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Bingo Review: We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
Bingo Square: One Word Title
Other Possible Bingo Square: Works in Translation
I have had this book thrust on me for years. Well meaning friends, librarians and teachers. And I never took to it and D-503’s moaning. Usually, I didn’t make it past the first chapter. But, having it for a book club read, I got motivated. And hey! My hold for the audiobook came in.
First, I listened to the Clarence Brown translation. I found it easy to understand and could practically see Brown’s camel case OneState. And yes, uni, is far better than unifs.
We is a classic early SF dystopia. And like all SF, it’s really about the time it was written. In this case, the early 20’s by a Russian engineer that spent two years in England that was a revolutionary, then a dissident of that same revolution and the Bolsheviks. And he wrote a lot of satirical works aimed at the Bolsheviks, and We is one of those. He’s mainly going after the authoritarianism and conformity and the Taylorism they imported from the west. And I wouldn’t have disappeared down that rabbit hole if it hadn’t been for Seeing Like a State mentioning We as a parody and what it was parodying.
Brown’s forward brings this also into view because he also takes aim at Taylorism and some elements of routine English life.
After acknowledging what We is aimed at, it comes across differently.
D-503 is a true believer in OneState, its timetables and schedules, its mathematical perfection and one truth. So, when he meets I-330 and she flirts with him, he’s off the map and off the schedule.
The plot draws out a tour of OneState and how it came to be after the Two Hundred Years War between City and Country, which the City Won! I have to wonder how well they won since their outposts are inside the Green Wall…
You see a lot of what we came to see in 1984 and maybe Brave New World. Having come first, We gets to set the tone.
Was it funny? In parts. The pink tickets for sex visits were amusing, especially in the light of Taylorism and a quote from The Islanders another of Zamyatin’s books. It’s also a critique of high modernism and its traits and weaknesses - identifying everything, rigid categories, etc. But played straight and ultimately for laughs.
It’s still a tragedy though with the ending and the operation to remove the imagination. That scene where the people that had been under the X-rays to remove it, moving to kettle the people that hadn’t… I’ll remember that for a long time. I wonder if there’s a producer and director out there that could bring that scene to life.
A weakness of the writing was D-503 referring to things he should have no knowledge of - cows, horses, religious themes and ideas. And generally, worldbuilding fell flat.
Another thing was how D-503 didn’t go into sensory overload at the Ancient House after the enforced dullness and regimentation and dullness of OneState.
How did it make me feel? I laughed occasionally, but there were points where I wanted to just get it over with.
Overall, 7 stars. ★★★★★★★
https://redd.it/1thqe0n
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Review - Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim (5/5)
I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Sublimation is one of the best debut novels I’ve read in recent years. It’s a great example of how science fiction can be used to examine real world issues or hypothetical moral questions – in that regard, in compares favourably to modern classics of speculative fiction such as Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go.
Sublimation is set in an alternate world where, upon leaving a place, a person can ‘instantiate’, or, split into two separate people – one who leaves, and one who doesn’t. The instances share memories up to the moment of separation, and can later reintegrate, combining their disparate experiences post-instantiation into one person. In the modern world in which this book is set, instantiation is most common when emigrating – it frequently occurs at airports, for example. Instantiation is more a psychological effect rendered physically, than some magical effect of borders in general. People going on holiday don’t generally instantiate, but emigrants and refugees frequently do. The psychological aspect of instantiation brings up questions about borders – for example, when does one become aware that crossing a border can change your life? Is it therefore a danger to travel with children? A lot of these types of questions are brought up and examined by the author.
The book follows the life of the instances of Kang Soyoung. At 11 years old, their mother emigrated from South Korea to the USA with them in tow, and both mother and daughter instantiated – one version of each remaining in Seoul, one starting a new life in America. We join them as the American instantiation, who goes by Rose, travels back to Korea for the first time since their instantiation to attend their Grandfather’s funeral. One of the Grandfather’s dying requests to Soyoung, the Korean instantiation, is that they reintegrate with their American counterpart – and, to complicate matters, he leaves his house to Rose (or their reintegration). We follow both versions as they navigate this complex situation. With them on this journey are the instances of Yujin, who, like Soyoung/Rose, has an American and Korean instance. The Korean instance is Soyoung’s best friend (and a childhood friend of Rose), whereas the US instance works at the world’s leading instantiation technology company. What follows is a great examination of what makes a person a person – can you shove two people’s memories and experiences into the same mind and expect it to be the same? How do you interact with people if you have memories of them from two different sources? We also get a great, engaging plot encompassing examinations of the legalities and ethics around instancing and reintegration but also corporate espionage.
Given this is set in a world where instancing has always been a thing, the book goes into detail examining how this would effect the world. We look at how instancing changes with the modern world and larger movement of people via colonisation (such as the USA having an ‘all instances are automatically citizens’ policy, at least initially), modern immigration (like dual citizenship being a much rarer thing) and long distance communication (meaning you can easily interact with your instances, if you choose to do so). One of my favourite aspects of the book is how it examines how folk tales and mythology would change in this world. The author pairs an example of this with each part of the book, which acts as both excellent worldbuilding (for example, changing the story of Odysseus so he instances upon leaving Ithaca for the Trojan Wars) but also as a counterpoint or comment on the events of that part.
