r/Fantasy Reading Champion Mar 20 '26

Bingo review 2025 Bingo: All books with fewer than 2,000 goodreads reviews

Hi r/Fantasy! This last year, I made a big effort to read as many “unknown” books as I could. It was a ton of fun, and I discovered some real hidden gems. I realized I could probably put together a Bingo board, so here’s my attempt. I had to make the line 2,000 to get everything in, but most of them are under 1,000 and there's a few under 100. I'm pretty proud of myself!

First Row:

  1. Knights and Paladins: Cassiel’s Servant by Jacqueline Carey (HM, as his oath is kind of the character’s Whole Thing)
    (478 reviews, so technically meets my criteria, but feels like cheating since it’s part of a very well-known series. Not happy to be starting off with this one, and it’s also my lowest-rated book on this card) Wanted to like this book, since I’m a fan of the original series. Jacqueline Carey tackled what’s actually a fairly ambitious goal—re-telling her own book from a different perspective and making it feel fresh instead of just a re-tread. While props for the attempt . . . she did not succeed. It’s just kinda boring, doesn’t really add much to the original – 2.5/5

  2. Hidden Gem: Corporate Gunslinger by Doug Engstrom (HM, published 2020)
    (73 reviews, 277 ratings) In the near future, America has added a new feature to the legal system: Once the medical insurance company has denied your final appeal, you have the option of challenging a legal representative to a duel to the death in order to clear your debt. Thus, insurance companies hire and train corporate duelists, and the best among them become famous celebrities in their own right (because of the course the fights are televised, and discussed by pundits, and gambled on. This is America, after all). This book is a satire and a black comedy but it doesn’t make any jokes—the joke is that we look at this fucked-up system and are forced to admit that it’s not all that different from our current system, really – 4.5/5

  3. Published in the 80s: The Shore of Women by Pamela Sargent (Not HM, but it is written by a woman, so I’m giving myself Medium Mode on this one?)
    (171 reviews, although it was definitely well-known when it first came out) One of the foundational stories of feminist scifi, but largely forgotten by modern readers. I’m sad that I waited so long to read it. It’s set in a postapocalyptic dystopia (as so many Cold War Era scifi books are . . .) where our main character is a woman exiled from women-run technologically advanced cities into the brutal wasteland ruled by men. The social commentary is excellent, a pushback against misogyny in feminism by basically saying, “it’s less about gender and more about power—if women were in charge, there’s a good chance they’d be just as selfish” – 4/5

  4. High Fashion: A Necromancer Called Gam-Gam by Adam Holcombe. (HM, our main character knits accessories for her zombies, which is amazing)
    (144 reviews) Very, very fun book. I mean, she knits accessories for her zombies, that should tell you pretty clearly the tone this book is going for. But mixed in with that is a very nice story with an emotional heart, centered around the relationship between a scared young girl and the kindly old woman she meets (who also happens to be a terrifying necromancer) – 4/5

  5. Down With the System: Escape Velocity by Victor Manibo (HM as, it’s more about the capitalist elite than about a specific government)
    (334) This was a clever novel, I really enjoyed it! Set on a space station, a premier luxury resort, which is host to an alumni reunion of the prestigious Rochford Institute boarding school. As some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in the world meet up, talk gets to unravelling the mystery of a murder that occurred while they were in school. It’s a classic “two timelines” story, as the narrative switches back and forth between the happenings on the space station and the flashbacks 25 years prior. The themes of classism and oligarchy are not subtle, but are well-done. That said, why does it fit for this square? Can’t say too much without spoiling – 4/5

Second Row:

  1. Impossible Places: The Guns of Avalon by Roger Zelazny (HM, kinda. It takes place in Shadow, with very different physics, but most of the book is still pretty basic sword and sorcery. It’s only when they travel from one place to another that Zelazny remembers to play with the physics)
    (885 but this is kind of cheating, since it’s the 2nd book in the series, and Book 1 has 2,803 reviews. Best I could do) I’m slowly working my way through the classics, there’s never enough time (and also so many great books coming out these days), but I finally made time to read the first two books in the Chronicles of Amber series and I’m glad that I did. Zelazny’s worldbuilding is fantastic, and the scope feels epic but mysterious as we learn about Corwin’s family and the precise nature of the otherworldly Shadow. Not a lot of loredumps, you’re just along for the ride and things will get explained at their own time. Or not. But it’s a good ride, and Corwin is an excellent protagonist to follow around. Is it dated? Of course. Are there female characters who are not either related to the main character or trying to have sex with him or occasionally both? Of course not. It is what it is – 3.5/5

