I’ve read the gods are bastards twice already and love the politics of it. There are some really clever insights into human behaviour that stand out to me. Would you recommend other series with this kind of flavour?

So when I was young (back in the early 00s) I remember seeing a book in my mother's room. I read the first book and it was a fantasy book about some sort of monsters or demons taking over the world. I just remember that it starts with a tribe of primitive people with spears basically fighting off the monsters/demons and as the story goes on they slowly start adding more people to their army as they continue walking across the land. The tribe doesn't have horses or bows and they eventually find a people who basically are really good with bows. And then find heavily armored people who march everywhere, and the starting people are not used to that cause they're used to running everywhere on their native plains and being forced to march every made them tired.

I know it's not a lot to go on, but I can't find the book anywhere and my mother is no longer here so any help finding this would be amazing. Thank you.

I love listening to audiobooks at work and I just finished with Raymond E Feist’s “Riftwar Cycle” My favorite part about the series was learning about what exactly made the magic work and how it was structured, along with the sheer size and complexity of the world building. Are there any other series where the magic system has a philosophical approach to it? If so please send them my way. Many thanks

Hey everyone! Christopher here to answer your questions. I'll do my best to get through as MANY OF THEM AS I CAN!

Last October, Random House released this gorgeous Deluxe Edition of Murtagh: https://www.getunderlined.com/article/fantasy-books-by-christopher-paolini/?ref=PRH6CDB05955074&aid=randohouseinc39359-20&linkid=PRH6CDB05955074 It has five new pieces of art, as well as a new chapter with Murtagh and Eragon at the back.

Also, this month, Wraithmarked Creative and I are running a kickstarter for a giant collectable statue of the dragon Saphira. So far, it's been going FANTASTICALLY well: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wraithmarked/saphira?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=wraithmarked&total_hits=29

https://preview.redd.it/h6a7c5he932e1.jpg?width=1360&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cd7431f6b06b672dd6bdeb69e46ffecd0e2f27d8

https://preview.redd.it/1b09cl5g932e1.jpg?width=1352&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d714931a3f9501f5eeacbe9ea4bf46a41a9a277c

Alright, enough shameless self-promotion! Let's answer some questions!

and it’s not working for me. I love a good YA fantasy series but the romance in A Court of Thorns and Roses gave me Twilight vibes set in fairyland. It was just good enough at the end to make me buy the second book and now I don’t want to ever pick it up. Before that I listened to Assasin’s Blade to set me up to read Throne of Glass that was gifted to me, but I developed a dislike for the main character and now can’t do it.

Please help me find a new series to sink into. I need characters that make me feel things. Think Enders Game, not Dune. ASOIAF, not LOTR. I loved the Kushiel’s Dart trilogy and what came after but can generally do without the erotica as it can be cringey and cliche. I’m listening to the first Mistborn book on audio but finding it a bit dull. The first Wheel of Time book wasn’t bad, so I may circle back, but I’m really in the mood to be swept away. When I was younger, some absolute favorites were Harry Potter and the Immortals series by Tamora Pierce. I love character development mixed with adventure (why I loved the Grishaverse) and I’m a sucker for high fantasy. I don’t feel well-read compared to a lot of people in this subreddit so I feel like I could really use your advice!

Welcome to today’s session of Season 3 of Short Fiction Book Club! Not sure what that means? No problem: here’s our FAQ explaining who we are, what we do, and when we do it. Mostly that’s talk about short fiction, on r/Fantasy, on Wednesdays. We’re glad you’re here!

#Today’s Session: Threads of Powers

Stitched to Skin Like Family Is by Nghi Vo (4,517 words, Uncanny Magazine)

My stitches laddered their way up the split seam, in and out one side, across, and then in and out the other. When you pulled the thread through, if you had done the job right, it closed the seam like it had never been torn at all.

The salesman kept glancing from me to the road and back again while I worked. I was mending a jacket, his good one, he had told me, handing it over. It draped heavy across my lap, the sleeve I wasn’t working on dangling down by my bare calf.

