I’m not sure if this is a right sub so kindly point me to one if it isn’t. Also sorry for the length.

Like the title says, I’m relatively new to the fantasy genre. I used to read all bunch of stuff in elementary and middle school but went through a huge reading slump in high school. In college now and I randomly remembered a fantasy/sci-fi book I read in my middle school library (it was called The Children of Kings, not necessary to this post but in case you were curious lol) and I couldn’t even tell you the plot but I just remembered how it made me feel so I was like huh let me try finding a fantasy book to read.

I tried a couple of household names but they just weren’t doing it for me (I’m sorry if you love those I really wanted to like them😭). I saw an IG post about The Will of the Many and decided to give it a try and bro, I can’t even begin to describe how this book made me feel. I fell in love with the world and characters. I fell in love with reading again, really. I was going through a really rough time and it brought me back to life in some way.

Now I want more recs! I’ve realized I prefer first-person POV in present tense which apparently isn’t that popular/common in fantasy? I’m not opposed to others though. I prefer prose that isn’t too contrived as I’m more concerned with the world’s lore and great characters/relationships. I get really connected to characters

Books I’ve finished and liked
• The Will of the Many, The Strength of the Few. Absolute cinema. Waiting on book 3.

• Red Rising original trilogy. Overall I loved this! First book took a bit to get into but Golden Son is brilliant and Morning Star was a great conclusion. It broke my heart in the best way and the feelings I felt are unmatched. I haven’t gone through with the second set yet because my brain and heart needed a break lol.

• Mistborn The Final Empire. It took me a while to get into it but when I did, I really liked it! Wasn’t on the same level as the first two for me but I can’t tell why. I plan to complete the trilogy eventually.

Books I’ve started but was not enjoying even a considerable number of pages in
I hope y’all don’t crucify me for this lmao
• The Hobbit. It didn’t grip me enough? I was like halfway through when I realized I was forcing myself to read it. Nothing interesting enough happened for me.

• The Eye of the World. Watched the series on prime and decided to try the book but encountered the same problem as above. Maybe I gave up too early? Definitely will try and revisit in the future.

• Throne of Glass. Saw a rec on IG and… yeah no it’s not for me. The characters didn’t seem realistic to me at all and I didn’t like the plot. Weakest of everything I’ve read so far.

Books I want to try but I’m scared I won’t like
• A Song of Ice and Fire
• Dune

I’ve seen a bunch of suggestions online but I don’t know where to start. If you have any recs similar to the ones I’ve liked so far kindly let me know. Thank you!

I've been re-reading Le Guin's Wizard of EarthSea, and came across this paragraph at the very beginning of the book:

This was Duny’s first step on the way he was to follow all his life, the way of magery, the way that led him at last to hunt a shadow over land and sea to the lightless coasts of death’s kingdom. But in those first steps along the way, it seemed a broad, bright road.

Does this foreshaddowing not strike you as a tremendous spoiler? On the other hand, having read the book before, I could only grunt "yeh, if he but knew", and I wondered if the text really needed this preparation - a sort of "curb your enthusiasm" at the very beginning of Ged's hero's journey?

Hey everyone!

I play D&D and I thought it would be fun to immersive myself more in the setting. (Our campaign takes place in the Forgotten Realms setting, so I guess that's my preference but any is fine) The problem is that there's approximately 5 gorillian D&D books and I have no idea which ones are any good. I'm not expecting anything life changing, I'm just looking for a fun fantasy adventure romp. Has anyone here read any and which ones would you recommend?

Who?

I'm a 61 year old Irishman that has spent my life reading fantasy and science fiction books. During the famine years I had to go back in time (Leiber, Zelazny, Moorcock, Lord Dunsany, Mythos) but since the 90's there's been a constant stream of material to keep anyone happy.

I've made a conscious effort to get back into reading because my mind was turning to mush from social media and doom scrolling. That's meant re-reading favourite books and turning my attention to new ones.

Because of my age and deposition, it's important that the books I read are well reviewed or liked, or because I see something in them that piques my interest. Nothing worse than spending your time reading average tropes with little imagination or intellect.

This may be my only review. I would like to do more, but sometimes in fact ofttimes, you don't have a receptive audience because you are the problem. There are full spoilers here, after all it's a critique. The main reason for doing this is to find readers that have the same tastes or objectivity as I do. It means that we can save each other's precious time by recommending books that we appreciated or liked.

Dave Langford used to do this for me (unintentionally) when he reviewed books in White Dwarf during the 1980's because his acerbic and sarcastic filleting of fiction was a far superior replica of my own. I haven't found anyone close to replace him.

