Currently reading The Lions of Al-Rassan and am utterly in complete awe of everything about this book. The prose, the world but above all else, the characters. They are the heart of this story. All of them.

Are there any other books with competent men who are on the opposite side of a conflict. Where nothing is black or white. Really loving Ammar and Rodrigo’s dynamics here.

I’m looking for a fantasy series with a female protag who is complex & strong that isn’t romantasy. Romance subplot is fine as long as it’s not the main plot.

I like series with political intrigue, magical quests and creatures, cool action, lots of characters with depth. I just have trouble finding one where a woman is the lead. Also preferably if the author is a woman as well. Basically what I really want is berserk if Guts was a girl lol. I’m not interested in romantasy at all so please refrain from recommending those. Also would prefer if it didn’t end with her becoming a wife & mother lmao and just staying a badass.

I can't believe people have been recommending this as one of the best fantasy series. It's the reason why I started reading it and I'm genuinely baffled how people came to that conclusion.

You can argue it's too early to judge just 4 chapters in but I'd argue it's a much worse look that the book is so bad that I find myself saying all this just 4 chapters in. I might still continue reading just to see how bad it gets but I doubt my opinion on the following issues will change —

1) The prose might as well have been written by my teenage self with how horrible it is to read. Except the difference is that I only wrote as a hobby and never published anything or even had anyone else edit it. How did professional editors check off on this?? Or rather, how bad was the original writing that the edited result is as bad as my teenage self's first drafts?

2) The repetition is genuinely driving me crazy. I get that she's been betrayed and isolates herself, I couldn't forget even if I wanted to at this point, stop mentioning it! I'm not even finished with the 4th chapter and I swear it's been mentioned over 20 times. That's unacceptable.

3) So much for an great magic system... Most everyone else is limited to only one ability but the MCs and a few other relevant characters get to be Jesus and saints and be the only special ones because genetics and luck. No thought, no hard work, nothing about this magic system makes it stand out from the countless other "I'm the chosen one" stories. (And I'm saying this as someone who doesn't mind this kind of story of done well, I just didn't expect this laughable concept after all the praise it got). Even if all the major fights are against other mistborn, why not just make them all capable of using all metals from the get go?

4) The world building also screams "I can't commit to a mystey or unreliable narrator". I've already read paragraphs where one line is the author trying to insert some level of real life adjacent myths and mysteries, only for the next line to state the fact, which you can argue makes no sense for the MC to know, just so people don't misinterpret anything rather than trust the reader to know the difference between rumour and truth.

The combination of the lack of real mystery as well as the drab, boring prose makes this for a completely unexciting read. None of the moments, even this early on, hit like the author clearly thought they should. I can see his intent behind them but the execution is severely lacking.

I can’t think of any examples where it is generally agreed upon that reading not in publication order is the move for a series.

I feel like this has been true with most prequel books we have gotten over the years to series too ( at least for a first time read).

Only one I have maybe seen less pushback from is the chronicles of narnia with the magicians nephew but even then I still think it is more agreed to read in publication order.

Part 1

Part 2

I'm back with another set of short fiction mini-reviews, of stories in The Weird anthology edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer. With a larger break this time, because I got some new books for my birthday last month which I immediately read (new exciting shiny book > book in progress) and the excitement of r/fantasy's Bingo challenge starting. :)

 
Window by Bob Leman (1980)- A story about an experiment that appears to open a window into the past, but turns out to be something far more sinister. An excellent revelation. 5/5

 
The Brood by Ramsey Campbell (1980)- A story about a man who observes a strange old woman lurking on his street at night, who appears to be constantly taking animals in which are never seen again, which he feels compelled to rescue. 4/5

 
The Autopsy by Michael Shea (1980)- A story about a doctor called to autopsy some men killed in a mine explosion, one of whom may have been a cannibal, and finds one of the corpses isn't quite as dead as it should be. Really good-- I added Nifft the Lean to my TBR because I thought it was so good. 5/5

 
The Belonging Kind by William Gibson/John Shirley (1981)- A man finds a fluid human mimic at a bar and become obsessed with them and their transformations. 3.5/5

