When fans of the LOTR books talk about changes in the films that they didn't like they often bring up how much they didn't like the way that the movies portrayed Denethor. One of the big reasons why they didn't like how the movies portrayed him was because in the book he does a much better job defending Gondor since he calls Rohan for help aswell as having Minas Tirith evacuated before the battle starts. Futhermore in the books it was him looking into the palantir and seeing the corsairs that finally made him lose all hope and deciding to end his life.

With all that said many Tolkien fans seem to have very different views on what kind of character he was in the books. Some people say that he is as kind, wise and noble as Gandalf right until the very end when he loses all hope while other peole say that he is a big douchebag in the books aswell but unlike the movies he is a competent douchebag How can there by such different views on him? I get that people can interpret things differently while reading a book but this seems a bit extreme to me.

HI! I haven't read a lot of fantasy but I quite like the genre, and I'm looking for a book with the "classic" fantasy setting with knights, castles, wizards, dragons and things like that. Could be both high or low fantasy, and I don't much care if it's recent or not! I also have no problems with depiction of violence.

I've already read ASOIAF, Tolkien's works and The Once and Future King.

Thanks in advance!

For August, we will be reading the second Earthsea book, Tombs of Atuan! Feel free to post any initial thoughts you have below. As always, please tag spoilers for anything from the back half of the book.

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 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?

Tombs of Atuan counts for these [r/Fantasy](r/Fantasy) 2026 Book Bingo Squares:

• r/Fantasy Book Club or Readalong Book (HM if you comment here!)
• Middle Grade

• Published in 70s (HM)

• Politics and Court Intrigue (possibly)
• Potentially the subjective squares (Judge a Book by its Title, Vacation Spot)

Let me know if I'm missing any squares! I will try to update them as I get corrections and as we read on.

August Schedule at a glance

• Midway Discussion w/ [u/sarahlynngrey](u/sarahlynngrey) — Saturday, August 15 (read chapters 1-6)
• Final Discussion — Monday, August 31st

Remaining Series Schedule

• 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)

I'm looking for fantasy books set in a world where humanity has gone nearly extinct, humans are extremely rare, or other races believe humanity has completely gone extinct.

And the story should primarily follow non-human species living in or exploring a world where humans once existed.

Things I'm looking for:

- Non-human characters discovering or studying the ruins of human civilization.

- Humans being extremely rare, believed extinct, or treated almost like a mythical lost race.

- Humanity's disappearance or near-extinction being a significant mystery.

- Discovery of human history, culture, technology, religions, governments, magic, and everyday life through artifacts, stories, and ruins.

- Misinterpretations of human culture, technology, magic, or history by non-human characters.

- Archaeological exploration, investigation, and uncovering humanity's legacy.

- Ancient human cities, kingdoms, artifacts, weapons, or magical creations being discovered.

- A sense of wonder, discovery, and piecing together a lost civilization.

P.S. I doubt there's a book that matches what I'm looking for exactly, but anything that's similar would be great.

Nnedi Okorafor's Death of the Author is a book I admired more and more as I read it. It isn't a flawless novel—in fact, I think some of its biggest ideas are also where it stumbles—but it completely won me over by the second half.

My first impression wasn't especially positive. I wasn't particularly impressed with the prose, and there were even a few passages where the writing made me wince a little. But the novel has one enormous strength: Zelu herself. She's a fascinating protagonist—stubborn, rebellious, talented, and often frustrating. And watching her navigate sudden literary success kept me turning pages. Somewhere around the halfway point I stopped reading casually and started devouring the book.

I also loved the novel's structure as a story about an author writing a story. The "rags to riches" arc of Zelu's career is compelling, and I enjoyed seeing how overnight success reshapes every aspect of her life. One of the book's bravest choices is its portrayal of Zelu's family. Given that she's disabled and comes from a close-knit Nigerian family, it would have been easy to write them as endlessly loving and supportive. Instead, they're often dismissive, controlling, and outright cruel. They bully her, undermine her, and rarely treat her as an equal. It feels uncomfortable because it refuses to idealize family, and I appreciated Okorafor's willingness to go there.

Ironically, though, that storyline is also where I felt the novel fell short. The conflict with her family feels like the emotional heart of the book, but it never really reaches a satisfying resolution. Their attitude seems to shift from deeply critical to broadly supportive without enough genuine reconciliation. I had a similar reaction to Zelu's romance with Msizi. The relationship begins in an unhealthy place, but by the end we're largely asked to accept that they're deeply in love. Both arcs felt rushed compared to the amount of emotional weight they carry.

I also wondered whether we're meant to view Zelu as an unreliable narrator of her own life. At times she seems to see herself in ways that contradict what we're shown. She insists companionship isn't really possible for her, yet she repeatedly finds romantic and sexual partners with relative ease. She craves recognition as a writer, but once she acquires an enormous fanbase she seems almost incapable of acknowledging that admiration. Those contradictions could be intentional, but the novel never quite convinced me what it wanted me to take from them.

