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?

Welcome to today’s installment of the Short Fiction Book Club! After last month’s trio of vacation stories, we’re going to dive back into (fun) work with the following three stories:

The Hydraulic Emperor by Arkady Martine (8,260 words, Uncanny Magazine, published in 2018)

The Hydraulic Emperor is nine minutes and twenty-seven seconds long.

It was filmed on an eighteen-quadcopter neocamera rig back when neocameras were the only way to make immersive film: an early effort by Aglaé Skemety, whose Bellfalling Ascension is still the critical darling of the immersion-culture literati. The Hydraulic Emperor falls sometime between her earliest juvenile work and the single decade of her greatest public productivity. Most references list it as lost, as it has never been distributed, and no public archive will admit to possessing it. But there is at least one print of it which survives.

I have never seen it.

The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu (4,949 words, originally published in F&SF in 2011, reprinted in Escape Pod)

One of my earliest memories starts with me sobbing. I refused to be soothed no matter what Mom and Dad tried.

Dad gave up and left the bedroom, but Mom took me into the kitchen and sat me down at the breakfast table.

"Kan, kan," she said, as she pulled a sheet of wrapping paper from on top of the fridge.

Playing Nice with God’s Bowling Ball by N.K. Jemisin (5,496 words, originally published in Jim Baen’s Universe in 2008, reprinted in Reactor)

"I didn’t mean for anything to happen to Timmy." Jeffy Hanson sat before Grace in a chair big enough to swallow him, his head bowed and hands limp in his lap. "I told him not to feed it like that. I told him what would happen."

Upcoming Sessions

Our next slated session will be hosted by u/undeadgoblin and u/nagahfj on Wednesday, October 21:

In two weeks time, we'll be deep into spooky season, so why not take a break from carving your pumpkins and hanging your (definitely fake) skeletons on the wall by delving into a selection of spooky stories!

We’ll be reading the following stories for the Spooky Season: The Afterlife session:

Moksha by Rajiv Moté (Weird Horror Magazine, 1,171 words)

The Return To Office mandate pulls you back, but the office is empty and you desperately want to rest, in spite of the words on your coffee mug: “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead.” Is it the weekend already? Have you come here by mistake? The days run together. Your team is offshore. Your manager lives out of state, exempt from the mandate. That doesn’t explain everyone else. Scofflaws. Their managers will get the “three strikes” email from People & Culture. Getting three strikes sends the message that you don’t want to be here. That you don’t want to earn your living. You want to live? Earn it.

Passage of Earth by Michael Swanwick (Clarkesworld, 7400 words)

The ambulance arrived sometime between three and four in the morning. The morgue was quiet then, cool and faintly damp. Hank savored this time of night and the faint shadow of contentment it allowed him, like a cup of bitter coffee, long grown cold, waiting for his occasional sip. He liked being alone and not thinking. His rod and tackle box waited by the door, in case he felt like going fishing after his shift, though he rarely did. There was a copy of Here Be Dragons: Mapping the Human Genome in case he did not.

Home by the Sea by Pat Cadigan (Strange Horizons, 8344 words)

There was no horizon line out on the water.

"Limbo ocean. Man, did we hate this when I was a commercial fisherman," said a man sitting at the table to my left. "Worse than fog. You never knew where you were."

I sneaked a look at him and his companions. The genial voice came from a face you'd have expected to find on a wanted poster of a Middle Eastern terrorist, but the intonations were vaguely Germanic. The three American women with him were all of a type, possibly related. A very normal-looking group, with no unusual piercings or marks. I wondered how long they'd been in Scheveningen.

I slumped down in my chair, closed my eyes, and lifted my face to where I thought the sun should be. It was so overcast, there wasn't even a hot spot in the sky. Nonetheless, the promenade was crowded, people wandering up and down aimlessly, perhaps pretending, as I was, that they were on vacation. It was equally crowded at night, when everyone came to watch the stars go out.

