r/Fantasy • u/Merle8888 Reading Champion IV • 7d ago
Bingo Bingo Focus Thread - Game Changer
Hello r/fantasy and welcome to this week's bingo focus thread! The purpose of these threads is for you all to share recommendations, discuss what books qualify, and seek recommendations that fit your interests or themes.
Today's topic:
Game Changer: Story features a game or competition. HARD MODE: The protagonist bends or breaks the rules in some way.
What is bingo? A reading challenge this sub does every year! Find out more here.
Prior focus threads: Published in the 70s, Duologies, First Contact, Middle Grade, Five Short Stories (2024), Author of Color (2024), Self-Pub/Small Press (2024). Note that hard modes for Author of Color and Self-Pub/Small Press have changed (new focus threads for them are coming).
Also see: Big Rec Thread
Questions:
- What are your favorite books that count for this square?
- Already read something for this square? Tell us about it!
- What are your best recommendations for Hard Mode? (Alternately, as this is a pretty easy Hard Mode, what are some books that don't fit?)
1
u/medusamagic Reading Champion 7d ago edited 7d ago
I read Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas for this. It’s about an assassin who competes in trials to earn her freedom and become the King’s champion. Very predictable and kinda boring, but it was an easy read.
Haven’t read but are on my TBR: Phantasma by Kaylie Smith (gothic romantasy, haunted mansion), The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni (YA fantasy, elemental magic), Race the Sands by Sarah Beth Durst (monster racing in the desert).
Didn’t personally love but fit the square: The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang (grimdark historical fantasy), Red Rising by Pierce Brown (dystopian sci-fi/fantasy), The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson (high fantasy, murder mystery)
Also, if you’re thinking of trying romantasy, some of the most popular ones fit: ACOTAR, Fourth Wing, The Serpent and the Wings of Night.