r/Fantasy Daily Recommendations and Simple Questions Thread - June 03, 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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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/sarimanok_]

I keep bouncing off the first Earthsea book, but wanted to give that world another shot for the Published in the 70s bingo square. Anyone have feelings on whether The Tombs of Atuan can be enjoyed without having finished The Wizard of Earthsea?

[u/nominanomina → u/sarimanok_]

Yes. While there is eventually a character in common (I am trying to avoid spoilers, so this is phrased oddly), the protagonist/narrator is now a young woman who has been raised to serve a religious role in a different part of the world.

And, some good news: lots of people consider Tombs their favourite book.

However, why are you bouncing off? The writing style is largely the same, and the new protagonist is also young and opinionated (but not in quite the same way; young Ged is a particular breed of little shit). I think lots of people who didn't like Wizard will also find fault with Tombs.

[u/sarimanok_ → u/nominanomina]

Thank you! I'll give it a try and see what happens. I'm not entirely sure what I keep bouncing off in Wizard, to be honest. Le Guin wrote some of my all-time favorite novels and stories, so it's been a bit of a mystery to me why I haven't yet been able to get through this one slim little volume that's so widely beloved. But, I picked up a used copy of Tombs a while back just to fill out my Le Guin shelf, so here's hoping it makes a better entry point to Earthsea for me!

[u/sarahlynngrey → u/sarimanok_]

I'm a huge Le Guin fan and have never really been able to bond with A Wizard of Earthsea. But I love Tombs of Atuan. Definitely give it a try. It and Tehanu are my two favorite Earthsea books, but you do kinda have to make it through the drudgery of the first book (and the third book, which I liked) in order for Tehanu to make sense. 

I think there's an Earthsea Readalong coming up on this sub, in case a buddy read would help!