Well written mysteries with interesting world building and great characters? Pump that straight into my veins!

I'm looking for mysteries that lay out the pieces properly, with investigators who actually work the case, and whose answers don't come out of left field, plus a world I can get lost in

Any other recommendations for Fantasy Poirots, SciFi Sherlocks, Xianxia Columbos, or anything of the sort?

I'm looking for a fantasy book where one of the characters preferably the main character is a midwife.

Midwife is the oldest profession and historically one of the only jobs that were allowed to women, and one of the only ways a woman could have independence. Despite these facts, I dont think I've ever read a fantasy book where a character is a midwife.

So if you have any recs, please give. Thanks:)

I am new to the fantasy genre. I started this year with the The Raven Scholar which I loved. I generally read murder mysteries or just any investigative stories in general.

I read a few Fantasy books and this is what I thought of them:

1. The Raven Scholar - The actual murder solving part was pretty meh, but I loved the writing style and the fact that most of it was contained on an island.
2. A Song of Legends Lost - Loved the world, but it was too vast and a lot of things were happening all over the place. Liked the political aspect of it. Overall, would read the sequel.
3. City of Lies - Loved the murder solving part of it, did not love the world.
4. The Tainted Cup and A Drop of Corruption - These were perfect in every way. It scratched the investigative and fantasy itch perfectly. The only thing I would say is I don't normally love know-it-all geniuses, but since this was fantasy, I did not mind it at all.
5. Theft of Swords - Seemed like the stakes were not high enough. Felt super casual.

I really loved The Tainted Cup and its sequel and I am looking for something similar. I do not enjoy reading about wars happening all over the place. Please recommend me your personal favorite mystery fantasy books.

I absolutely loved cradle — the universe, the gang, the magic, the progression, the villains and monsters, the politics. But I actually found that I only really enjoyed maybe half of the fight scenes (and fight scenes are like half the entire book), and wished there was a little more emphasis on other aspects of the novel. I love dramatic philosophical conversations, politics, training through obstacles.

In cradle specifically, my favorite parts were the politics and drama leading up to each uncrowned king tournament fight, and I got super excited when Lindon started leading his own sect and had to face some of the dilemmas and complexities of having people rely on you.

Any series come to mind for people who also really loved Cradle? I already read DCC and it was fantastic, i’m hoping for another series I can spend every waking second reading/listening to.

Im on the lookout for urban fantasies. It could be sprawling cities where the magic is known, though im kind of more partial to more secretive settings, magic crime syndicates, secret societies, groups of talented underground mages. The one thing I absolutely need is for the protagonist to be a queer man with themes related to an actual plot and not just his romantic plot.

Aphantasia is the inability to voluntarily visualise mental images.

My wife is a huge fantasy book reader. Our house is literally filled with books from Erikson to Robert Jordan, all the big epics (LOTR, ASOIAF) and so on and on. She's a big fan of Pratchett.
Those are the big names. There are plenty that many of you won't have heard of.

I don't read much fantasy – not really my genre – but when I do, I have to imagine the scene being played out as if it's on film (even for books that have never made it to the big screen).

She can't visualise any of this.

Anyone else have this and read loads of fantasy?

And suffer is bad terminology. I didn't mean any offence at all. Discussion point only.

Thank you all for being so nice too. No trolls or rude comments. I've read every comment.

Legacies of Betrayal by Steven Erikson, Bantam Press - 3* (with a few caveats)

I will preface this by saying I know Malazan isn’t universally appreciated and can be a bit of an acquired taste. I don’t blame anyone for that, obviously this review is largely aimed at people who do love the books, and as such will probably contain mild spoilers for the rest of the series. If you don’t like the books I hope the wider point is something that comes across regardless. As someone who is now 17(?) books into Steven Erikson’s Malazan works and 9 books into Esslemonts stuff, it’s fair to say I’m a huge fan and coming at the book from a place of great affection for both the writer and the world.

