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Anyone here fans of Diana Wynne Jones?
Just picked up Cart and Cwidder, one of my favorite books from childhood. IMO it’s so much more nuanced and interesting than a lot of the stuff being written today. Anyone else revisited these books as adults?
Trying to think if my other childhood favorites (Lloyd Alexander, Tamora Pierce) still hold up too. Wdyt?
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Where are all the elves hiding?
I feel that I’ve seen people discussing the ‘trope’ of using the common fantasy races (elves, dwarves, orcs, etc) and it’s often called out as being tired, overdone, cliche.
But I feel like I haven’t really seen these races being used much, if at all, in the Fantasy books of the last two decades (2006 onwards). I’m curious, what are all of these stories that people are reading that they feel is overdoing common fantasy races?
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A Report from A Recent T. Kingfisher Signing
Hi all! I had the pleasure of attending a Q&A / book signing for T. Kingfisher in NYC this week, and thought the sub hive mind may appreciate a brief recap.
First: she is *hilarious*. The format of the event was essentially "bookstore employee gingerly hands her a microphone and backs away, and away she goes." I learned a lot about all sorts of things, to include botflies, the demeanor of roadrunners, and antique devices that let you reinflate deflated caterpillars.
Of particular interest to sub-goers, she dropped some hints and information on her upcoming books:
* The sequel to **Swordheart** is titled **Daggerbound**, and comes out this August. There will be a third book titled **Shieldborn*****.***
* Judith gets the last **Paladin** book.
* She doesn't know what Judith's deal is yet but is excited to find out.
* "After the first book came out, people kept on telling me they wanted to know how the god died. I asked, 'you care about that?' And it turns out they really did, so and was like 'I guess I need to figure that out.' Don't worry, I have since figured it out."
* I didn't catch the name, but there will be a cozy novel in which **a retired angel and a retired devil solve crimes in a small town**.
* "I was having a conversation about what Star Wars story I would like to tell; I'd want to do a retired sith and retired jedi solving crime. And of course I knew George Lucas was unlikely to sign off, so I just went fwoop and filed the serial numbers off the idea and went ahead and wrote it."
* One of her next books is going to be hard scifi. It will feature a borg-like hive of naked mole rats in spaceships, which she hastened to assure us makes very good sense because: (i) naked mole rats either don't get cancer or it doesn't bother them, so the space radiation is less of an issue; (ii) they don't breath very much (they can go 20 minutes without breathing?) so they won't take up a lot of air; (iii) they are social and work together, so they will be good at doing things like repairing spaceships; and (iv) other interesting naked mole rat facts making them well-suited to space that I have alas forgotten.
* The title is: **The Naked Stars.**
* "Imagine a naked mole rat engineer goes to fix something in a distant part of the ship and the naked mole rat borg queen downloads the schematics into the engineer's brain and he fixes it with a very small wrench." \*audience awws\*
* "So I messaged Adrian Tchaikovsky on BlueSky and was like 'I'm going to do a hard scifi. Are you doing anything with naked mole rats?' And he said 'no, naked mole rats are all yours. I get nematodes though.' That's how it goes with fantasy authors."
Other interesting tidbits:
* Many interesting facts about botflies.
* She writes books because she learns interesting things and then needs to put them in a book. E.g., perfume facts, botfly facts, etc.
* Apparently amateur bug collecting/taxidermy used to be much more popular in the 19th century. People that collected caterpillars ran into an issue, however: since they're filled with stuff, they don't dry nicely. You can squeeze them and expel all the stuff on the inside, but then you're left with a sad caterpillar skin sack. So an enterprising collector invented a caterpillar reinflator that lets you reinflate your caterpillar skin sack. It's patented!
* Toadling from Thornhedge was one of the easiest protagonists for her to write. Stephen was hard to get ahold of at first until she realized that he knits.
* A lawyer once paid for their shared Uber after she mentioned she'd put a god of lawyers in her books.
* The villain in Snake-Eater was inspired by a particularly homicidal roadrunner at a zoo that would lie in wait and attack the keepers' heads whenever they entered the enclosure. "When I told people the villain was a roadrunner, everyone outside of the southwest was like 'you mean the cartoon?' and everyone in the southwest was like 'oh yeah those guys are assholes I watched one murder a family of baby bunnies in
Sun Eater Audible rant
I am half way through book 2 in this series, all on audible. Pretty good series thus far. However, I keep getting yanked out of the story by the narrator mispronouncing words. I get that chitin is not a common word, unless you play games like Ark Survival Evolved. But chimera is pretty standard in sci-fi/fantasy genre. I noticed a few oddly pronounced words in the first book. Like noble pronounced like no-beal. I thought that it was purposeful linguistics drift on the author's part for the story. But now I am unsure. Did anyone who actually read the books notice weird spellings or is this all on this specific narrator?
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Published
The Rack: Stories Inspired by Vintage Horror Paperbacks (4.25/5 stars)
Another collection of short horror stories, and another banger. Small trade paperbacks are my favorite book format, and horror has always thrived in it. This book revels in campy but never too obvious horror, and even has a little known Stephen King story.
Recommended to anyone who likes horror comedy, horror parody, and a sprinkle of actually chilling stories.
Biopunk
Frankenstein: the 1818 Text, by Mary Shelley (4.25/5 stars)
This was my first approach to Frankenstein, and I've gotta say that I didn't love it at first.
I finished it thinking that it was certainly good, but that was about it.
Then I kept thinking about it... About what certain metaphors could mean, what some of the messages were, and after about a month whenever I thought of Frankenstein it suddenly appeared full of subtext, bursting to the seams with meaning deeper than anything I'd thought at first. That meaning was always there, it simply needed some time to grow and blossom in my mind. Plus it led to me reading Paradise Lost, a new favorite book of mine.
Recommended to anyone, I guess, as long as I you're willing to dedicate some time and patience. Also if you like mad scientists firmly convinced they are the sanest people around.
