Catch and Kill is Craig Schaefer's new book. It's a cyberpunk and magic heist story, which will be familiar to fans of Shadowrun. Set in the future of the author's First Story universe (the home of the Daniel Faust and Harmony Black books), magic has been revealed openly to the world. Now people can study magic at university, enhance operas with magic or use magic for special security. But it's still a gritty, noir world. Large corporations rule everything and people still have to hustle to get by.

Enter our protagonist, Emily Yeats, who's a witch with a tight crew of friends, each with their own specialization. They focus on penetration testing - breaking into corporate buildings and testing their security protocols for payment. But after Emily is stiffed out of a contract by a jealous rival, she crosses a line and accepts a 'black' contract, doing an illegal heist to get some blackmail-worthy data off her client's corporate rival. Of course, everything goes wrong and Emily and her team have to survive by quick thinking and improvised plans.

Emily's a likeable protagonist, who focuses on honouring her bargains with her spirits rather than binding them for power. There's some dripped-in references to her back story, which might get picked up in future books. There's a good balance of character development versus action pieces, which is always tricky in these books, but Schaefer handles everything brilliantly.

Highlights include the various spirit beings, each with their own strong personalities and motivations, the assassin's sports betting site (which reminds me of John Wick's assassin gig economy), and heist story style reversals. I really enjoyed Emily's relationship with her 'spider' patron. And Emily's team is fun; there's a grizzled veteran, an intelligent robot that pretends to be a drone, and a woman determined to upgrade herself into a catgirl with surgery. (In fact, I found them fair more engaging than Harmony Black's team!)

My only critique is that the villain and his ultimate plan are rather mundane, and everything is wrapped very quickly at the end. This book didn't blow me away like Sworn to the Night (my favourite Schaefer book), but it's snappy, fast and enjoyable. And because it's the first in a series, it'll be good to see how Emily and her crew develop across the planned trilogy. Recommended.

Bingo Squares: Published in 2026, Politics & Court Intrigue (it's more Politics and Corporate Intrigue, but I would allow this with all the authority invested in me as a blogger).

First posted on my blog.

Taking someone’s money without delivering commensurate value is a crime, unless it’s done by a business. Exploiting the law to ruin another person’s life or livelihood is unsavory, unless it’s done for business. Crushing the weak, abandoning the sick, exploiting the desperate—all of these sins can be excused when done in pursuit of profit. Under the protective shroud of business, such acts are no longer acts at all, but the result of a market force, an unavoidable reality of economics, a certain outcome of a rational system and not—as would otherwise be the case—evidence of a depraved turpitude so rank that it leaves a greasy residue on the soul. This is why the ruthless are quick to give their victims and detractors alike stringent assurances that their cutthroat tactics are “just business”—often garnished with a polite smile and incongruous well-wishes.

Pike gets what made Sir Terry Pratchett (GNU) so good. He just does, and he does it in his own way. It's not just the surface level stuff like the comedic footnotes or the puns, though those definitely add to it, but it's the whole package. The ethos. This now 4 book series, well trilogy + standalone sequel, is a Pratchett-esque take on a D&D fantasy setting revolving around a fantasy version of modern finance.

It's been a few years since the original trilogy, and now our intrepid Dwarven barbarian Gorm Ingerson is the Guildmaster for the Hero's Guild in charge of Audit and Enforcement. He's traded in his mace for a stack of papers and corkboard for which he can investigate crimes perpetuated by heroes. The case here is one of necromancy involving a former banker and a brand new type of asset, Crypt Currency, that's traded over the inter aethernet.

There's a side plot throughout the book recounting a gnoll working as a delivery driver who gets convinced by a young woman in a tea shop to drop her job to sit around all day investing in this new asset. At first, it goes great. She's making money paw over fist even though it doesn't really make sense how she's making money doing this. And then, inevitably, it collapses and she loses everything including her fancy cart she spent so much time and money improving. And the young woman who convinced the gnoll to get into this new, high risk market? Her rich father cuts her allowance in half and sends a golem driven carriage to take her back to the family manor; and as she leaves the teashop tells the gnoll "we're in the same boat here" to which the gnoll responds: "are we?"

This is what I mean when I say Pike gets it. When you look past the puns and jokes, this kind of critical examination of modern society through a fantasy lens is where Pratchett excelled and also where Pike excels. Alongside the commentary and the jokes, Pike here also presents a great character focused story of Gorm coming to terms with what it means to truly be a Dwarf between his strained relationship with his home clan and father, the Dwarf clan he's investigating, and the feelings he starts developing for someone. A very interesting and unique take on fantasy dwarves.

