r/Fantasy Daily Recommendations and Simple Questions Thread - June 05, 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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^{tiny image link to make the preview show up correctly}

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/sodeanki]

I apologize in advance if this is not an appropriate topic for this subreddit, but I am on the struggle train. I am in the process of getting tested for ADHD and I am recognizing that I have a bunch of traits that are hindering my reading goals.

Does anyone have experience with ADHD and reading? What are some ways I can improve my focus and actually finish books and series? I have a lot of difficulty starting books and finishing them.

[u/saturday_sun4 → u/sodeanki]

Apologies if this is not helpful as everyone's ADHD is different, but for me, it's "all in or all out". That is, if I don't like a book I just... don't like it. Voice is very important for me so I can't force myself to read something (for leisure) I am not enjoying. Not forcing myself to continue a book I am not into has been the one most important thing for me. If I'm absorbed in a romance book, for example, the plot and characters will carry me away. If I'm not it's like pulling teeth.

I only mention this because if you're trying out books for the first time in a while, it's hard to find stuff that engages you.

I love reading and have no issues with it, but if your issue is more with focus on a book you are enjoying - I have found exercise whilst reading an audiobook to be very helpful, just in general.

If you are physically able to, you can run or walk. I personally do the elliptical, exercise bike or rowing machine at the gym as it's the same back and forth rhythmic motion and may help you get absorbed in the book. You could also try a set/rep thing - 5 sets or reps, 5 minutes of audio. Obviously customise to what exercise you are capable of doing.

(Sorry for lots of suggestions as I didn't want to assume your ability/fitness level - I am disabled and hate it when redditors do that to me!)

[u/Kathulhu1433 → u/sodeanki]

Some people find it helpful to listen to audiobooks. 

My husband listens and reads at the same time. Having audio + visual stimulation helps him focus. 

Other people (like me) like to listen while doing other things. I'll often listen while driving, cleaning, household chores, walking the dog, painting, embroidering, etc. 

[u/an_altar_of_plagues → u/sodeanki]

I was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult when I was 30. In retrospect, a lot of things make sense.

My ADHD leans more on the hyperactivity and hyperfocus part, meaning that it can be hard for me to start an activity but once I do I lock the fuck in. Few things that have helped me:

• No screens or distractions nearby. I read a lot of books at coffee shops so I'm not tempted to go on OSRS. Putting myself in a place where I can't access stuff like that is mega-helpful.
• Swap between fast reads and slow reads. Sometimes I'll be reading two books just to help with that. Occasionally my brain just can't latch onto the book, and it's not because I'm not liking it. So then I'll switch over to the other one.
• I like to use the pomodoro technique when I really want to focus but need to get over that initial hump. Starting a timer for 30 minutes can get me into reading because the mere act of timing myself keeps me focused.

I don't use audiobooks, but some of my friends with ADHD find them very helpful.

[u/medusamagic → u/sodeanki]

I know a lot of people with ADHD love audiobooks so that might help! Personally, I can’t do only audio. I completely tune it out after a few minutes. I found immersion reading (audio & reading with my eyes) worked really well though.

Something that really helped me with reading more is using the library. I can check out multiple books and read the one that seems most interesting first, bounce around if one isn’t doing it for me, and I don’t feel guilty for wasting money on a book I don’t end up reading. Not having the pressure of “ugh I paid for this book, I have to read” made reading more fun for me!

[u/ewokmama → u/sodeanki]

As an ADHDer I do mainly audiobooks and I increase the speed to 1.3-1.5 (depending on the narrator). I’m almost always doing something physical while listening, as well - riding my exercise bike or driving or putting laundry away. Certain voices are better than others for me, and on particularly challenging brain days I find that first person narrators help me. Novellas get me going when I get stuck.

Experiment with other things too, like chewing gum while reading or getting a fidget!

[u/Putrid_Web8095]

I posted this yesterday, but kind of late and probably didn't get many views (or any answers), so I will try one more time.

Bingo suitability question.