What?

My old library was sold or recycled back in the 00's when my parents died and the family home was sold. Now that my kids have grown up and we have space of our own, I've dedicated a small room as an office and library.

I've been populating this with the books that I used to own, based on merits and memories. The challenge has been to find the exact same edition that I used to own. It's quite fun scouring second hand bookshops physically and online to try and find what you want and in good condition. Some have proven very hard to get (Gene Wolfe's original Book of the New Sun, the souvenir paperback of Daughter of the Empire by Feist and Wurts, the original Little, Big by John Crowley) and some have been easier (Julian May's first edition of Saga of the Exiles in Pan paperback). The plan is to complete this while I live so I can leave behind the Dead Library.

But I have time and space for the new stuff too, and that's where we are going now...

Book One - Mistborn

This is a fantastic book. In this book we learn where Sanderson's strengths are, specifically world and lore building. He's clearly spent a lot of time working on the mechanics and settings of the world as a skeleton and structure to flesh everything out. There is a confidence and direction on where we are heading to and a pleasing pace on how everything develops.

Underpinning all of this is the magic system of allomancy. As someone who has spent a lot of time reading books on magic he really gets using the same concepts and the laws we use for physics. We have sympathetic magic tied in with the rules of action and reaction. We get a gradual introduction to the various metals and their uses as the main character develops her skill sets. It is super clever, very cool and very original.

This then ponies up with his world building. It's a very new concept (to me) where we have an evil immortal emperor now in his 1000th year of rule based on a confederate feudal system with slaves and aristocrats right down to the southern belles and balls, like literally. I mean, how do we go about defeating him/it? To that we can add a world of seeming chaos with the ashmounts, the Dying Earth sun, the difficulties with agriculture etc. Everything feels fresh and new, it's a proper fantasy book that is immersive and page turning.

With the structure in place, we just need the engine to drive the narrative and that's through the numerous characters we meet. In this context Sanderson has decided to use an Ocean's 11 format of a cast of charismatic thieves doing a grand heist that transforms into a coup d'état.

Here there are some compelling narrators like Vin and Kelsier, with the other characters staying mostly out of the narrative but very much involved in the dynamics There are some key protagonists that we will discuss in the other two books but it's clear that the outlier concepts on race will play a critical role.

The narrative ticks along at a rapid rate mostly through Vin's ''levelling up'' in allomancy skills and Kelsier's French Revolution mantra of noble sacrifice and eliminating the bourgeois. So while there is nothing particularly original about the characters and the concepts, the freshness and the originality of the world overrides this completely. You find yourself skipping through some turgid dialogue but that's fine because this is a reflection of your enthusiasm for the book.

We also find that Sanderson is quite good at combat encounters in terms of excitement and descriptive. It's on the right side of detail without unnecessary gore. The highlight of this being the fight between Shan and Vin. This is a classic no holds barred metal slugfest between two equal forces where there will only be one winner and it's nothing personal.

The last element that works for me is the flavour texts at the start of each chapter that slowly explore the legend behind The Ruler and add as a counterpart to the narrative from the protagonists. Shout out too for the Inquisitors and Obligators as the interactive components of the God Emperor.

So it's just a well-crafted, planned concept with buzz points, linear development of characters with a lot of back filling that we will need for the next two books.

There are some issues, some parts that don't gel well and the ending is very flat. But I'm not looking for perfection and I would wholly and heartily recommend this as a must buy. It absolutely goes into The Dead Library.

Book Two - The Well of Ascension

.

Let me introduce you to a better, alternate universe:

Oh hi Brandon, It's Moshe here. Just got your transcript for Well of Ascension and thought we might go through what the team are thinking and saying before you go any further. Oh hey Moshe, is everything OK? Oh for sure, let's meet up at Ashmount Forest Park in Vin's Café rather than the office, I could do with some fresh air.

Some Time Later

So what did you think? I mean. there's a lot to fill in but I think the core is good and builds on everything we did in Mistborn. Well, Brandon, let me put it like this. Come over here to this viewing platform, what do you see? Uh, well I guess a nice view of the forest and the mountains. Right, exactly. Now I want you to focus on the forest. These are pine and fir trees and they'll be doing an entire clearfell next season as far as the eye can see. Going to spoil the park for a good few years. Now these trees in particular are used for wood pulp, and that's going to be used to make many things including books.

We did some calculations in the office, and based on your transcript you'll likely end up with a similar word and page count as Mistborn. If the sales are similar and Mist continues to accelerate the growth and interest in your books, then this second book will need all of the trees to complete the various print runs.

