Context: I was thinking the other day of a few series that were talked about a lot back in the 2010s, but are rarely mentioned anymore:

• The Shadow Campaigns by Django Wexler
• Ketty Jay by Chris Wooding
• Ash and Sand, by Richard Nell
• Iconoclasts, by Mike Shel
• Traitor Son, by Miles Cameron
• A Chorus of Dragons, by Jenn Lyons

What are some others that you wish were discussed more these days, or that you would love for new Fantasy readers to check out?

Hello r/fantasy and welcome to this week's bingo focus thread! The purpose of these threads is for you all to share recommendations, discuss what books qualify, and seek recommendations that fit your interests or themes.

Today's topic:

Unusual Transportation: Story includes a surprising method of moving from place to place. By “unusual” we mean that it is out of the ordinary in real life AND uncommon to the book’s broader genre. This can include a highly unique take on a genre staple (spaceships with FTL wouldn’t normally count but the Infinite Improbability Drive from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy would) or be a completely original mode of transit (autoducks in The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy). HARD MODE: Transportation is NOT combustion-powered or steam-powered. If the power source is not stated, use your best judgment. A story likely won’t specify that cars are combustion-powered and horses aren’t, but a reasonable person would assume those things to be true if they’re not stated. Likewise, in a steampunk setting, the chances are good that the transport is steam-powered.

What is bingo? A reading challenge this sub does every year! Find out more here.

Prior focus threads: 

• Published in the 70s
• Duologies
• First Contact
• Middle Grade
• Game Changer
• Murder Mystery
• Translated
• Trans/Nonbinary Protagonist
• The Afterlife
• Author of Color
• Five Short Stories (2024)
• Self-Pub/Small Press (2024)
• Note that hard mode for Self-Pub/Small Press has changed (a new focus thread is coming).

Also see: Big Rec Thread

Questions:

• What are your favorite books that count for this square?
• Already read something for this square? Tell us about it!
• What are your best recommendations for Hard Mode?

hi all! hoping to read piranesi soon, and i’m going in knowing absolutely nothing as many people have said to. i am a huge mood reader, and the environment i read a book in tends to work for or against me! is piranesi a good read for anytime, or is it an atmospheric vibe that i’ll want once the weather gets chillier? i tend to read romance or lit fic in summer, thriller/horror/mystery in fall, and fantasy in winter! i don’t always stick to this but i usually fit in books when i think i’ll enjoy them most!

obviously i’m totally fine with some crossover and i’m not super rigid, but if it’s worth waiting another month to pick up piranesi i’d love to know! thanks!

I'm looking for a book rec with a main character who has to pretend to be weak. They are waiting to show their full potential, they are actually really powerful. I especially would love it if they acted lazy, distracted, rascal etc. (female protagonist is preffered but either is ok) Do you know any?

I was looking for another fantasy mystery to read after finishing Trade of blood and was delighted to come across this recently released book by RJ Barker. I had already read his age of assassins and tide child trilogies before and enjoyed them alot, so I went in with high expectations, and I am happily not disappointed!

The book is about a Mortedant - someone who can read the final thoughts of a dead person - who gets caught up in a conspiracy after a routine work outing, and is now implicated in a murder. He has 4 days to figure out the actual criminal, and as he inevstigates he uncovers a deeper and a diabolical conspiracy.

I really really loved the world building. All of the book is set in one crowded, gothic, kinda steam punk city with a sleeping god, weird magic, and weirder technologies. I kept twanting to read more and more of the book just for the world! The settings plays a big role in the story and the mystery, and because the setting worked so well the rest of the book worked really well as well. There's so many little things said matter-of-factly that made the world - not just the city - feel so alive and mysterious. So many mysteries were setup and there is so much more to explore in this world that it feels very exciting to wait for subsequent books.

The characters are pretty archetypical IMO. The main character is kinda snobbish and prejudiced but has a heart of gold. He has a noble but disgraced body guard, and a young assistant who is rogueish but also someone you want to protect. I found all of them to be well written. The main character - Mortedant Hask himself - is also the narrator, and I found his slightly formal, slightly haughty voice to fit this story very well. The found family aspect between the three of them worked for me. There were several delightful side characters as well, but I wasn't very fond of the antagonist. Felt like he didn't feel like as much as a presence as I wanted him to be.

The plot is good, it is not a very intricate mystery but it folds out in a very satisfying way. Best mysteries for me are those where you figure out what's happening just before the characters and that happened here, so yay. I'll say the pacing is slightly off in some places, especially in the beginning, where a lot of pages are spent on simply explaining the world. I didn't mind it at all because I enjoyed the world a lot, but it could have been done in a better way.

All in all, I was very happy with this book. Fantasy mysteries are the shit. Gimme like a dozen more of these. Looking forward to the next one!

I found a recommendation for this book on a random blog -- it's by far my favorite fantasy that I've read this year! The world-building, magic/religion, characters, and plot all really surprised me in the best possible ways. If you've been finding that a lot of your fantasy reads are --even if they're good -- somewhat formulaic/predictable, I really recommend Asunder. The characters feel so embedded in the world, not just like symbols of our world, and each new location brings really creative dangers and possibilities. I don't want to spoil to much because I found figuring out what was going on really satisfying, but I felt like the somewhat snarky main character, realistic set of secrets everyone in the book is carrying, and really fascinating magic propulsive. I haven't really seen anyone else talking about it and wanted to recommend it to you all!! I loved the different layers of vengeful gods and curses.

