I'm a real sucker for this now-unfashionable fantasy trope. Does anyone have some good series recommendations that have the classic "farmboy rises from nothing to become the hero" premise, particularly newer stuff from the last couple of years? (If there are any left!)

Welcome to the December BB Bookclub voting thread for Queernorm Cozy SFF!

The nomination thread can be found here. I'd recommend checking out all the nominations, although for the purpose of this poll, only the five most upvoted comments were chosen. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Voting

There are five options to choose from:

Awakenings by Claudie Arseneault

Innkeep, hunter, blacksmith, nurse—Horace has apprenticed for every clan in the domed city of Trenaze, and they've all rejected em. Too hare-brained. Too talkative. Too slow. Ever the optimist, e has joined Trenaze's guards to be mentored. Horace has high hopes to earn eir place during eir trial at the Great Market. That is, until the glowing shards haunting the world break through the city's protective dome, fused together in a single, monstrous amalgam of Fragments.

Armed with a sword, a shield, and far too little training, Horace doubts eir ability to defend the market-goers. But eir last stand is interrupted by a mysterious elven figure who can dissipate the Fragments with a single, strange sentence: your story is my story.

From the moment it is uttered, Horace knows the sentences holds true for em, too—and when the elf collapses in the middle of the market, e carries them to safety, to recover away from the panicked crowd and inevitable questions from eir fellow guards. It could cost em eir apprenticeship—eir last chance to find eir place in eir home city—but Horace cannot resist the pull of this mystery elf and the call of a new friend.

Aliyah has but one desire: to leave Trenaze's safe boundaries and find the forest that haunts their dreams. After an afternoon of board games in their quiet, sharp-witted company, Horace is ready to follow, confronting Fragments and other dangers of the road to understand what happened that day, hear Aliyah's laugh again and finally feel like e belongs.

Bingo squares: trans/nonbinary protagonist, self published (HM), unusual transportation (HM), one word title

A Slice of Mars by Guerric Hache

Mars is a strange place these days. Corporate overlords, capitalism, and even aging are things of the past on a planet increasingly brimming with biodiversity - yet pizzerias are in short supply!

Siblings Hett and San set out to change that. But a roboticist and a bureaucrat can't run a restaurant alone, so they bring on some help - a bioengineer, a communications scientist, and an unlikely grad student from Earth. Together, this gang of geeks will brave the fires of small business.

But work is just a small part of life. People are complicated. Different brains, different wounds, different values, and one questionably tame wildcat will all collide as they try to grow and succeed together. What comes out of the oven, in the end, is anyone's guess.

Bingo squares: Trans Protagonist (one pov of several); Small Press or Self Published; Feast Your Eyes On This

Many Drops Make a Stream by Adrian Harley

A memory-stealing cult.
The ever-watchful City of Eyes.
Making small talk.
Join Droplet as she faces all these horrors and more…

Vigilante shapeshifter Droplet has trained her entire life to take down those with more power than scruples, but she still makes mistakes. When a rescue mission goes wrong, a memory-stealing cult of blood mages escapes with kidnapped captives in tow. To save them, Droplet reluctantly teams up with the outgoing, tenacious Azera. Droplet knows better than to trust a human—she made that mistake once, and that person's betrayal scattered her community across the known world—and she can tell Azera is hiding secrets behind her sunny smile. But if they can’t learn to work together, even Droplet’s own memories could be lost.

Bingo squares: Trans or Nonbinary Protagonist, arguably (protagonist is a shapeshifter who casually takes forms that don't match her gender); Small Press; Non Human Protagonist

The Phoenix Keeper by SA MacLean

Set in a magical zoo teeming with mythical beasts from dragons and unicorns to kelpies and krakens, The Phoenix Keeper is a fierce joy of a cozy fantasy novel with a soul-restoring queer romance at its heart, for fans of The House in the Cerulean Sea and Legends and Lattes**.**

As head phoenix keeper at a world-renowned zoo for magical creatures, Aila's childhood dream of conserving critically endangered firebirds seems closer than ever. There's just one glaring caveat: her zoo's breeding program hasn't functioned for a decade. When a tragic phoenix heist sabotages the flagship initiative at a neighboring zoo, Aila must prove her derelict facilities are fit to take the reins.