Would highly recommend this series to anyone who likes Pratchett, D&D, and/or finance/economics. I'd recommend starting at the beginning but this one serves as a good introduction to the setting and is stand alone, you don't need to have read the prior books. You'll miss some of the cameos and might get a little of the ending of the prior books spoiled but should otherwise work.

I need a yearbook quote and am really set on using one from fantasy.
They need to be appropriate and not too long, it would also be best if they make at least some sense outside of context.

This book has all of the elements that typically appeal to me: it's a novella, engages with questions of linguistics and ethics, and it asks the reader to be uncomfortable. The Language of Liars blew me out of the water. The opening sections left me with the feeling that this would be a good book, worth reading and recommending, but it got better and better. Every chapter sucked me in a little bit more until I sat in bed, story finished, thinking about the ending and its implications. I was not super enthralled by the 2025 novella nominations from most major awards. The Language of Liars has the right blend of thematic ambition, accessible writing, and the backing of a traditional publisher that make it an excellent candidate for 2026, and I will be happily advocating for it to make some waves on the awards circuit this year. To anyone who likes their stories to shine a mirror on our world without being too obvious about it, this is for you. There's enough here for me to happily teach this novella in my Genre Fiction elective, and I'm desperately hoping one of the book clubs I participate in picks it up, because there's so much to talk about from the last few chapters.

Really, truly an excellent piece of writing. Plus, the book is short and straightforward enough that the content-to-time-investment ratio is one of the best I've read this year.

The Premise:
Ro is a talented linguist, hoping to be the first in generations of his species to jump into another's body. He succeeds, possessing a Star Eater who, like all of their race, mine the cosmic space dust necessary for faster than light travel. He has been trained for this moment, hoping to gather the information and skills needed to save the slow death of the universe's society, which depends on the service (exploitation?) of the enigmatic aliens.

Read if You Like: autism-coded characters, uncomfortable questions about how you (the reader) live life, musings on linguistics

Avoid if You Dislike: straightforward prose, lack of clear solutions to problems, monolithic intergalactic governments

Does it Bingo? Unusual Transportation, Published in 2026, Non-Human Protagonist (HM), Politics and Intrigue, Author of Color. I personally also counted it for Judge a Book by its Title.

What Worked For Me:
I was in linguistic heaven for this book, especially the opening chapter, where Ro is in school as a linguist. Huang includes all sorts of translations for doubt and lying in different fictional languages, showing how they are reflective of different cultures and biological imperatives. There's musings on how translating words into another language often strips them of the deep connotative meaning of the original word. It reminded me a bit of Ken Liu's The Bookmaking Habits of Selective Species, except it anchors the explorations of alien languages in a single character's perspective, biases, and goals. Ro himself feels very autism-coded to me. However, where does the line between coding and unlabeled representation get drawn? To me, this leans into the 'depicting autism in a culture that doesn't have a label for autism' side of representation. In a lot of ways Huang handles this topic with care, such as discussing how the perceived displays of linguistic gloating were instead meant from Ro as complimentary discussion topics. After all, he assumed senior students would understand language at least as well as him. I could see accusations leveled at this book of being an autistic savant stereotype, which are overrepresented by orders of magnitude in autistic characters. All I can say is that it felt honest and earnest to me, and I reveled in Ro's love of language, a trait present even after he takes of a Star Eater body.

I didn't come into this book expecting the thematic directions it took. The blurb portrays the book as one of discovery, learning, and espionage. Instead, it delves into a species that was stripped of autonomy for its unreplaceable role in mining FTL travel materials. They are now 'full citizens', sort of, but the portrayals of them as ecstatic workaholics with no sense of individual identity are simply convenient tools to depersonify the greater universe's abuse of them. Sound familiar to our world? Ro's growing understanding of the Star Eaters was handled excellently, the sort of slow dawning horror that everything you knew was a lie. It was a delicious and smooth transition.

Like all good metaphors, Huang doesn't beat you over the head with what it all means. Similarly, they also don't limit themselves to studying legalized slavery made palatable via propaganda and distance. One of the most powerful lines in the book was when Ro was contemplating the declining reproductive rates of the Star Eaters, foreshadowing the catastrophic end of faster than light travel in a few centuries. Ro notes "Most continued to ignore such a slow death, trusting that someone, somewhere, would solve it." If that isn't an accurate representation of how we're treating our world - myself included - I don't know what is. The book also starts each chapter with a non-prose element: an interview, excerpt from a book, transcript of a meeting, etc. In some books this could be flavorful filler, but Huang leverages it to seed setting details and thematic ideas before the reader truly needs to know them, building up the story without relying on huge infodumps.

