If you could choose a Fantasy Book Series and then a huge studio would turn it into a Skyrim-like RPG, what series would you choose and maybe tell us a little on how the game would be like?

I love books where the protagonist beats the odds using their mind and outsmarts the antagonists. A Sherlock Holmes type of person only in a fantasy setting with a magic system. Some book with a good magic system as well is a plus instead of some vague mention of magic, but none really involved. Also a plus would be a female protagonist, but not a must.

Examples of the types of books I am thinking of are City of Stairs, Strange the Dreamer, and Elantris to name a few.

I will admit City of Stairs didn't have much of a magic system that directly impacted the characters, but the protagonist was exceptionally intelligent working her way around solving the case.

I’m a little over halfway through Paladin’s Grace by T Kingfisher. I am LOVING it, and I really really don’t want to see any major spoilers - but I’m the type of person who uses the Does the Dog Die website for every movie I watch, and (SPOILER!!!!!!!)

Tab, Grace’s civette, just ran out into the city when Grace was arrested.

This book isn’t on doesthedogdie and I am STRESSING. Can anyone tell me, without any other spoilers, if Tab ends up okay, please?

Thank you in advance!!

I have been looking for some adult fantasy recommendations with unique FMC's but am having a hard time finding ones that aren't super mainstream. I'm ideally looking for a strong, fierce FMC that is morally grey. The more interesting the world building etc, the better. Any recommendations?

Edit: older books welcome but would love some newer releases.

The 2024 The Ignyte Awards Finalists have been announced! They're among the awards I personally find most interesting to follow, I like the mix of books I've loved and books I've not heard of yet but sound really cool. There's a bit at the bottom of the post about the selection process.

Congratulations to the finalists!

From here on, text copied from the official website - Link

The Awards seek to celebrate the vibrancy and diversity of the current and future landscapes of science fiction, fantasy, and horror by recognizing incredible feats in storytelling and outstanding efforts toward inclusivity of the genre. To that effect, the committee feels that these creators, creations, entities, and perspectives from a given year represent the brightest lights in speculative fiction’s future.

OUTSTANDING NOVEL: ADULT

for novel-length work (40k words) Works intended for an Adult audience

• Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon – Wole Talabi (DAW Books)
• The Water Outlaws – S.L. Huang (Tordotcom)
• The Saint of Bright Doors – Vajra Chandrasekera (Tordotcom)
• To Shape a Dragon’s Breath – Moniquill Blackgoose (Del Rey)
• We are the Crisis – Cadwell Turnbull (Blackstone Publishing)

OUTSTANDING NOVEL: YOUNG ADULT

for novel-length (40k+ words) works intended for the young adult audience

• I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me – Jamison Shae (Henry Holt & Co.) 
• That Self-Same Metal – Brittany N. Williams (Harry N. Abrams)
• Funeral Songs for Dying Girls – Cherie Dimaline (Tundra Books)
• Beholder – Ryan La Sala (PUSH)
• Sing Me to Sleep – Gabi Burton (Bloomsbury YA)

OUTSTANDING MIDDLE GRADE

for works intended for the middle grade audience

• Abeni’s Song – P. Djèlí Clark (Starscape) 
• Just a Pinch of Magic – Alechia Dow ‎(Feiwel & Friends)
• Keynan Masters and the Peerless Magic Crew – DaVaun Sanders (Inkyard Press)
• Lei and the Fire Goddess – Malia Maunakea (Penguin Workshop)
• The Sun and the Star – Mark Oshiro, Rick Riordan (Disney Hyperion)

OUTSTANDING NOVELLA

for speculative works ranging from 17,500-39,999 words

• Off-Time Jive – A.Z. Louise (Neon Hemlock Press)
• Green Fuse Burning – Tiffany Morris (Stelliform Press)
• The Lies of the Ajungo – Moses Ose Utomi (Tordotcom)
• The Mimicking of Known Successes – Malka Older (Tordotcom)
• Sordidez – E.G. Condé (Stelliform Press)

OUTSTANDING NOVELETTE

for speculative works ranging from 7,500-17,499 words

• A Short Biography of a Conscious Chair – Renan Bernardo (Samovar)
• Ivy, Angelica, Bay – C L Polk (Reactor)
• Imagine: Purple-Haired Girl Shooting Down the Moon – Angela Liu (Clarkesworld)
• Spell for Grief and Longing – Eboni J. Dunbar (FIYAH)
• Zhuangzi’s Dream – Cao Baiyu, translated by Stella Jiayue Zhu (Clarkesworld) 