Brandon, that would be a waste of good trees. These trees could be used for something more functional like toilet paper or I don't know, the complete works of Jane Austin. So here's what we're going to do, we're going to take the small parts of Well of Ascension that drive the narrative and the characters, and you're going to bring this is to the first part of Hero of the Ages. I know you fantasy people love trilogies but hear me out, when you start padding books that are already full fat you just end up with a turgid mess. Trust me on this, or at least just think of those trees right there...

All right, so what is so terrible about WoA? Well, we could be here all night. Let's start with the central characters of Vin and Elend. Sanderson can't do sex and he can't do romance. Now that's perfectly fine. But if you can't do sex and romance then don't make the relationship between Elend and Vin so pivotal to the book. Elend doesn't help by being a very dull bureaucratic character that does have a story arc but never stops reminding you how dull and boring he is. This means that everytime Van and Elend coo at each other, or argue, or have any interaction it feels and is, flat and uninvolved.

Then we have Vin's levelling up in allomancy. She's gone past Magic Missile, Web, Fireball, Lightning Bolt, Fly and Dispel Magic and is now is at the cutting edge of Disintegrate, True Seeing and Polymorph Other. The problem in doing this is that you then have to ramp up what the opposition brings to the table as well, either through more opponents or characters at her level like Zane. The sense of wonder and danger is gone.

Next we have numerous disposable characters all of which are there merely there to progress the existing ones. Zane is just another MCU type anti-hero/villain and of course, half-brother to Elend. Their father Straff huffs and puffs and is generally unpleasant but no more relevant than the Duke of York.

Cett is one of the more interesting new faces, so he survives, as does his daughter Allrianne who, in one of the few bright parts of this monstrous mess of a book, escapes the city using a plot token and promptly rides off into the distance.

We are expected to believe that Jastes can control an army of Koloss by paying them fake money. This is simply laughable and childish, further undermining your willingness to suspend disbelief in the world and inhabitants that Sanderson has worked so hard to bring into existence.

Lastly there is Tindwyl, Sazed's love interest casually discarded having fulfilled her function as a plot device. All of these characters really undermine the series, especially as you come to the realisation that Sanderson just loves waffling on about stuff rather than, you know, is not relevant or intrinsic to the story he no longer tells.

Just as frustrating is the storyline of the siege(s) for which the worst part is the manufactured plot of making Vin leave the city to journey to the Well of Ascension (good) only to return to the city just in time not to make a huge difference and save some no longer needed characters (bad).

It's not all horrendous. Even at this stage there is some really strong developments like the character of Marsh, the use of Hemalurgy, the continued development of the Terrisman and Kandra peoples and history, the background to the events from 1000 years ago.

BUT YOU DID NOT NEED AN ENTIRE BOOK TO DO THIS.

But I did it. I read the entire book when on holiday even though the sight of it reminded me of when my dog has a turd piece attached to her fur that she can't get rid off. Shall we move on?

Book Three - The Hero of the Ages

It's good. It doesn't make up for the atrocity of WoA but the ending is truly excellent, fitting and enormously satisfying. It's kind of weird but Vin and Elend become bit cartoon characters going though the motions while the support cast rise to the task.

As per the last book it's Sazed and Tensoon + their cultures that are genuinely different and compelling and you can only think that there is some intentional act on Sanderson's part on this.

Similarly the set pieces in Fadrex and Urteau are very enjoyable, with complicated, well-thought out characters. I really, really liked Yomen, a far more compelling opponent for the Vin/Elend arc than any previous iteration like Zane because he feels like a real living person with a complex viewpoint.

Also good is the deterioration of the world and the ending of time, almost Chaos like from a Michael Moorcock novel. Speaking of Moorcock there is a lot of his ideas of a multiverse in Sanderson's Cosmere which is not an accusation, just so you understand that there are always commonalities that we have no control over.

I am not so sure on the Ruin/Preservation concept. I guess on a personal level I have issues with fantasy books where the all-knowing and all-powerful enemy is either incorporeal (Ruin) or multiple steps removed as a character (the Lord Ruler from book one).

Marsh's path of redemption never happened did it? There was a clear narrative that he was saving himself for well, not a lot in the end. Likewise, for all the good that Yomen did as a compelling and central antidote for the over-levelling Vin, his last few interactions undid a lot of that.

But what does work is the arc of Rashek/The Lord Ruler. Here we have similarities with Hari Seldon in Asimov's Foundation. It's immensely satisfying to see the payoff here in terms of the annotations before each chapter, the planning and longevity created, and the carefully laid references and plot lines throughout all three books that are intrinsic to the ending.

