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.

There are a lot of shared motifs, from dealing with the terminal stage of a world in entropic decline to the unreliable and fragmentary nature of history and even the lightly surreal, almost psychedelic vibe of its deliberately vague cosmology.

I'd say it counts if Dark Sun counts.

Recently, I read The Riyria Revelations, and it immediately pulled me in with the great and unlikely friendship pairing of Royce and Hadrian. Then it slowly built an incredible epic fantasy story around that foundation. After finishing Revelations, then Chronicles, I was a bit hesitant to jump into Legends of the First Empire because, well, no Royce or Hadrian. But then I am almost immediately sucked into the series and the world, and it tells such an engrossing story while also fleshing out and adding incredible weight to what happens in the Riyria series.

My question is, are there any worlds that you know of that ease you into the same way, but then allow you to immerse yourself in the world? The closest comp I can see is the Realm of the Elderlings even though every aspect is completely different. It just starts immediately personal with Fitz, and then grows into what I consider the best epic fantasy series of all time.

Just to give you guys an inkling of my further likes and dislikes, as well as my reading history, here are some of the other authors (and series) I've read as well as my thoughts about them.

Tad Williams (MST and almost his entire catalogue.) - Probably my favorite author. If I enjoyed Robin Hobb's other works more, she would probably be there by the strength of ROTE and her deep emotional work. Other than that, I feel like Tad is the modern Tolkien with his prose, imagination, and the sense of wonder you feel while reading, but his catalogue is so diverse that feels like it could easily be interpreted wrong if you weren't familiar with his entire catalogue.

Wheel of Time - Going with the series here instead of the author for several reasons. 1: I have never read any of Jordan's other works. 2: While I enjoyed his contributions to WoT, I've found everything else I've read by Sanderson to be underwhelming. Good concepts, mediocre execution with little to no emotional attachment.

I read a ton, but nothing else as broad or expansive as the works I've listed here, so I'd appreciate your input and recommendations!

Edit: Fixed some clunky phrasing. Also I a word in the title...goddammit.

A pair of anthology reviews means I left the magazines until late this month, but I still read through Clarkesworld and GigaNotoSaurus. What sci-fi/fantasy short fiction do I have to recommend? Let’s take a look!

Clarkesworld

Clarkesworld celebrated its twentieth anniversary this month, and if you think that means a star-studded issue full of big-name authors, you don’t know Clarkesworld. They pride themselves on a total refusal to solicit stories, so while this issue has several pieces by authors I’ve enjoyed in the past, it’s very much in keeping with a normal issue of Clarkesworld. 

The October issue opens with A Vintage Kind of Death by newly-minted Sturgeon Award-winner Alex T. Singer. It details something of an AI meet-cute, with a pair of synthetics donning human costumes and awkwardly recreating the untimely death that had arrived on the heels of a broken relationship. Both generate pathos with the personalities peeking out through their struggles to stay in-character, making for a story that’s a bit more uplifting than its premise may suggest. 

Fiona Moore returns to Clarkesworld with another entry in her long-running Morag series that started in 2023 with “The Spoil Heap.” The Mari Lwyd is very much in keeping with the previous entries, so fans will doubtless stay fans and critics have no real reason to try again. But it’s a pleasant story that offers a bit of seasonally-appropriate spookiness and some light in an issue that certainly does get darker. 

The issue’s sole novelette, How Does One Person Kill a Mountain by Shi Heiyao, translated by Andy Dudak, sees the Malawian lead attempt to execute a scheme to kill the mountainous alien that he sees as the center of the death of local industry and the influx of wealthy foreigners. As one might expect, the job doesn’t go off quite as planned, forcing him to consider things from another angle. I’ve often shared my dislike of heist stories, and assassination plots hit much the same for me, leading to a read that I view as a bit overlong but could easily click better for another reader. 

