BINGO-ish with mini-reviews, the game that broke the slump :)

So since 2022, I've been a reading slump. Trying to get the bingo card done this year finally helped me break it and I've read 10 books since January 2026, so I think next year's bingo card is toast :D. For this year, I didn't get bingo, but I did get quite a lot, so here it is:

Knights and Paladins: Oath of Gold by Elizabeth Moon, book three of the Deed of Paksenarrion. I enjoyed Paks's story very much. It's a very '80s, early '90s story in that terrible things happen, but there's hope and value to be found in the terrible things that happen. In other words, these terrible things kind of happen for a reason, which is an attitude that was very, very prevalent in the '90s, which I personally remember as a pretty optimistic time. The whole series of The Deed of Paksenarrion, especially book two, Divided Allegiance, and book three, Oath of Gold, is also one of the best depictions of PTSD I've ever seen, including how hard it is to overcome PTSD—which makes sense, as I believe Elizabeth Moon is herself a veteran of combat. So, I highly recommend the books if you're looking for a great knights and paladins series or a book dealing with PTSD.

Hidden Gems: Murdoch's Web by Chalkie Clark. This is a science fiction self-published book with a giant spider as the main character who's also an asteroid miner. Despite my personal arachnophobia, I really liked this story. Murdoch was a fun, likable protagonist, and there's a human character that shudders right alongside me whenever she interacts with them, and that made the hairy spideriness much more bearable.

Down with the System: Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan. I really enjoyed this series, and perhaps it is fitting that it was the series that really broke my reading slump, because I bounced off this series in 2022 when my reading slump was really getting started and I stopped reading. This time around, it completely broke the slump, which was great. It is an amazing series overall that deals with a kind of French Revolution style of plot, and I did a full review for it on this subreddit and also on my blog if you're interested in that.

Gods and Pantheons: The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne, which is a reread in preparation for reading the rest of the series which is now out. I enjoyed the reread even more than the original read. Although I will say that "thought-cage," which the author uses in place of describing a mind, remains annoying to me. It is, however, a really, really fun high fantasy story set in a world inspired by a post-Valhalla Viking society. It's great.

Last in a Series: Arc of a Scythe: The Toll by Neal Shusterman. And despite the fact that I virulently disagreed with the themes of the whole series, I still recommend Arc of a Scythe as a series. I think it's a very interesting exploration of what would happen if humans discovered how to beat death in all its forms. For this little mini-review, I will just say that books one and two were great, following the story mostly through the eyes of two characters who are either becoming or are new Scythes—people who "glean" (murder) other human immortals to keep the population under control and provide some uncertainty and purpose for people's lives. And that is, in fact, part of the philosophical underpinning I disagree with.

Book Club or Read-along Book: The Maleficent Seven by Cameron Johnston (read by my discord book club). It was great fun, but ultimately the book tried to take itself too seriously and had way too many characters, and I didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped to. It's kind of a spoof take on The Magnificent Seven.

Epistolary: The Postmortal by Drew Magary, which is told as a series of blog posts or diary entries, if you prefer, interspersed with news articles and interviews and the like. It tells the story of when the world discovers the cure for aging and all the chaos that follows this discovery, as seen through the eyes of the narrator, John Farrell, who gets this cure for aging and thus stays

his age of 29, I think, throughout the whole story. It was a very interesting and more realistic exploration than Arc of a Scythe. That being said, I'm not sure I agree with the author about how events would unfold. I think we could cope with not aging. But the book itself was still very interesting and I recommend it if you're looking for that kind of exploration of immortality.

Published in 2025: The Devils by Joe Abercrombie. I know The Devils has gotten heat online for being too derivative or whatever, but I really enjoyed it. I liked all the characters and I thought the ending was very typical of Abercrombie. It's not that all people are monsters; it's that the systems we've built turn most people into monsters because only the monsters win in these systems. And that is a very Abercrombie message, in my opinion.

Small Press or Self-Published Books: Death on Luna by Terence M. Davis. This is a Sarvat Machado story, and it is written in that old kind of noir detective style. It's a lot of fun. Machado is an investigator who owns a ship called Nine-Ball and lives in orbit around Jupiter, which is also where he kind of investigates things in order to make money. The science in the series is a lot of fun, very realistic, the investigation is fantastic, and the style is very nostalgic for those who like that noir style of investigation.

Not a Book: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms as an adaptation of the Dunk and Egg stories. This made me really happy. It was a great exploration of knighthood in the Seven Kingdoms by George R. R. Martin and how those who hold power often fall shy of honor. It was really, really well done, and I will be doing a review episode on this channel on the themes explored in there.

And that's my bingo-ish card for this year :D I'm quite proud of it, given that I only really started in January. I also published this as a video on my tiny book tube channel if you want to listen to the yap instead of the read. (It's essentially exactly this content. https://youtu.be/9pbzYeqe1TQ )

https://redd.it/1s6o0ho
@r_fantasy

The Poet Empress was so close to perfect, until the ending



SPOILER WARNING

So I finished The Poet Empress by Shen Tao yesterday, and I am overall very conflicted on how I feel about the book right now. For the first hundred pages or so, I thought it was enjoyable but had some noticeable shortcomings: the prose felt a little clunky, the pacing felt too fast to let some things sit as much as I thought they should, and the political situation felt a little too simplistic.

However, there's a point around the 90 page mark where things start to shift, and I started to enjoy the book way more. I honestly thought the next 250 pages or so were incredible. If you've read the book and seen some of the discussion of it online, you likely know why so many people ended up loving it: the flawed (or outright awful) but fascinating characters, the emotional gut-punches, the beauty and the terror of the world and the magic system. I was beginning to feel like everything great people said about this book was true, and going into the last forty or so pages, I felt like this book was going to get a pretty easy 9/10 or higher from me.