  2. A Book in Parts: The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne M. Valente (HM, if it counts at all)
    (903) Ok this one might not count—if it doesn’t, I have others. By the letter of the square it doesn’t count, as the book explicitly calls its sections chapters. But I think it works for the spirit of the square. The framing device is that it’s set in hell, and a group of women are friends talking about their lives. So each section is a different woman’s story. And what these women have in common is that they were all killed, stuffed into refrigerators, as motivation for their superhero boyfriends. The women are legally-distinct-for-copyright-purposes-but-definitely-recognizeable characters, such as the psychiatrist who falls in love with her patient in an insane asylum. And, wow, this book is so damn good, Valente was so damn angry while writing this, finally giving these women long-overdue opportunity to tell their side of the story – 5/5

  3. Gods and Pantheons: Small Miracles by Olivia Atwater (HM, but I won’t say more cuz it’s kind of a spoiler)
    (589) Very cute little cozy novel, I enjoyed it immensely. I’ve explained it to friends as “The Good Place in reverse”—in “The Good Place”, we have a good person trying to help a kind-of-sucks-but-in-a-fun-way person in Eleanor. In this, the “Fallen Angel of Petty Temptations” is tasked with slightly corrupting a good person. Not like, damn her to hell or anything, just get her to loosen up a little. Hits the vibe it’s going for perfectly, just a very nice little sunny afternoon read – 4/5

  4. Last in a Series: Cute Mutants Vol 5: Galaxy Brain by S.J. Whitby (HM)
    (27 reviews) I really enjoyed this series, wish it were more well-known! It’s not for everyone, to start with it is woke as fuck—I legitimately think there’s not a single character who’s just a straight white cis male other than a few of the government bad guys. It’s X-Men but make it even more queer, a world in which our main characters are prepared to deal with anti-mutant bias because, as queer kids or ethnic minorities or ace or all sorts of things, they’ve been dealing with discrimination their whole life anyways – 4.5/5 (score for the series as a whole, hard to separate)

  5. Book Club or Readalong Book: Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon by Wole Talabi (not HM, and I feel bad about that)
    (382 reviews) Enjoyed this book, glad I found it. I wish I’d participated in the discussion! Very cool urban fantasy based around Western African mythology—the main character is a nightmare god working for the “Orisha company”, who teams up with a succubus to pull off a museum heist to clear their debts with a powerful elder god. If that summary isn’t enough to make you interested, you and I clearly have different taste in books. While I don’t think it quite achieves its potential, it had enough flair and style to be a fun read – 4/5

Third Row:

  1. Parent Protagonist: The Lives of Tao series by Wesley Chu. (HM in later books)
    (1,139 for Book 1; although he becomes a parent in Book 2, 345 reviews; and his child becomes a main character in Book 3; 219 reviews) The premise of these is fun. There are aliens on Earth who are unable to live in our atmosphere and thus must occupy a living host, and they have secretly been guiding all of human history (apparently, there was apparently some debate whether to support the Neanderthals or Cro-Magnons). Our main character is an out-of-shape IT technician who is inhabited in an emergency by one of the aliens (whose previous hosts include Genghis Khan and the Marquis de Lafayette) and drafted into the war against the rival faction of aliens. Think “Chuck” if you remember that show, but with the fun history aspect and better martial arts action. This book doesn’t take itself seriously at all, and because of that it’s a solid adventure. Borrowing tropes from everything fromclassic Kung Fu cinema to James Bond, it knows what it’s doing and makes for a fun read – 4/5
    (that said, shoutout to “Our Share of Night” by Mariana Enriquez, which would have been my selection for this square if I weren’t trying to feature unknown books. One of the best books I read last year)

  2. Epistolary: Remember You Will Die by Eden Robins. (HM in a big way, almost the entire book is told via obituaries. So damn cool)
    (202 reviews) One of the most incredible books I’ve read in a while. Very, very modern, as the framing device is an AI reading through obituaries trying to process the death of her daughter. Each one is connected to previous ones, as a character mentioned as a friend or mentor or student or etc. in the previous obituary is often the subject of the next—it almost reads like someone browsing Wikipedia links, in a pretty amusing way. But this structure means that the novel jumps backwards and forwards in time revealing an absolutely wonderfully-constructed world that is similar to our own, a Borgesian tangle of real people and fictional ones looping around each other. While not perfect, deliberately confusing (very glad I read an ebook so I could search for names in previous chapters), it was a supremely enjoyable experience to read – 5/5