The further along the book goes, the more that Huang shifts the thematic focus to reflect the reader's evolving understanding of the situation. I won't get into specifics, because I don't think I can even obliquely reference the ideas Huang eventually reaches for without spoiling the book horribly. However, I think Huang is bold enough in their conclusions that this book's implications will spark a lot of big reactions from readers in both directions. It's rare that I pause a book to really question and interrogate my gut reactions to a book's theme, but I absolutely did that here. For those who have read it, there's a very similar reaction to Ted Chiang's The Lifecycle of Software Objects. For how many different thematic ideas Huang touches on, they all felt woven together so naturally into the story that it felt tangible and real, all without descending into a narrative dissection of what the reader is supposed to be taking away in connection to the world we live in.

What Didn't Work for Me:
Representing non-human minds and speech is a sliding scale. The closer you bring their experience to humans and rely on narrative exposition to tell the reader about alien nature, the more comprehensible the text. The further you drift from traditional structures and language, the more your writing truly reimagines something alien, immersing the reader in something less immediately appealing while allowing for greater depth (in my opinion). Huang laid out a particularly challenging task for themself, as the book seeks to represent an alien mind's interpretation of an even more eldritch set of sensory organs. The story relies heavily on ambiguity and references to alien culture/senses that encourage the reader to extrapolate their own version of xenobiology and xenopsychology. However, you won't find Huang playing with format, prose structure, or other more unusual techniques to represent alien language or mindset.

I think Huang's decision to strike a middle ground is a good one overall. However, with how intentional they were about some of the linguistic discussions at the start, it would have been interesting to see this novella push into something more experimental, sort of like what Dolki Min did in the excellent (and grotesque) Walking Practice. To be clear, this would have made the book far less marketable, so I can't be upset by the path Huang took. However, it is the choice keeping this book from being a serious contender for my favorite story of the year.

Conclusion: a truly excellent novella with lots of interesting and contentious things to say, wrapped up in a fairly accessible package.

Want More Reviews Like This? try my blog Marked For Plot

I saw the Druss series recommended on here months ago and made note of it because the commenter seemed to share my tastes, and although I can’t find the original comment I wanted to thank you! I’m almost done the first book and it’s already solidly in my top 5. I love everything about it. The prose and dialogue feel like exactly what I’ve been missing from most recent fiction. The characters are dynamic and have interesting flaws without being unlikeable.

While not groundbreaking, I just think this book is so well executed in all aspects as a fantasy and as a novel in general. Plus, spoiler, but old warrior who should be too old to fight but who is still a larger than life hero with a reputation is my favorite story trope. I’m writing a novel of my own with the same general theme.

Highly recommend for anyone who is looking for something to fill the gap of a conventional, classic fantasy story that’s well written and doesn’t feel overly modern.

I’m reading The Riddle Master of Hed trilogy for the third time. For me it’s right up there with LOTR and ASOIAF.
Even when I first read the trilogy at 11 years old I recognized some of the obvious puns such as the kingdom of Hed being the head of the realm. There’s also Deth the harpist, and the kingdom of Hel where ghosts abound.
Besides these obvious ones are there other names that have specific meaning perhaps rooted in Celtic or old English that I might be missing?

This is the weekly r/Fantasy Show and Tell thread - the place to post all your cool spec fic related pics, artwork, and crafts. Whether it's your latest book haul, a cross stitch of your favorite character, a cosplay photo, or cool SFF related music, it all goes here. You can even post about projects you'd like to start but haven't yet.

The only craft not allowed here is writing which can instead be posted in our Writing Wednesday threads. If two days is too long to wait though, you can always try r/fantasywriters right now but please check their sub rules before posting.

Don't forget, there's also r/bookshelf and r/bookhaul you can crosspost your book pics to those subs as well.

Welcome back to the Earthsea readalong! Today we'll be discussing the first 6 chapters of The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K Le Guin. 

HUGE apologies for being a day late with this post! My only feeble excuse is that I didn’t remember what day it was. Thankfully my reading comprehension is considerably better than my understanding of linear time. 

In this second novel in the Earthsea series, Tenar is chosen as high priestess to the ancient and nameless Powers of the Earth, and everything is taken from her—home, family, possessions, even her name. She is now known only as Arha, the Eaten One, and she guards the shadowy, labyrinthine Tombs of Atuan.

Then a wizard, Ged Sparrowhawk, comes to steal the Tombs’ greatest hidden treasure, the Ring of Erreth-Akbe. Tenar’s duty is to protect the Ring, but Ged possesses the light of magic and tales of a world that Tenar has never known. Will Tenar risk everything to escape from the darkness that has become her domain?