But the last little bit of this book had some things that really bothered me and made me leave the book with a sour taste in my mouth, and I haven't seen people discussing any of them. It seems like the vast majority of the people who read this book didn't have their opinions negatively impacted by them, so I'm really really curious to know if anyone else had these same issues, or if I may be misinterpreting some things in the book. So here are the problems I had with the ending:

1. I think this may be the easiest thing for people to agree with me on, but if Isan was ultimately going to end up on the throne, we should probably have spent more time with him. This was by no means a deal-breaker for me, I just think that since his position as the third son and his powers ended up being so consequential to the climax of the story, it would have been nice if he was a more fleshed out character instead of just fruit boy.
2. The entire book leads up to the heart-spirit poem, and then we never get to see it, which is so, so disappointing. The problem is exacerbated by the fact it kinda ends up being a deus ex machina to bring Terren back to life. There was no prior indication that anything like that was possible. And the fact we don't see the heart-spirit poem made me realize there was a distinct lack of actual poetry in the book with a magic system centered around poetry. Its really unfortunate, because the poetry that was included was phenomenal and I loved every bit of it. In the end, the poetry didn't matter, all that mattered was how Wei felt about Terren, and how much she knew about him. You could argue that's the point, but if that's the case why even have the poetry aspect in the first place if you're not going to use it? Again, the entire plot was leading up to this poem, it was absolutely crucial to the story. I honestly thought there would be an entire page or two of poetry. But no, we got...the title. That's it. Oh, and as a cherry on top, Wei is able to transfer her consciousness into a flying magic fish, but also still be aware of everything happening around her real body at the same time, so that she can narrate all the action to us. Again, this comes out of NOWHERE.
3. The biggest thing that rubbed me the wrong way with the end of this book was the treatment of Maro. I'm really wondering if I missed something or if I critically misunderstood some parts of this story. Why is Wei simultaneously so empathetic towards Terren yet so uncharitable towards Maro by the end of this book??? Maro is almost made out as more of a villain in the climax than Terren is, and it makes no sense. You could make the case that Wei is biased towards Terren, because she is his wife and can thus gain power from him becoming emperor. However, for one thing, I don't think her character naturally got to the point where she should be lamenting having to kill Terren, the man who tortured her for, like, a year,

meanwhile REVELLING in being able to thwart Maro's and Sillian's plans, everything he has worked for his entire life, and subsequently not feeling any sympathy for him when he is brutally killed. It also feels like the book itself is trying to get the audience to believe that Maro is almost as bad as Terren (which I've heard people say?) and that they would be equally bad options for the throne, which just doesn't hold, because Terren is a measurably worse person than Maro and has done (and likely would continue to do) unambiguously worse things to people. There seems to be two main things that turned Wei completely against Maro: a) Maro killing his father, and b) Sillian Song betraying Wei. With point b), I can understand how this would push Wei against Sillian, and by extension Maro's cause, because she needless betrayed Wei which almost ended in her death. In regards to a), I cannot for the life of me understand why she sees this as such a uniquely awful thing for Maro to do. Its not that I think this was a good or noble action, but in the hierarchy of bad shit that people have done in this story, its nowhere near the top. She mainly takes issue with it because it shows that Maro has ambition to take the throne and will do morally reprehensible things for it. But Wei literally knows Maro's life story, so she should logically know that the majority of the reason he wants the throne isn't out of selfishness, but out of duty for his nation, and knowing that his brother is a fucking violent lunatic who would rule in tyranny. Wei also comes to the conclusion that it is not inherently evil or selfish to want power, because that power can be used to help people. For some reason, by her logic, its would be justified for her to let a violent, cruel maniac rule the nation with unlimited power and continue to hurt people so that she could have that power. But Maro killing one man, who was by all accounts a TERRIBLE person, who had essentially been on his deathbed and not even lucid for years, in order to make a play to stop his brother from becoming a savage despot is where Wei draws the line? This is what's supposed to make us see Maro as just as bad of an option for the nation as Terren? Who she described GUTTING HER FRIENDS LIKE FISH because he lost his temper. Additionally, Maro's decision to speed the emperor's death along makes practical sense for someone in his position. From his perspective, Wei has miraculously just come up with a way to kill Terren, and this is his only shot at saving the nation from a tyrannical, bloodthirsty ruler. Since their father is barely even living at this point, Terren pretty much holds all the power anyways, so what point is there in drawing this situation out for potentially years? With every passing day, the risk that Terren discovers their plot becomes greater, the risk that he kills Wei and they lose the power to kill him becomes greater. His choice is not only not that bad relatively to things Terren has done, its also just a logically smart and potentially necessary move for his goals AS WELL AS HERS. So again, I really don't know why Wei sees this as a particularly bad thing, so much so that it sways her enough to let Terren have power instead of Maro. Now, I think the ultimate conclusion she comes to, that Isan's fruit power would be the best for the nation, is the right one. I think it makes sense for her to hate Maro simply because he is a prince who failed to adequately help his starving people. Like she says in the end, she hated him before she even knew him for that reason above all others. But it is so odd, and almost a little gross to me, that she is so empathetic towards Terren in the end, because "she knows why he ended up this way," but will not extend that same empathy towards Maro, despite knowing both their life stories, and how much Maro also suffered. Is it because Terren suffered more? I may agree that he did, but again, he has also done demonstrably worse things than Maro in the present day of the story. Maro dies viscerally and unceremoniously, while Terren dies in

a delicate, emotional way. Wei takes pleasure in ruining everything Maro ever worked for, and then hardly feels anything at his death, but she is sorry she has to kill Terren. After they are both dead, in the final chapter or two, she is at least a bit more sympathetic towards Maro, but where was that during the entire climax? It just felt like selective, uneven empathy to me.
4. Wei's conclusion in the last few chapters that it doesn't matter if Tensha is invaded, because "what's the nation worth if it can't even feed its people", and "maybe those people will treat them better anyways," is deeply irresponsible, shortsighted, and unfitting for her character at this point. Wei, you've been to the Violet Heron Tower. You know the place used to be a tribute house, where Tensha offered up girls, CHILDREN, so that the opposing nation wouldn't attack. How could you possibly think the people of Tensha wouldn't suffer as much if it were militarily occupied by other nations? It would only cause a different kind of suffering.