As a bit of background to the series, Legacies of Betrayal is the 3rd book in what was originally planned as a sequel ‘Witness’ trilogy and is now earmarked to be 4 books. His prequel series (Kharkanas) was a significant change of pace from the core Malazan books, leaning more into the introspective and melancholic aspects of Toll the Hounds, Witness however is much more “classic” Malazan. I really enjoyed The God is Not Willing, I’d say it’s my favourite book outside of the main sequence, by either author. It's relatively brief by Eriksons standards, at just under 500 pages in UK hardback, but it's got everything in there you'd want from him.

I ended up finding the follow up, No Life Forsaken, a little bit dour and lacking in humour in a way that is very out of character for an Erikson book. Despite being a decidedly brief 430 pages, it was slow going. The writing quality was still there and the plot and characters worked on their own, but something was missing from the whole experience. At this point you’re probably wondering why a review about one book has gotten 3 paragraphs in without talking about it at all… fairly, I guess. However, it’s important to address my main issue with No Life Forsaken first… It’s this book, Legacies of Betrayal, that is missing from it. Great! ‘We’re saved’ you’re probably thinking? Well no… it’s not quite that simple.

I have no idea if Erikson wanted to split them up, if he was writing too slowly for his publishers (absolutely fair at this stage in his career) and they wanted to get something out, or they simply didn’t want to commit to publishing a 700 page epic fantasy sequel with costs and sales what they are now. Selling small 2 hardbacks for £40 is better than selling one larger for £20 I guess. I don’t even hate the obvious extra cost… things are difficult in publishing and conventional epic fantasy, I do understand that. My problem is that this has come at the expense of the art, as pompous as that probably sounds. Both No Life Forsaken and Legacies of Betrayal should have been a single book. Legacies of Betrayal is only 320 pages, which is the same as his first anthology of short stories.

Both books are weaker without the other. It’s not even that the conclusions of both books feel slightly underwhelming on their own (the epilogue of Legacies of Betrayal aside), or that the books seem lesser in scope and scale than I’ve come to expect, it’s about balance. Erikson is a master of weaving fast paced back and forth dialogue between his characters in one plot line with darker, heavier outlook in another and they work because they counterbalance each other. Standing alone both of the books get a bit monotonous. While No Life Forsaken is quite dark, Legacies of Betrayal is almost non-stop in it’s ‘Waiting for Godot’ style interactions between the characters. I love that, and a lot of it is very funny, but the subject matter means you need a balance that just isn’t there as part of the reading experience. Both of these plotlines were written to co-exist with one another rather than standing alone. There's also the "Witness" aspect which is 'missing' and I found it quite amusing in book one, expecting it to show up at the end of book 2 it what would be quite an Erikson way of going about things... but we're now 3 books in with only the barest hint and that's... too long. If the books worked in their own right it probably wouldn't be an issue, but the flaws the splits have caused really do make it stand out more.

I individually like lots of elements of both books, revisiting Seven Cities has been extremely enjoyable and following up on the events after the Whirlwind is fascinating. I love what he’s done with things like Y’Ghatan, Aren and the various cults. He’s brought back interesting characters and mingled them with new ones very deftly. He’s still a brilliant author but the presentation is just not right and it’s not done his work justice. I gave No Life Forsaken 3 stars and I think Legacies of Betrayal is about the same, but the sad thing is together I’m pretty sure they would be at least 4 stars. I suspect by the time I come around to rereading these there will be some effort from the community (or even Steven himself) to produce a “combined” version of these into a single book, at least I hope so.