OUTSTANDING SHORT STORY

for speculative works ranging from 2,000-7,499 words

• Tantie Merle and the Farmhand 4200 – R.S.A. Garcia (Uncanny)
• Window Boy – Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld)
• A Witch’s Transition In The City Of Ghosts – Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
• Lips Like Sugar – Cynthia Gomez (Luna Station Quarterly)
• Thin Ice – Kemi Ashing-Giwa (Clarkesworld)

OUTSTANDING SPECULATIVE POETRY

• Helen after Helen – Rasha Abdulhadi (Apparition Lit Magazine)
• Imported Entry Into An Android Cosmos – Nwuguru Chidiebere Sullivan (FIYAH)
• Aborteras del Viejo Mundo | Aborting the Old World – Claudia Vaca, translated by Brittany Hause (Samovar) 
• Alternate Rooms – Nwuguru Chidiebere Sullivan (Nightmare)
• My Mother, she ate me – Akua Lezli Hope (FIYAH)

CRITICS AWARD

for reviews and analysis of the field of speculative literature

• Aigner Loren Wilson
• Alex Brown
• Archita Mittra
• Bookbaddiebri
• The Blerd Library

OUTSTANDING FICTION PODCAST

for excellence in audio performance and production for speculative fiction

• PodCastle – The Podcastle Team
• Old Gods of Appalachia – Steve Shell and Cam Collins
• Cast of Wonders – The CoW Team
• Simultaneous Times Podcast (Space Cowboy Books)
• Levar Burton Reads

OUTSTANDING ARTIST

for contributions in visual speculative storytelling

• Rovina Cai
• Cathy Kwan
• Paul Lewin
• Godwin Akpan
• Dante Luiz

OUTSTANDING COMICS TEAM

for comics, graphic novels, and sequential storytelling

• Whisper of the Woods – Ennun Ana Iurov (Mad Cave)
• Brooms – Jasmine Walls, Teo DuVall, Bex Glendining, Ariana Maher (Levine Querido)
• Mage and the Endless Unknown – S.J. Miller (Iron Circus Comics)
• Kill Your Darlings – Ethan S. Parker, Griffin Sheridan, Bob Quinn (Image Comics)
• Suee and the Strange White Light – Ginger Ly and Molly Park (Abrams Fanfare)

OUTSTANDING ANTHOLOGY/COLLECTED WORKS

• Never Whistle at Night – Shane Hawk, Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. (Vintage)
• Night of the Living Queers – Shelly Page and Alex Brown (Wednesday Books)
• No One Will Come Back for Us – Premee Mohamed (Undertow Publications)
• Out There Screaming – Jordan Peele, John Joseph Adams (Random House)
• Who Lost, I Found – Eden Royce (Broken Eye Books)

OUTSTANDING CREATIVE NONFICTION

for works related to the field of speculative fiction

• The H Word: The Fear Horror of Change – L. Marie Wood (Nightmare Magazine)
• The Magic is in the Roots: Cultural Reconnection Through Magical Realism – Lysz Flo (FIYAH)
• Symmetry, Horror, and Identity -Tania Chen (Apparition Lit)
• To Every Other Jobu Tupaki After Jamie Lee Curtis’s Oscar Win – Maya Gittelman (Reactor)
• The Substitute – Yi Izzy Yu (Unquiet Spirits)

THE EMBER AWARD

for unsung contributions to genre

• Sheree Renée Thomas
• DaVaun Sanders
• Kate Elliott
• Kwame Mbalia
• A.C. Wise

THE COMMUNITY AWARD

for Outstanding Efforts in Service of Inclusion and Equitable Practice in Genre

• Khōréō – The Khōréō Team

• Voodoonauts Summer Fellowship – Shingai Njeri Kagunda, Yvette Lisa Ndlovu, LP Kindred, Hugh “H.D” Hunter

• Stone Soup: Personal Canons Cookbook – Sarah Gailey

• Samovar Magazine – Laura Friis, Sarah Dodd and Greg West

• Awesome Black – Awesome Black Team

The short list is derived from 20 BIPOC+ voters made up of SFF community members and previous award winners, of varying genders, sexualities, cultures, disabilities, and locations throughout the world. They are referred to as the Ignyte Awards Committee. The kidlit categories (Young Adult and Middle Grade) each had an additional 5 judges from the age demographics ideally targeted by each of those categories. We thank those kids and their guardians for participation in this process. No active staff members of FIYAH Literary Magazine work with or administer the Ignyte Awards.

