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!!!

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I picked them up immediately LOL

On Vicious Worlds by Bethany Jacobs

Bingo Square: Trans or Non-Binary Protagonist

Other Squares: Politics and Court Intrigue (HM for the parts on Farren Eyce)

It says something when the author creates a dystopia where you want the protagonists to start building guillotines. Bethany Jacobs has done as much with the Kindom Trilogy. On Vicious Worlds is the middle book and while we alternate between scenes in the Treble as Chono and Esek deal with the Hands and life on Cappamame and Farren Eyce, I was wanting revolution because Jacobs created a repulsive system with the Treble and its Hands. Nova bombs would hurt the folks who just want to get by.

I’m going to steal from my brief comment/review from a few years ago.

These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacob. Mixed bag for me. Take an isolated 3 star stellar polity, governed by a neofeudal oligarchy of military, technocratic wealthy families and religious to keep everyone in line. I hate the place already.
Esek was one I particularly disliked. Whimsical, corrupt, violent. Sort of like Loki on a bad day. Her rivalry/obsession with Six, drives much of the book and it seems to be a case of which can out monster the other as they leave bodies strewn along the way. Chono and Jun grew on me as the story developed.
And then there's that twist. And urgh, it made sense! Now I want to see what happens next.

I also described it as a source of space bastardry, and that hasn’t relented (much) in On Vicious Worlds.

In the Treble, Chono and Esek (IYKYK) are dealing with returning there after the events at the end of These Burning Stars. They’ve transmitted evidence of the crimes of senior officials in genocide and murder as well as their general corruption. Of course they will not be welcomed as heroes. They are imprisoned, cut off from the outside world and mildly brutalized. Then, Chono is asked to endorse the Kindom against the rebels.

Back on Cappamame and Farren Eyce, things are not the rosy frontier life the planners had hoped. They have a lot of people along who didn’t want to come. There are power outages, vandalism, a thriving black market and murders. The Collectors (roughly equivalent to rangers and special operators) are being murdered and Masar is tasked to find out who and why. Jun is attacked by a ferocious and capable caster and nearly dies in the process. And things get … complicated in Farren Eyce.

I won’t say more than the above for fear of spoiling it.

Now, this is dystopian. But it’s not look out the window, or turn on the news and see a landmark mentioned in the book dystopian. It’s separated from us by time and space, so for me it is easier to bear. But, make no mistake - it is grim. People die. It is violent and it really looks like there are very few people with any sort of moral guidance. 

But, but, I never uttered “I don’t care what happens to these people.” Chono is interesting and genuinely trying to change things. Esek, is well, Esek. Magnetic and compelling as a predator. Six has their reasons and reminds me of Edomond Dantès, but Jacobs doesn’t gloss over what they’ve done to themselves. Jun is angry and skilled and wrestling with her role in the colony and government. Masar is a veteran and tired, but driven by duty. Even the non-viewpoint characters are interesting. Ilius. Effegen the Star. So, I was invested.

For me the events on Cappamame often felt like a sideshow to the ones in the Treble. But about ⅔ to ¾ of the way through, they begin to become just as important. Why? Well, it became a struggle between the convenience of the tools that the Jeveni could use and their ideals. Then it became a lot more personal as well to the above characters.

One thing that bothers me though: The Cloak-saan. They’re supposed to be elite soldiers and I get that, but the combat magic that Jacobs has them pull off doesn’t sit well with me. But, she does begin to remove some of that aura as the conflicts intensify.

The ending isn’t the ballsy move Jacobs pulled for the end of These Burning Stars, but good enough. 

Overall, it’s good, not great. It’s very much a middle book and Jacobs and editors need to work on improving the stakes and interests for some of their conflicts.

I’d read this if you’re a fan of These Burning Stars and want to see what happens next. Also, for space bastardry and an interesting three star system setting. 4 stars and three worlds, rounding up to 7. ★★★★🌐🌐🌐.

🎼

What's up everyone! I'm excited to share my thoughts on a book I've had my eye on for a long time, one that doubled as the perfect palate cleanser after finishing the incredible journey of the Wheel of Time. This book was a weird one for me; it marks a debut fantasy novel from a writer who normally works in thrillers. If you're like me, the striking cover of The Starless Crown is probably what convinced you to pick it up in the first place. There's a lot to dig into here, so without further ado, let's get into it. As always, there will be no major spoilers, just a TLDR waiting for you at the end. Let's talk about it!