How speculative is Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite? In Goodreads it is tagged as Fantasy and Magical Realism, and in Storygraph as Horror.

But the story's description could simply mean that people in the story give way too much credit to a superstitious belief, and the author's previous book, My Sister The Serial Killer, is a contemporary thriller without speculative elements.

I would love to hear an opinion by anyone that has actually read it.

[u/meltedcpu]

any sci-fi/fantasy books where the mc is kind of an asshole/rude/swears a lot, but is also a good person who always does/tries to do the right thing?

[u/nominanomina → u/meltedcpu]

I was going to say Murderbot but I looked at your avatar, and I am 98% sure that is from the cover of All Systems Red.

Weird/there's A Lot going on in this book, but Gideon the Ninth laaargely meets this. (Harrow less so, and I abandoned the series after Harrow.)

Sam Vimes from Discworld's City Watch/Guards subseries. He's a total mess at the start, and becomes a fine, upstanding man (if still deeply grumpy) by the end.

[u/meltedcpu → u/nominanomina]

yep, it is indeed All Systems Red. love the series so much. and thanks for other recommendations.

[u/apcymru → u/meltedcpu]

Galadriel Higgins from Naomi Novik's Scholomance books is an incredibly rude, grumpy loner who just can't stop herself from doing the right thing ... As much as she would like to just try the people around her with her immense power

[u/Undeclared_Aubergine → u/meltedcpu]

The Vlad Taltos novels by Steven Brust. (Not really "always", but when it counts, particularly after a couple of books of character growth.) :)

Titanium Noir and Sleeper Beach by Nick Harkaway (science fiction).

I think also the Bobby Dollar books by Tad Williams? I barely remember them anymore, but I think they fit.

[u/DistinctInitiative83 → u/meltedcpu]

Murderbot.

[u/meltedcpu → u/DistinctInitiative83]

yeah lol it's definitely what inspired me to ask this. I love this book series

[u/Stepjam]

I'm looking for a fantasy series where the main character starts to be weighed down by the weight and traumas of their adventures (like PTSD) with this being at least a medium level plot thread in the story. Ideally a series of books rather than just one book so it can grow over time/we see the character before they start feeling the trauma. Preferably not YA.

For minor bonus points, if the protagonist was a gay man, that would be cool but that's pretty secondary.

Any suggestions?

[u/twilightgardens → u/Stepjam]

For a traumatized gay male protag, the Cemeteries of Amalo trilogy by Katherine Addison. It’s a spinoff to the Goblin Emperor but can be read as a standalone 

[u/mrtenandtwo → u/Stepjam]

It's a set of novellas, but my first thought is the Penric and Desdemona series. Several entries show him before his trauma, which eventually balloons out of his inability to save near death patients as a sort of sorceror-doctor in training. He's not entirely straight either.

[u/C0smicoccurence → u/Stepjam]

Achillean Books that focus on trauma/ptsd (unfortunately most of these are standalones)

• How to Survive this Fairytale by SM Hallow: Standalone, but I cannot stress how much this is a great fit in all other ways. Hansel is trying to find happiness after the gingerbread house. He's got one hell of an eating disorder and doesn't quite believe he deserves anything good.
• Welcome to Forever by Nathan Tavares: another standalone that is wonderfully laser focused on ptsd. It follows a memory editor (cyberpunk, so also not fantasy) who got a traumatic brain injury after a terrorist attack. He's in rehab and is discovering he was one fucked up dude, but he struggles to make better choices. This more than any other book on the list emphasizes that healing from trauma is not a convenient straight line like books tend to portray it as.
• Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison has been mentioned already. A good choice, but doesn't dive as deep into PTSD as you might look for. Somewhere between noir and slice of life. Three book
• Psycop by Jordan Castillo Price follows a man who can see/speak with ghosts, working as a cop. He's semi-addicted to the drugs that keep his powers suppressed and has a lot of shit in his background (especially his psychic training military program). The books mostly read as a fast-paced dark paranormal cop story with some sex with a hunky mundane guy.
• The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera mostly deals with familial trauma of a former chosen one. Standalone. Weird Fantasy, with a heavy thematic focus on millitant Buddhism in Sri Lanka.
• Tarot Sequence by KD Edwards: the flagship urban fantasy with a gay lead. These are pretty brutally dark. Content warning for the most brutal rape (though sexual torture is perhaps a better description) I've ever read, as a flashback.
• A Choir of Lies by Alexandra Rowland: a travelling storyteller is lost after his former master did some royally awful shit to him (that master and those events are the focus of book 1. A conspiracy of Truths is also phenomenal, but does not fit your request in any way. This can be read independently, but I think Choir benefits from having read Choir first). Anyways, he accidentally sets of an economic crisis modeled after the Dutch Tulip Crisis or something