I apologize for the length of this rant lol. I almost didn't write this because I know so many people loved this novel, and I feel a bit uncomfortable critiquing the work of a debut author so thoroughly. But its precisely because I loved so much of this book that I needed to get these thoughts out. I'm very excited to see what Shen Tao does next, because she clearly has a lot of skill as an author and is able to capture a lot of peoples' hearts (mine included). Everything said here stems from my opinions and interpretation of the book, and I'm curious to know if there's people who view these things in similar or different ways :)

https://redd.it/1s6pm8d
@r_fantasy

Brian McClellan’s “In the Shadow of Lightning” is the one book that finally brought back my joy for reading (appreciation post)

I wanted to share some appreciation for Brian McClellan’s latest masterpiece. After devouring both the Powder Mage and Gods of Blood and Powder series (including all the novellas) years ago, I hit a bit of a wall. Due to personal reasons, I went through a long period where I didn't pick up a single book, but this story finally reignited my passion for reading. It felt like watching an epic, cinematic adventure unfold right inside my head.

Even as a long-time fan of McClellan, this book caught me completely off guard. It follows a disgraced noble who returns to his home city to solve a mystery, only to find himself caught in a massive, empire-shaking conspiracy. I’ve always been a fan of well-crafted mysteries, and I loved the way the villains were slowly unfolding. The characters felt so authentic and relatable that I found myself racing through the pages, genuinely anxious about what would happen to them.

What really stands out is how he manages the wartime setting. McClellan is a master at balancing large-scale warfare with gritty, individual combat. The most impressive part for me is that, despite having zero personal interest or background in military history, I was absolutely captivated by those aspects of the writing. Combined with a "hard" magic system that is woven into the very fabric of the world’s economy and culture, the world-building feels incredibly solid.

If you haven't started this series yet, you're missing out. I'm already counting down the days until the second book! (aaaand it's time to re-read the Powder Mage books!)

https://redd.it/1s6rxpz
@r_fantasy

My first Bingo card

https://preview.redd.it/q6whatbroyrg1.jpg?width=513&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9e4bf7a8850937e5a1ee78469b6398303ae186a6

Here's my first bingo card. Something of an experiment as I haven't done one of these before. I only became aware of the existence of the card late last year and didn't make any particular effort to fill in the squares until right at the end. Some of the squares may not match - I leave that to the judges - but I have at least tried to find a book which fit from the fifty or so new Fantasy books I've read in the last year.

In each case I have reviewed the books I've read on Goodreads, and have copied the reviews I wrote there below.



1. Knights and Paladins

The Mayor of Noobtown by Ryan Rimmel

My Review:

I think I came across this book in list of recommendations for those who have enjoyed Dungeon Crawler Carl. This book is a more conventional Lit RPG. In it the protagonist (Jim) finds himself in a fantasy world with RPG mechanics, and has to make his way in it.

 

I found the book moderately entertaining There is a lot of RPG mechanics - information about levels and player statistics, blow by blow descriptions of battles and such, which I didn't find terribly interesting, but the story kept my interest and it was an OK read over all. Enough to make me go straight on to the next book in the series at least.

 

 

2. Hidden Gem

Grim Tales by Edith Nesbit

My Review

A collection of seven stories, all "grim" in different ways.

 

I had a mixed reaction to the stories. Some I really enjoyed in a low key spooky sort of way (The Ebony Frame, Uncle Abraham's Romance), some had me scratching my head (The Mystery of the Semi-Detached, The Mass for the Dead), and some were the annoying sort of melodramatic story where people cause their own problems by not listening to each other (From The Dead, Man-Sized in Marble).

 

I read this by way of the Project Gutenberg edition.

 

3. Published in the 80s

Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce

My Review:

This year I came across the Fantasy Bingo in the r/fantasy subreddit and decided to see if I ticked on the boxes. To my surprise I came pretty close. One box I hadn't ticked was "80s Fantasy". I found this book on a list of well regarded fantasy from the 80s and thought I'd check it out.

 

Alanna: The First Adventure tells the story of a young girl who is sent off with her brother to be educated; he to become a knight, she to learn magic. The two decide to swap (and somehow manage to convince their guardians to go along with it), so that in this book we follow Alanna as she begins her training, first as a page and then as a squire.

 

The book is quite engaging. The difficulties faced are quite believable, especially as Alanna grows older. Nevertheless she thrives in her chosen calling, making friends as well as enemies, and finding help in unexpected places.

 

 

4. High Fashion

Witch Hat Atelier Vol 01-08 by Kamonme Shirahama

My son has been encouraging me to read this series for some time now, and I have finally got round to starting it. It is a fascinating world with magic and magical teachers, which we explore through the eyes of Coco, a girl who starts to train as a witch. The series is very well thought out, with a believable system of magic, a rich world to explore, and a range of characters both good and bad.

 

I began my read with the first four volumes, but there is plenty more to look forward to.

 

The "High Fashion" component comes from the characteristic clothes worn by witches, imbued with magical spells of various kinds

 

 

5. Down with the System

The Wheel of Osheim by Mark Lawrence

The System being overthrown is the Wheel itself, the whole system of magic which is sending the world to destruction.

 

My Review:

This book brings the Red Queen's War to an unexpectedly grandiose conclusion. The stakes of the story, and the character of the main character, grew in unexpected and very satisfying ways and I found myself thoroughly enjoying it.

 

 

6.

Impossible Places

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

My Review:

This is a curious book. I came across it in an online discussion about books that are reminiscent of the Narnia series. This book is a series of journal entries by a man known as Piranesi who lives in a mysterious series of halls which are filled with statues. Birds fly through the halls, and fish live in the waters that wash through the lower halls. We piece together the story of what is really happening though the eyes of Piranesi as he explores the halls and encounters other people.

 

It is hard to say more without giving spoilers, but this was a very enjoyable and intriguing book.

 

 

7. A Book in Parts

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by JK Rowling

(A Play in four Acts)

My Review

I read this (well, listened to an audio version) after rereading all the other Harry Potter books. This book is a script rather than a novel, and comes complete with stage directions.

 

Story wise I thought the story was OK, but it felt more like a piece of fan fiction than an actual continuation of the Harry Potter saga. There is a lot of revisiting of old material along with a lot of changes to established facts - so much so that I was almost surprised to see Rowling's name on the cover.