Elves and/or Dwarves
The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison (3.75/5 stars)
This book didn't greatly impress me. It was pleasant and flowed quickly, but as someone who enjoys a good intrigue this left me wanting.
Recommended to anyone looking for an "ugly duckling" type of story.
LGBTQIA Protagonist
The Tainted Cup, by Robert Jackson Bennet (4/5 stars)
A genuine fantasy detective story. Is that not enough to justify at least a 4/5? I like mysteries, I like fantasy, and I like ominous undertones, and this book delivered on all 3, so I'll gladly read the sequel.
Recommended to anyone looking for a quirky detective with an unassuming assistant, secret aristocratic plots, and, most of all, giant world ending sea monsters.
Five SFF Short Stories
Stories of Your Life and Others, by Ted Chiang (4/5 stars)
In case you hadn't noticed, I like short stories, so this square was an easy one to fill.
This was the first Ted Chiang work I read, and the titular story was very interesting. Unfortunately, most of the others were pretty forgettable.
Recommended to anyone who likes good old mindbending sci-fi.
Stranger in a Strange Land
The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. Le Guin (4.75/5 stars)
My first Le Guin, and what a first...
It's not often an author manages to create a culture which feels totally alien and simultaneously related to ours, and in fact I don't think I've ever seen it done quite like this in any other book. There's also a constant philosophical undercurrent which feels inspired by Taoism, a school of thought close to my own heart which made it easy for the book to resonate with me.
Also, as anyone who's read Le Guin probably knows, the writing was beautiful. Seriously, almost every sentence felt like reading poetry.
Recommended to any fan of truly original sci-fi and world-building so deep you may lose yourself in it.
Cozy SFF
The Complete Friday, by Ed Brubaker, Marcos Martin and Muntsa Vicente (4.75/5 stars)
Friday is a comic about a young detective coming back to her hometown from college and having to solve a new mystery. The author described it as "post young-adult", and if that doesn't sound cozy to you then we must not have much in common.
The mystery is intricate and fascinating, the little town in which the story is set feels alive, and this comic feels like a very well written sequel to a teen detective drama.
The artist and colorist also did an incredible job, helping turn this into a brief, self contained, little artpiece.
Recommended to... Anyone! I truly can't think of anyone I know who wouldn't enjoy this on some level.
Generic Title
The Shadow of the Torturer, by Gene Wolfe (4.25/5 stars)
Another first time reading a famous writer.
Shadow of the Torturer has an extremely
Tales of a failed bingo
I decided on april 2025 to try out my first ever bingo, and I'm proud to say I almost made it.
Unfortunately though, a lot of stuff happened to me this year that kept me from reading as much as I wanted, but I'll still gladly recount my experience with the books I read.
Knights and Paladins
Kushiel's Dart, by Jacqueline Carey (4/5 stars)
I like a good romance and political intrigue, so this was right up my alley. Phedre is a very interesting character and the writing was very good, but I just couldn't stand the angst with the main relationship. I read the sequel hoping for it to take a different direction, but it just didn't, and I had to quit towards the beginning of the third book.
I gave it a plain 4/5 stars, because in the end most of the book was an enjoyable experience.
Recommended to anyone who likes immersive worldbuilding and doesn't mind a book full of sex (very central to the story).
Hidden Gem
Bone Swans: Stories, by C.S.E. Cooney (4.75/5 stars)
This was awesome, I liked all of the stories. It's been a while since I read it, so I'm not gonna go into detail with each of them, but the vibes and style of writing oscillated between fairytale, mythology and horror story, and I loved every bit of it. I'm looking forward to more from this author.
4.75 is to me close to perfection, it's the rating I pick when I'm considering 5 stars but I'm not 100% sure, and this book made me seriously consider going for 5.
Recommended to anyone who likes good fantasy or just great creative writing, you should seriously give it a read cause it's a shame for it to fit this category.
Published in the 80s
Galapagos, by Kurt Vonnegut (4/5 stars)
What can I say about Vonnegut that hasn't already been said a thousand times? His writing is phenomenal, as I had already discovered with some of his works.
Galapagos is perhaps his bleakest, and that is both a strength and the reason I didn't rate it too highly. Yes, it was a good book, but it felt hopeless. While reading I wasn't truly thinking of the ideas and concepts Vonnegut tried to put to paper, but about Vonnegut himself, especially knowing about the way his story ended.
All that said, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in a very peculiar (if not wholly accurate) application of darwinian theory and to any fans of the end of the world.
High Fashion
The Works of Vermin, by Hiron Ennes (4.75/5 stars)
This book was a puzzle, not like House of Leaves, which I've heard a lot about but have never actually read, but purely from a writing perspective. On paper it shouldn't have worked, but somehow the writer managed to pull it off, and oh boy... It was worth it.
Great characters, great plot, great setting, and on top of that such a fun read.
Highly recommended to absolutely anyone, especially if you like big weird bugs.
Down With The System
Night Watch, by Terry Pratchett (4.75/5 stars)
The 4.75 returns, but it's for a damn good reason!
I have now almost finished Discworld, and on the whole I must admit that I didn't fall in love with the Watch series. Yes it was good, but I much preferred the Witches series and the Death series.
Night Watch alone, however, could justify to me the favoritism of the series many Discworld fans share. Its clear and simple messaging and its expansion of the Ankh-Morporkian worldbuilding make it by right one of Sir PTerry's best books.
I'd recommend this book, as well as the whole Discworld, to anyone who likes clever jokes, tons of footnotes, and who feels angry about a lot of things that have happened, are happening, and will happen.
Impossible Places
The Library at Mount Char, by Scott Hawkins (4.5/5 stars)
This is one of those "modern mythology" books, which tries to explain today's world using an ancient framework often deemed outdated. Out of the ones I have read, it is the most successfull.
