r/Fantasy

Examples could be Kvothe from Kingkiller Chronicles and Locke Lamore from Lies Of Locke Lamore, what I really like is the main characters using their quick wits and practical intelligence, anyway, what would be your pick?

Hey all! Wondering if any of you guys can recommend me some book series that are super imaginative and unconventional insane and grand world building and has a lot genre blending, so it feels like super unique and fresh. Basically sprawling epic book series that’s completely unlike traditional fantasy or sci-fi. Something that’s incredibly unique, ambitious, unpredictable and very creative like concepts or plots that aren’t really seen much. I’m a huge fan of one piece and the whole world and how crazy the world building is and how everything feels so unique and different so definitely something like that. Let me know if you guys have anything that I’d like that would be amazing🙏🙏🙏

I’m looking for fantasy recommendations featuring fairies, preferably with a female protagonist who is a fairy herself
I’m open to older books, especially from the ’90s or earlier, but newer books are welcome too as long as they have that old-fashioned fantasy feel
What I’m really looking for is the kind of atmosphere you find in old European fairy tales, like the stories collected by the Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Andersen. I want fairies that feel closer to their original folklore roots rather than the elves or fae we often see in modern fantasy and romantasy
I’d love something magical, dreamlike, mysterious and perhaps a little melancholic or unsettling. Fairies that feel genuinely otherworldly, with their own nature and rules, rather than just beautiful humans with pointed ears and magical powers
I’m especially interested in stories where the fairy protagonist is central to the plot, rather than fairies simply appearing as side characters
I’d also love recommendations that capture the atmosphere of an old fairy tale, with beautiful prose and a sense of wonder, mystery or even bittersweet melancholy
Does anyone know any books like this? I’d love to hear your recommendations!

I really like it.

El was a great female protagonist. So fascinating and I love her snark.

It’s great how this series put a lot of focus on female friendships. A lot of popular series with female protagonists barely put effort into other female characters, let alone their relationship with the FMC apart from the generic little sister or mean girl. The dynamic with Aadhya, Liu and El was amazing.

Ophelia was a great antagonist/Villain too. It’s nice getting a female… well she isn’t exactly your traditional Big Bag but she is the closest to it. Quite a complex character. Her getting away with it might be annoying but is sadly realistic.

I really appreciated the nuance a lot of the characters got. Sure many of the Enclavers are upholding a corrupt system and are quite Classist but that doesn’t make most of them (especially the students) complete monsters. Society being the Villain is a great theme and a different take from other Fantasy series.

The cast being diverse was great, with many ethnicities and sexual orientations being represented. It may not have been perfect representation but it’s the step in the right direction.

The geo politics was mostly well done. They really captured that Cold War style vibe that also reflects modern day tensions. That said I do have some gripes with it that I will go into further in a bit.

I did like the magic system. Magic revolving around different languages was fun to read about.

I appreciated the series’ allegory on Capitalism and Maw Mouths. Like I said before, great job emphasising that society is the Villian, not some generic Big Bad wanting to take over because they’re evil (not that that is a bad trope, it just wouldn’t have been balanced enough with the anti capitalist themes.)

It was such an engaging series from start to finish.

That said, I do have some criticisms.

I think the series did put too much emphasis on Asian unity without acknowledging the tensions between many of these Asian countries. It makes sense when complaining about Scholomance place allocation but no way are all Asian countries going to be on the same side.

The most egregious example has to be the Kyoto students being scared of the Chinese students. Really? This was probably the biggest flaw to me. Novik clearly did a lot of research into World War II history so how did she miss the history between Japan and China?

It’s more likely that the all Japanese enclaves would be on New York’s side rather than Shanghai’s.

Also, I never really understood the relationships between city Enclaves within the same country. So are all the cities independent or do all Enclaves within a country agree on all things? Like how is Tokyo on New York’s side but Kyoto scared of the Chinese enclaves?

Furthermore, how is it that opposition to the Enclave system outside of it only emerged now. You’d think between the 19th century and now there would have been some major opposition. I know we had Yancy and her group but they only seem to care about themselves and were a bit tacked on on the story. The ending doesn’t even mention them.

I think 80% of kids dying were a bit too much. I mean, 80%? How is a population crisis not alluded to?

I do wish we got the education system explored a bit more. Like what do they learn in history for example? Do they learn about mundane history too? How is that balanced with Wizard history?

