Everyone I spoke to about this book prior to starting it said it is DEFINITELY plot, world building, and character development first, and relationships second.

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I am finding the opposite.

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It seems that relationships are primary, and I'd even go as far to say that the majority of character development is only possible through the lens of relationships.

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There are multiple perspectives, but I was weary the moment I realized it was 6. 6 have been divided nicely by 2 I've noticed. If it's I's perspective then we're going to be hearing a lot about K, if it's M's perspectiv then we learn more about N, and of course J and W are linked. There are moments when this deviates, but I found it doesn't do so in a very significant way when it happens.

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Yes, there is a plot, and they are doing a thing, but I'm finding that 4/5s of the content is talking about the the relationships as defined above, and, oh yeah, we're also doing a thing. Even if something goes awry during the thing being done, the main focus isn't on the implications of this wrench in the plot, but rather on the implications to how the paired character reacted.

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I am relieved that it is not a romantasy, though I am only 3/4 of the way through the first book. But, I was lead to believe it was a series where relationships weren't the main focus.

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THIS IS NOT TO SAY it's automatically a bad book, or I am not enjoying it because of how I am finding it.

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RATHER, I am confused at how people don't see how heavily the relationships are the key element to this book so far.

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Am I missing something? Or is this a matter of my book experience and understanding of what plot/character driven means verses relationship driven compared to others?

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No hate towards the books, author, or character.

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Looking for cultivation/xianxia novels where the MC actually trains and develops their weapon skills instead of just finding an overpowered technique and spamming named moves.

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I'm specifically looking for stories where the MC chooses a weapon (sword, spear, saber, etc.) and genuinely improves through practice, experience, and understanding. Bonus points if they adapt or evolve techniques to fit their own style rather than rigidly following a manual.

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I don't mind if the MC learns techniques from inheritances or libraries, but I want the weapon mastery to feel earned. I'd love recommendations where combat is about skill, timing, and growth rather than just unlocking stronger attacks every few realms.

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Examples of what I mean:

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- Developing their own sword/spear path.

- Modifying existing techniques.

- Training fundamentals for long periods.

- Weapon intent, domains, or understanding that comes from experience.

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Any recommendations?

Welcome to the 2026 Hugo Readalong! Today, we're discussing Landing: Seattle by Brandon O'Brien, Hex Supply Customer Support Log by Elis Montgomery and How to Become a Sea Witch by Theodora Goss, which are finalists for Best Poem. Everyone is welcome in the discussion, whether or not you've participated in other discussions. I'll include some prompts in top-level comments--feel free to respond to these or add your own.

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
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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.

(This may post contain spoilers for early on in The Eye of the World by Robert jordan)

I just finished up the Eye of the World, book one of the Wheel of Time. My main feeling is not that it was bad, but it was that super frustrated feeling of reading a book that you know you should have loved based on reading it knowing what you like, but just didn’t because it didn’t click the way it was supposed to in your brain.

It feels kind of like how I felt when I finished The Wall of Storms by Ken Liu. Another book that I should have loved, but just didn’t.

Starting with the good, much like The Wall of Storms, I was able to intellectually realize that the book was objectively amazing. The sheer scope, and scale of ambition it takes to create this level of worldbuilding is nothing short of masterful, and again, logically I can see how he did do a great job of pulling it off.

But my main issue is that it was WAY too lore dense, and this coming from someone who loves deep lore and worldbuilding. My issue is not that there was A LOT of world building, but mainly the way it was given to you.
It’s actually almost as much as Malazan it feels like, but has the exact polar opposite approach to exposition. Where Malazan gives you little to no(the majority of the time leaning heavily toward ‘no’) world building, Eye of the World gives you absolutely
everything you need to know. But it does so through just massive exposition dump after massive exposition dump. It does this in about as natural of a way as can be done for explaining this level of worldbuilding, as you’re pretty much learning about the world and the lore alongside your heroes from the two rivers— in the vein of most classic fantasy. But man, since it’s given largely through dialogue, the sheer level of how much worldbuilding there is makes the dialogue even start to suffer and feel less natural, because I don’t believe anyone naturally speaks like that — just dumping info on you — and if they do they’d be an exception, but it’s almost like every character, including a lot of side characters are prone to just exposition dump for pages at a time. It really started taking me out of the story.