Braid Me A Howling Tongue by Maria Dong (9,909 words, Lightspeed Magazine)

When I was young, I used to fray apart my mother’s tales, seeking the threads of their structure. They were journeys, always, and marked by transition-places: doorway, gate, river. On the other side, someone offered the rules of this new environment. I liked the stories where these interpreters were animals or hags, though in my least favorite, it was a child with ragged clothes that admonished, that’s not the way things work here.

I understand. Understand that people bore easily, that stories must be pragmatic. No time to waste on the heroine, bumbling her way through years of figuring out the rules.
But this isn’t a story. There’s no interpreter for me when I arrive, and no quest to speak of.

A Superior Knot by Ash Huang (1,339 words, Lightspeed Magazine)

Do it. The last words she spoke before we cinched the green ribbon around her neck, a stark line bisecting her head from her body, a scrap we’d buried to gather magic under the mother tree. We tied the final knot. She took up her sword, a girl become death, the edge of her blade fine enough to cleave three dimensions into one.

Upcoming Sessions

Our Monthly Discussion Thread is usually the last Wednesday of the month, but because of so many people traveling for American Thanksgiving, we’ll open it up on Tuesday, November 26. It’ll still be there on Wednesday, we just want to give people a little more flexibility. For our next full session, I’ll turn it over to u/tarvolon:

The sci-fi/fantasy short fiction fandom has a tendency to focus on the same handful of venues—for example, the Hugo finalists list for Best Semiprozine hasn’t had more than one change from the previous year in 2019—and while Short Fiction Book Club has tried to vary our reading, we certainly still have our favorites (consider: we’ve read 12 Clarkesworld stories in 2.5 years). So when we find a particularly impressive new-to-us venue, we’re particularly excited for the opportunity to put it in the spotlight. Right now, that is Reckoning, an annual magazine of creative writing on themes related to environmental justice.

I have selected what I am confident are three excellent short stories from this year’s edition, but Reckoning also publishes speculative poetry, and while SFBC doesn’t have many poetry aficionados among our leadership, I’m pulling in u/Dsnake1 as a co-leader for this session, where we discuss a selection of prose and poetry in Reckoning 8.

On Wednesday, December 4, our Reckoning 8 Spotlight will feature the following:

Within the Seed Lives the Fruit by Leah Andelsmith (6600 words)

Morning dawns and Lou has exactly nothing left to give. She goes out to the garden anyway because that’s the way she was taught, and she waters as the heavy hose drags behind her and threatens to knock down tomato plants or flatten the sweet potatoes. Between her tee shirt sleeves and leather work gloves are bare brown forearms and dark elbows. Her short Afro is salt and pepper all over, except at the temples, where it has begun to come in white. Her knees creak as she hefts the hose, and she stops for a moment to wipe sweat from her brow. That’s when she notices the mint. The bindweed is wrapped around the stalk.

A Move to a New Country by Dan Musgrave (6800 words)

The 𐓏𐓘𐓓𐓘𐓓𐓟 were a sky people first before we came down to the Earth to begin a new life. One dawn, a week before 𐒻𐒼𐓂 went into the hospital, we faced east and watched a pillar of white smoke reach up into the stratosphere. The rocket was carrying some of us up to become sky people again. If 𐒻𐒼𐓂 had her way, she would be standing right here in two months watching me make the same trip.

The Last Great Repair Tech of the American Midwest by Ellis Nye (1800 words)

It is with sorrow that this paper announces the passing of one of our town’s greatest treasures, Wendy “Darling” Marszałek. She died on August 18th, 2081, in her early eighties. Contrary to her frequent predictions, she did not die “crushed under a pile of old tech”; she went peacefully, in her sleep, at her home here in Adden, MO, just a few miles from where she was born. I’m afraid I don’t know her exact birth date, since she never told it to me, and there’s no one else to ask. I only know that she was born here in town because she pointed the old hospital building out to me once, when she was giving me a tour of Adden. (She was shocked that no one had done so right when I moved in, and never seemed to understand that it was because there wasn’t much of the town to tour.)

