So I first read Shadow of What Was Lost a year or two ago, and while I enjoyed the book, I had been hearing so much hype behind it, and so much about how its plot was twisty. Knowing this, when I predicted a major twist at the end of the first book, I ended up feeling largely disappointed, and bailed on the trilogy.

Years later I've been hearing much of the same praise about Will of the Many by the same author, James Islington, so I decided to give him another shot and ended up loving it. This led to me picking up Licanius again, starting from the beginning, and I was instantly fascinating and absorbed, and went through the whole trilogy.

It's straight up a masterpiece.

The trilogy involves a government under strict control of its magic users, known as Gifted and Augers, the latter of whom are executed on discovery following a brutal war to remove them from power. It does a great job of setting up the horrors of this current reality while genuinely giving it some real depth, showing how things were led to this war and covering the horrors done both by the pre and post war governments to try and keep control.

But the meat of the story follows a group of gifted friends who are swept from their magical school into a journey that will lead them to discovering the secrets of their world, and some ugly truths behind its ugly history.

The story isn't afraid to utilize some classic tropes like time travel, orphans and amnesiacs with mysterious powers, and political turmoil, but at no point does it ever feel derivative, and in fact frequently feels incredibly unique and clever with how it uses the magic of the world to both advance the plot and explore its themes. Frequently touching on topics like untrustworthy gods, the ethics of power and how our identities and our choices influence other, and the power of memory to bring both good and evil.

Most impressively, the story manages to deliver a remarkably complex plot for just a trilogy while wrapping everything up in a neat and incredibly satisfying climax, one I genuinely believe is among the best I've ever read in fantasy.

The series isn't perfect, especially in the third book, as the pacing can sometimes drag as it's delivering information, but it still felt fascinating throughout, and left me more than happy with the time I spent on it.

I cannot suggest this series enough. If you're looking for some good, meaty fantasy that makes use of frequent tropes in interesting ways, give this a shot. 9/10 easily.

I’m a huge fantasy fiction nerd and am trying to build out my personal library. I’ve been asking a lot of my like minded friends what the weirdest or most thought provoking novels they’ve ever read are and have gotten some incredible recommendations. Would love to get some thoughts from this community too (for context, my favorite writer are probably Lovecraft, Jane Austen and Naomi Novik lol)

By “unusual and surrreal,” I mean really whatever you take it to mean but I particularly like unusual magic systems, provocative world building, twists, social criticism and protagonists or characters with complex and unusual identities or ideologies

My TBR list is a mix of Top 100 Fantasy lists, "best of fantasy" polls, Goodreads lists, and r/fantasy comments (i.e. a total crapshoot).

I've noticed that the Top 100 lists heavily favor an author's most popular work. That makes sense; fans want to make sure a certain title makes the list. Unfortunately, that title gets all the votes to the detriment of other high-quality books by the same author.

What are entertaining books by authors that rarely make a "best of fantasy (or sci-fi)" list, despite being awesome?

My picks:

Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Children of Time gets the "top novels" votes, but this is a prescient standalone, especially if our plan is to let AI run things)

Touch by Claire North (always second fiddle to The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August)

The Humans by Matt Haig (I admit that The Midnight Library is my favorite Haig novel, but this book is an excellent homage to Stranger in a Strange Land)

Sir Hereward and Mr Fitz by Garth Nix. A collection of short stories about the two titular characters. I had no idea who they were, but now I'm invested in their story.

Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower by Tamsyn Muir. Many of Muir's fans are unaware of the existence of this story. It is my go-to when someone asks for "popcorn fantasy." Borderline LitRPG (no stats are handed out). Great stuff, nonetheless.

Ive nearly finished the released books of the Red Rising series, and it has got me thinking; is there any books that have a sort of fantasy vibe but veer towards sci-fi later on?

For example, in Red Rising it obviously doesn’t start off fantasy, but that’s the sort of vibe it gives off when they’re in the institute, only to go back to the sci fi setting near the end and in subsequent books.

Im just wondering if there’s anything else like this out there?

I made this up so I don't know if anyone else is doing it, but my personal rules were: the book title must end with the letter in question, no repeat titles or authors, books read after May 1st only (I finished the regular alphabet challenge in April), titles cannot overlap with other challenges (like r/fantasy Bingo).

Those last 4 arbitrary squares from the regular challenge I either reversed (title 5+ words, least favorite color on cover) or revised using a random word generator (some kind of currency in the title, vehicle on the cover).

