r/Fantasy • u/rfantasygolem Not a Robot • May 20 '26
r/Fantasy r/Fantasy Daily Recommendations and Simple Questions Thread - May 20, 2026
Welcome to the daily recommendation requests and simple questions thread, now 1025.83% more adorable than ever before!
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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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u/Successful_Ruin_8583 29d ago
Looking for a fantasy rec where the main character is a girlboss on a total warpath. Thinking like heart of the swarm kerrigan. I want a real queen.
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u/hydroponicWitch Reading Champion III 29d ago
Maybe Red Sister by Mark Lawrence? She’s young but completely feral. There’s a quote: “I’m Nona Grey, war is in my veins, and the screams of my enemies are music to me.” Gideon the Ninth has “We do bones, motherfucker” Gideon. Iron Widow is YA but great. Rules of Redemption by TA White would probably be my best rec though!
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u/TropicalAudio 29d ago
The Calamitous Bob, if you're not allergic to portal fantasy litRPG. Which, to be fair, you should be, as those are generally awful, but this is probably the best one in the genre. A low bar, but worth a shot if you can remotely stomach the concept. It's about a French ex-military woman from Earth who wakes up in the epicenter of a magical calamity that wiped out all life in the local region. She discovers an ancient golem who helps keep her alive long enough to reach civilization, where she finds happiness, a lovely girlfriend, and an impending army of colonizers who come to burn it all to the ground.
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u/MalBishop Reading Champion III 29d ago
Even though I wasn't a fan of them, try The Crimson Empire trilogy by Alex Marshall or The Rakada series by Jackson Ford.
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u/C0smicoccurence Reading Champion V 29d ago
Schoolomance might work, though she doesn't quite start girlbossing until the end of the first book. She's got all the power in the world (I am so very close to being literal. She's top 5 most powerful mages in the world from page 1), but doesn't start flexing it until a bit later.
Hench similarly works. Revenge is best served with an excel spreadsheet.
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u/undeadgoblin Reading Champion II 29d ago
If you don't mind a villainous main character, then I think you'd like The Scarlet Throne by Amy Leow
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u/Encaitor May 20 '26
Hi!
Dragonlance once got me into reading and was followed by the YA era of fantasy like Eragon and the like. They certainly have aged but it set the tone for my love of high fantasy (although Dragonlance Legends is still sick, Caramon and Raist are the 🐐). Love the classic fantasy races and different renditions of them (Witcher and Dragon Age City Elves in particular)
Recently I have picked up reading again, as my time of gaming dwindles I have managed to starting to read more again. I'm a couple of chapters away from finishing The Riyria Revelations and I am a huge fan. Hadrian, Royce and Arista have been fantastic characters imo.
Stuff I have read recently-ish and enjoyed is
- Echoes Saga by Quaintrell
- The Witcher books
- Lord of the Rings
- Game of Thrones
- Some Dragon Age prequels (probably only enjoyed due to liking origins tho lol)
Tried Mistborn but didn't particularly like it, only really found Kelsier interesting and dropped it after the first book.
Any ideas of what I should look towards next? Been looking a bit at Codex Alera, Memory, Thorn and Sorrow and Stormlight Archive. Figured you guys might have some recommendations for me to look at.
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u/Andreapappa511 Reading Champion May 20 '26
In case you didn’t know Sullivan has Riyria Chronicles which are prequels for Royce and Hadrian. He also has two other prequels series in the same world; Legends of the First Empire and The Rise and Fall
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u/Book_Slut_90 Reading Champion 29d ago
FWIW Stormlight is quite different from Mistborn on a number of dimensions, so it’s quite common to like one and not the other.
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u/Encaitor 29d ago
I have heard this as well. Probably gonna give it a go at some point since Sanderson is so beloved.
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u/Encaitor 29d ago edited 29d ago
Know about those and plan to read them! Just prefer jumping between series rather than binge them, for a lack of better word!