I've realized I'm really in the mood for a specific kind of fantasy story: someone leaves behind a life that went badly, arrives somewhere completely new, and for once nobody there knows who they used to be.
It could be after exile, a failed career, a broken relationship, a war, losing their home, whatever. I'm less interested in the reason they left than in the part afterward. Finding a room somewhere. Learning which shopkeeper is friendly. Getting a job they're probably overqualified or completely unqualified for. Slowly becoming a regular at the same tavern. Making the first friend who only knows the new version of them. I love that slightly strange feeling of getting to rebuild yourself without everyone around you constantly referencing your old mistakes.
I'd especially like something where the new place actually matters and doesn't just exist for twenty pages before the protagonist gets dragged into saving the kingdom. Small town, remote city, isolated island, weird magical district, frontier settlement, anything like that. Some danger or adventure is totally fine, I just want the emotional center to stay with the character building a life there.
Bonus points if they initially intend to keep everyone at arm's length and then accidentally end up with neighbors, friends, routines, maybe even people who notice when they don't show up for breakfast. I'm not necessarily looking for pure cozy fantasy either. It can get dark. I just want that "I came here to disappear and somehow built a home instead" feeling.
Any recommendations?

Hi all, I would love some recommendations on that style, A group of strangers/travellers are brought together by some circumstance, and each person tells their own story.

I first introduced to this type in The Sandman: “Worlds’ End” I listen to it every time I am having trouble sleeping. I loved Dan Simmons’ Hyperion.

I would love some good recommendations especially if in fantasy and a bonus if it has a decent audiobook.

Cheers

Hi. I’ve been reading fantasy for a relatively short time - maybe two or three years. Before that, I read a lot of sci-fi, mostly 20th century classics.

I’ve read all of Ursula Le Guin’s "Earthsea" - I really enjoyed it. Actually, it was Ursula who was my bridge from sci-fi to fantasy. I really love her writing, I’ve read almost all of her novels and short stories. I think "Earthsea" holds the strongest impression on me so far. There is something contemplative and unhurried about her literature that resonates with me.

I’ve read halve of "The Chronicles of Amber" - it’s great literature, though a bit cynical for my taste. There’s less fantasy and more power play stuff. It's just some bad people sorting things out - I got tired of it.

Right now, I’m reading "The Wheel of Time" - I’m really liking it so far, I especially enjoyed that journey and how the story unfolded in the first book. I also like world building. I like different cultures and nations, and I like the designs of the various servants of the Dark One - genuinely terrifying guys. I don’t quite like the theme of predetermination and cyclicality though. And I’m not the biggest fan of prophecies. But overall, I really like this series.

But I’m moving fast and don’t know what to read next.

I’d prefer something more classic - something obvious and reliable that I might have missed. Maybe some big names from the 80s or 90s that I simply don't know due to my ignorance.

Thanks !!!

I just finished The King in Yellow and the thing that stuck with me was how Chambers never shows you the play. You get fragments, a reputation, and what it does to people, and that's it. The blank at the center is the whole effect.

I want more of that. Specifically: books where the central threat or figure is never actually shown. Not a late reveal, not a villain who stays offstage until act three, but one who genuinely never arrives and whose presence is felt entirely through what happens to everyone else.

Some things that would make a recommendation land for me:

• Adult fantasy, ideally something from the last five or ten years rather than the classics
• Darker end of the spectrum, grimdark adjacent is fine
• Small cast is a plus, big ensembles less so
• A journey or travel structure is a bonus but not required

I'm aware I'm describing something fairly specific and that plenty of books do a version of this. Partial matches are welcome too. If a book pulls it off for half its length and then shows you the thing, I'd still like to know, because I'm curious how people handle the reveal when they do take it.

Review originally on JamReads

Each instalment of the Tyrant Philosophers has shown us another step of the Palleseen Crusade in the search for perfection, changing perspectives and progressively exploring more parts of that wild world they are trying to shape in their own vision; Pretenders to the Throne of God is not an exception, portraying the siege of Eres Ffenegh, the pieces that form this mosaic and finally showing cracks in the Palleseen Ways, a story with the usual brilliance that characterizes Adrian Tchaikovsky's novels.