Another thing is that I wish they explored the idea of multiple cultures living together in the Scholomance. All those different experiences.

I do think maybe there should have been a fourth book to explore certain characters more. Some of them felt forgotten like the Seniors from the first book.

https://preview.redd.it/l2cosnpoixbg1.png?width=3508&format=png&auto=webp&s=cb9f4a2807499edc796351cc28ec39b3aea4d7c2

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.

I am thinking of reading my first Patricia McKillip book, but I am definitely in a particular mode right now where I want something abundantly positive: nothing or no one who would be considered evil, no trauma or tragedy.

Does she have such a book? I was thinking The Bell at Sealey Head, would that qualify??

I've played a lot of the Total War Warhammer games. I just love them. And the fantasy creatures and races is a huge part of that. So I've considered getting into the novels, with the amount of Easter Eggs in the games and the just generally cool lore of the world. And I'm generally familiar with the lore, from all the text and quests and interactions of the game.

But my general impression of the world is: Awesome Lore, Shit Books. Or, some okay books, but a lot of "paycheck until my real series takes off" author efforts. So I ask, what are the Warhammer Fantasy books actually worth a read?

I've heard good about the William King books, so I'll probably check out his Gotrek and Felix ones. But what's next? I do want fantasy, not 40k. I know Tachikovsky's coming out with one, so I assume it'll be good, but what's the prereq? I've heard Dan Abnett's 40k is the best, but is his fantasy too?

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This was a masterpiece (an imperfect one) and as breathtaking as the cover page of that paperback was. Very unusual and atypical in its structure and storytelling-The book immediately shines by means of its multiple planes of storytelling, unique narrative voice that keeps changing abruptly and moonlit prose.

The first plane is where the story of ‘the girl’ unfolds (I’m using this term for her name was not revealed). She learns about the ‘old country’ from her Lola and sometimes from her father and throughout the book, her life is revealed in pieces. The narration in this plane is carried out in second person though I don’t understand why. I was expecting a ‘The Broken Earth’ kind of justification for the usage of second person but it never came and left me mildly disappointed. I’m not clear as to how to interpret it.

The second plane of storytelling happens in the ‘inverted theatre’ to which the girl is transported. She witnesses a play being performed in the amphitheatre. The narration here happens from the same point of view as the first plane and the second person voice continues. The girl finds herself with a spear that had been displayed on the mantle in her home. The description of the inverted theatre and the lore surrounding it is whimsical and very fairytale like in nature.

The play in the inverted theatre is zoomed in and forms the third and most significant plane of storytelling. The Point of View changes to the main characters Keema and Jun and a regular third person voice is used here. This forms the bulk of the book and tells the story of how they helped the empress in escaping from her three sons, the Three terrors. There is no distinct boundary between the planes and they slide into each other to occupy the main frame.

The story in its entirety is spread across a journey of five days with an additional before and after sections. It starts with the escape of the old empress from the wolf door to her bones being returned to her eternal love, water at the summer city shore. The entire story, especially in the second and third planes reads more like a myth and less like your traditional fantasy novel. This mythical nature is well complemented by Jimenez’s sophisticated prose and evocative imagery. The worldbuilding is great and the characterization good. An agency was given to almost every character that appears on paper where they just give a statement in first person in the middle of the narration, which is very random but also very interesting.

There are many things this book does that are unseen in fiction. Some of them are perfectly done and the others are merely gimmicks. Like the highlighted statements. They were pointless and do not hold any reasoning or context. It feels like the writer randomly chooses a line and paraphrases it to make the narration look cool. Most of the time, those lines don’t have any weight to them and fails to hit you like they were probably intended to.

At times eerie and absurd and at times whimsy and charming, this book does it all. It makes you smile, weep , gasp in horror and there are so many shocking moments that leaves you with your jaw on floor. That mind fucking part on day four where Keema and Jun actually enter the inverted theatre and regain the spear from the girl (plot hole?) comes to my mind. It was such a fresh, unique and postmodern work that is wildly enjoyable and is an ultimate page turner. I loved this book to its blade dented bone and consider it one of the best fantasy standalones of all time.