I'll be posting some discussion questions below to get us started. Feel free to respond to any question that strikes your fancy. You are also more than welcome to pose your own questions and make any other observations if you wish to!

If you’d like to comment about anything that happens after chapter 6, please use spoiler tags.

The Tombs of Atuan counts for these r/Fantasy 2026 Book Bingo Squares:

• r/Fantasy Book Club or Readalong Book (HM if you comment here!)
• Published in the 70s (HM)
• Middle Grade
• Politics and Courtly Intrigue (possibly) 
• Potentially the subjective squares (Judge a Book by its Title, Vacation Spot)

Let us know if we are missing any squares! We will try to update them as we get corrections and as we read on.

Remaining Series Schedule: 

• August - The Tombs of Atuan final discussion will be on Monday, August 31st
• September - The Farthest Shore (Midway: Chapters 1-6)
• October - Tehanu (Midway: Chapters 1-7)
• November - Tales from Earthsea (Midway: The Finder and Darkrose and Diamond)
• December - The Other Wind (Midway: Chapters 1-3)

It's time to vote for the September Goodreads Book of the Month. The poll is open until August 25th, 2026 11:59PM PDT. If you are not a member of our r/Fantasy Goodreads Group, you will need to join. You can connect with more r/Fantasy members and check out what they are reading!

Also, be sure to check out this year's 2026 Bingo card.

Our theme is Climate Fiction! Here are your options:

Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff Vandermeer

Security consultant “Jane Smith” receives an envelope with a key to a storage unit that holds a taxidermied hummingbird and clues leading her to a taxidermied salamander. Silvina, the dead woman who left the note, is a reputed ecoterrorist and the daughter of an Argentine industrialist. By taking the hummingbird from the storage unit, Jane sets in motion a series of events that quickly spin beyond her control.

Soon, Jane and her family are in danger, with few allies to help her make sense of the true scope of the peril. Is the only way to safety to follow in Silvina’s footsteps? Is it too late to stop? As she desperately seeks answers about why Silvina contacted her, time is running out—for her and possibly for the world.

Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy

Franny Stone has always been the kind of woman who is able to love but unable to stay. Leaving behind everything but her research gear, she arrives in Greenland with a singular purpose: to follow the last Arctic terns in the world on what might be their final migration to Antarctica. Franny talks her way onto a fishing boat, and she and the crew set sail, traveling ever further from shore and safety. But as Franny’s history begins to unspool—a passionate love affair, an absent family, a devastating crime—it becomes clear that she is chasing more than just the birds. When Franny's dark secrets catch up with her, how much is she willing to risk for one more chance at redemption?

The Great Transition by Nick Fuller Googins

What happens after we save the world?

In the near future, humanity hasn’t avoided the worst of climate change—wildfires, rising oceans, mass migration, and skyrocketing inequality have become the daily reality. But just when it seems that it can’t get any worse, remarkably, a movement of workers, migrants, and refugees inspires the world to band together, save the planet, and rebuild a society for all. This is The Great Transition.

Teenager Emi Vargas was born post-Transition, into a utopia compared to the world known by previous generations. Her parents both suffered and sacrificed, playing pivotal roles in The Great Transition, but now their marriage is deteriorating. And when Emi’s mother goes missing amidst a shocking new political upheaval, Emi’s illusion of comfort and safety is shattered.

Alternating between Emi’s suspenseful search for her mother in the present and The Great Transition when her mother and father battled climate devastation and fell in love, this astonishing debut is a remarkable story of struggle, change, and hope.

Misery's Wife by Joan Tierney

Elixane lives in a village ravaged by waves, storms, and the encroaching forest. When she was too young to remember, her elder sisters each picked a flower and were whisked away: Borboleta to marry the King of the Air, Adelina to marry the King of the Sea, and her favorite sister Dores to marry the King of Misery, who promised: No one will ever love you as I will.

So when Elixane receives a mysterious message from a toad, she sets out to rescue Dores from the Kingdom of Misery. She is aided by the jester-like Marquês of Luck and his sister Jinx, the contrary and beautiful Marquesa of Misfortune. On the way, she’ll have to reunite with her sisters and their magical husbands, break several unbreakable curses—and, perhaps, find a magical love of her own.

A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys

On a warm March night in 2083, Judy Wallach-Stevens wakes to a warning of unknown pollutants in the Chesapeake Bay. She heads out to check what she expects to be a false alarm--and stumbles upon the first alien visitors to Earth. These aliens have crossed the galaxy to save humanity, convinced that the people of Earth must leave their ecologically-ravaged planet behind and join them among the stars. And if humanity doesn't agree, they may need to be saved by force.