A great strength of this book is that whilst it examines a lot of the aspects of a world with instantiation, it uses it to chiefly examine a modern experience of emigration and belonging to two different cultures. The idea is powerful enough that it could be a
Books like Elden Ring
I’m sure you might’ve seen several posts like this so I apologize! I love Elden Ring and the souls series so deeply and I wanted to hear some options on books that are similar to the games. What I mean is things like Gods/demi gods/ powerful weapons/ fearsome knights/ powerful monsters or dragons. Thanks ❤️
https://redd.it/1thm101
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r/Fantasy Review Tuesday - Review what you've been enjoying here! - May 19, 2026
The weekly Tuesday Review Thread is a great place to share quick reviews and thoughts on any speculative fiction media you've enjoyed recently. Most people will talk about what they've read but there's no reason you can't talk about movies, games, or even a podcast here.
Please keep in mind, users who want to share more in depth thoughts are still welcome to make a separate full text post. The Review Thread is not meant to discourage full posts but rather to provide a space for people who don't feel they have a full post of content in them to have a space to share their thoughts too.
For bloggers, we ask that you include either the full text or a condensed version of the review along with a link back to your review blog. Condensed reviews should try to give a good summary of the full review, not just act as clickbait advertising for the review. Please remember, off-site reviews are only permitted in these threads per our reviews policy.
https://redd.it/1thkrfn
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Thought Code of Rainbow was going to be generic magic-academy xuanhuan… now I’m not even sure it’s actually fantasy anymore
I randomly picked up Code of Rainbow a while ago because I was in the mood for some classic magic-academy/xuanhuan stuff and at first it honestly felt exactly like that.
Kid who can see strange elemental particles nobody else notices, mysterious academy, magical creatures, hidden ruins, weird teachers clearly hiding things from students, etc. Pretty familiar setup.
And honestly the first book does lean into those vibes a lot. Stuff like Windwolf/Panthugger/Firntiger just felt like cool fantasy creature designs at first, and I thought the series was mainly going to focus on elemental powers and academy mysteries.
But somewhere around Book 2 I started getting this weird feeling that the series was quietly operating on a completely different layer than I originally thought.
I can’t even fully explain it, but a lot of the “magic” starts feeling less spiritual/fantasy-based and more… systemic? Like the elemental colors increasingly feel less like normal fantasy attributes and more like some underlying structure of reality or information system. There’s also a LOT of emphasis on perception/observation in ways that feel oddly scientific once you notice it.
And the Magimals eventually stopped feeling like fantasy beasts to me. Some of the later stuff almost reads like speculative biology disguised as creature lore. Especially the resonance/adaptation stuff.
Scankeen also gives me the strongest “this character understands the setting way more than everyone else” energy I’ve had in a fantasy series in a while.
By Book 3 the academy itself stopped feeling like a school and started feeling more like some ancient surviving system/interface left behind by a civilization that understood reality better than the current one does. Some scenes involving hidden layers and system-like responses genuinely gave me sci-fi vibes instead of fantasy vibes.
Maybe I’m overthinking this, but after I looked up the author and saw he apparently has a science/data science background, a LOT of the series suddenly clicked for me lol.
Like… the books still emotionally feel very fantasy — adventure, creatures, exploration, mysteries, all that stuff is still there — but underneath it there’s this increasingly uncomfortable feeling that the world is operating according to rules the characters themselves don’t fully understand yet.
The series definitely throws a ton of mysteries at you sometimes (maybe too many honestly), but weirdly that’s also part of why it’s sticking in my head.
At this point I’m mostly just curious whether the later books are actually going where I think they’re going.
Because right now it feels less like “magic fantasy” and more like “speculative sci-fi hiding inside fantasy worldbuilding.”
And I genuinely can’t tell if I’m reading too much into it or not.
https://redd.it/1thd3lb
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Looking for books that Vox Machina / Mighty Nein animated series vibe. High fantasy, with fleshed out (not overly complex) characters and an engaging and fairly simple plot.
I have never read fantasy in my life, I only read Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft. I don't do well with books in general because I have a very little attention spam and my brain is fried from to much over-stimulation. So I'm searching for books that ARE engaging but not to complex, books that have a good amount of action and a nice plot with some good plot twist here and there. I'm also (and very ironically) a lore enthusiast, I mainly like magic, artefacts and gods lore, since political or military stuff are rather boring to me. If anyone could reccomend me a book that has a deep magical and fantastic lore, while not being overwhelming I'd be so grateful.
Thanks to any and all who comment, in advance.
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Just finished Gunmetal Gods... Wanted to share my thoughts.
I just finished Gunmetal Gods by Zamil Akhtar and I gotta say this might be my favorite book of 2026 so far.