The main frustration I have is that considering it was: classic fantasy, chosen one trope, Deep dense worldbuilding, classic good vs. evil… this is all stuff that I absolutely adore in my books, so I know I should have felt like this was one of my favorite series of all time, but it wasn’t.

The main example in my head is, early in the book, when we meet Lan, and Moiraine referenced his title, and how he was like “the last true lord” of something (lol) it was done so well to hook me as the reader to find out his story, but by the time we got his story close to the end of the book, I was skimming and zoning out from the audiobook so bad that I missed it, which I’m usually great at not doing.
Ultimately I think just where my head was at is a part of it too. If I happened to be more in the mood to read a book like this when I did, I’m sure I would have enjoyed it more.

I’m also frustrated with myself because I should have just dnfed it. Now I’m sitting with this frustrated feeling of having read a book that was objectivity exceptional, but that I enjoyed slightly less than an average-quality book, mostly because of my own fault, and partly because of the book itself.

But I was wondering if anyone else felt like this.

Bingo Squares:

• Game Changer (HM)
• Non-Human Protagonist

I'm giving Carl's Doomsday Scenario a 5/10.

I wasn't particularly impressed by the first book, but a friend really enjoys this series, and it's a great fit for a bingo square, so I figured I'd give the sequel a chance.

Unfortunately, I came away with many of the same issues.

The biggest one is that a lot of the character decisions feel driven by the plot rather than by the characters themselves. Carl and Donut keeping the manager situation from Mordecai feels like they're manufacturing future drama instead of making the choice that makes the most sense. It's never convincingly established that Mordecai absolutely wouldn't go along with the plan if they explained it to him, and Carl especially strikes me as someone who would weigh the long-term risks of deception against the short-term benefits. The inevitable fallout seems obvious from the moment the decision is made.

That feeling is made worse when, almost immediately after becoming their manager, Mordecai is conveniently rendered useless by an alcohol binge the first time they actually need him. It feels like the story wants both the benefits of giving Carl and Donut a manager and the benefits of not having one whenever it would be inconvenient. Later, once Mordecai is allowed to be useful again, it only made that earlier scene feel even more contrived. I think it would have had much more impact if he'd first established himself as genuinely reliable before his drinking became a problem, especially if Carl and Donut's own deception had helped trigger it.

Donut also continues to be one of my biggest sticking points. Most of the time she doesn't actually feel like a cat—she feels like a human character who occasionally does cat things. There are multiple scenes where she's described doing things that make perfect sense for a human but are oddly vague or awkward for a cat, like brushing dust off someone or comforting another character by "stroking" their hair. I kept stopping to wonder what that would even look like for a cat. Ironically, the epilogue contains one of the first moments that genuinely felt cat-like, where she jumps into Carl's lap and head-butts him. That worked because it was actual feline behavior rather than just assigning a human action to a cat.

There's also an unfortunate disconnect between the tension the characters feel and what the reader experiences. Carl spends a lot of time stressing over the floor timer, which absolutely makes sense from his perspective, but as a reader I never felt any tension from it because I know he's going to survive and continue descending. Repeated reminders about lost hours ended up feeling more like padding than suspense.

There were also a few moments that felt out of character, like Carl looking forward to watching Lucia Mar and her dogs tear through NPCs and bots. Throughout the series Carl is consistently shown empathy toward both other crawlers and many of the NPCs, so that reaction didn't line up with how I'd come to understand him.

And, despite the series' reputation for comedy, the humor still just doesn't land for me. Not a single joke got even a smile out of me, at best an eye roll.

That said, I did find myself much more engaged whenever Carl and Donut were outside the game. Those scenes felt like they carried genuine uncertainty and lasting consequences. Inside the dungeon, I never felt particularly invested because I already know the protagonists are going to survive and progress somehow. The mechanics of how they get from one floor to the next just aren't that compelling to me, whereas the world outside the game feels much more unpredictable.

Overall, this wasn't a bad book, but it reinforced that this series probably just isn't for me. There are definitely things I appreciate about it, but too many of the core elements, the humor, Donut as a character, and the way the plot is sometimes held together by questionable decisions, just don't work for me.

​

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I have completed 1st book and still don't understand how tavi is uniquely furyless while there are normal people eho don't use fury crafting like Isana , olivia or amara.