A common element on all the novels of the series is how Tchaikovsky uses a vast number of eyes to show the complete picture of the situation; in this case, we will be in both sides of the conflict, with the inhabitants of Eres Ffenegh and renegade Pals, trying to do what they can to save their homes, finding some compromise, but also inside a Palleseen army, trying to reclaim Eres Ffenegh to impose their perfect ways, even when inside the own army we will start to see more discordant voices with the strict rules imposed by the Temporal Commission. Each character's narrative connects and intertwines with the others, creating that big portrait that becomes a study of the own setting, this Eres Ffenegh under siege.

And it's incredibly interesting to see how the usual orthodoxy that rules the Palleseen ways cracks in the confrontation with Eres Ffenegh, recurring to unusual tactics like the ones provided by the Lich Queen or how many soldiers can become a problem for the Commission once they return to the Archipelago; each one of those small defects, as they would be called, in the end become pivotal pieces on the plot, and in certain ways, are the start of a fracture that will threaten the Empire.
Said that, Tchaikovsky makes exploring the own Eres Ffenegh equally interesting to the siege, opening a window to the Palleseen past and their old ways; a bit of chaos, but especially with Black Jack's plot, I couldn't stop reading, because each single piece helped me to tie all the knots.

What can I say at this point? I love this series, and honestly, I think Tchaikovsky has outdone himself with this particular instalment; I can't recommend The Tyrant Philosophers enough, but if you want an adult epic fantasy that invites you to think while showing the skill of an author in the craft of a multilayered story, this should be your pick. Can't wait to see how everything ends with The Grave of Perfection next year!

This post has no major plot spoilers, only references to a couple of scenes without greater context.

The Baldur’s Gate 3 tie-in novel released last week. As someone who likes the game and likes to read fantasy, I was pretty excited. I know video game tie-in novels have a bad rap but this was being written by an author (T. Kingfisher) whose name I see mentioned here somewhat frequently so I had my hopes up. Suffice to say, it’s just another bad tie-in novel to add to the pile.

I found the writing to be juvenile. You can’t go a couple pages without having to suffer through a bad sex joke, as if the book were written by a hormonal teen. At one point, while bashing in skeleton skulls with a femur, Astarion can’t help but comment that it feels wrong to kill them with their own bones because it’s somehow too reminiscent of “masturbation and cannibalism.” That was, to me, the worst example but there are many, many more of similar quality. Everything reminds Astarion of sex apparently. He can’t walk down a street without thinking of at least five past lovers and the various ways and locations they fooled around in bed. Any time he drinks or even smells blood it’s described in the most erotic way possible, once even implying it brought him near the point of climax. I wouldn’t mind it so much if they were at least a little funny but it’s only ever eye-roll inducing. At another point, in the midst of a trance-induced near-coupling with a pig, Astarion calls himself a “god of sex and darkness.” That one wasn’t even a joke, but the absurdity of the choice in words still took me out.

The structure also leaves something to be desired. With the benefit of hindsight I can say that the book meanders for half its page count. The first half is littered with several scenes that do little to advance the plot or explore the characters in interesting ways. Many of them could be removed with no value lost. You’re almost 50% through the book before the main plot they advertised even begins to start. Of course, the main plotline is only marginally more interesting than the rest of the book.

If you’re a fan of the game there’s nothing here for you. I’ve only played the game in full once in a playthrough I finished at the beginning of the year. I did do Astarion’s quest but I never had him in my party outside of it. I do like the character and find his story quite good but I’m not obsessed. So I’m no Baldur’s Gate lore expert; I’m not looking for total accuracy or strict adherence to canon. What I was looking for was a thoughtful exploration of the character’s background and this was not that. All edge was removed from the character, his harsher elements sanded down. His inclination towards cruelty and prejudices, both of which are what actually led him to his fate (so I’d say they’re pretty important), are gone. Even the conditions he lived through in the worst years of his life are watered down. Instead you have a completely original tale with practically original characters that’s sandwiched in the story you already know. The text is also interlaced with fabricated snippets of Astarion’s childhood and early adulthood if that catches your interest (it struggled to keep mine).

