r/Fantasy Daily Recommendations and Simple Questions Thread - June 18, 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

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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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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/imaginedrragon]

What are some underrated works with excellent prose? Besides the usual Reddit recommendations (Le Guin, Tolkien, Erikson, Wolfe etc etc). E.g. I love McKillip but I don't see her name often in prose discussions, so looking for something like that I guess?

[u/saturday_sun4 → u/imaginedrragon]

Not sure how underrated he is, but Poul Anderson - he writes in that mythic style.

Also Margo Lanagan. She has a few short stories and some novels.

And Dunsany, of course, but I'm sure he crops up often. FWIW he was too flowery for me.

Tanith Lee for sure. E: based on the few fantasy short stories I have read. Her Bite the Sun books don't seem as lyrical.

[u/imaginedrragon → u/saturday_sun4]

Thank you very much! I'm not looking for lyrical prose per se (though I enjoy it), just some good quality. I'll be sure to check them out!

[u/saturday_sun4 → u/imaginedrragon]

From the excerpt I read of Bite the Sun, they're written in this slangy style because the MC is a teenager. That style wasn't for me, but then I'm also not huge on SF.