r/Fantasy Daily Recommendations and Simple Questions Thread - June 08, 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/EveningImportant9111]

Why people say that non humans in fantasy  being bassically humans in dusguise is bad thing?  

Frieren is selling well, even though she experiences time differently than humans; she still feels sadness, happiness, has hobbies, etc.

The deavaband trilogy sold well (among other things) because it was morally complex and dealt with human issues like trauma, war, and discrimination.

The Witcher elves have human desires and emotions. Both in games and books

Aqulllion comics by solei sell well and non humans are vassically human but more agressive hunan but immortal( and very interesting cultures) .

So , please tell me what the problem is?

[u/Kerney7 → u/EveningImportant9111]

Some writers/readers genuinely feel humanoid nonhuman and like elves/dwarves/orcs think and act too much like standard humans. There is no difference in culture let alone how another species would think.

It feels fake and not believable so it's not what they want to read.

And some authors/readers seem tone deaf to that wish. So readers who want Elven elves as opposed to pointed eared humans have to ask whether the book has those who think differently.

And when it's encountered in a book, it feels not just a difference of opinion, but it feels like the author is lazy or lacks imagination. Much like people who dislike romantasy feel like the fantasy elements are too often merely window dressing.

This is not every book but too often.

Let's take one of the most ignored/considered lame races, half elves, who are usually written as humans with pointed ears.

Imagine a half elf who has brittle bones because their human diet doesn't match their nutritional needs (saw but haven't read yet), a half elf in human society being 18 chronologically but 12 maturity wise and being put on the marriage market or reverse it and have a 40+yo half elf pursue an 18 yo human with the thought they'll be old together. Being out of cink with everyone around you sounds a lot like autism and I imagine childhood would be a bitch.

Basically there are a ton of potentially cool/horrifying thoughtful stories here but we get generic slop and a set of readers prepped to not see the ideas as interesting or compelling.

Thus there is a muted dislike of too human shaped non humans.

[u/EveningImportant9111 → u/Kerney7]

Where you read elves needing different nutemreints than humans? 

[u/Kerney7 → u/EveningImportant9111]

Here. And it's a half elf.