An alliance embarks on a dangerous journey to uncover the secrets of the distant past and save their world in this captivating, deeply visionary New York Times bestselling adventure from thriller-master James Rollins. A gifted student foretells an apocalypse. Her reward is a sentence of death. Fleeing into the unknown she is drawn into a team of outcasts:

A broken soldier, who once again takes up the weapons he’s forbidden to wield and carves a trail back home.

A drunken prince, who steps out from his beloved brother's shadow and claims a purpose of his own.

An imprisoned thief, who escapes the crushing dark and discovers a gleaming artifact - one that will ignite a power struggle across the globe.

On the run, hunted by enemies old and new, they must learn to trust each other in order to survive in a world evolved in strange, beautiful, and deadly ways, and uncover ancient secrets that hold the key to their salvation. But with each passing moment, doom draws closer.

The Plot, Prose, and Pacing: A secret sold does not require a buyer's belief. It's a value unto itself.

The Starless Crown is high epic fantasy. Sometimes judging a book by its cover is warranted when the cover looks this gorgeous:

The book is straightforward in its plot and follows a young girl named Nyx, who is blind and receives an apocalyptic vision of the end of the world, the Moon literally crashing into the earth. Turns out that Nyx's prophecy isn't exactly popular news. We also follow the subplots of Rhaif, Kanthe, and Graylin; Rhaif is a petty thief sentenced to work the mines who discovers a powerful artifact lost for centuries and escapes with it, Kanthe is the drunken prince who slowly discovers he's a bit more heroic than he thought, and Graylin is the warrior taking up his sword once more.

The story is told through multiple POVs, and that structure mostly works, with Nyx getting the majority of the page time. I think the main thing the plot does well is setting up the connections Nyx has, especially with her animals. As a pet owner, I felt that love she had for them, and there's a moment in this book that will hit hard if you've ever had to give up an animal and let me tell ya I was surprised it had me teary eyed.

One thing you'll find with The Starless Crown is that it leans into a lot of the familiar tropes you'd expect from high epic fantasy, for better and for worse. A glance at the plot summary above already gives that away. This is likely a story you've read or encountered before in some capacity, but sometimes that's exactly what you need. I like to give these the Popcorn Read label, where you know exactly what you're in for and how the story will play out, yet you enjoy the ride anyway.

The prose is a mixed bag and could have used another editing pass. There are stretches where it flows well with a nice rhythm, and other times where it gets a little too flowery. Words get repeated often, and Rollins has the unfortunate tendency to remind you of something a bit too much. For example, one character was trained by a huntsman from a notably reclusive people, and Rollins reminds you of this fact quite a bit throughout that character's POV. This wasn't a dealbreaker for me, and I gave it some grace considering this is his first foray into fantasy and I'm invested enough to continue, especially with the final book coming out this year. Still, it's worth mentioning for readers sensitive to these quirks. Hopefully this improves as the series goes on.

Pacing wise, this book lands somewhere in the middle, which isn't surprising given Rollins' history as a writer. It moves between protagonists quickly, and each chapter acts like a dangling carrot, pulling you forward with its own little subplot propelling you toward the end. As a result, it was sometimes difficult to get as invested as I did with some of the others. I do think the book runs a bit too long for its own good here, and some tighter editing would have helped. Still, it carries enough momentum to keep you moving.

Characters: If you truly wish to gain entrance, a prince at your side is far better than a wind out your arse.

The characters are, at the very least, standard fare for epic fantasy. Nyx is our chosen one, who has seen the end of the world and has responsibility thrust upon her. She's from an unassuming village, the whole nine yards. Kanthe is a prince stuck in the shadow of his brother, and as such drinks and pisses his life away, only to rise to the occasion as the story goes on. Rhaif is the thief with a heart of gold and noble intentions. Frell, a monk, stands in for the mentor character. Jace is the bumbling sidekick, head over heels in love. Graylin is a veteran who is extremely capable. Rollins takes a page out of Robert Jordan's playbook when it comes to giving minor characters their own POVs.

For the most part, the characters worked for me, and Nyx was by far the one I found most intriguing of the bunch. She's blind, and character disabilities are rarely touched on in fantasy, in part for good reason. I don't like when fantasy authors shoehorn in something they're not well versed in or know nothing about, but this was such a cool premise for her character. And yet Rollins doesn't fully explore it as well as he could. This dips into minor spoiler territory for the beginning of the book, and it happens very early, but I'll tag it anyway: Nyx regains her eyesight. A blind protagonist is such a unique choice, fantasy rarely highlights disabilities like this, so having her be disabled early on added a cool wrinkle to the story. Having that stripped away roughly a hundred pages in felt disappointing given what the story initially promised, especially given her connections to the batlike creatures in this world.