Its brand of mysticism felt original despite the obvious inspirations, and the morally ambiguous main character worked really well for me. Also, and this is something which a lot of books
Tor Books release the rights to THE SWORD OF SHADOWS series by J.V. Jones
Tor Books have agreed to revert the rights to the first four books in the Sword of Shadows series to author J.V. Jones. Jones had completed the fifth book in the series, Endlords, last year but Tor had declined to publish it. Jones is now free to pursue either publishing the entire series with another outlet, or self-publishing herself.
As has been related before, Jones launched her career in a blaze of success in 1995 with the Book of Words trilogy. Emboldened by a strong critical reception and cover quotes from Robert Jordan, the trilogy went on to sell over a million copies for Warner Books. Jones also published a successful standalone novel, The Barbed Coil, and then started the Sword of Shadows sequence in 1999 with A Cavern of Black Ice. The fourth volume, Watcher of the Dead, was published in 2010. Subsequent major life issues interfered with the writing and publication of further books in the series until she was able to resume work on it in 2017. The writing went slowly due to the demands of the day job, until she was able to leave that job and work full-time on the book in 2024, after which progress dramatically increased.
Jones isn't resting on her laurels, as she has also been shopping around a complete urban fantasy novel, Sorry Jones, and is now some way into the writing of the sixth and final Sword of Shadows novel, A Sword Named Loss.
The reversion of the rights means that Jones now controls the audio, ebook and print rights for her entire body of work. The Book of Words and Sword of Shadows are set in the same world (though you do not need to have read the prior trilogy to enjoy the last sextet), giving a new publisher access to a nearly-complete nine-volume sequence, not to mention two more standalone books.
Whether another publisher would be interested in the series remains to be seen (although I believe some talks have been held), but it does confirm that the remaining two volumes in the superb Sword of Shadows series will appear at some point, which is sure to relieve fans.
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2017, and from the first pages of AGOT, I was hooked, I devoured the whole series in a few weeks. If you asked me at the time to rank the series, I would say ASOS was my favorite, but the other books were all equally great in my mind. Much to my disappointment, I realized the series wasn’t finished, and we would probably have to wait a long time for Winds (and we still are).
At this point, I started to engage with the ASOIAF fanbase online and was very surprised to discover that Feast and Dance aren’t as well regarded as the first 3 books, when I asked people online why didn’t didn’t like them as much, the response I usually got was “they weren’t worth the wait”. I realized that unlike young me, most of these people were reading ASOIAF for over a decade, they had to wait 5 years for feast and 6 for dance, and for them, their expectations weren’t fulfilled during the long wait.
While I understood their criticisms, I they never affected me because my reading experience was so different from theirs, and so were my friend’s reading experience with WaT compared to me. I went into that read with 4 years worth of expectations, they hadn’t.
I don’t know if anyone else had a similar experience to me, but I would be very interested in hearing especially from those who binged Stormlight after WaT was released
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REMINDER: Turn In Your Bingo 2025 Cards!
# Reminder everyone! Turn in your Bingo cards here! If you don't I will be very, very sad.
^(If you didn't do Bingo, ignore this message!)
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Bingo Stats: Any Requests?
I’m preparing for the drop of the 2025 bingo data in a month or three. With Recycle a Square and Not a Book, there are some additional stats I’m going to extract anyway. So I thought I’d ask the people: is there anything new you want to see, for those squares or in general, from the stats post?
Keep in mind that the public bingo data dump is anonymized, so there’s minimal information beyond the individual square entries. You can find the planned stats enhancements here, but even if the thing you want is already listed feel free to mention it, since it may help prioritize. Contributors are welcome on GitHub as well.
Last year’s stats and data, for reference.
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r/Fantasy Monthly Book Discussion Thread - March 2026
Welcome to the monthly r/Fantasy book discussion thread! Hop on in and tell the sub all about the dent you made in your TBR pile this month.
Feel free to check out our Book Bingo Wiki for ideas about what to read next or to see what squares you have left to complete in this year's challenge.
https://redd.it/1s7ojeh
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game as the heroine who gets the Noble guy, but her true love is the villainess that Noble rejected,
5 Short stories The Hitchhikers Guide to the Isekai ed: Sakka Keihan, Writers Carlo Zen, Natsuya Semikawa, Hoko Tsuda, Tappei Nagatsuki, Katsuie Shibata, Hyuganatsu, Translators Andrew Hodgson, Andrew Cunningham, Roy Nukia, Noboru Akimoto, Emily Balistrieri, Michael Langwiser. A collection of amusing shorts discussing
Stranger in a strange land The Twelve Kingdoms:Shadow of the Moon, Shadow of the Sea, by Fuyumi Ono translated by Kim Morrissy, A young schoolgirl is kidnapped by a stranger and taken to another world where she has to fight for her life. Published in 1992 with an anime from 2002, one of the earlier Isekais that got popular, and rightly so because it is an excellent story which is very well written and I’ve only read the first volume, Seven seas are currently retranslating and issuing the series so will be buying as they come out.
Recycle a bingo Square Crest of the stars by Hiroyuki Morioka translated by Giuseppe di Martino Written in 1996 with an Anime in 1999 that was not available for me to watch legally, so I had to resort to the last bingo square here. This is an inventive space adventure that I liked a lot, there is a recently colonised planet of humans and our MC is their governors son who will inherit the planet after him, he is on his way to serve his term in the army as all nobility must, when he meets up with a princess of the empire and develops a relationship.
Cozy SFF The Vanishing Cherry blossom bookshop by Tauya Asakura, translated by Yuka Maeno like many of these books coming out of Japan, starting with ‘Before the coffee gets cold’, it is 4 shorts about various people who need to reconcile some memory from the past before they go forward, they have to be reading the same book while the cherry blossoms are blooming and the shop will appear, when and they can go an revisit the memory to figure out their problem, it is a sweet book that I would recommend.