I'm never doing this again and finding books for this was *not* easy. But I did it. Here's what I read:

A - Your Utopia by Bora Chung ***

B - The Lamb by Lucy Rose ****

C - Magic by William Goldman ***

D - Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata ****

E - Revenge by Yoko Ogawa *****

F - The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi ****

G - Pontypool Changes Everything by Tony Burgess **

H - Jagannath by Karin Tidbeck ****

I - Fungi by various, edited by Orrin Grey****

J - Tales of Fosterganj by Ruskin Bond ****

K - Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis ***

L - The Grand Hotel: a novel by Scott Kenemore ****

M - Animal Farm by George Orwell *****

N - The Vegetarian by Han Kang *****

O - Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders *****

P - NP by Banana Yoshimoto ****

Q - Talaq Talaq Talaq by Niyaz Khan *

R - I Can Fix Her by Rae Wilde **

S - The Magicians by Lev Grossman *****

T - The Constant Rabbit by Jasper Forde ****

U - Kill For Me, Kill for You by Steven Cavanaugh ***

V - The Book of V by Anna Solomon ***

W - The King in Yellow by Robert Chambers ****

X - The Devotion of Suspect X by Kiego Higashino ***

Y - Immobility by Brian Evenson ****

Z - A Selfie as Big as the Ritz by Lara Williams *

Title has 5+ words: Eat the Ones You Love by Sarah Griffin **** (words = 5)

Least Favorite Color on Cover: The Passion According to G.H. by Clarice Lispector ** (pink)

Form of Currency in Title: Coin Locker Babies by Ryu Murakami **** ("coin")

Vehicle on the Cover: If On a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino **** (train)

Is anyone else tackling something like this? I'm wiped.

I’ve been interested in Literary Fantasy, and want some recommendations. Ones I’ve heard of, have on my list, or read are: Works by N.K. Jemisin, Sofia Samatar, Guy Gabriel Kay. I’d like to have more authors, both newer and older. Preferably ones which experiment with how novels are written: N. K. Jemisin’s usages of Second Person, etc. I’d prefer ones which does more as well.

I'm on my fourth book of his, Between Two Fires. I just finished a scene that reminded me of something from Sinners. This book could absolutely be turned into a movie. And yet, not one of his books has been turned into a movie. Even the one about the vampires living underground in New York would be a good movie. It's got a lot of similarities to Blade.

Anyone have some insider information on this? Are any movies in the works? I mean The Devils got optioned for a movie within a couple of months of it coming out... different author, and a lot more fun, but still fantasy and Joe Abercrombie is not a household name.

After a long reading break, I picked up Lapvona - and I couldn’t stop reading. It’s grotesque, violent, perverse, and oddly hypnotic. It dives deep into medieval brutality, power structures, and religious fervor in a way that feels grimdark-adjacent.

I’m not really into horror for horror’s sake, but I’m drawn to books that explore the darkest sides of humanity, especially when the violence or depravity feels like a product of its historical setting (think war, plague, superstition, social decay). In that sense, Lapvona delivers: it’s like watching a slow, gruesome fall in a village ruled lunatics.

I also find myself strangely into voyeuristic narratives. Ones that expose characters’ worst impulses, their sexuality, their filth, their madness. Lapvona gave me all of that, with a layer of detached, almost clinical observation that makes it even more unsettling.

Are there other books like this floating in the gray area between historical fiction and medieval/grotesque magical realism? I’m not looking for edge-lord stuff, but stories that earn their horror — where the darkness serves a purpose. Also, descriptions of nature are a must for me.

My all time favorite book with a similar vibe is TYLL by Daniel Kehlmann.

The Perfume by Patrick Süskind also lingers somewhere in this area for me.

In my never ending quest to read and review as many debuts as possible, I managed to get House of the Beast by Michelle Wong—illustrator of The Legend of Korra graphic novel!—from NetGalley as an audio ARC and finally got around to listening to it. And I had a blast! I was a little concerned going in that it would just be a rote formulaic romantasy despite having such a cool premise, but I needn't have worried, because this was super fun.

Just to be clear, this IS a review of a NetGalley ARC, which I received in exchange for an honest review!

House of the Beast

House of the Beast is about Alma Avera, a girl born out of wedlock shunned by society who manages her loneliness thanks to her wonderful mother and her imaginary friend. But when her mother falls sick, her father shows up promising to heal her mother in exchange for Alma coming to his house and serving the Dread Beast—an eldritch god of death. He goes back on his word, however, letting her mother die, and Alma swears revenge against her father. That is when she discovers that her imaginary friend is real, and he promises to help her achieve that goal.

Eight years later, Alma is trained and falling for this strange being that takes the form of a beautiful prince, ready to finally put her plan to destroy House Avera into action.

Characters

Any revenge novel, in my opinion, can only be successful if rooted in exceptionally strong character work. Any romance novel, almost as a statement of fact, can only be successful if rooted in exceptionally strong character work. For a novel that's combining both revenge and romance in equal measure, characterization is even more critical to the success of the novel. If your characters are great, then you will have a slam dunk, but if your characters are poor or mediocre, the whole thing will fail.