But saving an entire species from extinction requires more than stellar animal handling skills. Carnivorous water horses, tempestuous thunderhawks, mischievous dragons... Aila has no problem wrangling beasts. But mustering the courage to ask for help from the hotshot griffin keeper at the zoo's most popular exhibit? Virtually impossible.

Especially when that hotshot griffin keeper happens to be her arch-rival from college: Luciana, an annoyingly brooding and insufferable know-it-all with the face of a goddess who's convinced that Aila's beloved phoenix would serve their cause better as an active performer rather than as a passive conservation exhibit. With the world watching and the threat of poachers looming, Aila's success is no longer merely a matter of keeping her job...

She is the keeper of the phoenix, and the future of a species – and her love life – now rests on her shoulders.

Reported bingo squares: N/A, unless Judge a Book By Its Title

Yield Under Great Persuasion by Alexandra Rowland

Tam Becket has hated Lord Lyford since they were boys. The fact that he’s also been sleeping with the man for the last ten years is irrelevant.

When they were both nine years old, Lyford smashed Tam’s entry into the village’s vegetable competition. Nearly twenty years later, Tam hasn’t forgiven the bastard. No one understands how deeply he was hurt that day, how it set a pattern of small disappointments and misfortunes that would run through the rest of his life. Now Tam has reconciled himself to the fact that love and affection are for other people, that the gods don’t care and won’t answer any of his prayers (not even the one about afflicting Lyford with a case of flesh-eating spiders to chew off his privates), and that life is inherently mundane, joyless, and drab.

And then, the very last straw: Tam discovers that Lyford (of all people!) bears the divine favor of Angarat, the goddess Tam feels most betrayed and abandoned by. In his hurt and anger, Tam packs up and prepares to leave the village for good.

But the journey doesn’t take him far, and Tam soon finds himself set on a quest for the most difficult of all possible prizes: Self care, forgiveness, a second chance... and somehow the unbelievably precious knowledge that there is at least one person who loves Tam for exactly who he is—and always has.

Bingo squares: N/A

Click here to vote!

Voting will stay open until Monday, October 19th, at which point I'll post the winner in the sub and announce the discussion dates.

What is the BB Bookclub? You can read about it in our introduction thread here.

I really liked this book!

When Broadbent first said that the mmc for this last duology was going to be septimus i was like ew not that slimeball.

Turns out slimeball is actually a stand up guy.

Kyrene is a bad b but also very caring so love that for her.

I do love a non human side character but did not think that would come in the form of a a sassy ancient sword but i loved Zefiah and Kyrenes banter nonetheless.

One thing to note is this is not an enemies to lovers. It is at best a very reluctant allies to lovers.

The spice in this book is similar to the rest of the book where the writing and pacing is solid but i feel like it didnt have that extra oomph to make me feel the emotions that Broadbent was trying to evoke. FYI I am a very emotional person so this isnt a particularly hard task.

Still a solid book and i would give it a 3.75 stars

ONE LAST THING - in one of the spice scenes Kyrene arrives at her destination by Septimus rubbing her thigh ????? Like what?! Is her slit (Broadbents words not mine) so big that its sitting on her thigh or am i just dumb and didnt understand what was happening there LOL.

ONE LAST LAST THING - this couple is great but Mische & Asar are still my alltime faves xo

Looking for recommendations: fantasy where magic is addictive, toxic, or ruins the people who use it. Not "corruption" as a metaphor exactly. I mean systems where every use costs the user something real in their body or mind, and people use it anyway.

I've read Mistborn and The Poppy War and loved the costs in both. What else scratches this itch?

I've tried for the last two or so years to finish Janny Wurts' Curse of the Mistwraith. Not because it's particularly difficult, but just a tough pairing of very deep writing and prose coupled with many life struggles that have made it very difficult to follow up with my interests or to stay engaged in anything.

Well, I recently have been trying to get sober (weed, not alcohol, please don't judge I know it is stupid..) and I have been using reading to help replace something I used to do every waking moment.

I just finished Curse of the Mistwraith, and it was absolutely incredible. It has quickly flown into my top 5 books and I am so excited that there is so much more of this beautiful world to read. The prose is incredible, so vivid and descriptive. Every scene felt incredibly meaningful, and I was engrossed in the world in a way very few stories have done for me. I enjoyed the many different layers to scenes, and felt that every character was so well fleshed out.