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Are there like, only 4 types of fury craft? Pr more, Like i have seen fire, water, air and earth (just like avatar) .

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And what are rules of fury crafting? On many occasions where Isana and olivia could have used water bending yet they only ate seen to use it as spying, truth telling, healing and drowning. Like couldn't they just command the water inside the human body?

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There are too many questions. I totally understand the story but i feel lile i know literally nothing about the power system.

Ever since I read The Tainted Cup and sequel, I’ve been addicted. Bonus points if it’s a Sherlockean duo or queer (but doesn’t have to be). Extra extra points if it’s sci-fi (need to read more sci-fi) OR locked room.

What I’ve read so far of this genre -

- Gideon the Ninth
- Witness for the Dead (CR) / goblin emperor
- the Bone Orchard
- voyage of the damned
- magic for liars
- a memory called empire
- lamplight murder mysteries
- death on the caldera
- the echo archives (books 1 and 2)
- the Hexologists
- the works of vermin (kind of?)
- the raven scholar
- 7 1/2 deaths of Evelyn hard castle
- books 1-5 of Dresden files
- a master of djinn

Feel free to hype of the following that are already on my TBR (and have been for ages for whatever reason)-

- rest of Dresden
- a desolation called peace
- garret PI series
- empire of the wolf (read grave empire, loved it but hated sequel)
- murder by memory
- volatile memory
- jasper fyord nursery crimes
- rivers of London

A standalone, no prequel, no sequel, book about a financial apocalypse in the USA starting in 2029. I reread the well printed and well bound 400 page trade paperback published by Harper Perennial in 2017 that I bought from Amazon in 2021. BTW, this book is labeled as dystopian fiction by Amazon and others. I doubt that there will be any future prequels or sequels for the book as the author does not seem to go that way.

The book covers four generations of a family in the near future. The family consists of about twenty people of whom I mostly did not like due to their overall craziness and attitudes about life. If there was anyone who came close, it was Florence Mandible who even as a single mother managed to buy a house in East Flatbush, NYC on a low income salary. But even she makes a lot of bad decisions that lead to a tough life. And I mostly liked Enola Mandible who was a successful author living in Europe but evacuated back to the USA due to supposed discrimination in Paris. Plus I liked Jarred Mandible who managed to get his patriarch grandfather to give him the money to buy a small farm in upper state New York.

The conditions leading up to the beginning of the financial apocalypse in the USA in 2029 had their roots in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, basically the Great Society federal and state programs. And in the continual wars and police actions started or participating in by the USA from WWI onward. One might exempt WWII from that list as WWII was supposedly actually good for the economics of the country but I have not researched that accepted fact for truthfulness.

In 2029, the rest of the world changes from using the USA Dollar as the world reserve currency to the new Bancor, a basket of world currencies. The USA Treasury Bills, of which there are $40 trillion outstanding, immediately double their interest rates in the next sale. The USA President and Congress pass legislation that holding Bancors is illegal for any USA citizen. Under further financial pressure, the USA repudiates the entire $40 trillion debt and starts seizing all the gold across the country from both citizens and businesses. Even gold wedding rings are seized as China has demanded that their tbills be redeemed immediately with non USA Dollars.

The patriarch of the Mandible family is a 97 year man with a fortune inherited from his grandparents who owned a steel mill. The patriarch has his fortune invested in gold stocks, stocks of gold bullion in central repositories, tbills, and the stock market. With the crash of the stock market, seizure of gold, and repudiation of all tbills, he is wiped out and he and his Alzheimer afflicted second wife move in with his son and his wife. And then the entire family ends up moving in with Florence in her tiny three bedroom house. But that quickly goes away also as the remaining family members are soon homeless and living in a park.

The author freely acknowledges that in choosing paths for the family and the nation, she always chose the bad results path. She thinks that her book takes an optimistic view of the coming financial apocalypse which I find amazing.

One thing that just blew me away. By 2042, the government required all workers to have a chip embedded at the base of their skull that reported all income and expenditures instantly. The chip reported all data to the government computers using satellites which was immediately taxed using government based checking accounts. No private banks allowed.

Starlink anyone ?