 

It would probably be spectacular to see on stage (if done well), but for my own part I think the Harry Potter series does just as well without it.

 

 

8. Gods and Pantheons

Codex Alera: Princeps Fury by Jim Butcher

My Review

The story continues, with most of the action in this one taking place in the land of the Canae, the doglike warrior people who live across the seas from Alera.

 

In this case thare are multiple pantheons in play, starting with Furies of the Alerans and continuing with the multiple other nations

 

 

9. Last in a Series

Codex Alera: First Lord's Fury by Jim Butcher

My Review:

In this, the final book of the Codex Alera, Tavi comes into his own as the new First Lord of Alera, defeating his enemies and forging new alliances for the future. I found that this book brought the series to a very satisfactory conclusion.

 

Without going into spoiler territory, there are many things I liked about this series. The world, with its multiple peoples and species, is well imagined. There are a lot of very likeable characters, and I was especially pleased with the various love stories which are told along the way.

 

Most satisfying is the story of Tavi, the young man who over the course of the series grows to be the first lord, forging friendships and overcoming obstacles, first through his wits and skill alone and later as he comes into his own as a furycrafter.

 

 

10. Book Club or Readalong

The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher

My Review

The start of Jim Butcher's latest series is a solid first entry to a new epic tale. We have a strange and well described world with lots of fascinating details of setting, character and technology (for want of a better word). Being book one most of these remain unexplained at the end of the book, but there is no doubt that explanations exist. My only reservation here is that the series has only two books written of a much longer series, and there is a distinct possibility it is never finished.

 

Characters are well imagined, and I very much enjoyed that talking cats form part of the cast. The story contained more action scenes than I really care for, and seemed to go from fight to battle to scuffle to military engagement almost without relief. Very well done if you like that sort of thing, but a little more than I cared for.

 

 

11. Parents

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

My Review:

My second Blake Crouch book after the excellent Recursion, this one dealing with quantum uncertainty and parallel worlds as it explores the question: what if the choices that shape your life had been made differently?  In this book the protagonist finds himself in a world where different decisions have been made, and must try to find a way back to the world where he has a wife and son.

 

While I enjoyed this book I didn't feel that

it was as good as Recursion. It felt like there were too many unanswered questions, and the ending, though satisfying to a degree, was not as completely satisfying as it might have been.

 

 

12. Epistolary

Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson

Significant portions of this book are the expeditionary journal entries.

My Review:

This was a curious book. The scenario is that in the early 20th century, all the inhabitants of Europe are suddenly replaced with a completely different biosphere, as if from an alternate version of the evolution of life. The story follows the effects this has on the wider world, the different theories made to explain it, and what is found by the various parties of explorers who investigate it. strange and thought provoking stuff.

 

 

13. Published in 2025

Absolute Superman Vol 1 by Jason Aaron

My Review:

I don't read too many comic which aren't manga, but a recent podcast episode talking about the new DC comics Absolute Universe sounded intriguing, so I decided to check out Absolute Superman. The comic retells the story of the story story of Superman, changing many things but keeping the essentials the same.

 

 

14. Author of Color

Ratman Vol 1-4 by Sekihiko Inui

I read a lot of Manga, and I hope that Japanese authors count as People of Colour.  If nt, I've missed this square.

My Review:

I came across this manga earlier in the year. In a world where super heroes keep the world safe, young Shooto Katsugari dreams of becoming one. When he is offered the chance by a mysterious stranger he accepts without hesitation - only to realise that he has just been signed up by the super villain team and not the super heroes. As the newly minted supervillain Ratman he is obliged to obey his villain overlords - but still finds a way to use his evil powers to the greater good.

 

This is an amusing twist on the regular superhero fare, and one I quite enjoyed.

 

 

15. Small Press or Self Published

Beware of Chicken 2 by  CasualFarmer

This book has been picked up by a publisher, but I am including it because I started reading the story when only the first volume was just on Royal Road, and only continued this year.

My Review:

I read this book as the continuation from Beware of Chicken. I enjoyed the first book as it was a Cosy fantasy in a Cultivation setting, showing what happened when the hero Jin Rou turned his back on the highly dangerous and cutthroat world of Cultivation and took up the simple life of a farmer. 

 

 

 

16. Biopunk

Mickey7 by Edward Ashton

Not 100% sure this meets the definition of Biopunk, but the cloning machine is definitely Bio.

My review:

I read this book after seeing the movie earlier in the year. As in usual in such cases, the book is better. While the movie delights in the various bloody deaths suffered by Mickey (17 to the book's 7) and adds an element of political satire which feels somewhat forced the book tells a much more streamlined and satisfying story, and includes a lot of detail about the history of human interstellar colonisation which is absent from the movie.

 

Quite a clever piece of science fiction.

 

 

17. Elves and Dwarves

Farming Life In Another World by Yasuyki Tsurugi

My Review:

I came across mention of this story somewhere - in an online discussion about anime, perhaps? - and read some 30 chapters of it online. A standard enough Isekai story with an overpowered protagonist and a bunch of impossibly beautiful females (including the Elves required for this card). Pleasant enough if you're into that sort of thing, but it got old pretty fast.

 

 

18. LGBTQIA+ Protagonist

The Day Tripper by James Goodhand

In this book, the LGBTQIA character is a student of the main character.  This character is alos a POC.

My Review

I came across mention of this book after looking up info about another similar book, Oona Out of Order. In this book Alex Dean, age 20, has a bright future ahead of him,

only to suffer an unfortunate turn of events. When he wakes up he is 14 years into the future and his life has fallen apart. Each day he awakens in a different time. Over the course of the book he must what is going on, why has his life turned out so badly, what has happened to the people he loves, and can he fix it?

 

An engaging and clever exploration of time, life, love, and the importance of small choices.

 

19. Five Short Stories

The Hidden Girl and Other Stories by Ken Liu

My Review:

I read this book after watching the TV series Pantheon which is based on some of the stories in this volume. Like any collection. my reaction varies. For the most part the stories are near future science fiction stories dealing with things like mind uploading and the technological singularity, but there are other stories both science fiction and fantasy.