A quick word from u/Dsnake1 about the poetry selections:

I believe these are three of the better, more speculative poems Reckoning 8 offers. That being said, it's a bit of a balance. For example, the third poem isn’t all that speculative, but it sure did strike a note with me. There is some great poetry published in the issue that I didn't choose to feature here, so if you like what you read, I'd definitely recommend browsing through the rest of their poetry offerings. They're all fairly short poems, but oh boy, do some pack a punch.

That Time My Grandfather Got Lost in the Translations of the Word ‘Death’ by Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe

50% off Venus Fly Traps by Kelsey Day

fear of pipes and shallow water by William O. Balmer

And now, onto today’s discussion! Spoilers are not tagged, but each story has its own thread. I’ve put a few prompts in the comments, but feel free to add your own if you’d like to!

I'm hoping someone can help me find some different fantasy/syfy vigilante or whistleblower books. Obviously, Batman would work but I'm hoping for a few more with some variety.

Looking for a good fantasy series that has some cool themes and ideas as well as well written characters and worlds

This is their holiday offer, and it works for former subscribers too. My subscription expired in July and I’m eligible for the offer. I’m happy to accept it as I was planning to renew anyway. Time for some audio fantasy binge.

Hi all!

Hope you're all having a good one!

So, as you can see, I am completely in love with Rosamund Pike's WOT narration. Her performance absolutely blew me away. She goes 110%. Her ability to bring characters to life with distinct voices, emotional depth, and a sense of intimacy made the story unforgettable.

I'm now physically reading WOT from book 5 onwards as I don't like Kramer and Reading (no hate to them, but Pike just hit the spot for me when it comes to high fantasy and I still hear her renditions of the characters as I physically read them. I can hear her voice for Mat and Perrin especially lmao).

So basically, I’m looking for audiobook recommendations with narrators who can deliver a similarly high-quality performance in fantasy as I want to listen to another fantasy/sci-fi series alongside my physical reading of the wheel of time series :

• Single Narrators who can voice multiple characters convincingly.
• Emotional range and engagement—I want a narrator who really makes you feel what you are listening to rather than just reading aloud.
• Fantasy preferred, but I’m open to other genres if the performance is exceptional. Sci-fi/horror/mystery can do as well.
• Duo narrators or full-cast productions are fine, as long as they’re on par with Rosamund Pike’s skill.

I’m interested in examples of spells from fiction (or life, if an actual example springs to mind) that have a compelling spoken component. The effect of the spell can be anything, but I’d love to read your favorite examples of specifically magic words. This can include a Harry Potter style “wingardium leviosa” type spell if one of those really calls out to you, but I’m more looking for things like the Weird Sisters’ speech in Macbeth (“Double double, toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble”) or Schmendrick’s cry of, “Magic, do as you will!” from The Last Unicorn. I love seeing how different authors conceptualize words of power, and I especially love instances where you can almost feel the power inherent in the phrases themselves. Anything you come up with will be much appreciated

It's time to vote for the December 2024 Book of the Month. The poll is open until November 26, 2024 11:59PM PDT. If you are not a member of our Goodreads Group, you will need to join. You can connect with more members and check out what they are reading!

Also, be sure to check out this year's 2024 Bingo card.

Our nominees are....

Foul Days by Genoveve Dimova

The Witcher meets Naomi Novik in this fast-paced fantasy rooted in Slavic folklore, from an assured new voice in genre

As a witch in the walled city of Chernograd, Kosara has plenty of practice taming rusalkas, fighting kikimoras, and brewing lycanthrope repellent. There’s only one monster Kosara can’t defeat: her ex the Zmey, known as the Tsar of Monsters. She’s defied him one too many times, and now he’s hunting her. Betrayed to him by someone close to her, Kosara’s only hope is to trade her shadow―the source of her powers―for illegal passage across the Wall to Belograd, where monsters can’t follow.

Life in Belograd should be sweet, but Kosara soon develops a fast-acting version of the deadly wasting sickness that stalks shadowless witches―and only reclaiming her magic can cure her. To trace her shadow, she’ll have to team up with the suspiciously honorable detective investigating the death of the smuggler who brought her across the Wall.