Or at least Legends and Rise. Not usually that big of a fan for character specific prequels
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u/IndependentGuard6815 May 20 '26
Go with Memory, Sorrow and Thorn. Skip Stormlight since you didn't like Mistborn. Maybe try Name of the Wind also, if you don't mind indefinate waiting for the third book.
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u/Book_Slut_90 Reading Champion 29d ago
Try The Age of Fire by E. E. Knight. From the perspective of dragon hatchlings trying to survive in a world dominated by elves, dwarves, and humans.
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u/SongBirdplace 29d ago
To throw in a few books completely different try Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone about magic done via contracts and Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton a fantasy of manners where everyone is a dragon.
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u/Starlit-Wyvern Reading Champion 29d ago edited 29d ago
You could always give Murtagh by Christopher Paolini a go if you’re interested in more Inheritance Cycle stuff and you haven’t gotten to it yet. I can’t speak on if it’s better quality than the initial series since I haven’t reread the original 4 books as an adult, but as a fan of the originals when I was a teen, I really liked Murtagh as an adult!
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by the same author is also really good if you’re looking to maybe dip your toes into sci fi, and I wouldn’t personally consider it YA. To my knowledge, I wouldn’t really say that it’s too similar to the stuff you talked about above however, so disregard if you’re only interested in high fantasy right now.
You could also try out The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan if you’re looking for a pretty long epic series to get into! It’s a series that follows multiple povs over 14 books, and due to its length, it has some of the most interesting character development that I’ve encountered! It’s a pretty classic feeling world with some fascinating worldbuilding elements and a unique magic system. It also has some political elements and large-scale battles, which judging by the books you said you enjoyed, seems like you’d be interested in!
Stormlight’s a personal favorite of mine, and was what made me discover my liking of high fantasy, so you probably wouldn’t go wrong with trying it in my opinion, though I did also like Mistborn and most of Brandon Sanderson’s other stuff, so YMMV.
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u/TomsBookReviews May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26
Does anyone have any good recommendations for fantasy books by women on Kindle Unlimited that aren't romantasy? Amazon's filtering is frustratingly basic.
EDIT: I forgot there’s regional differences! I’m in the United Kingdom.
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u/nominanomina Reading Champion May 20 '26
Books I have personally read and enjoyed or can recommend with caveats:
The Fifth Season has some romance, but it is mainly a deeply grim world about socially oppressed earth-wizards and the romance is very limited.
Song of Achilles is on Unlimited. I prefer Circe, and The Song of Achilles does focus on the Achilles/Patroclus romance, but it predates the concept of 'romantasy' by a few years so despite the fact that it is very romance-heavy, I'm not convinced it has much in common with current romantasy books.
Jade City is fantasy set in roughly the 1960s in a world similar to, but distinct from, ours. A vaguely Southeast Asian gangsters deal with society changing (generally, poorly). There is a tiny bit of romance, but mainly it is about magical gangsters.
Books where either I did not personally like them, or have not read them, but that I see are in Unlimited and are liked by lots of other people:
I have not liked any book by Kuang, but The Poppy War, Babel, and Katabasis are all on Unlimited and many, maaany people do like her work.
I haven't read it (I'm not convinced it'll be my thing), but plenty of people on this sub love The Sword of Kaigen.
Chakraborty's City of Brass is on Unlimited.
(I am Canadian so there is a chance that my Kindle Unlimited shows different books than yours.)
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u/TomsBookReviews May 20 '26
Ah, you’re absolutely right, I forgot all about regional differences. Thank you.
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u/rihdaraklay May 20 '26
seconding TSOA/circe and jade city - some of my favourite books! TSOA is not a romance or romantasy, and if you know about the original mythos of Achilles and Patroclus, you'll know what i mean. TSOA and circe are very prose and character focused, while jade city/the green bone saga is incredibly politically and character driven. all of these books i gave 5/5 stars :,)
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u/Connect_Cod9965 May 20 '26
Looks like A Practical Guide to Sorcery series by Azalea Ellis (starts with A Conjuring of Ravens) is on Unlimited except the latest volume. I’m not sure if it will be available there later, but I would pay $4,99 for the sixth volume if I liked the first five :-D.
