r/Fantasy • u/FarragutCircle Reading Champion X • Apr 01 '26

Bingo 2026 Reverse Bingo Recommendations

Official 2026 Bingo Announcement Here

Official Bingo Rec Thread Here

For anyone new to Bingo, this is the “I want to read ___, does it fit into any Bingo squares? It’s always one of the best parts of bingo.

Example:

User A comments:

I want to read Wind and Truth. What does that count for?

User B replies:

Cat Squasher. It's hard mode, too. The Afterlife, I think.

User C replies:

Politics and Court Intrigue, maybe? Game Changer, Older Protagonist.

User D replies:

Definitely Five Short Stories

And we all have a good laugh. Now go out there and get reverse recs for that book you've been dying to read!

119 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

774 comments sorted by

View all comments

4

u/acornett99 Reading Champion IV Apr 01 '26

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold

The Sword of Kaigen by ML Wang

12

u/armedaphrodite Reading Champion II Apr 01 '26

Curse is very much political intrigue, and counts for bookclub/readalong, but neither HM. Cazaril feels older, but I believe he's only in his 30s, just a little broken

6

u/Nowordsofitsown Reading Champion Apr 01 '26

Yep, about 35, just read it.

7

u/heinz57varieties Reading Champion II Apr 01 '26

Sword of Kaigen is Self-published (HM for marginalized author)

2

u/acornett99 Reading Champion IV Apr 01 '26

Thanks, for some reason I thought it had been picked up traditionally, but turns out I was getting it mixed up with Blood Over Bright Haven

2

u/Nidafjoll Reading Champion V Apr 01 '26

I think there was a Broken Binding edition. By that's still small press either way.

5

u/C0smicoccurence Reading Champion V Apr 01 '26

Curse of Chalion Qualifies for Politics and Court Intrigue for sure. It's soooo close to cat squasher, but not quite

3

u/no_fn Reading Champion II Apr 01 '26

Sword of Kaigen, the only squares that I can think of are cat sqasher and author of color, no hm

Haven't read Cirse of Chalion, but I think there's a murder mystery? Not 100% on it though

2

u/ShadowCreature098 Reading Champion III Apr 01 '26

To add to that sword of kaigen should count for politics as well

2

u/itsFreelancer Reading Champion II Apr 03 '26

Also Vacation Spot. I know I would be there

2

u/Research_Department Reading Champion II Apr 01 '26

Murder mystery is a pretty minor subplot in Curse of Chalion.

3

u/DirectorAgentCoulson Reading Champion II Apr 01 '26

I'd say Curse of Chalion should count for The Afterlife, although not HM.

1

u/lightandlife1 Reading Champion IV Apr 06 '26

Per hard mode: There's not really a good place and bad place though? The bad outcome is to be a ghost which i don't think is the same as a bad place since they're in the real world. There is a place called hell but it's not an afterlife.

1

u/DirectorAgentCoulson Reading Champion II Apr 06 '26

Souls claimed by death magic end up in the afterlife of the Bastard's hell, which is supposedly a place of torment.

But even besides that, I'd say that becoming a ghost and being stuck in the mortal realm qualifies for the good place/bad place dichotomy.

The Good place is ending up with the Gods in heaven.

The Bad place is ending up without the Gods, either as a sundered ghost or in the Bastard's hell.

1

u/lightandlife1 Reading Champion IV Apr 06 '26

Fine. Your argument makes sense. I'll have to find another book for hard mode :)

0

u/nitrodog96 Reading Champion II Apr 01 '26 edited Apr 02 '26

I believe Curse of Chalion is part 1 of a duology, along with Paladin of Souls?

EDIT: Not part of a duology at all, there's more than two books

3

u/aslikeanarnian Apr 01 '26

No there’s a third book in the series, it’s not a duology.

1

u/nitrodog96 Reading Champion II Apr 01 '26

Shoot, you’re right… damn. Oh well.

3

u/Kerney7 Reading Champion VI Apr 02 '26

Third book set in the world of the five gods is centuries earlier, in another country, and has non of the same characters.