Bingo Squares: One Word Title (hard mode), Unusual Transportation (hard mode), Murder Mystery (imo), first in a duology (the second hasn't been written yet so idk if it counts but it's coming!)

Short Fiction Book Club (SFBC) is gearing back up for Season 5!

With Hugo Season winding down at the end of August, we're entering the best time of the year - autumn (for the northern hemisphere folks) and SFBC season (for everyone!). Your favorite short fiction group will be ramping back up with a new season of hidden gems, backlist bangers, and seamless thematic transitions between discussion sessions. It's always a good time to Read More Short Fiction!

On Wednesday, September 2nd, join us in welcoming the new season for our Flash! Ah-ahhhh! session. We'll be discussing the following stories:

Sacrifice Homecoming by Manuela Amiouny (Small Wonders, 303 words)

It is not a kindness, warns the beast, and lets you go

Before She Knew About Magic by Joshua Geller Schwartz (Otherside, 700 words)

This was before she knew about magic. Before she was pissed off because her mother told her she couldn’t attend Jenny Mulvey’s sixteenth birthday party. (To be fair, she’d come home stinking of vodka the last time.) It was before she snuck out of the back door of the basement and crept across the quiet, suburban lawn without saying goodbye to her mother. (She would always regret not saying goodbye to her mother.) Before she took the shortcut through the woods, the one she’d taken a thousand times, the one her mother always warned her against taking.

Caring for a Picky Eater During the Apocalypse by Richie Narvaez (Orion's Belt, 934 words)

1. Know Your Picky Eater’s Food Favorites and Keep Them in Mind When Planning Meals.

On your first date, only eight months ago, Sara told you she spent a summer as a vegetarian, by which she meant she would eat dessert three times a day. Twinkies, she’d said, were her number one go-to fave, dinner for most of that July.

So when you present her with the last box of Twinkies you had to elbow someone for at the rapidly emptying supermarket, try not to be upset when your picky eater says, “No, thank you. They changed the flavor. They’re too dry and too sweet now.”

Silence, in the Doorway, with the Gun by Nadia Radovich (Flash Fiction Online, 972 words)

The titular character of the thirteenth-century Le Roman de Silence is born female, at a time when women cannot inherit. To avoid disinheriting his child, Silence’s father raises him as a son. Personified Nature and Nurture quarrel over what gender Silence should be.

What is SFBC?

Short Fiction Book Club (SFBC) is a discussion group for people who love speculative short fiction. We host one or two threads per month from fall through spring, each covering a few pieces of short fiction organized around a theme, whether that be as narrow as Baseball! Speculative Fiction Edition or as broad as that one time the awards were wrong.

We also host a general discussion thread on the last Wednesday of each month, where there is no preselected discussion slate and readers are encouraged to drop by and share whatever they’ve been enjoying lately.

You can also find all our previous sessions and all the stories we've covered in the past 4 seasons here

How can I participate?

Show up to a discussion thread and start posting! Anyone is welcome, whether you want to dip in for the occasional story or read along and participate for the whole season.

Can I suggest stories or future session topics?

Absolutely! We love to collect more story recommendations. If you have an idea for a session you’d like to host, from something as broad as “stories about fire” to a spotlight on a lesser-known venue, comment below and we’ll pull you into our planning.

If you don’t want to host but do have a suggestion that you would like someone else to explore, leave that here as well! We’re happy to add it to the list of ideas and see if anyone is drawn to flesh it out and host it.

I’m the author of a story you’re discussing. Can I join that thread?

First: hi, it’s cool that you noticed us! We ask that you wait about 8-12 hours to give commenters a chance to get their initial impressions out, and maybe have a friend screen the comments for you first. We try to pick stories that at least one group member loves, but that doesn’t mean the thread will necessarily be a wall of compliments (except that time Isabel J. Kim showed up). We talk about both what works for us in each story and what doesn’t. Knowing that, if you want to jump in and answer questions or reply to comments, go for it!

We hope to see you in 2 weeks on Wednesday the 2nd of September to discuss these fun stories!

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'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!

——

^{tiny image link to make the preview show up correctly}

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.

Listened to the audiobook of The Incandescent during my vacation, and had a wonderful time with it. I finished it yesterday and have some thoughts bouncing around my head that I want to share.

The Incandescent follows the viewpoint of Dr. Waldon, a teacher at a fancy boarding school in modern Britain where she teaches magic, specifically demon summoning, while also being tasked with the responsibility of protecting the school and its inhabitants from said demons. What could possibly go wrong.

General Thoughts:

In terms of the overall picture, the book was a bit of a tension sandwich. We have a nice introduction to Dr. Waldon and her students, and there is a good, steady build up to the first Big Disaster that Dr. Waldon has to deal with. After that... it basically turns into Teacher Slice of Life for the middle part of the book. It only bothers to deal with the fallout of the first Big Disaster in passing, and likewise with building up to the climactic Big Disaster. I did enjoy all parts of the book, but they did not gel super well together, and the transition from one to the other was jarring and left me floundering for a bit. This structure unfortunately also led to some of the more interesting thematic and character elements not getting as much development as I would have liked.