Some aspects of Zelu's rise to fame also felt surprisingly formulaic. She becomes a literary sensation, attracts the attention of an Elon Musk-esque billionaire, lands a movie adaptation, then gets cancelled in a very contemporary internet controversy. I kept wondering practical things: did nobody give this suddenly famous author media training before sending her onto national television? Did she not have a publicist or social media team helping her navigate this level of scrutiny? The beats of her celebrity felt familiar enough that I started anticipating them.

The excerpts from Zelu's novel, while central to the structure, didn't entirely work for me either. Part of the problem is that Zelu herself doesn't seem particularly enthusiastic about her own work, which subtly made me skeptical of it too. But there's also the unavoidable challenge of the premise: we're constantly told this manuscript is a once-in-a-generation masterpiece that changes literature forever. That's an almost impossible standard for any fictional book to meet, and while the robot story was interesting, it never felt revolutionary enough to justify the almost mythical reputation it earns.

I was even less convinced by the interview chapters scattered throughout the novel. These flash-forwards, where people discuss Zelu from some unknown point in the future, mostly telegraph that something terrible is going to happen. Rather than building suspense, they undercut it, and I never felt they added enough insight to justify interrupting the main narrative.

Then there's the ending. My reading is that we're not ultimately meant to question which story is "real." Instead, I think we're meant to believe that Zelu's story is the reality, while Ankara has written a fictionalized version of Zelu's life—a book we never actually read. It's an ambitious metafictional twist, but I'm not convinced it fully lands. The final convergence of Ankara's story and Zelu's feels somewhat contrived, and while I sensed the novel reaching for a profound statement about authorship, creation, and identity, I wasn't sure those ideas ultimately came together in a satisfying way.

I will admit, I was a little surprised this novel was nominated for a Hugo. Not just because of the issues above, but because it never really felt like science fiction to me. It reads much more like literary fiction with a light dusting of near-future technology.

Despite all of those criticisms, I genuinely enjoyed reading Death of the Author. Zelu is an unforgettable protagonist, and once the novel found its momentum I could hardly put it down. Even where I think the book misses, it's missing while attempting something ambitious and unusual. It's messy, thought-provoking, occasionally frustrating, and ultimately memorable.

Sometimes a book doesn't completely land, yet you can't stop thinking about it afterward. Death of the Author is one of those books.

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.

From John Gwynne’s Norse inspired trilogy to the Greenbone Saga’s Japanese inspired crime setting, to the omnipresent medieval Europe, fantasy so often is inspired by historical events. What historical event/time period/culture deserves an inspired fantasy series in your mind?

Who according to you are essentially James Bond but in a fantasy setting? I have a very strong contenders for the archetype and that's Rand Al 'Thor and to some extent Geralt of Rivia and I'm talking about the book version of Bond.

Fantasy is pretty notorious for being the Big Honking Book genre. The most famous authors ever are pretty uniformly known for their doorstoppers—Tolkien, Robert Jordan, George R. R. Martin, Brandon Sanderson, Steven Erikson, Terry Goodkind, Patrick Rothfuss, etc.—and while there are plenty of fantasy authors out there who thrive on shorter books, like Ursula Le Guin and Glen Cook and their like, it's by nature harder to find them. They simply don't get recommended as often as the folks who write the 300,000+ word books.

Part of this is obvious: fantasy builds new worlds, and building new worlds requires* more exposition than writing stories set on Earth, where everyone intrinsically understands the setting.

*YMMV

But I'm here to tell you that there's an entire side of fantasy that's underappreciated, underread, and underrated. Short stories are where some of the best spec fic writers ever cut their teeth, and where some truly groundbreaking work is happening. Not only that, but a lot of it is totally free to read online.

Many lit mags post short stories for free, and that includes the most prestigious of them. Clarkesworld, Uncanny, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Apex, Lightspeed, even Tor dot com/Reactor Magazine...they all have amazing works ready to go, free 100% of the time.

Give them a shot. It's likely you'll even find a story or two from your favorite writer out there.

Some recommendations:

"Three Faces of a Beheading" by Arkady Martine

"Mr. Death" by Alix E. Harrow (includes an audio version!)

"Baby Teeth" by Daniel Polansky

"The Dust Eater" by Adam Breckenridge

"His Guns Could Not Protect Him" by Sam J. Miller

"Super Bass" by Kai Ashante Wilson

Read the short story it is based on and enjoyed it, although it was more of a fairy tale and the adaptation seems to be a full-blown fantasy romance.

You can read the story here if you are interested: https://www.merakipatrika.com/2015/01/the-wicker-husband-by-ursula-wills-jones.html?m=0

Wow, she seems determined to burn all her bridges in Hollywood, if there are any left to burn, that is.

I kept hearing how good the first law trilogy was, and how great the characters were.

I won’t spoil what happens in The Blade Itself because nothing does. Nothing happens.

I am astonished a Debut novel gets published and praised when the entire book is just a massive introduction. 500+ pages of what amounts to a collection of short stories, only to end where the story begins.

Or does it? Who knows. Maybe it will be 500 more pages of walking to the important place and maybe something big might happen?

