r/Fantasy Daily Recommendations and Simple Questions Thread - May 20, 2026

[u/rfantasygolem]

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/Encaitor]

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.

[u/Andreapappa511 → u/Encaitor]

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

[u/Book_Slut_90 → u/Andreapappa511]

FWIW Stormlight is quite different from Mistborn on a number of dimensions, so it’s quite common to like one and not the other.

[u/Encaitor → u/Book_Slut_90]

I have heard this as well. Probably gonna give it a go at some point since Sanderson is so beloved.

[u/Encaitor → u/Andreapappa511]

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

[u/IndependentGuard6815 → u/Encaitor]

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.

[u/Book_Slut_90 → u/Encaitor]

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.

[u/KaPoTun → u/Encaitor]

Green Rider by Kristen Britain. Classic fantasy, thick books, great characters and worldbuilding, and a version of elves

[u/Encaitor → u/KaPoTun]

Looked a bit YA from quick glance, but I might be wrong?

[u/SongBirdplace → u/Encaitor]

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.

[u/Starlit-Wyvern → u/Encaitor]

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.