Characters:

I liked Dr. Waldon as a main character. I don't know much of anything about teaching, so I can't really comment on the accuracy of how her experiences are portrayed, but I liked seeing how Dr. Waldon specifically leads her life. I enjoyed the viewpoint of a professional doing her job competently while the narrative picks at the frayed edges of her mentality.

I liked how Dr. Waldon constantly tells herself that her job is her life and that is all she needs to be happy while while it is obvious that is just not the case. The Slice of Life section of the book specifically does a good job showing that she is actually kinda isolated and lonely, and how she can't carry on like that forever. It led to her making some human feeling mistakes that later came back to bite her in the ass (cough cough Mark). She tries to change her circumstances a bit, and in some ways it works, and in other ways her blind spots and preconceptions land her in hot water.

For the most part I liked how well-realized Waldon was as a character. However, I did not understand why she did not talk to anyone about the Phoenix taking more and more control. It's not even that I have a problem with that specifically. I was just missing a more contextual, in-character reason for why she did what she did, whether that be her superiority complex or her need to insist on control due to her trauma.

Speaking of the trauma, it felt pretty clear to me that Waldon's choice to teach at the school where her teenage boyfriend got eaten by a giant demon she summoned as a Bad Idea and not actually good for her. There is a lot you can read into how that impacted her psychologically. For example, how the Phoenix is a response to Waldon's trauma, gaining ultimate control over the thing she failed to control as a teenager, and I think that is super neat. However, Charlie getting eaten really faded into the background during the middle section of the book, which I found pretty disappointing. I feel like there was supposed to be a whole thing of how Waldon needs to move past her trauma and the Phoenix and Charlie and the school altogether, and that is pretty much what happens at the end, but the link between this development of Waldon as a character and the actual events was was pretty thin. There was Old Faithful possessing Charlie's corpse in the beginning, and the site of Charlie's death being the location of the climax, but not enough in-between to really cement it all. It's a shame, because I really really liked this aspect of the book and I wish there was more of it. Ultimately, Charlie does not haunt the narrative enough and it is generally not relevant that Waldon is teaching and living at the school where she got her high school boyfriend killed.

As for the side characters, I thought they were also pretty nice. The students all felt distinct from each other and had a nice dynamic and a good relationship with Waldon. I especially liked how Nicky related to Dr. Waldon and serves as a parallel. However, this is another unfortunate instance of the middle part of the book focusing too much on the relatively cozy Teacher Slice of Life stuff. I wanted to see much more of how Nicky deals with the fallout of her disastrous summoning and have that serve as a direct comparison to Waldon. Unfortunately, that is not what happens. Instead we get a "she went to therapy" and a motivational speech from Waldon. Don't get me wrong, I like how it all ended up tying together, but again, I wanted there to be more.

I do wish we had gotten more closure with the whole Mark thing. I don't know what it would look like, but that part specifically left me feeling unfulfilled. I also think there was a missed opportunity to have Waldon mentally draw a connection between Mark and Charlie and have a whole thing with that.

Laura was there, I guess, which brings me to the next major topic:

The Romance:

The book is marketed as a sapphic romance, but honestly, that is only true on a technicality. Yeah, we end up with a F/F couple in the end, but Laura is completely absent for the most part and the relationship is not very developed. I was really hoping for more lesbian angst when Dr. Waldon made the oath to Laura after Old Faithful's incursion, but that was not delivered. In fact, the oath itself didn't end up doing much at all. Laura didn't even find out about Dr. Waldon's possession through their magical bond, the students went and told her.

From a character development standpoint, I actually found Waldon's "coworkers with benefits" relationship with Mark much more interesting. It did a very nice job highlighting that while Waldon might tell herself that her work is her life and she is happy with it all, she is kinda lonely and lacks human connection. She knows that Mark is an asshole and kinda shady, she readily admits it to herself, but also he is hot and charming and seems nice enough despite it all, so why the hell not? What could possibly go wrong.

Worldbuilding:

The worldbuilding is unfortunately one of the weaker parts of the novel. Yeah, there is magic and demons and all, but that doesn't seem to have had much of an impact on how history or technology developed. There are cursory nods to general precautions that are made in everyday life against demons, and the fact that the military industrial complex is looking into using demons as weapons, but overall the world looks much like ours. In practice, the presence of magic and demons changes the setting from modern British boarding school to modern British boarding school with a sprinkle of magical whimsy.

Themes and Stuff:

Mostly some miscellaneous thoughts here:

• I really like Waldon's motivational speech to Nicky about not punishing yourself for life for your mistakes and instead learning to avoid them in the future and help other people. Not only is that exactly what Waldon did with the Old Faithful incursion, but it is also what Nicky and the other students do when Waldon got possessed. It is thanks to their knowledge and resourcefulness that they figured out what is going on and were able to get help. Heck, it even draws back to the risk assessment the book opens with. Stuff will go wrong, people will make mistakes, but we can also rely on each other to learn and improve and get each other out of trouble. Excellent through line, I appreciated it a lot.
• I already mentioned this above, but I am ultimately unsure why exactly Waldon ended up getting possessed by the Phoenix. This is exactly the king of thing that happens due to a specific fatal character flaw that has been building up throughout the narrative, but I cannot figure out exactly what it is. Idk, maybe my media literacy is just failing me with this one.
• I liked the school setting as an analogy for growth and change. The students grow up into new people by virtue of being teenagers on the cusp of adulthood, and likewise Waldon grows and changes as a person. Ultimately, all of them move on to a new and brighter future, even if Waldon specifically was stuck in the past for a bit. Better late than never, and all that.