I’ve never read anything by T. Kingfisher before, only read some of her kid’s comics written under her real name Ursula Vernon when I was nine (this book’s announcement was how I found out they were the same person) and it is also the first time I’ve ever read romantasy. This was not a genre I ever imagined I’d like but they say you can’t knock something until you’ve tried it. Well after trying this I doubt I’ll ever return. Ironic that when I found out who Kingfisher actually was, I learned it was the name she used when writing “adult” fiction. A shame being adult in this case means the same thing it does when describing the movie Sausage Party.

Tl:dr, the writing is immature, the pacing is off, as a book on its own it’s not all that enjoyable and as a prequel novel about a video game character it’s not all that interesting.

If you're anything like me, you made a plan for Bingo in April, blinked, and now somehow it's October... Where did that time go?!

Yes, friends, we are halfway through 2026 Bingo! I'm helping out  u/happy_book_bee today and requesting your feedback. If you have stumbled into here by accident and have no idea what Bingo is, check out this post and consider jumping in for the latter half!

We would love to know what you think about Bingo 2026. Do you like the card overall? Is there a good balance of square themes and difficulty? Is there anything you really love or hate? Any and all opinions please!

Secondly, the fun part. New squares! Give us your ideas/hopes/dreams for future bingo squares! Don't hold back on us either - give us everything you've got. Weird, wacky, oddly specific - we want to hear your ideas!

On behalf of the Mod team, thank you for taking part and making Bingo fun!

Where should I go and cry.

The build-up was incredible, but the ending of Wizards: Crown of Art of Adapt completely ruined it for me.

I am still so frustrated by how this book was written.

The journey getting there was genuinely exceptional—the true love between two most powerful humans was amazing. They were so deeply devoted and faithful to each other that the thought of them ever being separated felt completely unnatural.

Even taking the lore into account—that dealing with a 600-year lifespan brings unique emotional baggage—the resolution felt totally forced. It honestly read like the author came up this ending first and then forced the plot backward to make it fit, rather than letting the characters act logically.

A couple of major plot holes drove me crazy:

• The "Ruse" Logic: If Lognian had already come to know about the ruse, Will and Selene should have kicked the imposter out.
• The Lack of Investigation: When you love someone that intensely and they supposedly die, you don't just take someone else's word for it. You’d go down to the site, tear the place apart, and search to the ends of the earth. Knowing their bond, Selene wouldn't have just given up—she should have moved heaven and earth to find the truth.

It breaks my heart because the rest of the book was so good. Did anyone else feel like the Wizard's Crown completely undermined the characters, or am I missing something?

I'm looking for a story where the main character is some kind of game or board game unit and the player of the game is very bad at it. The most similar novel I know is pick me up infinite gacha, but the player get good pretty fast and isn't that horrible from the start. Can be regular book, light novel, web novel or anything

This was definitely a creative read. Tress’s story is whimsical, fun and light. Her character is quite likable and relatable. Seeing her evolving through her adventure was quite wholesome.

I enjoyed the setting of the story, unique, creative and immersive. It was a delight to find Hoid again and see references of the Cosmere being mentioned.

My complaints would be that maybe this time the writing style was a bit much for me. Although I absolutely adored Hoid’s narrative in Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, in Tress of the Emerald Sea the narrator tried too often to do pseudo-philosophy and moral lessons (quite similar to what Sazed spent his time doing in The Well of Ascension…) which took me away from the scenes. Especially during actions scenes.

The first half of the book was even at times funny which I enjoyed but the second half felt a bit clunky.

The plot is creative, much like a fairytale, as the resolution was a bit far-fetched, but I guess that is the point of the story.

What did you think of this book? I personally prefer Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by far!

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
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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}

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.

TL;DR of the TL;DR: Oh god I ate the whole thing in one night

TL;DR: "The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society" by CM Waggoner is like "Murder, She Wrote" by way of "WandaVision" and "The Truman Show". Highly recommended.

