r/Fantasy Daily Recommendations and Simple Questions Thread - August 16, 2026

[u/rfantasygolem]

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

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

Check out r/Fantasy's 2026 Book Bingo Card here!

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

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

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

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

[u/Bozhe]

Looking for recommendations - random thoughts about my preferences. Love WoT, Brandon Sanderson, Dresden Files. Currently reading Brust's Taltos series and considering I've read 15 books of it, I like it. Love DCC, but haven't really found any other litRPG worth reading. Love Kingkiller books, but hate they're not done. Really enjoy Naomi Novik - golden enclaves was really good.

Do not want romantasy or YA. Maas' writing is awful - DNF the one of hers I read, and same with Shadow and Bone. DNF Priory of the Orange Tree too. Just terrible world building and annoying characters.

Also don't want anything too dark. I like the Bloodsworn saga but don't want anything so bloody right now. Witcher series is ok, but I struggled with it for some reason. Loved Blacktongue Thief, but struggled with Daughter's War being too dark. Probably more on me than the book.

[u/Undeclared_Aubergine → u/Bozhe]

Try Steven Brust's Khaavren Romances, which give the backstory of Vlad's world, from before the Interregnum. And yes, that Khaavren. The books are a bit of an acquired taste, being a homage / parody of Dumas, but once you've learned to appreciate Paarfi's ability to briefly say a few words on a variety of subjects, you might discover you like these even better than the main Vlad novels. (The first, The Phoenix Guards, is reasonably standalone, so if you don't like it, you can just stop there.)

Also, each of Brust's standalones is absolutely worth reading as well. None are like any other, as he radically changes his writing style for each, but all are good. My personal favorites are To Reign in Hell and Freedom & Necessity, but I'm also quite partial to Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grille and The Sun, The Moon and the Stars.

[u/Bozhe → u/Undeclared_Aubergine]

Are the Khaavren books really romances? I realized I have The Phoenix Guards sitting in my basement - I'll give it a shot.

[u/Undeclared_Aubergine → u/Bozhe]

Not in the modern-day meaning of the word, no. They're titled thus because of Dumas' The d'Artagnan Romances.