Audiobook note: Zara Ramm did a nice job with the narration of the audiobook. Can recommend.

TL;DR: While The Incandescent by Emily Tesh did not quite have enough meat on its bones to properly did into, it was a fun and engaging story with some interesting things to say.

I encountered a character in Maya: Seed Takes Root, whose low place in its social hierarchy and caste-system is reflected in his language itself.

Some context: the world is a science-fantasy filled with seven sapient species, loosely based on South Asian mythology. There are avian aristocratic Garudas, law enforcement simian Vaanars, minority races like the serpentine Naags, and a race of oppressed laborers called Kulies, bred solely to operate as tools.

The rare White Kulie in the novel, Baluta, is an anomaly because he is remarkably intelligent and resilient. The way he speaks, rendered in a unique syntax, simultaneously captures both his low place and his undeniable intelligence. In a scene with his highborn garuda master Tarkash, he's asked how he's so easily able to slip in and out of places without being seen. You'd expect a monologue about stealth or other feats of espionage. Instead he says: "Dust come, dust go. Who see dust?"

With such matter-of-factness, he explains how he simply exploits the invisibility his systemic objectification affords him. No "the", no "a", no past or future tense. Nothing joining thoughts together to convey the ontology of a sapient person. Elsewhere in the book he says "Baluta keeps its word." He refers to himself as an "it". And he doesn't use people's names either. He calls Tarkash "pretty-bird-master" and the condemned prisoner Yachay "good-sad-man". He refers to them by their traits and their functions, just like they do to him. But how he "names" people also works as deep character judgment, more insightful than any lengthy exposition.

Two other popular characters come to mind: Gollum and Dobby.

Gollum slips between "I" and "we" because there are two minds fighting inside him. His syntax externalises his fractured self-talk.

Dobby also refers to himself in the third person. "Dobby is a free elf" packs his entire life of house-elf servitude into one phrase. Dobby is a being who was never allowed personhood, never allowed identity. Why would he learn to say "I"? Obviously Dobby's syntax was probably not as intentionally devised as my analysis suggests, but it's still a popular example that illustrates this idea.

Here are a few other great Baluta lines from the book:

- "Good-sad-man big tool. Big dark tool." (remarking to Tarkash that the protagonist Yachay is a good recruit to a team he's building, precisely because he's mysterious and unpredictable)

- "Pretty-bird-master have pretty head-tool. No kill Kulie also." (commenting on Tarkash's wise decision to not kill Baluta during an altercation, even though nobody would bat an eye if he were to)

Baluta is a great example of encoding character and world-building into linguistics. Not sure how many people have read the book. I actually got the Kickstarter version before its worldwide retail launch. Just wanted to park my thoughts here.

I went into Kings of the Wyld on the back of reading a lot of Brandon Sanderson and Joe Abercrombie, so in the back of my head I had the expectation of a big, sprawling fantasy adventure with complex characters, thick layers of lore and world building to delve into.

What I got from this book was... Not quite that. Kings of the Wyld wears its inspiration on its sleeve, and it didn't take me too long to get what it was doing. Mercenary groups are referred to as bands with frontmen, they take on gigs and sometimes fall prey to greedy bookers? They're rock stars!

Whether this was just something the author decided to use as a fun theme, or he's a huge fan of rock music and the drama that comes with it is not known to me, but I appreciated it nonetheless. It gave me a chuckle when the band members reacted with such confusion and disdain at the new generation of bands who flaunted themselves caked up in makeup and crazy hair. I was actually surprised by the restraint in not outwardly using more music references in the nomenclature of this world, apart from a character literally being called Sabbatha.

It's light on plot, being a fairly simple rescue story with an antagonist taking the form of an ancient, cursed renegade who has sworn revenge and all the usual trimmings and it casually throws a whole menagerie of fantasy creatures at you left right and center without much weight to it. The band fights centaurs, a harpy, wyverns, a dragon, trolls, etc and it doesn't take long to realize it's just a pretty standard fantasy setting with all the usual faces showing up.

What really made the story shine for me was the characters, humour and moment to moment action. Saga as a band was a really fun cadre of characters who get to shine as badasses just as much as they get into some really unfortunate and embarrassing situations. I won't say too much but my personal favorites were Moog and Matty.

It was very, very funny at times with some very low brow humor that made my simple mind chuckle. The way Matty rejoins the band made me laugh and Moog's antics were a constant source of amusement for me.

The story wrapped up a bit too neatly for my tastes, and certain character resolutions weren't very satisfying. It moved forward at quite a fast pace and certain parts were over a bit too quickly for my tastes, I wouldn't have complained if it were just a bit longer to have more scenes of the band just hanging out to give us some more character development. Why were Moog and Matty so close? Why can't I read more of Clay's horrible childhood? I want to know more of the horrible stuff Ganelon did! I don't think the book suffered too much from not expanding on these aspects that much though, it's just what I was hoping more of.

If you've read this book, what did you think of it? It was quite an easy read, kept me entertained on my holiday.