It has a unique setting, that despite being foreign to me, I understood what was going on and who the characters were. I DNF Sons of Darkness by Gourav Mohanty for this very reason. I struggled to keep the names places and setting straight.
The action is fantastic but the politics are even better IMO. Decisions are made, motivations are stated and to me decisions made always made sense. I am a big GOT fan and I always get annoyed with the "if you like Game of Thrones, read these books" because most of the time I don't get that at all. This had a real satisfying GOT feel IMO with more horror elements.
The world feels lived in and the world building is top notch as well.
Again, if you have not picked this book up I would recommend it!
https://redd.it/1th75xq
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Tarvolon Reads a Magazine (or Two): Reviews of Clarkesworld and GigaNotoSaurus (May 2026)
After a heavy month of short fiction reviews, I anticipate May being a bit lighter. But as always, it starts with dives into this month’s issues of Clarkesworld and GigaNotoSaurus.
# Clarkesworld
The table of contents had me more excited for the May 2026 issue than for any Clarkesworld release this year. Two short stories by authors I often love, three novelettes—my favorite length—and a story in translation? Sign me up! Unfortunately, my feelings after reading were much more mixed, but the high points remain some of the highest of the year so far.
It all starts with The Profitable Sentience of Household Goods by Louis Inglis Hall, exploring themes that will be familiar for readers of Hall’s other work but in a voice that’s a bit different. It’s structured as a series of messages from one smart appliance to another, as a refrigerator tries to instruct a light switch in how to be its best and earn promotion to higher levels of responsibility. There are plenty of clues—starting with the title—indicating to the reader that the narrator doesn’t quite grasp the totality of the situation, but its messages come with an earnestness that invests the reader in its fate, so that when the truth is revealed, there’s a true emotional weight behind it. Cynical AI stories are a dime a dozen in mid-2020s sci-fi, but while this may hit some familiar themes, it stands out for its heart.
That heart is matched—and perhaps even exceeded—by the next entry, Tia Tashiro’s Archaeological Evidence for the Time Traveler. It stars a single mother whose archaeological research sites are consistently corrupted by anachronistic messages seemingly directed at her. With an ex at the forefront of time travel research, the possibility that those messages are not mere vandalism but genuine artifacts from the past does not seem so far-fetched. What follows is a non-linear exploration both of the ways the relationship died and her attempts to balance career and family moving forward. It’s a poignant interpersonal story that doesn’t shy away from the lead’s own faults, and it’s only made better by the way it ties into the speculative premise.
Conquerors by Nick Wolven considers a futuristic society divided between an Earthbound cohort painstakingly working to restore balance to fragile ecosystems and a band of stereotypical adventurers traversing outer space to win new worlds for humanity. Perspective is divided between a mother/daughter pair, with the latter bristling at an upcoming reunion with the oafish Spacers. As one may expect in this sort of story, the major plot arc is the younger lead’s journey toward recontextualizing her view of the divided society—a perspective shift that feels a tad cynical about the character of the spacers but nevertheless remains narratively satisfying.
Next up, the issue shifts to a trio of novelettes, which regrettably left me underwhelmed after such a strong start to the issue. The first is Paper Airplane Poet by Sherri Singerling, set in a city of extreme social stratification, beset by a plague of non-Euclidean destruction that gives a mathematical veneer to a world that would otherwise read as fantasy. It centers a poor young woman who has just lost both her parents, seeking rescue from a life where her beauty does more harm than good. There’s an interesting interpersonal dynamic with a priest harboring selfish motivations—motivations that the lead sees through easily—but I struggled to share the lead’s enthusiasm for a career change that provides the capstone to the interpersonal arc.
Aly by Grace Chan could almost feel like a queer, cozy romance if not for the ubiquitous AI assistant implanted in Australians at birth. The lead falls quickly for a Taiwanese man in the country working on an international expansion of his family’s high-end sweets shop. But the pressures of capitalism and the constant presence of the lead’s AI create relational stresses not easily solved. As I mentioned earlier,
I picked up The First Law trilogy as a "palate cleanser" after a long reading slump and it completely broke my brain in the best way
I hadn't finished a book in almost seven months. I'd started maybe four or five things, got 80 pages in, put them down, forgot about them. I don't know exactly what happened, I think I'd just read too many books in a row that were fine but not exciting and my brain kind of checked out. A coworker who reads a lot kept telling me to try Abercrombie and I kept putting it off because "grimdark" sounded like it would be exhausting when I was already struggling to engage with anything.
I finally picked up The Blade Itself mostly because it was cheap and I had a long train journey coming up. I told myself I'd read 50 pages and see. I did not put it down on that train. I read for four hours and then sat in my destination city for an extra 40 minutes in a coffee shop because I wasn't ready to stop.
What got me was that I went in expecting to find characters I was supposed to root for and instead found characters I was genuinely fascinated by even when I had no idea how I felt about them morally. Logen especially. I kept catching myself liking him and then remembering things and then liking him again anyway and not being sure how to feel about that. The book doesn't seem interested in resolving that discomfort for you and I found that weirdly refreshing after a lot of stories that work very hard to make sure you know who the good guys are.
