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r/Fantasy is the internet's largest discussion forum for the greater Speculative Fiction genre. Fans of fantasy, science fiction, horror, alt history, and more can all find a home with us. We welcome respectful dialogue related to speculative fiction in literature, games, film, and the wider world. We ask all users help us create a welcoming environment by reporting posts/comments that do not follow the subreddit rules.
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/r/Fantasy
I am now reading the comics of Firebreather but I remember really enjoying the cartoon movie when I was a teenager. I was 18 when it came on Cartoon Network. I wish they'd remake something like this with modern animation instead of yet another Harry Potter thingamajig.
Duncan's father being a kaiju (dragon if you ask me) and Belloq wanting his son to kill so as to succeed him is the same premise as Nolan and Mark in Invincible, except for a firebreathing monster, Belloq is a better father than Nolan. At least Belloq didn't use Duncan's face to fight a train. Anyway, are there more sff properties like this where the child has to take over from their parents but their parents are actually the bad guys.
With Harry Potter being talked about everywhere again, I thought it'd be a good time to call out some other books that scratch a similar itch while also openly incorporating diverse characters.
Most of these books skew a little older in their target than the early Harry Potter books -- they're all YA, rather than middle grade, so they might not be as good for kids who are just starting. For that sort of thing, Percy Jackson is probably a good fit, but that already has a ton of followers and doesn't need to be talked about here.
I'm also not going to talk about The Magicians, which is often pitched as "Harry Potter for adults", because it's a dark deconstruction of Harry Potter and Narnia, and I don't think it actually appeals to the same kind of feelings that HP did.
Instead, three self-pubbed magical school stories, all of which include LGBT characters and some Harry Potter style elements.
One of the darlings of the progression fantasy genre, Mage Errant is a completed series following Hugh of Emberlain, a boy who appears to have a magical disability at first, gets bullied a bunch, and eventually learns his disability is (surprise) something that could make him super overpowered if used correctly. And it does.
Overlaps with HP in terms of things like the MC being an abused kid, magical school environment, small band of kids as the protags, etc.
Magic is very different -- everyone gets certain magic affinities, which range from common like fire to incredibly niche and terrifying. Don't mess around with glass mages.
Some selling points:
Possible downsides:
One of the older heavy hitters in progression fantasy, Arcane Ascension follows Corin Cadence as he attempts to learn magic as a means of saving his brother, who disappeared in a magic tower years earlier.
Selling Points:
Possible downsides:
A clear successor to the above stories, with some other inspirations in play like Cradle.
Possible downsides:
Mother of Learning is another good replacement for HP, and arguably closer to HP's magical school style, but I don't think it has any LGBT rep that I remember.
As an added bonus, I also recommend Iron Prince as something that feels like a battle school story ala Ender's Game, but without the author issues. Definitely not as morally complex as Ender's saga, but if you want something that feels like the enemy's gate is down, it might scratch that itch.
Review originally on JamReads
The Last Phi Hunter is a standalone dark fantasy novel, inspired by Thai folklore, written by Salinee Goldenberg (her debut as author), and published by Angry Robot Books. With an intriguing and rich setting, we will be following Ex, a phi hunter who is obsessed with taking down the legendary demon Shar-Ala, in a story that will not be shy of well written action scenes (I absolutely loved the Monster Hunter feeling of those) and characters that will leave us with a long lasting impression.
Despite Ex being a lone wolf in his phi hunter job, a profession that is losing the prestige in the Suriyam Kingdom, after he's saved from being ass-kicked in a provincial village by Arinya, a muay-boran champion who was nine months pregnant, he doesn't have an alternative but to repay the favour by escorting her through the forest, protecting her from the spirits that crave the unborn scents. However, Ex's mission won't finish after that, as Arinya's secrets will take him in a new quest protecting her and that will take him even closer to the prey he was persecuting for years; danger won't only come from demons, but also from the humans that are chasing Arinya.
Ex is an excellent main character, full of nuances, and who evolves as long as the plot is unraveled; he starts as a lone demon hunter, young enough to be impulsive and energetic, but with enough world view to understand the bigger world around him. He's trapped inside his own loneliness cocoon, one that is slowly melted by Arinya's presence, showing him some aspect of the world he didn't take into account. He also has a sort of companion, the Hound, whose interactions with are quite funny, but still full of heart even if their bond is meant to be temporal during the hunt.
Arinya's character complements well with Ex, even if that leads us to many confrontation times, and some actually snarky interchanges between both; she's key for Ex's development, and despite I feel the romance elements can be a bit too abrupt, I actually enjoyed how it is blended into the plot. She's strong and has enough agency by herself; a part of her is similar to Ex, and probably that's why I feel the chemistry between her and Ex to be natural.
While this story is focused on our duo, Goldenberg has an ability to give us colourful characters, whose sub-arcs manage to hook us; Narissa's arc of redemption even when that means pain is just masterful, as an example.
We can't forget about the worldbuilding, because the blend between Thai folklore and the own author's imagination gives us a rich and stunning setting, with its own mythology, deep enough to charm us, but not overwhelming, as we only are presented a few of the vast pantheon that seems to exist. Outside of those fantastical elements, we also have a healthy dose of historical inspiration, transporting us to a rather unexplored in fiction period.