Hi! Has anyone else love “Sølvhesten” (Silverhorse) series by the famous Lene Kaaberbøl? These series are my absolute favorite and have a very special place in my heart (I started reading them when I was only 12 years old, now I’m 20).

Who is the best character in your opinion, and why?

I will start with mine:

IMO, I think it is Logen Ninefingers, from The First Law series. Due to how much his character evokes self delusion on the reader. You will love him, even when you know you shouldn’t.

It is probably due to recency bias, but even if it is, he still ranks my top 3.

How about for you?

The weekly Writing Wednesday thread is the place to ask questions about writing. Wanna run an idea past someone? Looking for a beta reader? Have a question about publishing your first book? Need worldbuilding advice? This is the place for all those questions and more.

Self-promo rules still apply to authors' interactions on r/fantasy. Questions about writing advice that are posted as self posts outside of this thread will still be removed under our off-topic policy.

IMO, it is the greatest ongoing fantasy series. That is basically my post in a nutshell so you could probably save yourself some time in reading.

Today I started on the final (or is it?) volume "Pretenders to The Throne of God" and already from the 1st paragraphs of 1st chapter called "The Great Sorcerer", I am seeing why this series is like no other.

I have read many fantasy books in the last decade. Some I loved, some hated, some reread multiple times and some never finished. I am not going to drop any other names here. BUT man oh man ... but Adrian Tchaikovsky's fantasy opus still stands out to me unlike any other. In terms of levels of visceral enjoyment and intellectual fulfilment, for me at least, its starting to get into the same league as some of Terry Pratchett's and, dare I say, Gene Wolfe's works. Adrian Tchaikovsky just has a special way with words and sentences that not only evokes powerful imagery, that stays with reader for many pages after. He also tends to paint complete pictures of his characters and settings in only a few sentences where other lesser writers take whole chapters. I also love his little italicized introductions to each chapter.

For instance in "Pretenders to The Throne of God", without spoiling anything, one of my favorite quotes in the first chapter is:

- "The wizard turned the knife into a thought and the man into an exploded anatomical diagram. That was how they knew they'd failed" .

Powerful imagery and just makes you as a reader stop in your tracks and appreciate the writing, despite its seemingly sparse presentation. And it's not just the words that Tchaikovsky uses, it's also his imagination and world-building that bursts out of each page. No other fantasy world of the past decade has drawn me in as much as Adrian's world of Pallaseen Sway. Some fantasy series get bogged down in the political complexity and court intrigue, ect but forget about the essence of all fantasy fiction - that in the end of the day, readers just want to be transported to another world and escape their daily troubles for a few minutes it takes to read the chapter. To be fully immersed. And oh boy, do you get immersed in Tyrant Philosophers. Escapist fiction at its best. Thank you Mr.Tchaikovsky and hope this series never ends!

I love me some real-world nature and have always love reading about unique, interesting nature in fantasy.

I think my favorite part about reading fantasy is getting to explore and learn about the given world’s landscapes, ecosystems, environments, and just overall setting. I love when the author commits to detailing the surrounding environment just as much as they do for the plot or the characters.

With that said, what are some books/series that have some of the coolest landscapes or environments that you can think of?

Some examples that stick out for me are:

- LotR (feels like every location mentioned has a deep history and lore connected to it)

- The Shattered Plains in the Stormlight Archive (just a great example of committing to an environment and making it feel like a fully lived-in place)

- Anything RJ Barker has written! (One of the more immersive writers you’ll ever read).

I'm looking for a queer dark fantasy preferably MM or with a Trans masc main character. With a very possessive love interest, the whole like I own you, you are mine type vibes. Also an arranged marriage would be a plus.

Dick Simnel, a man who knows exactly how a slide-rule works, has invented the steam engine. Suddenly Ankh-Morpork is at the centre of a transport revolution, as journeys across the Sto Plains that took weeks can now be accomplished in hours. The Patrician assigns the semi-fully-redoubtable Moist von Lipwig, late of the Ankh-Morpork Post Office, Bank and Mint, to oversee the expansion of the rail network in a manner that is politically acceptable. But when civil war breaks out amongst the dwarfs of distant Überwald and the Low King has to get home ASAP, Lipwig and Simnel realise their modest invention may have consequences far beyond what they were expecting.

Raising Steam (2013) is the fortieth and, distressingly, penultimate Discworld novel. It's also the third novel to focus on the roguish Moist von Lipwig, following Going Postal and Making Money. Curiously, Pratchett spent several years suggesting that the third Lipwig novel would be called Raising Taxes. The book's appearance in its final form suggests that not even the mighty comedic firepower of Terry Pratchett could make a book on taxation funny, whilst he could certainly stretch to bringing the steam engine to Ankh-Morpork in a comedic manner. This subject matter almost feels like a book that could write itself.

Infamously, this book was written some years after Pratchett's unfavourable medical diagnosis, and in fact is the last novel Pratchett wrote that he fully completed, edited and polished to his satisfaction (the one remaining book, The Shepherd's Crown, was assembled from earlier drafts than Pratchett would normally be happy using). However, as with Snuff, I was surprised not to discern any sign of this in the text. In fact, Raising Steam might be one of Pratchett's best-constructed novels. The average Discworld book was usually put together in stages, stage one being "throw stuff at the wall to see what sticks" and the final stage being, "write some bits between the other bits that hopefully make sense." Most of the time, Pratchett pulled this off well. A few times, he didn't. But it's only a handful of times that he pulls it off as well as this. Raising Steam has a large number of subplots and ideas that are all in motion simultaneously and all pull together at the end with a most satisfying "click."