The Committee was not limited to selections authored or otherwise created by BIPOC. Public voting on the shortlist does not permit write-in nominations. Each year, we ask winners to be part of the subsequent year’s committee to ensure fresh perspectives and to help prevent repeated nominations of the same popular authors as recognized in many other genre awards. 

New Gladiator movie coming out and the chariot racing show on Peacock has me back in my Rome era lol, would love to hear recs! A lot of Roman inspired stuff I feel would normally fall under historical fiction but I’m a sucker for fantasy elements and would love to hear what y’all have to recommend 👀

I was looking at getting a Piranesi tattoo. I unfortunately discovered the cover art(which I do like) was just a shutterstock image. So I kind of wanted to identify the elements and recreate the image.

https://ibb.co/9c4dcSV

Is this a faun or a satyr? I've read fauns typically play a Pan flute, but the instrument it's holding looks more like a bugle or trumpet? And these are the legs of a goat, correct?

I wasn't sure where to inquire, I figured some heavy fantasy buffs could identify.

I would love some recommendations for books on the darker side of the spectrum. Some with morally grey characters who maybe question why they do what they do. I loved First Law and the standalones, loved the expanse, enjoyed the greenbone saga, enjoyed the ravens mark trilogy, the of ash and sand trilogy, everything by Michael Sullivan, the red rising series, project Hail Mary, the lies of Locke lamora, the black tongue thief and between two fires. Currently reading dungeon crawler carl and I just started the sword of kaigen. Controversially I did not care for the farseer trilogy, and I kinda struggled to get through the books of babel by Bancroft. I’m open to everything and would love to hear what you enjoy. Thank you in advance!

It's been bugging me for a year now. I couldn't put it but i have been very disinterested in Mistborn for a while. I used to care a lot about the world and it's future. And the way era 2 handled technological growth and magic was really good.

Anyway, the reason I lost interest is The lost metal. Ngl it was a phenomenal book but it introduced cosmere into the series. I loved all the new cosmere characters and magic. I was very excited to see them. But the biggest draw for me in Mistborn series was the world and I just hate how the last villain was another god from another planet ig. I don't know for sure but I think this is it.

Likeable as in not annoying. Doesn't necessarily have to be a good character, but still one not annoying.

I'm reading a book where MC is a good at heart person, but also is deeply cynical, suspicious, emotionally unstable and prone to anger induced violence. Borderline paranoid too. It's understandable why he is so, given the backstory. But still it makes him a tedious person to follow.

Hard for me to get further into the series given my inability to connect with the MC.

How important is likeability of MC to you all?

Hey all! I've got some travel coming up and would love to spend some of that airport time nose deep in a fantasy novel. I came here looking for some recommendations.

I'm certainly not a prolific reader. I am a bit slow and can get distracted easily. But once I get hooked on a book, I find it difficult to put down.

I am a huge fan of fantasy (mostly have enjoyed it via Cinema, video games, and some D&D).

Some of my favorites in the scope of fantasy:

• Lord of the Rings
• Dragon Age game series
• Elder Scrolls
• Dungeon and Daddies (D&D podcast)
• Baulders Gate game series
• The Witcher game series
• Eragon book Series
• Narnia book seriea
• Harry Potter (book and films)

I would love to hear what you all enjoy and see if there is a new series I can really get into!!

Thanks in advance!

Tl;Dr: got any fantasy novel suggestions?

I got a couple extra reviews on my last posting, so this one's only got three so I can get back on my intended schedule of five reviews per post. You can find my previous reviews for 2024 bingo here and here.

Horrorstör - Grady Hendrix

Prologues and Epilogues, Survival (HM)(YMMV), Eldritch Creatues (HM)(YMMV)

Horrorstör is a pretty straightforward haunted house tale set inside of a knockoff-IKEA furniture store. It’s a fairly breezy read that’s not great, not awful, just pretty squarely okay.