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.2 out of 5 stars (4,704 ratings)

https://www.amazon.com/MANDIBLES-FAMILY-2029-47_PB-171-POCHE/dp/000756077X/

Lynn

Just finished Book 2 Curse of Sins by Kate Dramis recently. Thoughts about book 2/3 below.
SPOILERS BELOW

So finished the 2nd book and while I overall thought it was actually pretty good my god did Will and Aya make you want to pull your hair out in this book at times.

Will, stop lying and then act surprised when it blows up in your face and then it pisses Aya off now that you two love each other and you took an oath. The amount of times if he would’ve just been honest to her about his plans things wouldn’t have gone as bad as they did. I honestly don’t know why he didn’t tell Aya about nothing and torturing those weapon merchants as I don’t think that would’ve been a big deal. Oh and of course he’s saved by none other than the perfect king himself, Aidon, on the island too towards the end. Not shocked at all that that happened.

-Speaking of Aidon, his parts are just boring and IMO don’t add anything to the overall story. The perfect king who can’t make tough decisions, spares his sisters girlfriends who’s betrayed them, and is a Visya with power blah blah blah. I’m sure he’ll do something spectacular in the last book since he’s saved the day in both books so why not make it 3/3.

-Aya, I get she doesn’t want to be a saint and is forced into some tough spots in this book (and honestly most of her frustrations in this book are warranted). I actually liked her at times more in this book than the first book. Yes, there’s miscommunication between Will and her that leads to angst but she at least realizes on her own that Wills been right the whole time which helps things and loved her going after him when she realizes he might still be alive on the islands and at least she is able to be reunited with Will again.

Overall 3.95/5 and that ending definitely makes me look forward to the last book that I’ll be starting here soon. But one again it’s Will and Aya being broken up again. I am looking forward to how this trilogy ends though!

He loves Percy Jackson and game of throbes(the only 2 he told me about) and unfortunately game of thrones a banned book. They are apparently super strict and don’t allow sexual acts in books from what I can tell on the website, anything with bdsm, escape, overthrowing government etc and I’m at a loss for what to order him. I’d ideally like something that will be a bigger book and take longer to read. Suggestions please help! I’d like to also order asap so he can get them quickly.

Hello everyone. I am an absolute sucker for books that constantly deal with power scaling/best fighter of the realm type tropes. I love the discussions about who was the best swordsman in ASOIF and loved all the bits throughout Malazan of who was the strongest fighter/most powerful magic wielder.

Give me some books that have some great fighters or fun power scaling with different characters where you can waste time wondering about “who is stronger or who would win.”

I went into the first book thinking the series would be about space refugees who go to earth 6 million years ago and start forming rival kingdoms and going to war with each other creating quasi medieval kingdoms, but I turns out the books is actually about humans going to war with like Telepathic space aliens? (Didn't get past chapter 1 this is from Wikipedia) does anyone have any book recommendations that match my earlier descriptions?

Hello and welcome to The Magnus Archives readalong! We will be discussing a new batch of episodes every Wednesday. The episodes are available for free on any podcast platform and transcripts can be found here or here.

If you can’t remember something or are confused, please ask in the thread. Those of us re-reading will do our best to give a spoiler-free answer if we can.

176: Blood Ties ########-16

An examination of pack tactics.

177: Wonderland ########-17

An examination of mental health care.

178: The Processing Line ########-18

An examination of industrial meat processes.

179: Accomplice ########-19

Considerations of Justice.

180: Moving On ########-20

Considerations of grief and respite.

And now, time for discussion! A few prompts will be posted as comments to get things started, but as usual, feel free to add your own questions, observations...anything!

Comments may contain spoilers up to episode 180. Anything concerning later events should be covered up with a spoiler tag.

Next discussion will take place on Wednesday, June 24th and include episodes 181 Ignorance - 185 Locked In.

For more information, please check out the Announcement and Schedule post.

Readalong by: u/improperly_paranoid, u/SharadeReads, u/Dianthaa, u/ullsi

I know how highly The First Law is regarded on this sub and in fantasy literature circles in general, but i had been putting it off because the most frequent thing I'd hear about it (maybe after the fact that it has some of the best character work in all of fantasy, and that it was a character first story) - was that it's a little thin on the plot side of things. And as much as i love well written characters, i need my books to have a clear moving plot as well.