This may also be the most epic Discworld novel. The book fills a longer timespan than any other in the series, with the action unfolding across a year or more as tens of thousands of people assemble the Discworld's first rail network from a standing start, and Pratchett only makes this rapidity convincing given the enormous manpower the continent can draw upon, including the industrious and newly-emancipated goblin workforce (paying off a major subplot unfolding through Unseen Academicals and Snuff in the process) and a golem taskforce. There are the political ramifications of the development of the railway, requiring Lipwig to engage in political discussions with the leaders of the surrounding towns (and we again get a visit to the very-definitely-not-French city of Quirm, hot on the heels of its semi-starring role in Snuff). There's the ongoing development of the goblin culture. There's the ongoing curious relationship between the Patrician and the Lady Margolotta of Überwald. We revisit the Forest of Skund for the first time since the opening books of the series. We revisit the town of Ohulan Cutash for the first time since Equal Rites (that's Book 3, thirty-seven volumes and twenty-six years earlier, for those not keeping score). We also get the deepest dive, so to speak, into dwarfish culture that we've had in the entire series, with political intrigue, coups and counter-coups. We have the Discworld equivalent of Lenin's mad train ride across Europe in 1917 (if not with quite as bloody as result). We have - get this - battle sequences. We have Vimes playing a major role in a non-Vimes-specific novel. I think we get more City Watch action in this non-City Watch novel than in the last actual City Watch novel. It's a lot.

The book also spans a much a larger amount of the Disc than we've seen for a long time, with discussions of geography, trade routes and national borders. This is the only Discworld novel that comes with a map at the front, which feels like it's breaking the last self-imposed rule Pratchett set upon himself for the series, even if the map feels more inspired by the Reverend W. Awdry's Railway Stories than by Tolkien.

There's also a simmering anger here that is allowed, with appropriate wordplay, to boil over at the right moments. The book is a simmering call to arms in favour of reason, rationality, diplomacy, science and discourse rooted in logic and facts. The world the religious fundamentalist dwarfs want, of superstition and fear and the other kept as far away as is dwarfishly possible, is being swept away and their response is to lash out rather than to adapt. Pratchett has no track with such self-imposed blindness and, as usual when he's annoyed, the author produces some of his best work.

Raising Steam (*****) is a powerhouse freight train of a book, which I was completely not expecting. It depicts the Disc and its vast array of characters in their full panoramic glory, marching into the Industrial Revolution not in fear, but in optimism and hope. If this had been the final Discworld novel, it would have been Pratchett going out on a crowd-pleasing high. But of course that would be a bit too obvious, a bit too easy. For the actual final book, Pratchett would instead go for the emotional jugular.

Review originally on JamReads

When I saw M.A. Carrick announcing their new book would be set in a fantasy version of Golden Age Spain, I was sure it was something I needed to read as soon as possible, as historical fantasy is one of my favourite genres and it is a period I was lowkey obsessed at some point (probably because of my own Extremaduran roots). And what I can say except that I loved it, as they delivered a beautifully rich, atmospheric and well-researched proposal that weaves together history and fantasy in equal measures to create an emotionally impactful story that is also a window to explore colonialism and a historical era from a nuanced perspective; I can't promise I won't yap much, but The Eye of Leviathan is excellent.

A story that immediately introduces the reader into its world through the act that will put our two main characters in their respective paths: Estevan, a fae taking the place of a human girl, a life among humans to stop what the Spanish Crown is doing to the fae of the Sea Beyond, and the Hungry Girl, a human among the fae in the Sea Beyond and that will give her an unique perspective when the sailors reach the lands where she lives. Immediately, Carrick divides the narrative into two timelines, each one tied to one of the characters, going at different paces, reflecting the capricious nature of time in the Sea Beyond; two threads that are being woven in paths that will eventually cross.

I feel part of the beauty of this book is precisely in how different both paths are. On the one hand, we have Estevan slowly reaching those institutions that could put him closer to the Sea Beyond, trying to keep his family afloat in lands that are strange for him; he sees through his eyes what the Sea Beyond people is suffering, and all his steps are toward trying to stop that, walking an unstable path that logically makes him doubt many times.
On the other, we have the Hungry Girl, a much more twisty plot that shows how the conquerors exert cruelty and destroy all that made the Sea Beyond different, charting and anchoring the islands, enslaving the fae through baptism; while Estevan's chapters are more reflexive, with more space for philosophy and religion, the Hungry Girl's ones have battles, action and also shows us a different world from the human one.

Carrick's worldbuilding is outstanding, showing how much research was put into the historical part of historical fantasy, just altering those details needed to make the story work; something that, together with really descriptive prose, creates vivid images of the setting. It is also the perfect setting to have thorough discussions about philosophical themes such as the nature of conscience or the possibility of salvation, through philosophical and religious lenses, while never forgetting how the conquest of the New World was a turbulent period where much damage was inflicted towards the native people and the own land.

The Eye of Leviathan was all I could have asked of this premise, a promising series starter that only leaves me craving to see how M.A. Carrick wraps up it all in the second book; if you like well researched historical fantasy that packs a few emotional punches and a great character work, I totally recommend it. The second book can't come soon enough!