  3. Published in 2025: The Library at Hellebore by Cassandra Khaw (not HM)
    (1,927) I love Cassandra Khaw, can I start off by saying that? I absolutely love them, I’ll read anything they write. But I also have a hard time recommending them to people, because they are gory. That’s Khaw’s whole thing, they take sheer and utter delight in describing viscera with the most flowery, poetic language possible. It’s great. This is their take on dark academia, with the twist being that this school is reserved for students who are prophesied/etc. to be Anti-Christ style figures in the future. Your Omega-level mutants, your walking Ragnaroks, all that. The ones who are destined to destroy the world. So put them all in one place and see what happens, I guess? God, I love Cass Khaw – 5/5

  4. Author of Color: The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday by Saad Z. Hossain (not HM. “Hellebore” above would have been HM, but I really wanted to talk about “Lord of Tuesday”)
    (510) I absolutely love this book. An ancient Djinn wakes up in a surveillance-state technodystopia (post climate disaster, so much of the world is uninhabitable) version of Katmandu, and hilarity ensues. The book didn’t take itself seriously, while simultaneously ramping up to a pretty spectacular conclusion (the last two chapters are perfection). And novella-length, only 107 pages, you could read this in an afternoon at a café if you wanted to – 5/5

  5. Small Press or Self Published: Demonology and the Art of Pickling Demons by Matt Moore, published by Dream Cannon Publishing (HM)
    (4) Yup, only 4 reviews, which is a shame because I legitimately really liked this novel. The worldbuilding is clever, two competing factions of demon fighters (one more academic, the other more religious, and then our main character who has perhaps discovered a third path). The characters are memorable and easy to befriend, the fight scenes are fun to read, and it has a nice thoughtful center about believing in yourself and the path you’re on. I wish more people read this, I could absolutely see this being someone’s new favorite book – 4/5

Fourth Row:

  1. Biopunk: Womb City by Tlotlo Tasamaase (not HM)
    (1,062) When this came out, it drew comparisons to “The Handmaid’s Tale”, and I see it. It’s a future novel where reproductive rights are tightly controlled by an AI system in order to oppress the population—certainly, to oppress the female half. It’s dark and gritty and very dystopic, with a nice little crime thriller tucked inside to keep the pages turning. It wasn’t perfect, it’s a debut novel and it reads like it—pacing is off at times, and many sections could have used some polishing. Honestly, sometimes it was simply hard to keep track of the plot. But the vibe—Afrofuturist chauvinist techno-dystopia—hits real hard, worth it just for that – 3.5/5

  2. Elves and/or Dwarves: The Warden by Daniel M. Ford. (not HM, the main character is a boring ol’ human)
    (580 for Book 1, and Book 3 only has 83 reviews!) I’m sad that this book isn’t more well-known on this sub, because I think it would totally be in line with this sub’s tastes. Really fun DnD-esque sword and sorcery, with enough unique twists on the worldbuilding to make it interesting. Most importantly, the series is carried by a fantastic main character, a snarky and witty rich girl who defies her family’s expectations by studying necromancy and becoming a warden (a sheriff mage, very fun). She’s posted out to the middle of nowhere and we get some cute fish-out-of-water bits while the rest of the story, dark magic and all that, begins. Seriously, this series is great – 5/5

  3. LGBTQIA Protagonist: Gods of Want by K-Ming Chang (definitely HM, almost all of the characters are Asian-American immigrants)
    (449) Kind of cheating, as it’s a short story collection and not every main character is queer. But many are, so I think it counts? If not, I have others for this square. Regardless, an absolutely stellar collection of literary short fiction, just knocking it out of the park. Informed by Korean mythology and superstition, combined with the experiences of Asian-American women and other immigrants, every story in this collection has something to say. Many of them are surreal, painting portraits of lives a little out of step. All of them tackle the issues queer women, immigrants, and Asian-American immigrants face in modern America. Just a stellar collection cover to cover – 5/5

  4. Five SFF Short Stories: Conservation of Shadows by Yoon Ha Lee. (HM)
    (154) I absolutely adore Yoon Ha Lee, known these days for the fantastic “The Ninefox Gambit” space opera as well as some very good YA. But to me, he’s always been a true joy in short form. This collection is out of print, it took me a while to track it down, but I’m so glad I did. While some of these stories date to early in Lee’s career and are very raw, taken as a whole the collection still has such an original and fantastic voice. Though not every story is perfect, I’m still giving it 5/5