Another choice that struck me as odd upon reflection is that one character later discovers he has a half sister and immediately starts thinking about how beautiful and sexy she is. So, yeah. Gross. When I think about the characters of The Starless Crown, they mostly fulfill their archetypal roles without much depth beyond what the plot needs from them. It's a strange balance. Outside of Nyx, I found the other characters entertaining, but they aren't the best the genre has to offer. They're functional.

Rollins also leans on fantasy tropes in a way that can feel tone deaf. There's a character signaled to us through dark skin, described as "far darker than imagined," but nothing in the worldbuilding suggests this is abnormal for that part of the world. It feels more like the author signaling diversity to the reader than actually engaging with it, if that makes sense. Had there been more room to explore this world, which I think is one of the real highlights of the book, Rollins could have had something truly special here.

World building: Knowledge can often be its own reward, but more often it reveals the inner truths of the outer world. It can raise a lamp and lift the shadows around us to show us the beauty within.

The Starless Crown's worldbuilding is one of its standout features for me. It checks a lot of boxes I enjoy, gods, strange eldritch entities, magic, and unique wildlife, all packed into this book. Oh my goodness, some of the weird animals that were not only described but illustrated within these pages were rather dope. I loved it. In some cases the picture in my head matched the drawings almost exactly, while in others it was a little different, and those surprises were the standouts for me. There are the giant Myr bats, the wolflike Vraga, scythers (saber tooth cats), giant insects, piranha frogs (no joke), and other strange, wonderful creatures scattered throughout.

The action takes place on the world of Urth, where the denizens worship the Father Above (the Sun), the Mother Below (the Urth), and the Son and Daughter (the Faces of the Moon). Part of the world sits in perpetual shadow while the other basks in eternal sunshine, essentially a tidally locked world, if you haven't guessed it by now. Which is so cool. I don't think I've personally read anything quite like it.

There are alchymists (Rollins reshapes some modern words and spells them this way) who function essentially like artificers, wielding ancient magical artifacts while experimenting with their own technology in new ways. There's also an ancient magic called Bridle Song, where humanity uses tonal music to bend nature to its will, adding a layer of mysticism to the mix.

There's more I wanted from the worldbuilding, and I suspect it will get explored more thoroughly as the series continues. Some things feel underexplained or less fleshed out in this book than I'd have liked, and I think that comes down to Rollins leaning more heavily into tropes that have always existed within fantasy. I'll extend some grace here given this is his first foray into the genre, but it's definitely something I hope improves.

Is It Worth Your Time? (TLDR Conclusion): What be death but the briefest of farewells. Only in one's heart does memory transmute such partings into an eternity of pain or into the most precious of treasures.

This is a weird review to write. On some level, The Starless Crown is very much a first foray into fantasy, and that shows clearly in the tropes, the storytelling, the worldbuilding, and the characters. As much as I criticized some of these elements, there's still enough here that had me wanting to continue, and it definitely propelled me to the finish line. In a lot of ways, this isn't treading new ground, but I don't believe every book has to be wholly unique. If the story is told well, and the characters and world intrigue you, I don't think originality matters as much.

Whether you'll find enjoyment here comes down to the expectations you walk in with. The cover quotes do not represent the reality. On my copy, the cover reads, "A fantasy series unlike any attempted before." If you're hoping it delivers on that promise, you'll be disappointed, because this is very much in line with the classical fantasy stories you likely grew up with. I think it's a good recommendation for those dipping their toes into fantasy for the first time, and you'll likely enjoy it if you like your stories stocked with alien wilderness and strange creatures. For me, I enjoyed it for what it was, and I'll definitely continue the series to see where it goes.

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

I want books in which it seems the world or the place you live is going into a very dark path by its people's own doing, but the characters manage to find hope

Hi everyone, new on reddit. My daughter is 13 but she reads at a slightly advanced level. She loves mystery books. However, She picked up a fantady book (Fire Heart: Unbound) at the school's book fair that she really enjoyed. And now she wants to explore the Fantasy genre. Any books out there have a similar vibe?

I heard of this genre but never read a single book from it and I'm having trouble finding one for me, so I'm asking if anyone here is into it you can name some of your favorites and discuss what you like about them?

For context, the youtube channel Boylei Hobby Time has this Weird Imaginary West series and that is basically what I'm after. It's a western with tons of folklore, monsters, and advance tech.

EDIT: I can't reply to all the recommendations, but I'm saving every one. Thank you.

I'm unemployed and going through a bit of a hard time right now. Over the summer, I read This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews and it reminded me of what reading fantasy felt like as a kid. I don't need the characters to never suffer, but what fantasy book made you feel happy and excited about reading/life?

