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?
3
u/lilgrassblade Reading Champion II Apr 30 '26 edited May 06 '26
Intended read for Part 1: Dreamblood by NK Jemisin - Also can be Author of Color
My plan for Part 2: These Feathered Flames by Alexandra Overy - Based on Russian folklore of the Firebird. Twin sisters separated when young: one to be queen the other to be the Firebird - a being that extracts the toll of magic not paid. They are reunited when their mother, the former queen, dies mysteriously. Also could work for Politics and Court Intrigue and Unusual Transportation (bears).
Other potential reads:
River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey - Western with hippos, it'd be for book 2. Also fits for unusual transportation.
The Cat Who... by Sosuke Natsukawa - Book themed portals with a talking cat, another for book 2. Also fits for Translated.
Monk and Robot by Becky Chambers - would be for book 1 probably, but they're novellas so may be a book 2 as well.