The corporate retail satire fell kinda flat for me. Maybe it’s because it feels less like satire than it does holding a mirror to reality now that we’re 10 years removed from the initial publication. The characters really didn’t get much time to develop (and didn’t really develop much at all in what time they did have). The plot itself was pretty standard haunted house fare. “It was fun” is probably my best praise for it.

A note about categories: I’m going to take this book as my survival square, even if some might argue “surviving the haunted house” doesn’t count because I think that’s a weak argument even if I foresee somebody thinking it. That said, I think there is a bigger argument to have about whether this book is Eldritch Creatures. Is a haunted furniture store eldritch (even if >!there is a more earthly ghost as the main villain!<)? I could see cases either way, so I’d leave it to you to decide for yourself.

The Atrocity Archives - Charles Stross

First in Series, Alliterative Title, Eldritch Creatures

The Atrocity Archives is the first book of The Laundry Files, a series about an agent of a secretive British government organization called The Laundry that deals with occult threats. Of course this being Charles Stross—who is notable for hard sci-fi and space opera—the occult threats are less wild magical fantasy and instead described with some serious sci-fi jargoning about advanced mathematics with the end result that “magic” is really just applied computation.

The universe here is a bit inspired by Lovecraft while not itself part of Lovecraft’s mythos. Lovecraft is a real figure in this universe who may himself have been onto something, but doesn’t quite have the full picture.

There are actually two stories in this volume: the titular “The Atrocity Archive” and “The Concrete Jungle.”

The first follows agent Bob Howard as he is assigned to protect an Irish professor (and >!his eventual love interest!<, “Mo” O’Brien, after she accidentally stumbles on some math that could disrupt reality and becomes a person of interest for a Middle Eastern terrorist group. The two find themselves tangled up in the aftermath of a Nazi scheme from WWII to get a leg up in the war that didn’t quite go right at the time but never fully got resolved.

The second story has Bob going out to Milton Keynes to investigate a case in which a cow has turned to stone, which naturally then sees Bob out on the hunt to find and stop the apparent gorgon (which, again, is spun up as the result of some applied mathematics). There’s a fun structure here where you get snippets of research logs of past scientists working on gorgonism and you get to learn how the study developed over time alongside the main plot of Bob’s investigation.

Both of these stories are fun little romps with elements of eldritch horror, jargony science fiction, spy thriller, and office humor. There’s a series continuity, but it’s absolutely a book you could pick up as a standalone if you wanted to and even the individual stories could be read individually without much trouble.

About my only complaint about this book was that—and I want to be clear that I’ve read some of his other stuff (Accelerando, Glasshouse, Rule 34) and fully knew what I was getting into on this front—it felt like the jargon in this one was sometimes a bit too dense. That said, just turn off your brain a little bit and don’t get too hung up on the details and you’ll have a great time. Stross still hasn’t let me down.

Streams of Silver - R. A. Salvatore

Alliterative Title, Under the Surface, Ciminals (YMMV), Prologues and Epilogues (HM), Multi-POV

This is the second book of the Icewind Dale trilogy, featuring fan-favorite character Drizzt Do’Urden. In this volume, the party sets out to help Bruenor Battlehammer find and reclaim his ancestral home of Mithral Hall. Meanwhile, Cattie-brie (another of the party who stayed behind) gets captured by the assassin Artemis Entreri, who is trying to follow the rest of the party in his hunt for Regis (a friend of the party who went with on their quest to find Mithral Hall) and take back Entreri’s master’s magical ruby.

Being published in 1989 and with all of the usual tropes and trappings of fantasy of that vintage, there isn’t much here that will be exciting to readers in 2024. It’s a serviceable action-heavy adventure story. I don’t really have anything bad to say about this book but I don’t have much particularly good to say either. It’s a product of it’s time, and that’s okay. The writing gets the job done and the plot is what it is. One highlight, given its era, is that it features both a female protagonist and a female antagonist, though I didn’t think said antagonist was particularly well fleshed-out (not that there was a whole lot of room for that with the number of antagonists and the length of the book overall).

