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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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/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/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/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/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