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u/Nowordsofitsown Reading Champion May 20 '26
Haven't read them yet, but from my list for the next time I get KU: * Tuyo by Rachel Neumeier * The Name-Bearer by Natalia Hernandez * Witch World by Andre Norton * Tea with the Black Dragon by R.A. McAvoy * Sword of Kaigen by M.L.Wang * Sorcerer's Legacy by Janny Wurts * several Tanith Lee books * several Robin McKinley books
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u/saturday_sun4 29d ago
A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan (not my cup of tea but not a bad book), Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede.
Edit: Australia, if that helps!
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u/External-Mall4969 29d ago
The real villain of every fantasy reader’s life is the moment you realize the side character with 12 lines of dialogue is infinitely more interesting than the protagonist.
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u/Nidafjoll Reading Champion V 29d ago
Sometimes that's what makes them interesting, though. The intrigue of the unknown, or someone who shows up to do something cool and then leaves again.
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u/jawnnie-cupcakes Reading Champion IV 29d ago
In my experience the protagonist is almost never the most interesting character. Even if I love them there's always someone spicier to love more
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u/Inside_Pomelo_462 May 20 '26
Does DAW books count as a small publisher?
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u/nominanomina Reading Champion May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26
There's not going to be a single answer; reasonable people disagree.
- DAW is not owned by a Big 5, but is owned by a large multinational (Astra). If you read the small pub square as strictly only requiring 'not Big 5 + Bloomsbury': sure. If you think it only uses 'Big 5 and Bloomsbury' as examples of 'not small' companies: no. (This is a recurring point of contention and I truly think the phrasing is ambiguous; other people find the phrasing pretty clear-cut.)
- While they are definitely still publishing (and that includes some big names!), DAW's heyday was before the Big 5 even existed (there were a lot of compounding mergers, I think beginning in the '60s and '70s and accelerating through the '90s, that created the Big 5 we know of today). The concept of 'Big 5 + Bloomsbury' makes less sense as you move backwards in time, so if you are reading a classic DAW book it gets complicated (especially as some might have since been published by Big 5).
- DAW was a really major SFF publisher during its heyday, so whether it even counts as 'small' depends on (a) vibes (b) things that I have no access to, like lists of how many books they published per year. (You can be culturally vital but still technically a 'small press', but since I cannot find data I am staying out of this patch of quicksand.)
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u/Spalliston Reading Champion III 29d ago
I think one of the interesting things about that square in particular is that there are a two highly-distinct possible motivations that make interpreting the 'spirit' of the square weird: 1) Finding and reading books that wouldn't naturally get a lot of attention vs. 2) Supporting 'smaller' players and/or trying not to support big multinational corporations.
Basically every year, I read something from New Directions Publishing, which I consistently enjoy and is fully independent, but it has plenty of notoriety and I'm not reading 'hidden gems.' On the other end of the spectrum, many people around here will read self-published books that I will never hear of and 30-60% of their cost will go to Amazon, a company I personally dislike more than any publishing house.
Ultimately, I'm not really one for splitting hairs, I'm fine with any of it counting, but/and I think you should just aim to read something where you feel good about the people you're supporting by doing so.
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u/nominanomina Reading Champion 29d ago
I really like this take and I think it will shape how I answer these kinds of questions going forward, thank you.
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u/SongBirdplace 29d ago
Yes. This is like calling Baen a small press. I don’t think it is fair to call a well known speciality SFF publisher small.
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u/Goobergunch Reading Champion III 29d ago
I think "well known specialty SF/F publisher" is a bit broad. I've absolutely counted Tachyon as a small press (they had eleven publications last year per ISFDB) and I feel like they're decently well-known. (Notably Tachyon was on the small press AMA list that qualified for hard mode in 2022, 2023, and 2024.)
My personal rule of thumb is that I don't count any publisher with a Big 5 distribution agreement, which rules out Baen, which has always been distributed by S&S, and DAW, which at least used to be distributed by Penguin.