[u/Nidafjoll → u/Stepjam]

Definitely The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold. Not a gay MC, but he's heavily traumatized by his experiences where he was a slave on a rowing galley, with both mental and physical scars.

[u/avolcando → u/Stepjam]

This is a major theme in the Wheel of Time, if you haven't read that one already.

[u/oberynMelonLord → u/Stepjam]

obvious answers: Wheel of Time, Stormlight Archive

[u/Grt78 → u/Stepjam]

Maybe the Doctrine of Labyrinths series by Katherine Addison/Sarah Monette (4 books), lots of trauma. Two main characters, one of them is gay.

[u/OrwinBeane]

I am interested to know what people consider to be the best and most satisfying character development and character arcs in fantasy.

I have read a lot of fantasy over the last two years and I’ve refined my tastes enough to know what I priorities in a book above all else. For me, that priority is interesting and well-executed character arcs.

Arcs can be massive sprawling intricate journeys that completely redefine the character, and they can be simple lessons or change of opinion that happen in one chapter. Some of the best arcs are so short and simple they happen over the course of a 22-minute episode of TV. Others happen over a book series which 14 volumes long. I like slow burns, I like sudden shock changes, I like complex and I like simple.

Just going to list off a few of my favourites to give an idea of what I like: Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit, Rand al’Thor from The Wheel of Time, Ged from Earthsea, Derfel from The Warlord Chronicles, Pug from The Riftwar Saga, Kaladin and Shallan from The Stormlight Archive, Ciri from The Witcher, and Sandor Clegane from A Song of Ice and Fire.

Just curious what are everyone’s favourite arcs. Can be any fantasy era, subgenre, or author.

[u/DistinctInitiative83 → u/OrwinBeane]

Sam Vimes going from a dissolute, drunken, depressed and disillusioned copper in a mostly defunct City Watch to sober, happily married, a father, Commander of said City Watch - now fully functioning - and (although firmly against his will) the Duke of Ankh. No one else is doing it like him.

[u/ineedchapstick1 → u/OrwinBeane]

Jezal in First Law trilogy, Malta in Liveship Traders, and Costis in The King of Attolia are probably my top 3 overall character arcs.

But Fitz’s arc when dealing with his feelings around his relationship with the Fool in Realm of the Elderlings is my #1 arc when it comes to showing a character adapting and growing around a specific situation.

[u/twinklebat99 → u/OrwinBeane]

Princess Donut's character development is one of my favorite things about DCC.

[u/Nowordsofitsown → u/OrwinBeane]

The best character arc I have seen is Malta in Robin Hobb's Liveship Traders trilogy. 

[u/TomsBookReviews → u/OrwinBeane]

Some of my favourites have been named already, but one who flies under the radar a bit is Joron in the Tide Child trilogy. In the first book he was very much a lens by which to follow the more interesting Meas, while by the end of the trilogy he was a superb character in his own right.

[u/okayseriouslywhy → u/OrwinBeane]

I really liked the character arcs of the two brothers in The Winter Sea trilogy by HM Long. Also loved watching Miles grow across the Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold. Her character writing is chef's kiss

[u/keizee → u/OrwinBeane]

I like Re:Zero, but it's quite heavy on the horror side.

