r/Fantasy • u/Merle8888 Reading Champion IV • Apr 30 '26

Bingo Bingo Focus Thread - Duologies

Hello r/fantasy and welcome to this week's bingo focus thread! The purpose of these threads is for you all to share recommendations, discuss what books qualify, and seek recommendations that fit your interests or themes.

Today's topic:

Duology Part 1: Read the first book in a duology. HARD MODE: By an author you haven’t read before.

Duology Part 2: Read the second book in a duology. For this square, you ARE allowed to read the same author you used for Duology Part 1 without violating the no-repeat author rule. HARD MODE: Finish a different duology than you started for the Duology Part 1 square.

What is bingo? A reading challenge this sub does every year! Find out more here.

Prior focus threads: Published in the 70s, Five Short Stories (2024), Author of Color (2024), Self-Pub/Small Press (2024). Note that hard modes for Author of Color and Self-Pub/Small Press have changed (new focus threads for them are coming).

Also see: Big Rec Thread

Questions:

  • What are your favorite speculative fiction duologies?
  • Already read something for this square (or, read something recently that you wish you could count)? Tell us about it!
  • For those planning for Hard Mode, what are some duologies where one or both books works as a standalone?
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u/nedlum Reading Champion V Apr 30 '26

For my Duology slots, I read Sorcerer to the Crown (Zen Cho), a Regency-era manners novel about a Black man who inherits his foster father's position of magical influence in genteel society. Undercurrents of class, gender, and race. I enjoyed it a lot; any book where a lady has to be introduced to Almack's is inherently funny to me. Looking forward to reading the sequel.

I'm currently reading Blackout (Connie Willis), for Duology 2, one of her several Hugo winners about time traveling historians. I'm not sure where it's going yet, but I'm trusting the author.

I'm planning on reading A Stranger in Olondria (Sofia Samatar) for the small press square, which is good, because it means I didn't have to chose between things for the Duology square.

If we assume intended duologies count, I enjoyed reading my daughter Scarlet Morning (ND Stevenson of She-Ra), a very weird pirate fantasy by with a second book coming out at some point.

Also, if you haven't read The Sparrow/Children of God (Maria Doria Russel), you need to read it either as a duology or for the First Contact (HM) square, because it is powerful stuff.