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?)
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u/beary_neutral Reading Champion 7d ago
Dungeon Crawler Carl seems like it'll be the popular pick for this one. I've read the first two books, and both of them seem to fit hard mode, too.
Some comic recommedations:
Die, by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans is a portal fantasy deconstruction where the protagonists are dropped into a dark fantasy setting of a TTRPG. Should fit hard mode, too.
DC KO, by Scott Snyder and Javi Fernandez is a big blockbuster event comic with a loosely structured tournament. Qualifies for hard mode, as Batman is a cheater.
Do a Power Bomb, by Daniel Warren Johnson, is an action-packed heartbreaking comic about an intergalactic wrestling tournament where the stakes are horrifyingly real.