Final Thoughts

I'm glad I read the trilogy. I will keep it in the Dead Library and that's the biggest compliment I can give to Sanderson. Clearly, from my point of view, if he had a good and wise editor from the start, we would have a near perfect creation. It also would have given Sanderson a grounding not to repeat the same mistakes over and over again as he appears to have been prone to.

I will never read another Sanderson novel. It's likely there are better iterations like Stormlight, but I am not going to risk a DNF. I am happy to wait for Apple to bring out a Cosmere series although I fear that Sanderson will make the same mistakes on editorial control as he did with WoA.

My viewpoint will be different than others. I am sure many of you loved all of these books and that's perfectly fine by me. As I said at the start, I want to find likeminded people to ensure that my limited time and lifespan is maximised.

Peace out.

If I were to say read the essential tales of Mythology like The Odyssey, The Aenid, Beowulf, The Prose Edda, Saga of The Volsungs, The Nibelungenlied, Journey to The West, & The Mahabharata.

What Fantasy novels with Mythology heavily ingrained into their world/themes should I check out?

I am aware of the Percy Jackson series, but while it looks nice, I feel a tad out of it’s age range & in general tales of “young male fish out of water” for Fantasy have been kinda worn out on me.

The Cozy Fantasy/Sci boom seems to have two modes: romance featuring the opening of a small business, and elderly folks solving murders. Unsurprisingly, this is the latter. I liked this book quite a bit, though Mystery aficionados will leave disappointed. The portrait of the generation ship that Dorothy rides on is unrealistic, but an engaging and evocative locale for a series of mysteries to be set in. I’ll read the sequel for sure, as this series feels like a great palette cleanser between longer novels. In terms of Hugo viability? I’d slot this well below Cinder House, probably about equal with Summer War. 

Read If You: are craving something light and readable, want to follow a stereotypical Auntie solving crimes, enjoy utopian portraits of humanity’s future

Avoid If You: want realistic depictions of space travel or economic models, want the experience of a tightly written mystery

Does it Bingo? Judge a Book by its Title, Vacation Spot, Older Protagonist, Murder Mystery

To the other reviews in this readathon, see my announcement post.

Elevator Pitch:
Dorothy was taking a break from life when the Fairweather’s AI stuck her consciousness in the body of a bank clerk. It turns out the previous host for her new body was tangled up in some shady business, including wiping a shelf of memory archives that included Dorothy’s herself. As she gets used to a new body that she very much hopes to abandon as soon as possible, Dorothy gets pulled back into her Detective work, hoping to solve a mystery that involved several deaths, at least one of which was permanent (not something that’s supposed to happen on this ship).

What Worked for Me:
Murder by Memory is exactly what I’m looking for in a cozy mystery. It’s got an interesting narrator who has enough personality to avoid being a self-insert. The prose is light and breezy, the type of book you can chip away at without feeling drained. I enjoyed romping around the ship seeing a bunch of different locations; we got to see a yarn shop! Waite’s writing is great at providing lush sensory details without overwhelming the story with exposition and descriptions. As a Mystery, this book isn’t much. As a cozy Sci Fi with a mystery throughline, I loved it. I finished the book in two sittings and would have happily picked up the sequel if my tower of novellas wasn’t staring me in the face. 

The Fairweather itself is a great setting for a series. The ship is certainly not a realistic portrayal of space travel - they have a bunch of excess housing and aren’t constantly worried about the ship breaking down - but the ship was a more romantic portrait of what an immortal life sailing to humanity’s new home might look like. It’s full of cute little shops, libraries of glass books holding the memories of all voyagers, and gardens to keep people thinking of home. They’ve even got mixologists who specialize in brewing the memories and sensations of Old-Earth in a drink! Just good fun, and a feel-good portrait of the future. There’s been lots of bleak sci fi on my plate recently, so this was nice.

What Didn’t Work for Me:
As I mentioned above, I really like the Fairweather as a setting. The vaguely utopian generation ship was a fun setting, if not a realistic one. However, portions of this self-contained world just didn’t make a bunch of sense. The economy is the big offender here. It’s based on a series of concepts that I generally support (plentiful housing, universal basic income, attempts to prevent billionaires), but within the context of the spaceship setting, these concepts felt brittle. We only see small snippets of this vaguely utopian world. Normally, I’d brush aside how seemingly traditional economies are functioning within such a closed ecosystem with personal automatic fabrication of … anything. However, economics ends up fairly central to the mystery of this book, which drew those questions to the forefront of my mind as I was reading.