I can't end this review without talking about the own hunting scenes, which are usually led by a certain amount of preparation, in the style of what we could see in Monster Hunter or The Witcher; the demons are still formidable preys, making of the own hunt simply spectacular (and partly because the weapon of choice of Ex is also quite interesting). Goldenberg's descriptive style does an excellent job of picturing them in a really cinematic and colourful way.
The Last Phi Hunter is an excellent fantasy novel; it will be enjoyed for those that wanted a different and stunning worldbuilding, but also for those that are looking for memorable characters which leave an everlasting impression. It is difficult to believe this to be Goldenberg's debut, and hopefully, this won't be the last novel we have with Suriyam as setting!
For me Rairya Revelations is at the top particularly because of how different Royce and Hadrian are from each other yet still manage to be an effective team and have total faith in each other's abilities.
I've been thinking a lot about Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell and how well it transported me to Faerie. I want more recommendations of books which have fairyland or its versions established as well-developed places, if mythical, and not accounts of the fair folk popping into our world and visiting us.
Hello
I'm looking for books, novels or comics where each nation, kingdom, country, etc. Have a unique war style. Kingdoms dominated by necromancers who reinforce their armies with undead, merchant republics that favor gunpowder and naval combat, hordes of barbarians with tamed beast, etc. I really hope something similar exist.
Thanks for your attention and any help.
Hello my fellow SFF readers. I typically dislike these heavily specific fantasy recommendation request posts but here I am so I guess I’m a hypocrite. Regardless, I am about to gorge on books that tackle mental health but I want to ask what I should read after that. Currently my favorite books that handle these topics are Stormlight, Robin Hobb, Sun Eater, Berserk, and Eleventh Cycle. I am going to start Of Darkness and Light soon and I am currently reading The Lies of Locke Lamora which isn’t really scratching my itch for a deep look at something like depression or PTSD or another form of Mental illness. Thank you to those who respond.
I know Book of the New Sun is frequently mentioned as arguably his greatest achievement, but I think his invention of the Pringles potato chip machine should at least get an honorable mention
I'm currently reading The Bone Ships by RJ Barker. The cover caught my eye and the synopsis intrigued me. I read some reviews and sat on it for a bit before pulling the trigger.
I'm about 100 pages in, on chapter 11 and so far it's just... fine.
There's only two real characters so far, with the closest to there being a third dying unceremoniously in the first action sequence of the book which itself was also just fine.
As for those two characters, it's mostly just been one (Meas) humiliating and ordering around the other (Joron), who mostly just broods about how awfully his father died and how much he hates taking orders from Meas while reluctantly following those orders anyway. Their dynamic has already gotten stale for me.
I understand this is a trilogy, so is this first book just a slow start in order to carefully build the world? Is it just a rocky start that needs time to find its footing?
New here, sorry if this topic has been done 1000 times before.
I'm very interested in reading books based off of Dungeons and Dragons, but there are SO many I have no idea where to start. RA Salvatore has alone wrote I don't even know how many, I have no idea where to start or what the best ones are. I know the people who wrote Dragonlance (can't remember their names off the top of my head) have written a bunch too, but again, they've written SO much it's hard to know where to even begin (unless people genuinely recommend beginning at book 1 and just reading them all lol)
So, what are your favorite D&D-based Fantasy books, and why? I'd prefer something that leans more into the D&D lore and aesthetic, and definitely prefer anything that has interesting and memorable characters.
For the past few years, I've been doing two r/Fantasy Bingo cards each year: one themed card, and one regular card. I finished my 2023 themed card back in 2023, but with my regular card coming so close to the deadline, I decided to hold my full review so that I could highlight which squares each selection would fit in 2024 .
So let's take a look at my second 2023 Bingo card, complete with ratings, mini-reviews, and places you can use them for this year's Bingo board. I have to caveat that some of these books have been read as much as a year ago, and my memory may not be perfect. If I'm unsure about a square, I've tried to default to not mentioning it, so it's possible these books could fit more than I've listed.
Complementing the 2023 Bingo Stats (extended), plots!
I don't believe these need much commentary:
Please note that the Y axes are not fixed at 0. Maybe next year I'll figure out how to scale these a bit better.
Based on these two plots, maybe we need more "Set entirely in a forest" hard modes and fewer "Not Jeff VanderMeer"? (OK, maybe not quite as hard as the forest HM...)
I expect this is simply a consequence of the fact that with more participants, there are more people reading the popular books.
22% to 25% hero mode is pretty significant, especially when you consider the change in participant count.
Is Bingo pushing people to read more, or are the people reading a lot filling out more cards, or are the people reading a lot just now joining in? Unfortunately, I don't have granular card-per-participant data, which might give us some answers.
Having to correct 32% of the entries rather than 35% is... better. I suppose.
Table of Contents: Skip around if you like. Sorry for the length.
