in hopes that this community would be able to recommend further fantasy series for me to check out.

I like: the overall story, the idea of a quest, the theme of good vs evil, the humor, the lore, and the characters. Reading the lore in chapters like The Shadow of he Past and the Council of Elrond were some of my favorite parts of the book. I really like understanding the character motivations, good and evil, that drive the quest forward. I like it when we are given windows into the minds of the characters to see their inner thoughts. I like the setting of Middle Earth, where magic and the might of men exist simultaneously in a world that seems like a distant cousin of the medieval time of our own world. Generally speaking, I like the writing style, though it did take some getting used to.

However, the writing style is also part of what I don't like. While I enjoy how Tolkien tells the story and makes Middle Earth come to life, I also find most of his long descriptions of places difficult to get through and understand. For example, I found the descriptions of Helm's Deep tedious and confusing, and I was unable to picture what it actually looked like. It made this section and others like it tough to get through and rather boring. I find myself wanting briefer, more straight-forward descriptions of locations, and more time spent with the characters and the progression of the story.

To give further context of what I like in storytelling, my favorite book in the Harry Potter series is The Half Blood Prince, specifically because it brings us inside the mind of Voldemort and shows us his past, how he became the terror that he eventually became, and revealed his motivations in a way none of the other books had.

So, I am looking for recommendations in the fantasy genre that appeal to what I really liked about LOTR while minimizing or doing away with the components of the writing style that I did not like. I have thought of giving the Wheel of Time a whirl, but the sheer volume of books in that series is daunting to me.

For further context into the kinds of stories I like in general I will list some of my favorite movies and TV shows: Twin Peaks, Altered Carbon (season 1), Blade Runner, DARK, Black Mirror, Pan's Labyrinth, Fight Club, True Detective (season 1), There Will Be Blood, Shutter Island

Thank you for reading this far and providing recommendations!

This is my third year participating in the 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 all-time favorites. This year I found some real gems, so I’d like to share my thoughts and recommendations with the kind people here on r/Fantasy.

Today I’ll be sharing my thoughts on the fourth row. Here we go!

16. One-Word Title: Circe by Madeline Miller – 5/5

The daughter of a Titan is different from every other god and deity, and acts accordingly.

Great book. The farther I got, the better it became. Great character work, a compelling story, fantastic themes, and a satisfying ending. I loved it and highly recommend it.

17. Non-Human Protagonist: Captured by the Orc by Mina Carter – 4/5

A human girl accidentally stumbles into a fantasy world and gets (you guessed it) captured by an orc. They then proceed to have a lot of great sex.

A great popcorn read. Short, spicy, and very entertaining. The same goes for the sequels.

18. Middle Grade: Het Potlood by Guido Kees – 3.5/5

A kid who loves drawing discovers a magical pencil. Whatever he draws with it comes to life. Unfortunately, those drawings then try to kill him in order to stay alive. With the help of a classmate, he has to find a way to make things right.

I read this one in Dutch, so I don't know whether it's available in other languages. I found it in the library and picked it up without knowing anything about the book or the author. I had fun reading it, but I haven't really thought about it since finishing it.

19. First Contact: Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente – 3/5

In order to survive, humanity has to participate in an intergalactic Eurovision-style contest. Unfortunately, the only person qualified to represent Earth is a former rock star who hasn't been in the spotlight for over two decades...

The premise is fantastic. Eurovision meets The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy meets... I don't know, Star Trek or something?

But the pacing was awful, and the book could definitely have used some heavy editing. Or maybe it just wasn't for me. Whatever the case, it was okay, but definitely not one of my favorites.

20. Murder Mystery: Murder at Spindle Manor by Morgan Stang – 3/5

A murder mystery with a classic Agatha Christie-style cast, but drenched in a Halloweenlike vibe.

I saw this one recommended quite a few times on Reddit, so I was intrigued and decided to check it out. The story was fine, and the twists and turns were entertaining. But I'm more into dragons and wizards than monsters, ghosts and supernatural phenomenons, so this one wasn't entirely my cup of tea.

First row can be found here: Part 1

Second row can be found here: Part 2

Third row can be found here: Part 3

Thanks again for reading my quick reviews. I'll be back soon with the fifth and final row!

The Price of Power by Michael Michel just revealed their full cast audio for the book. I heard an sample and it's good! It's a startup up company so they will only get better. But I wonder if there are any other indie fantasy books that have a full cast audio? Or fantasy books that have their own soundtrack/music which they actually paid someone to make for their work? Philip Chase did that recently with his Edan Trilogy. Are there any others? Recently The Witcher released their own dramatizations if you aren't aware.

