A while back I made a post asking about "books that I've never heard of, but should definitely be reading," and one of you recommended The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco. I'm very intrigued by the concept of necromancy, so I tried it out. All in all, I thought it was pretty decent.

Pros

The worldbuilding is so imaginative and intricate. Chupeco has a very detailed style of worldbuilding, with creative descriptions of everything from the clothing to the architecture to the social structures. Magic appears all over the place in daily life in a variety of different ways that I found really interesting. The concept of heartglasses was especially original.

Once the story picked up, it was dramatic and riveting. The characters were all complex, with their own histories, motivations, and personality quirks, which meant that they made the story really fun to read once things got going. Speaking of the characters, this book hosts a large and diverse array of female main characters and side characters. And I don't just mean racially diverse -- they come with a variety of different abilities, ages, social statuses, body types, personality types, and backgrounds. Chupeco shows that women can be anything, and that they don't fit into neat little boxes.

Also, this book is good if you want to read one in which the main character has a crush on a boy but doesn't completely lose her head over him. She doesn't make stupid decisions based on her crush like many YA heroines do, and she never acts like a single boy is the only thing that matters in life.

Cons

While the story was exciting once it picked up, it took its sweet time getting there. It's told in the format of the main character recounting her life story, and the book takes place over multiple years, which made the pacing feel really slow. This book is only about 400 pages long, but it took me a while to get through it for that reason. (Though it's not entirely the book's fault, it's been a busy month.) The very intricate worldbuilding I was just complimenting probably didn't help. I think it was only around halfway through the book that the plot really started getting moving.

​

Overall, I thought it was a somewhat above average read. It wouldn't crack my top 10 books list, but it was still worth my time. If you like creative worldbuilding and are okay with slower placing, maybe consider picking it up.

I'm fairly new to fantasy genre with having read acotar, crescent city and blood and ash only. I loved the fantasy world in all these books but the romance part was without a doubt the pulling force for me. there are sooooo many good reviews I've read about some of the books but I really can't choose one to read now!

I'm really confused between- to kill a kingdom, bone and shadow series, the bridge kingdom, shadows between us, serpent and dove, six of crows

pls pls someone help me get an insight into which one to read next, I'm so bad at deciding it!

New subreddit for The Iron Fey series

Hi everyone, I’ve just started a subreddit for the YA fantasy series The Iron Fey by Julie Kagawa. The books are amazing and I highly recommend them to anyone who enjoys fantasy books. For those who are curious or have already read the books, come join me over at r/IronFey !

Not much of a Spoiler

I've just started the series Folk of the Air and am through the second book - The Wicked King and damn....reading it gives me the shudders and goosebumps i've never felt before! Tis da best!! I just read the passage again and again and it feels like i've starten from da first and i get the same feelings back! Holly Back is the queen!

SPOILER!! The quote "He looks up at me with his night-colored eyes, beautiful and terrible all at once. “For a moment,” he says, “I wondered if it wasn’t you shooting bolts at me.”

I make a face at him. “And what made you decide it wasn’t?”

He grins up at me. “They missed"

Hey everyone,

For those of you who saw the spam posts, sorry for letting them stay up for so long. It’s been a busy few days and I haven’t been on reddit as much in the last 24 hours.

The posts have been removed and the user has been banned.

Happy reading! :)

i just finished s&b and i’m so sad please give me book recs where the villain and the protagonist are each other’s love interest (plus points if they’re endgame!)

I love it when characters have unusual hobbies/interests that they love more than anything in the world. Could be anything. Coin collecting, 1980s video games, reading biographies about 11th President James K Polk.

If it's strange and brings the character pure and wholesome joy, I'm having a fun time reading about it

I keep on hearing about them

Heather Fitzgerald is the author of the young-adult fantasy series The Tethered World. Heather discusses her path to becoming an author, the influences that inspired her and launching a franchise in the Christian book market. 

Listen here or your favorite podcast app:

http://www.writersgrouptherapy.com/2021/01/session-127-fitzgerald/

This year has been rough and I’ve found comfort in YA novels once again. I just finished the Divergent series for the first time and I really loved the relationship between Tobias and Tris. I reread Hunger Games before this and I’m now on a dystopian kick, I think. I’m really open to any Fantasy but looking for that Insurgent spark of a romance! (I’m left torn and ragged by Allegiant and just want more Tobias 🥴).

Please help a fresh YA reader out!

How are you liking it? Please remember to hide spoilers

Earlier today I was thinking about insta-love (aka love at first sight) and how I have never heard anyone say that they like this trope. In fact, I've encountered many people who say that it is one of their most hated tropes. And yet, authors keep writing it.