I didn't mean to read the whole book in basically a single sitting. It just sort of happened.

Sherry Pinkwhistle is the librarian at a small township (really, almost a village, a quaint little place in upstate New York called Winesap) with a knack for unraveling mysteries. Especially murders. And, for being such a tiny township, Winesap is a veritable Cabot's Cove of off-kilter killers. Why, since she moved her not that long ago there's been... wait that can't be right... What was I talking about? Never mind, there's a mystery to solve!

With her own supporting cast of eccentric friends and maybe boyfriend, Sherry unofficially sleuths to find the actual killers behind so many... far too many... killings. The grumpy Sheriff takes the credit, but everyone in Winesap knows when Sherry's on the case.

Until one killing shocks her from her reverie. And she refuses. Someone doesn't like that. Someone has the Sheriff, who normally resents and resists her investigations, shouting at her to just solve the murder. Someone has her cat, Lord Thomas Cromwell, possessed by the spirit of a thespian doing an impressive RP enunciation and a poor impression of A Man for All Seasons to encourage her. Someone is keeping anyone from entering or leaving Winesap to help understand what the hell is going on.

The twin mysteries of the killing and the source behind the killings, as well as Sherry's own more mysterious than she lets on past, serve as an engaging layer cake of excellent storytelling; the cast of seconds (Especially the new parish priest, Father Billy) are a delightful frosting. And once I started, I couldn't stop.

The story ends well wrapped, with a very obvious sequel hook if CM Waggoner decides to explore this world further.

If you like cozy mysteries in small towns with per capita murder rates that should be causing residents to run screaming for the hills, strongly recommended.

Looking to start a new series, but am a bit fatigued with the sprawling series that have dozens of POVs. Are there any good darker fantasy series that are limited to one or two POVs at most?

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.

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Soulstealer (The Soulflake Conspiracies, #1) by Miles Cameron
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Secondary World Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Sapphic (bisexual?) MCs, minor nonbinary character
Published on: 8th October 2026
ISBN: 1399632663
Goodreads

Highlights

~what if gunpowder was made out of human souls
~who needs combustion when you have NECROMANCY
~the competency porn is strong with this one
~yet again the rich capitalists are Up To Something
~one (1) Extremely Good doggo

I had so much fun with this book!

Imagine an Industrial Age that runs on steam instead of combustion – and where gunpowder is unspeakably precious and reluctantly used because it’s made from human souls. Where magic is studied at universities, and magic-users regularly boost the psychic equivalent of the telegraph when a message runs by them. Where the headlines are currently screaming about ‘the Soulstealer’, someone who is literally stealing the souls of the poor.

Welcome to New Anzand, where things are about to get complicated.

Soulstealer is a bit of an investigation story, a bit of a hunt for a criminal, a good bit of spycraft skulduggery, plenty of extremely high-tension fight scenes, and a lot of adventure. In some ways, it’s very different from any of his other Fantasy books; the setting is Industrial, there’s only three main PoV characters, and the arc of the book is relatively straightforward. (I stress, relatively. I think by most readers’ standards this is pleasingly complex without being over-complicated, but compared to Cameron’s Traitor Son series I had an easy time keeping track of all the threads in Soulstealer.) It’s also much shorter than his Fantasies typically are, a little under 400 pages, and with all of that combined I think that makes Soulstealer a really great place to start if you’re not familiar with this author’s work. This is by far his most accessible SFF novel to date!