Generic Title Dragon Sword, Wind Childby Noriko Ogiwara translated by Cathy Hirano, a Japanese classic from 1988, one of the standouts of the card that is a wonderful fairytale which references the same legend as The Goddess Chronicle, but is a war between the darkness and the light, our MC is a princess of darkness, who was raised to love the light, and has to come to terms with her actually identity
Not a book, Delicious in Dungeon There is so much anime from Japan out there and this could have been so many series, but I will go with this one, an adventuring party in a dungeon just barely got out alive fighting with a dragon, but they left someone down there, now they are on a quest to go and rescue her, with the party reduced to 3 members they go back in, but they have no supplies, no money, and the trek down takes weeks, so what can they eat? With the aid of a new friend they decide to live on what they can find in the dungeon itself. With discussion about what is acceptable to eat and what is too human to eat this is a humorous but thought provoking series, which is eminently enjoyable
Pirates The Dorky NPC mercenary knows his place by Toryuu translated by Josh DM, this is about a mercenary, who’s main jobs are finding and capturing space pirates, which he does several times in the series, his main hobbies are reading manga and watching Anime, and the merc work is just a job, but he is actually quite good at it, despite just wanting to keep his head down and be unnoticed he does get noticed, it continually pokes fun at the way the plots usually go in these kinds of things but tries a bit too hard to subvert the expectations that it can come across a bit flat, it is enjoyable at times but is frustrating that our MC stubbornly refuses to get any more into the secrets that he comes across
I do have a card but don't know how to include it, if someone could tell me how? Attaching an image got my post rejected
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Themed 2025 Bingo card - Japanese (Translated)
3rd time bingo, and this year I thought I would go with a theme, Japanese books, (translated to English because I can't read Japanese)
I have included a few light novels in my previous cards over the last 2 years because I am a J novel club subscriber (because of Ascendance of a bookworm) and sometimes they just fit, anyway this year Fairyloot did a SE for Kikis Delivery service and I found The Memory Police as a previous book club pick and I already had a couple of other Japanese books before April last year (17 of which 7 were AoB). Anyway I think I overdid it because now I have 66 Japanese books stacked at the foot of my bed plus numerous ebooks, not to mention the 3 to 6 volumes I read on J novel club every month.
Note: Isekai means ‘Other World’ in Japanese, and simply means that a person from here goes to anther world. Portal fantasies like Narnia are a type of Isekai, but the most common type of Isekai is where the character dies here and then reincarnates sometimes as a baby or sometimes they recover past life memories later on in life. There are 7 of them on this list, they are very common in Japanese Light novels
And so here are the books
Knights and Paladins: Skeleton Knight in Another World by Ennki Hakari, translated by Jason Muell, a fairly tame isekai light novel, the MC is reincarnated into a game as a Skeleton in knight armour, and immediately starts rescuing people, it's a fun romp and I liked it enough to want to read more (10 Volumes total), there is also an Anime which I watched and am still watching
Hidden Gem: Dendera, by Yuya Sato, translated by Edwin Hawes, a speculative novel- in a rural village when you turn 70 you are taken up the mountain and left to die, the story begins when Kayu is taken up and left, but then she wakes up to find herself in another village comprised of many women who have gone up the mountain before her and then they are attacked by a bear and have to fight for their life, it questions the value of life and explores what value people have when they are old. I was excited by the premise but it slogged a bit in the middle, and I didn’t like the end.
Published in the 80's Kiki's Delivery Service, by Eiko Kadono, translated by Emily Balistrieri, I had seen the film some time ago and I did watch it again, this is a cozy novel about a young witch set off to find her own path and her own place, some hijinks ensue but she settles down and finds he own way. Rightly beloved by many people.
High Fashion Maiden of the Needle by Zeroki, translated by Kiki Piatkowska, An Isekai light novel where our MC is born into a family who thinks she is worthless so they trade her to another family who find out she is not that worthless and is actually very good at making clothes, I liked this one, read both volumes, very sweet found family with an appropriate comeuppance for the family who considered her worthless.
Down with the System. Stuck in a time loop:When all else fails, be a Villainess. by Sora Hinokage translated by Andria Mcknight, the first of many on the card by J novel club, the system is whatever is making her reincarnate 7 times, she is done being nice, this time she will be the Villainess they think she is and try to break the system. It was surprisingly good by end.
Impossible Places Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura, translated by Philip Gabriel several teens who are all being bullied find a castle in the Mirror and spend their days there instead of school, was pretty annoyed by the middle of it because of the total apathy of the MC and wondering why people like it, but I got it by the end, ended a lot stronger than I expected, There is a film but I was not able to get it.
A Book in Parts, Automatic Eve by Rokuro Inui, translated by Matt Treyvaud, a collection of shorts that centre on a clock work woman this one was very interesting and I liked it, the way the stories combine is satisfying
Gods and Pantheons The Goddess Chronicle An excellent book, retelling of the Japanese
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 not, 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
Susan, You’re the Chosen One by Lauretta Hignett
My Review:
I came across mention of this book in an online discussion and the setup - the chosen one in a fantasy adventure is a middle aged woman instead of a teenage farm boy - sounded like it would be worth a look. And so it may be, but in my case the story didn't work.
The opening, where Susan is greeted by a troop over very handsome Elves, was amusing, but it went downhill after that. There are some clever ideas in the background which would doubtless be developed further, but the characters and the style of humour just didn't work for me. Characters felt very one dimensional and the story felt unfocussed.
I can see that a lot of people like this series, but it wasn't for me.
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
My 2025 Book Bingo (take 2)
Having had u/Nowordsofitsown helpfully point out the rule I had missed, here is my second go at doing my 2025 book bingo. This time I made use of the excellent web app to create my card - thank you to the folks who came up with that: it is awesome.