Even worse than working with the cops is that all the clues point in a single direction: one of the Zmey’s monsters has found a crack in the Wall, and Kosara’s magic is now in the Zmey’s hands.

The clock is ticking, the hunt is on, and Kosara’s priorities should be clear―but is she the hunter or the hunted? And in a city where everyone is out for themselves, who can Kosara trust to assist her in outwitting the man―the Monster―she’s never been able to escape alone?

Counts for: published in 2024 (HM)

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people. Thankfully, as a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she and her assistant, Caz—a magically sentient spider plant—have spent the last decade sequestered among the empire’s most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city’s elite.

When a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames, she and Caz flee with all the spellbooks they can carry and head to a remote island Kiela never thought she’d see again: her childhood home. Taking refuge there, Kiela discovers, much to her dismay, a nosy—and very handsome—neighbor who can’t take a hint and keeps showing up day after day to make sure she’s fed and to help fix up her new home.

In need of income, Kiela identifies something that even the bakery in town doesn’t have: jam. With the help of an old recipe book her parents left her and a bit of illegal magic, her cottage garden is soon covered in ripe berries.

But magic can do more than make life a little sweeter, so Kiela risks the consequences of using unsanctioned spells and opens the island’s first-ever and much needed secret spellshop.

Like a Hallmark rom-com full of mythical creatures and fueled by cinnamon rolls and magic, The Spellshop will heal your heart and feed your soul.

Counts for: published in 2024, romantasy

The Last Hour Between Worlds by Melissa Caruso

A whip-smart adventure fantasy packed with rival guilds, reality-bending magic, and sapphic pining, The Last Hour Between Worlds is the brilliant launch of a new series from David Gemmell Award-nominated author, Melissa Caruso.

Kembral Thorne is spending a few hours away from her newborn, and she's determined to enjoy herself at this party no matter what. But when the guests start dropping dead, Kem has no choice but to get to work. She is a Hound, after all, and she can't help picking up the scent of trouble. 

She’s not the only one. Her professional and personal nemesis, notorious burglar Rika Nonesuch, is on the prowl. They quickly identify what’s causing the a mysterious grandfather clock that sends them down an Echo every time it chimes. In each strange new layer of reality, time resets and a sinister figure appears to perform a blood-soaked ritual. 

As Kem and Rika fall into increasingly macabre versions of their city, they’ll need to rely on their wits—and each other—to unravel the secret of the clock and save their home. 

Counts for: First in a Series, Dreams, Published in 2024, Survival (HM)

The Garden of Delights by Amal Singh

In the city of Sirvassa, where petals are currency and flowers are magic, the Caretaker tends to the Garden of Delights. He imparts temporary magical abilities to the citizens of Sirvassa, while battling a curse of eternal old age. No Delight could uplift his curse, and so he must seek out a mythical figure. A god. When a Delight allows a young girl an ability to change reality, the Caretaker believes he’s at the end of his search. But soon a magical rot takes root in his Garden, and the Caretaker must join forces with the girl and stop it from spreading. Even as he battles a different rot that plagues Sirvassa, he learns that Delights are always a precursor to Sorrows.

Counts for: published in 2024 (HM), Author of Color (HM)

Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis

Welcome to the Grand Abeona Hotel: home of the finest food, the sweetest service, and the very best views the galaxy has to offer. All year round it moves from planet to planet, system to system, pampering guests across the furthest reaches of the milky way. The last word in sub-orbital luxury—and an absolute magnet for intrigue. Intrigues such as: Why are there love poems in the lobby inbox? How many Imperial spies are currently on board? What is the true purpose of the Problem Solver's conference? And perhaps most pertinently—who is driving the ship?

Each guest has a secret, every member of staff a universe unto themselves. At the center of these interweaving lives and interlocking mysteries stands Carl, one time stowaway, longtime manager, devoted caretaker to the hotel. It's the love of his life and the only place he's ever called home. But as forces beyond Carl's comprehension converge on the Abeona, he has to face one final question: when is it time to let go?