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tl;dr: "The Book Eaters" by Sunyi Dean is solidly in the "Would that be fucked up or what" category of fantasy, where a secret society of people who eat books practice ever more fucked up forms of patriarchy. Soft recommend. (Content warning: Spousal rape and physical abuse)

Once upon a time, there was a Princess named Devon. She was the only Princess in her castle, even though she had several brothers. And Princess Devon, like all her siblings and aunts and uncles, ate books the way you or I eat bread and meat. Fairy tales are sweets, dictionaries are dry crackers, adventure stories like a good steak, pop science like a mouthful of pop rocks.

Once upon a time, Devon suffered the fate of all Princesses, shipped off to an arranged marriage with another Family.

Once upon a time, Devon would do anything, anything at all, for her children, even if they were monsters.

This is a hard book to give a summary of! It's a bit like an ogre, it's got layers; bouncing between Devon's present and a forward advancing march up her past. There's also definitely a certain amount of Bellisario's Maxim ("Don't examine this too closely") with regards to, not merely the fantasy, but the intersection of the fantasy and reality.

I'll say, one thing that I was... kind of expecting, was that eating books would eventually be recognizable as some kind of... metaphor or allusion or thing tying to the real world. Like, maybe they'd be a commentary on people who only read books not being able to write (since book eaters can't write, it's a whole thing). Or maybe they'd get compared to LLMs, able to consume and regurgitate information without much assimilation or synthesis or imagination- and these ideas are sort of raised, but not in a way that touches the themes of the story.

"Where'd they come from? How does any of this work? What does it mean?" "Fucking aliens, I guess. Does it matter?" Very much in the vein of speculative fiction about examining a fucked up situation with a fucked up premise; kind of in the New Weird way, but in a considerably more comprehensible vein than a lot of stories of that variety. (I'm open to being wrong on the "Would that be fucked up or what" nature of the book eaters not having a deeper meaning but primarily existing to serve the plot, but that's my impression at the moment)

Now, that situation is, by the by, absolutely fucked. By nature, book eaters apparently both don't have many daughters AND those daughters aren't able to bear many children; the number of book eaters has been dwindling away over the years. As a consequence, the Families raise their girls on diets of fairy tales and sweet nothings, preparing them for forced temporary marriages with different Families in order to try and prevent inbreeding from causing things to get even worse. You'll be shocked to learn that this has led the Families towards being even more stifled and patriarchal.

And that's not even getting into the knights and the dragons, or the mind eaters. Don't worry, you'll read about them soon enough.

Lemee re-iterate my content warning; there is frank depiction of spousal rape and spousal abuse, and some brief scenes of physical child abuse (although thankfully, not even implied to be sexual). To my mind, it's not gratuitous, it's very much in service of both the plot and the themes of escaping patriarchy by imagining a way to win, but Go Thou Warned.

One thing I kind of liked- in most of these "Weird secret Families that stand apart from human society" type stories, the Families are secretly in control of the world. The Book Eater families very much aren't; they've got a fair amount of generational wealth stored away, but mostly survive via isolation or engaging in at best quasi-criminal enterprises. This isn't a conspiracy that puppets the UN; they don't even puppet the bits of the UK they live in.

This is not a book for a casual afternoon read. It's chewy. It takes its time building up. There's plenty of action, and some cloak and dagger.

Really, if I have a complaint, it's that it almost all felt like setup. Devon is very much constantly being forced to make choices between bad and worse, choices that are no choice at all, while trying to imagine a better world, and gets much more pulled along by events than driving them, for much of the story.

All that said- for folks who want something a little off the beaten path, I think you'll find the Book Eaters quite satisfying, but you'll probably want a palette cleanser afterwards.

I'll let you decide what recent means, but please try to be realistic, I don't mean the 90s.

Not interested in Sanderson. He's not for me.

I used to really love The Dark Elf Trilogy by Salvatore. I'd love to read something about a likable misfit adventuerer. Don't like anything else that I've tried within the Forgotten Realms sadly.

While I can't handle the SA in it now, I loved how fast paced Night Angel by Brent Weeks was, and I wish that I could find another great, dark fast paced series about a magical assasin that cuts out the mysogeny.

My favorite fantasy novel is Savage Legion by Matt Wallace. It's about slaves rebelling, and it's most well paced thin I've read that's over 300 pages.

I finished Book Bingo! (much earlier than in past years). I do mostly audiobooks and I've had some top tier listening experiences this year.