I finished all three books in about five weeks which for me right now is basically a miracle. Now I'm two thirds through Best Served Cold and slightly worried about what I'm going to read when I run out of Abercrombie books. If anyone has suggestions for what scratches a similar itch I'm genuinely open, just maybe nothing that starts with a 1000 page prologue, my slump recovery is still fragile.
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never have imagined...
Bingo squares: Older Protagonist (HM), First Contact, Feast Your Eyes (HM if you make some of the food), Explorers and Rangers.
Content warnings: >!elder abuse, (non graphic) memories of spousal sexual assault and general abuse!<
# Fudoki by Kij Johnson
>Enter the world of Kagaya-hime, a sometime woman warrior, occasional philosopher, and reluctant confidante to noblemen--who may or may not be a figment of the imagination of an aging empress who is embarking on the last journey of her life, setting aside the trappings of court life and reminiscing on the paths that lead her to death.
>For she is a being who started her journey on the kami, the spirit road, as a humble tortoiseshell feline. Her family was destroyed by a fire that decimated most of the Imperial city, and this loss renders her taleless, the only one left alive to pass on such stories as The Cat Born the Year the Star Fell, The Cat with a Litter of Ten, and The Fire-Tailed Cat. Without her fudoki--self and soul and home and shrine--she alone cannot keep the power of her clan together. And she cannot join another fudoki, because although she might be able to win a place within another clan, to do so would mean that she would cease to be herself.
>So a small cat begins an extraordinary journey. Along the way she will attract the attention of old and ancient powers. Gods who are curious about this creature newly come to Japan's shores, and who choose to give the tortoiseshell a human shape.
Bingo squares: Older Protagonist (HM), Vacation Spot if you'd like to visit Japan, Explorers and Rangers (sadly I think it is not HM if the explorer IS the animal?), One-Word Title, maybe Politics? Goodreads calls this a duology so you could probably get away with Duology Part 2, though really the books have nothing to do with each other
**CLICK HERE TO VOTE**!
Voting will stay open through Thursday May 21st. I will post the winner in the sub and announce the discussion dates on Friday May 22nd.
As a reminder, we're currently reading The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association by Caitlin Rozakis, with the final discussion coming up on Wednesday, May 27th.
In June, we will read and discuss Starless by Jacqueline Carey
What is the FIF Bookclub? You can read about it in our Reboot thread here.
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I've just finished Tales of the Ketty Jay and it turned out to be a great popcorn steampunk/fantasy series
The steampunk airship aesthetic, coupled with a cast of likable characters and a fast-paced narrative, made this series much better than I initially expected. Having watched an old anime called Last Exile as a kid helped me envision action scenes in great detail, making the already cinematic descriptions feel as vivid as watching an actual movie. I think I've never read anything as fast-paced before, though I'm not really much of a reader when it comes to fiction.
Another good thing about the series is that it's only four books long and the story has a very satisfying conclusion (I usually get intimidated by most fantasy series as they tend to have like 15 books anywhere from 500 to 1k+ pages each).
Daemonism is an interesting equivalent to "magic systems" that people usually expect from fantasy novels, though it's relatively restrained and grounded. There's also a group of badass characters called Century Knights that are so OP, you can't help but think the author drew some inspiration from anime or manga.
The main cast of lovable rogues has a great dynamic, often resulting in hilarious banter or cheesy exchanges during combat. The characters are mostly great, especially Frey, Jez, Crake, Malverly, and Harkins. Even the vicious cat! The only character I disliked was Trinica, she was really annoying in book two, but even then she redeems herself in the third, and to an extent fourth, book. Characters grow significantly starting from book two, and Frey in particular grows from a complete asshole into a likable leader.
Have I mentioned that action sequences are breathtaking? I particularly like those from the first and third books, especially the ones involving Harkins. If you're into steampunk, swashbuckling, and aviation, the series is an absolute treat.
I think that comparisons to Firefly are going too far though, there are few similarities other than the surface level "a group of smugglers living and traveling together on a ship". I actually dislike Firefly and think that only the pilot episode was good.
https://redd.it/1tgq9k5
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What are the worst fantasy covers you've seen, that turned out to be great stories?
Lately I've had some friends recommend books where the covers absolutely turned me off, but I trust their judgement. That being said, I've bought some books where, despite the covers, I was pleasantly surprised. Jade City by Fonda Lee comes to mind. The original cover, just a cheap photo shopped green. But the story was awesome! I almost didn't buy Assassin's Apprentice because I thought the cover looked corny and title sounded way too trope-y, but now Realm of the Elderlings is my favourite series of all time!
https://redd.it/1tgoctz
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r/Fantasy Daily Recommendations and Simple Questions Thread - May 18, 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
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This thread is to be used for recommendation requests or simple questions that are small/general enough that they won’t spark a full thread of discussion.
Check out [r/Fantasy](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/)'s [2026 Book Bingo Card here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1s9n3e6/official_rfantasy_2026_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!