Counts for: published in 2024 (HM)

After the poll is complete, we will ask for a volunteer to lead discussions for the winning book or you can volunteer now for a specific one. Head on over to Goodreads to vote in the poll.

Hey everyone! This is an eARC review of JS Gold’s debut novel The Sanhedrin Chronicles, just released this November 19, 2024 via Histria Books. I received an advance digital copy of the book in exchange for posting my review.

The Sanhedrin Chronicles book cover depicts a man with his back to the viewer wearing a prayer shawl and wielding a large sword and a horn. He faces the mythical Tree of Life which is lit up in a glowing, neon rainbow of colors.

TLDR: Action-packed and engrossing, this novel is a solid, if typical, fantasy adventure with a powerful emotional core and strong exploration of the theme of reclaiming one’s identity and heritage. As a debut novel, it is definitely not perfect—it can feel cheesy and on-the-nose at times—but is genuinely an exciting, fun reading experience. If you are looking for a contemporary “hero’s journey” or “Chosen One” story that also grapples with deeper emotional and cultural themes, you may like this one.

Recommended for: Readers looking for a fast-paced and familiar action-adventure urban fantasy story; readers who appreciate highly cultural settings and themes; immigrants and third-culture kids, especially from marginalized identities and/or former colonized nations

2024 Bingo squares: Published in 2024 (HM), Multiple POVs (2 main POVs and some others scattered in), First In A Series (projected)

And now onto a more detailed review…

Marketed as “a modern fantasy where ancient Hebrew mysticism comes alive on the streets of New York,” The Sanhedrin Chronicles is in many ways your typical urban fantasy “Chosen One” story: a newly-orphaned young adult steps into a hitherto-unknown magical world, must keep their new powers secret, discovers they have a unique grand destiny, and fights battles against forces of darkness and evil, growing in their abilities and gaining powerful allies (and special artifacts) along the way. 

What The Sanhedrin Chronicles brings to the loaded table of “Chosen One” adventures is a plot that marries this admittedly common outline with a truly compelling emotional core: the reclamation of one’s heritage and identity, on one’s own terms—not just blindly following or thoughtlessly rebelling against tradition, but deciding how one reckons with and lives out one’s culture, even when it has been a source of pain and betrayal. 

Arthur Rose (born Aaron Rose) hates his Jewishness, in no small part because of his Hasidic Jewish father who neglected and abandoned him. This father also just happens to be a member of “the Sanhedrin,” a secret order of Jewish magicians and sages who protect the world from demons and uphold balance and justice with ancient Hebrew magic (you know this drill). We meet Arthur as a 21-year-old college student who tries as much as possible to pretend his Jewish heritage doesn’t exist. He clothes himself in symbols of WASP heroism—renaming himself after King Arthur, often seen wearing Captain America T-shirts—openly glorifies pretty much every mythology aside from his own (Greek, Norse, Welsh, even Japanese), and pointedly expresses himself in secular pop-culture references. 

When his father Schlomo is killed in action protecting the Tzohar Stone (here’s our MacGuffin, a blessed crystal with healing abilities, rumored to even be able to resurrect the dead) from the demon Igrat (this book’s Big Bad), Arthur’s latent powers reawaken. He must be inducted into the Sanhedrin and claim his destiny. This is at odds with Arthur’s staunch belief that Jewish people are inherently… the losers of history. Never heroes, always victims. His inferiority complex is a major focus of his character arc, and is brought into stark relief when his present is juxtaposed with truly emotionally hard-hitting flashbacks to his childhood, especially of his absent father, more devoted to the Sanhedrin than his family, and the murder of his mother in an anti-Semitic hate crime. Throughout the novel, he struggles with understanding what it means to be Jewish—not just as Sanhedrin, but for him specifically—and to overcome his impulses to latch onto other mythologies out of internalized shame, or lash out in violent revenge against those who meet him and his people with unjust hatred. 