Why I liked this book so much
Characters I Loved
Characters I was 50/50 on
Characters I hated
Small Things I liked
Small Things I disliked
Conclusion
Why I liked this book so much
As the title suggests, I really liked this book, mainly because of certain characters and the simplistic world design they live in, so this review will mostly character focused. I don’t know whether its me or if I’m getting older or more sensitive, but this book took a sledgehammer to my empathetic bone. I would take breaks after certain scenes to vent when something upset me, get depressed when a favorite character would be in pain and would even have fan fiction self insert story in my head on how I would handle situations in the story. Very few stories have affected me like this and I felt like I had to share my strong feelings on it and hopefully convince anyone reading this to give this story a shot.
I was surprised how strangely relatable and sympathetic certain characters were in this story that really stood out to me. I think what helps was the simplistic medieval world with little overt magic, misunderstood alien cultures, false histories and belief systems that make it justifiable to partake in wanton cruelty on a whim. And the main and side characters have a nice unique perspective on the world for the most part. Making their motivations believable and actions justifiable from their point of view no matter how flawed their logic is.
2.1 Timozel
Tim is one of my favorite characters in this story, mainly because of his place in the story. He comes off in this story as the Anakin Skywalker of this story, where you can definitely see his trajectory to becoming a villain along the way. Mostly because he's being manipulated by magical means, but still put in this position where his ultimate fall is going to be his own fault. Which I think is great when it comes to a tragic potential hero turned villain despite his belief that he is the hero of the story. Tim was the strongest character when I came to tugging on my empathy strings, with his anguish and resentment very relatable when you consider his circumstances. He has this weird stepson/subordinate relationship with his commander Axis with his mother Embeth being Axis’ on and off again lover. But its written in a way that is open ended so that Axis could be intentionally holding back Tim because of his friendship with Embeth or Axis does think that little of Timozel due to his youth. Which I think was nicely written with small scenes of tension between him and Axis not respecting Timozel that gets the ball rolling for his journey down a dark path. But I couldn’t stop myself from taking Tim’s side because of the family and the antagonistic relationship with the sentinels that push him unknowingly into the clutches of evil.
2.2 Boernhold
So Boernhold is a character I never thought I would understand on an emotional level, let alone actually like the guy seeing as he presented to be as hate-able as possible. Now I am not defending this guy for the heinous shit he does, but I can see how a person can get to what he is based on how he was nurtured. And I think Boernhold has one of the few duel personalities that is believable, meaning we get to see what he tries to portray versus what he actually feels. On one hand he is portrayed as this strong, virile, hot tempered crown prince with the plan, but in reality he is a shrewd, smart but insecure man. That’s what makes him to so relatable and kind of heartbreaking that he has to be that strong man that puts himself at odds with his brother Axis. For they are more alike then either would admit but they both have illogical reasons of insecurity and jealousy that prevent them from being on the same side.
2.3 Stardrifter
Now this was I think the best character hands down in the story despite being in only a handful of chapters in the final third of the book. But his story affected me so much I could pretty much remember every appearance and mentioning of Stardrifter in this book. Anyways his story is a story that many of us can relate to of being a rash unbridled youth fucking up his future self with dumb, questionable and unfortunate actions that lead to the conflict of this series. He is responsible for starting the lives of the main antagonist and main protagonist lives to eventually crash into each other. And when he finds out what he responsible for, he has an absolute mental breakdown which is understandable, but he has no choice but to embrace his fuck up and dive head first into fixing it. Stardrifter has this strange quality that makes him so endearing in my eyes for his devotion as a father, husband, leader that gives off this maturity despite his playboy attitude he is presented to by third person accounts from other characters.
2.4 Rivakah
Oh boy my favorite bad mother of this story has arrived and man does she have some baggage from her life as a princess and later as the wife of Stardrifter. Now my opinion is subjective but I do believe she is a terrible person in the way she is presented as an uncaring mother to her first son Boernhold and the sometimes absentee mother of her daughter EvenSong. The scene that made this so evident to me is her immediate impulse to chuck(not literally) baby Boernhold to the side just to get railed by Stardrifter when they first meet and he is just wailing for her the whole time. Yet this is her past, baring one scene where EvenSong resents her parents when they become so happy her half brother is alive and the chosen one and they kind of forget her for that day but moving on. Rivakah similarly to Stardrifter has to now deal with the revelations of her past. Now she can no longer runaway anymore from the guilt, pain and inferiority she feels anymore and I’m hoping with her story I get a redemption arc as both a parent and wife.
Now these characters are in my opinion good but they are unfortunately hampered by the nature of the plot and the structure the author went with, so I can’t really say I’m fully invested in them by the end. Which is a shame since these three characters are the protagonists who get overshadowed in my eyes by the more interesting side characters.
3.1 Axis
Axis is the first protagonist and has the weird position of being a likable asshole, to being a complete unwarranted dickhead that makes me roll my eyes. So what I found interesting from his story was learning of his lineage and parents and his unique abilities that he isn't able to properly use yet. As well as being the equivalent of a Christian Inquisitor/Knight Templar who is ironically the very thing that he was sworn to destroy, which makes for an interesting conflict. Now the setup as the bastard brother and chosen one isn’t a bad thing but he is completely hindered by the prophecy gimmick just like the next characters which leads to my main problem. Despite having the most page allocation it feels like half the time his journey is filler that doesn’t lead to much development.