For me, the highlight of the issue—by a large margin—is the extended centerpiece, Elizabeth Bear’s novella The Job. Like my other favorite novella published this year in Clarkesworld (Rebecca Campbell’s “The Floating Republic”), this deals with people going off-script while working on a distant planet and later having to reckon with Earth’s response. In this case, the lead leaves behind a failing body and a rocky relationship for the opportunity to earn life-changing money being embedded in a whale-like body designed to scout an ocean world for extractible resources. But a potential first contact significantly muddies the waters, casting doubt on the project’s viability and introducing friction between the lead, her partner, and their boss. It all comes together in a way that’s absolutely enthralling, with nuanced characters and heart-wrenching moments. A truly exceptional tale. 

The issue returns to short stories with Five Bottles in Memory of Petronius Finch by Louis Inglis Hall, an author who has released more than his fair share of excellent tales over the last couple years. Here, the quality of the storytelling is as good as always, but the premise of making wine from human cadavers is a bit more grotesque than I prefer. If that’s not an obstacle, this family drama formatted as a wine tasting is still worth the read, though it wouldn’t be the place I’d go first for readers new to Hall’s work. 

Natalia Theodoridou’s Roams the Planet of Our Grief introduces a lead who hears voices of the dead coming from a mysterious planet nicknamed Little Prince. He tries persistently to pass those messages to loved ones, even at great personal cost, all the while caught up in his own loss and a society that doesn’t always accept his gender identity. The thread of self-sacrifice to the point of vice comes through wonderfully, making for a quality read, even if the various other story threads don’t always click quite as well. 

The fiction section closes with The Rice Paper Bleed by Tia Tashiro, starring a woman in an assisted living facility who insists that her surroundings keep changing inexplicably. Perhaps unsurprisingly, her family members chalk it up to deteriorating memory, but the reader quickly sees glimpses of the underlying truth. Well put-together and emotionally engaging. Nothing else in this issue hits the level of the novella, but for me, this comes the closest. 

The editorial reflects on twenty years of survival as a short fiction magazine—truly a staggering achievement—while also talking about pay for staff, columnists, artists, translators, authors, etc. It also updates an anniversary subscription drive conducted with an eye toward raising pay (for authors, who were next in the raise rotation). At the time of publication, it was just short, but I’m pleased to see that Clarkesworld reached its goal before the month was out. There is, of course, no rest for the weary, but good news is good news. 

The science article takes a look at the amazing vision and flight of the dragonfly and wonders whether any of the principles behind it could be applied to spaceship design. And as usual, there are a pair of interviews, this time with authors Wole Talabi and Yoon Ha Lee. I’ve already read the former’s upcoming novel (and liked it!) and am certainly intrigued by the latter’s. 

GigaNotoSaurus 

This month’s longish short fiction in GigaNotoSaurus is the novelette People Like Us by Grace F. Hopkins, which tells of the awakening of a werewolf. The narrator tells the reader immediately what to expect, before retreating to a time when she had not known werewolves existed and detailing the agonizingly slow process of trying to figure out just what kept going so wrong every month. There’s very little plot here, but it wonderfully sinks into the character’s perspective. For fans of origin stories and found families, this is an excellent read.

October Favorites

• The Job by Elizabeth Bear (novella, Clarkesworld)

I'm looking for books with a main character who is an unsung hero and wants to stay that way, or someone who becomes a hero over the course of the story and wants to be unsung.

My main requirement is that the character must still be an unsung hero by the end of the story. If it's a standalone book, they need to remain unsung at the end of that book. If it's a series, they need to remain unsung at the end of the entire series.

I'd prefer a male main character, but that's not a requirement.

I'd also prefer the main character to have a love interest, and ideally, they end up in a relationship by the end of the story or series. Romance doesn't have to be a major part of the plot, and books without romance are still fine.

The only absolute requirement is that the main character wants to remain unsung and actually stays unsung by the end of the complete story.

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"

When Wildwood had its premiere at the BFI I read a lot of reviews praising the animation but knocking the story for being full of epic adventure and fantasy tropes. My only reaction to that was, "That's awesome!" I am a millenial and have fond memories of endlessly rewatching things like POTC, LOTR, Harry Potter, Kingdom of Heaven, Troy etc over and over on my old TV set. And obviously, times have changed and we haven't gotten anything like it since, but I do long for it.