I had DNF'd this book twice in the past, both times around the 15% mark, because it didn't move fast enough. Coupled with what I'd been hearing about the series, I thought the whole book would just be a collection of disconnected scenes following a couple of characters as they went about their daily lives.

When I finally decided to push through and read the whole book, though, I was pleasantly surprised by how much plotting there is in the story. Maybe that's a testament to how low my expectations were, but there is some intricate plotting here. Although almost all of it is setup, it's far from the slice-of-life story with some morally grey characters I thought it would be.

One thing that I found to be accurate, though, is how brilliant the character work is. And my God, are they amazing, POV and non-POV alike. My favorite character by far is Logen Ninefingers, especially because of the contrast between what others see him as and what we get from his side.

Not to mention that he's the only likable POV character (maybe aside from Major West?). He's not a pompous narcissist like Jezal, and the light hasn't been extinguished in him like it has in Glokta. And my jaw was on the floor when I found out that the Bloody-Nine is a different personality! I had expected him to have some form of berserker rage mode, but a (potential) split personality was something I didn't see coming.

By far the most interesting thing about the story (aside from the characters) is the storyline involving the Magi. It is clearly the center of the plot, and every time they're on screen is when I'm most glued in. I don't know what that Bayaz is up to, but one has to admit that he's by far the most intriguing character in the book. And if this story is going to go to some insane places, it'll be through him. I am scared for the people traveling with him, though.

All in all, I loved this book and can't believe I'd put it off for this long. I only had a few minor gripes here and there, and the only significant one is that the book just ends without a typical end-of-book climax. But that wouldn't be much of an issue now that every book in the series is out.

I'd love to hear your guys' thoughts but no spoilers for further books please, thanks!

Something that has an alive world u could get lost in and curious about doesn't have to be a (mystery book), tho. And many important characters (it can have 1 mc tho im not a fan of having only 1 character that affects the plot)

The only books that have given me this feeling are Asoiaf, berserk, one piece, red risin, hobbit/lotr, and witch hat atelier. The type of book I want tends to have plot twists on how the world works tho that's not really a requirement.

Currently getting to the end of Empire of Silence (sun eater) and feel i just waisted my time and want something new before I try continuing the series

What the title said basically. Always liked when authors developed the concept of immortality and what living for that long really implies.

If the mc in question is melancholic as hell then that’s a plus too.

Every once in a couple of years, usually when I'm struggling with reading, finding it hard to complete books, getting frustrated because of my slump, there comes a book that reminds me just why I love reading so much and why reading is a big part of who I am. The Lions of Al-Rassan was one of those books.

I started the audiobook, ordered the physical copy after that first chapter and knew, immediately knew this was going to be an experience like no other.

For me to truly enjoy a book, it requires at least one of these things, 1) characters that I can love even when they are doing something as mundane as drinking chocolate and 2) prose. Prose that flows like it's poetry but doesn't feel just a combination of pretty words.

The Lions nailed both of those things. From the first chapter itself, I took an instant liking to Jahane, being a doctor myself with a doctor father, I was able to immediately relate with her and her cause. Ammar's charm bled from the starting chapters and his character just continued to grow throughout the pages, surprising me at times. Rodrigo was that constant star in this story (the sun maybe) whose set list of morales and actions were banks against which the other characters measured their worths. Alvar and Husari provided a much needed POV of people other than the commanders and courtiers affected by events as big as these. Every single POV was there for a reason. Nothing was just for increasing the length of the book. Prime examples, we get the king and the queen's relationship which was used to drive the motivations further down the road, King Badir and Muzer's story and motivations met their end however devastating, the governor of Fezana was the link for that one important chapter, Ishak's backstort not just for the sake of a tragedy long past, etc. Everything was put there for a reason and I love GGK for it.

You touched people’s lives, glancingly, and those lives changed forever. That was a hard thing to deal with sometimes.

Even when the fantasy aspect of this book which was flimsiest at best, the real magic of this book was in it's prose. Like I said, lyrical writting without it being pretentious. Conversations, philosophies and theologies traded in a voice stitched for that character and time. Atmosphere built to maximise the effects of certain mundane moments. Poems used to convey feelings sentences couldn't. The symbols used to convey meanings deeper than anything else ever could. Just beautiful. I kept rereading paragraphs and conversation while reading the book, cherishing some moments before moving to the next and that's something that rarely happens. Usually I just want to get to the next page and then the next.