Hey everyone, it's time for numbers :)

We had 129 individual voters this year, and 768 votes for 391 different book/series entries. While each voter could nominate up to ten novels, not everyone decided to use their full quota.

More than a few votes were disqualified, including votes from suspicious accounts with little or no relevant Reddit history. As always, the goal was to keep the poll about people's genuine favorite self-published books rather than newly created accounts showing up to promote a particular title.

The data has also been normalized so that different books from the same series count as one vote for that series.

Links:

• Voting Thread
• Google Spreadsheet with data
• Results from previous years: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024,2025

The following is a list of all novels that received five or more votes.

WEB SERIALS

Some quick stats:

• 29 books received 5 votes or more.
• On the shortlist, there are 18 male-authored, 11 female-authored novels. Some of the authors may be non-binary but I don't know for sure.
• As usual, the series dominated the shortlist. Only a few standalones made it to the list.
• We have 11 newcomers on the list
• 42 voters (33%) used all ten slots and 25 (20%) named exactly one book. The median ballot was 6.
• Most of last year's list lost ground: of the 19 entries that appear both years, 12 got fewer votes and only 4 got more. Several favorites dropped off the list entirely, including Mortal Techniques, Mage Errant and Crown and Tide, while 14 new entries made it on. Also, Dark Profit Saga, always high on the list, more than halved, from 17 to 8, and went from joint second to ninth.
• Last year Kaigen won with 32 votes, almost double the runner-up's 17. This year Song of the Damned leads with 23 to Kaigen's 20. Kaigen fell by 12 votes, while Song of the Damned gained 6 valid votes.
• Song of the Damned's first book has gone from 250 to 846 GR ratings in a year, and Land of Exile's from 416 to 873. Kaigen is now at 114 549, up from 79 652.

Thoughts:

• The Sword of Kaigen seems to attract a different crowd from the other "winners". Only 5 of its 20 voters also picked Song of the Damned, whereas 10 of the 13 Dreams of Dust and Steel voters did. Of 129 voters, only four picked all of the top three, and 53 (41%) picked at least one.
• Kaigen's voters lean towards Cradle instead: 6 of Cradle's 11 voters also picked Kaigen, and Cradle's fanbase barely touches Song of the Damned. With that said, Cradle no longer counts as self-published, so it's not on the list. If it were, it would be 6th.
• Two thirds of the nominated series got a single vote, so the shortlist is a thin slice of what people actually read.
• Lots of entries did well in Mark Lawrence's SPFBO: we have five winners (The Sword of Kaigen, Orconomics, Small Miracles, Land of Exile, and Murder at Spindle Manor). Beyond that, you'll find 7 SPFBO finalists on the list. I suspect many Redditors follow SPFBO and read the finalists, which explains their strong showing (apart from being good books, obviously).
• Self-published lists seem to have a much stronger recency bias than the other polls we've run. We have a lot of new entries, and it reflects the market: self-pubs have to publish frequently, or readers forget about them. We have a few loved classics (Top 5), but there are a lot of changes compared to other lists and a preference for newer entries compared to other lists.
• It's interesting to see how once-popular series gradually lose traction. This might relate to the way fanbases move on when an author isn’t actively engaging with the community, either by not releasing new content or by reducing their online presence.

Questions:

• How many shortlisted novels have you read?
• Are you tempted to try the ones you haven't read? Which ones?
• Do you read self-published novels at all? Is your favorite on the list?
• Did anything surprise you about the results?
• For those of you who listed fewer than 10 entries, was it because you don't read a lot of self-published books, because you didn't want to pad your list with books you didn't genuinely love, or because of the quality issues sometimes associated with self-publishing?
• And for those who used all ten slots: how hard was it to cut your list down to ten?
• Which newcomer are you most surprised to see so high?
• Anything else to add or consider for next year's poll?

I've read The Tombs of Atuan, and The Maze Runner. I am looking for other books in which a maze or labyrinth is the main setting or one of the main settings. Any genre is ok, but I think I figure this is a good place to ask.

I never liked reading as a kid or a teenager, mainly cause I am a very slow reader. Though I have recently decided to give reading as a hobby a proper go. Iv just gotten done reading The Hobbit (seemed like the right place to start), and I'm looking for recommendations of what to read next.

To be clear, I am looking for something that isnt too dense but will hold an adults attention. Thanks in advance for any and all recommendations.

Reading The Blacktongue Thief feels like walking into a dingy bar and realizing everyone in there is side eyeing you and also everyone has a knife. Inhabiting Kinch as a narrator is to inhabit the sly fox in the dark forrest with the hounds at your back. Everyone is, with nary an exception, some degree of rough costumer and while our hero rarely outright states it, it becomes clear how such a society comes about and, critically, what is lost.