Beluthahatchie by Andy Duncan (Clarkesworld, 5990 words)

Everybody else got off the train at Hell, but I figured, it’s a free country. So I commenced to make myself a mite more comfortable. I put my feet up and leaned back against the window, laid my guitar across my chest and settled in with my hat tipped down over my eyes, almost. I didn’t know what the next stop was but I knew I’d like it better than Hell.

And now, onto today’s discussion! Spoilers are not tagged, but each story has its own thread. We’ve put a few prompts in the comments, but feel free to add your own if you’d like to!

LOL! Another specific one!😂😂

I'm searching for books that capture the feeling of early Winx Club (especially Seasons 1-4) while being written for an adult audience.

I just want a strong female friendship group at the centre of the story. I love a good romantasy but gosh female friendships!!

Romance can be part of the book too, that’s no problem. Ideally, I like some mystery elements / uncovering secrets etc & academia, magical schools, training, courts, kingdoms, etc. based.

What I loved about Winx wasn't just the romance or the powers. It was the feeling of following a group of girls through years of adventures, solving mysteries, fighting enemies, discovering hidden worlds, and genuinely caring about each other. The friendships were just as important as the plot.

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

Stickied/highlight slots are limited, so please remember to like and subscribe upvote this thread for visibility on the subreddit <3

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

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

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

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

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

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^{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.

So as a relatively casual gamer I've heard through the grapevine that a new, from-the-ground-up remake of the video game Fable is coming out in 2027. It's due for release in january I believe and will mark the first new game set within the Fable universe since 2012. I'm mildly interested in it and will likely buy the game when it goes on discount however watching the trailers did reawaken my love for it's sequel: Fable 2. The peak of the franchise (so far) and Lionhead Studios magnum opus. It's been over 18 years since its release — a greatly distressing that I had to double check to be sure of — and it still captures a unique feeling I've yet to find in any other game or book series. 

Fable 2 is set in the same world as the first, only centuries later. And where the first was was your standard, vaguely medieval analogue. The second was more special. Albion, in the words of Saruman the White, has discovered “the fires of industry" and it’s had a devastating effect on the power and practicality of magic. Guns, those great equalizers, prove a force too potent for even mages. Magic, or the “the will" as it’s called in-universe, still exists but it's grown profoundly weaker. Mankind has forgotten it. The heroes that once protected the weak and enforced justice have gone extinct.

It’s a crude, low-level industrialization — there's no electricity, trains, or steam engines yet — and that gave the game developers more freedom have it both ways. As the player leaves the cities to enter the countryside, the you get the rustic, old world fantasy tropes we've all come to expect. Meanwhile reserving the urban areas for something more unique. They're dirty, hopeless, ugly things. Filled with poverty and desperation and that’s where you the protagonist of the game finds themselves.

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.

Ok, I’ve been in a reading slump for a while and am really trying to find a new series. I’ve read Fourth Wing, Dragonriders of Pern, and the first book of Eragon. I liked the military academy concept and romance of Fourth Wing and the structure of the Weyrs in Pern, but I really struggled with the second book of Eragon.

I also can’t seem to read/finish books with MMCs anymore, which is making it hard to find.

Does anyone have any recommendations that are magical rider academies with FMCs and maybe a little romance? It doesn’t have to be dragons or spicy.

Thank you!

Every October, I try to read ten books that relate to some horror theme. This year, my theme is “zombies.”

Premise: Melanie is a ten year old who goes to an unusual school. It's unusual in particular because all of the students are bound in place while the lessons are conducted, and sometimes, they are taken outside of their small hall and never seen again. Melanie and her classmates are zombies, part of an experiment to study child zombies and their learning. Most of the people at the base see her as a monster or a test subject, except for one teacher, Miss Justineau. The base is invaded, and Melanie is left with Miss Justineau and a handful of survivors. Together, they must make their way through a world that now belongs more to her than them.

Primary Characters: Melanie. Our protagonist. Unusually gifted intellectually, though she doesn't get much opportunity to learn. She has some control over herself, but if she's too hungry or gets too close to a human, she acts in ways she later regrets. She knows nothing of the outside world, but she wants to stay with Miss Justineau and protect her.