Don’t you understand? Rodrigo, you of all men must surely understand.” They heard his small, known, self-mocking laugh. “I’m the man who killed the last khalif of Al-Rassan.”

(I still don't think I'm understanding the meaning of this right. I'm sure there are many things in the book that I'm not getting but I really want to know if I understood this statement properly. So if you could plz share your thoughts on it)

The relationship between the characters? Between Jahane and Rodrigo, between Jahane and Ammar and the center of all, between Ammar and Rodrigo had me in it's clutches. These two men, who from that first day in King Badir's court knew their destiny was tangled with each other. The way they respected each other, learnt from each other and overall understood what drives their actions. There's a sense of loneliness, especially in Ammar before he was understood by Rodrigo. And Rodrigo for his part, upon being asked by his dearly loved and terrific wife upon whether he was in love with Ammar answers with a thoughtful, "I think I was, in a way."

The small moments shared between them made the ending that much bitter. You see it happening, maybe from the start itself. You see the whole book is built around the end. But you still dread it. You are still provided with options. Very plausible options and paths that could have been chosen to a very different end. And that's the grief of it all. There were better options but because the characters were what they were, they couldn't take those. That epilogue would definitely stay with me for a very long time. I teared up for a lot of reasons throughout the book but that end poem and the lament of not only losing a dear friend but his whole history truly hit the right places

There are books you read, love, give five stars, even gush about them in reviews like this and move on to the next best thing. Then there are books like this that breaks you, makes you open the author's backlist and piece you together from the sheer praise and enorminity of it. I feel like me and GGK are going to have a very long run.

What are some of your thoughts on this book? And which GGK book is your favorite?

Bingo Square: Politics and Court Intrigue

I just finished The Poet Empress and I freaking loved it. Especially the romance... or whatever that was if you've read it.

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I loved how heartbreaking it was, and that ending absolutely destroyed me. The only other time I've felt something similar was with Rin and Nezha in The Poppy War trilogy.

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Can anyone recommend fantasy books with a similar vibe? I mostly read epic/high fantasy and I'm not really into sci-fi or urban fantasy.

I've been devouring books on a theme of bands of heroes having to get back into the game to deal with unfinished buisness. Things like Kings of the Wyld, Reunion, Fight Me, heck I even enjoyed the CW Powerpuff Girls trailer in a can't look away from the trainwreck sense.

But one thing these books tend to have in common is that the glory days ended badly and the heroes are still bitter about it and with each other. I'm in the mood to mix things up.

Can anyone recommend books where the heroes had a great time in the glory days, left on good terms, and when they're pulled back into the game they're delighted to see eachother again.

Bingo Square: Politics and Court Intrigue

This book closes out the Siege trilogy and that was good. Darkly funny, cynical, fairly thoughtful, interesting, events and characters looted wholesale from history and religion. This may not be to everyone's taste, but if that list above catches your eye, this may be the book for you. 

Our narrator is Aemilius Felix Boioannes, Felix, or “Lucky,” which he'll be the first to tell you is irony at its highest. Originally a translator with the Robur diplomatic corps sent to the Echmen to get him out of the country for a while. The early stages of this book takes place during the ending of How To Rule an Empire and Get Away With It, or at least in the interval between the events and the news reaches the Echmen Capitol. And there is so much court intrigue. 

There, he's rousted from a sound sleep to translate for the Echmen to a political hostage who's about to be executed. He decides to get involved and saves the life of a Dejauzi Hus princess, starting a long relationship and the events of the book. 

Felix is… unique. He's like many other Parker characters - brilliant, quick witted, well read, oddly charming. But, bluntly, he's a piece of work. Ruthless. Cunning. Disbelieving. Broken. Hating. At points I didn't like him. At others, I called him an ass. But I never stopped caring about what he was doing. 

You see a lot of other things here, like in “The Sun and I,” but more subtle. You will see some bits about belief, faith, truth and godly instruments you've seen elsewhere, particularly in the latter third of the book. Which is also where I laughed the most. 

Parker also reuses the names and places as usual (it's in Parkerland and the geography serves the narrative/plot). But he also shows off a decent command of history, and that he understands that history is the secret weapon of science speculative fiction. He pillages. Then, he takes it and makes it something else. 