The novel shines in the exploration of this theme of identity and heritage. Arthur has a foil in the character Rifka—one of our antagonists, she summons the demon Igrat and kills Arthur’s father on a mission to take the Tzohar Stone and use it to resurrect her dead husband, who died in an exorcism conducted by the Sanhedrin. Rifka has been burned by her extremely traditional Jewish community due to her and her husband’s infertility, and bears a deep grudge against the Sanhedrin in particular for his death. Like Arthur, she rejects her heritage and faith out of pain and betrayal, but finds this a self-destructive path and must grapple with whether she will truly see it through. Another foil is Tzvi, a Hasidic teenager and Sanhedrin-in-training, who is beginning to take interest in the secular world—he and Arthur serve as each other’s tutors in this regard, each learning from the other and helping blend their two cultures. 

I was impressed by the novel’s dedication to a diversity and complexity of Jewish experiences. Its message seems to be that the “right” way to be Jewish is mostly about looking at Jewish history and culture with clear eyes, and deciding how to authentically live out your birthright—whether ultra-traditional or secular, dyed in the wool or a prodigal child, black, white, Latino, Asian, and everything in between. 

From a craft perspective, the book does have strengths and weaknesses. Like many debut novels, it is quite derivative and a little tacky in terms of the use of a fantasy setting and conventions. There seems to be a clear Severus Snape expy, down to having greasy black hair and hating our protagonist due to a grudge against his father. There is a plot twist at the end that takes Arthur from Chosen One to Extremely Special Chosen One, which didn’t really add anything to the story and felt just a bit eyeroll-inducing. The writing betrays some hallmarks of the male gaze—women’s bodies are commented on a bit more than men’s, and their plotlines tend to revolve around boyfriends and husbands. And while I praise the novel’s commitment to its theme, it is VERY heavy-handed and repetitive about Arthur’s fraught relationship with his heritage, hammering the message constantly and having Arthur quip about it long after the point has been made. On that note, I also spent the entire novel really, really hoping we wouldn’t put a bow on Arthur’s character arc with the extremely cheesy note of Arthur deciding to go back to using his birth (and much more Hebrew) name, Aaron… of course, that’s exactly what we did. 

On the other hand, the novel is genuinely thrilling and action-packed, while at the same time not losing sight of its strong thematic core. The climax of the book definitely swept me up and took my breath away; I found myself cheering and exclaiming out loud while reading. The prose as a whole is also highly readable, with a distinct tone—vivid and poignant, but with a bit of bite, slightly reminiscent of Stephen King. Arthur’s personality and emotions clearly come through in his point of view; this is one of the few novels where I felt the pop culture references didn’t cheapen the prose and instead made thematic sense with Arthur’s story. On the whole, I found this a very promising debut novel, and a solid entry into the urban fantasy genre, with perhaps more depth than one might initially expect.

This ended up getting really long, so if you made it to the end, thanks so much for reading.

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!

The weekly Writing Wednesday thread is the place to ask questions about writing. Wanna run an idea past someone? Looking for a beta reader? Have a question about publishing your first book? Need worldbuilding advice? This is the place for all those questions and more.

Self-promo rules still apply to authors' interactions on r/fantasy. Questions about writing advice that are posted as self posts outside of this thread will still be removed under our off-topic policy.

Can anyone recommend some urban fantasy books with a similar feel to David R Slayton's Adam Binder series?

I really loved the modern setting, complex characters/character relationships, and down to earth tone. The problem I'm having is that the series has a m/m romance and LGBTQ themes, so when I try to find similar books, all the recommendations are heavier on the romance than the fantasy. Hope this makes sense.

So, I'd really like:

• urban fantasy
• well developed characters
• complicated relationships- romance or otherwise, same sex or straight are both fine
• low brow(ish) tone

Thanks for any suggestions!

Eta- Wow, so many great suggestions! I'll have to check these when I get home from work today.

I'm about to be heading a Shared Reading group in prison. What are some thoughtful speculative fiction short stories you know of, that are preferably 6 pages or less?

Bonus if they've been translated into Swedish.

Tough task, but I trust in you!

Lately I've been really into mythopoeia, A created or fictionalized mythology.

(I just learned the word 'mythopoeia' from wikipedia to writing this post.)

Here's a list of authors I've read recently.