3.2 Faraday
Our other main protagonist has a great start as the sympathetic young noble girl with no real life experience that is getting thrown into the deep end of the world shes apart of and the horrible role she has to play in the destiny. It was her character that started my first few empathy bursts of emotion, triggering my dormant feminist beliefs and making me so angry at other characters for putting her down for lamenting her roll in the story. Now Faraday unfortunately has an incomplete arc where she starts as resistant to the prophecy to being an absolute believer way to quickly, killing any natural flow of acceptance. And it really doesn’t help that Faraday is being yanked by an invisible leash to where she needs to be as required by the story, which really neuters the dramatic moments in her second half.
3.3 Azhure
Azhure is the best of these three but she unfortunately has the reverse problem of Faraday where she has a convoluted introduction to the story but has a strong finish at the end of the book. And sadly she is introduced way too late in my opinion to fully get into her character, despite being in a sympathetic situation. And I think her big heroic moment that puts her into a revered status is kind of stretching believe-ability with how simple the requirement for the moment was, but its not egregious or anything. However that being said her portion of the book is the more interesting from readers perspective that allows to see each sides cultural/religious aspects and how she is isolated from both sides of the conflict due to her justified actions.
I need to qualify before I start tearing into these two groups that I have problems with the first group of characters due to personal morality. And the second group pisses me off because they’re responsible for most of my empathy triggers for other characters and my put the book down moments to vent.
4.1 The Avar except Ruam
The Avar are one of the non human races that are suppose to be these monstrous fiends of pure evil and turns out they’re not, they’re worse in my opinion. These peaceful wandering tribes people are a race of pacifist to the point that self defense is still considered an unforgivable crime. Now full discloser I don’t like them because in my personal opinion, pacifism is evil in its own right, it is allowing evil to thrive and it come off as this haughty self righteousness that I hate in people. Now to be fair there is a contradiction that makes them hypocrites and that could be interesting if explored but I don’t think its going to happen.
4.2 The Sentinels(WARNING RANT INCOMING)
Holy fucking shit I hate these mother fuckers and their boo hoo woe is us, you don’t have any right to complain about your role in the prophecy because we have it soooooooo much worse. So yes I don’t like these people because they are the holders of the other characters leashes that turns whole prophecy plot turn into my most hated part of this story. The two brothers whose names I don’t care to remember yank Axis’s chain with unhelpful prophecy jargon and unfunny quirky behavior. Yr come off as a voyeuristic rapist towards Timozel and Faraday with her flippant violation of personal space and agency. Jack earns my pure rage for his mere existence as the biggest whipped bitch destiny slave who is from my point of view solely responsible for the lions share of the unneeded anguish and drama for Faraday and Timozel that the sentinels have pushed unto them.
5.1 The Icarii are a non human avian race who have this unique strange charismatic aura that makes humans and Avar alike be attracted to them. It does feel like it’s an unnatural ability and makes Stardrifter’s situation more impactful as an Icarii playboy.
5.2 I like the religious opposition and symbology that feeds into the shaping of how not only each of the races feel but effect the actual geography of the land.
5.3 The moment when the Charonite Ferryman absolutely wrecks Stardrifter’s ego while being Rivakah’s therapist with actual good advice for both of them considering thier problems.
5.4 Beliel needs more page time and doesn’t put up with Axis bitchy moments.
5.5 I really like Embeth who represents the established attitude of a seasoned member of the nobility and explaining the joys and sorrows that await Faraday despite having silent pity for Faraday having a much shittier husband than her. Makes Embeth seem like the most realistic to the setting character in the whole book in my opinion.
5.6 The magic system is pretty unique being almost pure vocal or song based from what I can tell and its rare so it feels special when magic does happen.
6.1 Too long of a prologue despite that aha moment when you piece togather everyone evolved later in the book. The general feel of this book has this weird feeling it gives me that its either too long or not long enough.
6.2 Too many inconsequential characters and moments that could have made my 50/50 characters get more complete character arcs.
6.3 I wish the forbidden races(Avar and Icarii) had a little more edge to them, because the humans are evil everyone is good trope is getting old for me these days.
6.4 The Axe Wielders turning their back on their religion makes no sense despite their being exposed to the “truth.” They from my mind are the Knights Templar of this world who should be almost fanatically opposed to this “truth.”
I really do like this book but it is the biggest mix bag of basic plots, basic characters and way too many proper noun vomit during dialogue. But its one of the few books that made emotional and feel very sympathetic to characters I wasn’t expecting while being underwhelmed by the actual protagonists. I do plan on continuing the series and maybe I’ll talk about those as well, but I hope anyone who read this could laugh or enjoy my rambling about this story.
If anyone has questions or wants my opinions on that I would change or what I hope to see in the future books please feel free to let me know, thanks.
What’s your favorite niche or sub-genre for fantasy books? If you could give a brief description and a few books related to it that would be great. I’m not a huge reader but I’d like to know what other stuff I can look for.