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[^(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/1tgki39
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Looking for a book where the Underdog isn't actually righteous
I'm in the mood for a classic genre deconstruction where the underdog faction while seeming noble at the start turns out to be just as bad if not worse then the opposition.
https://redd.it/1tghzqm
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I avoided Lies of Locke Lamora for four years because the cover put me off. Please learn from my mistake.
Okay so this is a bit embarrassing.
Lies of Locke Lamora has been recommended to me probably a dozen times over the last four years. Heist fantasy, con artists, found family, morally grey characters. All things i actively seek out. Every time i looked it up i saw the cover and just. filed it away as not for me and moved on. I cannot fully explain why. I just never picked it up.
Last month i bought the ebook so i wouldn't have to look at the cover. Started it on a tuesday night thinking i'd read a chapter before bed.
I did not read one chapter before bed. I read until 1am and then felt annoyed at myself for having to stop.
Finished it in four days. Took a day off to think about it. Started the sequel immediately. The sequel is also very good.
What nobody told me that would have actually helped is that the structure of it does something really clever where it keeps cutting between timelines in a way that reframes everything you thought you understood, and by the time the central con starts falling apart i was reading way too fast and had to go back becuase i'd missed things. I genuinely said "oh no" out loud at one point and i was alone in my flat.
Four years. The cover. I'm an idiot.
If you've been putting this off for any reason including a stupid visual one, just get the ebook version and start it. Trust the recommendations on this one.
https://redd.it/1tggfvh
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lens into a wider range of the human experience around transitioning across borders.
I strongly recommend this to anyone who enjoys reading a book that have them thinking about the ramifications of the ideas it presents long after they are finished reading.
My Rating: 5/5
Bingo Squares: Vacation Spot, Published in 2026 HM, One Word Title HM, Politics and Court Intrigue, Author of Colour
https://redd.it/1thoph4
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Which series has the most well developed side characters?
I am talking about side characters who could easily be protagonists of their own story.
https://redd.it/1thoboe
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Hi Reddit Fantasy! I’m RJ BARKER, odd taxidermy and art collector and author. My tenth novel, MORTEDANT’S PERIL is released today! Let’s AMA our hearts out!
A little bit more about me...
I’m the author of THE WOUNDED KINGDOM, TIDE CHILD and FORSAKEN trilogies. My third novel, THE BONE SHIPS, won the British Fantasy Best Novel/Holdstock award and the Prix Italia best international novel which obviously makes me very fancy. My first novel, Age of Assassins, came out in 2016 so I’ve been up to my nonsense for a full decade now and I’ve been translated into ten different languages. Remarkable, for some guy who just sits about making stuff up and getting bitten by his awful cat.
Some other stuff.
· I live in Leeds in the UK, not too far from Adrian Tchaikovsky. Leeds is the best city in the UK but we keep that secret so please keep going to London.
· My house is VERY OLD and full of outsider art, taxidermy that has escaped from museums and is now a bit odd looking, and drafts.
· I have a son, an awful cat, and a wife who is way, way more creative than I will ever be.
· This year is a three book year for me. (I think this is probably a side effect of living near Adrian.)
· I love noisy music, goth music, and the darker end of country.
· Most of my books are quite intense, and dark and serious. This is the exact opposite of me.
Here’s a bit about MORTEDANT’S PERIL, which is a nice full circle as it’s a return to fantasy murder mysteries which I started off with in AGE OF ASSASSINS. Also, it’s actually quite funny. So a bit of a change of pace there.
Mortedants can speak to the dead – and Irody Hasp is the greatest of them. Not that they’ll admit it. And not that anyone actually likes the Mortedants, or Irody in particular. Nonetheless, Elbay is a city of tradition, and tradition calls for Mortedants to attend a death.
But when Irody reads the corpse of a low-level record-keeper, he’s dragged into a conspiracy that will see someone close to him murdered and Irody framed for the crime, the eyes of the city’s guilds, nobles and villains all fixed on him. With only days to prove his innocence before he is executed, Irody is forced to work with unlikely and unwanted allies: a street urchin and a hulking, inhuman mercenary from the sea people’s city of Oknusoka.
With danger and death lurking around every corner, and trust a luxury, Irody is running out of time. He must save himself and his friends, as well as Elbay – the magnificent, terrifying, complicated city that he loves. Or darkness will fall on them all.
Oh, yes. The other books. A NUMBERS GAME, a pretty pure crime drama under the name RJ DARK coming out from Datura books in August. And BEASTS OF THE WILD BLACK, one of three linked novellas about cats-in-mechs-in-space that will be primarily audiobooks coming out through Podium in December.
So that’s me, get asking me the anythings.
Oh! One more thing. At the end I’m going to get my son to choose his favourite question. I hope to have some copies of the special editions of MORTEDANT’S PERIL in the not too distant future, and I shall send that person one. (Or if I don’t get them in good time I shall send a signed and stamped hardback.)