Anyway, here is my card:
https://preview.redd.it/yhse2tam55sg1.png?width=1722&format=png&auto=webp&s=79e18095f10b296be635a3cf3883c58df66dfcaa
1. Knights and Paladins
I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World by Miku
My Review:
I watched the anime which is based on the Manga and decided to check out the original. This is a pretty standard wish-fulfillment Isekai - an unattractive, friendless young man from our world finds a portal to another world where he quickly becomes strong, handsome and rich. The only non standard twist in this one is that he can pass back and forth between worlds and gets to show up all the folks who bullied him IRL.
Not great literature, but OK for a bit of mindless escapism.
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" element comes from the characteristic clothes worn by witches (hats, cloaks, shoes), imbued with magical spells of various kinds.
5. Down with the System
One Day All This Will Be Yours by Adrian Tchaikovsky
This book started off very enjoyable and thought provoking, but in the end I felt let down by the ending. The system being taken down is reality itself.
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
2025: All Canadian Bingo, Eh?
This year I did an all Canadian authors themed bingo card!
1) Knights and Paladins: Dave Duncan – The Gilded Chain
2) Hidden Gem: J.P. McLean – Secret Sky
3) Published in the 80s: Margaret Atwood – The Handmaid’s Tale
4) High Fashion: Nancy Warren – The Vampire Knitting Club
5) Down With the System: C.L. Polk – The Midnight Bargain
6) Impossible Places: Scott Alexander Howard – The Other Valley
7) A Book in Parts: Samantha Joyce – Not Today, Satan
8) Gods and Pantheons: Eva Chase – Thief of Silver and Souls
9) Last in a Series: M.K. Lobb – Disciples of Chaos
10) Book Club or Readalong Book: Richard Nell – Kings of Paradise
11) Parent Protagonist: Waubgeshig Rice – Moon of the Turning Leaves
12) Epistolary: Heather Fawcett – Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries
13) Published in 2025: Emily Yu-Xuan Qin – Aunt Tigress
14) Author of Color: Sarah Raughley – The Bones of Ruin
15) Small Press or Self Published: M.L. Banks – The Curse of Starfall
16) Biopunk: Derek Künsken – The House of Styx
17) Elves and/or Dwarves: Victoria Goddard – The Bone Harp
18) LGBTQIA Protagonist: Ashley Shuttleworth – A Dark and Hollow Star
19) Five SFF Short Stories:
A.M. Dellamonica – Among the Silvering Herd
Caighlan Smith – A Pest Most Fiendish
Nalo Hopkinson – Clap Back
Ian Rogers – Go Fish
Cait Gordon – Once Upon a Flat
20) Stranger in a Strange Land: Amanda Sun – Ink
21) Recycle a Bingo Square (2020: Canadian Author): Annette Marie – Druid Vices and a Vodka
22) Cozy SFF: Tanya Huff – Direct Descendant
23) Generic Title: Kelley Armstrong – Sea of Shadows
24) Not A Book (Film): KPop Demon Hunters
25) Pirates: Linda Bailey – Seven Dead Pirates
Now for some totally made up Q & A:
Q: Okay, sure, it’s all Canadian authors, but I want more Canada! Which books had the most Canadian settings?
A:
Waubgeshig Rice – Moon of the Turning Leaves
Emily Yu-Xuan Qin – Aunt Tigress
Tanya Huff – Direct Descendant
Ashley Shuttleworth – A Dark and Hollow Star
Annette Marie – Druid Vices and a Vodka
J.P. McLean – Secret Sky
Q: Which was the shortest book?
A: The short stories! But if you don’t count those, then Nancy Warren – The Vampire Knitting Club
Q: Which was the longest book?
M.L. Banks – The Curse of Starfall
Q: How many authors were NOT new to you?
A: Only four!
Q: Which was your favourite book cover this bingo? I exclusively judge books by the cover.
A: Emily Yu-Xuan Qin – Aunt Tigress. I just think it’s neat!
Q: What square/book had the most obvious title? Unlike that last guy, I exclusively judge books by the title.
A: Pirates: Linda Bailey – Seven Dead Pirates. Entitled title obviousness 10/10 no notes
Q: Is it possible to complete this themed card without consuming copious amounts of maple syrup and poutine?
A: No.
Q: Which bingo square did you think would be the hardest to fill?
A: I thought biopunk would be the hardest, but surprisingly it was one of the earliest squares I completed.
Q: Which bingo square was the easiest to fill?
A: Recycle a bingo square! Total freebie, eh?
Q: If you had a loonie for every time a main character died, how many loonies would you have? It counts even if they don’t stay dead!
A: Sorry, that’s major spoilers! Let's just say I'm surprised at how much poutine I could buy...
Q: Favourite and least favourite books?
A: Well, it’s definitely... hmmm, no maybe it’s... ugh, too many to choose from! They’re all worth their weight in maple syrup!
Q: Would you do an All Canadian Authors themed bingo card again?
A: Absolutely! There’s tons of great books to choose from. I may even do it in 2026 as well. Let me just check my maple syrup stock...
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front of my children once.'"
* She recently consumed some interesting media involving the age of sail, but she can't write a book with that setting because she lives in fear of people that are very knowledgeable about boats, people that are very knowledgeable about fiber arts, and people that are very knowledgeable about guns. They send her emails when she gets things wrong.
* Male giraffes whack their necks together during mating season.
* She was not impressed by the problem solving in The Fall of the House of Usher; What Moves the Dead was born because she wanted to know what would happen if someone sensible showed up in the story.
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@r_fantasy
Steven Erikson (writer of Malazan) writes some of the best comedy in fantasy I’ve ever read, and doesn’t get enough credit for this aspect of his writing.
Title pretty much says it all, I just wanted to shoutout Steven Erikson for yet again making me laugh out loud while reading the most in depth, complex fantasy series I’ve ever read. I’m reading Reaper’s Gale right now (book 7 of the main series) and the amount of times I’ve been dying laughing from Tehol and Bugg is ridiculous. I don’t think any other fantasy or sci-fi author that I’ve read other than Pratchett has made me laugh as consistently or as hard. Feels like a good reward as well for how hard this series makes you work sometimes.