So I'd still consider myself a pretty novice fantasy reader, but most of what I read (and what a lot more people are into at the moment) is very much modern fantasy that is trying to go in a different direction from the classic settings and story types of fantasy. I love modern fantasy, and its generally what got me back into reading, but part of me wants to go back and experience a more typical, Tolkein-esque fantasy world and story. Probably because a lot of what made me fall in love with fantasy was Lord of the Rings and D&D.
So I'm looking for what I call "vanilla" fantasy recommendations, very much the generic image that comes to mind when thinking of fantasy. I want Elves, Dragons, Wizards, young farm boys that are secretly special, etc. They don't necessarily have to be very old books or considered "classics", just that sort of setting.
So far the only books that I've read that really fit this description are Lord of the Rings and Narnia. Ones that I'm looking into that may satisfy that itch are Wizard of Earthsea, Sword of Shannara, and Eragon, so feel free to let me know if those sound like good choices. Thanks :)
There are a lot of movies/shows that are perfect guilty pleasures. Are there books like that?
We got the mountain that rides, most violent of men, 100 manslayer, the bloody-nine! What are your favorite nicknames?
For the past week or so I've been cleaning up the data from the 2023 Bingo data. 100% I missed some stuff.
The ideea was to remove typos, match book to authors and authors to books. In case multiple books were mentioned, only 1 was used. If a series was read by a user, i manily used the first in the series as that usually appeared. I also remove incomplete or duplicate responses, remove answeres where an author appears multiple times and in order to ease my work I ignored duplication of authors for square 9. Removed some of the answeres that included books out of sff. Also the author names were not split, so if an author names appears in an antology it will not be counted .
Keeping all that in mind, here we go:
Most read books:
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty - 194
Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree - 154
Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots - 114
All Systems Red by Martha Wells - 101
System Collapse by Martha Wells - 101
Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee - 96
Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett - 94
The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah - 93
Small Miracles by Olivia Atwater - 89
Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson - 85
Most read authors:
Most read authors with a single book :
The book read across most prompts:
Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett - 11 squares (4 - Magical Realism or Literary Fantasy, 6 - Mundane Jobs, 13 - Published in 2023, 14 -Multiverse and Alternate Realities, 16 -Book Club OR Readalong Book, 18 - Mythical Beasts, 19 - Elemental Magic, 20 - Myths and Retellings, 21 - Queernorm Setting, 22 - Coastal or Island Setting, 23- Druids)
The Authore read acorss most prompts:
Brandon sanderson (21 squares 1**, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25)**
[Dear Brandon Sanderson,
In case you need some propts for your futere secret novels, please take into consideration the following ones :
4 - Magical Realism or Literary Fantasy
8 - Angels and Demons
21 - Queernorm Setting
and , as we need a substitution as you are not a PoC author, a book about bees, or where a character is a bee or dreams about a bee, something with a bee in it]
The square with the most diverse no. of titles : 3 -Bottom of the TBR (610 titles)
The square with the least diverse no of titles: 12 - Set in the Middle East/Middle Eastern SFF ( 155 titles)
In how many ways an author name can be spelled:
Shannon Chakraborty - 16
N.K. Jemisin - 12
Ursula K. Le Guin - 12
V.E. Schwab - 11
Top 10 reads per square:
1) Title with a Title
2) Superheroes
3) Bottom of the TBR
4) Magical Realism or Literary Fantasy
5) Young Adult
6) Mundane Jobs
7) Published in the 00s
8) Angels and Demons
9) Five SFF Short Stories.
10) Horror
11) Self-Published OR Indie Publisher:
12) Set in the Middle East/Middle Eastern SFF:.
13) Published in 2023
14) Multiverse and Alternate Realities
15) POC Author
16) Book Club OR Readalong Book
17) Novella
18) Mythical Beasts
19) Elemental Magic
20) Myths and Retellings:
21) Queernorm Setting
22) Coastal or Island Setting
23) Druids
24) Featuring Robots
25) Sequel
If you like audiobooks there are some good deals with Chirp’s Stellar Series sale. Lots of complete series in a cheap bundle!
https://www.chirpbooks.com/s/stellar-series-sale-2024
Some highlights for me:
Saint of Steel 1-3 (Paladin’s Grace, Paladin’s Strength, Paladin’s Hope) by T. Kingfisher for $2.99 each
The Faithful and the Fallen (complete series) by John Gwynne for $4.99 each
Riyria Chronicles 1-4 (dramatized adaptation version) for $4.99 each
If anyone would recommend any of the series that are on sale let me know! Especially if they fit a bingo square or two. I haven’t heard of most of them but I’m always looking to add to my TBR.
I have tried twice to read "A Wizard of Earthsea" and twice to read "LoTR" and I ended up DNFing both. However, I can't help but wonder if they would be better as audiobooks rather than read, given the slower pacing. On that note, what book do you feel is better as an audiobook versus read?
Preliminary Notes
I realized that u/smartflutist661 hasn’t posted in over a year so decided to whip together some stats for last year’s Bingo! I ‘m not smart enough for scripts so I just used OpenRefine to clean up the data and Excel to calculate.