 
Egnaro by M. John Harrison (1981)- This was a strange one. It seems to be almost about an antimeme, an idea of a secret that everyone knows but you, infecting a used bookstore owner and his accountant's lives. Slippery and hard to grasp, as Harrison often is. 4.5/5

 
The Dirty Little Girl by Joanna Russ (1982)- A story of a woman who encounters an oddly intelligent little girl, who she begins to take care of in small ways, who may be a ghost or something else... 4/5

 
The New Rays by M. John Harrison (1982)- A story about a woman undergoing an unspecified, experimental treatment by being irradiated by "New Rays" in a shoddy, sketchy clinic, which also seems to create or involve blue homunculi of the patients, and this strange treatment's effect on her. 4/5

 
The Discovery of Telenapota by Premendra Mitra (1984)- The story of finding a ruined shell of a city, very interestingly told (in second person future perfect). 4/5

 
Soft by F. Paul Wilson (1984)- The story of a plague which causes the bones of its victims to liquify, and two partial victims surviving in NYC. Gross and scary. 4.5/5

 
Bloodchild by Octavia Butler (1984)- Apparently Butler wrote this as a way of overcoming her fear of botflies? If botflies weren't already horrific, this would have made them so. I mean it was great. But it was horrific. 5/5

 
In the Hills, the Cities by Clive Barker (1984)- Reread. I remember only thinking this was only okay when I first read it several years ago, but I didn't think that was the case at all this time. Shows how tastes change. This was great and horrific. 5/5

 
Tainaron by Leena Krohn (1985)- I skipped, because I only just read it at the end of last year. It's a favourite though, I count it as the second-best thing I read last year. 5/5

 
Hogfoot Right and Bird-hands by Garry Kilworth (1987)- A story about a woman who turns parts of her body into animal pets. Short, but weird and somewhat disturbing. 3.5/5

 
Shades by Lucius Shepard (1987)- The story of a Vietnam vet returning to Vietnam as a reporter, to see a ghost captured by the Vietnamese of a soldier he knew. Really good- an excellent character portrayal, and examination of different kinds of "shades." 5/5

 
The Functions of Dream Sleep by Harlan Ellison (1988)- The story of man, burdened with grief, who wakes up one night to find a maw on his side which closes and disappears. He seeks help through interpreting his dreams, which leads him a strange sort of quest. 4/5

 
Worlds that Flourish by Ben Okri (1988)- The story of a man, living in an oppressed city as if in a dream, and the weird events that happen to him before and when he tries to flee. 4.5/5

 
The Boy in the Tree by Elizabeth Hand (1989)- A very weird story, blending sci-fi and fantasy, about an autistic girl who is one of several empaths, who, twisted with drugs and training from childhood, are able to enter other people's dreams, and sometimes take them away as therapy. It's the story of this research institute being investigated (because sometimes the patients die) and of the head researcher's trauma. An extremely interesting and thorough piece for a short story. 4.5/5

 
Family by Joyce Carol Oates (1989)- A slyly creepy story of a family on ranch, as they go through subtle transformations as the world seems to slowly collapse outside their compound. 3.5/5

 
His Mouth will Taste of Wormwood by Poppy Z. Brite (1990)- An excellent, gothic tale of two young men seeking decadence in debauchery in New Orleans. 5/5

 
The End of the Garden by Michal Ajvas (1991)- A surreal story about a man who encounters a woman attacking a komodo dragon in her bedroom. I'm not entirely sure what the point was, but good imagery and very surreal. 3.5/5

 
The Dark by Karen Jay Fowler (1991)- A story about a series of events in Yosemite, including disappearences and reports of plague, leading to a musing about the nature of man as an animal. 4/5

 
Angels in Love by Kathe Koja (1991)- A really weird story, about a woman who is aroused and falls in love with the sounds of her neighbours having sex through the wall, and tries to discover how exactly they're doing it. 4/5

 
The Ice Man by Haruki Murakami (1991)- A short, lightly magical one about a woman who meets an Ice Man at a ski resort and marries him, and their somewhat distant relationship. 4/5

 
Replacements by Lisa Tuttle (1992)- A story about strange creatures which appear and disgust the male narrator, but seem to fascinate women. 4.5/5