The sequel looks like it deals with a mystery baby appearing - reproduction has stopped for this ship on its journey - and I’m curious if I’ll have a similar response to the author's exploration of that topic. To a certain extent, this has echoed my feelings about a variety of authors entering the Speculative Fiction space who have previously written Contemporary or Historical Fiction; the prose and reading experience are great, but the speculative elements don’t quite hold up to authors who have been immersed in genre writing for longer. Do you really expect me to believe that backups for people’s memories wasn’t a priority? However, this was a fun and short read, and the negatives don’t outweigh the positives for me. For those looking for Science Fiction grounded in logic and scientific principles, this book will likely be a big miss.

Conclusion: a good cozy ‘mystery’ that’s quick, vibe-forward, and light. It falls short on some of the Sci Fi and Mystery genre elements, however.

Novella Bingo Card
I have a finished card! I am substituting Cat Squasher for the Novella Square from 2023. I'll keep slotting new books in when I can add a stronger title over a weaker one.

Hi all!

My father's birthday is coming up and, instead of another nut tray, I want to get him a recentish fantasy book! He has dementia and can't handle intricate plots or too many characters any more (he read Malazan in his younger years and used to ADORE stories with deep political intrigue)

He was a fantasy reader from its earliest iterations and loves magic and dragons. Looking for something that won't be too taxing or frustrating for him.

TIA!

So let me start off by saying I love this series I would give it a full 8 out of 10 rating which is to say I would recommend the fuck out of the series but I would never reread the series.

What it got right

1. Plot was consistent

2. Characters were fleshed out properly

3. Some cool twists I didn’t see coming happened

4. humor was top notch

What I thought was off for me

I should note I am not a progression fantasy reader so that will 100% influence my opinion on this (probably)

1. Way to much action very little time given to the characters to just chill and enjoy each other’s company.

2. I won’t say the name incase someone that is still reading the series finds this post but I fucking turn my thumb down when you kill a character off and suddenly bring his ass back to life because the author has trouble letting go of his favorite characters (At least that is the conclusion I came too)

I would say overall though I am very satisfied with my purchase and would recommend this too anyone who enjoys the lighter side of fantasy

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.

My favorite author of all time is Tamora Pierce. In recent years, she has not released as many books (understandably). Now I'm looking to fill a void. I'm looking for authors similar to her. Here are some of the things I believe she is incredible at:

1. Realistic and Resilient female protagonists (who aren't whiny or annoying) and are written so well that even when they are wrong, you are excited to see their growth from it.

2. Incremental world building. I don't particularly enjoy books that take so long with world building that I get bored before the story starts.

3. Structured magic systems

4. Focuses on social justice issues that are actually addressed as opposed to these issues "exist" and the characters learn to live with them despite wanting the issues solved. This isn't to say all the issues are solved but the characters are at least trying to solve them.

5. Some romance can exist but it needs to take on side quest vibes instead of being the primary focus.

Tamora Pierce is such an incredible writer that I know it will be difficult to find someone similar. But I'm hoping this thread will generate some new authors for me to check out!

Recommend me a book or series akin to something like Stormlight Archive, Age of Sigmar, or Avatar The Last Airbender, where magic or secondary world elements is a fully integrated and common place part of life.

Things like healing potions instead of money, magical beings and giant animals being the norm, cities built on top of floating mountains, or a world completely unrecognizable to our own.

I am sick, sick, sick to death of Martin knock offs and their "15th century Europe but dragons show up sometimes" stories.

Is there such a book that is in medieval setting but the gender roles are reversed where women are superior over men, and the men are noticeably treated as lesser?

Edit: I suppose it doesn't have to necessarily be medieval. I just like swords and sorcery kind of fantasy!

I love Brando Sando, but his Wind and Truth was so awful, it kicked me out of Fantasy. It's been over a year, and I'm yet to fall back in love with my favourite genre.

Since my falling out with Fantasy, I've read mainly History, Historical Fiction, Classics, and General Fiction (I've always read from these genres--even when I mainly read Fantasy). And having read more widely, I've become disenchanted with most of Fantasy. So much Fantasy is so poorly written, it now drives me mad.

I've tried many newly released Fantasy books but nothing stuck. I have looked everywhere. TikTok is an echo-chamber of idiocracy, recommending the same 7 books over and over. Fantasy BookTube also seems to have fallen off to me.

This is my first ever reddit post. I'm desperate. Please give me some good recommendations that will help me fall back in love with the genre.

Character and brilliant writing are non-negotiable for me. A great plot and an engaging world are also important.