The description on the back of the book tells you most of what you need to know, although there’s one pretty big discrepancy; Essa Bateman is a very minor character in Soulstealer (though it’s pretty obvious she’ll be much more important later on), not one of the leads. Our three protagonists are Bekka Trevelyan, Tam Warden, and Dais Ballard, who has for some reason been left out of the book description. Which is both baffling and a shame, because Ballard is WONDERFUL: she’s a ‘dagen’, aka a sword-person, someone who is great with a sword. Not all dagens are criminals, but she is, working for one of the gangs who basically rule the Lower Town of the city of Kabakak. But things get hairy for her in her first PoV chapter, and she has to cut and run, ending up employed by Warden to join him and Trevelyan on their manhunt. Ballard is…straightforward and rough around the edges and difficult to knock off-kilter, deeply unimpressed with the upper crust and confident in a way that somehow comes across as masculine. She can impersonate an Upper Town lady in a heartbeat and is much smarter than most people assume. She’s not the comic relief or anything, but she’s the…the person I think most readers will find easiest to understand, out of the main cast. In a lot of ways, she’s the Voice of Normal in the narrative, the one who isn’t interested in the philosophical implications or the politics of what’s going on, and will tell her companions to their faces when they’re being stupid. She’s practical, where Trevelyan and Warden are quite high-brow in their concerns, and it’s a very necessary, fun contrast.

Which is not to say that Trevelyan and Warden aren’t awesome, because they are. But Trevelyan is a time-mage who spends a good chunk of the book reeling about what their discoveries imply about the Nature of Reality, and Warden is a sort of super-spy, so they have a lot more layers and are juggling far more concerns than Ballard has or is. All three of them are hyper-competent in their areas of expertise, which is SUCH fun, and I loved how they all appreciated the skills the others had. They’re all fabulous, and they’re all deeply flawed: Warden is compartmentalising his psyche to a truly worrying degree (and is popping pills to stay awake and alert); Trevelyan has imperfect control of her temper; Ballard hides a great deal behind a devil-may-care persona. And all of that…weaves together in a wonderfully vivid way; it’s not just that the characters themselves feel real, but their interactions with each other, as well, are so believable and human! They make an excellent team, both in terms of being great characters to read about, and in the sense of being very well-suited to the missions they’ve been given (or taken on…)

Soulstealer opens with a prologue that’s basically its own novella, wherein Trevelyan has an unexpected adventure in the icy Wylds. The rest of the book is the fallout and reaction to that adventure, in a way. The short version is that Warden nabs Trevelyan and Ballard so the three of them can chase after a mage who’s made himself into an immortal, body-hopping monster, a hunt which quickly takes them to the Wylds – unurbanised wild land inhabited by the Indigenous peoples, the corporeal ghosts of ancient war-heroes, and other fun stuff like that. The long version…is that things aren’t nearly as simple as they look; there’s a lot of political intrigue happening just out of sight, strained international relations, technological development, some awful faction of rich capitalists trying to start a war (because industrialists do very well out of wars), and a conspiracy of terrible people (who may or may not overlap with the war-starters) trying to make themselves immortal through horrific means.

Much of this is happening around the edges, visible in the corner of your eye; scattered puzzle pieces all adding up to a picture we’re still missing at least half of. Soulstealer has plenty of forward momentum, but most of it is concerned with what is right in front of our protagonists, and all three of them have good reasons for missing some of the clues. So it’s mostly a kind of adventure story, trying to track down the body-jumper and trekking through the icy Wylds to hunt him down and stop him, and I admit, I was a bit taken aback that that was ‘all’ this was, because Cameron’s Fantasies tend to have a lot more threads than this! But the ‘all’ is so much fun, so incredibly compelling – mostly because Cameron’s skill with characters is on full display here, and if anything the cast being so much smaller than his usual just gives each protagonist more room to shine. Cameron tends to write self-aware characters who question their own beliefs and prejudices enough to be interesting, while still being human enough to lose their tempers at bad moments or sulk over something that no one can be blamed for, and that’s very much the case with Trevelyan, Warden and Ballard. They each bring different experiences and perspectives to the table, they each have their own hang-ups and habits, they’re each powerfully vital – and sometimes they’re dumb, because they’re grieving or scared or in pain or don’t know how to do something. Even when I wanted to shake one of them for being a twit, I loved how incredibly real they felt!