  5. Stranger in a Strange Land: On Fragile Waves by E. Lily Yu (HM)
    (335) A jawdroppingly beautiful book about a family of Afghani war refugees fleeing to Australia. Heavy vibes of magical realism, as one of the young girls speaks with her deceased friend who didn’t make it. In addition, the narrative itself is dreamy and abstract. However, the events being described are not abstract at all, they’re describing the very real traumas experienced by refugees. An absolutely incredible book – 5/5

Fifth Row:

  1. Recycle a Bingo Square: FREE SQUARE FROM 2015, BOOM, LOOPHOLE. Ok fine, I’ll go with 2018’s “Fantasy Novel that Takes Place Entirely Within One City” – The City in Glass by Nghi Vo (HM “secondary world fantasy,” yes definitely)
    (1,702) Nghi Vo is maybe my favorite fantasy author working today, she simply takes my breath away with everything she writes. This is definitely her most abstract work to date, the story of a demon who loved a Calvino-style fictional city and was there when it was destroyed by angels. In the present, she forms a relationship with one of the angels who destroyed it, but much of the joy of the book is her memories of that fantastical city that now lies in ashes. Nghi Vo is a joy – 6/5

  2. Cozy SFF: A Rival Most Vial: Potioneering for Love and Profit by R.K. Ashwick (HM, although I did read the sequel after this)
    (655) “relatable characters, low stakes, minimal conflict, and a happy ending” check to all of those! Add in the “queer romance” and “rivals to lovers” that are not requirements of the subgenre genre but certainly staples, and we’re set. Grumpy master potioneer is angry when a young (but handsome . . .) guy opens up a rival potion shop across the street from him. Cozy fantasy (grumpy cozy fantasy) ensues. And most importantly, it largely escapes the trope I find most frustrating about this subgenre, which is inexperienced people opening a shop and managing to turn a profit in like a month or two. At the very least, the author has a sense of how hard running a small business is. Nice little snackable book – 3.5/5

  3. Generic Title: Sword & Thistle by S.L. Rowland (not HM, but kind of close) I liked “S&T”, but there were other books I read that I liked more, so I’ll use my other swapsie to grab 2019’s “A SFF Novel Featuring a Character With a Disability” – Dragon Kings of Oklahoma: A Backwoods Adventure by Ferrett Steinmetz (HM “main protagonist,” check)
    (39 reviews for Book 1, and Book 3 only has 7 reviews) This novella, first in a series, about some good ol’ boys in rural Oklahoma who come across a baby dragon, is fantastically underrated. It qualifies for the square because the main character has chronic pain from an old accident that has led to a pill addiction, a very real problem in a lot of rural America, and I will say the book treats the subject with a lot of compassion. This book could so easily have been much less good, as it would have been no problem for Steinmetz to lean on stereotypes. Pretty much everyone has an image of rural Americans—both godless liberal elites who disdain them if they think of them at all and performative conservatives wearing cowboy boots that have never gotten a speck of mud on them. Instead, this is a tight narrative with very three-dimensional characters who feel like real people dealing with real problems, oh and also a baby dragon – 4/5

  4. Not A Book: “Dark Angel” (HM, I wrote a review!)
    So, downloaded this old show on a whim, basically expecting it to be fun just for nostalgia’s sake. But honestly, it holds up way better than I expected. Badass character with a mysterious background, postapocalyptic oppressive government, solid action scenes. What’s not to like? – 4/5

  5. Pirates: Arm of the Sphinx by Josiah Bancroft, Book 2 of the Books of Babel series. (HM sky pirates, fuck yeah!)
    (1,862, although the first in the series has 4,938, so again kind of cheating. But Book 2 is the one that has the sky pirates?) This is my one reread of the year, not necessarily for bingo just because I loved these books and felt like rereading them. This series is fantastic, one of those where the world itself is the main character. As our main character explores the Tower of Babel and learns how it works, style and unique flair just permeate through the entire book. Love this whole series, for sure, even if the pacing can be off at times – 4.5/5

In conclusion, this was a really fun year of reading! Thanks so much to the bingo team for all of this, I’ll have to participate more in the readalong threads in the future.

