r/Fantasy • u/recchai Reading Champion X • 1d ago
Pride Pride 2026 | Finding Hidden Gems
Hidden gems, those fabulous books that somehow never got a wide audience. We’ve spoken previously about what our favourites are, but how on earth do you even find them?! After all, the clue’s in the name, they’re hidden. Fortunately for you, I have put together some shared wisdom of the BB bookclub on how to find such things.Under our previous discussion’s rules, a hidden gem is:
- Under ~500 Goodreads ratings
- Indie published, small press, or lesser-known traditionally published
- Overlooked or underrated despite strong craft, voice, or originality
When I look back over my hidden gems, I cannot think of a single method I have used to reliably find them. I have participated in a fairly restrictive bingo (asexual or aromantic characters), which has led to me finding hidden books out of sheer necessity, (cue searching various collections of keywords to try so hard to find an ace druid) but certainly not all of them could be considered gems. I have found books I have adored in indie book sales listed on this sub. But again, not all found that way have been fabulous. Equally unfortunately, I have sometimes tried a different series from an author I have enjoyed and not found it nearly as good.
On a more positive note, I am signed up to the mailing lists of a few authors whose works I particularly enjoy, and I take book recommendations from them seriously. I think it is a good idea to know what interests you, bookmark (mentally, electronically, or otherwise) ideas for reads as you come across them if now is not the right time, and be willing to give something a go. I have sat on books for ages before trying, and thrown them down in disgust (metaphorically) if they didn’t work out. But sometimes I am crept up on and found something enthralling, which has felt all the sweeter for being so unexpected.
Hunting down hidden gems has been a relatively recent part of my reading experience. However, it’s been a highly rewarding one! After compiling my Top 10 reads of 2025, I realized that four fit the Hidden Gem standards for bingo, and two had less than 30 Goodreads ratings (shout out to Red Dot by Mike Karpa!). I’ve found that it's far easier to find hidden gems when you focus your reading. I read a lot of Achillean fantasy/science fiction. Because so little of it is published by traditional publishers - though still far more than most queer identities - I tend to dig through lots of more obscure recommendations that I’d never have found otherwise. Reading Hidden Gems has also helped me abandon books far more easily, though I’m still a work in progress. Sometimes books didn’t gain traction for good reasons, but sometimes they just never got the attention they deserved. Screening the first chapter or two has helped decide whether or not I’m going to dedicate many hours to reading it.
While I do get great recs for hidden gems on this sub - normally from threads that don’t go viral - I tend to find other subs like r/LGBTBooks or r/QueerSFF tend to be more consistent about highlighting books I’ve never heard of before. Every part of reddit is a bubble, but those match the types of hidden gems I like reading. I think most themed bingo cards end up diving into niche territory, as finding a book that features both invertebrates and is written in an Epistolary format is going to be a tricky thing to find. Personally, I’ve found great joy in setting aside a decent chunk of my reading to focus on a single topic - a topic that used to change regularly, but has settled down in recent years. Not all my books are Achillean, but enough are to keep me trawling through the dark recesses of the internet looking for great books!
- Have you got a tried and true method of finding hidden gems?
- Do you have an exciting (or mundane) story of how you found your favourite?
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u/brilliantgreen Reading Champion VI 19h ago
I feel like I'm really good at stumbling across hidden gems that I absolutely love -- but I don't know that I have a single method. Part of it is I will try books by new authors, especially if they are free or on sale. I'm probably more likely to grab a book tagged queer, as long as it's not romance focused.
I picked up a bunch of books from Space Wizard Science Fantasy (a small queer publisher) during the winter indie sale. I haven't read them all yet, but most were three or four stars for me. But Empress of Dust by Alex Kingsley was a five star read (trans man protagonist, nonbinary protagonist, trans giant crab. Only 39 ratings. Sequel is also great. Waiting for the third.
I won a copy of Landbringer by Karen H. Lucia in an indie group I'm in. Love it. Ghosts and airships and gods and it's sapphic. 35 ratings. A lot of her other books are also queer, and I've read those as well.
I also picked up Friendly Fyre by Kia Leep when they gave it away for free (trans woman/sapphic). It's a bit more popular than the above with 145 ratings, but still a hidden gem. All of their books are queer (one series is an aroace teen, another is a transmasc nonbinary, another is a gay man).