• J. R. R. Tolkien
• Robert E. Howard
• Lord Dunsany
• Clark Ashton Smith(I've never read his work before, but it's now my favorite on this list, and Weird Tales)
• William Blake

I loved anthropology and mythology, and now hooked on this genre. Are there any authors you would like to recommend? If so, please introduce to me.

Hello, I just finished reading The Games Gods Play and absolutely loved it. One aspect I particularly enjoyed was how Hades wasn't depicted as a typical evil villain, as he often is in other stories. While he didn’t necessarily get along with the other gods, he had a close-knit found family, which added depth to his character.

His relationship with the MFC embodied the “soft for her, burn the world down for her” trope, which I adored. Beneath his exterior, Hades was portrayed as empathetic and almost gentle—qualities that the MFC truly saw and appreciated.

I’m looking for book recommendations where Hades is a misunderstood character and the main love interest. Bonus points if the story includes more than just romance! I loved how The Games Gods Play included trials and challenges that enhanced the romance rather than focusing solely on the relationship.

Pretentious, I am aware, but I feel like a fantasy setting especially something based around forests, mountains and the occasional village is the perfect background for a lonely and reflective adventure. Some of the videos in the YouTube world building series tales of tumien is the closest I've found to this idea.

Just finished the Cursed Legacies books 1-3 in two days. Did NOT know there was a fourth that’s not out for another SIX MONTHS and it ended on a terrible cliffhanger so I need something new to keep my mind off it.

Would love some recs for completed (or if not, it has to be epic to make up for me waiting for the sequels) fantasy novels with the typical: strong FL/obsessed ML (doesn’t have to be love at first sight) story to keep me on my toes but not unnecessarily filled with a million annoying characters and deaths

I’ve read and loved all of Sarah J Maas’ series, and one of my favorite novels is Mortal Fates by J Bree. Only the first book though bc the second was a mess but man that first book was insane. Usually not into slow burn but that first book was a masterpiece.

I think I realized an odd aspect I like is if the FL has been through insane trauma in the past and is on a healing journey… OR she has a crazy secret identity that’s revealed later on.

Any suggestions would be really really appreciated thank you!!! 😊

Reference for books already read: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/171241230?shelf=read&sort=date_updated&order=d

What I’ve listened to recently: The Red Rising, Bobbiverse series. Loved both – obviously very different themes between them. And the muderbot series – didn’t enjoy the story as much with these but had bits of great humour which made the books an enjoyable listen none the less.

What I’ve read recently: The Mistborn trilogy and the Stormlight archives. Much proffered the stormlight archives, really struggled to get past book two of the trilogy but managed eventually. Didn’t quite understand the hype for it personally. Also finished (what I can - bloody rothfuss) of the king killer chronicles and absolutely adored them.

What I’ve ordered and am waiting for to arrive: The sword of Kaigen, the Will of the Many and the Bloodsworn saga, I’m tempted to follow these up with the first few Wheel of Time books, but I want to do those once I’ve finished these.

What I need from you kind souls, is something to sink my teeth into in the meantime. I’m aware of the commitment I’ve got arriving, with my upcoming arrivals, but for context I read the first two stormlight archive books in less than a week and not having something right now, preferably to listen to, is killing me.

So after all that, audible recommendations anyone? Preferably sci-fi or fantasy. Thanks in advance!

So I really like the aesthetic of Horns poking through a cloak's hood (examples being the Horned King and The Lich). But I am only now just thinking, how does someone with horns or antlers put on and take off a hood? Like sure you could just poke holes in, but there's a certain point where the size of the holes would be greater than the hood so you just wouldn't have one, or it would just be annoying to get on and off. So I come asking this question if anyone has any answers and or examples from media. I hope everyone who reads this have a great rest of your day or night. Thank you for your time.

Hi everyone. Just wondering if there's any books out there where the MC goes on a journey, something like LOTR style but it's for adults, bit of erotic in it!

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for fantasy books that are "halal" in the sense that they avoid explicit content like sex and heavy romance, as well as the use of curse words. To clarify, I’m not necessarily looking for Islamic-themed books—just ones that are clean and focus more on the story, world-building, and adventure.