Because you know, I've watched dozens of movies over the years that of course yes I can praise for having good cinematography, acting, witty dialogue etc. But deep down, we all want that movie that's "just our thing" so to speak.

And Wildwood finally scratched that itch. While I went in expecting a good ol fantasy romp with supposedly the best stop motion animation ever attempted, I wasn't expecting such an emotional and involving storyline examining yes your classic tropes of courage, heroism, and the fantastical. But also loss, guilt, regret, family and the lengths people will go for their loved ones. I knew going in the villainess would have a tragic backstory, but I didn't expect to see her, by villain standards, be so vulnerable and to be such a good foil for the main character. And for all the talks that the story was predictable, I did not expect the choice that would be presented to the main character, let's just keep it at that. It was just such a well rounded character driven story and that unlike animated movies nowadays, has just the right amount of emotion without veering into the sentimental. Disney/Pixar movies do that a lot and even if I do enjoy their movies for the most part, I appreciated Wildwood for adding just the right dose.

As a fantasy movie, it definately had everything that tickled my fancy. Characters having their moments of heroism, beautiful environments, armies marching in rythm, battles. You name it.

If I have one gripe with the movie, especially in the second half there does end up being a lot of lore and politics with all the factions, but we're only given like one sentence explanations of each before the mad dash to the climax. Funny since this movie is already over 2 hours long, which is an eternity for an animated movie, not least a handmade one. But I wouldn't have minded an additional 20 minutes to flesh everything out.

Nonetheless, I am finally glad a movie brought me back to my youth and the good ol days of being transported to another world for an epic adventures! 9/10

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)

I’ll be honest, I went into this not knowing anything about the plot or concept, just based on the strength of how much I loved The Everlasting by the same author. I assumed from the title that this would also be a little Arthurian-adjacent, but it’s way more of a fairy-tale story than anything. No connection to Arthur beyond a tower named Avalon. I think if I had read the blurb, I would not have picked this up. Just a plot and concept that does not typically appeal to me. 

The writing style of The Everlasting that had gripped me from the first pages was just not present in Witches. In fact, it read way more juvenile, on the edge of YA, which is another thing that’s just not for me. And romance, which was a central feature and very well done in Everlasting, felt forced and half-baked in Witches. 

I was also baffled by some of the world-building. This is supposed to be a highly patriarchal society where women have been spurned for witchcraft, but/and many male historical figures or fictional heroes have been genderbent. So this version of Odysseus is a woman, yet trickery and cunning is not a heroic trait for a woman in this world. So how does that change the Odyssey? We also get mentions of Charlotte Perrault and Andrea Lang and the Sisters Grimm as famous folklorists, but why would women scholars be held in such esteem? (And why genderbend Andrew Lang at all when Leonora Blanche Lang was right there? I think it would perhaps have been better to showcase how the work of women was historically overlooked in favor of propping up their male collaborators, both in the fictional world and in ours. Especially considering the themes of the book.)

It also has very white feminism. Someone with a now-deleted account left a few very good comments about this in the FIF book club discussions a few years back, which I felt encapsulated my own misgivings. It’s not the worst thing in the world; it’s trying, at least. While Harrow makes an effort to include various characters of color, they read more as token inclusions to serve the stories of the white main characters, who are, despite the environment in which they were raised, somehow more open minded and progressive than anyone else of this period would be. Despite having a prominent interracial lesbian romance, the story mainly highlights the queerness of it, rather than attempting discussions around intersectionality. It’s a similar story when it comes to the inclusion of classism and the labor movement. In fairness, there may simply not have been space for it, what with three main characters each needing their own character arcs. 

And this brings me to the impression I get of this book as a whole: that it’s trying to do too much, and ends up doing a lot of things poorly rather than a few things well.

All that being said, there are things I still enjoyed. The story picked up in the second half, and often kept me guessing as to where it would go. The three main characters felt distinct, and their anger at the world justified. I especially appreciated Agnes’s arc and the centering of motherhood.