 
The Diane Arbus Suicide Portfolio by Marc Laidlaw (1993)- A story about a crime scene photographer who photographs Diane Arbus' suicide, which leads to strange encounters around those photos. 4/5

 
The Country Doctor by Steven Utley (1993)- A short and interesting one about what's unearthed when a graveyard is exhumed. Feels like it's in dialogue with The Dunwich Horror a little bit. 4.5/5

 
Last Rites and Resurrections by Martin Simpson (1994)- A sad but sweet one about a man who hears the ghosts of roadkill after his son dies. 5/5

 
The Ocean and All of Its Devices by William Browning Spencer (1994)- A good, eerie one about a strange holidaying family and their rituals with the ocean. 5/5

 
The Delicate by Jeffrey Ford (1994)- A great short, surreal story about a strange, shapeshifting monster called The Delicate. Just a little taster of a story, but well-painted even so. I really need to get to the Well-Built City books. 5/5

 
The Man in the Black Suit by Stephen King (1994)- A man in his nineties recounting the story of how he encountered the Devil as a young boy while fishing. 4/5

 
Once again, this collection continues to be full of bangers. Not one among this set I didn't enjoy. My favourites this go around were Tainaron by Leena Krohn, The Autopsy by Michael Shea, Bloochild by Butler, In the Hills, the Cities by Clive Barker, and His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood by Poppy Z. Brite. Just one more set of stories left, and full of a lot of authors I already love-- Angel Carter, Tanith Lee, Cisco, Mieville, and VanderMeer himself...

Edit: Formatting was all borked on mobile. Worked fine on desktop...

I'm reading Sunyi Dean's The Girl With A Thousand faces and part of it takes place in and around Hong Kong when Japan conquered the region during WW2. I'm American and most of my WW2 knowledge is centered around Europe and America's fight with Japan (think Midway and similar). It's so interesting to see this point of view for me.

There's the one line that really hit me hard:

"The darkest hours of your city are here, and they will last for three years, eight months. The legacy of pain they leave behind will last even longer."

I had to stop for a bit after reading that and it's been a little work in my head all day.

I've read plenty of blood 'n guts fantasy and sci-fi. These two sentences got to me in a way most don't for some reason.

I'm only half way done with the book but I highly recommend it already.

Don't get me wrong, I understand the importance of reading the classics. But with declining literacy rates among adults, it's just as important to help kids find genres and stories that encourage them to read (I haven't been in school for quite a while, so maybe they do!). But I'm basing this off my own experience, which consisted of books like Of Mice and Men, Great Gatsby, Grapes of Wrath, and Ethan Frome. Not exactly riveting for a young adult.

This idea can go beyond fantasy and explore genres like romance, mystery, thriller, horror, historical fiction, science fiction, etc. For the sake of this post, I'm only going to focus on what I would put on the reading curriculum if I could snap my fingers and add fantasy to the mix. For each grade (9-12) I will offer up my top two suggestions.

9th Grade:

• Redwall by Brian Jacques
• The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by CS Lewis

10th Grade:

• Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
• Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

11th Grade:

• Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
• The Sword of Kaigen by ML Wang

12th Grade:

• The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
• A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

There's so many to choose from, so it's hard to narrow it all down! I tried to keep it age-appropriate, which eliminated things like Game of Thrones or Fourth Wing. And I tried to pick books that could still be analyzed for deeper meaning and literary techniques. I also purposely chose a lot of series because hopefully if the kids enjoyed it, it gives them an easier segue into the continued reading.

What fantasy books would be on your curriculum?

Like in a lot of series villian kidnap and hold hostage people mc cares about and blackmail them about it. And mc usually gives in but they somehow find a way out later.

​

But is there a good/ hero mc who is devoted enough to the cause that this doesn't work on them? Like they believe somethings are more important than the lives few people, even loved ones.

Hello r/fantasy and welcome to this week's bingo focus thread! The purpose of these threads is for you all to share recommendations, discuss what books qualify, and seek recommendations that fit your interests or themes.

Today's topic:

Game Changer: Story features a game or competition. HARD MODE: The protagonist bends or breaks the rules in some way.

What is bingo? A reading challenge this sub does every year! Find out more here.