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pragmatic narrator who has no intention to lie to the reader but presents a constant challenge to tell truth from lie nonetheless.
The worlbuilding is slow and slightly overwhelming, but I couldn't help but be fascinated from the very beginning. The story, on the other hand, began gripping me after getting about halfway.
Recommended to anyone who likes figuring out ambigous worldbuilding and a main character who doesn't have to be likeable at all times.
Not a Book
Pluribus, the tv show (4.25/5 stars)
The first season of Pluribus takes a very interesting concept and drags it around all over the place for 8 slow episodes, giving little to no payoff. This, by all accounts, shouldn't work, but somehow I found myself enjoying it.
The dialogue is good, the acting great and don't get me started on the cinemathography.
Recommended to any fans of alien viruses, I know there's a lot of us hiding.
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attempting similar feats lose track of, it is a very good and interesting story.
Recommended to any fans of ambigous mysticism and incomprehensibly ancient powerful beings disguised as humans.
A Book in Parts
Watership Down, by Richard Adams (5/5 stars)
This may be my new favorite book.
I had no idea what I was getting into, beyond the fact that it was a book about rabbits and that it could get surprisingly brutal, but this was so good I struggle to find the words to express it. I'll limit myself to saying that it could easily stand next to a lot of literary classics and that it resonated with me a lot more than I thought a work of art could.
Recommended to absolutely EVERYONE, especially if you like classical epics and the long fantastical journeys often featured in them.
Gods and Pantheons
The Hallowed Hunt, by Lois McMaster Bujold (4.5/5 stars)
This is the third book in the World of the Five Gods series, and I often see it described as the worst of them, almost a lesser work.
I disagree, I found it at the least on par with Curse of Chalion, and I really liked the choice to go for what is effectively a double main character. Beyond that, the series as a whole features excellent worldbuilding, and Bujold's writing is some of the most easily enjoyable I've encountered.
Recommended to anyone who likes an original magic system and one of the best fantasy religions ever put on paper.
Last in a Series
The Wisdom of Crowds, by Joe Abercrombie (4.5/5 stars)
A fitting end to the Age of Madness trilogy. I must admit, I enjoyed the First Law series almost too much. The characters, the schemes, the incredible fight scenes, how could I finish one book and not immediately move on to the next? This trilogy was no exception, and felt to me like a single giant book, the reading of which felt like watching a car crash in slow motion.
The whole time I came to like a certain character more and more, and despite having learned the Abercrombie way of treating lovable characters, I kept on hoping, so I guess he won.
I'd recommend the First Law series to anyone who likes well written fantasy and characters who are often too flawed for their own good.
Parent Protagonist
Our Share of Night, by Mariana Enriquez (4.5/5 stars)
I expected to read a horror book, and found something very different. This is a story about power, about negative feedback loops of abuse and about the socio-economical situation of Argentina during the second half of the nineteen-hundreds. It paints a vivid picture of a lot of unpleaseant things, and those pictures stayed in my head for some time after reading.
Recommended to anyone interested in the dark arts and in what the rich and powerful would do with them if they actually discovered them.
Epistolary
Annihilation, by Jeff Vandermeer (4.25/5 stars)
I have another admission, I'm still not sure I fully undestood this book.
However I liked a lot of things about it, the existential horror and the endless unsolvable mystery first of all, and it reminded me of the movie "The Lighthouse"
Recommended to any fans of lovecraftian horror.
Published in 2025
Lives of Bitter Rain, by Adrian Tchaikovsky (4/5 stars)
Tchaikovsky is one of my favorite writers, and the Tyrant Philosophers series is maybe hus best work. This novella expands on the worldbuilding and on the backstory of one of the characters in the third book, and it does so well. I did however miss the insane plots Tchaikovsky comes up with, and reading this mostly succeeded in making me thirst for the next book
I recommend this series to anyone who likes unconventional fantasy, especially if you liked Pratchett or Abercrombie.
Author of Color
Taaqtumi: an Anthology of Arctic Horror Short Stories (4.25/5 stars)
Like any anthology, some stories were better and some worse, but on the whole this was a blast. Some of the stories truly felt rooted in a different culture and reality.
Recommended to anyone who likes winter horror and wants a little glimpse into the culture of the Inuit people.
Small Press or Self
Grave Empire sequel coming out tomorrow!
I almost never write down dates of release dates for books, but just wanted to share my excitement for the release of Steel Gods, the sequel to Grave Empire.
Grave Empire is a "sequel" to the Empire of the Wolf trilogy, set 200 years later. Gunpowder is fairly new and it creates an interesting twist in a world where there is also magic. I never see any of these books mentioned here so thought I'd make this post!
If you like merfolk, bizarre rituals, unexplained screamings only you can hear in the middle of the night and a big unknown threat, Grave Empire is definitely a must read!
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My First BINGO!!!
WOOHOOO! With two days left on the clock I was able to complete my first BINGO!!!
This was such a fun challenge once I stopped being so hard on myself about trying to complete a full hard mode card. I got to read a ton of great books, some from my TBR and some I had no plan of ever reading.
Biggest surprise after completing this card was how many Romantasy books I read. In the past I would say I have read a book or two, but looking at tis card there were 4 books with strong romance ties. I guess it's time to start reading some really SPICY books lol.
https://preview.redd.it/nrhtjvr0n7sg1.png?width=1722&format=png&auto=webp&s=03c02de9fa5732d4a9965e4e3ffe7097bafc1939
https://redd.it/1s7vq47
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The Wind and Truth effect
Hello everyone, I wanted to make a posts about a curious trend I noticed regarding the perception some people had about Wind and Truth, specifically among people who read the entire series after WaT came out as opposed to those who were long time Stormlight readers.