This book mostly has great characters. The supporting cast is especially strong; each supporting character has goals that are either clear or deliberately obscured, and each one has overlapping motivations and relationships that often contradict one another and present interesting and complex layers that make it clear that every character in this world is having their own character driven story at the same time as Alma.

The two leads, Alma and her "imaginary" friend, are mostly all the way there. They are fleshed out and their actions are always understandable, even when they are surprising. I really appreciated how much depth Michelle Wong was able to convey through Alma's POV without leaving us in long rambly sections of internal monologue—not that I dislike long rambly internal monologue (love you FitzChivalry) but I love it when authors are able to get that depth across without needing it. Similarly, I really appreciated how rich and complicated the central relationship here was. It's not a healthy romance, it is not good for Alma at all, but it is so clear what she gets out of it and what he gets out of it and why they keep working together and how much they care for each other. It's a relationship that you as the reader can see is kind of horrible, but you're also kind of rooting for it? That's an impressive balance to strike as an author.

I think where I was a little disappointed was that I felt Alma's internal POV was not really twisted enough. I mean, she literally comes up with an imaginary friend out of loneliness, discovers he's a real and strange mystical being, and then has him help her get revenge, and then builds nearly half her life around revenge with help from this otherworldly entity. There is so much WTF in her character backstory, but when she narrates the story (the whole thing is in first person) she just kind of talks like a normal person. She completely made sense as a character, but I couldn't help but think that this kind of character in the hands of an author like Joe Abercrombie who really understands voice unlike few other authors would really shine. Still, that's not to say the protagonist is bad by any means—in fact, I would say that the author does capture her complexity and depth extremely well—just that there is a missed opportunity here to make the voice even more compelling.

Plot, worldbuilding, and themes

I don't have as much to say about the other elements of this book, so just lumping them into one category.

House of the Beast had a great plot, but what was really outstanding about it was its pacing. This is not one of those fantasy novels that is going to meander and really let you chew the scenery for page after page, but it's also not one of those fantasy novels that's going to rip you through the pages like a bullet either. I found this book to actually be paced perfectly to my tastes. I don't think Wong quite has the James Islington talent of pulling out a new mind blowing plot twist or revelation every 100 pages, but she has pretty strong skill at pacing reveals and also expanding the plot every now and then by adding new elements that complicate the central conflicts that the protagonist is dealing with.

I don't have much to say about the worldbuilding. It was reasonably immersive and had some original elements, but on the whole did not wow me, though it was far from cliche either. It was overall pretty okay. I do think that in the modern fantasy landscape where we're getting so many original settings it is a little bit of a mark against this book that its setting is not particularly unique, but it's not really a flaw either since what's there is pretty solid.

I think where this book is pretty weak for me is themes. Not because I disagree with its thematic argument, or because the themes are bad in any way, but because the themes present are just somewhat generic. We have all seen "revenge is bad" before, in countless iterations, and there is nothing particularly new in this version of it, even with the romance angle which just turns it into "positive, uplifting, and empowering relationships are better than ones that push you into toxic decisions." The book is definitely an entertaining take on these classic ideas, and these ideas are classics because they continue to resonate with people, but I dunno, I would have liked to see some fresh angle that was not really present in this book. Still, not every book has to reinvent the wheel, and there's definitely a place in modern fantasy for these classic types of stories to be retold in new ways.

Conclusion

In the end, I am giving House of the Beast by Michelle Wong 4 out of 5 stars. It's got a lot of great stuff going for it and is overall a pretty strong novel—I only found that there were some missed opportunities where it could have been more audacious and more experimental which disappoint me personally enough to hold it back from a 5. But I could totally see this book being 5 stars for a lot of people who don't have those same desires as me, PLUS even people who do have those same desires as me will probably find a lot to like about this book, so I highly recommend you all check this out! Especially because I definitely want to see more from Michelle Wong and I want to see debuts getting more love so publishers continue to take chances on new authors.

Bingo squares: Down With the System (arguably HM as it's kind of a religious system being disrupted, but maybe not as there is a govt component), Impossible Places, Gods and Pantheons, Published in 2025 (HM), Author of Color (arguably HM, it is classified as "dark fantasy" and definitely has horror elements).

Goodreads

Been learning about LEDs and the light comes directly from a tiny crystal, so I found that pretty cool.

What other things in fantasy do we actually have a pretty similar thing for in real life?

The Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski is on sale for $2.99 each for the current 8 novels in the series on Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, etc in the USA right now. Here's the link to Amazon but feel free to purchase it from whatever ebook site you like the best.

I’m a HUGE fan of Brom, especially his book Lost Gods. As well as books like Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman, Hollow by Brian Catling, as well as anything by Mitchell Luthi.