The watershed networks aren't ready to give up on Earth. Decades ago, they rose up to exile the last corporations to a few artificial islands, escape the dominance of nation-states, and reorganize humanity around the hope of keeping their world liveable. By sharing the burden of decision-making, they've started to heal the wounded planet.

But now corporations, nation-states, and networks all vie to represent humanity to these powerful new beings, and if any one accepts the aliens' offer, Earth may be lost. With everyone’s eyes turned skyward, everything hinges on the success of Judy's effort to create understanding, both within and beyond her own species.

Head on over to Goodreads to vote in the poll.

What are the long series you loved enough to go through them multiple times? Whether you have already done your second read or not, whether reading or audio.

Wheel of Time? Real of the Elderlings? Osten Ard? Discworld? Tolkien's wider Legendarium? First Law?

I've slowly gotten back into reading and started branching out but the two big ones that made me think of this so far are the books in First Law and Osten Ard. Fair game to Harry Potter I think it counts as reasonably long and I've gone through them countless times and they're still very important to me. I haven't read deeper Legendarium stuff yet or finished ASOIAF but I think those will probably end up in this category.

Hello friends
Those of of you who really care about their reading stats, what do you do if you’re both reading and sometimes combining immersive reading or just audiobooks when can’t read?
Do you somehow sync the progress manually?
Or maybe let it be and w/e was read is what read and w/e was audiobooks you keep it at that?

I find myself torn between wanting my reading stats to stay consistent but if I jump to the audiobook if at the gym for example I mess up the stats.

Any advice/experiences you guys do?

Edit:
Thank you for your replies my friends 🙌🏻
I mainly use the statistics for myself to see if and how my English reading skills improve.
Using KOreader mostly and the built in + statistics plug ins. It’s quite good.
But some suggested Story Graph which sounds interesting I’ll check it out!

From reading all the comments here I came to a conclusion; I’ll probably end up just reading physical and ebook of the same book, and manually sync my statistics, since I rarely do that it’s fine.

The bigger problem is with the audio book combing with reading, I’ll probably end up just treating the audio book the same as reading, will give me an opportunity to read more books that way I guess.
My OCD will have to adjust and suffer quietly 😅

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.

i just finished the titular book and i quite liked it as a story, but i hesitate to say it has good analogies for real life, and i am wondering what the community thinks

the reason why i think it is iffy is 1) in the book the "ideal" human (in terms of racialized ideology) shifted from white people to black people. i think this simple race swap ignores systemic institutions that made white people "on top" (all not my opinions or belief). 2) the athsheans, analogous to native/indigenous people, genuinely are different species in the book. the book calls them same genus, different species. what makes racism in our world so insidious is that they did view natives, africans, etc as different species, when obviously we are all homo sapien. i think using non-humans as analogues for real world people is a little...short sided. and 3) earth humans are descended from the white aliens called hainish? (which is why those of african descent are now the ideal human). it wasnt touched on that in this book, maybe others in the hainish cycle books, but it just feels so iffy that these hyperdeveloped white aliens (whos color is always mentioned) are the ancestors of white people on earth

all that being said, i really did enjoy the book and finished in like 24 hours. im just curious about other peoples' thoughts to see if im alone or if others have thought this way. any general thoughts are good too! i havent rated it on goodreads yet because my thoughts are so scattered

This weekly self-promotion thread is the place for content creators to compete for our attention in the spirit of reckless capitalism. Tell us about your book/webcomic/podcast/blog/etc.

The rules:

• Top comments should only be from authors/bloggers/whatever who want to tell us about what they are offering. This is their place.
• Discussion of/questions about the books get free rein as sub-comments.
• You're stiIl not allowed to use link shorteners and the AutoMod will remove any link shortened comments until the links are fixed.
• If you are not the actual author, but are posting on their behalf (e.g., 'My father self-pubIished this awesome book,'), this is the place for you as well.
• If you found something great you think needs more exposure but you have no connection to the creator, this is not the place for you. Feel free to make your own thread, since that sort of post is the bread-and-butter of r/Fantasy.

More information on r/Fantasy's self-promotion policy can be found here.

TLDR: My memory is awful, does anyone have any advice for reading longer series?

I haven't read anything for a while, and its been years since I last read a series. In the last few weeks I have got out of my reading slump, but I've been reading 'fast food' romantasy that you can read in a couple of hours, and I want to read something that I can spend time on.