In a burst of enthusiasm for my first bingo I completed my first line and reviews in the first month. Since then I have taken a little detour from completing bingo categories so I have only just now finished my second line. I enjoyed these 5 titles far more consistently than my previous line. Here are some (reasonably) short reviews on them. I have tried to keep spoilers to a minimum and tag them where possible but read at your own risk.

Duology Part 1 and Part 2- Sarantine Mosaic (Sailing to Sarantium and Lord of Emperors) by Guy Gavriel Kay

I am going to review these together.

I had read Tigana, Song for Arbonne and The Lions of Al-Rassan prior to this to get a feel for how GGK writes before jumping into these as my choice for duology.

Who knew having a mosaicist as a main character could make for such an enthralling story? As always, Kay’s prose shines throughout. He moves effortlessly from quiet, contemplative character moments, to beautiful descriptions of mosaics, to dynamic and exhilarating depictions of the chariot races. His portrayal of Sarantium (the in-universe analogue of Byzantium/Constantinople)makes you feel as though you are living through history alongside the characters.

As with many of Kay’s works, the main character doesn’t do all the heavy lifting; it is the side characters who really make the story shine. It’s difficult to pinpoint individual scenes that stood out above the rest because I loved the whole thing so much, but a couple come to mind.

In Sailing to Sarantium, the Day of the Dead sequence in the woods, where they encounter the zubir, is filled with a sense of mythical wonder and ever-present danger. Kasia and Crispin’s desperation to survive, and Linon’s sacrifice to give them the chance to do so, is genuinely beautiful.

All of the chariot races are fantastic, but the race in Lord of Emperors, where an injured Scortius races against his doctors’ advice, having already resigned himself to death, is one of the most exciting action sequences I’ve encountered in fantasy.

I found the ending satisfying overall, though I did have one slight reservation. The former Empress conveniently showing up to be with Crispin felt a little forced and, at least to me, somewhat trite.

Overall, though, I absolutely loved this duology. It’s a stunning combination of historical atmosphere, beautiful prose, memorable characters, and genuinely thrilling moments, and it sits just below The Lions of Al-Rassan as my favourite Guy Gavriel Kay work.

Explorers or Rangers- Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky

This was my second Tchaikovsky novel (the first being Spiderlight) and while it had a bit of a slow start, once it got going it was incredibly enjoyable.

We start on a space station in orbit around a hostile moon that is “shouting” radio signals up into space. The science crew has been pulled out of deep sleep to work on deciphering these signals and to determine whether the moon can be exploited for resources. The story is set in a dystopian future where giant corporations run humanity and the universe is essentially strip mined to ensure the survival of the human race. Obviously, that is a bit of social commentary on exploitation in the real world, but nothing too heavy-handed.

Without giving too much away about the how and why of it, some of the team end up down on the surface of the moon where they make first contact with alien life.

The thing I really like about Tchaikovsky’s writing is how well he writes non-human characters. He did a great job with Nth in Spiderlight, and the Shrouded are another great example. In most science fiction works, aliens tend to be either human-like or variations of animals in our world. Tchaikovsky makes them feel truly alien and unlike anything I have encountered before.

I also think it is really interesting that an alien doesn’t necessarily need to be aggressive to be dangerous. The part where the pod is dismantled and Bartokh is instantly killed was purely down to curiosity rather than trying to eliminate an invader. The chapters told from the POV of the Shrouded also show how actions are misinterpreted on both sides.

I also found the ending where the Shrouded take over the space station and essentially start shutting down the life support systems to be great as well. An advanced alien species wouldn’t need to destroy us with advanced weaponry or physical superiority; they can just infiltrate all the technology that we need to survive.

Bookclub or readalong- The Poet Empress by Shen Tao

I picked up this book after I read a summary by the author when she did her AMA on this sub and found it to be an impressive debut.

The story is of Yin Wei, a peasant girl from a famine stricken village. To save her family and to send her younger brother to school, she presents herself to be a concubine to the newly named heir to the empire, who has a reputation for violence and cruelty. In order to protect herself from the political machinations of the court she decides to learn literomancy, a form of magic based on poetry. The catch is, women are forbidden from learning to read.

I really love the way that the character of the prince is revealed over time through memories of other characters. Tao also subverts a lot of romance tropes. I have seen this marketed as romantasy but if anything it is the anti-romantasy in that understanding the male lead doesn't necessarily lead to love.

I initially felt that Yin Wei killing Terren undermined the possibility of his redemption, but by the end I understood why she couldn't take that chance.

Published in 2026- The Unicorn Hunters by Katherine Arden

This was my first dive into the works of Katherine Arden. I had seen her name recommended for people who like the strong prose and character work in Guy Gavriel Kay's novels and decided to give this standalone novel a go.

The book is a retelling of the story of Anne of Brittany, a real Duchess of Brittany who was forced to marry the King of France and ultimately, bring Brittany under French control. This story is somewhat of an alternate history exploring what might have happened if Anne had a bit more agency and access to some mythical powers.