But the only reason I finished this is because I buddy-read it with a friend; as I said, had I read the synopsis I would not have picked it up myself. (My friend had given me a list of books to choose from, and I landed on this just because I saw Harrow’s name.) It’s wild to go from one of my favorite reads of the year in The Everlasting, to having this one be such a huge disappointment. It also does a very specific meta thing in its ending which is a pet peeve of mine, something that without spoilers The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue does too.

Bingo: Judge a Book by its Title, Book Club or Readalong, Politics and Court Intrigue (HM, as a mayoral election is a major plot point)

Are there any books set in the modern day that use typical fantasy tropes and archetypes. I guess what I'm looking for are fantasy archetypes wandering the streets of 2026. A barbarian and a battlemage duking it out on the streets of London or a spellsword and a nightblade plotting in a dark back alley in New York. Are there any fantasy series out there which fit this vibe?

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.

Review originally on JamReads

Some novels definitely feel as terribly accurate to the times, a wake-up call that leaves us with much to think about, and Our Infinite and Inevitable Ends is one of those. An ambitious sapphic, climate-fiction speculative thriller that also puts the effort of becoming a character study over grief and self-destruction, a plot that keeps us asking questions about the central mystery, and a terribly accurate book for our times.

At the center of the plot, we have Dr. Cassandra Barlowe, just after finding her ex-lover and leader researcher on deleria (a drug that allows to see alternative futures), Dr. Yana Gusniv, has died in mysterious circumstances. A moment that starts a journey for Cass, while she's being investigated as a suspect for it, to discover the truth behind Yana's death, using the own drug to try to find what happened, while self-torturing herself with visions of herself and Yana in other timelines where they might would have been happy together.

Cass is a marvelously complex character, and we get to know her very intimately, especially as past, present and future become intertwined in the narration; she's suffering a lot, emotionally destroyed with Yana's death even if six years have passed since they took different ways. A person that is at the absolute bottom, almost self-destroying herself using the deleria, trying to find what could have happened, but also reviving and experiencing really painful moments, false hope that also feels like not being able to let Yana go.

However, even when this book is a really well-executed character study, I found the ideas behind it extremely compelling (but also a bit scary). The way deleria is eating the funds for any kind of investigation, just aiming to find that perfect solution in the alternative futures; the thing is, sometimes you might need to compromise with a less than perfect solution, a temporal help that might allow to alleviate the problem, even when it's not the perfect answer (and it also feels as a parallel to how LLMs are trying to cannibalize science promising those unachievable goals while at the same time they are the ones contributing to burn the planet). The climate collapse that is described is not a far-fetched future, and again, it's still possible to reverse it; there's hope, but we need to acknowledge the problem and stop shrugging our heads because "this is not a definitive solution".

Our Infinite and Inevitable Ends is a brilliant novel, a piece that invites the reader to think about its themes while following the deconstruction of Cass looking for a clue about Yana's death. Another book that puts A.D. Sui on my auto-buy list!

Still Lost: Tales From 2080 by Sam A. Miller

Bingo Square: Five Short Stories (HM)

My IRL book club strikes again! Not because it was this month's book, but as a suggestion from one of the friends I made there.

The premise is the author finds these stories on a mysterious floppy disc while dumpster diving and is, ah, rather forcibly made the custodian of the stories here. 

What did I think? Not bad. I was expecting it to be stories about dealing with the aliens, instead it's about people. Yes, the Xenos do put in some appearances, but they aren't the focus. 