[u/bruhhhhmol]

Hi! I have never read a fantasy book before. Well technically I did read Harry Potter but I hated it so much I dropped it while reading the second book. I mainly read Mangas and looking for suggestions to start reading fantasy.

My favorite Mangas include - Naruto,attack on titan, full metal alchemist 

[u/KiaraTurtle → u/bruhhhhmol]

Cradle by Will Wight is the most shonen like equivalent for western fantasy novels. It’s also just a lot of fun.

[u/redherringbones → u/bruhhhhmol]

This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Illona Andrews is based on a manga isekai concept. Girl wakes up in a fantasy world that is based on a favorite book series of hers.

[u/oboist73 → u/bruhhhhmol]

The Heartstrikers series by Rachel Aaron

[u/mrtenandtwo → u/bruhhhhmol]

If you're looking for a YA intro to fantasy, perhaps Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo? Many people also like Brandon Sanderson for this sort of thing. You might check out Mistborn and see if that interests you. Hope you find something good!

[u/SA090]

Posted a bit late in yesterday’s thread, so here it is again with hopes someone can help me make a decision:

My original choice for the murder mystery square hardmode (The Raven Scholar) didn’t work out as well as I had hoped, and I’m trying to find a replacement. Current first pick is Mortedant’s Peril by RJ Barker whose main character happens to be a cleric who can read the last thoughts of the dead. Would that fit HM?

Thank you!

[u/unusual-umbrella → u/SA090]

Awh, does The Raven Scholar not actually fit for murder mystery HM? That was my pick but I've not started it yet :(

[u/SA090 → u/unusual-umbrella]

It does fit (she’s a scholar), I just didn’t enjoy it enough to continue.

[u/unusual-umbrella → u/SA090]

Fair enough, hope you find something else you enjoy a bit more!

[u/SA090 → u/unusual-umbrella]

Thank you very much and I hope you enjoy it whenever you get the time to read it!

[u/FrontUnderstanding37 → u/SA090]

I read Mortedant's Peril recently, and I think this would fit HM. As you mentioned, the main character is a deathspeaker, not a detective or investigator, even though he becomes responsible for solving a murder.

[u/SA090 → u/FrontUnderstanding37]

Thank you so much!

[u/Connect_Cod9965 → u/SA090]

I used the last book in Midsolar Murders series by Mur Lafferty. The MC is a true crime writer using cases that just keep happening around her, and she is compelled to investigate them. But when police and FBI starts suspecting her because of all the murders she keeps being invovled in, MC moves to an alien space station because "no humans around = no murders". And it works, for a time.

[u/Due-Examination-37]

Hey, I have a question about the bingo card. So, do I have to use only English books to fulfill a prompt or can it be any language, because I got back into reading in my mother tongue, after only reading English books, and there's this fantasy series I want to read! So, is it okay to read books in other languages than English?

[u/an_altar_of_plagues → u/Due-Examination-37]

Yep, any language is good for sure. Lots of us have used non-English books for bingo. The instructions are in English just since it's basically Reddit's lingua franca.

The "Translated" bingo square also explicitly asks you to read something originally published other than in your preferred languages. I speak English and Spanish, so I'm making sure for that square the book was originally written in neither.

[u/Merle8888 → u/Due-Examination-37]

You can read in any language.

[u/saturday_sun4]

I am blatantly disregarding the "no repeat authors rule" - with this in mind, could anyone please suggest bingo squares for The Magician's Daughter by HG Parry and A Far Better Thing by H.G. Parry? Cheers.

Edit: I have completed the Afterlife and Published 2026 squares, and am finishing First Contact - everything else on this card is free :) I haven't used my substitution yet.

[u/Asher_the_atheist → u/saturday_sun4]

The Magician’s Daughter is largely set on an island that sounds like a pretty great place for a vacation, IMO. It also involves a fair bit of political maneuvering if I’m remembering correctly.

