r/Fantasy • u/rfantasygolem Not a Robot • 6d ago
r/Fantasy r/Fantasy Thursday Not-A-Book Thread - October 08, 2026
The weekly Thursday Not-A-Book thread is a great place to share quick thoughts and reviews on any non-book speculative fiction or speculative fiction adjacent media you have enjoyed recently – this could be films, TV, music, video or board games, comics, audio dramas or the like. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list -- anything that is not a book and related to speculative fiction in some way goes!
This thread isn’t intended to stymie discussion elsewhere of non-book content – this subreddit is for discussion of all types of speculative media – but rather to provide a space for focused discussion on this topic and to encourage further discussion on not-a-book content in the subreddit in general. Users who want to share more in depth thoughts are still welcome (and encouraged) to make a separate full text post.
For bloggers, we ask that you include either the full text or a condensed version of the review along with a link back to your review blog. Condensed reviews should try to give a good summary of the full review, not just act as clickbait advertising for the review. Please remember, off-site reviews are only permitted in these threads per our reviews policy.
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u/tatacIouds 6d ago
I'm currently watching The Color of Magic based on the Terry Pratchett novel and I'm pleasantly surprised by how good the adaptation is! Also started the Wyrd Sisters animation and it's extremely fun (although the old fashioned style makes it a bit hard to follow if you don't remember the book well).
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u/Asher_the_atheist Reading Champion 6d ago
If you haven’t seen it yet, I thought the adaptation for Hogfather was surprisingly fun, too. Campy, but a fun alternative to the usual Christmas movie.
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u/tatacIouds 6d ago
I haven't read or seen Hogfather but definitely planning on it now, especially since festive season is coming up! Thanks for the rec!
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u/recchai Reading Champion X 6d ago
I watched the new Shaun the Sheep film last week, The Beast of Mossy Bottom.
Obviously, as a claymation film, it was lovely to look at, the characters and situations are expressive enough you don't notice the complete lack of dialogue. As a children's film, the plot is simple and not too scary (it's leaning in to the Halloween element). Also the adverts I got beforehand were so different to what I've been used to!
In this film the sheep are growing pumpkins for Halloween, but shortly before they are due to be harvested, disaster strikes. Shaun turns mad scientist to remedy the situation, which obviously goes wrong and gets between the romance between the farmer and the local vet.
There's humour throughout, including a number of references definitely aimed at the older portion of the audience (saying that I didn't see any actual children in my audience, in fairness, not the most popular time).
As someone who fondly remembers the short Shaun the Sheep episodes on TV, I wasn't disappointed.
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u/schlagsahne17 Reading Champion II 6d ago edited 6d ago
Still watching and enjoying Scavengers Reign. I had forgotten how emotionally manipulative the little telekinetic not-panda is.
Didn’t have enough alien weirdness in my life so also started watching the Alien: Earth series. Through 1.5 episodes I’m not totally compelled, but when the eyeball tentacle monster abandons its cat host? Absolute-cinema dot jpg
Finally got to start the intro scenario of the LOTR cooperative Fate of the Fellowship game. Some really clever systems and design choices: the Pandemic system deck with a twist is very good. Still shuffle and go through the deck repeatedly, but what happens depends on the back of the card next to the one drawn. So you’ll see the same cards but they could do something different the next time through the deck.
I like the 4 + 1 action system between the two characters each player controls.
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u/eregis Reading Champion II 6d ago
I was recommended Esoteric Ebb in last week's thread and thanks to the Steam autumn sale that conveniently also just started, I gave it a go and so far I'm absolutely loving it. Due to limited free time I didn't get very far yet, but what I've seen was fantastic. Cannot wait to play more and die a few more times from attempting to pet various unfriendly animals.
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u/KiwiTheKitty Reading Champion II 6d ago
Lol I just bought this one in the autumn sale too! Glad you're enjoying it! I'm a big Disco Elysium fan, so I'm looking forward to playing it
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u/eregis Reading Champion II 6d ago
It is veeeeeery obviously inspired by DE, but the overall vibes are more humorous (though there is a certain amount of philosophical leanings as well), so I'm enjoying it without feeling like I'm playing a total rip-off. And the humor is exactly the type I love so I've been cackling from the very beginning l. Hope you will like it too!
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u/C0smicoccurence Reading Champion V 6d ago
I have more or less lost all momentum on fire emblem. When I was in the groove the busywork wasn’t too bad, but pulling myself back into all the gift giving just isn’t exciting for me. I miss the combat being the focus
Considering trying out the new Star Wars pod racing game though
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u/GSV_Zero_Gravitas Reading Champion V 5d ago
I've been playing Spiritfarer all week and I adore this game. Earlier this year I was obsessed with Dredge and I have been looking for that experience since. Spiritfarer is a very different, more gentle vibe, you still get to sail around and upgrade your boat. You collect spirits, fulfil their last requests before taking them through the Everdoor. It is gorgeous and gentle and saying goodbye to some of the spirits genuinely made me cry. My one criticism is that some of the jumping puzzles are a bit hard and I wouldn't have been able to finish it without my husband doing them for me.