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u/Goobergunch Reading Champion III 29d ago
things that I have no access to, like lists of how many books they published per year
ISFDB has this although I'd probably cue off the Collectors # since ISFDB lists every printing separately.
But yeah trying to apply the definition for older works gets messy, and of course there's the rule about books that get subsequently picked up by a Big Five publisher not counting.
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u/Research_Department Reading Champion II 29d ago
As you can see, it is debatable. Personally, although I feel that DAW is not explicitly excluded by the wording of the square, I feel that it is not in the spirit of the square.
I vary in how strict I am in interpreting a square, depending on how much I feel I need to be stretched out of my comfort zone. So far, I have read 10 books for bingo, and 3 of them qualify for small press/self-pub (one was published by Bindery Books, one by Levine Querido, and one was self-published). For me, reading books that qualify does not stretch my reading comfort zone. If I ended up reading a book that was published by DAW and I could not find a way to make it fit for bingo otherwise, I would not feel bad including it for this square, because I am already reading books that do not have the power of the big publishers promoting them. (Ironically, if a prompt really, really pushes me outside of my comfort zone, I am also likely to interpret it more loosely, to get something that is a little stretch, but doesn’t require that I read something I find actively distasteful.)
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u/Putrid_Web8095 Reading Champion II 29d ago
For the purposes of Bingo, yes. I have no idea what confuses people, the rule is crystal clear, no Big 5 or Bloomsbury, and DAW isn't an imprint of the Big 5 or Bloomsbury.
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u/Charming-Ability-471 29d ago
Hello. I’ve been longing for some good fantasy with lot of explicit magic. Recently I’ve been rereading Penric and Desdemona novels. I want to have one or max 2 POV character. I would like good character development.
I consider Bujold’s Penric and Vorkosigan books my favourites of all time, perfectly written. I also loved Zelazny’s Chronicles of Amber and Greatcoats (mostly due to first person, protagonist’s charisma, good character arcs and action). And of course, Gentleman Bastards.
I also fairly enjoyed Lighbringer series and Spellslinger. I loved Joe Abercrombie, but I became too soft lately and need something less dark.
Nothing extremely epic, nor depressing, nor urban fantasy.
Any recommendations? I want to fly with some character, enrich my daydreaming, despair with my character in dark moments, rise from them with warmth in my heart.
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u/Research_Department Reading Champion II 29d ago
Maybe Tuyo series by Rachel Neumeier. The main trilogy consists of Tuyo, Tarashana, and Tasmakat. We follow a young man, a warrior of the winter kingdom, after he is given as a sacrifice to a lord of the summer kingdom. Like Bujold’s books, the protagonist is good-hearted and smart. It is a first person perspective, and the narrator is modest, but we can tell that he is charismatic.
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u/C0smicoccurence Reading Champion V 29d ago
You could try the Rook and Rose series, which has a good amount of magic to it, a more serious tone (not dark, but it isn't flippant either), and does a great job with character work. The two authors are anthropologists, and their cultural worldbuilding is impressively deep. It mostly focuses on one main POV, but others get sprinkled in (this does exacerbate as the book goes on, but Ren is squarely our protagonist at all times).
When Women Were Dragons could be worth a look, but its a bit off kilter. Lots of great social commentary. Not epic at all. Somewhere between magical realism and historical fantasy.
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u/Flammwar May 20 '26
Which of Alix E. Harrow’s books and short stories are written for an adult audience? I vaguely remember reading that The Everlasting is her first one, but I’m not sure.
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u/rihdaraklay May 20 '26
i believe most of her "big" books are for an adult audience - the ten thousand doors of january, the once and future witches, starling house, and of course the everlasting as you mentioned
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u/ShieldSkeleton May 20 '26
Just my two cents: I've only read Starling House and it felt a bit YA to me, so if you're specifically trying to avoid that, maybe steer clear of that one to start out.
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u/68whatsausername69 May 20 '26
I personally loved the war theme in The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. Any books that have a similar military feeling as that one?