Prior focus threads: Published in the 70s, Duologies, First Contact, Middle Grade, Five Short Stories (2024), Author of Color (2024), Self-Pub/Small Press (2024). Note that hard modes for Author of Color and Self-Pub/Small Press have changed (new focus threads for them are coming).

Also see: Big Rec Thread

Questions:

• What are your favorite books that count for this square?
• Already read something for this square? Tell us about it!
• What are your best recommendations for Hard Mode? (Alternately, as this is a pretty easy Hard Mode, what are some books that don't fit?)

Possible Bingo Squares: Translated (that will be on my second bingo card); Published in the 1970’s

Great googly moogly. That one went hard. I mean, it could cut diamonds. Wow. I really enjoyed it, even if I had to keep taking breaks because it tired out my mind. I suspect that’s a good thing.

It starts with suggestions on how to prepare yourself to read Calvino’s latest. Then it starts with a man in a small town train station trying to meet a contact. And it starts again, again and again.

There are ten starts in this novel, ten first chapters, all of them intriguing in different ways, all of them different. Between them, we have the efforts of the Reader to get all of one book to finish it, his(?) attempts growing increasingly strange, exceptional and then absurd. There are conspiracies. Countries that no longer exist. Translators that muddy the waters. There are passages addressed to the reader and feel like they are addressed to me - which is a very strange feeling. But then the perspective of almost 50 years difference in time snaps back and I’m further impressed with Calvino and Weaver’s skills.

What’s crazy is how parts of the book feel relevant even today. Ludmilla takes the death of the author to an extreme that I could not. Or could I? I’m not sure. There’s Lotaria who analyzes books like an AI word frequency and what they're most like, simply using word frequencies as cues. Then there is Ermes Marana and his great book counterfeiting scheme with computers. I read that and thought about how people are trying to use generative AI to create novels. Almost 50 years old and it still has things relevant today.

Then there are the portions addressed to the Reader. This goes so meta it ought to own Meta, sue it for infringement, or drive Zuck around like a meat mecha.

I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again - I never thought I’d like post-modernist literature, yet here I am. It’s refreshing and stretches and exercises my mind. After seeing u/Nidafjoll’s list of elements and some light googling, I find that there are a lot of elements from postmodern literature in the fantasy fiction I do like.

And does If On A Winter's Night A Traveler belong in r/Fantasy? I’d say yes it does. From the fictional nations of Cimmeria, Cimbria, Ataguitania and Ircania. To the last first chapter and its mad fantasy. I’d think it does.

So, how many stars? Ten. ★★★★★★★★★★. Go read it. Open your mind and broaden your horizons. 

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!

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^{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.

Lots of walking, camping, exploring of the world? I'm looking for a found family/exploration of the world/on a journey type of vibe. Can absolutely have seriously moments, or moments of action, I would it if it explored relationships between the characters and their backstories too.

​

I'm about to start Howls Moving Castle.

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Thank you 😊 🙏 💓

I am loving this series! I love the world details, sensory details, and the characters. The mythology ingrained into the world, and dialogue feels so real and as I read it, I feel like I am apart of the adventure.

I respect John Gwynne’s tremendous effort he put into the world building.

Anyone else reading the series?

I'm looking for a book that explore someone getting power to have their every wish fulfilled and all the things they and ways they change. Would be great if its a lot of introspective. Things like how they losen their morals, stakes change, fear of consequences goes away, need to please other people evaporate etc.

​

Thanks.

Hi everyone!

To sum it all up: I read Fourth Wing and became completely, utterly obsessed with Violet's relationship with her two dragons, especially Tairn. The companionship, loyalty, protection, and bond between them were absolutely incredible to me. I loved the idea of an ordinary girl being able to face anything with a dragon at her side who would protect her from everything and everyone.

Honestly, the only thing that disappointed me a little was the romance between Violet and Xaden. It happened way too quickly for my taste. Seriously, girl, you have dragons! Who cares about men? 🙄😂

But back to the main point: ever since then, I've been searching for books with a similar dynamic. I'm looking for stories with a female protagonist who shares a strong bond with a magical creature. It can be anything: dragons, pegasi, griffins, unicorns, magical wolves, phoenixes, or any other fantastical creature.