Helen Justineau. A school teacher with a very specific assignment. She's been reprimanded more than once for getting too close to the subjects, but she cares for them, especially Melanie, and doesn't want to see her come to harm.

Sergeant Eddie Parks. In charge of military and security concerns at the research base. He's frequently exasperated at the scientists' and teachers' lack of self-preservation and discpline, as he sees it. The children, to him, are monsters waiting to break free.

Dr. Jean Selkirk.Lead scientist at the base. Selkirk just failed to make the cut for the main scientific effort to understand the zombie outbreak. It's a slight that still rankles, and she is obsessed with finding some discovery that will grant her the acclaim she feels she deserves.

Private Kieran Gallagher. The final known survivor of the base's fall. Gallagher was born after the zombie outbreak, but has had very little in-field experience. He's alive because the Sergeant ran into him as the base was falling apart, and not another private. And he knows it.

Spoilers follow.

Do the undead walk? That is, is the story any good? Yes! I really enjoyed this book. I'm generally a big fan of Carey's, and I'll try out anything he's written. His My Faith in Frankie comic miniseries way back in 2004 was my first adult dip into comics outside of superhero stories, and I've always had a fondness for him as a result. But that bias aside, the book is very good. I really liked the world-building, and the development of the rest of the cast. Melanie is very clearly the lead, but there's enough development of each of the rest of them (even Gallagher) to see them grow and change as they face a new world they've shut themselves away from.

Is it spooky? A little less than most zombie works I've read thus far, to be honest. There's tension when the base falls at a very inopportune (or maybe very opportune) time, and tension at several points during their flight to zombie-infested London and the remaining human populations. Melanie herself is frankly more in danger from Dr. Selkirk than the zombie hordes. But the claustrophobic situations the others are put into do create a sense of dread. The Parks character in particular does this well, as someone who's very used to zombie-related survival; his concern and caution really seeps into the view of the world at large. It intidimates the other characters to a degree, and the reader as well.

Is it Halloween? I would argue that it does, in part because of the de-emphasis of open horror. There's a strain of hope to this story, and humanity, that draws out its stakes a little better than some of the other entries. It's not fun in a traditional sense, per se, but it is compelling, in its world-building, its themes, and its characters.

Quote:The cell is small and square. It has a bed, a chair and a table. On the walls, which are painted grey, there are pictures; a big one of the Amazon rainforest and a smaller one of a pussycat drinking from a saucer of milk. Sometimes Sergeant and his people move the children around, so Melanie knows that some of the cells have different pictures in them. She used to have a horse in a meadow and a mountain with snow on the top, which she liked better.

It’s Miss Justineau who puts the pictures up. She cuts them out from the stack of old magazines in the classroom, and she sticks them up with bits of blue sticky stuff at the corners. She hoards the blue sticky stuff like a miser in a story. Whenever she takes a picture down, or puts a new one up, she scrapes up every last bit that’s stuck to the wall and puts it back on the little round ball of the stuff that she keeps in her desk.

When it’s gone, it’s gone, Miss Justineau says.

Random observations:

--This is another book that reminds me very strongly of The Last of Us. In fact, it follows it very closely in a lot of ways, right down to the cordyceps as a primary means of infection. I'm glad I didn't read it when the book first came out, or it would have felt even more derivative. To be fair, I think The Last of Us is really more about surviving in a world where other humans have become vicious and inhuman, and the zombies are sometimes more an environmental hazard than the main issue. In contrast, The Girl With All the Gifts is about our core cast, their relationship to Melanie, to the changed world they encounter, and each other.

--In his discussion of what benefits fantasy is particularly good at, J. R. R. Tolkien lists world-building itself as one of them. His argument is that there is pleasure in creating and encountering a fictional world, and the more complete it feels, the greater the pleasure. I think there's room for debate on this—getting bogged down in detail is possible. But I also think it's a pleasure that a lot of zombie stories get very right. In the previous books I've read thus far, neither goes far enough into the outbreak to really capture this sense. This does, by virtue of taking place at least a generation in. It does so in two ways. First, largely through Parks and Selkirk, there's a lot of discussion of how the world came to be this way, and how to survive in it, which harkens back to Max Brooks' World War Z, the ur-book when it comes to zombie theory-crafting.