I’m specifically looking for adult fantasy, not children’s or YA. Think along the lines of Brandon Sanderson—complex worlds, compelling characters, and engaging plots without explicit material.

Any recommendations? Thanks in advance!

I want to name my fluffy black kitty after a fantasy character. I was considering Phedre, but then how do I explain when people ask where it came from? The series would definitely raise a few eyebrows.

Any suggestions?

Hello, since Arcane is currently coming out, my love for sisterly bonds is again at a high point. I also love that dynamic in general, so I wanted to ask for recommendations.

Some details for what I'm looking for:

I want a relationship between two sisters only, no other siblings. They can be blood-related or it can be found family. I'm also okay with a slightly more mother-daughter dynamic if the age difference is significant.

I want both sisters to be either center points or at least important to the story. I want to see them interacting on screen, so many books including sisters have one of them either mentioned once or twice or have them say like three sentences.

I'm alright with a double POV or a singular POV, I'm also fine with other characters also being main characters. I'm also okay with only one sister being a main character while there are other different mcs.

I don't want the sisters to dislike each other or be enemies. They can have some difficulties, but I want them to geniuenly love each other at the least.

Other relationship types with different characters, either romance or friendship or a different found family dynamic are all accepted. The book doesn't have to have the sisters as the main plot, just an important part is enough.

I mostly want book recommendations, but if there's a tv show or a movie that you think fits the description, I'll take it too.

Thank you all!

Context: I have Amazon Music Unlimited and AMU just added audible 1 book per month "rentals", so I'm wanting to start taking advantage of this new feature.

We all love fantasy, so I'm not necessarily asking for your favorite fantasy book/series. What I'm asking for is the best fantasy books/series specifically to listen to in audiobook format vs reading, in a work environment where my attention span might not be the best.

Some fantasy books may be a 10/10, but does that mean they translate well to listening to via audiobook? Maybe the narrator chosen for the audiobook is subpar. Maybe the way the book reads is clunky to "listen to" rather than reading physically. Maybe the prose of the book is written in a way that requires you backtrack certain pages to make sense of what's going on vs being able to plow forward trusting the author's prose.

With all these considerations, I'm looking for popular fantasy books/series that are known to have exceptional audiobook experiences, possibly even worthy of substituting the physical book entirely. One last contention point: I am planning to listen while working (office), so my attention span might be much thinner than normal, meaning the author's prose must be such that I can possibly gloss over paragraphs at half attention span but still be able keep up and know exactly what's going on.

Book series I'm considering:
Kingkiller Chronicle
Dresden Files
First Law
Wheel of Time (maybe I'll finally actually finish this damn series this way lol)
Night Angel or Lightbringer series
Gentleman Bastard
The Black Company

I'm looking for a list of good books with some kind of wizard or magic user as a main character.

Obviously Earthsea.

Also Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit, The Last Unicorn, The Lankhmar series, Dragonlance (at least the first two series with Raistlin), The Sword in the Stone and Elric.

What else do you have? Recommendations for books with characters who use magic in more non-traditional ways but I'm not really interested in stuff featuring charlatans or characters who don't have a major role in the plot (like The Wizard of Oz).

Got a couple of audible credits and I'm not sure what to grab. Haven't really found anything that grabbed me quite like Kings of the Wyld and Red Rising.

A friend of mine recently asked what I want with Fantasy, and I've no idea. I've been a picky reader, I suppose. I like rogues and such, I guess. And I'm always into an adventure, of course. Lord of the Rings is a classic. But so far I've only ever really loved the aforementioned two books along with the Intern's Handbook. I've read Locke Lamora and felt like I should love it, but I can't say I did. Don't recall I finished In the Name of the Wind. And while Red Rising and the Intern aren't fantasy, I'm mostly looking for fantasy.

I honestly don't know what I want. But like... I prefer a male MC. I like some romance, witty banter and fun adventure. All that good stuff, I guess? Not very helpful, I know. And I'm sorry about that. I just don't really know what I want.