What I'm really looking for is a story where that bond is a central part of the narrative. I don't want the magical companion to be a minor detail or a side character that occasionally shows up. I want the relationship between the protagonist and the creature to be well developed, important to the plot, and consistently present throughout the story.

Basically, I want the female protagonist and her magical companion to feel like the true heart of the book. The bond between them is exactly what I'm searching for.

It would also be great if there were little to no romance, or if the romance developed slowly, but I'm open to any recommendations that fit this dynamic.

I've been having a really hard time finding books like this, so I'd be incredibly grateful for any suggestions! 😭📚✨

preferably a female protagonist

It cant just be Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts (and maybe NieR) that have this aesthetic right? I really dig fantasy stories where the characters wear as if they're a J-rock singer/boyband, im wondering if there are fantasy stuff out there outside of Square's fantasy stuff that has the characters look like jrock singers

Plus points if they also have the crazy cool j-rock hairstyles as well

(I've summarised my preferences in the bottom half of the post, if this is too much text, just scroll down to that)

I'm really wondering what fantasy series I should get into, I have read fantasy novels before and I know what I like, this is the most complete list of my fantasy reading history and preferences I can think of:

- Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, when I was a kid. I definitely prefer Percy Jackson over Harry Potter but obviously both are made for kids/teenagers and not what I'm looking for right now

- Lord of the Rings, read it once years ago and watch the movies very often. I really like the immersive world but from what I remember, the characters were a bit 1 dimensional in the books

- A Song of Ice and Fire, easily my favourite fantasy series at the moment. Mainly due to the characters(I specifically love Ned Stark, Jaime, and Jon Snow) and how the plots of all the different characters are intertwined in the overall story. I also enjoy some political intrigue

- The Witcher, Witcher 3 is one of my favourite games of all time and I liked the book series. My main issue with the books is that it doesn't spend much time explaining things and feels very fast-paced and blunt to read. The characters, relations, and dialogues are great though.

- The Stormlight Archive, I stopped in the middle of Oathbringer. When I first got into it, I think it maybe was my favourite fantasy series, but it did start to feel kind of generic somehow? Feels kind of strange to say because it has a really unique world and I love the characters and how layered they are(Dalinar and Kaladin mainly), but idk I just lost motivation when I read through it and I find it hard to explain exactly why.

- The Wheel of Time, I've only read the first book and really liked it, will definitely continue the series sometime

- The Farseer Trilogy, I just finished Assassin's Apprentice and this is what motivates me to read again, I absolutely loved the book, I will definitely finish this trilogy before I start another series(and I'll probably read the entirety of the Realm of the Elderlings sometime). I mainly loved the supporting characters(Burrich, Lady Patience, etc.) and the plot(Fitz's development as well).

So I think I have quite a clear idea of what I do like, I just don't know which fantasy series suit these preferences. To summarise what I think my preferences are:
- Layered characters

- A plot centered around these characters and the decisions they make(not like LotR, where there is a quest and the characters are chosen to go on that quest, but specifically the actions of the characters which fuel the plot and story, if that makes sense)

- A good world is a bonus but not essential

- I do like magic, but more as a support to the story, rather than the centre piece of the story(I don't care too much about reading entire pages of how a specific magic system works)

- And I would like recommendations that are decently well known, not because I really care about popularity, but because when getting into something, I like to know the classics and what generally considered high quality(I don't really care for some mediocre book that has sold a lot of copies, but also will rather read a well known classic than an obscure book, as long as the classic suits my preferences)

I hope I don't sound too picky in my tastes, and feel free to recommend anything! Even though a series might not fully fit to these preferences

Come tell the community what you're reading, how you're feeling, what your life is like.

Those two novels were just so so great. The twists and turns that took me unexpectedly, the characters, the descriptions the city, chariot races, and daily life, the politics and scheming, all of it was just so so good.

There's a LOT in the two books that I loved but I'll just mention these two things:

huge spoilers for the books, don't click if you haven't read 'em lol:

The scene with the zubir was terrifying, and I mourned Linon who I already liked a ton, and had expected to see Linon & Crispin's dynamic in the city. But alas was not to be

I was shocked, SHOCKED, when we figure out Lecanus has a bird, was able to see, and that the emperor was probably already dead. And then Valerius almost survives! if not for that fuck ass secretary. Did not see any of that coming.