Here are my top listens of the year:

• The Thrice-Bound Fool by Christopher Buehlman, read by Christopher Buehlman. Hands down, my #1 listen of the year so far. I got an early copy, but I think I'll listen to it again once it's out on Audible (which is in just a couple of days).
• Mortedant's Peril by RJ Barker, read by Joe Ehre. A suprisingly engrossing & entertaining book. Started out not liking the MC at all! but I ended up loving him. I'm listening to it again now.
• A Trade of Blood by Robert Jackson Bennett, read by Andrew Fallaize. This series is one of my favorites and, for me, this one was the best one so far.
• The Dungeon Book by Gareth Hanrahan, read by Lawrence Neale. This was quirky and funny and charming and kind of wholesome despite the dungeon setting. The narration by Lawrence Neale was top tier.

Big surprises of the year: there were some books I wasn't sure I'd like, but ended up enjoying, and other books I thought I'd like, but didn't. These were the top surprises for me:

• The Pumpkin Bride by Fiona Buttercup, read by Moira Quirk and Will Watt. I am not into romance or sex in fantasy, but I really enjoyed this one. It was predictable, but I loved the Shrek/Princess Bride mashup. And the narration was so good.
• Uprooted by Naomi Novik. I thought I'd love it (I loved the story idea), but it fell flat for me.
• Malice by John Gwynne, read by Damian Lynch. I thought I would love this book and I did enjoy it, but the horrible narration killed it for me, so I switched to reading it. I'm not sure if I'll continue the series.

Here are all the books for my completed bingo card (see image at the bottom of the post).

Row 1:

• Myths and Retellings (HM) (2023 square, as a sub for Trans and Non-binary): Uprooted by Naomi Novik. I did NOT listen to this one because I couldn't stand the narrator. It was just OK. Other Squares: One Word Title (HM), First Person POV (sub square from 2021)
• Judge a Book by Its Title: The Dungeon Book by Gareth Hanrahan, read by Lawrence Neale. I was surprised by just how good this DnD-inspired re-telling of Kipling's The Jungle Book was. The narration was excellent: it was a delightful listen. Other bingo Squares: Myths and retellings (2023 square), Published in 2026, Explorers and Rangers, Middle Grade, 1st Person POV (2021 square), Dragons! (2017 square)
• Translated: Ahren by Torsten Weitze, read by Gildart Jackson. Classic "chosen one" story, but still very enjoyable. I love Gildart Jackson's narration as always (he was great on the Alex Verus series). Other bingo squares: Explorers and Rangers (HM), One word title, Small Press or Indie,
• Small Press or Self-Published (HM): The Weaver's Loom by Jessi St. John. Enjoyable gaslamp fantasy murder mystery set in London in the 1890s where witches are "out" of the broom closet and their use of magic is restricted. It's a bit on the "cozy" side of things, but the magic system is cool and I would definitely try a sequel. Other bingo squares: Vacation spot (HM), the Afterlife (HM), Murder Mystery, Published in 2026 (HM).
• Unusual Transportation (HM): High Mage by Terry Mancour (Spellmonger #5), read by John Lee. Another excellent installment in the Spellmonger series. I love the narration by John Lee. Other bingo squares: Small press or self-published, Cat squasher, Politics and Intrigue.

Row 2:

• The Afterlife: Mortedant's Peril by RJ Barker (HM), read by Joe Ehre. A surprisingly engrossing & entertaining book. Started out not liking the MC at all! but I ended up loving him. The narration is superb. Other bingo Squares: Unusual transportation (HM), Politics and Intrigue (HM), Murder Mystery (HM), and Published in 2026.
• Game Changer (HM): A Parade of Horribles by Matt Dinniman, read by Jeff Hays. Spectacular narration by Jeff Hays as always, but having race after race after race wore thin for me. Other bingo squares: Unusual transportation (HM), Published in 2026, Cat squasher, Politics and Court Intrigue.
• Vacation Spot (HM): Pagans by James Alistair Henry. A great read for fans of British police procedurals. This murder mystery is set in an alternate version of modern day London where Europe was never converted to Christianity, the United Kingdom was never united, African & the Americas were never colonized. Sadly, it's not available in the US (I ordered a physical book from the UK). Other bingo squares: Murder Mystery, Politics & Court Intrigue, Small Press.
• Five Short Stories (HM): Tales from the Territory by Travis Baldree, read by Travis Baldree. This is a collection of stories set in the same world as Legends & Lattes. A very entertaining audiobook. I got an early review copy (it actually comes out in a few days). Other bingo squares: Published in 2026, Feast your Eyes, Non-human protagonist
• Older Protagonist: The Truth by Ryan Cahill. Going into it, I wasn't even sure I wanted to read it because it's a prequel to the main series that takes places mostly before the other sequel, The Fall. But, OMG. It was so good. I think Ryan's books just keep getting better & better. Other bingo squares: Politics and Court Intrigue, Published in 2026, Dragons (2017 square)

