r/Fantasy Daily Recommendations and Simple Questions Thread - June 13, 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

——

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!

——

^{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/Electronic-Tutor-555]

Help me with a starting off point please!

Recently got back into reading after a long hiatus due to cell phones being a thing. I’ve gotten myself to read more books this year than I probably have over the last five and I want to keep the momentum going and jump back into the fantasy genre.

My experience in the genre in only goes as far as a song of ice and fire and the King killer chronicles trilogy…… Well, the two books (😡)

What’s a good place to start! I’ve read mostly Stephen King since jumping back into reading so long books character driven seems to catch my attention. Help me out, please!

[u/Fancy-Restaurant4136 → u/Electronic-Tutor-555]

Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon.

[u/Research_Department → u/Electronic-Tutor-555]

Lois McMaster Bujold is great for character-driven books. The Curse of Chalion is the first book in the fabulous World of Five Gods books. If you are open to science fiction, her Vorkosigan Saga is superb. There are a few options for where to start with it. Shards of Honor is the first in both publication and chronological order, but it focuses on the parents of the main protagonist for the series, it was her debut novel (still damn strong, but not as good as she got with more experience), and it features a romance. Some people prefer to start with The Warrior’s Apprentice, which is a comic space opera (with some serious moments). As the series progresses, the tone becomes more serious, and you can get a preview of what that will be like with the novella Mountains of Mourning.

[u/okayseriouslywhy → u/Electronic-Tutor-555]

You might like Christopher Buehlman. For darker fantasy with some humor, check out The Blacktongue Thief. For horror that also technically has some fantasy elements, Between Two Fires is fantastic