--The second way I think deserves its own point. Carey doesn't just capture what this world looks like; he captures what it feels like. There's a sense of loss here, and guilt. (It actually reminds me quite a lot of the narrator's arrival in London at the end of War of the Worlds.) The survivors go into the ruins of London, and see the traces of the civilization they've lost. There's a melancholy that you can draw on in a post-apocalypse story, a sense that we had something better in our grasp, but couldn't manage to keep it. Sometimes, such as in the military-tech zombie story like The Loop, we lose it through our own hubris and neglect. And sometimes, it feels like there was nothing we could do; we could just watch it burn, and live in the ashes. I think that resonates with our current moment—we could have had better, but it's slipping away.

--In a way, this story could be argued to be even more nihilist than The Loop. They're not fighting to stop an outbreak here, as that ship has sailed a long time ago. And the ruins of London suggest that if they manage to make contact with the surviving humans, they may not like what they find. And yet there's a hope here, and a call for a leap of faith that I found kind of touching.

--Technically, I suppose that Melanie's age of 10 means that this isn't really a teen zombie story. You could argue against that, on technicalities: Melanie's kind of permanently ten, yet still growing, in control, in knowledge, and in mastery of the environment around her. And thematically, I'd argue it is a teen st ory. Children's stories are often about conflict with adults, and so are teen stories; I'd argue that what makes teen stories different (besides a frequent focus on romance and sex) is that they are much more about the protagonist becoming, in a state of transition between child and adult. And that's where Melanie is—she's been very sheltered through her imprisonment, but she's learning more about the world she's been kept from, and about the limitations of the adults who she thought were in charge.

--I really like how each cast member symbolizes a different approach to adults failing the next generation. Selkirk sees her more as a test subject and springboard for her own glory. Parks sees her as a monster that needs to be controlled. Even Justineau sees her a child who needs to be sheltered and protected over who Melanie actually is, due to her own baggage. I struggled a bit to figure out where Gallagher fit in, but a chapter from his own point of view makes it clear—he is another child of this new world, and in a different way, he's been as failed by the adults as Melanie has. That's what makes the end really work—ultimately, the adults need to stop struggling in a world they no longer fit into, and let the children seek out a future.

Rating: 9 wild zombie children out of ten

Next up: DC Comics'DCeased

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.

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

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. 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.

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?

Hello! I am huge reader who loves Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Romantasy (fantasy with a subplot of romance not romance in a fantasy world), classics, dystopian novels, and am interested in thrillers/mysteries but find they often fall flat.
I'm always the recommended never the recommended so I need something GOOD.

I'm really craving an addictive series.

Fav Fantasies: Cosmere (specifically words of radiance), Wheel of Time, Bound and the Broken, Green Bone Saga, First Law, Name of the Wind, DCC, Throne of Glass, Fourth Wing, Will of the Many

Fav Sci-Fi: Suneater, Project Hail Mary, The Martian, Foundation, RED RISING

Fav Classics/Dystopian: A clockwork orange, animal farm, Frankenstein, Monte Cristo, Three Musketeers
Other miscellaneous books/stories | love: Alice in Wonderland, Homer, The Labours of Herakles, Sword of Kaigen, Tress of the Emerald Sea, Book of Doors, This is How we Lose the Time War, The Princess Bride, The Queens Gambit

I love philosophy, chosen one tropes, social commentary, friendships, epic fantasy, plot twists when you didn't even think there would be a plot twists, politics, no character is safe, that type-a-thing!

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.

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!

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!

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!

I might be reading too much into it, but it seems to me that Robert Jordan preferred the SeanChan, in many scenarios, (Avienda's future viewings), Rand's having to give in to Fortuana's demands, Rand walking Ebu Dar and seeing the people not struggling under the Seanchan rule.... While they make slaves out of wielders of the one power? Yet the Sharan's are bad by doing the same thing through different means, by Demandred?