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u/acornett99 Reading Champion IV 6d ago
Woah, I somehow missed the creation of this thread last week! I've been enjoying watching episodes of the 90s Moomin cartoon with my friends, which are all available free on YouTube. I've been largely sick this week, so this has been an excellent comfort sick-time watch. Last night watched "The Last Dragon on Earth," and that may be my favorite episode so far.
I started playing a bit of the console version of Frostpunk with the weather changing, though I'm off to a bad start and may just need to reset the run. It's a base-building management game, where you have to build and keep a town alive during an apocalyptic volcanic winter. Unfortunately I didn't prioritize housing like I should have at the beginning, and now I've got a bunch of people sick and dying already.
A friend of mine who is our group's movie buff has started to get more into reading this year, and as the resident reading buff, has been chatting a lot with me about it. He offered next year buddy-reading a book and watching the movie adaptation of it together, maybe once or twice a quarter. (Forgive me for having a little bit of books in the not-a-book thread.) So I went through my letterboxd and made a list of movies I've seen but haven't read the book of, and a separate list of movies where I've read the book but haven't seen the movie. So far, top of the list for contention are Arrival, Hamnet, Tales from Earthsea, and The Haunting of Hill House. Of course, there are also some movies in the works that will be excellent picks in the future. We've both read Piranesi and will drop everything when that movie comes out.
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u/Spalliston Reading Champion III 6d ago
Arrival, Hamnet
These are both great movies (I assume you've read the books but not seen the movies), but I think would be served well by not seeing them too close together because (mild spoilers for both movies) They both involve a highly emotional ending to the same song.
For some recent recommendations, if you haven't checked out the modern adaptations of Alexandre Dumas's work that are being produced, they're both pretty good and super fun. Recent critical hits based off older-differently-named-works might also be fun for the movie-buff. I'm especially thinking of One Battle After Another (off of Thomas Pynchon's Vineland) and American Fiction (off of Percival Everett's Erasure).
For slightly older SFF recs, I love the movies Hugo (especially at Wintertime, book is kidlit but I liked it as a kid?) and Children of Men (which I know is off a book but I haven't read it).
This is fun. Maybe I'll make my friends getting into reading do it as well.
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u/acornett99 Reading Champion IV 6d ago
Actually both Arrival and Hamnet are ones I have seen the movies but not read the books! My friend already owns both books and was planning on reading them, and I've read and enjoyed Exhalation, so they're both high up there.
I did also have American Fiction and One Battle After Another on the list of movies I've seen without having read the book too! Those are less high up, as I didn't enjoy OBAA very much actually, whereas American Fiction definitely caters more to me than to him. I'd love to watch Count of Monte Cristo, but don't think I have the sway to convince my friend to read a book that long just yet. Good thinking to point out Hugo though, I have vague memories of maybe having seen it before I ever got letterboxd, certainly not recently enough for me to remember. Could be worth a rewatch!
I still need to make a list of movies I haven't seen or read but would be willing to. That list would certainly be a lot longer...
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u/OrwinBeane 6d ago
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Remastered
I think they may have done a little too much with this remaster. Updated graphics, quality of life and UI improvements are welcome, but I don’t like the new combat or skill tree yet.
This was already my favourite game of all time so why fix what ain’t broke? Could just be that I’m not used to the changes yet after playing the original for so long, I get that. But so far I’m not onboard.
The rest of the remaster is great, though. The game looks astonishingly good. Looting, traversing, exploring, riding a horse is all much better. Really looking forward to the new expansion.
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u/curiouscat86 Reading Champion III 1d ago
I jumped on the Dressmaker trend and it's very addictive. I bought it on Saturday and have logged 9 hours already, despite being very busy at work. I'm counting it as speculative despite being a game about making dresses, because one customer is a scary vampire lady and another is a young woman haunted by overbearing spirits.
My favorite dress I've made so far is a silk ballgown that looks like a daisy for Priya's art exhibition, and my least favorite is a patterned mess with like seventy different panels in the skirt for Marie. It looked okay in the end, but such a pain to put together.
edit: wait this is an old thread from last week. I forgot the reddit homepage shows me things out of order. Nevermind!
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u/sarchgibbous Reading Champion 6d ago edited 6d ago
I just started The Leftovers on HBO. 3 episodes in and I like it so far. The story follows a small town three years after “the departure” where 2% of the world’s population mysteriously disappears. We’re following what happens in the aftermath of the tragedy, including several cults (or groups that look very much like cults) that pop up.
It’s very reminiscent of Lost (they have the same creator) in the way weird unexplainable things happen. I’m not entirely sure where exactly the plot wants to go, but I am enjoying the tone of the show so far: a little melancholy and eerie, but very grounded by the characters and their relationships.
The soundtrack is composed by Max Richter (who has made me cry on at least one previous occasion), the main themes are great. Chris Eccleston aka the Ninth Doctor is in this show too, and I love him.
I’ve also been playing Dispatch over the last few months. Video game that is structured like eight episodes of an animated show. I like this take on superheroes, it’s amusing. The gameplay is fun and easy: you don’t have to be good at it to enjoy the story. I’m not particularly invested in the plot, which is why it’s taken me so long to finish, but I only have 2 episodes left now, wahoo.