 

An interesting collection and one I would (mostly) recommend.

 

 

20. Stranger in a Strange Land

The Antventure Bgins by  RinoZ

My Review:

Not sure where I came across mention of this book (probably an online discussion on Reddit) but it proved to be an amusing little piece of LitRPG about a young man who suddenly finds himself in the body of an ant monster in a world with RPG like mechanics. A lot of time is spent on game mechanics and there are a lot of battles (especially towards the end) but it kept my interest enough to keep listening to the end, and probably to at least one more of the many sequels.

 

 

21. Recycle a Bingo Square (2025: First in a Series)

Codex Alera: Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher

My Review:

I was recently challenged to read this book by a friend after we had been discussing Jim Butcher's other series, The Dresden Files, which he is a big fan of and I have not taken to. This series apparently results from a challenge made to Butcher that he could not write a good book based on the "Lost Roman Legion" cliché. This he has done, and with Pokémon thrown in to boot.

 

In this book we have a Roman-inspired world in which people have skills with "Furies", elemental being with powers of air, earth, fire, water, wood or metal. Fury Crafters can use these elemental powers in combat or in daily life.

 

This story is engaging and well told. We have plots and counter plots, a wide cast of characters and some very well executed world building. I am very much taken with this series and will definitely be reading the rest of them.

 

 

22. Cozy SFF

DragonSinger by Anne McCaffrey

My Review:

The second part of of the story of Menolly, begun in Dragonsong, sees her taking up residence in the Harpers Hall and follows the first week of her life there as she finds her place in her new home.

 

This book would probably classify as cosy fantasy. Stakes are not high, not a whole lot happens, but we enjoy getting to know the characters a bit better and explore a new place.

 

 

23. Generic Title

Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey

My Review:

I was given a copy of this one by a friend (thanks Brad!) and found it an enjoyable read. Nothing particularly complex here or high stakes, just a fairly simple story about a young woman who runs away from home looks after a clutch of singing lizards.

 

My main gripe is that the story feels very short and barely seems to have got going before it is over, but since it is part one of series I guess I can forgive that.

 

24. Not a Book

Beauty and the Beast (Musical) by  Tim Rice

For my "Not a Book" I took part in a community theatre production of the Disney Beauty and the Beast, playing Maurice.  In this case I have an external review:

https://theatrehaus.com/2026/01/beauty-and-the-beast-brisbane-musical-theatre/

 

25. Pirates

The Olympian Affair by Jim Butcher

Not sea pirates, but air pirates.

My Review:

he second book of the Cinder Spires series. This one started a bit slow. The first part was a little confusing and did not really hold my interest, but it picked up in the second half with a few spectacular battles and some

clever plot twists. We learn more of the world, though there is still a lot more to learn about it. The news that the third volume of the series is coming out later this year is welcome.

 

https://redd.it/1s6s9l5
@r_fantasy

r/Fantasy Daily Recommendations and Simple Questions Thread - March 29, 2026

https://preview.redd.it/l2cosnpoixbg1.png?width=3508&format=png&auto=webp&s=cb9f4a2807499edc796351cc28ec39b3aea4d7c2

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

Stickied/highlight slots are limited, so please remember to ~~like and subscribe~~ upvote this thread for visibility on the subreddit <3

——

This thread is to be used for recommendation requests or simple questions that are small/general enough that they won’t spark a full thread of discussion.

Check out [r/Fantasy](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/)'s [2025 Book Bingo Card here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1joxlrr/official_rfantasy_2025_book_bingo_challenge/)!

As usual, first have a look at the sidebar in case what you're after is there. The [r/Fantasy wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/wiki/recommendations) contains links to many community resources, including "best of" lists, flowcharts, the LGTBQ+ database, and more. If you need some help figuring out what you want, think about including some of the information below:

* Books you’ve liked or disliked
* Traits like prose, characters, or settings you most enjoy
* Series vs. standalone preference
* Tone preference (lighthearted, grimdark, etc)
* Complexity/depth level

Be sure to check out responses to other users' requests in the thread, as you may find plenty of ideas there as well. Happy reading, and may your TBR grow ever higher!

——

[^(tiny image link to make the preview show up correctly)](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ITpGPzWOOd7MHhCY2d6Zv_6MWsntfT3s/view?usp=sharing)

art credit: special thanks to our artist, [Himmis commissions](https://himmis.carrd.co/), 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.

https://redd.it/1s6t8fn
@r_fantasy

My year of French Speculative Fiction – Bingo Reviews

Hello everyone ! :D

This year I have managed to fulfill three cards - A french novels one, a novella one, and a graphic novels one. This is my reviews for my french novels one.

Note, my requirement for the books were to be the their first language was to be french, not that the author had to french, although it ended very french all the same.

In terms of authors there are 17 that i have discovered with the bingo, with only two that I would have never read without the bingo. I had the bad idea to buy a loooot of books the year before hoping they would somehow fit in the bingo, and I have a lot of leftover... Including a few notorious authors that I still haven't read, so this bingo is hardly a state-of-french-fantasy-in-2025. Maybe next year!

(Or no. I have also a lot of anglophone books, so next bingo I will probably read whatever I want and see where I am in november. Challenges are fun, but planning too much in advance sucks for me.)

https://preview.redd.it/gjbsces0gzrg1.png?width=1722&format=png&auto=webp&s=8d73c2afdb52e82f0185f67a201295b8520c6531




On to reviews! I noted if it was translated in english. I also forgot to note HM on the bingo maker, so I will try to note if fill the requirement.

1. Knights and Paladins - Knight Club - Arthur de Pins

HM, I guess? Like the one real knight promises to defend the village alongside the other mercenaries

This is a graphic novel – kinda cheating because I have a separate bingo for that, but well, I’ve started Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart and found out that there weren’t really enought speculative elements for my taste.

On the actual comic: the plot is not really original, since it’s another retelling of The Seven Samurais but in the middle east, around the crusades. The characters are well-made and the plot is well crafted, obviously, so the real interest is the art. It is really stunning, in a really clean-made-on-computer graphics, it doesn’t lessen the brutality of war, without being gory. This come from a fairly known artist in French, and while I liked the book, it’s not its best.