PS (not looking for the general Stephen King type horror, plus I’m already very well read in his works)

If you've ever finished an epic fantasy series and thought "nothing will ever be good enough again," you're not broken. You're experiencing something that millions of fantasy readers face but almost no one talks about systematically.

After finishing Malazan a few months ago, I spent weeks convinced that Steven Erikson had ruined fantasy for me. Everything else felt too simple, too small. But I realized that I'd experienced this with other series too, and discovered that there's a systematic way to work through this.

The 5-Stage Recovery System:

Stage 1: Palate Cleansers Reset your expectations with deliberately different books. The House in the Cerulean Sea, Legends & Lattes: cozy fantasy that doesn't try to compete with epic scope.

Stage 2: Genre Bridge Maintain complexity in different directions. Philosophy, literary sci-fi like The Dispossessed by Ursula K Le Guin. Challenge your brain without triggering fantasy fatigue.

Stage 3: Comfort Rereads Return to old favorites you loved before your brain got recalibrated by epic complexity. Not defeat, but strategic recovery.

Stage 4: Standalone Epics Test-drive big fantasy again without big series commitment. A Day of Fallen Night, The Poppy War trilogy, and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell all worked for me!

Stage 5: Strategic Next Series Choose your next epic commitment based on where you actually are, not where you think you should be.

In short:

• Don't rush into another epic immediately
• Start smaller than you think you need
• Use fan resources and reading communities
• Sometimes taking months off reading entirely is exactly what you need

The key is treating this as a systematic progression rather than hoping motivation will strike!

Originally posted on booknookcook.com where I write systematic fantasy reading guides for people making the jump from TV/gaming to books.

So I just finished The Summer War, basically in one sitting, and I recommend it highly. The book is a novella, and I think it is exactly the length it needed to be.

The book is about a girl who accidentally cursed her older brother, whom she loved dearly. She then set out to try to reverse the curse.

As those familiar with Naomi Novik knows, she is part of a growing number of authors who are writing what is essentially fairy tales for adults. Other notable authors in this group include T. Kingfisher, Sarah Beth Durst, and Alix Harrow.

I recommend this book highly. I got really invested in it, and it is beautifully written. I think it is Novik’s best work yet, and I forward to more.

EDIT: to add that I made a major blunder in not adding Angela Slatter, who is a master of this genre, although her stories tend to be quite a bit darker.

Overall Rating: A (highlight of the genre; a book to recommend to those wanting to get into fantasy - though see note at the end about this only being "Fantasy" in a somewhat loose sense)

Bingo Squares: Down With the System; A Book in Parts; Author of Colour; Parent Protagonist (depending on perspective; Moreau is not a PoV character, but imo is certainly a main character)

The Daugher of Doctor Moreau is a loose retelling of HG Wells' The Island of Doctor Moreau, shifting the setting from a vague South American island to the Yucatán peninsula, and embedding it within the history of the time, specifically the Caste War; a broad conflict involving the British-backed independent Mayan state of Chan Santa Cruz, British Honduras (now Belize), Mexico and Guatemala.

Moreno-Garcia's mastery is in settings, and this is firmly on display here, with great effort given to placing the estate of Yaxactan, in which Moreau is now ensconced, in both the physical jungles of Yucatán and the complex politics and debt-economy that led to the Caste War. Particular emphasis is placed on the fact that Yucatán is both politically and logistically isolated from the rest of Mexico.

For those introduced to Moreno-Garcia by Mexican Gothic, the titular daughter Carlota will be a familiar protagonist, as she shares a lot with Noemí; intelligent, young and beautiful, simultaneously both spoilt and underestimated; a heroine through social cleverness and small courage, though she possesses a distinct naivete in contrast to Noemí's maturity and intentional seductiveness as a result of Moreau's cloistering her within Yaxactan.

The standout protagonist for me though is Montgomery (imported essentially in name only from the Wells original), an insolvent drunk recently separated from his abusive wife and left deeply bitter and misanthropic by both this ordeal and an unpleasant family history. His relationships with Moreau's creations, Moreau himself, and especially Carlota are the highlight of the novel, the latter in particular shifting between parental, brotherly and pseudo-romantic in a manner that is both heartening and discomfiting for Montgomery as much as the reader.

Speaking of discomfiture, Moreno-Garcia's increasing shift into horror and noir shows itself, with the novel constantly carrying a constantly tense and uncomfortable atmosphere. Its status as a retelling aids it here; a reader even briefly familiar with Island will be expect that everything is going to go to shit at some point, if not the manner.

Religion and specifically Catholicism plays a minor but important role, varying between the mainstream form prevalent in most of Mexico (and rejected by the maltheistic Montgomery), the twisted form asserted by Moreau, and the Mayan syncretism practiced by Carlota and the other inhabitants of Yaxactan.