I’ve also shamelessly copied their stat format from 2022 and notes:
Overall Stats : Squares and Cards
The ten most-read books were:
The books used for the most squares were:
Tied with 9 squares:
The ten most-read authors were:
The Ten most-used authors were:
Tied with 17 squares
The authors with the most unique books:
The authors with the most unique book for 1 square
Stats for Individual Squares
Most Read Books
Most Read Authors
· T.Kingfisher, 35 times
· Katherine Addison, 34 times
· Brandon Sanderson, 32 times
· Christopher Buehlman, 25 times
· Robin Hobb, 24 times
TOTAL: 473 individual books, 320 unique titles, 12 blank, 4 substitutions, 742 Hard mode
373 authors, 236 unique
Most Read Books
Most Read Authors
TOTAL: 324 individual books, 202 unique titles, 44 blanks, 34 substitutions, 763 hard-mode
263 authors, 180 unique
Most Read Books
Most Read Authors
TOTAL: 657 books read, with 501 unique titles. Skipped 26 times. Substituted 7 times, 905 hard-mode (hard if completed) 454 authors, 304 unique
Most Read Books
Most Read Authors
TOTAL: 450 books read, with 293 unique titles. Skipped 27 times. Substituted 12 times, 753 hard-mode, 366 authors, 241 unique
Most Read Books
Most Read Authors
TOTAL: 522 books read, with 370 unique titles. Skipped 16 times. Substituted 4 times, 645 hard-mode, 366 authors, 229 unique
Most Read Books
Most Read Authors
TOTAL: 413 books read, with 277 unique titles. Skipped 14 times. Substituted 1 times, 553 hard-mode, 336 authors, 226 unique
Most Read Books
Most Read Authors
TOTAL: 495 books read, with 316 unique titles. Skipped 32 times. Substituted 14 times, 666 hard-mode, 312 authors, 180 unique
Most Read Books
Most Read Authors
TOTAL: 337 books read, with 202 unique titles. Skipped 30 times. Substituted 6 times, 509 hard-mode, 252 authors, 148 unique
Most Read Books: Anthology
Most Read Authors
Most Read Books: Short Stories
· The Six Deaths of the Saint by Alix E. harrow, 8 times
· Undercover by Tamsyn Muir, 6 times
· Exhalation by Ted Chiang, 5 times
· The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin, 5times
· What the Dead Know by Nghi Vo, 5 times
Most Read Authors
TOTAL: 985 books read, with 777 unique titles. Skipped 31 times. Substituted 18 times, 742 hard-mode, 710 authors, 503 unique
Most Read Books
Most Read Authors
TOTAL: 410 books read, with 268 unique titles. Skipped 17 times. Substituted 12 times, 849 hard-mode, 307 authors, 188 unique
Most Read Books
Most Read Authors
TOTAL: 636 books read, with 499 unique titles. Skipped 33 times. Substituted 25 times, 379 hard-mode, 532 authors, 420 unique
Most Read Books
Most Read Authors
TOTAL: 200 books read, with 81 unique titles. Skipped 47 times. Substituted 30 times, 485 hard-mode, 166 authors, 102 unique
Most Read Books
Most Read Authors
TOTAL: 348 books read, with 192 unique titles. Skipped 21 times. Substituted 3 times, 371 hard-mode, 333 authors, 205 unique
Most Read Books
Most Read Authors
TOTAL: 390 books read, with 269 unique titles. Skipped 21 times. Substituted 0 times, 672 hard-mode, 275 authors, 182 unique
Most Read Books
Most Read Authors
TOTAL: 398 books read, with 245 unique titles. Skipped 20 times. Substituted 3 times, 432 hard-mode, 263 authors, 157 unique
Most Read Books
Books That Fit
Books that were only listed once per this square but were a popular choice across other squares
TOTAL: 292 books read, with 128 unique titles. Skipped 24 times. Substituted 31 times, 313 hard-mode, 247 authors, 114 unique
Most Read Books
Most Read Authors
TOTAL: 417 books read, with 273 unique titles. Skipped 18 times. Substituted 2 times, 602 hard-mode, 306 authors, 201 unique
Most Read Books
Most Read Authors
TOTAL: 451 books read, with 314 unique titles. Skipped 19 times. Substituted 2 times, 584 hard-mode, 335 authors, 217 unique.
Most Read Books
Most Read Authors
TOTAL: 379 books read, with 219 unique titles. Skipped 40 times. Substituted 20 times, 795 hard-mode, 276 authors, 171 unique
Most Read Books
Most Read Authors
TOTAL: 400 books read, with 242 unique titles. Skipped 25 times. Substituted 4 times, hard-mode 724, 309 authors, 200 unique
Most Read Books
Most Read Authors
TOTAL: 357 books read, with 206 unique titles. Skipped 21 times. Substituted 12 times, 607 hard-mode, 237 authors, 138 unique
Most Read Books
Most Read Authors
TOTAL: 399 books read, with 265 unique titles. Skipped 21 times. Substituted 1 times, 642 hard-mode, 311 authors, 205 unique
Most Read Books
Most Read Authors
TOTAL: 357 books read, with 216 unique titles. Skipped 46 times. Substituted 58 times, 749 hard mode, 276 authors, 191 unique
Most Read Books
Most Read Authors
TOTAL: 246 books read, with 437 unique titles. Skipped 32 times. Substituted 4 times, 565 hard-mode, 192 authors, 118 unique
Most Read Books
Most Read Authors
TOTAL: 585 books read, with 441 unique titles. Skipped 9 times. Substituted 0 times, 705 hard-mode, 342 authors, 212 unique
Out of 929 cards, 307 used the Substitution rule.