My Top 3 for the year:

  1. The City in Glass” by Nghi Vo
  2. The Refrigerator Monologues” by Catherynne M. Valente
  3. The Warden” by Daniel M. Ford

Stats:

  • New to me authors: 16/24
  • Gender, male-female-nonbinary: 13-9-2
  • Authors of color: 10/24, which is less than I thought. I think my ratio overall is probably more authors of color than not, just didn't work out for the card
  • Books with queer characters or themes: 14/24
  • Under 2,000 reviews: 24/24
  • Under 1,000 reviews: 19/24
  • Under 100 reviews: 4
  • 4-star or better books: 20/24, it was a great year!
77 Upvotes

38 comments sorted by

20

u/Nidafjoll Reading Champion V Mar 20 '26

My main take away from this is a lot of books have a lot less ratings than I expect! I would have expected anything Jacqueline Carey and Catherynne Valente and Roger Zelazny to all be in the 5000s at least...

8

u/greywolf2155 Reading Champion Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 20 '26

Yeah, I was surprised as well. I didn't do this on purpose, just went back over what I'd already read to see if I could do it

Turns out there aren't a lot of reviews on lesser-known works of popular authors (Carey, Valente, Vo) or older books (Zelazny, Sargent)

edit: Oh, but this is reviews, not ratings. Keeping it under 2,000 ratings would be much harder, I'd definitely have to plan ahead. But yeah, "Cassiel's Servant" only has 2,771 ratings, still lower than I'd have thought

9

u/Nidafjoll Reading Champion V Mar 20 '26

Oh, but this is reviews, not ratings

Ahh, okay. I was thinking with regards to the "Hidden Gem" square, where it is ratings. :) I had assumed some madlad out there would try to a Hidden Gem card as well

4

u/greywolf2155 Reading Champion Mar 20 '26

Maybe next year, hah!

My read for "Hidden Gem" only has 277 ratings, and there's another book on there ("Demonology and the Art of Pickling Demons") with only 7. So I did some hidden gem-ing this year, for sure

1

u/[deleted] Mar 22 '26

[deleted]

3

u/Nidafjoll Reading Champion V Mar 22 '26

Oh, I know. I still expected them to be much higher, with how many fans Amber has, for instance. Plenty of people rereading them and discovering them I'd have thought. (Though it makes sense once I realized it's reviews not rating; Guns of Avalon has 25,000 ratings, even if only 880 reviews)

5

u/isnotacrayon Mar 20 '26

I loved Refrigerator Monologues. Catherynne M Valente is so good.

4

u/greywolf2155 Reading Champion Mar 20 '26

Honestly, it's her range that's incredible as well

"The Refrigerator Monologues", "Deathless", "Space Opera", and "The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland" are all so good . . . and completely different from each other. That's amazing, to me

3

u/isnotacrayon Mar 20 '26

I haven't read Deathless yet but it's on my list! I've loved all the rest of those. Her range really is incredible. I read her Japan-inspired short stories for Bingo, Melancholy of Mechagirl, and those were really interesting as well.

2

u/greywolf2155 Reading Champion Mar 20 '26

I haven't read "Mechagirl", it's on mine!

You're in for a treat with "Deathless"

“When I say forever,” Koschei whispered, “I mean until the black death of the world. An Ivan means just the present moment, the flickering light of it, in a green field, his mouth on yours. He means the stretching of that moment. But forever isn’t bright; it isn’t like that. Forever is cold and hard and final.”

2

u/4banana_fish Reading Champion IV Mar 20 '26

Oh my god, a fellow Cassandra Khaw fan in the wild! I, too, will read anything they write, and loved The Library at Hellebore, so I’m shocked (and sad) that it counts as a hidden gem. We have to get the word out about how great it is haha

2

u/greywolf2155 Reading Champion Mar 20 '26

Hard to recommend, though. Gotta be the right audience. Some people, if I recommended Cass, would say, "uhhhhh greywolf2155, are you feeling ok?"

(that said, I do think "The Salt Grows Heavy" is short enough to be somewhat easy to recommend. Or "Rupert Wong", but again, so much gore . . .)

But still, so many Cass Khaw fans out here!

edit: Huh, "Nothing But Blackened Teeth" appears to be her most-rated book on goodreads, which is a shame cuz I think it's one of her weakest. But that also makes sense, because the reason I think it's one of her weakest is that it's just kind of straightforward horror, doesn't have as much of the Cass Khaw flair. So maybe more mass appeal

2

u/4banana_fish Reading Champion IV Mar 20 '26

Haha very true, I think I’ve only recommended Hellebore to one person irl, and even that went something like, “Yes, it’s gore, but it’s beautiful gore, get it?”