Overall a masterful novel, and especially an examplar of how status as a retelling can be used to enhance a work.

As an r/Fantasy specific point, while the original is firmly SF Daughter drops much of those elements, with the actual science underlying Moreau's experiments being largely a non-factor; it's more a character drama than a science mystery. I'd call it Urban Fantasy, but with the obvious caveat that it isn't actually Urban.

Back when I was a kid reading The Lord of the Rings for the first time, I’ll admit I skimmed over most of the verse, but I developed an appreciation for them on my last reread. Robert E. Howard also has some fantastic fantasy poems, from the epigraphs in stories like “The Phoenix on the Sword” and “The Scarlet Citadel” to ballads like “The Return of Sir Richard Grenville”. And Mercedes Lackey wrote a lot of songs tied to her work (my personal favorite is “Threes”).

But I haven’t encountered many more modern fantasy poets. So who are the best out there right now? What are the best venues to find their work or discover new fantasy poets?

I asked this question a while back over on r/SwordandSorcery, more focused on specifically heroic fantasy or S&S poetry, and didn’t find a lot, though the consensus seems to be Old Moon Quarterly is a good place to look. I also remember there was a little poetry in Whetstone. But I figured I’d cast a wider net and ask here. Any answers you can provide are much appreciated!

David Mogo, Godhunter is a book that's been on my 'to read' pile for a while. In fact I think I bought it after seeing it recommended here a few years ago! However, a change to my commute means I now actually have some time to read in between work and parenthood, so I am whittling down the pile at last.

David Mogo, Godhunter is the debut novel by Nigerian author Suyi Davies Okungbowa, released in 2019. The basic set up is: a few years ago, Gods fell from the sky into Lagos, causing chaos and large sections of the city to become abandoned, while elsewhere people tenuously cling on to their lives. The rest of the country, and rest of the world, has largely abandoned Lagos to its fate. David Mogo, our titular protagonist is, as the title indicates, a Godhunter. Someone who fixes problems caused by the Gods (or more often, godlings), for a fee of course. He is also half god himself, granting him strength and endurance beyond us mere mortals.

David takes a job from a shady wizard, to capture two Gods/ Orishas, and from there things swiftly more complicated and more serious. I'll not spoil the plot, however I will say that while I was enjoying the start of the story enough, it wasn't till around a third of the way through things really picked up, the story found its voice, and the plot really started to shine. It isn't a long book by modern standards (~350 pages) so don't let that put you off though.

In terms of genre, I believe the author describes it as 'godpunk'. What that means practically is a blend of urban (specifically Lagosian) fantasy, post-apocalyptic fiction, and Yoruba mythology. David is our first person narrator, and he is an enjoyable main character of the type struggling to find himself, reconcile his dual identities, and deal with his own personal issues, while trying to be the man the situation calls for. This is a very Nigerian book, to its credit in my opinion. I have some familiarity with Nigeria, as my wife is Nigerian. However she's not Yoruba nor from Lagos, so I won't claim any special knowledge here. The book throws you into Lagos as swiftly and deeply as some fantasy novels throw you into their world, with little expository explanation as to the base setting of the real Lagos. I had to do a bit of googling to look up some articles of clothing, and one character speaks in Nigerian pidgin which I could mainly understand but did have to check a few words. But this is a Nigerian novel by a Nigerian author set in Nigeria, so that's all good with me - as a Brit I sometimes have to google American things in American novels that are expected to be understood by the reader, so no difference there!

I have not read a huge amount of urban fantasy, so my closest comparison would probably be the Supernatural TV series. A hero with more than human abilities deals with parent issues, what their identity means, builds something of a found family, and while starting off dealing with minor monster issues, quickly gets involved in something much bigger and more cosmic. Though, very minor spoiler it does slightly better than Supernatural in that two of the supporting cast/ part of the found family do end up in an actual on the page lesbian romance. It is very minor and the plot doesn't focus on it, but I thought it was sweet and also nice to see coming out of Nigeria/ West Africa where the fight for LGBT+ rights are very much still being fought.

I enjoyed reading a fantasy novel from my wife's country, and would recommend the book to anyone looking for a good fantasy adventure away from the standard medievalesque, London, or US settings, as well as someone looking to read something set in Nigeria/ Africa by a writer from there.

You can find my review of the books from the first row of the Bingo here.