Books
Authors
Squares
· Set in Space 2022, Historical SFF 2022, Mystery Plot 2021, subbed 14 times
· Standalone, No Ifs, Ands, or Buts 2022, subbed 13 times
Variety
I used the FarraGini index from prior years. Values close to 0 suggest a square was well-varied; 0 means no book was repeated for a square. Values close to 100 suggest the same books were used repeatedly for a square; 100 means only one book was used for a square.
Square | Book | Author |
---|---|---|
Title with a Title | 41.1 | 62.4 |
Superheroes | 58.3 | 67.4 |
Bottom of the TBR | 23.4 | 53.5 |
Magical Realism | 43.4 | 55.7 |
Young Adult | 37.0 | 55.3 |
Mundane Jobs | 48.2 | 66.8 |
Published in 00s | 59.1 | 37.8 |
Angles & Demons | 56.6 | 60.8 |
Short Stories: Anthologies | 35.5 | 54.4 |
Short Stories: Individual | 16.5 | 53.6 |
Horror | 46.9 | 67.1 |
Self Published/Indie | 26.7 | 52.2 |
Set in the Middle East | 68.6 | 77.9 |
Published in 2023 | 50.7 | 62.7 |
Multiverse | 51.9 | 66.4 |
POC Author | 47.3 | 69.0 |
Bookclub/Readalong | 53.0 | 54.0 |
Novella | 46.9 | 66.2 |
Mythical Beasts | 45.4 | 60.7 |
Elemental Magic | 49.9 | 61.1 |
Myths & Retelling | 48.6 | 63.4 |
Queernorm Setting | 50.7 | 63.5 |
Coastal/Island Setting | 50.5 | 67.5 |
Druids | 53.5 | 74.9 |
Featuring Robots | 65.9 | 84.8 |
Sequels | 31.8 | 57.5 |
Most Varied:
· Short Stories: Individual, Bottom of the TBR, Sequels
· Published in the 00s, Bottom of the TBR, Short Stories: Individual
Most Similar:
· Set in the Middle East, Featuring Robots (thanks Murderbot!), Superheroes
· Featuring Robots, Set in the Middle East, Druids
Misc. Shame
I mass edited 17,287 columns for the Title and 28,559 for the Author. Then did a pass through excel for outliers that clusters couldn’t find.
Worst offense for author S.A Chakraborty, i.e. S.A Chakraborty S.A. (Shannon) Chakraborty, Shannon Chakraborty, etc.
Worst offense for Title Before the Coree Gets Cold, just too many before and after’s
I loath multiple authors and as such the word “and” in-between them!
Thankfully I did not encounter any “yes” title or authors this year!
BUT!!! I’m moving u/smartflutist661 warning out and into Bingo Stats Hell for those who put the title as “last name, first name”
Overall I really enjoyed it . Dalinar is easily one of my favorite characters of all time. Shallan was great too. I liked kaladin, but alot of the time was him just obsessing over not being able to save everyone and it got annoying.
I don't mind big books but I think you could cut or one or two hundred pages and not miss anything. The characters have a bad habit of repeating themselves. What did you guys think of it ?
I'm "new" to reading, every now and then i read one book a year, or every 5 years...
some months ago i acquired an ebook reader and started getting serious, 15 books read on the last months!
But the point is, and this is happening quite often, i'm reading a book, still halfway through but i liked it a lot, and would like to check if it has sequences, so i go online and see that there is a book 2, and the first words of its description are "Now that the main character killed their father and became a dark wizard..."
Why? Just Why?
Why can't they give a brief introduction to the story of the 2nd or 3rd book without spoiling the first?!
I guess it is lesson learned for me and whenever i start a book i need to block it from my socials, because even without actively searching it sometimes i get ads, and guess what, they spoil it too!!!!
Just a rant but actually curious, what do you people do? Avoid?
In this series i am reading, the last part of the book was kind of sad for me, because i already knew where the story was going even before hints of it started to appear, i still liked it but i lost the surprise and plot turn there.
Obviously don't write what the twist is. Just give me recs so I can add them to my tbr and then forget about them. When I get to them eventually I'll hopefully find some mind blowing reads.
Series works too of course. And no need to mention which one has the twist.
I am here to talk about a book that no one on this sub has heard about, nor do they recommended it all the time, whether it fits what the poster is asking for or not: The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson.
Before I get into the meat of the book, this book ought to feel proud of itself. It fulfills three of my book-related reading goals this year: 1)The Multi-POV square on my themed book bingo card 2) Read at least 10 lion-squashers this year and 3) read the books I already own. Good job, Way of Kings.