I thought the story was so interesting, how it is essentially a prequel to a traditional fantasy story, explaining how the Lords of Light and Shadow come to despise each other, and despite knowing that it would happen, it was still so exciting and painful to see unfold.

Anyways, all this to say I have never been so excited to continue a series before and I strongly recommend reading this book if you haven't. One of the greatest fantasy stories I have ever read.

Hadn't been reading for a decade, but about two years ago I picked up The Wandering Inn (TWI) and didn't put it down until I was current on the series. It really was the perfect webnovel to get into reading again, as it re-trained me up to be able to read many, many other things. Recently, I've been antsy to read something, but haven't managed to interest myself in anything other than staying current on TWI. I've regressed into reading Manwha's for about the past month and I want to change that by reading a few more books before the year end.

I'm going to list what I've read over the past year and rank them since I don't think my tastes are the sanest for easy reccomendations:

S (We Ignore Flaws For Our Favourites)

• The Wandering Inn: Vol. 1, 5, 6, 7 & 10 (LitRPG)
• Absolute Regression (Wuxia Inspired Manhwa)
• Shadows of Self (Wax & Wayne Series)

A (Great Reads & Easy to Reccomend)

• The Allow of Law (Wax & Wayne Series)
• Tress of the Emerald Sea
• Yumi & The Nightmare Painter
• Dungeon Crawler Carl (Book 1)
• Carl's Doomsday Scenario (Dungeon Crawler Carl)

B (Good Reads / Hooked Into Finishing)

• The Wandering Inn: Vol. 2, 4, 9
• The Lost Metal (Wax & Wayne Series)
• The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook (Dungeon Crawler Carl)
• The Gate of the Feral Gods (Dungeon Crawler Carl)
• The Butcher's Masquerade (Dungeon Crawler Carl)

C (Struggled To Finish / Great Moments Pushed Me To The End)

• The Wandering Inn: Vol. 3, 8 (LitRPG)
• Bands of Mourning (Wax & Wayne Series)
• The Eye of the Bedlam Bride (Dungeon Crawler Carl)
• The Way of Kings (Stormlight Archive)

D (Did Not Finish / Wouldn't Mind Finishing)

• He Who Fights With Monsters
• The Inevitable Ruin (Dungeon Crawler Carl)
• Words of Radiance (Stormlight Archive)

F (Definitely Not For Me)

• Beware of Chicken

I dropped He Who Fights With Monsters, because after reading the first 5-10 chapters, I wasn't sure I wanted to buy the book.

I dropped Inevitable Ruin because the message and mood permeating the series started to wear on me.

I dropped Words of Radiance, because I finished the first book of Stormlight Archive for Shallan alone basically.

Thank you for listening, that's my freak. Hopefully there's a few similar type of readers that can parse what I'm putting down and won't mind giving reccomendations.

I'd also like to say please add your preference if you think there's a difference for picking audiobook or paper. DCC & TWI are fantastic audiobooks, but I feel if I go back to Stormlight Archive I'll be reading it via paper and not audiobooks.

I just finished reading Dragonsteel Prime by Brandon Sanderson and really liked the bronze age feel. I also liked the feel of the sun kingdom in Horizon Zero Dawn. Does anyone have any recommendations for books like that?

Welcome to the midway discussion of The Girl with a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean, our winner for the The Haunted Afterlife theme! We will discuss everything up to the end of Chapter 22 The Temple. Please use spoiler tags for anything that goes beyond this point.

The Girl with a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean

When Mercy Chan washes up on the shores of Hong Kong with no family, no money, and no memories, the only refuge she finds is the infamous, ghost-infested slum of Kowloon Walled City. Since then, she has rebuilt her life, working for the local triad as a ghost talker and dealing with the angry and bitter spirits who haunt the district. The filthy gutters and cramped alleyways of Kowloon have become her home.

But the past Mercy can’t remember isn't done with her. An unusually powerful ghost has infested Kowloon’s waterways, drowning innocents and threatening the district. It claims to know Mercy—and secrets from her past that are best left forgotten.

As Mercy is drawn into a deadly cat-and-mouse game with this malignant spirit, she begins to realize that the monster she fights within these walls may well be one of her own making.