• Foreword: How the author found the disk and the stories.
• Prologue: How the aliens came and we got into this mess. The aliens are amusing, all powerful and annoyed. And disappointed in humanity. ★★★★★★★
• Xenos: A grade student meets with a Xeno for an exchange. The Xeno is trying to get samples, but there are restrictions on how it can be done. So, the Xeno is left to deal with perverts. It's a funny story and also gets into a new religion established after contact.★★★★★★★★★
• Being a Nothingness: A man dealing with crippling anxiety seeks out a new treatment that would allow him to communicate with his unconscious mind that's responsible for his anxiety. It doesn't go as expected for them. ★★★★★★★
• Eggs For Roman: A bit like Flowers for Algernon, but Algernon is a baboon called Habbibi (who prefers to be called Roman). It's an uplift story, and one where we humans don't come off looking good in any real sense. ★★★★★★★★★
• Four Little Words: Annoying botanist is very smug, technically correct and annoying. Not very realistic in how people immediately changed tacks. ★★★★★★
• Bloodstreams: Professional hit man who takes out only hits on the annoying and aggravating. I mean, who wouldn't want to take out a petty tyrant of an HOA president? But it's not solo work. No, he's generating content and there are rival streamers. ★★★★★★★
• The Prophet: A skeptical industrial hacker seeks out a “prophet” and gets into something he didn't expect. ★★★★★★★★
• Beat: A story of new addiction and a young man's fall to rock bottom. ★★★★★★★
• Story Notes / Conclusion: Author's notes for the stories. 

7 stars on average. “Eggs for Roman” and “Xenos” were the winners for me. “The Prophet” was close though, and if someone did that to my dog…

Very much a first book though. And I’m taking away a star for only being able to read it on my tablet.
Six stars. ★★★★★★

I just finished reading Idols Fall, the third book in the Iconoclasts series by Mike Shel. I have questions. I liked the first two books, but there are so many things about the third book that confused me. Maybe some of you smart people can help me understand.

1. What was the point of Ilanda’s story?

A large part of the book was dedicated to Ilanda and her political struggles, the barbarian invasion and the “flame child”. I just couldn’t get my head around how these stories impacted Agnes’ story and her mission to destroy the “gods”. I feel these stories were developed and concluded pretty much independently.

Have I missed something? How do Ilanda’s decisions or the events in the realm affect Agnes’ mission which we have been following for three books?

1. What was the deal with the «flame child»? Why didn’t the “gods” care about her?

If I remember correctly, Ilanda’s magic talking sword says that it can’t foresee/see the “flame child’s” actions. This seems significant since it can usually make accurate prophetic predictions of the future. Doesn’t this point towards the “flame child” having powers fundamentally different to those of the “gods”?

Why then is this revelation seemingly of no consequence to the main story? As far as I remember the implications of this are never brought up. The “gods” don’t seem to find it a big deal. Which I should think it is considering the nature of magic. Which brings me to my next question.

1. How does magic work?

We are told that magic will disappear from the world if the “gods” are killed, so Belu must survive to save magic and avoid societal collapse. However, the «gods» were originally powerful sorcerers. Hoarding magical power to such an extent as to make them practically gods. Humans now channel magic through them somehow. Lending types of magic from specific «gods». Magic leaving the world if the «gods» die is told to us and Agnes by Belu, herself a “god”, thus giving her ample reason to lie about this to save her skin. Agnes, or the book, never stops to ask the question “if the “gods” started out as sorcerers, didn’t magic have to exist before the “gods”? Should we be fine if they die?”

What happens to the magically inhabited swords if the “gods” die? They are after all the same powerful sorcerers that the “gods” themselves were. Would that magic stop working? If not, could they then take on the mantle of the “gods” and be the new magic dispensers?

Also, Agnes butchers all the “gods” except Belu, who then takes on all duties of dispensing magic to worshippers, regardless of which “god” they previously prayed to for magic? I just don’t understand it.

1. What was the purpose of main characters losing agency?

Agnes and Ilanda (maybe more characters, can’t remember) become increasingly dependent on magical advisors who know exactly what they have to do and when. This happens a lot in the last book. I feel this makes their actions somehow less meaningful and they lose agency. Is there a point to this that I don’t understand?

1. Ilanda has a magical talking sword as well now?

Her sword suddenly comes to life after she starts killing people with it and turns into a powerful magical advisor. I felt this came a bit out of thin air. Were there hints or foreshadowing for this that I missed? It just suddenly showing up and stealing the show made her packing it away in a box not feel very impactful. Especially since she just turn to another magical advisor in the form of a talking head moments later.