2. Hidden Gem - Le jour où l'humanité a niqué la fantasy - Karim Berrouka

65 ratings, published in february 2021, so freshly HM

Fantasy creatures exist, exiled under Earth’s surface, and they are unhappy about their misrepresentation in human folklore. So unhappy that they are willing to destroy humanity to prove their existence, leaving only the worthy to live. This is a book that doesn’t take itself seriously (the title translates to The day when Humanity screwed fantasy, that certainly set the tone), but the plot and characters are well done, and the humor really kept me reading.

3. Published in the 80's - Le silence de la cité - Elisabeth Vonarburg

Translated: The silent city

Elisabeth Vonarburg is apparently a big name in quebec SF, and with this book I clearly understand why. The book is set in the future, when the wealthy took refuge in underground artificial cities, living for centuries while leaving the rest of humanity to fend for themselves after nuclear devastation and health problems resulting from it. In the remnants of humanity, the gender imbalance grew, with way more women being born than men. Does that mean they took power and this is a matriarchy? Lol no.

The main character is a woman born in the city, the first kid in a century, created so she could spread her regeneration genes to humanity, without the living for centuries because people kinda go mad after living too much. Like her creator, who is like a dad to her, then a mentor, a dictator and a lover (yeah, incest is a theme in the book, but it deals with it fairly well, it’s not \~magically good inecst\~). I won’t reveal the plot too much, but this the kind of old SF I love, a good story exploring intersting themes like gender, sex, sex inequality, emancipation and freedom. And for a eighties book, the subject of sex changing was graciously done, if not realistic.

There’s a

follow up titled In the mother’s land, apparently way better and it’s advised to read it first, but well it was published in 1994 so it wouldn’t fit for the bingo, which is why I started with The silent city. With how much I loved the one I read, I will for sure check it.

4. High-Fashion - Plein-Ciel - Siècle Vaëlban - HM

In a word hierarchised by type of powers, the Opera is the highest form of Church. A performance goes bad? In worst case, that might mean hunger for the year. But is it really the way of the gods, or a political manipulation? Ivoire will soon discovers all types of conspiracies when she’s enrolled to create the dress of the actors.

Overall it was fun YA book, with a looooot of lore, which is my main complain. Like it makes sense, but it’s way too dense and I feel it needed a few more rounds of editing to be more thight-knit. It’s not a book for everyone, but if you loved The mirror visitor (especially the first book), it should be up your alley.

5. Down with the System - Noblesse Oblige - Maiwenn Alix

Another YA book, this time set in an alternate world where the french revolution failed. If you judge the cover and the summary, you might find it very similar to The Selection by Kierra Cass. And you would be right! It’s The Selection if it was focused on the revolts and the politics instead of the romance. And I loved it! In fact I loved it so much that Ibought and read the second and last book the week after finishing this one. The whole duology is great and is very satisfying to read, fyi.

It is way more dark than I thought it would be, with a conspiracy akin to the Epstein Files, so be warned.

6. Impossible Places - Nouveaux contes de fées - **La Comtesse de Ségur/**Sophie Rostopchine

HM - translated: can be found under the title Old French Fairy tales

This one is more or less a reread, as I’ve read this book countless of times as a kid, except my edition at the time had only three stories out of the original five. So it’s only half a reread! (Fits for the square bc it’s fairytale logic, with forest you can’t get out of etc.)

Anyway I loved (re)discovering these stories, just as enchanting as I remembered. The Comtesse de Ségur have a way with words that send me straight back to my childhood. Is it prefect? Nope, way too much virtuous and christian for my adult taste, with a lof of sexist expectation. But if, as a kid, I could understand the circumstances it was written in (the 19^(th) century), I can do it as an adult and not expect something else than what it promises.

7. A book in parts - Une valse pour les grotesques - Guillaume Chamanadjian

If I had a nickel for every time I’ve read Napoleon becoming a mere general instead of an emperor, which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice this year. OK this was just a side note in both books (this one and Noblesse Oblige), but still it is a funny coincidence. I’ve read this book back in June and I must say I don’t have strong memories or feeling about it. I remember liking it a lot, it just didn’t hold to the test of time.

I noted on my original review that there were too many POVs so we would spend too little time with any of them, which might explain why it did not stay fresh on my mind. I also noted the originality of the wolrd-building/plot, and yeah I do like what I remember. It builds off of our french fantastique, which is mostly strange stuff going on with the protagonist (and the reader therefore) is not sure it’s real or not.

Yeah the more I remember the more I like it.

8. Gods and Pantheons - La dernière tentation de Judas - Philippe Bataglia

Ok I might get ire from christians for getting this book on this square, since the only god is the christian God, but I’ve done my confirmation years ago so I don’t give a fuck about their opinion. Also they would probably object on the book itself so whatever.

The plot: Judas and the others Apostles (and a other few select) are still alive in modern

times thanks to receiving the Holy Spirit. Judas is still moping around after betraying his lover (Jesus), on order of the Holy Father (God), but discovers an ancient lost and unofficial gospel that promises him happiness if he recovers the thrity pieces of silver he received for selling out Jesus.

It’s a pretty fun quest book, with mad apostles (from years of torture without dying. And also from power.) going slightly BDSM like, and also transness. Yes it’s a queer exploration all the way through. It’s also a reflexion on faith, godhood, sin, perfection and well the meaning of Church across history and modern times.

It got a little long in the middle, but I still loved everything and the conclusion was… quite weird? But in a good way? Like I do remember this book pretty well, which bodes well.

9. Last in a Series - Les Sœurs Carmines #3 : Dolorine à l'école - Ariel Holzl

(Review of the whole serie)

An extremely strong MG series, with obvious Tim Burton energy. Or magasin des suicides if you happen to know this one. I say MG, but I think it wouldn’t hold in America, probably way too murdery and gothic for this country. Yeah, dying is in fashion Grisailles, the city where the books happen, be it you or others. This is a really humorous book, choke full of jokes on violence and death in a cartoony way, with memorable characters and universe. My favorite of the trilogy was Tristabelle, the first born, who in real life I would call a bitch while in book she was just the highlight of cruelty and indifference to suffering. If you die, please don’t get blood on her dress, that would ruin it!