Now, it's good. It's great. There's a reason people love this series. It's so much fun, and cinematic to boot. That said, I'm glad I knew a bit about the Stormlight Archives going in, because it gave me a good idea for who to really keep track of. I also have to commend Sanderson for keeping the narrative so tight, given the size of the world, the amount of worldbuilding, and the sheer number of storylines being juggled. For the three people left who haven't read any Sanderson, the best way I can explain it is that if Sanderson's works were the MCU, his other books would be the standalone hero series, and Stormlight is more akin to Infinity War. Unless you just hate high fantasy, this is an excellent book to try; it absolutely earns its page count.
WHERE I EARN THE SPOILER TAG
Out of all the leads, this is absolutely Kaladin's book. Much of the flashbacks are used to flesh him out, show his backstory, and let the reader know where he is coming from. If Sanderson weren't going for a full-throated epic, Kaladin could absolutely carry a trilogy on his own. Does he follow a bunch of underdog hero tropes? Yup. But Sanderson characterizes him well, and gives him a good few chinks in his armor, so he never feels like too much of a stock character. When he orders Bridge Four to turn around??!! Guys. GUYS. I had to take a lap around the house. Also, I need something bad to happen to Roshone. Not for Kaladin, but for me,
Dalinar was actually the character I most looked forward to hearing from, mostly because he really drove the main plot of the "world", while Kaladin was off quietly causing chaos and carrying the heart of the book. He and Adolin have this Uther/Arthur Pendragon type relationship, which did so much to humanize the house itself. Elhokar can go take a hike. Let Dalinar do what he needs to do. And screw you Sadeas.
Shallan didn't play as big of a role as I thought she would, given that she had a decent amount of screen time at the beginning. But when she did show up, she packed a punch. Mostly because of her bad decision-making, but still. Sometimes her sense of humor was annoying, but her I'm also an annoying person, so I feel that.
It's so good y'all. At time of writing this, I'm already halfway through Words of Radiance. And then I can participate in all the fun Stormlight Archive discussion posts/mememaking/reference-making! Yay!
Rating: 9/10 Soulcasters
Hard Mode: Absolutely.
Also qualifies for: First in a series, Dreams, Prologues and Epilogues, Character with a Disability, Survival, Reference Materials, Book Club Book
So many popular fantasy stories, light and dark, have this tropey concept of the dark one, like the whole journey of the protagonist revolves around prophecy and waiting for the "dark one" to appear. It just makes the climax very predictable and is almost never satisfactory. Nothing against them but I just want something more intriguing and unpredictable, and unique. ASOIAF (GOT), for example, was focuses around politics and is so big in scope that you have no idea where it's going. I've only read the first book but I'm pretty sure there's no Night king or an ultimate dark villain like the show.
To clarify, it can contain dark figures and prophecies obviously, as long as the whole story isn't centered around that.
I had not read Fantasy since I last read Eragon over a decade ago. However, the Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin blew me away and left me eager to delve deeper into speculative fiction.
After some research (and a couple of standalone fantasy books), I thought I would read the Mistborn trilogy as both modern fantasy 101, and an introduction to the Cosmere.
Some things I liked: the magic system, the variety of characters, plot execution.
Things I did not like: the dialogue and interpersonal relationships lacked subtlety and depth. The author was too on the nose about what each character’s defining trauma was—Vin’s distrust & Kelsier’s trauma from his wife’s betrayal and death. I HATED the romantic plot, because there was no chemistry. “You’re not like other girls/boys” is not compelling enough for me, even if the characters are 16-20.
Things that were fine: the prose. While I do appreciate beautiful, literary prose, I did not mind that Sanderson just gets to the point. I got a fun story out of it.
But… I have no appetite to read on. I don’t really care about what happens to the characters or the secrets behind the well of ascension. Maybe I’d read a book about Sazed alone, but that’s it.
I do want to read other works by Sanderson, especially since I’ve heard that he improves on character depth and relationships later on. If so, is it necessary to finish the trilogy? Is there another book by him that I could read to figure out whether I like him as an author?
Thanks in advance :)
TL;DR: I did not like the Final Empire, but want to try other Sanderson books. What should I read next?
Leaving this one up more to personal opinion. Antagonists are sometimes some of the most interesting characters in a fantasy novel with their actions and behaviors. The antagonist can be any character or particular group that manages to fit that role. I'm curious to know why they are considered to be the best in your opinion. Some immediately come to mind and I expect them to make the list, but always looking for more that I don't know about. It might be best to list what book or series its a from for context.
In your opinion, what are the best fantasy antagonists?
So basically I started a playthrough of Ghostwire: Tokyo. And i really like the vibe of the game. SO maybe someone could recommend something with a similar themes. Something except Junji Ito`s body of work. Preferably a book or a novel. But i don't mind manga too. Especial if it has Kuchisake-Onna or Hanako-san in the story.
I'm really into fantasy and I've read most of the "mainstream" series. Currently, I'm looking for books more focused on character development and with no "supreme being/gods" good vs evil stuff.
For reference, my favorite series is the Realm of the Elderlings, by Robbin Hobb. Also love the Michael J Sullivan works.
Thanks in advance
ps. today I started considering the Wandering Inn by Pirateaba or The Sun Eater by Christopher Ruocchio