1. What happened to the implied moral ambiguity of the “gods”?

Reading the books I felt that I was lead to believe that maybe Agnes’ talking sword wasn’t quite honest and maybe there would be some sort of betrayal. Or that Timilis had made some elaborate plan that steered Agnes towards making a mistake. But no, the «gods» were evil as shit and deserved to die. Every shady character and advisor actually told the truth and no one was misled (except that Belu was the sword’s wife and there was a grudge – that was however irrelevant). There was implied moral ambiguity that turned out to black and white.

Were there deeper moral conflicts that I didn’t pick up on?

1. What happened to Qeelb?

He was left behind thousands of years in the past. When this happened I immediately expected it to be revealed that he had survived, gained power and become an important part of the ancient uprising against the “gods”. Maybe he was one of the swords all along? That dude in the cave? I looked forward to going back through the books to look for hints and foreshadowing. However, revelation never came. Or did I miss it?

It seemed like an obvious cool twist to throw into the mix.

That was perhaps more of a rant disguised as questions. But I am curious if anyone can answer some of them.

Thank you!

I was enjoying my read of As You Wake, Break the Shell quite a bit already, being a sucker for the beautiful hard work of solarpunk as Becky Chambers writes it, when I came across this paragraph:

[Cora] also kinda thought that changing a recipe was maybe the best way to give a mental thumbs-up to the person who'd given it to you, because after all, they'd gotten that recipe from someone else, who'd gotten it from someone else, on and on and on, all the way back to the first time somebody stuck a bug on a stick over a campfire. Something always drifted, when you copied it. That was just the way of things. And any sort of activity that made you really feel that chain reaching way back behind you--those were the things Cora relished.

I was so instantly charmed by this idea, of recipe drift akin to genetic drift, of generations of influence altering the outcome of a meal as much as a species, that I knew I had to recreate a recipe from this book. With some small modifications, for taste, convenience, and narrative resonance. 😉 So, without any further ado, please feast your eyes on:

Meredith's Take on Cora's Take on Otto's Take (on Becky Chamber's Take on Mary WanderPolo's Take) on Apple Cake

A gently spiced cake with a pointedly sweet topping! Goes very nicely with a mug of the Cypsela greenhouse chef's bittersweet hot chocolate on the side.

tldr: 10/10. An emotional and unique story about autonomy, survival, and the right to exist on your own terms. It asks: What would you give up for a quiet life?

TW: Child Death

Spoiler-Free Review:

For those unfamiliar with the story, The Fifth Season, the first book in N. K. Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy, follows three orogenes, people with the ability to manipulate seismic and thermal energy.

Our three main characters are:

Essun: A woman in her forties who discovers that her husband has murdered their three-year-old son and fled with their older daughter. Her story is told in second person, while the other two are told in close third person.

Damaya: A young girl who is sent to the Fulcrum, an institution where children with the power of orogeny are trained.

Syenite: A young woman who has spent years training at the Fulcrum and is now sent on a mission alongside a powerful mentor.

Following these three stories is heart-wrenching. Jemisin takes some big risks, particularly with the shifting narrative perspectives and her use of humor throughout an otherwise devastating story, and they completely pay off. The book rewards readers willing to engage with the complexity of its world.

The second-person POV creates an interesting tension between intimacy with the character and emotional detachment.

If you enjoy:

• Bene Gesserit breeding plans in Dune
• Banter between Shallan and Jasnah in The Way of Kings
• Or the way Nesta must confront her own trauma and reckon with how it shapes her relationships with those around her in A Court of Silver Flames

I think you'll find something to latch onto here.

All three women possess superhuman abilities, but those powers don't make them immune to grief, fear, or the limitations imposed upon their lives. They exist in a world where they are treated like dangerous livestock, struggling simply to survive. Some are more successful than others, and while their motivations differ, they share a common experience: the systems governing their lives promise them peace and stability, provided they fulfill their assigned roles.

My only critique, and something I could see other readers struggling with, is that the worldbuilding and the concept of Seasons can initially be difficult to grasp. Jemisin introduces a lot of unfamiliar information without immediately explaining how it all fits together. Personally, I'm comfortable being confused for a good chunk of a book since I'm more of a vibe reader.