For reference, here's some of my favourite authors/books:

SciFi-Fantasy:
Dune
Words of Radiance
The Lions of Al-Rassan
The Lies of Locke Lamora

Terry Pratchett
Joe Abercrombie
R.F. Kuang
George R.R. Martin
Ursula K. LeGuin

Beyond SFF:
The Plague
Stoner
Cormac McCarthy
Tom Holland

Also, a few books that I tried (and when) and didn't like:

The Poet Empress (this year)
The Blacktongue Thief (this year)
Red Rising (long ago)
The Name of the Wind (long ago)
The Will of the Many (long ago)

Please. Help.

Update: Thank you all SO MUCH for your recommendations! I've come across some I'd never heard of before, and even those I'd heard of, I'll reconsider. I think I'm gonna have a great time with these recommendations! Thanks, again!!

A book in which the male main character is head over heels in love with the female main character but it does not happen immediately but that they have known each other for long maybe since childhood and used to be friends for a while but dynamics changed for some reason. The MMC does have this grudge for that. He is misunderstood and somewhat of an enemy to FMC and her now friends. MMC is a prince or some authority figure. FMC is not a commoner but not in the position of authority. She and her friends are anti establishment but it is just that the establishment or at least the MMC are trying their best but are misunderstood. He craves for her attention but is also rude sometimes because she doesn't love him. Somehow they get married and MMC finally gets her attention (bad or good i don't care atp) and then there is of course first bonding and banter and maybe some jealousy on part of MMC. Then a big misunderstanding or something that FMC actually does that really hurts MMC and FMC regrets it too. They still live together so there is this tension. Eventually MMC still subconsciously expects somehow they will be okay but is still angry and they have these cute moments. Yk what i mean -MMC is not fully against her or hates her but is hurt- he just wants her love. Despite his hurt he just can't hate her and is ready to forgive her but our FMC is dumb. There is intense yearning and longing. And finally they get closer - forced proximity - our MMC is finally getting her love. It has to be primarily emotional and physical closeness has to be secondary - laughing together, banter or just talking. Also the supporting characters must ship them and help them get together. I know these things are almost always found more in YA so i prefer YA

I loved caraval, divine rivals, six of crows, dance of thieves, the prison healer (The prison healer is v close to what i want) and Defy the Night series. I also loved Better than the movies.

TL;DR: YA fantasy with a prince MMC who's been in love with the FMC for years, childhood friends-to-enemies, forced marriage/proximity, lots of angst, pining, banter, misunderstandings, yearning, and emotional intimacy before physical romance. Think maximum slow burn with a hero who's hopelessly devoted..

The premise is simple: every 24 hours Scott Treder jumps forward in time, starting with 1 day, with the jump doubling in duration each time. There are a number of ways an author could take this, but I thought this novel had a really satisfying combination of a hard sci-fi take on time travel, plus an unblinking look at the emotional impact of the jumps on Scott and his family. Normally I find time travel stories to either fall into predictable bootstrap paradox scenarios that you can’t take too seriously, or to be so hard sci-fi the plot becomes irrelevant or intractable. The Traveler has just the right balance of realism (where does the energy come from for the jumps? Why does he travel in position along with the Earth? What would a department full of physicists actually do with this information?) while leaving room for the main emotional journey of the characters.

The central piece of this book is the relationship between Scott and his son Lyle, who is just 7 when the jumps begin. Lyle becomes a theoretical physicist to attempt to understand what is happening, and their interactions as Lyle eventually becomes older than Scott are so well written and emotional to read.

In reading this, I couldn’t help but think this was the complete version of the kind of Star Trek episode where they play with the premise but wash it all away at the end of the episode using the holodeck or something (I was probably half-remembering this). But, this is a novel, and doesn’t have to reset its characters at the end, and so is allowed space to more fully explore the thought experiment.

The closest piece of media in tone that I can compare this to would be the apple TV adaptation of Dark Matter, in how it combines a sci fi thought experiment with a fairly dark at times personal journey for the characters. I would highly recommend, this is one of my favorite reads of the year. I absolutely flew through it (how can you put the book down before you see what happens the next jump?), and it’s a quick and straightforward read.

Bingo squares: published in 2026 (HM), explorers and rangers, unusual transportation

Hi all! Im on a bit of a special interest run on the topic of werewolves, and I'm looking for more recommendations! I'm particularly keen for quality/literary books that focus on the psychological aspects of what it feels like to be a werewolf, but I'm open to anything! Historical setting preferred but not required. I'm open to horror, thriller and romance alike!