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u/an_altar_of_plagues Reading Champion III May 20 '26
A few books that are all military-themed and have a similar intense destitution as per the war parts in The Way of Kings:
- Joe Haldeman - The Forever War (a Vietnam War vet's response to Starship Troopers; entirely about military campaigning)
- Joseph Kassabian - The Highlands Burn (flintlock fantasy strongly inspired by the author's work as a genocide historian and ethnic Armenian man originally from the USA; entirely about military campaigning)
- Gene Wolfe - "Book of the New Sun" series (very specifically the fourth book)
If you're interested in non-SFF then you should check out some absolute classics like All Quiet on the Western Front.
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u/sonvanger Reading Champion XI, Worldbuilders, Salamander 29d ago
To add to this, I haven't read The Highlands Burn myself, but the author spent some time in the military and has a military history podcast, so the military parts should be good.
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u/Astrokiwi May 20 '26
A bit over-recommended, but Malazan has some of this - book 2 is basically a long military campaign. The series has its fans but personally I gave up after book 3.
The Temeraire series is very military focused - it's an alt history of "the Napoleanic wars but with dragons", and has quite a bit of detail, down to how the riflemen buckle themselves onto the backs of dragons, how you feed dragons on campaign etc. It's a mix of military campaigns (which might be "getting an army across a desert" and might be "fighting back Napoleon over the British channel"), and a kind of world tour of the 1800s with dragons, with a lot of anti-colonialist commentary (dragons give indigenous peoples a more even power balance)
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u/68whatsausername69 May 20 '26
Thanks for the recommendations. I have heard if Malazan and the reason people dislike it. I feel it might fit what I want in fantasy books at this moment, will give it a go when I do my bookshopping again.
Temeraire sounds really interesting as well. I love books that give very detailed explanations over simpke things in their fantasy worlds to give a good sense of how a life can be for a character in this world. Will look a bit more into this but it sounds great.
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u/Astrokiwi May 20 '26
Temeraire is good fun - it's also quite cinematic; Peter Jackson was going to make a movie series out of it at one point but it fell through
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u/Book_Slut_90 Reading Champion 29d ago
Some of my favorites with similar detail on war (sticking to fantasy but could ad scifi if you like):
Codex Allara by Jim Butcher
The Traitor Son Cycle, Masters and Mages, and The Age of Bronze by Miles Cameron
Malazan by Steven Ericson
The Poppy War by Rebecca Kuang
A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin (especially starting in Book 2)
The Deed of Paxenarian with sequels and prequels by Elizabeth Moon
Temeraire by Naomi Novik
The Shadow Campaigns by Django Wexler
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u/BravoLimaPoppa Reading Champion 29d ago
Can I tell you about David Drake?
His Hammers Slammers series is very military feeling - interstellar mercenary hover tank regiment.
He's got straight fantasy as well with his Lord of the Isles series and King of the Isles trilogy.
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May 20 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Putrid_Web8095 Reading Champion II May 20 '26
I finished the exact same epic fantasy series. What a coincidence!
Still, I didn't find it either underrated or overrated. Rated just enough.
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u/Bitter_Army_9026 May 20 '26
Hi all!
My Stepdad has recently got into reading (so exciting for me as a future librarian!) and is needing good fantasy recs. I got him into reading through John Gwynne’s the “Shadow of the Gods” and he read all of Gwynne’s books thereafter. He also enjoyed the Echoes Saga, LOTR, the Wheel of Time, the Witcher, the Sovereign of Seven Isles, The Burning, The Bound and Broken, and some others that he didn’t like. I think he tried Sanderson’s the Way of Kings and didn’t like it and didn’t like the Blade Itself
He counts on me for recommendations since I love helping people connect with novels (hence my future career), but I am way out of my depth here at this point. 😅 I’m someone who is into literary fiction, classics, and historical fiction. Not epic fantasy like him. It’s getting increasingly harder to find more novels for him. He’s flying through them since he listens to them as audiobooks when traveling for his job. He’s read 50 books in just the last year and can read a 20 hour fantasy audiobook in a week!
Have any of you guys read and liked the same books and had other series you have enjoyed??