Bingo: The Afterlife HM, Older Protagonist HM, Non-human Protagonist HM, Murder Mystery HM, Pub in 2026, Book club (this one!)

I'll add some comments below to get us started but feel free to add your own. The final discussion will be in two weeks, on Wednesday Wed. Oct 28, 2026.

As a reminder, our November read is Spear by Nicola Griffith.

What is the FIF Bookclub? You can read about it in our Reboot thread here."

So I just got done reading Strength of the Few and I personally didn’t love it which is a shame because I loved Will.

I think a big reason why has to do with the two new worlds, and while they do seem interesting I just think we don’t spend enough time with these new worlds and we don’t spend enough time with these new characters so none of the side characters hit the same like Calidus or Aequa does in the first book. And personally he could’ve just left out that desert world altogether because none of it was memorable like at least the Viking world was cool and had some cool scenes but I just found myself groaning every time we went there

And personal little nitpick about Vis and the ending. I don’t like how Vis is seemingly able to read everybody’s body language and be right ALL THE TIME like this man can see you raise your eyebrow slightly and he just knows you’re lying about something or being devious. And to the ending: just why? To the thing that happens outside of the prison and with him trusting that character just why?

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!

——

^{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.

Finished my second set of quares with these books:

- Japanse gothic

- Carmilla

- The road

- The spellshop

- Our wives under the sea

These are just some thoughts as I'm by no means a great reviewer. Would love to know yours as well if you've read any of these or what you've read for any of these squares.

- 2026 release: Japanese gothic by Kylie Lee Baker, 5 stars.

Kylie you did it again. This was unexpectedly trippy near the end and I loved it. Lee and Sen are both dealing with so much trauma in such different ways and it's interesting to see how that all plays out and affects everything going on as well as their meeting and connection. I loved the breaking of time barriers as well as the atmosphere. It's a book where everything just comes crashing down and the confusion throughout becomes clarity.

- One word title: Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu, 3 stars.

I feel conflicted about the writing. On one side I'm in general just not a fan of writing that's older and it can take me out of the story but on the other side I do appreciate the different flow.

Overall I didn't expect this to go the way it did and there wasn't a whole lot going on plot wise to be honest but I did like the atmosphere, tension and the approach the author went for still so I ended up with a 3.

- Climate fiction (replacement for middle grade): The road by Cormac McCarthy, 5 stars.

This was beautiful in a quiet melancholic way. The prose and dialogue in here really worked for me and while this really is just a story of a father and son trying to survive it was gripping and emotional while at the same time doing a great job at making the story feel cold and distant in a way despite really feeling for them for example in the way they are only refered to as "the boy" and "the man". You can feel the grief throughout this and it makes you appreciate the small moments. It's so well done.

- Bookclub/readalong: The spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst, 4 stars.

Maybe a bit long but overall a good cozy read. I especially liked the creatures, plants ;) and magic going on. Felt very pretty. The side characters and conflicts were a bit more cliché but with this being a cozy I didn't mind it.

- Judge a book by its title: Our wives under the sea by Julia Armfield, 2 stars.

This wasn't for me. I appreciate the theme of grief and the idea of knowing you've lost someone and grieving them despite them still being there physically but I really didn't connect much with the characters and I was expecting more of a horror forward story. Instead it felt more like a story of love and loss with language first/a focus on HOW it is told instead of reading like an actual experience. Too slow and distant for me overall but def something someone else could fall in love with.

Hi guys,

So my mom got diagnosed with cancer. I would love to put together some inspirational, motivational and optimistic quotes from fantasy books for her. I’m thinking for example the quote Wit says to Kaladin in Rythm of War:

“This is life, and I will not lie by saying every day will be sunshine. But there will be sunshine again, and that is a very different thing to say. That is truth.”

Thanks a lot <3

PS: sorry for the grammar, english is not my native language.

I’m a massive Buehlman fan, but as a guy that used to be a massive Joe Abercrombie fan and has been extremely disappointed in his last few books, I came into this one more cautious than I might have. As much as I liked Daughter’s War (and I very much did) and as much as I love Galva (and I LOVE Galva) I think there was something missing from the formula that prevented me from walking away from that one totally fulfilled.

Turns out it’s fuckin Kinch.