\In the US. Not till Thursday in the UK.
https://redd.it/1thmi33
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r/Fantasy Daily Recommendations and Simple Questions Thread - May 19, 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
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This thread is to be used for recommendation requests or simple questions that are small/general enough that they won’t spark a full thread of discussion.
Check out [r/Fantasy](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/)'s [2026 Book Bingo Card here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1s9n3e6/official_rfantasy_2026_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!
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[^(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/1thksj0
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Books with a changeling/shapeshifter MC or major side character?
I'm looking for something along the lines of a DND changeling or a Kandra from Mistborn rather than a werewolf or something similar. Bonus points if it has a political plot or subplot. Also no romantasy please. I'm not inherently against romance as a side thing, but it's not something I generally enjoy.
https://redd.it/1thasmh
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Books like The Daughter’s War
I just finished The Daughter’s War by Christopher Buehlman and really enjoyed the clever and grim battles between the goblins and the humans, especially the detail about the goblin strategies. Are there other books people would recommend that have the same vibe where humans are hopeless against a threat and the mcs are just cogs in the machine?
https://redd.it/1th8tqu
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cynical AI stories are very common these days, and this one isn’t bad and is probably my favorite of the three novelettes in this month’s issue. That said, it also doesn’t hit the level that hooks me into the sort of story I’ve seen so often lately.
Decimation Circles by Raheem Alvi also includes an AI assistant and a corporate hellscape, with the main conflict being the lead’s attempts to escape debts that live past her natural death and only seem to pile higher upon every resurrection. The exploitative contract is very much the focal point, and while there is a plot–featuring both piecing together of memories from past lives and efforts to get off the grid–I mentally group this with the worldbuilding-heavy “here’s a terrible way the world could be” sort of tale. The sci-fi fandom writ large seems to consistently like this sort of tale much more than I do, so while it’s no real surprise to see me struggle through this one, that doesn’t mean it won’t work for the right audience.
The issue closes with The Scent of Memory by Zhao Haihong, translated by S. Qiouyi Lu. Unfortunately, it’s the fourth straight story that I’m much less predisposed to like than the average genre fan. In this case, it’s because of a plot driven by the lead crossing oceans and continents to make a last-ditch effort to win back an ex before she marries someone else. It’s hard to get my sympathy for an attempt to break up a relationship that is healthy (as far as the characters know), and that main plot sours me on an otherwise intriguing sci-fi premise, featuring a technology that uses scent to trigger repressed memory. Like everything published in Clarkesworld, there’s enough technical proficiency that I can easily see this working for other readers, but like much of the back half of this issue, it isn’t for me.
Fortunately, the nonfiction section returns the issue to the starry heights of the first two stories. The fascinating science article digs into three ocean creatures with different strategies to achieve immortality—or something in the neighborhood—and discusses whether any of those techniques could be applied to anti-aging research in humans. The issue then transitions to a pair of interviews with authors I’ve quite enjoyed in the past: Ray Nayler and Martha Wells. The former managed the difficult task of getting me even more excited for Palaces of the Crow, which I have since started and am enjoying immensely, while the latter delves both into the transition of Murderbot from print to screen and Wells’ recent fantasy work. It closes with an upbeat editorial rounding up this year’s award shortlists featuring Clarkesworld works.
# GigaNotoSaurus
This month’s longish short story in GigaNotoSaurus is Year of the Tangram by Ichabod Cassius Kilroy. It reads a bit like magical realism, featuring an autistic child who becomes obsessed with a once-despised puzzle upon the realization that the toy is alive. It’s not a story with a driving central plot, but it’s worth reading for the way it brings to life a lead struggling with social expectations, school bullies, and parents who—while often well-meaning—just can’t quite understand.
# May Favorites
[The Profitable Sentience of Household Goods](https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/hall_05_26) by Louis Inglis Hall (short story, Clarkesworld)
Archaeological Evidence for the Time Traveler by Tia Tashiro (short story, Clarkesworld)
https://redd.it/1th4mbk
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The Bees by Laline Paull: Bingo Review Prompt #24 (Politics or Court Intrigue) Hard Mode
Fulfilled: politics central to the story, politics lower than city level
My Rating: 4.5/5
Why it Fits: The entire story focuses on the politics within one bee hive, which is definitely lower than city level.
Blurb:
Born into the lowest class of her society, Flora 717 is a sanitation bee, only fit to clean her orchard hive. Living to accept, obey and serve, she is prepared to sacrifice everything for her beloved holy mother, the Queen. Yet Flora has talents that are not typical of her kin. And while mutant bees are usually instantly destroyed, Flora is reassigned to feed the newborns, before becoming a forager, collecting pollen on the wing. Then she finds her way into the Queen's inner sanctum, where she discovers secrets both sublime and ominous. Enemies roam everywhere, from the fearsome fertility police to the high priestesses who jealously guard the Hive Mind. But Flora cannot help but break the most sacred law of all, and her instinct to serve is overshadowed by a desire, as overwhelming as it is forbidden...
Review:
This was a pleasure to read and engaged me instantly; I devoured it in two days. I honestly can't see how anyone could dislike this book - it was well written, intriguing, well researched, and delightful.