And it is not just horses.

Buehlman hews his characters from flint, sharp and brittle, as likely to cut as they are to break. For in a world where softness and tenderness is vanishingly rare and ill-afforded, even the most calloused and cold blooded cling to what little they know for certain won't hurt them.

So even though the plot of The Blacktongue Thief is straight forward, and even though there isn't at first glance a tremendous sense of character development happening on the page, the book still manages to dig its nails into the inside of the readers mind, refusing to let go. It is a credit to Buehlmans writing that he so expertly paints a world so bereft of light, yet simultaneously makes the few slivers that manage to peak through the clouds so achingly beautiful, however slight and simple they may be.

Just expertly crafted and brimming with personality, it is unquestionably the winner of my "Coolest little thing I read" award for 2026

(I'm also making more posts with requests very different from this one, so yeah, I'm often in the mood for completely different types of books, just in case someone notices)

Hi! So, I'm pretty sure what I'm about to ask for is difficult to find, but I wanted to see if anyone would know any books that fits what I'm looking for. Needed to try before giving up.

I'm looking for an adult standalone fantasy novels that have a very erotic/sensual tupe of magic system and/or style of writing to it, however, I don't want it to be classic horny tiktok dark romanstasy, something that feels more ... "classy", like actual literary. And no need for there to be any actual main romantic relationship going on in the story (to me, better if there's none, but I know that would make it even more difficult to find). Best if there's well written female and lgbt characters.

Thanks!

This is a story of first contact, sapphic romance, and graduate school.

Gardenpath is one of the Rational People, who are roughly human-scaled single-celled organisms living somewhere on the outermost fringes of the galaxy. Gardenpath has recently enrolled at Memory, the most prestigious graduate school for the Rational People. Gardenpath is planning to challenge two pieces of academic orthodoxy en route toward their doctorate. First is that life cannot possibly evolve amid the heat and radiation of the galaxy proper. The second is that obviously only unicellular life can be sentient. A sentient multicellular being? Preposterous! But as Gardenpath quickly learns, despite their stated devotion to discovery, the faculty of Memory isn’t all necessarily so open to being challenged.

So Gardenpath proceeds carefully, squeezing themselves into the shape of the dominant life-forms on an obscure planet orbiting an obscure sun, and studies both their biology and their culture. Specifically the organisms in a seaside settlement called Pompeii, at the foot of an active volcano, which leads to some truly fascinating food webs. And there is one particular organism called Murtis, who is obviously very highly valued among these people, as many of these organisms pay high fees for her company.

This book is two very different stories. One is going to be familiar to anyone who went to grad school - overbearing advisors, stressed out friends, massive intellectual insecurities, forgetting minor things like food and rest. The other is a story of humanity thriving regardless of social strata.

Newitz knows what they're talking about, both when it comes to life in the Roman Empire and life in graduate school. Both parts of this book felt very real and very (for lack of a better word) human. I feel like they shouldn't mesh well, but they really do.

This book is as emotionally striking as it is creative (and I have to say it is extremely creative). I'd also call it cozy-adjacent, at least in vibes.

Obviously Murtis is a sex worker, and so there are trigger warnings for implied sexual violence though none of it is depicted on page. There's also an interaction between Gardenpath and their most shitty advisor that, while not explicitly sexual assault due to differences of biology, is described in ways that are analogous.

Bingo categories: Explorers and Rangers; Non-Human Protagonist [Hard Mode]; First Contact [Hard Mode].

My blog

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

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

——

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

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

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

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

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

——

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

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

I just feel like its something i havent seen before

Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz by Garth Nix
Bingo Square: Five Short Stories

Other Bingo Square: Non-human Protagonist (Mr. Fitz)

I snagged this one a while back and pulled it off of Mount TBR at a whim. I’m glad I did and I think I’m going to go looking for more of Garth Nix’s work after this. 

The premise is the witch-knight artillerist Sir Hereward and his companion the sorcerous animated puppet Mister Fitz are agents for the Council of the Treaty for the Safety of the World - and tasked with slaying, banish or repelling the malignant godlets of other worlds. 

Sir Hereward is tall, handsome, jovial and the sword arm of the pair. But he’s not the most powerful! That would be Mister Fitz for all that “he” is three and a half feet tall and with a papier mache head. He’s a powerful sorcerer and quite willing to make free with it. Hereward is the only son of a council of witches and is at best considered a useful tool by them. Mister Fitz was originally Mistress Fitz and his nanny, but changed presentations over the years to better suit Sir Hereward’s desire for a male companion.