As we all know, WaT was… controversial to say the least among the wider fantasy community and many fans it soured the entire series for them . There were many positives, but probably even more criticisms directed at the pacing and structure, but most commonly, a perceived decline in Sanderson’s quality of writing. I don’t want to go into spoilers, but it seemed most of the criticisms were aimed at the presentation and execution rather than the merits of the story itself.
For context, I feel like I enjoyed WaT more than most… I would give it a solid a 7/10, not bad, but not great. I started reading Stormlight during the ramp up for the release of Rhythm of war back in 2020, I binged the first 3 novels in about two months and thought they were the greatest series ever. Once RoW released, I was mildly disappointed, especially at how bloated that novel felt, but I still liked it enough to give it a 7.5/10.
It certainly reduced my expectations for WaT quite a bit, which is why I still managed to enjoy most of it. My general thoughts for the 4 years between RoW and WaT was that although a great, Stormlight was one of those serie that each new entry saw diminishing returns for me, with Way of kings being my favorite and RoW my least. Unsurprisingly, WaT was my least favorite even though I still enjoyed most of it.
I saw a lot of hype online in the build up for this book’s release. Many theories regarding the ending and what would happen had 4 years to spread around the fandom, and I found that may of the folks theory crafting ended up being the most disappointed at the end results of WaT. I count myself in this.
After WaT came out and the shitstorm hit the web, I had a friend of mine who had read Mistborn, ask if Stormlight was worth it. She hadn’t heard about the controversy with the ending, but I did tell her SA was worth her time, even though I warned her that each book was a little worse than the last. Fastforward 2 months later and she has finished the series, loved all of them, 10/10 no complaints. I found this curious and asked about what she thought about the common criticisms about WaT, the bad prose, the weird structure and the bloat.
To my surprise, she said she didn’t notice any of these things. She binged WaT in a week, loved the ending and didn’t think the book was bloated or that the writing was any worse than the previous books, even after I pointed out specific passages that had questionable writing. Obviously “good prose” is subjective, but I found interesting how she didn’t notice a difference even where many die hard WaT defenders agree that this aspect of the novel wasn’t great.
Curiously enough the same thing happened again with a second friend of ours. This second friend hadn’t read anything by Sanderson before, and we both reccomended she tried out WoK and she loved it. Second friend binged the series in about 5 months and likewise agreed that the 5 novels were equally good. Like the first time I also explained why WaT was controversial and while she agreed that some of the prose was questionable, she didn’t think it affected her overall enjoyement of the novel.
Which is what leads me to coin the write this essay about what I call “the wind and truth effect”, I believe that they, unlike most people who read WaT at launch didn’t have time to think deeply and over analyze the previous 4 books. Unlike most of us, they go through 4 years of building expectations and hype, didn’t read years of fan theories that affected their judgement upon first reading WaT, and this led them to having a very different perspective of the book than I did.
I pondered this situation and realized that something similar had happened to me before. I initially got into fantasy as a teenager when I read ASOIAF for the first time in
BIIIINGO!
I really thought I wasn't going to make it this year what with my wife and I having our first kid last summer, but it turns out bottle time is also great reading time! Really fun year. A lot of continuing series - a fun side effect of Bingo is it's resulted in me reading one book a year in each ongoing series I'm reading which is an unexpectedly fun way to read a series. Some random superlatives:
**Biggest surprise:** Spoonbenders. Read this off a rec from a friend without knowing anything going in and it was a delight.
**Horniest Protagonist:** Grave Peril. Dresden needs to take a cold shower.
**Most Names:** Shadow of the Gods. Thank god for the Kindle search book feature so I could easily remind myself who Tulvik and Shulvik and Varg and Charg and Marg were. This one took me a sec to get into but the last third hooked me, will be reading the next.
**Best Firefly Vibes**: Shards of Earth. Love me a good ol' space crew. What a blast. Also gangster clams? Yes please.
**Most Honorable Shards:** Shards of Honor.
**World I Most Want to Live in:** Closed and Common Orbit. This series is like reading a hug.
**World I Least Want to Live in:** Tainted Cup. Khanum seems miserable and humid. Loved this book though, what a fascinating and thoroughly realized world. Will eagerly read any Ana and Din adventure.
Bingo card (thanks u/shift_shaper):
https://preview.redd.it/cwc5obysy6sg1.png?width=481&format=png&auto=webp&s=3b9fd2799c690feab0e34e323adbb449e79b3a32
https://redd.it/1s7sfut
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Goodreads Book of the Month: The Works of Vermin - Final Discussion
This month for our Biopunk theme, we are reading:
# [The Works of Vermin](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/222376985.The_Works_of_Vermin) by Hiron Ennes
***He was sent to kill a pest. Instead, he found a monster.***
Enter the decadent, deadly city of Tiliard, a metropolis carved into the stump of an ancient tree. In its canopy, the pampered elite warp minds with toxic perfume; in its roots, gangs of exterminators hunt a colossal worm with an appetite for beauty.
In this complex, chaotic city, Guy Moulène has a simple goal: keep his sister out of debt. For her sake, he'll take on any job, no matter how vile.
As an exterminator, Guy hunts the uncanny creatures that crawl up from the river. These vermin are all strange, and often dangerous. His latest quarry is different: a centipede the size of a dragon with a deadly venom and a ravenous taste for artwork. As it digests Tiliard from the sewers to the opera houses, its toxin reshapes the future of the city. No sane person would hunt it, if they had the choice.
Guy doesn't have a choice
**Bingo Squares:** Book Club, Biopunk, High Fashion (HM), LGBTQIA, Down with the System, Published in 2025, Book in Parts
The discussion questions will be posted as individual comments. Please feel free to add your own. The questions will cover **the entire book**!