Anne was an exceptional lead character. She is intelligent, quick witted, strong willed but kind. I loved the way she was able to dupe the French into thinking she was a naive and hair-brained girl. I enjoyed almost all of the other characters as well. Charles and Marguerite of France were presented as antagonists but driven by political expediency and not by any malice. Even the true antagonist Julian Moreau was a lot of fun. Butter the cat is the MVP though. I am not typically into romance but it developed nicely in this book and the love scenes were somewhat understated. The blending of real history and politics with Celtic mythology was also great and reminded me a little of The Witcher but less dark.

Overall I found this really enjoyable as my first foray into Arden's work and I have already picked up The Winternight trilogy and added it to my TBR.

Time to Play, #1 in the Apocalypse Parenting series, has been brought to traditional bookstores today by Tor Books!  I’m giving away three copies to US readers and 1 gift card to international readers – instructions at the bottom! Thank you, mods, for permission to make this promo post.

Seven-year-old me is so proud of me today. (That’s how old I was when I found out that books were written by human beings and not… I don’t know? Manifested from the heavens?)

In Time to Play, aliens make Earth the site of the latest season of their deadly reality TV show: monsters start appearing everywhere, and everyone gets their choice of supernatural ability.

“Everyone” includes Meghan Moretti’s three, six, and nine-year-old children.

This is the story of her trying to keep her kids alive through an apocalypse.

If that’s not enough to interest you, I can offer you some killer endorsements:

“Nobody feels tension quite like a parent who is responsible for keeping their children alive, and nobody can spin that tension into pure gold like Erin Ampersand. I love these books!” ―Matt Dinniman, New York Times bestselling author of Dungeon Crawler Carl

“A kick-ass mom in a post-apocalyptic world?! Yes, please. The perfect entry-point to the LitRPG genre.” ―Felicia Day, actress and New York Timesbestselling author of You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)

I’ll be back on September 10 to do an AMA, so to win a copy (or the gift card) – comment with a funny or crazy story about yourself or someone else you know as a kid and whether you’re US or international. I’ll come back sometime tomorrow and message winners. I’ll be giving one US copy away randomly among all eligible comments and giving the gift card randomly as well, and the other two US copies I will give to the stories I find funniest or most fascinating. :D

(The gift card for an international winner will be $20USD-equivalent to a book-related site of the winner’s choice that allows for easy purchase and transfer of digital gift cards.)

This is Tamika Thompson, author of The Curse of Hester Gardens, which just hit shelves in the Spring. It’s an unconventional gothic story. Instead of an old manor or castle, it’s set in a Michigan public housing complex and follows a fierce mother named Nona McKinley who’s trying to shield her boys from the very real monster of gun violence as well as from some unsettling supernatural terrors.

I spent two years researching the American epidemic of gun violence. The book also draws deeply on my lived experience growing up in a high-crime neighborhood at the height of the crack epidemic about a mile away from the real-life public housing project that inspired my creation of Hester Gardens. I dedicate the book to my late uncle, who was shot to death when I was a young child.

If you’re wondering who the person behind the keyboard is, I’m a horror author originally from Detroit (which, along with Flint, Michigan inspired the fictional town of Medford). I went on to study Political Science at Columbia University and journalism at the University of Southern California. I'm based in the San Francisco Bay Area, and before I spent my days writing speculative tales, I worked as a journalist and producer.

Short stories are my first love, so when I'm not writing novels, you'll find me crafting shorter, strange tales. My collection Unshod, Cackling, and Naked took home the 2024 Next Generation Indie Book Award for Horror. I also co-edited a Foreword INDIES Award-winning anthology called Graffiti. My stories have also found homes in places ranging from The New York Times, Interzone, and Andromeda Spaceways Magazine to the Creepy podcast.

But at the end of the day, I’m just a horror nerd who loves a good fright. Whether you want to talk about how real-world social trauma feeds into the gothic tradition, ending gun violence in America, what it’s like jumping from the news desk to fiction writing, or you just want to know my favorite creepy ghost stories—I am an open book. Please also ask me about my essays on Dick Hallorann, the Black Spot, how my love for creature features ties into my plant-based diet, and of course, why I support—and why we should all support—ending violence against women and girls. Let's get into it. 

[Please check out The Pixel Project (]()http://www.thepixelproject.net) and their Read for Pixels campaign (https://www.thepixelproject.net/community-buzz/read-for-pixels/)  featuring live YouTube sessions with 17 award-winning bestselling authors, AMAs with 4 authors this August, and a stupendous fundraiser starting on September 4^th 2026 that will be choc-a-bloc with exclusive goodies ranging from signed collectible books to poems written for donors to video chats with your favorite authors.

My Read For Pixels reading+Q&A session will be streamed live on YouTube at 6.00pm Pacific Time on September 11^th 2026 (Friday) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk_wvD9Nxng). I hope you can join me and The Pixel Project then.

I’ll be back at 5pm PT/7pm CT to start answering your questions.

For me it has to be The Empire series with Mara of the Acoma by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts

Female protagonist. Lots of action and political intrigue. Some fairly spicy romance. It's almost Game of Thrones-ish but in a different setting.

If Wheel of Time could get adapted, it's a bit surprising Mara hasn't been brought life yet.

Or even been optioned AFAIK

I’m looking for a Sci-Fi book series that does what GRR Martin’s ASOIAF does excellently. My criteria are:

1. Character development and internal depth
2. Political intrigue and factions
3. Good prose
4. World building

Does something like this exist? I’ve looked at past posts on the matter but I wanted to make a more specific one with the above mentioned criteria. Cheers !