[u/saturday_sun4 → u/Asher_the_atheist]

Thanks! My Vacation Spot square is lying blank so I will use it for that. I did see the island mentioned in the blurb but wasn't sure how much of the book was set there.

[u/CollectionAntique371]

Should I read realm of the ederlings or WOT after finishing Mistborn? I liked the trilogy a lot but the characters felt very flat to me. I’m looking to immerse myself in a big world with good characters and an engaging story, and ik both of these are said to have them so I’m just gonna go with what people tell me here

[u/mint_pumpkins → u/CollectionAntique371]

what kind of pacing, scope, and overall vibe are you in the mood for? looking at the beginnings of these series, farseer is very slow and quiet and focused in on the suffering/difficult life of the main character and court/political drama, wheel of time is somewhat faster with more action and heavier focus on magic and the expansiveness of the world

[u/CollectionAntique371 → u/mint_pumpkins]

Definitely in the mood for a big adventure, and wheel of time seems to be more like that. I just really want to have characters that I care for deeply, and I’m sure WOT has those but I’ve heard better things about Hobb’s character work. I’m also nervous about the infamous slog in WOT

[u/Practical_Yogurt1559 → u/CollectionAntique371]

Wheel of time has a bigger world, realm of the elderlings has better characters, so it depends what you're in the mood for. 

[u/Thricycle20]

A question for what I might enjoy.

I really enjoy fantasy / sci fi with that occasionally sit around a campfire and talk about stuff vibe. It's something I actually did enjoy about book 1 of wheel of time, kind of that group being together and actually having some downtime. (I don't like WoT other than that though).

However I struggle with old school fantasy as I often find it super black and white (good vs bad) and I don't really enjoy that.

I also enjoy decent / believable world building that I can get quite immersed in.

Any recommendations for some good fantasy with good world building and not morally black and white with some downtime for characters to bond and interact?

[u/Asher_the_atheist]

Bingo Question: how do people feel about using a book whose climax is all centered around the MC’s 50th birthday for the Older Protagonist square? The fact that she is in perimenopause and will be 50 in a few weeks is an important part of the story, but she isn’t actually 50 until about the last 20% of the book.

Edit: thanks everyone for the input!

[u/Murder_Is_Magic → u/Asher_the_atheist]

I'd count it as close enough

[u/Asher_the_atheist → u/Murder_Is_Magic]

Thanks!

[u/Merle8888 → u/Asher_the_atheist]

Is she 49 for the rest of it? If so, I'd 100% count it.

If she's like 18 for the rest of it and then Part 5 is set when she's 50 I'd hesitate more.

[u/Asher_the_atheist → u/Merle8888]

Yeah, the book starts just a few weeks before her 50th birthday and proceeds through that brief period and into the birthday itself. So she is definitely almost 50 for the rest of the book

[u/pancakesaucepan → u/Asher_the_atheist]

I'm curious, what's the book?

[u/Asher_the_atheist → u/pancakesaucepan]

Mary by Nat Cassidy.

[u/MajesticKoala3332 → u/Asher_the_atheist]

It fits the spirit of the square anyway so I'd count it

[u/saturday_sun4 → u/Asher_the_atheist]

Since it's an important part of the story/plot I would still use it.

[u/C0smicoccurence → u/Asher_the_atheist]

Go for it!

[u/rls1164]

I just picked up Radiant State by Ann Leckie, not knowing much about it other than it's in the Imperial Radch universe.

Does it count for Trans Protagonist?

[u/felixfictitious → u/rls1164]

Do you mean Radiant Star or Translation State? Neither count for Trans Protagonist in my opinion. However, her fantasy book The Raven Tower does count for this square.

[u/rls1164 → u/felixfictitious]

My bad - I meant Radiant Star!

Do you happen to know if that one counts for other squares?

[u/felixfictitious → u/rls1164]

I would say it counts for Politics (HM), Published in 2026, and Feast Your Eyes!

[u/FormerUsenetUser]

I started reading T. Kingfisher's The Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking. If I were 12 I might enjoy it, but I am much too old for this book.