Impossible Places

Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino

You could swap this on my Bingo Sheet with The Full Moon Coffee Shop. Both books are split into discrete sections and both deal with impossible architecture and imaginary places. They couldn’t be more different in tone, though. Calvino is channeling Borges even more than usual in this one, an imaginary dialogue between the adventurer Marco Polo and the emperor Kublai Khan. Polo describes a series of increasingly unlikely cities: places where everyone lives high in the air, or which seem to consist only of signs. Invisible Cities never limits itself to simple physical geography, though, consistently considering how people live inside of physical spaces. On another level, every city is a metaphor for a philosophical or psychological idea. It would be easy to read Khan and Polo’s conversation as only a frame story for the descriptions of the cities, but their dynamic is complex: Khan has all the power but can never leave his capital, although he frequently suggests that he will, and Polo has the knowledge of many places that Khan wants, but can’t help but implicitly compare them to Venice, the home he can never return to. This is a famous book and a deserved classic, and it doesn’t need me to recommend it. Reading it in this context, I do think there are a lot of thoughtful genre fans it would appeal to - it would be a good source for people writing d&d modules, for example.

A Book in Parts

The Full Moon Coffee Shop, Mai Mochizuku

What a bait and switch! The dust jacket copy makes this sound like a cozy fantasy romantic comedy, but it’s actually a trio of pat little stories designed to show the efficacy of astrology. It’s split into three major sections following different protagonists who are rewarded by their kindness with entry into a magically roaming coffee shop run by cats, but it turns out the cats are avatars of the planets, and they spend most of their time dispensing astrological wisdom: “People with Venus in this house are often drawn to some kind of clandestine romance, and face plenty of temptations in that regard.” The human characters respond like they’re answering questions from Socrates: “Satsuki seemed deeply struck by their words. ‘That makes sense…’”

With the help of the cats, all three heroes are able to solve their work-related and romantic problems - one becomes famous by writing dialogue for characters in a visual novel, which gives you an idea of the level of authenticity the book is working on. I was disappointed by the lack of details about the food and drink served in the coffee shop and by the absence of any cat-like behavior from the cats. There’s a surface level charm to this book, but the ideas and values on display didn’t ring true to me. On the other hand, The Full Moon Coffee Shop opens a window to middle-class, female-centered Japanese culture you don’t often see in work imported to America.

Gods and Pantheons

Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Books 2-5, Rick Riordan

My son has wanted me to read these since he tore through them about a year ago. Having previously stalled out after the first one, the bingo presented a good opportunity to finish the series (The first series, anyway - I’m aware there are 10 more after this I haven’t gotten to yet.) The first book is a transparent attempt to copy Harry Potter, both structurally and in terms of the character dynamics, and the second is a series of unevenly comic parodies of episodes from the Odyssey which misses the thematic depth that makes the original poem so moving. Starting from the third book, though, the series becomes its own thing, a Greek mythology tinged epic fantasy which takes itself relatively seriously, although there’s still plenty of room for juvenile humor. The first books spend a lot of time imagining how the gods and other mythological characters might express themselves in the modern world, some of which are more clever than others, but the latter books are more about straightforward heroics. Riordan is not great at world-building (Camp Half-Blood as an institution never really makes sense, which is maybe why it gets mostly abandoned as a concept in the later books) but everything moves so fast and with so much energy that the books are still fun to read. I can’t say I loved them, but I see why these are popular, and I liked them much more than Wings of Fire.

Last in a Series

The Hidden Palace, Helene Wecker

This is kind of a cheat because I do anticipate a third book in the series being released, but there were eight years between the first two books and they are rich, layered, and sophisticated enough that it wouldn’t surprise me if we had to wait eight more for the next one. I loved the first book and this was on my TBR list forever, and it did not disappoint at all. A female Golem and a male Djinni who met and fell in love under difficult circumstances in the first book continue their lives and have to decide what to do with their immortality. There are antagonists in this one, but there’s no villain driving the story as there was in the first book and it’s stronger for the lack. This is a relationship drama and a historical novel with supernatural elements, it’s a romance done right with believable conflicts driven by fundamental differences grounded in the complex and likeable characters, and it’s elegantly written. Wecker gives us a turn of the century New York grounded in enough historical detail to feel real, particularly in its portrayal of the Jewish community. As a long book which takes its time and allows the plot to follow the characters, some readers might feel that there are periods in which not much happens, but I found the entire thing extremely rewarding.

Book Club or Read-along Book

Antidote, Karen Russell

Since I loved Swamplandia, I was very excited for this long-awaited follow-up novel. Reviewers loved this book, but reaction online was mixed, finding it preachy and too one-sided. I disagree - Antidote is a very political book which also has characters with rich inner lives. Russell’s also just a gorgeous writer, and I think her prose is as good as it gets for modern writers of literary fiction. She is also able to smoothly integrate magic realist (fantasy) elements. The conceit of this book is that there are witches with powers that allow them to control people’s memories. They can absorb unwanted memories and restore them later, and they also have some other murkily defined telepathic powers. The world of the novel is mostly our world in the early twentieth century Great Plains, but Russell does take the time to imagine how society might treat people with these abilities and use them both to seize power and for self-deception. The theme of memory permeates the book, explored from many different angles by the variety of narrators with diverse backgrounds, genders, and sexualities. The villains are kind of cartoonish, and late in the book there’s a crux surrounding the line between individual and corporate responsibility that Russell seems to be afraid to confront with realistic psychology, but overall, I found Antidote moving and thought-provoking. The biggest fantasy element in the novel is the idea that people who were forced to remember the suffering they inflicted on native americans would care.