It would be very easy to make Kinch, pithy jokester that he is, unbearably annoying, but the author writes him with such warmth and crude wisdom that the dude absolutely sings. If you ever see someone singing Buelman’s praises on r/horrorlit it’s probably me, because this is what makes him the best in the business in my opinion: the dude can write the most horrific shit you’ve ever read but does the character work and imbues them with such heart and lived-in humanity that, unlike Abercrombie’s The Devils, the humor lands and the horror devastates.

Early in the book, I caught myself smiling as I read Kinch and Galva bantering on the road. I laughed out loud a few times, which never happens when I’m reading a book. It’s not that the jokes themselves were so funny I couldn’t help myself, but because I felt like I knew these two, the shit they’ve gone through together, and was starting to see the little cracks of their friendship break through the snark. It’s funny but it also warms your heart. Kinch’s description of Galva’s face when she’s trying to pretend she’s not cold is funnier than any one-liner could ever be because we know how funny he thinks it is and how annoyed she is by it.

That said, this book was not at all what I was expecting. I imagine some people will have some complaints; the places we go are bewildering, the pacing is odd, and you might find yourself feeling denied the things you want to see in favor of things you don't really care about. For me, this series has the best world building I’ve seen in any fantasy—I love it—but I felt like Kinch’s voice that so grounded BTT falls away for long stretches, especially in the middle of this book. For me, it was a minor quibble, but like I said, I’m so fascinated by this world I didn’t mind much.

I’m going to stop here because this is about all I can say without spoiling more, but I read this book in one sitting and loved it. The last thing I’ll say: a theory I’ve had since finishing Daughter’s War is confirmed, and it hit me in my heart the same way the coda of Between Two Fires hit me, and that’s saying a lot.

Hi everyone!

I’m looking for book recommendations featuring characters who essentially have two identities or live double lives. Some books I’ve enjoyed that capture this are Dawnbreaker by Matt de la Peña and The First Super series by Logan Rutherford.

I’m particularly interested in stories where a character has a secret identity that they need to hide from the world, or an identity that makes them famous/powerful while they try to live a relatively normal life as someone else.

For example, this could include:
- A superhero who hides their powers or alter ego from the public.
- A famous or well-known person who has to keep their real identity secret.
- A werewolf, vampire or other supernatural being hiding their true nature.
> Basically someone who has to balance their ordinary life with a secret role, reputation or identity.

I’m open to pretty much any genre, as long as the secret-identity/double-life aspect is a significant part of the story. I’m looking for actual novels, not comics, graphic novels or manga.

I’d love to hear any recommendations you might have! Thanks in advance!

Basically, fantasy series with a LOT of character deaths.

We all know A Song Of Ice And Fire had a bunch. But what are the others?

If there are any Transformers fans here, I'm talking generation 2 levels of stuff.

Whenever anyone semi-jokingly complains about LOTR 'taking a page to describe a tree', I'm thinking no, it doesn't, and I'm not sure I'd complain if it does.

Descriptive writing is really important to me. I can't say I'm a big fan of a lot of modern writing style trends which all too often feel sparse, quick, snappy, full of very short paragraphs (including a lot of single-sentence paragraphs), and minimal description of surroundings. It can work, depending on plot and genre and pace, but it can also feel to me thinly-sketched, barebones writing that doesn't draw me in. I'm often left thinking 'please describe where you are! More!'

What I'm particularly looking for is a lot of attention paid to landscape. I'm not really looking for urban descriptions (I know there are some great city-books out there, I've read some), but of mysterious forests, otherworldly jungles, foreboding swamps, tropical islands, ice caves etc. I'm a fan of the writing and scene-setting in Gormenghast, but looking for natural/semi-natural environs. Definitely a fan of Cormac McCarthy, even though I don't expect or need suggestions to imitate his style.

I love travel in books. It doesn't bore me, I want more of it, and I want attention paid to the surroundings. Especially if it's atmospheric, full of strange sensory ambiences and vibes.

I'm not looking for something "light", certainly not "breezy", and only "cosy" if it's in the way Fellowship of the Ring is cosy.

Please please, even though I know there are a lot of great snappy, fast-paced, dialogue-based books out there, I'm looking for something more descriptive, full of detail and rich (but not sickly), wonderfully crafted prose. Feeling the scenery and the world around is more important to me than pacing and plot.