Anyway this third book is focused on Dolorine, the youngest of the sisters, on her first year of boarding school. While still good, it lacked the superior irony of her big sister and felt slightly too much like a normal kid book, with her trying to get into this band of young classmates. There was also a lack of her possessed teddy bear, who still payed an important role but was too much absent in the first part.

10. Book Club or readalong - The Magnus Archives - Jonathan Sims - HM

There’s an absence of french books across book clubs, so this is my exception to my card.

Anyway at first I was afraid of not being able to follow along an english podcasts or to grow bored, and instead I listened to the whole thing in about three weeks.

Yeah I liked it just fine.

11. Parents - Vertèbres - Morgane Caussarieu - HM

This book was sold as “Goosebumps but for adults” and by god it delivered. Absolute fun all around, with werewolves and fake illness and overbearing moms and kidnappings and innocent girls nearly being eaten. I will definitely read more of the author.

12. Epistolary - Récits du Demi-loup #4 : Clémente nous soit la pluie - Chloé Chevalier - HM

I’ve read the last three books this year, and they’re all told through the way of journals.

This is lowkey our Game of Throne (not in popularity tho), with political plot with little magic. None in fact, it’s really low-fantasy.

And I absolutely loved it. It’s female led, so plenty of rep and relationships and messy feelings galore. No girl power, though, because realistic leadership means that they’re gonna suck one way or another. I loved the world building, it is not focused on it but it’s just so well-connected, you can feel the author loved connecting the dots.

The biggest complaint I have is that there are multiple POVs, written as they would write in their journals or letters and it did not feel distinctive enough. Luckily I really liked the writing so on my side it’s mostly nitpicking.

13. Published in 2025 - Le Livre des étoiles #5: La magie des Korrigans - Jimmy Blin

If asked my favorite book ever in middle school, it would have been the original trilogy The Book of Stars by Erik L'Homme. This book litteraly changed my life. So what better news than hearing a fan wrote a follow-up and it got approved by the original author and will be published? I was elated

of course, even if book 4 was little disapointing. The main character have disappeared and it felt like transition book. (Eh, the fanfiction I wrote at 12 featured his OC of a grand-daughter, so I made no better.)

Book 5 was a major upgrade for me, even though I'm not 12 anymore it was just as fun. The only complain I have is that HE KILLED MY FAVORITE CHARACTER!!! WHY! It was a very satisfying death, sure, but like he spend 15 years safe in my head :(

14. Author of Color - Quand vient la horde - Aurélie Luong

Not a bad book, but it made me discover that dark fantasy is not really for me. War, murder, violence, rape, vengeance, rinse and repeat. Yay. The main character had an arc, but the whole circle of violence and vengeance did not made me feel anything.

Finished the book and moved on immediately.

15. Small Press/Self-published - Les Chroniques d'Arawin #1 : Une idée d'incandescence - Naël Legrand - HM

Indie published, it was a little too inspired by Discoworld for me. The wolrd was well build, the characters interesting, the plot okay, but yeah it was not the most inspired. You can tell the author had fun writing it, but a book need a little more originality for me. I still liked it, but it will hardly stay with me.

16. Biopunk - Les olympiades truquées - Joëlle Wintrebert

In a world where genetic is not left to chance anymore, boys outnumbers girls by far, leaving them prey to sexism, sex predator and the like. There’s really no winning on the gender war, damn.

Published around the same time than Silence of the City, it deals with the same ideas but less well. There’s also the issue of athletes and drugs, and how far they’re willing to sell their body for the best spectacle. And just like Silence of City, incest! We keep winning! Because a subplot is the existence of clones, with some created only for their organs, and some like one of the two main character, cloned from the dead wife of her “father”. Yes, dude, raising the clone of the love of your life as your daughter will obviously lead her to fall in love you. Sure. Nothing wronger here,buddy, your plan is foolproof.

The problem with this book is that alllllllll the issues ares uper interesting, but it just breezes over them. The plot is centered on the olympics and a group of terrorist meaning to prevent them, against the super-powered steroids destroying the athletes bodies.

And then nothing changes.

I guess it’s just like real life, as you can get earth shattering news/war going on around the world without feeling a change in your life, but it was just super unsatisfying to read about. Like the issue of raising a clone just for their organ is like an interlude where you understand the subtext, and then it’s never mentioned again.

So really interesting concept, but the final result is just not up to my modern sensibilities.

17. Elves and dwarves - Les Clopin-Clopant #1: Bande de bras cassés - Agnès Marot

Another MG book, sadly I did not like it. It had all the elements that I usually like, but it did not take. Maybe a little too preachy for my taste?

The illustrations were really lice tho.

18. LGBTQIA Protagonist - Meute - Karine Rennberg

Werewolves in a post-apo wolrd told in 2^(nd) person? Sign me up.

The book was everything I wanted, although not for everyone. If you think it will be gory and full of violence, yeah not really. It’s more a book about healing, finding your own family (your own pack, if you will), trying to live peacefully in a broken world and a broken system. Absolutely lovely,

19. Five Short Stories - Récits fantastiques - Maupassant - HM

Fantastique is roughly the french equivalent to gothic fiction, and Maupassant was the figurehead of the genre. This book contains all his work related to the genre, including Le Horla, a short story studied in highschool. That had not been my case though, so it was my first time reading every stories included there, and I must say the one who marked me the

most would have been the guy who believed in reincarnation and finishes in an asylum. Yep there’s a lot of madness going on there, which is quite ironic considering Maupassant himself went mad from syphilis.

20. Stranger in a strange Land - Un corps d’avance - Lou Jan - HM

This one sounded promising, with humans living for centuries on the condition than once every 75 years old they have to cut tie with everyone they know and leave the country to get a fresh start. Except in later involves the queen Aliénor d’Aquitaine alongside her last lover and her second husband, Henry II, king of England. Not bad in itself, it was just not what I signed for. I also found the writing very dry.