Accept. Obey. Serve. There is no individuality allowed in the hive, all much conform to the hive mind and the hierarchy, but our narrator finds a way to defy her rank. If you enjoy books like Watership Down, you will love this one.
https://redd.it/1th433l
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What are some fantasy/sci-fi books with actually competent mooks or guards? + RANT
If I read another book where the so-called "most dangerous guards of all time" are defeated by a squabbling teenager with sticks for arms, I'm going to lose my mind. I get why mooks exist. Our resident budget Sauron #567 needs to seem "intimidating" and "badass," but even he isn't invincible, and so he needs vaguely competent guards that will conveniently fall over like dominoes at the slightest touch. Basically, they can't be TOO competent because then our hero would seem touchable and uncool 😞
Like UGHHHH. It's like no matter how great the story or how skilled the author, I cannot escape this trope. It's like cockroaches. You literally cannot escape them. Ever. Is it really THAT HARD to write a guard or mercenary or whatever that isn't a fucking toddler that is distracted by a pebble? LIKE YOU HAD ONE JOB! How is that "believable?"
I don't understand people when they say, "Oh well, it wouldn't be interesting if they put up a fight," because yes. Yes, they would be. There is nothing more uninteresting and frustrating than Cerinellia Perfectino the third and her barely-there sidekicks laying waste to a room full of smooth-brained temu preschoolers and calling herself badass. Like omfg slay queen?
Anyway, There are books that I have read that avoided this issue. To an extent, Misborn scratched that itch for me(to an extent, the bar is low), and I think the Sword of Kaigen avoided this somewhat too. Holy shit, the wind army and that one dude fighting Takashi and Takeru? DUDE. Also, ironically, Naoki Uehashi's Moribito, which is criminally underrated by the way,, did this in a pretty interesting way that actually had genuine weight to the story.
Nothing makes me more excited than fantasy stories where the enemies actually put up a fight. Hell, let the guard beat the hero for a change. That'd be way more interesting. There's a difference between stylized Tarantino-esque situations, where the whole point is for them to be useless in a purposefully exaggerated manner or played for comedy. I could also see it being played for the opposite effect; to highlight how frail morality is or how morally far gone the hero/heroines are or even how paying people minimum wage ultimately does nothing beneficial to society. Other times, there's literally no room in the story for anything else. I get it. But isn't there a difference when the entire point is for them to be oh-so-powerful, and then it turns out they just suck? It just sucks out all the tension if it's not done purposefully.
Arcane used this trope. Avatar: The Last Airbender did it too(although to a lesser extent). Demon Slayer did it. Six of Crows and Star Wars did it egregiously. Throne of Glass did it. Game of Thrones did it. Red Rising did it. Children of Blood and Bone did it. Help.
Anyway, what do you guys think of the trope? OH, and if you were to write the trope, how would you fix it? I've been asking my social circle this a lot, and I've gotten some pretty fun responses. Please, if you have a good book that avoided this trope, do tell. If I have to read another book full of glorified Koopa Troopas, I'm going to just become one myself.
Also, Night Watch and Spear Cuts Through Water do not count. I'm not looking for parody. They're great books, just not what I'm looking for. Really cool subversions though, and I want to know your thoughts! (PLEASE DO NOT TAKE MY RANT SERIOUSLY)
https://redd.it/1tgyc9m
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FIF Book Club | July 2026 Voting Thread: Grown-Ass Ladies (Older Protagonists)
Welcome to the July 2026 Feminism in Fantasy (FIF) Book Club voting thread! Our theme this month is Older Protagonists, feminist edition. The nomination thread can be found here.
Voting
There are 4 options to choose from:
# The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee
>Get ready to be blown away by this searing standalone space opera where corporate samurai fight beneath merciless stars, and death is always a mere breath away.
>Isako is a legendary swordswoman, but every legend has to come to an end. When her long-time client unexpectedly retires, she plans to follow--to walk out into the frozen wasteland of their planet with her head held high and her family enriched by her legacy. But when a competitor offers her a final mission, it's one she can't refuse. Soon, she's thrust deep into a world of corporate espionage, duty-bound duels, and shadowy secrets. What she uncovers will change humanity's existence in the stars forever.
>The Last Contract of Isako is the space opera you didn't know you needed: corporate samurai... in space. This is the first adult science fiction novel from the award-winning author of Jade City.
Bingo squares: Older Protagonist (HM?), Author of Color, Published in 2026, Politics?, maybe others
# The Keeper’s Six by Kate Elliot
>Kate Elliott's action-packed The Keeper's Six features a world-hopping, bad-ass, spell-slinging mother who sets out to rescue her kidnapped son from a dragon lord with everything to lose.
>There are terrors that dwell in the space between worlds.
>It’s been a year since Esther set foot in the Beyond, the alien landscape stretching between worlds, crossing boundaries of space and time. She and her magical travelling party, her Hex, haven’t spoken since the Concilium banned them from the Beyond. But when she wakes in the middle of the night to her son’s cry for help, the members of her Hex are the only ones she can trust to help her bring him back from wherever he has been taken.