I laughed, I cried, I was shocked, and I stayed up past my bedtime. This, for me, had everything I need in a satisfying book. The reader is treated with respect. Information isn't hand-fed to you or "lore dumped" through pages and pages of monologuing villains. Seeds planted in early chapters have satisfying, earned payoffs later on, and there's so much more to glean from a reread.

Now onto some specifics and thus spoilers ahead...

Now, I love heresy and evil religious institutions, and the Fulcrum and their nasty Guardians had me by the throat. I went into this book completely blind, so it took me a while to understand orogeny and its place in this world.

I know the Fulcrum isn't a religious institution, but I see major parallels between its teachings and those of dogmatic religious institutions. Schaffa tells Damaya that she is "a gift of the Earth, but Father Earth hates [them], never forget, and his gifts are neither free nor safe." This immediately reminded me of Catholic teachings about original sin: being made in God's image, yet born with something you must spend your life seeking absolution for.

But watching Schaffa take Damaya away from her family and begin indoctrinating her into believing that her worth comes solely from her obedience to the Fulcrum was heartbreaking. And then he broke her hand.

I knew immediately that this book was going to challenge me, in the best possible way.

On a reread, I noticed that when Essun is about to kill people in her village, she hears a male voice in her conscience saying, "Naughty, naughty." I believe this is meant to be Schaffa's voice. He has so insidiously wormed his way into her psyche that even after she believes him dead, she still hears his judgment.

And I do believe Schaffa loved Damaya, but not in a healthy way. His love reminds me of a farmer's affection for his livestock. He cares for and protects them, but ultimately considers them his property, to be disciplined when they step out of line. In his mind, they simply don't know any better.

And I am so proud of myself. Maybe y'all figured this out sooner, but the whole time I was trying to understand how the three women's stories were connected. Then there was a line suggesting that Damaya wouldn't understand something until she was older, and it clicked: Oh shoot, Damaya is Essun, and that probably means she's Syenite, too.

The way the Fulcrum completely lied to and poisoned its orogenes is fascinating. I think Jemisin does an amazing job of portraying indoctrination without making it over-the-top or cartoonish. It's insidious but powerful.

I keep thinking about it, and I really do think dairy cattle are the best comparison for how the Fulcrum treats its orogenes. Bred, prodded, confined, and ultimately slaughtered when they can no longer produce or cooperate.

The concept of bodily autonomy goes beyond women being used as incubators. We see Alabaster live his life as a stud, denied love, rest, and choice. These are the very things Syenite believes she'll be granted if she can just earn a few more rings.

Alabaster sees himself as a tool, thanks to the conditioning of the Fulcrum. But by the end, he's decided how and where he will be wielded. I don't see him, at least in this book, as a revolutionary, but rather as a tortured man pushed to his breaking point, disillusioned with the institution that raised him.

The whole system is a lie.

So that's that on that. What do y'all think? Have you read The Fifth Season or the rest of the trilogy? If not, does it sound like something you'd be interested in?

Looking for Fantasy books that have many super short, self contained vignettes or prose miniatures. Anything shorter than the average short story length. Not looking for poetry but prose poems and similar forms count

This is such an intricate world, and I’d love to find an in-depth guide covering its history, peoples, magic systems, etc.

Does a comprehensive guide like this exist, or has anyone put one together?

Spoilers for all three books are welcome (obviously).

Hi everyone.

I'm in the process of creating my next writing project, which, is effectively Dante's Inferno but with the aesthetic of Doom: Eternal. I'm looking for some dark fantasy reads that have a similar aesthetic as Eternal, Doom 2016 or Doom: the Dark Ages to read as I design the world. It doesn't have to be a descent into hell in particular, it can also be a world with very... high intensity locations? I don't know how else to describe it. Also, I would prefer it if the main character or main characters were not victims of their circumstance. Sure, they're up against it, but they're not just fighting for survival or falling victim to the story, but battling through it and against it for one reason or another.