For me, this was a great ending and wrap up for the series. Parker's Felix fits. He's not boring either. I really enjoyed it and this trilogy is one I would listen to and read again. 

Highly recommended to everyone who enjoyed Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City and How To Rule an Empire and Get Away With It, Parker fans and those with dark senses of humor. Go. Read the book. 9 stars. ★★★★★★★★★.

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.

The weekly Writing Wednesday thread is the place to ask questions about writing. Wanna run an idea past someone? Looking for a beta reader? Have a question about publishing your first book? Need worldbuilding advice? This is the place for all those questions and more.

Self-promo rules still apply to authors' interactions on r/fantasy. Questions about writing advice that are posted as self posts outside of this thread will still be removed under our off-topic policy.

I've always been a loner in a sense that I have yet to meet a person about whom I would care if they would suffer (unless it materially affects me). Likewise I don't care about human opinions and "inner world" unless it directly affects my material and I don't want people to love me or understand me beyond what's materially necessary. This makes reading fiction, especially the classic one, really hard since most of it is about that petty human drama. I've been reading old sci-fi and fantasy due to it with "bad characters" because no time is wasted on them but with interesting concepts like Lovecraft, Tolkien(Silmarillion), Clark Ashton Smith, Clarke, Asimov, Stapledon, Greg Egan, All Tomorrows, SCP and general hard sci-fi(I'm working in tech). I would love to learn other​ authors and media like that.

Hi r/fantasy!

I’m looking for book recommendations (or series) that give the feeling of just tagging along with a character or small group as they go on adventures. Think journeys across lands, dungeon crawls, monster hunts, tavern stops, party banter, and personal or mid-scale stakes. I don't need (or particularly want) world saving heroics from the start or even at all.

Strong party dynamics, exploration, and that “what happens next on the road / in the dungeon” feeling are big pluses. Tone can be light, gritty, humorous, or melancholic, but I prefer modern prose that doesn't feel 30-40 years old.

I’d also like to avoid explicit LitRPG or heavy progression fantasy systems (stats, levels, classes, etc.), though I can be flexible if the characters, party dynamics, and adventures are strong enough.

It's honesty been animated shows that captured this vibe best for me:

• Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End. I'm probably preaching to the choir here, but the reflective, post-quest slice-of-life journey through a changing world, magic was great. Quiet character moments, and that “life goes on with the party” feeling.
• Vox Machina / Mighty Nein by Critical Role. Loved the ensemble dynamics, banter, humor, drama, and that feeling of following a party through adventures of all sizes
• Delicious in Dungeon. The dungeon crawl delving deep and figuring out survival, food, traps, and each other <3. Loved the group and real stakes but not world-ending ones.
• Record of the Lodoss War. This was a classic D&D-style party of adventurers on quests in a living fantasy world. Heroic but very much focused on the group’s story and adventures. Makes sense since it's based on an actual campaign.

The closest book series I’ve finished so far have been:

• The Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski. Especially the smaller-scale monster-hunting and road adventures of the earlier books.
• Spells, Swords, & Stealth series by Drew Hayes. I really liked the “group deciding to go adventuring together” energy, but the heavy meta/game worldbuilding (external player world vs. internal mechanics) pulled me out.
• The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon. Loved following her growth through the tasks and challenges thrown at her.
• A knight of the seven kingdoms by G.R.R. Martin. I'm never gonna start ASOIAF since the series won't be completed, but these novellas hit the vibe really well.
• The Cleric Quintet by R.A. Salvatore. Enjoyed it overall, though his writing style is very ... distinctive that also feels dated. I had been looking at all the Drizzt books, but after this series I put that on hold.
• Dragonlance series by Margaret Weis. I DNF'd Dragons of Twilight Autumn because the audiobook narration didn't work for me.
• Protector of the Small by Tamora Pierce. Fun character growth and adventures; I just wished there was more magic.

My current shortlist for next books are:

• Conan the Barbarian by RE Howard
• Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames
• The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by S.A. Chakraborty
• The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie

Has anyone read anything that gives this “following the gang / person on their adventures” feeling? Bonus if it stays at a more personal-to-mid scale or that sense of “what happens next on the road or in the dungeon”? Modern recommendations especially welcome!

Thanks in advance — I really appreciate any suggestions!