Lore is not the same thing as landscape description.

Fantasy, sci-fi, dystopian, horror (including cosmic horror - I've read Lovecraft), magical realism, supernatural mystery, weird western suggestions are all good.

Bonuses for:

+ If the landscape is non-European coded.

+ If there are many different fascinating locations explored.

+ American pine and fir forests (++ if it reminds me of Alan Wake and Twin Peaks)

+ Rainforests and jungles

+ Seafaring and tropical islands

+ Old West environs

+ Ice caves

+ If the landscape is drop-dead gorgeous

+ If the vibes are dark and moody and unsettling

+ If it includes any non-standard non-European cultural mythologies

Thank you for any suggestions!

I love both Narnia and LOTR, so this isn't a criticism of either, not at all! Just a tidbit that I noticed while doing a reread.

Lewis seems a bit....allergic to having his female characters fight in the climactic battles/wars in his books. In LWW, Father Christmas just straight up tells Lucy that "battles are ugly when women fight". Neither Lucy nor Susan take part in the final battles of either LWW/PC, and even Jill Pole, who's an experienced archer, takes a backseat during The Last Battle. Combine this with "lipsticks and nylon" being the reason Susan can't come back to Narnia immediately, and some aspects definitely haven't.....aged well, to say the least.

Meanwhile, Tolkien is the opposite. The second most important villain of LOTR (the Witch - King) is taken down by Éowyn, who calls out Aragorn when he forbids her to come to battle. When you get to The Silmarillion and the broader Legendarium, you get Haleth, Idril and Galadriel, all three of whom take part in wars and battlefields (the latter being described by Tolkien to be "Amazonian"). Even Lúthien, who doesn't fight directly in battle, single-handedly paralyzes Morgoth and steals a Silmaril from him.

Both of them lived through both WWs (with Tolkien fighting in WWI), and they have different views on women's role in the battlefield.

Book number thirteen of a twenty-one book science fiction and paranormal fantasy series. There is also an eleven book follow on series and many other books related to the The Kurtherian Gambit Universe, over 200 books in total. I read the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback self published by the author in 2016 that I bought new on Amazon in 2026. I have the next three books in the series and will read them soon. The related series are listed at:
https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?46598

The series is a cross between science fiction and paranormal fantasy. A thousand plus years ago, an alien space ship crash landed in the Baltics. A man, Michael, found the space ship, went inside, and was forever changed into the first vampire using alien nanocytes. However, there were werewolves and werebears already existing on Earth and they still exist but they are very rare.

Michael has sired vampires and they have sired vampires. But only one of the vampire "children" is a daywalker like Michael. And Michael enforces strict rules among the vampires and the weres, no blood drinking, no letting humans know of them, etc. Violators of Michael's rules face swift termination.

But it has been thousand years since Michael was changed and he now sleeps for years at a time. Michael's helpers found a young woman named Bethany Anne working for the USA government who is dying of a rare blood disease. Michael took her to the alien space ship to become the second first generation vampire on Earth.

Bethany Anne has created a huge workforce and they are swiftly moving ahead with incredibly advanced AI and space access technology. Bethany's people are building space ships and space stations with gravitic drives in them that all of the governments of Earth want to buy or steal. And the German government are mounting an expedition to Antarctica to see if the old Nazi base there still exists.

This series is real pulp like old science fiction with lots of action and dialogue. I love it !

Warning: this series might be damaging to your savings account since there are so many books.

The author has a website at:
https://lmbpn.com/

My rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars (3,508 reviews)
https://www.amazon.com/My-Ride-Bitch-Kurtherian-Gambit/dp/1642020540

Lynn

Mine currently is A Time Of Dragons by Philip C. Quaintrell! It has everything I love , characters I root for and love, action, huge world and slowly being revealed, huge books that rarely feel slow. Character motivations are top tiers and seeing how their emotions lead to terrible choices with precautions or good things. It's so good. Yes, I've already read the Echoes Saga and I also loved it!! I read it first before Time, it's my most precious series and has its own dedicated shelf. Currently still reading the Ranger Archives. And some short stories I need to read. But because those are already published and completed I didn't include them as my favorite.