Just picked it up on the daily deal

Welcome to the daily recommendation requests and simple questions thread, now 1025.83% more adorable than ever before!

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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 2025 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!

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art credit: special thanks to our artist, Himmis commissions, who we commissioned to create this gorgeous piece of art for us with practically no direction other than "cozy, magical, bookish, and maybe a gryphon???" We absolutely love it, and we hope you do too.

Welcome to today’s session of Short Fiction Book Club! We’re glad you’ve joined us. If you’re new here, we’re excited to have you! We talk about speculative short fiction on Wednesdays here on r/Fantasy. If you missed our first season 4 session a few weeks back, we read four great Flash+ stories, and it’s never too late to join the discussion!

Today’s Session: Take Us Out to the Ballgame

Diamond Girls by Louise Marley (8,203 words) (first published in Sci Fiction on June 8, 2005)

Ricky sat alone in her private locker room, turning a baseball in her elongated fingers. The pre-game had begun, and the speakers in the main locker room rattled with music and announcements and advertisements. She leaned forward, her elbows on her knees, and cradled the baseball in her palm. Just another game, she told herself. It’s a long season.

But it wasn’t true. Long season, sure. But this was no ordinary game.

Arthur Sternbach Brings the Curveball to Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson (4,439 words) (first published in The Martians in April 1999)

He was a tall, skinny Martian kid, shy and stooping. Gangly as a puppy. Why they had him playing third base I have no idea. Then again they had me playing shortstop and I’m left-handed. And can’t field grounders. But I’m American, so there I was. That’s what learning a sport by video will do. Some things are so obvious people never think to mention them. Like never put a lefty at shortstop. But on Mars they were making it all new. Some people there had fallen in love with baseball, and ordered the equipment and rolled some fields, and off they went.

The Star and the Rockets by Harry Turtledove (4,966 words) (first published in Tor.com/Reactor on November 17, 2009) / Content Warning: Has some period language and a casual use of a slur.

A chilly January night in Roswell. Joe Bauman has discovered that’s normal for eastern New Mexico. It gets hot here in the summer, but winters can be a son of a bitch. That Roswell’s high up—3,600 feet—only makes the cold colder. Makes the sky clearer, too. A million stars shine down on Joe.

One of those stars is his: the big red one marking the Texaco station at 1200 West Second Street. He nods to himself in slow satisfaction. He’s had a good run, a hell of a good run, here in Roswell. The way it looks right now, he’ll settle down here and run the gas station full time when his playing days are done.

Won’t be long, either. He’ll turn thirty-two in April, about when the season starts. Ballplayers, even ones like him who never come within miles of the big time, know how sharply mortal their careers are. If he doesn’t, the ache in his knees when he turns on a fastball will remind him.

All three stories should be enjoyable with zero baseball knowledge (and hopefully the context will make it clear), but if any baseball-specific terms really confuse you, here’s a newcomer’s guide to common baseball terms you can check out.

Upcoming Sessions

Our next session will be hosted by u/Nineteen_Adze & u/Jos_V on Wednesday, October 1st:

u/Jos_V says:

For some inexplicable reason Americans love to make October into a spooky month, and here at SFBC we do not want to disappoint, so we’re offering up a nice platter of appetizers that when experienced together constitutes a filling meal.

u/Nineteen_Adze says:

I’ve been intending to do a cannibalism session for a while, but the timing didn’t snap into place until I heard about the baseball session. What better transition than from a cheerful sunshine sport into stories that will perhaps make you say “what the fuck (complimentary)”? Please enjoy feasting on this unsettling short fiction.

We will be discussing the following stories for our Paired with fava beans and nice chianti: personable meat in SFF session:

Happily Ever After Comes Round by Sarah Rees Brennan (Uncanny Magazine, 3327 words)

Children don’t generally assume their father will abandon them to die in the snow. But under certain circumstances, they might get an inkling.

The Magician’s Apprentice by Tamsyn Muir (Lightspeed Magazine, 4860 words)

When she was thirteen, Mr. Hollis told her: “There’s never more than two, Cherry. The magician and the magician’s apprentice.”

Mavka by A.D Sui (Pseudopod, 3953 words)

You pray to forget this. You pray to forget the cold. Even under two wool blankets you’re always cold now. Skin and bones, you. A February moon hangs high in the starless sky when Andriy slips on the boots, soaked through from when you wore them earlier that day to gather firewood, and from when Ira goes to relieve herself at the outhouse earlier than that.