So that's now 15/25 complete. I've only got two more specifically planned reads—R. F. Kuang's Babel and Brandon Sanderson's Wind and Truth (when it comes out)—so it's almost time to really lean into the recommendation threads. That said, if you've got any suggestions for the Dreams or Character with a Disability categories, I'd be glad to hear them. The rest of my remaining categories are the more open ones (like Judge a Book by its Cover and First in a Series). I have a preference for standalones since I've got a few series already in progress and don't hugely want to start a new one.

Hey guys,

After reading Sylvia Plath's novel, "The Bell Jar." I realized its a good introduction to literary fiction. It's 200 pages, accesible language, self-contained story.

I enjoyed A Wrinke in Time Fantasy. As well as Chronicles of Narnia just not looking for a big series. Only one novel an possible two sequels if needed.

I'd like to learn more about Fantasy subgenres also.

How would you characterize your favorite “perfect custom genre that unfortunately doesn't seem to have a name”?

As in:

“When I look at what I enjoy reading most, many of them seem to share the following properties. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be an established name for this.”

How would you name it?

What are some perfect examples? Books that come close, if it weren’t for x?

What are the established sub genres and labels that come closest, and how does yours differ?

I’m currently tumbling head first down a rabbit hole of fantasy mysteries after reading Robert Jackson Bennett’s The Tainted Cup earlier this year. I’m now 2/3 through his Divine Cities trilogy, and might also polish off the Founders Trilogy before the end of the year (we need to be talking about him more, he’s seriously underrated). I’m loving the twisty plots and fun, rich casts of characters he makes; Bennett has a talent for turning even one-off side characters into the most charming little weirdos you’ve ever met. And I’m especially liking how the plot vehicle of solving the mystery also teases out the worldbuilding at the same time- it makes the setting feel especially rich.

So now I’ve got the fantasy mystery fever, and I need more books! I’ve got Morgan Stang’s Lamplight Murder Mysteries series earmarked, but I don’t know a lot about it so I wouldn’t mind a sales pitch (or warning against). Other than that, I’m open to all sorts of suggestions.

TL;DR Review: A fun, fresh, and fast-paced urban fantasy with neurodivergent representation done right.  

https://preview.redd.it/ht8t55pjv2ed1.jpg?width=313&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7cc7f5075d6173b7fdbdb2dfac7556f3e45e50fc

Full Review:

Girl of Hearts takes us for one heck of a ride into the world of the Luck Gods, mortal beings given the powers over either good or bad luck.

The story is told through the perspective of Aggie, a brilliant science-minded high schooler who is working with her mom to develop some dark matter machine. When things inevitably go awry, the results are…infinitesimal at first, but quickly grow and draw her into an adventure with some truly insane-sounding people—including a very handsome “luck god”, Jack Valentine.

Aggie is soon swept up into the world of the luck gods, where each of the suits has a different ability—Hearts have power over romance, Diamonds have power over money and business, Clubs have power over war and violence, and Spades have power over death and disease. An ages-old war between the suits has continually decimated their ranks and kept them at odds. So it’s no surprise when Aggie, who draws the attention of the Hearts, finds herself hounded and attacked by Clubs.

I found this to be an absolutely delightful and wonderfully unique flavor of urban fantasy. The use of the card suits was something I’ve never read before, and it made for a very fun and fresh story.

There’s action and magic aplenty, some great characters of all shapes and sizes around Aggie, and enough intrigue to definitely keep me reading chapter after chapter (I devoured it in two sittings).

One of my favorite parts is the way neurodivergence is treated. Aggie has developed OCD following the death of her father, and from the beginning, you see how it controls every aspect of her life. It’s her safety mechanism to help her cope with the anxieties and uncertainties of a life filled with good and bad luck.

Inevitably, it’s something that will stop her from making full use of her abilities, and may even get in the way of her saving those she loves. So we follow along on her journey through understanding and coming to terms with her OCD, and channeling the feelings that have caused it to develop into something more productive. It doesn’t give a simple “wave your hand and it’s done” solution for OCD, doesn’t magic it away, but walks Aggie through her struggle with the disorder and finding an equilibrium with it.

Though the character was young, the story never strayed into YA territory, but kept up the danger and action all the way from start to its epic finish. Her development of combat abilities felt a bit rushed—she’s never held a weapon in her life in the beginning, and by the end, she’s dueling with swords and daggers—but it wasn’t done to an excessive degree.