21. 2018, One Word Title - Nous - Christelle Dabos - HM

Translated: We

There’s not a single book by Christelle Dabos that I haven’t liked, this one included. The magic system was quite new, with the magic manifesting itself by having a specific need to help society on a whole. That goes to destroy all cockroach in 3 meters radius, to help every grandma cross the road in a 5km radius. Awesome? Mostly tiring, maybe even dangerous considering one of the main character have prosthesis instead of arms. But in a society where I doesn’t exist and only us matters, everyone tries their best to be best version of themselves to better the society. The best of the best of the best, yep. Clearly a book about individualist society vs community first, it’s still a very good YA story with enjoyable characters. The second part could have been a separate book that it wouldn’t have been shocking, but at least there’s no need to wait and also no need to present the characters twice. It’s like two book in one!

22. Cozy SFF - Prospérine Virgule-Point et la Phrase sans fin - Laure Dargelos - HM

Translated: Saving Ellipsis

Such a fun book! Prospérine lives inside a book – she’s not a chracter, but the village is in charge of taking care of the manuscript, a forgotten WIP by a young woman in our world. Except it’s been forgotten for so long that it threatens to collapse, potentially destroying her village. So she enlist the help of a young man living in the Capital to contact the author (very verboten) so she can finally finish the story, letting the fictional village prospering.

A fun romcom, the plot reminded me of the thousands of hallmark movies where they need to save christmas or whatever. The highlight was clearly the writing and the wolrdbuilding, a world where everything is based on text. So there are characters typing in helvetica, a Mary-Sue, Characters Speaking With A Capital Accent, or italique, it was just so inventive! I would be quite curious to discover the english translation.

23. ~~Generic Title~~ -> 2021 Titled Chapters - Peau d’âme #1 : Les Lilas du Roi - Aude Ziegelmeyer

This kinda reads like a typical romantasy, except I expect the romance part will be featured in the second book. A fairly good book, but in the end it felt like not a lot happened even if there were a lot of stuff. I think it was hyped a little too much about exploration of feminity and sexism but it felt more like a standard YA book. I will be reading the next one, but probably won’t be screaming it’s the best book ever.

23. Not a book - La quête d'Exilan, tome 1 - Andarta Pictures

Pierre Bottero got a cult following during his life, and his death has not helped. So the adapation was highly awaited, and I must say I'm not disppointed. It could have been better, it could have been way worse. It's still very satisfying to finally being able to watch the story on tv, and I hope they will be able to adapt every single book. Yes, that would requires at least 13 seasons, I don't care that's not my problem. I just want them.

24. Pirates - La semeuse de vents, 1 : La respiration du ciel - Mélodie Joseph - HM

The sumary looked quite fun, and it lived up to the hype. This debut book is not without fault, mostly the writing can feel a

little too much like a summary and the characters lacks dephts, but it was really fun to read and I loved it overall. I mean, next book should feature the sky pirates more prominently, and who would complain about sky pirates?

https://redd.it/1s6ujtt
@r_fantasy

Modern novels that combine fantasy with realism?

Hello everyone. I was curious if there were any modern novels you would recommend where the line between realism and fantasy is blurred. (E.g. the novel basically takes place in the real/a realistic world, except dragons/ancient deities happen to exist)

I do not know if there is a specific term for this, though that type of story sounds quite interesting to me. I would like to see if there are any good recommendations.

https://redd.it/1s6tsnb
@r_fantasy

First Time Shannara Chronicles Viewer

My Shannara Chronicles background: I vaguely knew that the show existed and takes place in future America cosplaying as not-midieval Europe. I had no idea that there were 40 Shannara books.

I just started watching MTVs Shannara Chronicles season 1. (So please dont spoil anything for me.) From the outset, its very fast paced and doesnt leave me bored. I like the set pieces and the costumes. And the simple fact that the plot gets to the point.

Classic fantasy tropes like elves and magical trees feel cozy to me. It struck me as very similar to LOTR and then I saw that John Rhys Davies is in it too.

As a fan of the CWs Arrow, I really enjoy seeing Manu Bennet again. Austin Butler looks very convincing as an ethereal elf though I wasn't initially impressed with his acting. A few episodes in, he has turned into a true leading man IMHO.

I see that the show is trying painfully hard to be inclusive of female characters. It certainly gives lots of screen time to the Ranger...I mean "Rover" and elf princess, but mature women seem to get killed off ASAP (Wills mom and the elf aunt). Its a shame too because it would have been interesting to see if the aunt and Allendon would have reconnected, and the aunt seemed quite knowledgeable and skilled. I wonder why she seemed to be estranged from the rest of the family. (The show may have mentioned why, but Ive forgotten.)

In the gauntlet race, since they are elves, I wasnt sure if maybe the genders just have different strength and speeds than human genders do. I guess the female elves are in fact supposed to be comparable to human women vs human men. So it makes the gauntlet win and Wills encounters with the Rover a bit..noticeable, shall we say.

Overall, Im enjoying the show a lot even though I find it contrived. Why does everyone immediately believe Will is a Shannara without any proof? How was the human girl so utterly controlled by her father when it turns out that she could easily defeat his entire camp in minutes?

But it has some pretty good, clean(ish) fantasy fun. I want to see this demon horde and baby Yggdrasil tree. And I really do like Will and Manu Bennet.

Im confused about how much combat skill Will and Brendan(?) supposedly have and where they supposedly learned. But I like the Fury creature design and Im hoping that the princes develop into noble rulers.

Im sometimes unsure of whats really important and what is mostly filler. So what do I need to keep a close eye on?

Without spoilers: Does the show explain what happened to the old civilizations and how humans evolved into the different races?

Are the elves basically just humans? Will seemed shocked that Bennets character was so old, so I guess these elves dont live as long as Tolkeins. ​

https://redd.it/1s6wdlx
@r_fantasy

Lois McMaster Bujold announces 16th Penric novella, Darksight Dare, to be released this April.
https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/26483407-penric-16-impending

https://redd.it/1s6zy8p
@r_fantasy