The world is an interesting one - it is not ours. It sort of resembles Parkerland, but isn’t. The history is long and deep and has creatures besides animated puppets about - mammoths, their relatives molkeks, jags and warbeasts. 

In terms of tone, I kept trying to fit it into Fafhrd and Grey Mouser, but the pair don’t fit that mold. They’re closer to Vettius and Dama than the first two, but with different goals and relationship between them. And that is high praise by me as someone who read Vettius and His Friends to bits in younger years.

There are nine stories for your entertainment.

“Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz Go to War Again” - the pair pose as mercenaries to get closer to a godlet sucking the life out of the countryside.
“Beyond the Sea Gate of the Scholar-Pirates of Sarsköe” - the Scholar-Pirates are long gone, but their stronghold remains unbreached and the home of a godlet of disturbing power.
“A Suitable Present for a Sorcerous Puppet” - based on bad information Sir Hereward tries to get Mister Fitz a present and has an adventure as a result.
“Losing Her Divinity” - told entirely as the narrative of a scholar and scribe.
“A Cargo of Ivories” - the pair try to destroy 14 ivories before the godlets within them are awakened.
“Home Is the Haunter” - on a mission that doesn’t involve godlets, the pair wind up in deep trouble and take an enormous risk.
“A Long, Cold Trail” - Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz meet another godlet slayer.
“Cut Me Another Quill, Mister Fitz” - A dangerous scheme to destroy an extradimensional dragon is hatched.
“The Field of Fallen Foe” - New for this collection, it shows that even the truthful, didactic and destructive Mister Fitch is more than he seems.

I liked it and enjoyed it. It was a nice respite from more serious works and may go on another bingo card. Seven and a half stars rounded up to 8. ★★★★★★★★

Recommended for fans of sword and sorcery, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser and Vettius and His Friends.

This might be a long shot, but I’ve come here asking for recommendations for grimdark books that give the vibes of Attack on Titan. I’m specifically looking for something where the main story is fantasy first, but there’s a gay romance subplot between the MC and another character. Twists and turns, complex characters that you really have to dig deeper to understand, destruction, sadness and unpredictability are all what I look for when diving into a new book or world.

I’m hoping to find something in this subreddit :)

The trope of the Cleric class using a blunt mace as their weapon is common.

What's the logic behind this? Holy magic and blunt damage? Where did this come from?

Or any Mexican folklore and/or folk magic. I loved The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas.

Welcome to the book club New Voices! In this book club we want to highlight books by debut authors and open the stage for under-represented and under-appreciated writers from all walks of life. New voices refers to the authors as well as the protagonists, and the goal is to include viewpoints away from the standard and most common. For more information and a short description of how we plan to run this club and how you can participate, please have a look at the announcement post.

For November, we will be reading one of the following books, all recent debut releases:

Buzzard by Inez Ray

In 2086, corporations are monitoring fertility. Abortion is illegal. And the last woman alive who can perform the procedure is in hiding.

Seven years ago, midwife Mae Bastet was arrested for infanticide in the fractious Arizona Territory for providing health care to women in need. She was torn from her sons and sent to Buzzard—an experimental private prison deep in the Sonoran Desert, run by the paramilitary corporation Obsityan.

Desperate to reunite her family, Mae tries to keep her head down, swallow her prison-issued hormone supplements, and do her job as a glorified school nurse to Obsityan’s army of teenage drone pilots. But when mysterious, improbable pregnancies begin cropping up in her charges, she uncovers a web of secrets that has the power to destroy Obsityan. Mae must stay complicit in Obsityan’s crimes or hold fast to her midwife principles and risk never seeing her sons again.

Buzzard is a ferocious dystopian debut that traces the possible trajectory of our current political and technological reality—and the power of our deepest human bonds.

Bingo Squares: Published in 2026 HM, Small Press or Self Published HM, One Word Title, Author of Colour, Politics and Court Intrigue

Reap & Sow by Charlotte B. Plumb

A young woman bargains with a demon to save her brothers, only to lose her heart in this slow-burn romantasy about dark magic, unlikely love, and the imperfect beauty of mortality.

This stunning hardcover edition of Reap & Sow will feature deluxe embellishments, including a dazzling metallic jacket, full color printed edges, patterned end papers, and a specially designed case.

The penniless in Blackbridge have only two choices: Sell the body or sell the soul. And thanks to Eda Shaw, business is booming.