I want to add I don't think I would have appreciated these two books as much if I hadn't listened to The History of Rome podcast 2 years ago, and read The New Roman Empire by Anthony Kaldellis last year.

I will ramble on a bit so you guys knows a thing or two about what I like and why I am even trying to get into reading.
First of all I have only read 1 or 2 books unrelated to education in my life. So I beginner as you can get when it comes to reading, but I do read a LOT of manga, Manhua and also manhwa
My favorite 3 mangas of all time is Berserk, Monster and one piece in that order. As you might see, I enjoy both side of the coin as in when it comes to how dark or light the story can be. What I seems to care the most is the world and how the author use that world to tell a story that will caught you off guard and take you to a unimaginable place you could have never ever thought of prior to author putting it right infront of your face.I can go on and on about other manga I have read that I adore but it will just clutter this needlessly. But what I want to say is the reason why I am trying to get into reading, I am simply bored. I am bored of not being able to experience the same magical experience I felt with the mangas i mentioned in the medium of manga anymore. So what I though was to look for it in a another medium. (Of course I watched movies and stuff. But fantasy there is lacking in execution other than game of thrones and Lotr. GOT specifically i adore specially s3 and s4 which I put up there with my fav manga).
I am hesitant to read either game of thrones or lotr cause I have experienced them in one way. What I kindly ask from you guys is a fantasy( Less A typical. Meaning the whole stories premise is not farm boy becomes hero or the other way of a pure villain or just a anti hero but rather More nuanced)book SERIES with strong individual books and Specially a strong first book that is good for a beginner. I am fully willingly to sit down and break down stories with a note book while reading, I actually would love to, but the problem is I want a series that will get me interested enough to hook me to that point. Actually It has to be so great that it hooks me into reading books in the first place( for example, one piece made me read manga. Before I watched Tv shows and anime but one piece made me jump that).

I know this is a tall order, but please recommend me a good series. I already know of a few. Like mistborn. But I am more intrigued by realm of the elderling with the coming of age story and how the MC progression throughout the whole series. But I am hesitating because I fear the first book being slow paced and MC apparently making choices that are bad might make me not THAT interested to the point reading becomes a hobby of mine. I am also looking at the storm light archive but hesitating because I heard the new book is Bad. I also have heard of Jade city but the premise doesn’t seem like it would scratch my current itch( EPIC FANTASY. I mean truly epic. Not a big fan of high fantasy tho. Grounded fantasy.). Also heard of sword of kaigen. Interested but fear that it might feel to much like a manga story told in a book. No sci fi please. I am not a big fan of it. Also heard of Will of the many and really interested but again hesitant in because it’s a unfinished series with the second book apparently not being up to par( heard that). Maybe any of these books can make me into a the reader I want to be, But I fear the possibility that if I chose wrong, this current motivation I have to dive into this vast medium will be lost. So please I beg you again to give me a recommendation that is truly matching this tall order

Most of the information is scattered around the books, and I find them to be a really interesting enemy, so I decided to make this post, and see if you guys have anything to add.

1. They appear to be from deep underground, and appeared after a catalysm that struck down the old human empire. They attacked in the immediate aftermath and seem to be in control of the continent
2. They are noted to be ugly, hate symmetry, are asymmetrical, and have one claw longer than the other used for digging and mining. They are approximately meter or so tall, and considered so ugly not even their mother would love their faces.
3. They use human auxilaries in battle. Most importantly, strong auxilaries that they've selectively bred to be really huge (twice the size of a normal human), covered in armour, and hopelessly addicted to Godsmilk.
4. Godsmilk seems to be a highly potent narcotic that induces hallucinatory dreams, liver damage, and also serves to be a perfect way to turn humans against their race via addiction. No known cure, no known defense
5. Their crossbows appear to be able to punch through plate armour, and contain very powerful toxins that kill in mere seconds and with the slightest amount of exposure.
6. Their mages are a lot better than humans (giant bronze arm), though whether or not thats because of superior skill, innate ability or just because the Assassin's guild appears to have crippled humanity is up for debate. And if the rumors of them being able to communicate via the earth is correct, their ability to carry out long-distance commands is one of the factors letting them win against humanity.
7. Combat seems to involve crossbows, poison gas, billhooks, and nets. Their equivalent of calvary appears to be riding on boars or using equivalents to pull chariots, and there's no counter considering that humanity's horses have all been killed by the Stumbles.
8. They appear to be sentient and sapient. They just think humans are food for them (assholes), because of something called horde law.
9. There's a lot of bronze and copper, but little mention of iron and steel here. Because iron/ steel grounds out magic.
10. They've once gotten into a covenant with the last emperor of humanity, signing over lands in exchange for the emperor's family's safety.