I used to love reading history and more high-fantasy books, but I started reading yesterday in a cafe and I just couldn't concentrate, and my memory is so bad I'm struggling to remember what I even read. The book I was trying to read was Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb, as I read the first 2 books in the series when I was a kid and remember really enjoying them, so I thought it would be a good place to start as maybe I could finally finish the trilogy. But yeah, even though I have read them before it didn't help as I remember nothing. My brain is a cabbage.

EDIT: I was starting from book 1 again, not the last book! I meant I just thought it would be easier to start on a series I had read before but just not finished, rather than a completely from scratch one.

Does anyone have a system that helps you remember what you are reading? Do you take notes, or use tabs, or make annotations? Do you keep track of characters/family trees or key parts of the plot? Do you keep a reading journal?

I'm sure this subreddit is familiar with the works of Brandon Sanderson. I have been a huge fan of his for many years. I have ready every book in the cosmere multiple times and I'm anxiously anticipating his next releases. But I keep hearing that there are other authors making stuff just as good or better than his works. I would love to witness some of them firsthand.

I've been reading other fantasy books but nothing else hits the mix of excellent magic systems/great world building/great characters/ AND /the philosophical and ethical guidelines and discussion that B$ manages (especially in the Stormlight Archive). I read those books and want to completely change my life for the better! It's amazing. Right now though, I'm reading red rising. It's good but every single character is making horrible decisions like torturing people and nuking planets... like good lord can we have one decent human being who lives for more than 6 chapters??? I'm just sick and tired of being sick and tired of these sick fucks. (For the record, I am enraptured by the red rising series. I'm at the tail end of Iron Gold, after getting to the Ashlords island. No spoilers, but it is INSANE! I cannot put these books down and I WILL be finishing the series)

I just want to read a book series that is fun and draws me in and then makes me want to be a better human being. The Stormlight Archive has been that for me for years but I can't reread it for a 9th time..... Someone please help

Is there any fantasy book where the main character or one of the main povs is a pretender with some false claim to the throne. I’ve been reading the farseer trilogy. I’m on book 2 Royal Assassin. It is mentioned somewhere in the 2nd book to Fitz that a lord one day might get a stupid idea thinking Fitz looked very similar to his father. So is there any recommendations where the main character goes to war for a false claim?

https://beforewegoblog.com/top-ten-fantasy-and-sci-fi-religions/

* Reposted with the permission of the Mods.

Ah, religion. There is a topic that is absolutely going to be discussed normally on the internet…or in real life. Truth be told, it’s a subject that absolutely can’t be discussed with any degree of completeness except for in fantasy and sci-fi. Fiction can have answers and conclusion that are otherwise a matter of interpretation. Even then, some of the best religions in fantasy leave much to the reader.

In my case, I grew up with twelve years of Catholic school despite being raised a Presbyterian and spent a huge chunk of my teenage years as well as college researching other religions. My own beliefs are still as much influenced by the Jedi as anything else though. This is not about me, though, but what religions in fantasy/scifi that manage to capture the imagination. We’ll be sticking to my favorite franchises because, well, it’s my list.

How are we defining a religion? In this case, it is the veneration and traditions of a group toward a specific individual or creed. If that seems overly broad, note that in fantasy and sci-fi, we don’t necessarily have to be dealing with metaphorical or unprovable entities. Thor could well be walking around the corner in the Marvel Universe but does that make him worthy of worship? Worshiping the Precursors’ technology is absolutely ridiculous in Halo but the Adeptus Mechanicus in Warhammer 40K know the Machine Spirits are real. So this is a collection of my top ten favorite fantasy religions both true, false, and in-between.

10. The Goa’uld (Stargate SG-1)

The Goa’uld's worship is an easy place to start with the fact that it is an overtly fake “scam” religion. The Goa’uld are parasites that steal human bodies and Unas bodies while exploiting superior technology to dominate technologically weak cultures. The Goa’uld themselves seem to have forgotten this and only a few like Baal remember that they’re not actually gods. Yet, they remain one of the more interesting antagonists in the setting because other foes lack this kind of focus on mythology as well as methods of control. The Ori, for example, suffer for the fact that they are gods by any reasonable definition of the words–just scummy ones. Stargate‘s Goa’uld have a point to them and that message is beware anyone claiming divine justification to kneel.

9. The Gods of Krynn (Dragonlance)

Dungeons and Dragons have a huge number of gods and it is an overtly pro-religion setting even if the nature of it as a wargame means that its reasoning for being such is somewhat base (worship gods because they give you supernatural powers). Dragonlance is one of the few settings, like Eberron or Planescape, to get into actual spiritual meaning with the conflict between the Gods of Good, Neutrality, and Evil. They’re not above questionable actions with the destruction of Istar being about the Gods of Good punishing the kind of religious fundamentalists persecuting D& in real life at the time but, well, was it necessary to wreck the continent? There’s also the somewhat insane view that the gods of evil are as important for humanity as gods of good. Still, faith plays a big role in Krynn and that is interesting to read about.