>Esther will have to risk everything to find him. Undercover and hidden from the Concilium, she and her Hex will be tested by dragon lords, a darkness so dense it can suffocate, and the bones of an old crime come back to haunt her.
Bingo squares: Older Protagonist (HM?), possibly others
# Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon
>For forty years, Colony 3245.12 has been Ofelia’s home. On this planet far away in space and time from the world of her youth, she has lived and loved, weathered the death of her husband, raised her one surviving child, lovingly tended her garden, and grown placidly old. And it is here that she fully expects to finish out her days–until the shifting corporate fortunes of the Sims Bancorp Company dictates that Colony 3245.12 is to be disbanded, its residents shipped off, deep in cryo-sleep, to somewhere new and strange and not of their choosing. But while her fellow colonists grudgingly anticipate a difficult readjustment on some distant world, Ofelia savors the promise of a golden opportunity. Not starting over in the hurly-burly of a new community... but closing out her life in blissful solitude, in the place she has no intention of leaving. A population of one.
>With everything she needs to sustain her, and her independent spirit to buoy her, Ofelia actually does start life over–for the first time on her own terms: free of the demands, the judgments, and the petty tyrannies of others. But when a reconnaissance ship returns to her idyllic domain, and its crew is mysteriously slaughtered, Ofelia realizes she is not the sole inhabitant of her paradise after all. And, when the inevitable time of first contact finally arrives, she will find her life changed yet again–in ways she could
I love it when fantasy books give whimsical/fantastical names to regular jobs.
I'm currently reading The Justice of Kings and they called cargo insurance Merchant Assurance. I love it when they call a clinician an apothecary, a walking Google is a soothsayer, seer, oracle etc. I don't know why that tickles my mind in good ways but it just makes me so happy. Words like paladin, lancer. A singer/songwriter is a bard. A herbalist is a druid. A nomad hunter/gatherer is a ranger. What are your favourite regular jobs with fantasy words? Or some that annoy you?
https://redd.it/1tgn9qp
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2026 Hugo Readalong: Cinder House by Freya Marske
Welcome to the 2026 Hugo Readalong! Today, we're discussing Cinder House by Freya Marske, which is a finalist for Best Novella. Everyone is welcome to participate, whether or not you plan to take part in other Hugo readalong discussions. We will be discussing the whole book today, so beware untagged spoilers. I'll include some prompts in top-level comments; feel free to respond to these or add your own.
Bingo Squares: The Afterlife (HM), Bookclub or Readalong (this one!), Politics and Court Intrigue, Feast Your Eyes (if doing HM, please share)
For more information on the Readalong, check out our full schedule post, or see our upcoming schedule here:
|Date|Category|Book|Author|Discussion Leader|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|
Thursday, May 21|Poetry|Care for Lightning, The Mourning Robot, and The World to Come|Mari Ness, Angela Liu, and Jennifer Hudak|u/DSnake1
Monday, May 25|No Session|U.S. Holiday|Enjoy a Break|See You Thursday
sday, May 28|Novel|Shroud|Adrian Tchaikovsky|u/fuckit_sowhat
Monday, June 1|Novella|The Summer War|Naomi Novik|u/sarahlynngrey
Thursday, June 4|Short Story|Missing Helen and Wire Mother|Tia Tashiro and Isabel J. Kim|u/oceanoftrees|Tia Tashiro and Isabel J. Kim|u/oceanoftrees
https://redd.it/1tgnisr
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Finally finished Wheel of Time and I don't know how to go back to normal life
My friend told me in January not to start this. Not that it was bad, just that I specifically would not handle it well. I told him he was overthinking it. I started in February. He was completely right and I owe him an apology.
I finished last week and the last month or so I was basically just existing around the books. Work, eat, read, occasionally remember to text people back. My roomate asked if something was going on with me at some point and I didn't really have a good answer because "I'm 900 pages into book eleven" didn't feel like it would land right. The thing that got me is I kept thinking okay after this book I'll take a break, and then I just never did. You get to the end of one and the next one is just sitting there. I've tried picking up two other books since I finished and I put both of them down pretty fast, not because they were bad, they just weren't that. I don't know what I was expecting, like obviously nothing is going to feel the same right after. I'm just kind of wandering around my apartment in the evenings now not sure what to do with the time. If anyone came out the other side of this and found something that actually helped fill the gap I'd genuinely like to know because right now I got nothing
https://redd.it/1tgkm71
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Pirate fantasy with magic?
Any books/novels that heavily feature or are focused around piracy, while also having magic/powers/supernatural elements? Especially if they're original and interesting magic systems.
Even better if it's about forming a close crew/group of people, and yes, I have read one piece.
https://redd.it/1tggj4e
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Fantasy novels you ignored when someone suggested it to you, but ended up loving it after giving it a try?
What fantasy novels or any book did you ignore at first when someone recommended it, but ended up loving it after giving it a try? Now you wished you read it earlier
https://redd.it/1tgbefe
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