Other works that I've enjoyed :

Sordaneon by LL Stephens : I haven't completed the first book but it's such a page turner. Dorilian is such a unique character and I never know what's going to happen next from him

Blood of the Spear by Mark Timmony : this is was super good esp if you crave that Wheel of Time style of epic world.

Sadly, I'm not a huge fan of Ryan Cahill's Bound and the Broken anymore. I really like the first two books and novellas. But I'm still on book 3 for who knows how long. If he kept the same length as book 2 I would definitely have finished it. Even three books in I can't relate to the characters or feel for them only Dayne (who is great).

Another author I may enjoy and I already own book 1 is TC Edge Bladeborn Saga. From what I know it has a Stormlight Archives vibe and the books are thickkkk but not too thick. minus the last book which is over 1000 pages

My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen was my library's appropriate fantasy book club choice for October. And while it's an excellent title to Judge a Book by its Title, my expectations after having done so were very contrary to what I actually got. I thought that it was yet another romantasy (if horror romantasy this time) pick from this book club I'd try and fail to enjoy again. That's not what this book is. It is sapphic, and I am tentatively labeling it a romance, it's not romantasy; those elements are actually fairly minor. It's more in the vein of Carmilla or The Starving Saints. This book is first and foremost a love letter to Gothic Literature.

The premise of My Darling Dreadful Thing is that Roos, a young woman in post-WWII Netherlands, has a spirit companion, Ruth (which, while not a problem while reading, made for an awful tongue twister while discussing the book; audiobook listeners might have trouble). Ruth is a bog body, a mummified corpse of an ancient sacrificed girl, woken by Roos' fear and despair and blood as she's stuffed under the floorboards of her Mama's seance room to provide "magical" effects to fool her marks. Having woken an actual spirit, Roos and Ruth are made to play the Medium for her Mama's scam, pretending to contact the spirits of the marks' loved ones who've passed on. One fateful seance, however, is attended by recently widowed Agnes, who rescues Roos and whisks her away to a classic gothic mansion, where the real plot starts.

I say Agnes rescuing Roos and taking her away to live with her in her inherited mansion is where the real plot starts. Which I'd say is true; but it also takes about 1/4 of the book to get there. This was the primary thing dragging the book's rating down for me; while getting Roos and Ruth's background was necessary and I understand why the book did it, I also found that section much more difficult to get through. I found it slow and frustrating; both from knowing from the blurb that this was mostly set-up, and how unpleasant reading about Mama's prior and current abuse of Roos was.

Once we got to the mansion, though, with its secrets and buried history, is where the novel really picked up. Both in my enjoyment, and in getting comfortably settled into Sapphic Gothic where the novel wanted to be. I said this novel is a love letter to Gothic Literature; while there are explicit references to The Turn of the Screw and The Yellow Wallpaper I caught, there's very obvious influence from Rebecca, Jane Eyre, and Wuthering Heights in here too. If you're an experienced reader of Gothic fiction, many of the "twists" (a secretly loveless marriage, deaths were actually murders, incestual old families)won't come as a surprise-- none surprised me. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. While they're familiar, they're also done well, and I don't think too telegraphed except to someone who's read all the classics.

The novel isn't just a pastiche of old tropes in a new trenchcoat though. What makes the novel something of its own is the framing. Alongside Roos' main narrative are interspersed interview fragments, set in a future timeline of Roos with a psychiatrist, trying to determine whether she's sane or insane, and telling the truth or lying. Because the mansion's secrets begin to surface, and there a crime to be accounted for. (Don't worry, that's not a spoiler, we get introduced to this framing right away)

Much in the vein of Turn of the Screw, van Veen wants to make the reader wonder and work out whether these spirits actually exist and Roos' story is real, or if she's insane and it's all in her head, or if she's a masterful liar. And while I have my personal opinion, the novel leaves plenty of room for each interpretation (and our book club discussion was far from unanimous). The novel treads the line carefully, and I think does a fairly good balancing act of giving details to support both sides.

There's a lot to enjoy about this novel, and a lot of good themes. Reality vs. fantasy, abusive and toxically dependent relationships, the way secrets fester and the past returns to haunt the present are all good Gothic themes it does well. And it's definitely a good book for discussions-- I posed a question to the bookclub "Who exactly is the 'Darling, Dreadful Thing' of the title?" I think there are good arguments to be made a lot of ways. 4.25/5 for me.