Row 3:

• Duology Part 1: Clockwork Boys by T. Kingfisher, read by Khristine Hvam. Very enjoyable & fun duology. I did listen to both (the 2nd book is The Wonder Engine). It's a very engaging & funny series with great characters with some light romance. Other Bingo squares: Small press
• Book Club Book (HM): The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson, read by Daphne Kouma. I enjoyed this book a lot, but it wasn't my favorite. Other bingo squares: Cat squasher, Court Intrigue, Murder Mystery (HM), Game Changer.
• Published in 2026: Engines of Reason by Adrian Tchaikovsky, read by John Lee. A great sequel to Elder Race, this sci-fi/fantasy mashup is a great short read/listen. The narration by John Lee is great, as always. Other bingo squares: Politics and Court Intrigue.
• Explorers and Rangers (HM): The Infinite Extent by Dennis E. Taylor, read by Ray Porter. Another excellent installment in the Bobiverse series. Other Bingo squares: Published in 2026, Non-human protagonist.
• Duology Part 2 (HM): Out Law by Jim Butcher, read by James Marsters. I enjoyed this (and thank the audiobook deities that Marsters narrated rather than Butcher). This is the sequel to The Law, which was narrated by Butcher (sorry, I did NOT enjoy his narration).

Row 4:

• One Word Title (HM): Malice by John Gwynne, read by Damian Lynch. I enjoyed the book, but hated the narration. I'm not sure which other bingo squares this would fit.
• Non-Human Protagonist (HM): Platform Decay by Martha Wells, read by Kevin R. Free. I freaking love Murderbot and this book did not disappoint. It's fast-paced and exciting. I liked it so much I listened to it twice in a row. Other bingo squares: Published in 2026, First Person POV (2021 square).
• Middle Grade (HM): The Hobbit by JRR Tokein, read by Rob Inglis. I actually switched between listening to the Andy Serkis & Rob Inglis versions. I ended up preferring the Inglis version because I felt like Serkis over-acted in scenes that didn't really need it. Other bingo squares: Dragons (2017 square)
• First Contact: The Fourth Consort by Edward Ashton, read by Barrie Kreinik. Trippy book about a human who's entire job is making first contact with other aliens on behalf of Earth's alien overlords. The narration was excellent. Other Bingo Squares: Court Politics (HM)
• Murder Mystery: A Trade of Blood by Robert Jackson Bennett, read by Andrew Fallaize. This series is one of my favorites and, for me, this one was the best one so far. Other bingo Squares: Published in 2026, First Person POV (2021 square)

Row 5:

• Cat Squasher (HM): Mark of the Fool 10 by JM Clarke, read by Travis Baldree. There were a few books along the way in this series that I thought about dropping it (a little too slow & slice-of-life-y at points), but I'm glad I stuck with it. I loved the strong found family vibe and I loved Alex, the MC. Also, it was a good final book for a series: it wrapped things up nicely (if maybe a little too neatly??) but was still very satisfying despite that. The narration by Travis was excellent as always. Other Bingo Squares: Author of Color.
• Feast Your Eyes on This: The Pumpkin Bridge by Fiona Buttercup, read by Will Watt and Moira Quirk. Pretty predictable, but it was still an enjoyable listen. I LOVED the Shrek/Princess Bridge mashup aspects of the story: I thought that part of it was well done. Great narration by Will Watt & Moira Quirk.
• Published in the 1970s: The Dragon and the George by Gordon R. Dickson, read by Eric Burgher. This was my re-read for book bingo. I'd read this book a LONG time ago so I thought I'd listen to it. It's a kid-friendly story with a man ensorceled into the body of a dragon, a damsel in distress, a talking wolf and a grumpy old wizard with digestive issues. It was fun! Other bingo squares: Middle Grade, Knights & Paladins (2025 square), Dragons (2017 square)
• Politics and Court Intrigue: The Thrice-Bound Fool by Christopher Buehlman, read by Christopher Buehlman. I got an early listening copy through NetGalley and it's my #1 listen so far this year. I love Buehlman's humor, his prose, Kinch na Shannack and his narration. Other Bingo Squares: Published in 2026, First Person POV (substitute square from 2021).
• Author of Color: A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna, read by Samara MacLaren. I got this one as an impulse buy (it was on sale!) because i liked her previous book. I'm not normally into romance books, but I think I've grown to enjoy a bit of romantasy as a palette cleanser between other heavier fantasy reads/listens. I liked it.