All in all, Girl of Hearts was an excellent urban fantasy adventure that definitely sank its hooks into me and has me wanting to dive back in and read the rest of the series to see how it all plays out. The book ended with some excellent mysteries and promises that have me needed to see what comes next.  

I just read The rage of dragons. Do help me with few rec with :

War like scenario ( best if in a fantasy world but I am fine without ; by war I mean there is grim dark moments )

Morally good and powerful Mc ( power which is well deserved , it may be a progression as well ( weak to strong ) )

Emotional moments and healthy romance ●must● ( like a beacon of light in grim dark moments) .I would love if the romance is done well and there are good amount of it in novel.

Example: The rage of dragons, Faithful and the fallen ( very little romance)

The theme for August is Disability!

Please nominate works that fit the definition of the Bingo square for Character with Disability:

Character with Disability: Read a book in which a primary character has a physical or mental disability. HARD MODE: The main character has a physical or mental disability.

Nominations will run until tomorrow and then we will start the poll on the 24th. Please check back later to see if you want to upvote any newer nominations.

NOMINATION RULES

• Make sure the book is by an eligible author. A list of ineligible authors can be found here. We do not repeat any authors that we've read in the past year or accept nominations of books by any of the 20 most popular authors from our biennial Top Novels list.
• Include any Bingo squares you know your nomination will qualify for. Some of these may be difficult to know until you have read them (Multiverse, etc.), but any Bingo squares will be helpful. Here is the 2023 announcement for reference.
• Nominate one book per top comment. You can nominate more than 1 if you like, just put each nomination in a separate comment. The top 4-6 nominations will move forward to the voting stage.
• No self-promotion allowed. If outside vote stacking or promotion is discovered, a book will be disqualified automatically.

Final voting will be conducted via secret poll on our Goodreads group page. We will include a link to the poll as part of our "Vote for the Goodreads Book of the Month!" post after the nomination process is complete. Winners of polls are revealed a day or two after the Final Discussion of the current book selection.

Have fun with nominating! This is not meant to be homework assignments, but a fun exchange of thoughts and ideas as we read the book together. Also feel free to check out our Goodreads Shelf or Google Sheet for a full and updating list of all past selections of all book clubs!

So I recently finished the first law trilogy. Absolutely adored the first 2 books and didn't enjoy 3 as much..in fact upon finishing it I hated It. After a few days I have come to a slightly better opinion on it but still have issues. So I wanted to ask just how dark it is in comparison to his future books like Best Served Cold.

I'm normally able to handle and even enjoy dark fantasy stuff. Love jt a lot actually but this book pushed it too far. The scene I checked out of enjoying the book was the ending with Glokta, Terez and Jezal. I still hate this part of the boom.. I made the mistake of staying up late to finish the book and couldn't sleep until even later because the scene pissed me off. I hate everything about it. I hate how Jezal is unknowingly forcing himself upon a lesbian woman. I feel Absolutely awful for both people in this situation (which I have to admit, is good writing since Terez is absolutely insufferable everywhere else in the book).

Maybe I'm just not as desensitised to fucked up sexual stuff as I am violence

Maybe (More likely) it's because I was rooting for Jezal and Terez to come to SOME understanding and then discovered it was literally impossible for that to happen for obvious reasons. Especially since Jezal is clueless about the whole thing.

Maybe I was just tired of the book at that point and that was just the breaking point, because at that point Logen and Bayaz were the only parts I found compelling

Maybe it was all of them

So i want to know, using that as a baseline, would I probably hate best served cold and the age of madness?

Because I love Abercrombies writing style...but the ending really left me with a sour opinion on the book and makes me never wanna see any of the main characters again (Except Logen and Dogman. Still love them).

Anyone have any books preferably series with dragons? More so dragons with strong bonds with their humans. Watching house of dragon has got me wanting to read a good series where the dragons and their riders connect. Even if it’s not dragons just a good animal bonding book. Thanks in advance!

Looking for a book series of adult fantasy that has strong Middle Earth/LOTR vibes, more so like the movies, rather than the books. An adventure medieval fantasy with rich world building and dynamic adult characters and character development, heros battling a main baddie, magic and swords, other creatures like elves, dwarves and such, and obviously a good plot.

