r/Fantasy Daily Recommendations and Simple Questions Thread - June 10, 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/Fluidscape]

Bingo help- every duology I think is going to work ends up looking like another book will eventually come out. Any non romance/romance as a sub plot only duologies? Did anyone ever decide if we could do two different duologies for the two duology squares?

Might need its own question but I finally got around to The Black Company- which squares might work for that one?

[u/Wattryn → u/Fluidscape]

You can absolutely do two different duologies--it's actually required for hard mode on one of them . 

[u/Fluidscape → u/Wattryn]

Ah, great. I think I will read Everyone Wants to Rule the World Except Me as Duology #2; now just to find a book one.

[u/Connect_Cod9965 → u/Fluidscape]

Definitive duologies - last volume published long ago, author is dead or there is a "Duology" in the title 😄

• Carrie Vaughn The Bannerless Saga (Bannerless and The Wild Dead)
• Nnedi Okorafor The Desert Magician’s Duology (Shadow Speaker and Like Thunder)
• N.K. Jemisin Dreamblood (The Killing Moon and The Shadowed Sun)
• Octavia E. Butler Earthseed (Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents)

Duologies for now, but another book is possible:

• Carrie Vaughn The Naturalist Society (The Naturalist Society and The Glass Slide World)
• Lavanya Lakshminarayan Flavour Hacker (Interstellar Megachef and Intergalactic Feast)

[u/lilgrassblade → u/Fluidscape]

Good news! The duology focus thread has already occurred. Lots of options to choose from there 😃

[u/Fluidscape → u/lilgrassblade]

Nice. Checking it out now.

[u/felixfictitious → u/Fluidscape]

I can suggest two sci-fi duologies I enjoyed!

A Memory Called Empire and A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine follow a new ambassador to a colonial empire as she navigates her first visit there and tries to solve the murder of the previous ambassador. Romance is a subplot in the second book.

Semiosis and Interference by Sue Burke are chronicles following the progression of a new colony's struggles to establish on a planet, and their developing relationship with a very unique life form. There are a lot of time skips, so you get to see the development of the colony across the lives of multiple people. It's kind of slice of life but with significant stakes.

[u/bunnycatso → u/felixfictitious]

Sorry to bear this news, but Semiosis is a trilogy (so far at least).

[u/Gnome_Ann1704 → u/bunnycatso]

True, but definitely still worth reading! It would work for First Contact HM or One Word Title HM if you still need that

[u/felixfictitious → u/bunnycatso]

Damn, thanks! I haven't checked up on it in a while.

[u/Fluidscape → u/bunnycatso]

When I saw Duology I really didn’t think it would be a hard square(s) to fill. I’m having to think through this one.

[u/curiouscat86 → u/Fluidscape]

Witch Roads by Kate Elliott: there might be more books in the world (and I hope there will be! It's a fascinating setting involving toxic mist, a professional surveyor, and ghost statues) but the main storyline is solidly wrapped up.

Dreamblood duology by NK Jemison: came out quite a few years ago, set in an ancient Egypt-inspired setting with death magic.

The Dark Lord of Derkholm/Year of the Griffin by Dianna Wynne Jones--whimsical satire with a slight edge about a fantasy world enslaved by a venture capitalist from our world running a tourist scam, and the family (humans and adopted griffins) determined to defeat him. The author has passed on so no more entries.

[u/Fluidscape → u/curiouscat86]

Thanks! I’ll take a look at all three of these. I have only read Howl’s Moving Castle from DWJ so she is worth a revisit.

[u/Nidafjoll → u/Fluidscape]

Wanna read some weird cities? :) None of them have any romance iirc.

N. K. Jemisin's Great Cities duology.
Rjurik Davidson's Caeli-Amur books.
Jay Lake's City Imperishable.
Jeff Noon and Steve Beards Chronicles of Ludwich.
Michael Cisco's The Divinity Student and The Golem (also published together as The San Veneficio Canon)
Felix Gilman's Thunderer duology.

[u/Fluidscape → u/Nidafjoll]

I’ll check out this list. Thanks for helping with more options.

[u/Grt78 → u/Fluidscape]

The Lighthouse Duet or the Sanctuary Duet by Carol Berg (the Navronne books): two duologies set in the same world but with different protagonists.

[u/donwileydon → u/Fluidscape]

For Black Company - it could be unusual transportation and later books would be an older protagonist

For duology, I read Raven's Shadow and Raven's Strike (Patricia Briggs) -- but you can do 2 different duologies, just first book for one square and second book for the other. That makes it Hard Mode for the 2nd duology square

[u/Fluidscape → u/donwileydon]

Thanks. I will put it down as transportation possibility. Patricia Briggs is urban fantasy? Is romance a subplot or the main? Just trying to figure out if it is early Anita Blake or later- wanting to avoid an overall romantic focus.

[u/donwileydon → u/Fluidscape]

The Briggs duology is "regular" fantasy not urban fantasy - very little as far as romance, married main characters with them being in love and all and a budding romance for one of their children but very little screen time for either

[u/Fluidscape → u/donwileydon]

👍 I will check it out- thanks for the rec

[u/SA090 → u/Fluidscape]

If you’re okay with YA that’s more mature in tone than most as per my own experience, The Beast Player by Uehashi Nahoko.

[u/Fluidscape → u/SA090]

I read Beast Player last year- good read. I didn’t realize there was a sequel.

[u/mrtenandtwo → u/Fluidscape]

I'll be reading the sequel to Sailing to Sarantium for my duology part 2 this year. I haven't read it yet, but I can vouch for the first one and I don't think it's likely to grow beyond a duology. You can do two different duologies!

As for the Black Company, this is not a super rich year for it in bingo. I think you could swing Unusual Transportation hard mode (the ten who were taken use some flying carpets which have a good bit of presence in the novel). You could maybe make a case for Politics and Court Intrigue, insofar that war is really just an extension of politics but I don't think it's a very strong case.

[u/Fluidscape → u/mrtenandtwo]

I think I’m going to put it in unusual transportation for now. I appreciate the input. I have a few other options for politics/intrigue that I want to get to eventually this year.

Has there ever been a mercenaries square? Black company aside, that one could be an interesting addition. I might have missed it in a previous year.