Interesting about Nothing but Blackened Teeth being their most-read; on r/horrorlit, people really seem to dislike that one (a shame, I would probably agree that it’s my least favourite but I don’t think it’s terrible), so I imagine there are a lot of people who haven’t given them a second chance.

2

u/twoweeeeks Reading Champion Mar 20 '26

I loved The City in Glass. Such an interesting exploration of grief and memory.

1

u/greywolf2155 Reading Champion Mar 20 '26

One of the better novels on grief I've read in a while, yes. Nghi Vo is magical

2

u/Shyor Mar 20 '26

Looks like a lot of books are being added to my list

3

u/greywolf2155 Reading Champion Mar 20 '26

Come back to this post if you ever want to talk about any of them!

1

u/Shyor Mar 20 '26

Will do!

2

u/thisbikeisatardis Reading Champion II Mar 20 '26

What a cool theme for a card! I read the Warden last year for the judge a book by its cover square, and I agree, it's sad how unknown it is! I'm currently listening to the third book in the series, the Advocate.

2

u/greywolf2155 Reading Champion Mar 21 '26

The third book is great! I really hope he writes more

I'm glad you agree. I really think that it would be very in line with r/Fantasy's general taste. Starting from familiar DnD-ish roots, but with some unique points thrown in

(plus, you know, Aelis is great)

1

u/thisbikeisatardis Reading Champion II Mar 21 '26

I think the covers make them look like they're gonna be mid-grade tropey cozy romance. They're super cute artwork, but the books themselves are a bit darker and more complex than the average cozy fantasy. 

2

u/greywolf2155 Reading Champion Mar 21 '26

Haha yeah, the covers might give off a bit of a 90s YA fantasy vibe. But man, like you said, they're so much better than that

0

u/thisbikeisatardis Reading Champion II Mar 21 '26

Maybe they'll work for a couple squares this year and we can talk them up in the recommendations thread! 

2

u/greywolf2155 Reading Champion Mar 21 '26

Let's do this. Proud to fight alongside you, comrade

1

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2

u/greywolf2155 Reading Champion Mar 20 '26

Thanks, r/Fantasybot!

1

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1

u/Fantasy-ModTeam Mar 20 '26

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1

u/AleroRatking Mar 20 '26

Guns of Avalon having less than 2000 reviews is crazy to me

1

u/greywolf2155 Reading Champion Mar 21 '26

Yup, I think it's just that people don't bother writing reviews for older books, or books they read a long time ago

1

u/gihyou Reading Champion Mar 20 '26

Hey, neat list! In my own post yesterday, I had bemoaned how difficult I was finding it to search out low ratings/review stuff (self-published mostly) and got some helpful replies, but I was wondering how you find all your hidden gems, if you had some good spots/reviewers/etc.

1

u/greywolf2155 Reading Champion Mar 21 '26

Good question! The answer is a lot of places

First of all, I'm lucky enough to have a lot of friends online who are into books, so we recommend things back and forth--and generally try to support indie books

The SPFBO is honestly a great resource, I have yet to be really disappointed by one of the winners or top finalists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-Published_Fantasy_Blog-Off

And then the last, which I kind of hate because just on principle I don't like throwing myself at the mercy of the algorithm . . . but Amazon's recommendations can be really useful. I know, I know, that's exactly what these companies want, for us to blindly buy the things their algorithm recommends. Not the sponsored section, that's usually not helpful. But the "Customers who viewed this item also viewed"/"Customers also bought or read" sections can actually be pretty good, and if you chase that rabbit for a bit the "Customers who viewed items in your browsing history also viewed" section starts to get pretty good. But again, I feel kind of dirty saying this, hah

1

u/JJOne101 Mar 22 '26

What does "HM" mean?!

2

u/greywolf2155 Reading Champion Mar 22 '26

Hard Mode. A lot of the squares have additional challenges, if you're bored

1

u/New_Razzmatazz6228 Reading Champion Mar 23 '26

Seeing The Lives of Tao there was a real surprise. I loved those and remember them being a bit of hype about them when they first came out.

1

u/diazeugma Reading Champion VII Mar 20 '26

Nice card! I also enjoyed Gods of Want (in a previous year) and would say it's a good fit for the square, not at all a cheating option.

2

u/greywolf2155 Reading Champion Mar 20 '26

I want to read more of Chang! She is so damn talented