I have basically been binging all LOTR, movies, show, and have even been playing Journeys in Middle Earth board game and the Shadow of Mordor/War video games, but I want books too. I read the original series and I'm not a fan. They're very dry and honestly way to many songs for my liking 😅 Stuff like D&D doesn't quite scratch that itch, so asking around for recs.

I have heard some of these are similar and would like some second (third, fourth, fifth, etc) opinions if they really do feel something akin to Middle Earth.

Wheel of Time series

Shannara Chronicles

The Deed of Paksenarrion series

Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series

I am currently reading the Chronicles of Prydain and I absolutely love it, it feels very LOTR-like to me, but I'd rather have a series with adult characters.

Definitely NOTHING like GOT. Meaning I want fantasy without smut, sexual content/violence/incest. Gore, death, and other violence is fine. Also if there is sexual content that is briefly mentioned in their backstory or totally "off screen" , that is fine, I just don't wanna read graphic details of the act. (I was SA many times in my life by my father, mother and my ex, so it's very hard for me to read without getting triggered, even if the content is "romantic", I still can't read it) So if there is any type of this particular content, I'd appreciate if you could specify if it is on or off screen and what type it is (violent/non-violent/incest/etc)

Thank you all so much in advance! And I appreciate any empathy towards my triggers 💜

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 2024 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!

As we are limited to only two stickied threads on r/Fantasy at any given point, we ask that you please upvote this thread to help increase visibility!

This is the weekly r/Fantasy Show and Tell thread - the place to post all your cool spec fic related pics, artwork, and crafts. Whether it's your latest book haul, a cross stitch of your favorite character, a cosplay photo, or cool SFF related music, it all goes here. You can even post about projects you'd like to start but haven't yet.

The only craft not allowed here is writing which can instead be posted in our Writing Wednesday threads. If two days is too long to wait though, you can always try r/fantasywriters right now but please check their sub rules before posting.

Don't forget, there's also r/bookshelf and r/bookhaul you can crosspost your book pics to those subs as well.

In my case it would be the entire Realm of the Elderlings

I just finished listening to the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, and I enjoyed it very much. But there are some things I didn't understand and would really appreciate help with. If any of these are answered in later books, then I'll wait patiently.

• If Yeine could use the Stone when dead, why couldn't Enefa herself have used it when dead?
• How did the Stone get into Yeyne's body?
• How come none of the Enefadeh noticed that Viraine was possessed over 20 years? They saw it on Yeine within a minute or so.
• If Itempas is now mortal, how does that restore the balance?
• What did Zhakkarn do to Yeine's sigil and how did that help her?
• Why couldn't Sieh, Kurue or Zhakkarn use the Stone to free all of them?
• If the sigil protects from direct harm, how did Scimina kill Relad?

Thanks all. Looking forward to listening to the Broken Kingdoms next :)

Looking for recommendations for novellas and novelettes. Bitesize standalone fantasies to help me get my numbers up for this year! Short story collections are also welcome!

Not looking for stuff only available on ebook, I prefer having a thing to hold!

Happy to hear recs for other genres, but I feel scifi and horror are much easier genres to find shorter things in so I'm not as desperate for those...

Looking for books that focus on the war making, military organization, actual leadership and most importantly the main characters actually make smart decisions.

Also want as little super weapons as possible, sure there’s magic. But a it can’t wipe out an entire army. But if one army has magic and the other doesn’t, that heavily influences the battle.

I’ve read WOT Cosmere (in particular the stormlight archive) Codex alera His majesty’s dragon Eragon

Sci-fi wise I’ve read The lost fleet Forever war Vatta war Weapons of choice World war z First formic war Second formic war The expanse

I’m trying to balance out with some more fantasy. But I would also love some sci-fi recommendations. Prefer longer book series that can take months to read

I know I am not being very reasonable with this request. Yet, I was curious to know what Reddit can do. The thing I loved the most about Ursula is how she manages to deal with gender without diminishing or making characters one-dimensional.

Despite really enjoying the titles I mentioned, I felt somewhat bothered by how these authors wrote female characters. I do not look for a book with a strong female lead, necessarily, just for a fantasy book that is as fun to read as those, except it has a variety of human characters that I can cheer and follow, and not just men.

Thank you!