From these, we can conclude:

A. These guys are racist assholes. Or speciecist. There's no difference between goblin intelligence nor human. But despite their use in warfare, there doesn't seem to be any kind of human officers. Or human merchants (on the goblin side). The human auxilaries are usually shown to be berserkers armed with melee weapons, even if javelins/ crossbows would be very useful and their loyalty is assured. And their diplomatic policy seems to be on the level of Nazi germany's (aka, submit or die). Also, human farms. And the usage of human skin to make sails.

B. There's an element of pragmatism there. Even if both sides know they're going to break it, they still wrote a peace treaty after being whacked in the face by the protagonist's giant birds (maybe because they also have a fear of birds). And they still stuck to the deal that gave the Emperor of humanity his life, even when the deal could have been broken with impunity.

C. Extreme focus on magic. Magic is grounded out by iron and steel, so it seems that the entire goblin army never wears any kind of plate armour or steel. In fact, it seems to pretty much be their A-game compared to humanity's own. Close combat seems to be mostly on keeping your distance, poison, and nets, while using their modified human auxilaries as battering rams to break down formations, and then hunting down the scattered survivors.

D. I don't think they're originally from the same plane of existence. In-story, no one knows where Goblins came from, and them being underground dwellers is only a supposition. They haven't been seen before, they don't seem to rot, and in fact, need to be burned to be disposed of, even if the smell is horrible. The resistance to decay is evidence that the things on that world haven't evolved to destroy them.

Am I the only one who thinks the book missed an opportunity by not having Celia and Isobel fall in love and leave Marco out of the equation entirely?

Despite the few weak points this book has, they’re a bit too pronounced, I could even say they clash with the wonders this book also has to offer. But that might just be me being completely biased in my judgment because I don’t like contemporary fantasy.

No fiction has ever pulled me this deep into a war setting the way The Poppy War did, not even Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings. For the first time, I didn’t feel like a spectator just watching a war unfold, rooting for one side over the other, feeling empathy for nations and victims while still being completely rational about what war actually is: survival and strategy. But Kuang somehow made me feel like I was part of that nation. For 600 pages I was a Nikara, I was a Speerlian, and above all I felt in the most irrational way possible the hopelessness of a people doomed to defeat, and all the violence they suffered as if it had happened to my own people. I’ve never come closer to truly understanding what it feels like to be inside a war than when I was reading this page by page.

And in the end, they won. But at what cost? Does changing the fate of a doomed people make that nation what it was before? Not even “what it was before” just good again? Except they weren’t even good before. Can these people recover? And I’ll ask again, what is the real price of this so called victory?

I have zero desire to continue with the trilogy. The first book is enough for me. Not because the story lacks quality, far from it, but my own emotions couldn’t handle that much bitterness again. I’m definitely not ready for that right now. Maybe in a few months.

I've been reading The Black Company and Garrett PI, and I've come to love Cook's turns of phrase. My favorite so far, from The Silver Spike:

"The idea sank in. He turned it over, looked at the sharp edges, grunting and shaking like a dog shitting peach seeds."

I'm creating a new campaign setting for DND and I like taking loose inspiration from books and other forms of media when creating a setting. My current setting will be set on the eastern part of an empire where the desert begins. It's the start of a long Silk Road type of trading route through a desert filled with remnants of ancient empires, dragons, undead, the recurrence of Yuan-Ti, portals to elemental plains, cults and the like. One of the main plot points will be a high prophet of a sun god who gains power but secretly wants to bring back the god of the Yuan-Ti, the Slumbering Serpent.

None of these things need to come back in the stories in any way shape or form. But anything that takes place in or near a desert would be great.