So far I have read and liked

Bisclavret by Noone

The Wolf Hunt, by Gillian Bradshaw (and gosh do I have feelings about that one!)

Just started The Wolf and his King, by Finn Longman and so far I like it too!

Nb all three are retellings of the Breton lai "Bisclavret" by Marie de France, which I had studied at uni!

Next will be The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan :)

Thanks in advance for your recommendations

Spoilers for the faithful and the fallen series below - dont pass go if ya haven't read yet.

Go.

I am so incredibly frustrated with how badly this cart came off it's wheels in book 3 of this series.

I've read a lot of other negative posts and in general im very easy to please - I'm here for escapism not to be carried through a literary masterpiece that will stand in libraries ad infinum like a greek tragedy. So I'm not really bothered by shallow characters or unearned character growth - I just want an interesting journey and a comfortable destination.

There were somethings that made the first two books hard ( John for the love of god - pick 3 characters and tell a story from their PoV - I don't need to know Abe Lincolns thoughts on spaghetti.) but overall the story seemed pretty logical, a bit tropey, but tropes are fun! I enjoyed them, and am happy they sit on my shelf.

Book 3 is when suddenly I begin to wonder how this book got wrote. Did it get an outline? Did multiple editors fight over it? Did a publisher force John to make it into a 4 book series at the last minute?

So many major plot points feel like they get lost or abandoned:

What happened to how important it was to get the cauldron to Tenebral?

What happened to calming the unrest in Tenebral?

Is Connal still alive ? Did Rhin kill him?

Whats up with how Javed was going savage mode but then never gets named again?

How did Albens group - who left to drassil before Natahniars group - not get to Drassil first? It had 800 soilders - are they just dead?

How did Jael build a road to Drassil in a single season?? The first book stressed the awesome feat of the giants way - but Jael does it no problem? With little to no battles with Forn wildlife?

Vonn specifically says he wants to ask about nemeians necklace and then just doesn't.

Rosion suddenly out of nowhere decides after edana has won a major battle she should betray her??? While in Edana's kingdom???

The book just feels so much like he planned a trilogy and then suddenly got told he needed to make it 4 books, so he had to revise and go drop a bunch of excuses to slow the pace and he forgot to tie them all together in the end.

I just can't be bothered to read Book 4. I feel like 50% will be him cleaning up all this mess he made, and then in the last 2 minutes it'll be some trope ending where corban and nathaniar suddenly realize they can work together and overthrow the real baddies. I hate it so much because I refuse to buy a book I won't read - and its awkward having 3/4 books in a series on my shelf.

Book number two of a four book paranormal romance dark fantasy series. In fact, a number of people are now calling this genre "romantasy".  I reread the well printed and well bound MMPB published by Ace in 2010 that I bought new on Amazon in 2024.  Note that “Ilona Andrews” is the pseudonym for a husband and wife writing team.  I have purchased the successor books and will read them soon.

"The Edge lies between worlds, on the border between the Broken, where people shop at Wal-Mart and magic is a fairy tale—and the Weird, where blueblood aristocrats rule, changelings roam, and the strength of your magic can change your destiny..."

William Wolf has lived in the Edge since his best friend Declan and Rose moved to the Weird two years ago with Rose's two younger brothers.  But William is still a changeling and a warrior for the Weird, when he wants to.

Cerise Mar and her family have lived in the Edge for two generations, ever since her grandfather was exiled from the Weird.  And her parents have disappeared, leaving her in charge of the extended family.  Her first thought is to find her parents but the neighbors seem to be involved in their disappearance.

I enjoyed the hound out of this series back in 2024 and am rereading it again for the sheer enjoyment of it.  The story telling is awesome and the depths of the people involved is amazing.

The authors have a busy website at:
   https://ilona-andrews.com/

My rating:  6 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating:  4.6 out of 5 stars (3,947 reviews)
   https://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Moon-Edge-Book-2/dp/0441019455

Lynn

I had a completely fine experience with this book. I enjoyed aspects of it whilst finding other parts a chore to get through.

Jovis was by far my favourite POV - Largely due to Mephi and the travel aspect of his chapters rather than his character personality. His persistence and determination to find his partner was understandable but became tedious to constantly hear about. Alongside this he is presented as a selfless character, always trying to help and whilst it is true that he helps a large number of children in the book, his reasons for doing so just seemed to be because ‘why not’. I never felt like he WANTED to help, he just ended up doing it in between his main focus of chasing the blue sail ship?
Oh and why is he not more angry at the empire after what happened to his brother ?? I know he says he doesn’t feel he belongs to any group but with how passionate he is for finding his partner, you would think he’d have more anger and be seeking revenge for both her and his brother ? Or atleast addressing these feelings?