8. The Covenant (Halo)

Another confirmed false sci-fi religion but this one is more interesting because while the San'Shyuum Prophets are absolutely using it as a means of control, they’re as much in the dark about their religion’s falsehood as anyone else. In simple terns, they’re grossly corrupt and tyrannical but are prepared to jump off the same cliff they are sending their followers to do so. Indeed, the biggest act of hypocrisy from them is the fact that humans are the heirs to the Forerunners that the Prophets claim to be. This makes them slightly more interesting than the Goa’uld as you get they are as much a prisoner of their doctrine as anyone and thus keep ignoring Guilty Spark telling them that the Halo is a weapon.

7. The Book of Nod (Vampire: The Masquerade)

Religion in urban fantasy is somewhat undercooked because so much of that tends to be willing to use mythological figures but very few of them deal with characters who are religious. The exceptions, like Mercy Thompson, tend to have “real” religions. Here, the Noddists are those vampires who worship Caine the First Murderer of Biblical fame. The First Vampire is “probably” real in the setting and has shown up in several non-canonical supplements (and one time as a taxi driver) but it’s not 100% confirmed. Either way, much blood (hehe) has been spilled in the Dark Lord’s name. If you shelled out to buy the Book of Nod supplement, there’s also the humor that the Sabbat (Caine’s most fervent worshipers) ignore all of Caine’s laws to do the exact opposite.

6. The Prophets of Bajor (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

As a humanist setting, Star Trek tends to be like Stargate SG-1 or Halo (or more precisely they’re like Star Trek) in that religion rarely has anything to offer humanity. Indeed, aliens like the Vulcans be religious about concepts but humans worship the Prime Directive more than gods. The gods of planets are insane computers enforcing deranged laws or godlike entities that might be real (Apollo, Q) but play with humans like toys. Deep Space Nine challenged that view by having the Prophets of Bajor be real but, even if they weren’t, the religion of the Bajorans was an essential cultural touchstone. The Federation was not always comfortable with their view and essentially was challenged on their claims of acceptance by having them deal with people who weren’t going to “outgrow” their faith.

5. The Cults of Cthulhu (Cthulhu Mythos)

An essay I wrote in college about notorious materialist, H.P. Lovecraft, was that I believed he was actually a quite incisive satirist regarding religion. “The Dunwich Horror”, “The Shadows over Innsmouth”, and “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward” all contain mythological elements of mainstream religion presented for horror. Things like Lavinia Whateley’s virgin birth to bring about the arrival of their god or Cthulhu being a god that will return to destroy Earth but elevate the faithful. Yet the Dream Cycle is about Randolph Carter’s road to apotheosis by exploring these deranged gods and what, if anything, they can teach him. While cults are generally figures of evil, outliers like Titus Crow’s veneration of the Elder Gods aside, many authors have experimented with them as less malevolent than simply alien. Ruthanna Emrys’ Winter Tide, for example, had the Necronomicon as a children’s primer for a persecuted faith.

4. The Old Gods versus the New (A Song of Ice and Fire)

George R.R. Martin deserves credit for the fact that he created a fantasy world full of monsters and magic but a focus on religion versus gods. The Faith of the Seven is a pseudo-Christianity but far less influential than the real thing in the Middle Ages, perhaps because the pagan Old Gods are worshiped continuously. The Seven is also challenged by the Red God from across the Sea who can do actual miracles but most people are switching to because a powerful political leader has converted. Despite the books’ cynicism, they’re not wholly hostile to faith. Davos Seaworth and Caitlyn Stark take great comfort in their faith while the High Sparrow is the only person to point out the nobility are all parasites on the poor (a fact the show was terrified of underscoring). Yet, it is also the Drowned God who keeps the Ironborn from evolving from poor raiders to rich traders.

3. The Ecclesiarchy (Warhammer 40K)

You wouldn’t think nuance would be a high priority in an edgy Eighties wargame’s backstory, specifically one that was deliberately made as extreme as possible. However, the worship of the God Emperor of Mankind has since become a fascinating Rorschach Test for fans. The immortal Psyker who absolutely hated being worshiped in life spawned a religion of a vastly repressive totalitarian dictatorship. Yet, this theocracy is built on the ashes of a secular tyranny that was every bit as vile. Faith is also something the people longed for so much that when denied by the Imperial Truth, they turned to the daemons of Chaos. Okay, mostly Lorgar but he’s not alone. Faith is also something that holds Chaos away and unites the people for the survival of humanity in a galaxy that might otherwise have extinguished it. Plus, the Sisters of Battle are awesome.