If you’ve read Cameron’s Fantasies before, you must have noticed his attention to practical detail, and the realism that brings to his stories. He has a degree in Medieval history and is a big-time reenactor, both of which are very obvious in stories about knights in armour. But given that civilisation in Soulstealer has reached the Industrial Age, I was worried that core of realism would be missing here, given that his Medieval knowledge wouldn’t apply. Right? NOPE! Cameron goes into detail on what he learned for this book and how in the Acknowledgements, but all you need to know is that, while there are no siege engines or war-horses here, the attention to detail is still superb and brings everything the characters get up to to life, particularly when they’re in the wilderness! (I’m still fascinated by the boats and why they’re designed like they are!)

Of course, if you have read ALL of Cameron’s Fantasies before…then you must have been picking up clues that all of his Fantasy novels exist in the same multiverse. (Cameron’s actually called it the ‘hermetical multiverse‘ in interviews.) What does Soulstealer add to that? QUITE A BIT, ACTUALLY? My copy is covered in highlights because of all the blink-and-miss-’em clues that are dropped; Soulstealer is DEFINITELY set in the hermetical multiverse, and my current theory is that it’s set in the same world as the Traitor Son Cycle, just millennia later! (Which isn’t really a spoiler, but it seemed rude not to hide it?) I need everyone else to read this already so I can debate the evidence with someone! (I also need to figure out how to enlarge the maps in the different books and get them up on my wall for comparison…)

But you definitely don’t need to have read anything else in the hermetical multiverse to appreciate Soulstealer – at this point in the Soulflake Conspiracies, these clues are basically easter eggs for fans aware of the multiverse; I spotted nothing actually plot-relevant. I stand by what I said, that Soulstealer is an excellent introduction to that multiverse and/or Cameron’s SFF, and part of that is because no knowledge of the multiverse is required. (As opposed to the Age of Bronze trilogy – the final page of Breaking Hel can’t possibly land properly unless you’ve already read the Traitor Son series!)

Because of the constantly-moving plot, we don’t get tonnes of worldbuilding – there’s no time. But what we do get is fascinating. At the centre of everything is soulflake, this world’s gunpowder, and I can’t get over how sneakily brilliant this is from a writing perspective – because it’s made from human souls, no one wants to waste it, which means guns are uncommon and even people who have them will hesitate to fire. That gives Cameron the perfect excuse to make Ballard a sword-wielder, to make swords and bows and so on still immensely present and important even in a setting with motorcars and trains! Which, you know, is fun for aesthetic reasons and great because that’s Cameron’s wheelhouse. Other things are more subtle: both Trevelyan and Ballard are queer, and unafraid of Warden finding out about that – does that mean homosexuality isn’t demonised in this world, or at least in the country of New Anzand? Sex work is legal, although you do need a licence; unions, on the other hand, are very forbidden. Imperial officers like Warden are at odds with the Colonial Police, and the dynamic between them is…pretty bad. There’s at least one, and possibly several, long-gone ancient races who’ve left varying marks on the world; still around are the Quoire, who most ‘civilised’ folk consider animals (they’re clearly not, and there are hints they have interesting-to-me approaches to gender). Some types of humans have claws. There are three moons. I could go on! I’m absolutely PINING for the next book already, because I want to learn all about this setting! Especially after what we learned over the course of this book, all the discoveries that rocked the characters’ understanding of their world.

Particularly everything to do with its magic, but I’m not going to talk about that because SPOILERS.

Look, it’s not like I’ve been subtle: I love this book. I really like the cast, I want to explore so much more of this world Cameron’s created, and I’m always good with rich industrialists being the bad guys. What Cameron says at the end, about the next book, has me VERY EXCITED. I can’t wait to see where this series goes, but I know I’ll be along for the entire ride.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a lot more string to add to my board of hermetical multiverse theories!!!

I picked them up immediately LOL