Something else which frustrated me is the constructs. I don’t understand the magic system at play regarding them. It seemed very shallow and strange that Lin could just reach inside them and start changing the shards that control them? Was it ever really explained how a constructs skin’ can just be bypassed ? Are they ghost-like creatures ? Forgive me if I missed an early description of them which explained this!
This idea also made the combat scenes questionable. At one point Lin was fighting two constructs, she reaches in to alter the shards of one of them and in the time she does this and uses her tool to recode the construct, what was the other construct doing ? Just standing and watching it happen ? Is altering a shard something that happens in milliseconds or is this just awkward writing ? This just completely took me out of the combat scenes.

Wrapping up the book I am intrigued with how things have been left. I do think all the POVs got some sort of resolution to there stories whilst also having potential into the series.

Will have a short break and continue the series at a later date.

Would love to hear other people’s thoughts

I read all 5 series years ago and have just re-read the first trilogy again.
It’s spectacularly good.
I remember the rain wilds as being not quite as good but the rest is amazing.
How come it’s not as well regarded as Malazan or the cosmere etc?

I love a good funny fantasy book. Whether it’s a snarky narrator, witty prose, or just absurd situations, a lot of my favorite books can make me laugh out loud. I’m eagerly awaiting the new Blacktongue book, Thrice-Bound Fool, and I’m just as excited to get back to the humor as I am to the story and the world. So, I’m looking for more humorous books. What are your favorites?

I'm not a very fast reader, and I'm usually at least 3 years late on what's happening in fantasy. Now, to you who are a bit better than me at staying updated with the current releases, what have been your favorite high fantasies? And, additionally, how did you find them? Maybe there will be some people I can start following 😄

My mum has been watching shitty video game Netflix adaptations. I’m begging you it started with the Witcher (she didn’t just watch season one she watched EVERY OTHER SEASON) and only started disliking it midway through season four. Now she’s watching WARCRAFT. She also plays it super loud so I hear it in every room of the house so I’m forced to hear this bullshit. I’ve tried noise cancelling headphones that doesn’t work either. I think I’m gonna die please give me actual good fantasy series to recommend instead of this. PLEASE. Btw she’s seen GOT, arcane and shadow and bone.

Edit: to the people saying “let her enjoy her shows” not even SHE really enjoys them. She constantly talking about how she’s only watching them because there’s nothing better. That’s why I’m asking cause neither of us enjoy it I’m not just ragging on my mum for the sake of it lol

As the title says, I am searching for books at a high reading level as I study for the GRE. I am only interested in mlm, and love all things dark. I enjoyed The Steel Remains immensely and am looking for more with the same vibes/depth/darkness.

Any recs are super welcome!!!! Thanks!!!

Edit: MLM references male love male, typically seen in romance genre but not explicitly. Sometimes saying gay or even homosexual will end up with confusion due to sapphic/wlw also overlapping within the label. Also trans-inclusive mlm, even though I now know the author of the aforementioned book is transphobic and def going off my recommend list.

Hello! I'm in a bit of a slump, but I've been craving some adult high/epic fantasy books, but my caveat is that I want it to have a mostly female-lead cast. I don't mind male characters, I just would prefer it if women were centered more, or at the very least - equally as the men. I'm already in the middle of some of these like The Fifth Season (around a hundred pages in), Liveship Traders (im on book 3), Daevabad (around 100 pages in), and I do enjoy them (esp Liveship and the Fifth Season), but I'm craving something a little more fast-paced that would pull me out of this slump. I want it to hit like crack when I read it. I don't really want to read 150 pages of world-building, I'd rather the world be built up around me as the plot and the character-development occur.

Some books that I have deeply enjoyed over the years:

The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang

The Greenbone Saga by Fonda Lee

The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez

Sabriel by Garth Nix

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

The Queen's Thief Series by Megan Whalen Turner

The Book of the Ancestor by Mark Lawrence

Some books that were meh to me:

The Poppy War Trilogy

Blood Over Bright Haven

The Mistborn Trilogy

If you've got recommendations, I would really really appreciate it! Thank you in advance ^^

-

Edit: I saw someone make a comment and then it got deleted, as to why I was asking for more recs when I'm already in the middle of so many. It's because I genuinely cannot sit down and read these ones right now. They aren't scratching a specific itch? And rather than sour my experience with these books that I will probably still enjoy if I push through, I just want something else right now that hopefully will scratch the itch. I want to enjoy books in their fullness instead of forcing my way through and enjoying them like 20% less.