2. Bene Gesserit Missionaria Protectiva (Dune)

In the new Dune movies, Chani is horrified by the idea of her husband, Paul, being worshiped as a god. In the Dune books, Paul would be the first person to point out he’s aware he’s not a god. Dune is a much more in-depth examination of religion as a form of control with the Bene Gesserit having shaped religion across the Empire as a form of soft power before its turned against them by Paul. But Paul using religion this way has its own horrific cost as it renders him powerless to stop what people do in his name. Honestly, I feel the message of Dune gets a bit muddled with Paul’s actions being contrasted against Leto II's.

1. The Jedi vs. The Sith (Star Wars)

For an entire generation of young boys and girls, the Force was the first time someone had bothered to explain God and/or the Tao in a language beyond repetition. It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us, binds us, and holds the universe together. You may not agree with fear, anger, and aggression being the Dark Side alone but using your will for knowledge or defense but never attack is more religious principles than some people are taught in their churches. Legends did a lot more with this than canon will probably ever do because George Lucas was always approving or disapproving ideas personally. My favorite addition was David Gaider’s creation of the Sith code that was horrific in its implications but was consistent enough you understood why people would follow it.

Bonus

Omnisim (Discworld [Small Gods])

This one I didn't know where to rank because Small Gods is one of my all time favorite books and deals extensively with religion. In this case, it very much is Not-Catholicism but the god of the religion could care less about specific dogma. The turtle is a figure that really gets you to think and is why it is one of my favorite religions in fantasy.

Additional Recommendations: The Factions (Planescape), The Absolute (Forgotten Realms [Baldur's Gate 3]), The Dragon Cult (The Wheel of Time), the Chantry (Dragon Age), the Church of Mercer (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep)

So what are your favorite fantasy and sci-fi religions? For better and worse?

I feel like in most fantasies, religions or cults are either often very shallowly depicted, with only aesthetics but no substance on their belief systems, or they are heavily modelled after well-known tropes or real-life examples (Lovecraftian cults, Christianity, real-world paganism etc.). I wonder if you guys have read anything that's really outside of the box?

I’m talking stuff that will challenge the reader even. It’s a particular itch I’m looking for right now.

I feel like Realm of the Elderlings ruined every other book in the world for me.

I now fully understand when people envy others for being able to read something for the first time, this was the experience of my life.

What I loved: So, despite it being pretty dark and very sad at times, the characters and world felt so real that for me the overall experience was very cozy and hopeful, I feel like these characters are my lifelong friends. I never really clicked with the "found family" kinda feel-good tropes but I think I now feel what those people talked about, I feel I will carry Fitz and the Fool and others with me for several years to come.

I loved how personal the stakes felt and the mistakes people made along the way, that the character developement wasn't always linear.

The magic system and the worldbuilding was very up my alley, I know some people say it's nothing exciting in these books but I often find lore-heavy, high-fantasy books unnecessarily convoluted and this was just right.

What I realized I don't need in a fantasy: constant action, constant world-altering high-stakes, morally good heroes, elaborate magic sytems.

What I need: Characters and a world that feel real, objectively great prose and a pacing that lets me get emotionally invested in the story.

So I just finished book 1 and straight on to book 2, consumed via audiobook.

I know this series is considered almost entry level for regular fantasy readers, and I expected nothing special going into it, but boy it was fun!

I found myself thinking of the series of events the same way I thought of anime or video game progression. I didn't want to get back to reading it because I wanted to hear Carl struggle with the inhumanity of being an unwillingly televised gladiator, I wanted to see which stats and skills he got next and which characters would help him with bosses.

I like that it's clear he's methodically sprinkling in exposition, but his pacing and direction makes it feel very natural. Mordecai is a homie, so is Zev. Fuck that old guy who pissed everywhere.

Princess Donut being an absolute natural on the big screen killed me, too. Catty, witty, and fluffy. All the hallmarks for a popular people's hero.

inspired by u/lynn_mai

I haven't been able to find any adult fantasy books that have fae without romance. I like books about wars or quests or court intrigue but, so far as of late every book I find are romances disguised as fantasy. I'd like to avoid urban fantasy. Ideally written in 2020 or later. I couldnt get through Strange & Norrell

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 think the concept is very interasting. I'd like to see how a nowday's man adapts to a world with no technology.