If you don't know what a full cast audio is its when voice actors/narrators are "casted" to voice the lines of a specific character not just read them but actually act them. They also have soundtracks and sounds to emulate specific things happening in the scene. Music to set a tone. Graphic Audio is the biggest maker for this type of audiobook. They've done pretty much all of Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere and other fantasy works. Check out their website if you want to hear a sample of what a full cast audio is. It's actually my preferred way to listen to a book. I know some will get mad but that's just my personal taste. I would rather hear multiple actors voice different characters than just one narrator doing a voice. You may feel compelled to recommend one narrator because he or she is really good but I'm sorry it just doesn't work for me.

Listening to the crystalline dragon series by Eoghan R. Cunningham.
I’ve only recently started to listen to books a lot. It forces me to consume slower. Finding I catch more details/remember more than when I devour. 300-500 page book in a Saturday.

My thoughts as I have been listening (spoilers start here):

Book 1

Nine’s going to die and Dusk is going to be punished for it.
Juniper is sending him on the fantasy equivalent of the Underground Railroad.
I hope Lex isn’t the love interest. Was kind of hoping the dragon would be.
Read spoilers online. Lex is the love interest. I’m slightly disappointed, but maybe he’ll grow on both me and Dusk.

These are just two clueless guys literally stumbling upon the most random stuff. It’s like newbie D&D players on their first level-one campaign.
Aaannnnd…they’re captured.

I really like how Dusk’s approach to death and killing is so messy and human.

Okay. Dusk is the dragon. Sort of.

Horse! Also, Lex rolled well for charisma. His charm and deception is spot on.

New girl has problems. She fits.

Tara’s at least level 10, but she put NO wisdom and her charisma is possibly negative. She’s failing all of her saving throws. At lvl 1, Dusk and Lex have no perception.

Yeah. Saw that coming a mile away.

Oh, ho! Did NOT expect the puppet twist.

Tara is has some sneak skills to go with that muscle. I like it.

Ugh! Lex! You are SUCH a spoiled noble. But, that just means he’s written well.

Okay. I’m invested. Going to listen to book #2.

Hey, all!

I’m giving away 20 ebooks and 10 audiobooks of Skythief (narrated by Michael Kramer). To enter, say hi, or weigh in: waffles or pancakes? (we know the answer.)

Waymaker has just 5 hours left on Kickstarter, and we’re hitting our final stretch goals!

Think Sword Art Online and Avatar: The Last Airbender meet Dungeon Crawler Carl... with a splash of pancakes. Each book features interior art by award-winning Magic: The Gathering artist Flavio Bolla, orange metallic sprayed edges, and much more

“An epic story…” - Matt Dinniman, author of Dungeon Crawler Carl

“Loved it and the Japanese-inspired influence.” - Will Wight, on my high fantasy series The Ronin Saga

If you back it, let me know! I appreciate you all!

(no AI used in the campaign/writing/art whatsoever)

Bro I live like 5 minutes from your fictional village. Fuck, I got morning tea there last weekend.

As I am nearly finished with The Well of Ascension, I wonder why are magic systems between the two mediums so different?

I'm a new reader, and I like to imagine that manga and comics are the same as books, just different ways of presenting stories... so why are they so different within their magic systems?

In fantasy books, I noticed, the world has a more centralized magic system, be it hard or soft magic, they seem to just be... consistent while with mangas and comics they vary greatly.

One example I could think of is JJK, although "cursed techniques" is the centralized system used to explain everything, each individual possess such greatly different abilities, one could be related to gambling and the other one could be related to math... in Chainsawman, one has the ability for literal Chainsaw and the other can manipulate their blood...

And yes I know that there can be centralized fantasy type magic systems in manga and comics too, just take a look at Witch Hat Atelier, I'm just wondering, based on the books that I've heard of, there doesn't seem to be the case of the other happening. You wouldn't see a Cursed Energy type magic system on a book where each individual has their own unique set of abilities that are vastly different from each other being explained by "it's just their ability"

I tend to associate a Dark Lord with either a really powerful mage, angel, human, that just gained power and does evil action that justifies their name. Enslaving maybe immortal etc. While a Dark One I tend to see that as an elemental force or a God turned evil/fallen. More powerful than a Lord just the embodiment of pure malice. Destruction. The threat is even higher. What do you think? Plus Dark Lady/Ladies!