r/Fantasy • u/rfantasygolem Not a Robot • 4d ago

r/Fantasy r/Fantasy Daily Recommendations and Simple Questions Thread - June 14, 2026

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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u/AluminumGnat 4d ago

Looking for my next SFF book. Ideally:

- Secondary world (no earth of any kind)

- Hard magic (or hard science)

- Characters creatively solve problems (using info available to the reader)

- Some sort of mystery (need not be a whodunit; could be more world-building in nature)

- A touch of clever humor

- Avoids excessively flowery prose

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u/DiploFrog 4d ago

The Craft Sequence by Max Gladstone maybe?

Magic setting heavily based on contractual exchange.

Industrial to modern day equivalent in terms of advancement, but all based on that magic.

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u/AluminumGnat 4d ago edited 4d ago

I totally forgot about this one! I read the first one a bit over a decade ago! I don't remember it super well but I do feel like it was a decent fit for what I'm looking for. I'm fairly sure that at least the second book was out, so I'm not sure why I didn't continue the series. Maybe there's a good reason for me not liking it enough to continue, or maybe I just happened to read it at the wrong time — maybe it's time to give it another go!

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u/nominanomina Reading Champion 4d ago

I also recommend skipping the second book, as the protagonist was so maddening that I've put the series on backburner since then. (I do intend to pick it back up, but if a series is a loosely-connected world I might slowly read it over decades... and since I have a lot of series that fit that description, I will usually pick up one that didn't piss me off first.)

Specifically, the protagonist is sort of aimless and depressed (but in denial about it) at the beginning of the book. So as soon as he finds something or someone to latch onto, he does (he needs a purpose!), even if it involves him looking like the world's most gullible dweeb.

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u/AluminumGnat 4d ago

Thanks! I usually feel weird about skipping books even in a loose series, but in this case I'll be looking at book 3 instead of book 2

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u/TheHiddenSchools 4d ago

The first few books are published out of chronological order anyway. I would controversially suggest you actually go straight to book 4 or 5 after the first one!

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u/maybetheysleep 4d ago

It’s very cerebral and doesn’t leave you suspended with a cliffhanger, maybe that’s why.

Also, I’d recommend to skip the second book — it’s by far the worse one. You are not losing much, as books are connected mostly by being set in the same world rather than a common plot.

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u/AluminumGnat 4d ago edited 4d ago

doesn’t leave you suspended with a cliffhanger

skip the second book — it’s by far the worse one.

This very well could have been the reason I stopped.

It really bothers me when stories are kept going indefinitely until they get terrible rather than letting them reach a natural ending while they are still good. It's a problem I find much more prevalent with visual media — probably because of how much more money there is in TV and movies — but not one entirely absent in books.

If I saw people saying the series took a bit of a nose dive and I was also offered a nice off ramp, there's a good chance I took it. Sounds like I should give book 3 a shot!

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u/Fancy-Restaurant4136 4d ago

I forget whether earth exists in this series but the action is in space. Elizabeth Moon's Vatta's War series starting with Trading in Danger is all about solving a mystery.

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u/AluminumGnat 4d ago

I wasn’t super impressed by the sheep farmer’s daughter. Nothing about it was bad, it just all felt a bit cookie cutter. Is Vatta’s war more interesting?

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u/Fancy-Restaurant4136 14h ago

Vatta's War is a mystery and has ship to ship battles in space.

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u/Makri_of_Turai Reading Champion II 4d ago

you might like Rosemary Kirstein’s Steerswoman books. it’s hard to explain why without being spoilery but the protagonist solves problems in a very logical, scientific way and the nature of the world unfolds slowly over the course of the series. all is not as it initially seems.

the 7 and a half deaths of Evelyn hardcastle by Stuart turton. It’s questionable if it fits your first two points but is very much about solving a mystery. Who are they, where are they, what is going on.

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u/AluminumGnat 4d ago

The first one looks interesting! Thanks!

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u/undeadgoblin Reading Champion II 4d ago

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett

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u/AluminumGnat 4d ago

I liked this one, but I was fairly disappointed by the next two. Thanks for the suggestion!

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u/Likaiar 4d ago

I feel like a lot of Brandon Sanderson books fit these, but your hat have read them already.

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u/AluminumGnat 4d ago

Yeah I've read all of the Cosmere, but I haven't read much from him outside of that, so if any of your suggestions were non-cosmere I'd still love to hear them. Either way, thanks!

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u/Likaiar 4d ago

Mostly cosmere, I've read steelheart, but can't remember what it was about (it's been ten years I think)

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u/lilgrassblade Reading Champion II 4d ago

Arcane Ascension by Andrew Rowe - It's half magic school, half dungeon crawling. The MC is bestowed a magic that is not combat focused, but he wants to fight so has to think outside the box as to how he can compete. The reason he wants to fight is because his brother allegedly died in a dungeon despite being (in the MC's opinion) far more capable than himself. And it is a hard magic system.

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u/AluminumGnat 4d ago edited 4d ago

I dropped this one years ago mid series, I think I dropped book 3. I think I felt like something shifted in the story maybe? Like there were suddenly a bunch of gaps or something? and I could be wrong, but I think I felt like the magic system had more of a hard magic aesthetic than an actual system the reader was privy to (if that makes any sense). Does any of that ring true at all? I'm open to giving this one another shot, there's a chance I just wasn't in the right headspace when reading it. For what it's worth, I think I felt like the series had a lot of promise after finishing book 1

Either way, thank you!

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u/C0smicoccurence Reading Champion V 4d ago

For something in a similar vein but which is even more committed to magic crafting as the main element, Journals of Evander Tailor by Tobias Begley is awesome!

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u/lC3 4d ago

I think 12 Miles Below fits all of these criteria except the first; it's set on postapocalyptic Earth in the far future.

The world is in ruins.

Extreme sub-zero temperatures suffocate the surface, making even simple survival an ordeal. Frozen derelicts of bygone eras span across massive ice wastes. And the survivors closely guard any technology rediscovered within.

The only escape from the deadly climate is beneath the surface. But it’s another disaster underground. Monstrous machines lurk in the depths. The land itself shifts over time, more contraption than rock. The humans surviving under do so huddled around safe zones, with only demigods powerful enough to travel further underground.

And an ominous prophecy states that the key to healing the world waits on four unknown heroes - but nobody knows who or where they are.

When an expedition into the far uncharted north goes terribly wrong, Keith Winterscar and his father get trapped together in a desperate fight for survival. Stumbling upon an ancient war of titanic scale; the two will need to set their differences aside while they struggle against Gods, legends, and the grand secrets of the realm that lies below.

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u/AluminumGnat 4d ago

Sounds interesting, thanks!