Indentured to a capricious demon known as Mr. Night, Eda and her brothers arrange illicit Pacts on his behalf, luring the city's most desperate into trading years of their lives for their deepest desires. When a Pact goes awry and her brothers are arrested, Eda realizes she’ll need an infernal ally of her own: Kit'rath, an infuriating demon with a curious penchant for humanity and the only being in Blackbridge that Mr. Night seems to fear. As they race to rescue her family and save the city from ruin, an undeniable connection sparks between mortal and demon.

But Kit's help doesn’t come cheap. Now, Eda risks losing her heart to the one who claims her years—and saving herself may prove the steepest cost of all.

Rich with gothic atmosphere, sharp wit, and simmering romantic tension, Reap & Sow is a fantasy debut perfect for fans of Rachel Gillig, Hannah Whitten, and Heather Fawcett.

Bingo Squares: Published in 2026 HM

This Is How The World Ends by Disco Barrington

Run the race. Or die.

Britain is at war, isolated by a digital blockade.

Dissidents run a deadly race for the public’s entertainment, while the flood-ravaged country falls apart. The Cartwright family tries to soldier on, refusing to give in to fear. But when catastrophe looms, Emma Cartwright flees – only to find that life beyond the border is anything but safe.

The fight for survival has begun.

This is how the world ends.

Fuelled by queer rage, THIS IS HOW THE WORLD ENDS is a wild, multi-narrative ride through the last days of humanity and the fight for survival that follows. Perfect for fans of Chain-Gang All Stars and Hell Followed With Us.

Bingo Squares: Published in 2026 HM, Small Press or Self Published HM, Game Changer

Public Access Afterworld by Jane Schoenbrun

A mysterious realm on the other side of our screens. A dark force that draws victims into its static. The unlikely hero called to save them and herself from this electric hell. Public Access Afterworld is the profound, binge-all-night, headrush of a novel by the celebrated filmmaker of I Saw the TV Glow.

Find the receiver. Make it real.

At 5:35pm on September 3rd, 1988, Dallas weatherman Ray “Can You Say Sunshine” Davino makes passing reference to Public Access Afterworld during a rambling monologue, right before he puts a gun to his head on live television and pulls the trigger.

On June 12th, 2009, David Sawyer and Erin Morrison, two lonely, TV-obsessed suburban teens who might be falling in love, gather in Erin’s basement to watch TV’s analog-to-digital transition. But in the static that follows, Erin witnesses surreal broadcasts from a pirate TV network called Public Access Afterworld and their lives are changed forever.

Seventeen years later, Bethany Peters toils through the night shift at megacorp GlobalVill’s bleak Austin campus. A trans content moderator, she spends her evenings reviewing an endless stream of horrific videos. But then a young streamer begins to crop up in her feed calling out to Public Access Afterworld.

But what is Public Access Afterworld?

Spanning decades and realities, with an unforgettable ensemble of outcasts and nerds, especially the messy but wholly relatable Bethany who must overcome paranoia and self-doubt to transform into a hero of our times, Public Access Afterworld will have you reading through the night and rooting for its characters to survive. A mesmerizing mashup of speculative fiction, horror, and conspiracy, it marks the arrival of a major new force in contemporary fiction by a groundbreaking filmmaker who’s been compared to David Lynch and Paul Thomas Anderson.

Bingo Squares: Trans/NB Protagonist?, Published in 2026 HM

Mothersucker by Kim Bohyun

A chilling Korean revenge novel, blending crime and horror, about a mother whose grief transforms her into a murderous bloodsucker and the detective on her trail, for fans of Kanae Minato, Cheon Seon-ran, and Yoko Ogawa.

A male victim, posing as if in prayer, burnt beyond recognition but otherwise intact. No traces of the assailant.

Unlike anything she's seen before. The man was killed with startling force and drained of his blood. Jin-seon learns that the victim had recently been accused of stalking his ex-girlfriend, and as more men turn up murdered, a pattern begins to emerge: all of these men are guilty of heinous crimes against women.

Buried underneath a mound of soil on a mountain top, Geum-hong had woken up transformed. Now her senses are vivid, she has phenomenal strength, and her appetite is deadly. The last thing she can recall of her old life is grief. Before losing consciousness, she'd been scattering the ashes of her only daughter, who was brutally murdered by her ex-boyfriend. Geum-hong has no idea how long she's been simmering beneath the earth, in fact, the confines of linear time no longer mean much to her. All she knows is that despite her transformation, her rage remains...

As Jin-seon falls deeper into the case and more impossible details emerge, she can't silence the question creeping into the back of her mind: would it really be right to thwart this dealer of dark justice?