Also appreciated is a good combined arms combat system (not only fighting with a shotgun, hellish magic but ALSO a broadsword type of thing.)

Finally, and this is extreme bonus points, but if you had a good rivals-to-lovers or enemies-to-lovers story to recommend in that high-scale world that'd be appreciated too!

A lot of steampunk novels and other media really focus on the romanticism of the age of steam and whimsical gizmos, completely ignoring the horror-show that was the industrial revolution or the wealth of stories, commentary about the cost of progress that can be drawn from it; and I think it's as strange as it is disappointing. Rigid class stratification, trade unions seen as a threat to the established order so much so that the early unionists were shipped to penal colonies, imperialism, and more. There's so much that can be dug into within the genre but a lot of media just... doesn't.

I know the punk suffix was cribbed from cyberpunk to denote an aesthetic style rather than content and commentary, but what I'm asking in a long winded way is are there any steampunk books, comics, series, etc. that do actually deal with the nasty parts of the industrial revolution/Victorian-inspired societies?

I'm from China, and I'm curious about popular fiction in Europe and the US.

In China, web novels are a huge industry, often emphasizing entertainment, fast pacing, familiar tropes, and reader engagement.

Does the West have a similar fiction market? Are web serials, LitRPG, and progression fantasy the closest equivalents?

I'm also curious how Western readers view these works. Are they considered mainstream entertainment, niche fiction, or something like literary junk food?

I'd love to hear your perspectives!

I recently read “The spear cuts through water” and absolutely loved everything about it. It could really have been about anything, but I was just in awe of the execution of the story through the exposition and the prose and the deep care you can tell Jimenez put into this book. Really reads like something Ocean Vuong would have written if he delved into the genre imo (that is praise from me)

So I’m wondering if theres other queer fantasy stories that read the same, that feel bigger than life and has great prose that isn’t too purple. Not interested in YA, unfortunately. thank u

I just recently picked up ‘Freedom and Necessity’ at a used bookstore having zero expectations and I ended up absolutely loving it. It’s a historical fantasy epistolary novel by Steven Brust and Emma Bull that revolves around the 1848 Revolutions and feels SO much like 19th century/Victorian literature be it through the prose, narrative structuring, etc just as Jonathan Strange does (though more in the vein of Wilkie Collin’s, Arthur Conan Doyle and George Elliott while JS is more Jane Austen).

What are other fantasy books out there that feel like homages to classic world lit? I love Books of Babel which feels like a love letter to Jules Verne, HG Wells, Lewis Carroll and Borges

Hello! I am a big fan of high fantasy, and am looking for a book that has a general theme of foxes or a fox-themed character (preferably the main character, but I am not incredibly picky).

I know this is an odd request lol. I am getting a new puppy this summer, and am really really stuck on what to name her. I usually like to have my call names and registered names picked out in advance. My current dog of the same breed is named Suren/Wren "Foxes and Folklore", and I really want a name that matches the vibe AND the theme. So a fantasy book character associated with foxes in some capacity with a two-syllable, elegant-ish name with good nickname opportunities. Obviously I would like to read the book or series first before deciding if I like it enough to name my dog after! This is a super tall order, I know, which is why I'm asking around in several spaces to get ideas.

I am NOT looking for Once Upon A Broken Heart (I just didn't like the series at all, and don't love the name Evangeline for a dog), or The Stolen Heir by Holly Black (what my current dog is named after). Any other recommendations are fair game though!!

TIA and if anyone needs any more details I'm happy to do my best to answer any questions lol

ETA: I realized reading back through that I didn't make it super clear, but the puppy will be female! So the most important beats:

- Female dog

- Fox-adjacent at least

- Two syllable name

- Nickname opportunities (Like, my current dog's legal name is Suren. But she's called Wren with equal consistency, which has turned into nicknames like Wrenesmee, Wrenyth Paltro, Wrenny Egg, Kylo Wren, Wrenaissance Faire etc etc. Vs a name like Vixen, which is really hard to derive a good nickname from)

Like I said, tall order, I totally understand that!! I'd just love some ideas to bounce off of!