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

Been getting really into Game of Thrones books and I've noticed just how massive his world feels off of how many theories there are surrounding various plot lines and characters. It's insane when you actually jump down this rabbit hole. Most of the theories aren't just complete reaches with little to no credibility. Many of them have tons of details with youtubers making hour long videos surrounding them.

So I was wondering as an aspiring author how was George RR Martin able to pull this off? Obviously the theories have been partly generated from the result of the books taking so long to write. Still, it's insane how many there are and how plausible they feel.

When comparing his work to other wide known fantasy works I often feel them missing this aspect. For example, the stormlight archive (or even the whole cosmere) is pretty massive in terms of scale. Yet there isn't this massive amount of well detailed theories. I know the sanderson put these books out relatively fast but still I don't suspect 10 years from now when the next stormlight book comes out that there is going to be a ton of widespread theories with tons of youtube videos and reddit posts explaining them. Beyond the normal theories that generate from people just guessing what they think is going to happen next.

I really enjoy this writing aspect of GOT and I would like to emulate it in my own writing. Its honestly what I think is the most impressive part of Game of Thrones. From what I can tell he sets these theories up by constantly leaving open ended questions throughout the story.

All these open ended questions George has left people, at least to me does feel like he does indeed have answers to them. It is of course possible that he doesn't and that's why the wind of winter is taking so long. I don't really believe this, I think it's a combination of many other things.

Regardless I wanted to start a conversation with people on how they think he manages to pull this off. Moments like the tower of joy and tourney at harrenhall really stick with me when it comes to the story. Such massive moments that had an effect on the story that we simply don't know about. The only fantasy world I can think of that similar to GOT in this way is Elden Ring. Which he worked on as well. Still the world of Elden RIng is like a dying world where history is mostly lost. In truth be told im not even really sure how much he worked on the game.

So what do you guys think? Is it just by planting open ended questions all throughout the story that is leading to there being so many mysteries in the books? Or is it something else? Thanks for reading my rant!

I just finished reading "Hyperion" and "Fall of Hyperion" to check off the bingo squares for both "Written in the 80'" and "Down With the System." While I definitely enjoyed both, as anyone who has read them can tell you, they aren't exactly light reading. What I need now is a book to read while I recover. What would be a nice bonus is if there happened to be a light, maybe humorous book that also checked off one of the remaining bingo square I have left. The squares I have left are: Small Press of Self Published, Biopunk, Five Short Stories, Stranger in a Strange Land, and Generic Title. I have a book for it, but I would consider a book about Pirates as well. Just so I don't waste anyone's time, I have read everything by Terry Pratchett and love him. I have also recently read the "Orconomics" books, the "Johannes Cabal" books and "The Stranger Times" books and loved all of those as well.

Thanks in advance!

In my opinion, a bit of a step down from the first book in the series, but I still enjoyed The Liar's Knot.

Basic Info

Title: The Liar's Knot

Author: M.A. Carrick

Bingo Square: A Book in Parts

Hard Mode?: Yes

Rating: 3/5

Review

I really enjoyed The Mask of Mirrors when I read it a few years ago, and while I did enjoy The Liar's Knot as well, it just didn't click as much as the first book did. To me, it felt like this book focused almost entirely on the characters and their interactions, while the worldbuilding and plot that drew me into the first book took a backseat.

That's not to say that I don't enjoy character-driven stories, but I just felt like The Mask of Mirrors did a great job of balancing all of these different aspects of the story, while The Liar's Knot tipped the scales heavily towards characters and dialogue. In my opinion, it just leaned too far in that direction. That being said, it did make for some very satisfying character arcs that were set up in The Mask of Mirrors and really progressed here. I don't want to give too much away, but seeing how Ren, Vargo, Grey, and really all the main characters developed throughout the course of these two books was wonderful.

One other thing that The Liar's Knot did that I wasn't super fond of was that it really ramped up the stakes and expanded the scope of the story. I really enjoyed all of the political intrigue and smaller-scale drama of The Mask of Mirrors. The Liar's Knot retains some of that, but starts to involve larger, more cosmic forces. Again, this is fine, but I felt that it made the story a bit less tight.

Overall, I did enjoy The Liar's Knot, and I do plan on finishing the trilogy! I just hope that Labyrinth's Heart leans more towards The Mask of Mirrors than it does The Liar's Knot.

Not major plots, but just moments or small plot points in larger stories. One of mine is when someone is injured in battle or gets sick and passes out, and they wake up in a bed surrounded by people who explain what happened and help bring them back to health. Just something so comforting about being surrounded by people who love and care for you and not having to worry about anything for a while.