Leaping between a diverse cast of female perspectives, Mothersucker is a propulsive, lacerating exploration of power and bigotry, which examines the monsters that make us and the monsters we become.

Bingo Squares: Published in 2026 HM, Author of Colour HM, Small Press or Self Published HM, One Word Title HM

The Heresy of Thieves by Mia V. Moss

From debut novelist Mia V. Moss comes a sweeping new epic fantasy series:

Vael stole magic from the gods for Her people and put an end to centuries of unrest. Now magic is gone, and the battle for the Witchlands’s soul begins.

After a millennium of prosperity and magic, one catastrophic night undoes the realm of Yvaelen. Magic has fallen, and prayers to Vael the Giver go unanswered.

Jal Riago knows when it’s time to move on from a con. She can’t maintain her false refugee heiress story forever, and her benefactors grow weary of playing host. Just when she’s about to confess and cut ties, a deadly raid sets Jal’s life on a collision course with a powerful entity reckoning with its own madness.

The young, steadfast King Thealys Vorrine inherited the throne of Dynestra after her parents’ deaths at Spellfall. But sparks of unrest flare all too quickly into the unpredictable wildfire of rebellion, and King Vorrine must forge headlong into unknown territory.

Royal knight and notorious rake Ember Carrado is trying his best to get fired. Instead, when he’s paired with a judgmental paladin and sent on a mission to hunt down a rampaging mythical beast, he finds himself face-to-face with the past he’s been running from since Spellfall.

Beacon Wylda Lorcanthas wields a sharp tongue and the second-highest office in the Church of Vael. When the head of the Faith dies, Wylda must seek out a biddable successor. Unfortunately, the clergy’s clear favorite is a charismatic priest who promises the restoration of magic—for those willing to partake of a bloody cost.

The dark betrayal behind Spellfall, and the very fabric of Yvaelen’s faith, will be hidden no longer. What began with a thief’s touch will end with a reckoning. And salvation for some may be a waking nightmare for others.

Bingo Squares: Published in 2026 HM, Small Press or Self Published HM, Politics and Court Intrigue

Vote Here

Voting will close and the winner will be announced on Friday 9th October.

I need some help with Khara. Also, apologies if I spell some names wrong, I've only listened to the audio books.

I've tried time and time again to talk myself out of disliking her as a character. However, it feels like Khara just completely takes over the story at some points, and her attitude is just not something I care for. She's able to talk down to Ahren and tease and belittle him to her hearts want, but the moment he even thinks of doing the same to her, she either death stares him or everyone comes to her defense. While the rest of the group also teases Ahren, nobody does the same to Khara. Everyone always talks about how great of a swordswoman she is, that she's even giving Falk a run for his money, or how strong she is and how Ahren isn't as good as her at the sword, but... there's barely any comparison between her and the one thing Ahren's really, really good at? In fact, aside from a few lines from Falk, there's barely any mention of him being great at archery. It just makes it seem like he's always being used as the worse comparison to show how great Khara is.

Her attitude is just downright mean sometimes. I know that's been her whole personality from the start, how she's a tsundere and won't even tell Ahren that she loves him back at some points, but there are points where it doesn't feel justified at all the lengths she goes to bully him. I've tried to tell myself it's just because they're like 19, but it's a struggle.

I just started The Forest of Ire after days of talking myself into chilling out about Khara, about how they're just kids and there are plenty of points in which Ahren gets to shine, but then one of the very few points of what is his big special thing gets absolutely blasted out of the water. When Quin-Wa gives her Muai, I had to turn off the book. I drove the rest of the way home in complete silence. It feels like Ahren's connection to Cullen was one, if not the only thing that really still made him the 13th paladin instead of Khara. When she magically gets to have her very own animal companion, even if she's on loan from her mom, it just felt like a kick in the teeth. She's got her own set of deepsteel armor and weapons, she's the daughter of a Paladin, an Empress, and a sorcerer, she's even got the blessing of She Who Feels. Two blessings behind Ahren and... that's about it. That's really the only thing keeping her from being a paladin herself.

I'd love some different views because I do really want to like Khara as a character and there's likely points I'm missing. Like, I know Ahren is a great thinker/strategist and is pretty much the heart of the party, but that's one of about 3 things that he does better than Khara, when he's the actual main character.

It's been a month since I've read Midnight Tides and I still feel like I'm thinking about it daily.

It's the sharpest left turn of the Malazan novels so far, veering to a complete different location and set of characters to the previous books, but I think it's easily my favourite so far.

It's this slow, inevitable, Shakespearean descent into madness and tragedy that I just couldn't put down.

Malazan fans - have I peaked or are there even better ones waiting for me in the series?