**Reading Schedule:**
* Announcement for April: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1s4ysyu/our\_april\_goodreads\_book\_of\_the\_month\_is\_sabriel/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1s4ysyu/our_april_goodreads_book_of_the_month_is_sabriel/)
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r/Fantasy Daily Recommendations and Simple Questions Thread - March 30, 2026
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**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.
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myth about the goddess of death and god of life from the POV of a handmaiden to the goddess, I just love myth retellings and this one got a high rating.
Last in a series Culinary chronicles of the Court Flower:Volume 11 by Miri Mikawa, translated by Afm and Hunter Prigg. Another J novel, had this on my card last year for alliterative title when I read volumes 1 to 5, and have read 6 to 11 this year - a great series that just fell apart at the end, it just seemed a bit shoehorned in to get the pairing they wanted. I still recommend it though.
Book club The Memory Police by Yoko ogawa, translated by Stephen Snyder, super frustrating book, I tried to read it several times and couldn't, so I did something I don't normally do, got the Audiobook, narrated by Traci Kato Kiriyama and I am glad I got through it eventually, but the MC was so passive and just would not do anything and everyone was murmuring constantly and I wanted someone to scream and shout and protest and they just... didn't.
Parents Dragon Daddy Diaries by Ameko Kaeruda, translated by Giuseppe di Martino and Nathan Macklem. Diabetes in a book, enjoyable but super sickly sweet, a 3 year old girl is abandoned in front of a dragon's cave, and he decides to raise her, probably qualifies as cozy. A J Novel club book.
Epistolory If the RPG world had social media Yusuke Nitta, translated by luke Hutton, did not expect much from this - It starts out very cheesy, but it was surprisingly sweet at the end. Told in a series of text messages interspersed with some narrative passages
Published in 2025 Sympathy Tower Tokyo by Rie Qudan translated by Jessie Kirkwood, An architect designing a tower for criminals in Tokyo, an interesting examination of forgiveness and rehabilitation. Quite short but well known for including some AI passages, as our MC asks an AI some questions in the book and the book
Author of Color Strange Pictures by Uketsu Translated by Jim Rion, honestly did not like this book, the concept was interesting but it didn’t work for me.
Small press, self pub The Tiny Witch from the Deep woods So I read several volumes a month on J novel club so I could have chosen anything, Miss blossoms backwards Beauty standards, Heir to a Monstermancer, Royal spirits are Royal Pain, Scooped up by an S-Rank Adventurer, But Tiny witch is currently on it’s 4th volume and is a very good found family cozy adventure story, Starts with a little girl living with her mother in the woods, one day her father, who is a Duke, is injured, and she and her mother are summoned to help as her mother is a healer, once she gets to her fathers home she is swept up in the politics of the world, and the hatred of the dukes first wife and daughter.
Biopunk Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori, In a world where sex is becoming less common, most people are conceived by artificial insemination and marriage is not for sex but for raising a child, artificial wombs are developed for men to be able to carry babies. Our MC was conceived naturally by parents who loved each other, is this why she wants sex while other people don’t? The book turns marital norms on it’s head and looks at a world much different from our with an MC who struggles to fit in. I could have done without that last chapter though.
Elves and Dwarves In the Land of Leadale by Ceez, translated by Jessica Lange, Another Isekai, A sick girl who’s only escape from the hospital is the VRMMORPG (Virtual reality, Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) Leadale suddenly dies and is reincarnated into the world of Leadale as her avatar who is an Elf, but it is not quite the world she knew and she has to find out what has happened to all the things she once knew, has a highly rated Anime, It was very enjoyable adventure through a fantasy land and I would like to read the remining volumes (there are 8 in total).
LGBTQIA protagonist A Lily Blooms in another world by Ameko Kaeruda translated by Tom Harris,on J novel club, an Isekai - reincarnated into an Otome
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 Begins 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 (2024: Set in a Small Town)
Horn-Horn by ADT McLellan
My Review:
I came across mention of this book in a discussion on Reddit, where it was described as a mind bending story which you could, once you had read it, immediately read it again as if you were reading a completely different book. I am not sure if that is true, but I am not planning to attempt it. Certainly the book ranges widely over a fantastical storyline, but it did not work for me at all. About two thirds of the way through I was inclined not to continue with it. I persevered, but felt my time would have been better spent if I had not.
22. Cozy SFF
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. Pleasant enough if you're into that sort of thing, but it got old pretty fast.
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 and 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
Nautical Noobs by Ryan Rimmel
Not sea pirates, but air pirates.
My Review:
Ok, after this I am officially done with this series. I started on this one out of morbid curiosity, and while there are various amusing bits this one was just too disjointed and nonsensical for me.
https://redd.it/1s7ko0h
@r_fantasy
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
When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi
My Review:
This book has an intriguing premise. What if the Moon suddenly turned to cheese?
The story unfolds day by day, each chapter following a different person as they react to the unfolding events that arise from the Moon's sudden transformation. The premise is taken completely seriously, and the consequences of the fantastical change worked out realistically. The individual chapters are almost like a series of interrelated stories around a common theme, and are at turns serious, humorous, and moving. I chuckled, I pondered.
Nevertheless the experience was ultimately disappointing. Despite the promising beginning and the rigorous treatment of the absurd premise, I felt that the ending let the book as a whole down.
8. Gods and Pantheons
The Wheel of Osheim by Mark Lawrence
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. The main Pantheon are the Norse gods, though they turn out to not be what they seem.
9. Last in a Series
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by JK Rowling
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.
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, and only gave it four stars instead of five. It felt like there were too many unanswered questions, and the ending, though satisfying to a degree, felt rushed and 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
A really dumb question
I have a really dumb question, I posted something to this sub yesterday I think.. but it was removed because of some violation of posting etiquette. Can someone enlighten me what I did wrong? Sorry still new so am trying to interact and maybe add some value to this community for a genre I love. Mods, if this is the wrong place for this question please let me know. Thanks a lot!
https://redd.it/1s7l7oy
@r_fantasy