Finished reading these books recently and thought I'd write a short review since I don't see the series talked about much here in the same way as other popular books get mentioned. I have avoided any spoilers to events that occur.

The series, 4 long books, tell the story of the political, military, and technological history of the island of Dara. The setting is fantastic with soft magic that does not get explained, and is not very powerful (think Lord of the Rings where the Elven rings or Gandalf's magic). At the same time, the island has developed a steam-punk sort of technology that allows them to develop things like dirigibles with lighter-than-air gas. The setting is inspired by Chinese culture, and I think those with more (read: and) knowledge of Chinese history than me can explain further which dynasty and families it takes inspiration from.

The series is split up into two parts I would say. The first part, which is the first book, is concerned with the creation of the eponymous Dandelion Dynasty, while the following three books re concerned with how the events of the first book affect Dara. Because of this, the first book offers a natural stopping point before the final three (which is what I did, waiting a almost a year to start and finish the last three books).

What this series does very well I think is the portrayal of clearly flawed characters, whose flaws actually affect their lives in lasting ways. It isn't so much that their flaws are plot devices that they must grow past to succeed, but that in many cases they cannot escape their personality flaws for better or worse. Does this mean that the characters don't change? Growth isn't a given, which I found to be very realistic, since sometimes character flaws are themselves presented as narrative drivers that only really exist to drive the plot forward (e.g. there are no arrogant characters whose main job is to grow into a humble character).

When characters do change, I thought that they changed in a way that was expected based on their lived experiences, even if it takes a little while to fully understand how or why those experiences have manifested in the ways that they ended up manifesting.

Structurally too I think Liu does a very good job at arranging the story. It is for the most part told chronologically, except that often times there are inserted analepseis that fill in why things are the way that they are. For example, one thing he is very fond of doing is describing a battle over several chapters, inserting between each "part" a flashback to explain how a particular military invention or tactic came about.

Speaking of martial matters, I thought (from someone who doesn't read much military fantasy) that he did a very good job throughout the series describing the battles and the unique tactics that got used during each, which made the battles actually interesting to follow along with.

Tonally, the series has a fair bit of the sentimentality you'd expect from Liu if you're read some of his stories from The Paper Menagerie. It can be a bit sappy some of the time, but he balances this well with a good mix of positive and negative emotion. It has heartfelt and sweet moments and emotionally devastating moments.

The pacing of the series is, I think, very well done as well. For something like 3700 pages over only four novels, each novel avoids the pitfalls of writing a slog of text that only resolves at the end. Each novel has several high points so things build up and release several times. Things that occurred previously are also intentionally written. A fan of Chekhov's gun, most all (as far as I can tell and remember without being overly meticulous) things that happened seem to get mentioned for a point later on.

The world building is pretty good, too (although I don't know how much is simply directly lifted from Chinese philosophy; I do no that he does overtly lift from ancient Greek literature quite a few times, though). The world certainly feels lived in and that it has a distinct history. And he makes good use of "historical" (for the world) allusions and references to previously written texts, artwork, leaders, generals, etc.

One of the weaknesses of the series is the writing. At times it can be quite good. The beginning the first book struck me, but it feels as though the more Liu wrote the more he became more lax with his writing. At times it can be a bit cringe-worthy. At several points in the final book he writes stuff like "She found his attempt to out-Lyucu the Lyucu almost laughable." I think the writing is good, but I wouldn't call it excellent. Typically I am a snob when it comes to prose style, but I think the other elements of the novels are compelling enough to accept some occasionally cringe writing.

One other thing is the use of conceptual metaphors that have no place in the world. Consider this:

"By using the ice as a kind of cement, the defenders could build the wall far higher than the traditional method of packed snow and loose logs, adding even more strength to the fortress."

Except, the world has no cement. So this simile, and the frequent use of the metaphor of "cementing" things are starkly out of place. Does this matter? For writing purposes, it does for me since I couldn't stop thinking about it once I noticed it. But for the vast majority of people, probably not (and it certainly doesn't affect the story itself).

Ultimately this series was excellent. Its up there with my favourite fantasy and sci fi series, only knocked down from being incredible by the varied writing quality. Would (and do) recommend this to anyone who enjoys epic fantasy.