2026 Book Bingo Card - u/spike31875

Hey y'all, I'm looking for recs for books that have a similar vibe to the Dune Prophecy tv show. Something witchy focused on political intrigue, prophecy, and #womenswrongs. The more morally complex ladies the better!

I'm working on a hard mode, 4 star and above card.

Fulfilled: first book in the duology 'The Book of All Hours', first time reading Hal Duncan

My rating: 5/5 (my 8th 5-star read of 179 books read this year)

Blurb:

An extraordinary, incendiary debut from a rare new talent, Vellum showcases a complex and sophisticated level of writing coupled with a fecund imagination that defies description.

It's 2017 and angels and demons walk the earth. Once they were human; now they are unkin, transformed by the ancient machine-code language of reality itself. They seek The Book of All Hours, the mythical tome within which the blueprint for all reality is transcribed, which has been lost somewhere in the Vellum - the vast realm of eternity upon which our world is a mere scratch.

The Vellum, where the unkin are gathering for war.

The Vellum, where a fallen angel and a renegade devil are about to settle an age-old feud.

The Vellum, where the past, present, and future will collide with ancient worlds and myths.

And the Vellum will burn...

Review:

Forgive my language, but holy sh*t, what an achievement.

Fair warning - I love this stuff, but this book will not be for everyone. It is DENSE, and the experience of reading it is akin to navigating the Vellum that's featured in the book itself. You will need to read extremely carefully to understand what is going on, or you will have to go back and reread chapters. I recommend taking notes. This is not a quick and easy read, but it's very rewarding if you stick with it.

The amount of time and research the author must have put into this thing is astonishing.

We have ancient mythology (primarily Sumerian [the myth of Inanna] - in part one, and Greek [the myth of Prometheus] in part two, but other mythologies are explored), occult philosophy, history and reimaginings of history, technology, overlapping consciousnesses, breakdowns of reality (which is where exactly?), multiple/parallel realities, multiple identities, explorations of language, pattern repetition in events and characters (through history, myth, and the present), explorations of power and what defines freedom and the self, a refutation of the notion that suffering has meaning, and many other explorations.

Everything connects, ties together, and creates a coherent - and impactful - story.

This reminded me of "Sisyphean" by Dempow Torishima, another 5-star read this year, as far as the maximalism of the prose and the effort required to decipher the text (Vellum was a bit easier), and how rewarding a careful reading ended up being... but Vellum leans more toward hope while Sisyphean leans away from it.

I, personally, think it is 100% worth the effort and will read it again now that I know how some pieces fit together. If you are interested, I recommend reading a couple of chapters to see if it's for you.

And it's a duology, so there is a sequel ("Ink"). The duology is divided into seasons. "Vellum" covers summer (part one) and fall (part 2), "Ink" covers winter and spring. I am definitely going to read the second book, but probably not until next year.

Recommended only if wading through the above sounds appealing, lol.

Great book, really enjoying it, very David Edding's Belgariad. At the end of each book in the kindle edition there's an opening read ad for the next series... which starts off with spoiling the ending for the series you're currently reading. Worst placed spoiler advert I ever came across, really affecting my enjoyment of what I'm reading. Be warned!

Writing one book is a task, and writing a whole series can be a daunting task. Sometimes an author can have such a great first book, and as the series goes on, the quality can take a nosedive. Or maybe the first book is hard to get through, but then the others begin to get their legs, and you find yourself saying, “Hell yeah, this is great.” Which book series do you think fit either one?

Or any story that flips the chosen one archetype on its head
been thinking all about this 'chosen one' trope since I rewatched The Matrix

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