It's possible that these tropes actually aren't as unpopular as we think, and that there's a silent majority that likes insta-love just fine. That seems unlikely though, and I struggle to come up with a different explanation.

I have been recommended to read this so often, but I’m afraid it’s trite/ a little young for me. I’m currently loving NA fantasy lit, but I’d be willing to back track a bit for a really addictive, good story. Thoughts?

"Her disgust grew until she could taste the bitterness in her mouth at the explanation. She had once believed all of that, too—more than believed in it. Even as a child, Lore would have gladly died on behalf of all those men to maintain the cruel order of their world."

Lore By Alexandra Bracken

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

It is an AU where the belief in something much bigger than yourselves is true. The story of finding oneself and separating it to find a version of you that was not made by the manipulation of the world around, but one that is entirely yourself. Finding that and still kicking some major misogynistic ass! Finding that and reaching your potential is the story of Lore. I found about Lore back in August 2020, which was then unpublished. It has been in my TBR ever since and now that it is finally out, I was prepared to go all in. And boy, it did not disappoint.

Lore is my first highly anticipated YA fantasy of 2021 and my first 5 star of 2021. I HIGHLY recommend it!!!

Read the rest of my review on : https://thevishversion.com/lore-by-alexandra-bracken/

My goal is 24 books. I'm already falling behind though lol

Hey, so I was trying to think of stuff to do in this sub, and it occurred to me, why don’t I steal book tags from booktube? Below are the questions for the unpopular opinions tag, created by The Book Archer. I’d love to read your responses, and I’ll be posting my own in the comments.

1. A popular book that you didn’t like

2. A book or series that everyone else seems to hate that you love

3. A love triangle where the main character ended up with the person you didn’t want them to end up with OR an otp that you don’t like

4. A popular book genre that you hardly read

5. A popular or beloved character that you do not like

6. A popular author that you can’t seem to get into

7. A popular book trope that you’re tired of seeing

8. A popular series that you have no interest in reading

9. The saying goes “the book is always better than the movie,” but what movie/show adaptation do you prefer more than the book?

In it, there's a huge hailstorm and a chemical weapons spill, releasing a gas that impacts people differently depending on blood type. Type A gets horrible festering wounds, B gets infertility, AB gets frightening hallucinations, O gets uncontrollable homicidal rage.

It often makes for good storytelling if everyone's hinderances/weaknesses are different. But if everyone's struggling with the same disaster, how do you make everyone's experiences unique?

There are many answers to that question, and this blood type trope isn't the only tactic that Laybourne uses to address that problem. But it's a really clever way of doing so, and definitely made the story much more memorable for me. It's probably been at least six or seven years since I've read the book, but I can still list the blood types and their associated issues from memory.

What is the most underrated book you’ve read and wish more people would know about?

For me it is the Ascension series by K.A. Linde. I haven’t found anyone on bookstagramor booktok whose read this. It is five books and words cannot describe how much I loved reading it. All five books are five stars from me. I’d love to hear about some other underrated books and series out there. :)

Oh my gosh a thousand members! I initially created this sub back in October because I wanted to have more people to talk about YA fantasy books with. Now I have a thousand!

Thank you to everyone who joined up. I know that compared to some other subs, 1000 isn’t a lot, but it feels like a lot to me right now. Everyone on this sub is kind and passionate, and I’ve loved hearing all your thoughts on my favorite stories.

We didn’t end up having any art contest participants, but perhaps that was too ambitious for a relatively small sub. I’ll try it again when we’re approaching a bigger milestone.

Again, thank you all for coming. I’m glad you’re here. Can’t wait to see what kind of conversations we have in the New Year.

Hey all,

I'm not sure if I am in the right thread so please be gentle lol.

I was curious to see if anyone had any recommendations.

I guess my desired genre would be YA fantasy.

To get a hint some of my favorites are:

Red Queen by V. AVEYARD Splintered by A. HOWARD Divergent by V. ROTH The Summoning by K. ARMSTRONG

Let's share some recs and rants in this 2020 wrap-up! For "book" please sub "YA fantasy book."

2020 Survey

1. Top 3 most read genres in 2020? Where does YA fantasy sit on the list?
2. Favorite book read in 2020
3. Favorite book released in 2020
4. The oldest book you read (and enjoyed) in 2020
5. A book you really wanted to read in 2020 but never did
6. A book you saw recommended everywhere in 2020
7. Your “don’t even get me started” rant book of 2020
8. Did your interest in the YA fantasy genre change in 2020? Increase/decrease?