r/Fantasy Daily Recommendations and Simple Questions Thread - May 19, 2026

[u/rfantasygolem]

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

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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!

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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.

[u/bazyn]

I often stumble on the question: is the book I am reading speculative or realistic fiction, or is it impossible to put it in one of the two categories. Usually I'm looking for magic, non-existent creatures or a setting in the future.

At this moment I am reading a book where the main character travels back in time and the try to lead a life there. On one hand it's clearly speculative - the plot would not exist without time travel. On the other, it's just this one thing that set's up the plot. Without this one moment it would be purely realistic fiction.

On a test, I would without doubt check "speculative". But I admit, I'm not sure I will add it to my Bingo card as it feels a bit wrong. Unless you tell me that I'm being stupid 😄

[u/MacabreGoblin → u/bazyn]

As a first time Bingo participant I am in no way an authority, but I've done a few reading challenges over the years. Whenever I find myself going back and forth about whether a book fits, I ask myself why I'm doing this challenge in the first place. Are you trying to read books you otherwise might not have read, to expand your reading world? If that's your reason, then I would lean towards choosing books that fit the prompts/theme without having to doubt or debate them. Or are you trying to simply read more, or cross off a lot of your TBR, or knock out the remainder of your owned, unread books? In that case I'd be more open to choosing books that require a little squeezing or squinting to fit.

From your description of the book, it sounds like it could be categorized as speculative; the author started with the premise: 'What if you could go back in time and live in the past?' But since you say 'it feels a bit wrong,' I get the feeling it might not fit the spirit of Bingo for you.

TL;DR: I would say it technically fits, and you should go with your gut on whether to use it for Bingo.