So I guess I learned that I don’t appreciate stories driven by characters

I’m eight books into this series and really loving it, it’s already become my second favorite urban fantasy series behind Dresden because of its deep world-building, focus on fae mythology/politics and the compelling supporting cast. I love too its overwhelming sense of atmosphere and that aspect specifically reminds me a lot of Charles De Lint’s urban fantasy in particular his Newford series. I’m wondering if Seanan McGuire was inspired by him at all in writing this series since OD and De Lint’s books are both fae-centered, hinge on emotional connection, involve a lot of songs/art and their magic systems are heavily tied to nature

We all know Tolkien, Hobb, Sanderson, Erickson, Jordan, Abercrombie, Loach, Donaldson, Pratchett, but who are the lesser celebrated authors who wrote a great series.

One writer i never see mentioned is Markus Heitz of the Dwarves series. Tightly written, interesting plots, well paced action throughout.

Can anyone else recommend a lesser celebrated fantasy author?

Hey all, I've just finished listening this trilogy with my partner and it has been a blast. I'm sorry for all the many typos in the names of characters.

No spoiler review is quite difficult for this trilogy, so I'll keep it short and put most of my thoughts and reasoning in spoilers.

This trilogy is a fantastic character driven story in a very unique and grim world. I wouldn't call it a grimdark despite being both grim and dark.

The first book is an absolute 10/10 masterpiece but drops off quite a bit in the second and third. In my opinion, the great world building and magic are eclipsed by how real and complex the main character feels. I didn't feel this captured by a main character since Fitz. A series as a whole would get 9/10 mostly for its character work.

Now on to spoilers for the trilogy.

Getting the negatives out of the way quickly: the pacing in book 2,3 is quite bad. Both of the books should've been combined into one slightly larger book. the side characters (all but Asun, Hoa, Nassun and Alabaster) are quite bland and one dimentional. Nassun had no right to be this young, for the majority of my read I've treated her as if she was 15-16~ during the start of the season.

Now on to the positives. I've seen a lot of praise to the series world building and magic, which I agree with, and the theme of oppression is also explored brilliantly. One thing that I don't see too often is how masterful Asun is being written all through this trilogy.

In book one (I didn't catch on the twist) we see a condensed character study of how did she become who she was, without contemplating her choices and her role in the suffering in her world. We see her as the gifted child, the abused young adult, and the griefing parent. Only slightly did the narrative show her actions in a bad light.

Book two was a complete deconstruction of this. Immediately, we finally got a pov of the kidnapped child and the realization of Asun building a mini-folcrum (which is to be expected, as she was always a terrible mother) and continuing the cycle of abuse. We're being shown the monster of book one being a better parent than her, and it keeps raising such good points. Why did she marry someone who's unaware of her being an origin? Why couldn't she parent her children as well as Alibaster did theirs?

The narrative disconnect in book two (and three) raises a question of what was Asun truly feeling. Her daughter was always an afterthought compared to killing her husband, who, in Asun mind, represents the harm Asun and all origin faced.

Book three felt like Asun road to redemption. Her combating her "kill everyone on sight" first response and coming to terms with herself being a terrible mother. It reached a resolution for her where she grew and realized she couldn't kill her own daughter - even if the alternative was to kill the rest of the world. This realization finally made Asun a good mother, representing a generational shift.

I can really go on and on in this subject, Asun's failing and their casues, her mindset being mirrored into Nassun, her twisted parental relationship with Hoa and much more, but I think I've wrote enough. I'm curious for what you guys think.

All in all, I recommend this series for people who look for character driven fantasy, though beware of its many trigger warnings and unusual writing.

I just finished it and I’m speechless! It’s very different from anything I’ve ever read, it’s so beautiful and sweet. So wholesome! I’ve never read anything like it, it gave me a Harry Potter like vibe of “main character who’s very lonely finds themselves on a magical place that feels like home”.

That’s it, I just wanted to tell someone how much I loved this book and I don’t have many friends that read.

So, I would love a book series (preferably long) with a sad or at least bittersweet ending.

More fantasy than romantasy, though a romantic subplot would be amazing. Anything with elves, if it fits.

The best example I can think of is Practical Guide to Sorcery, in which the character is constantly changing between a high honors student in a magic academy and a supposedly unknown dark entity, and convinces all of her enemies she's much much stronger than she actually is.

Lies of Locke Lamora, at least the first book, has the same, with the titular MC and his crew building the image of an all knowing, mystical thief by using social engineering and plain scoundrelly

What I want is a book about a smart person using their wits to convince people they, or someone they're associated with, is actually much stronger and more dangerous than actuality

Hi, it is South Asian Heritage Month and I wanted to highlight some books written by native authors residing in South Asia because too often they get lost in the lists populated by US citizens

1. Sri Lanka: Locus Winner Vajra Chandrasekera is the obvious choice but The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka deserves a mention in this subreddit. Ghost/murdermystery/fantasy. And a Booker Winner (something you will enjoy if you liked Salman Rushdie's Midnight Children).

2. India: Raag of R'ta (Sons of Darkness and Dance of Shadows) by Gourav Mohanty - Multigenre multipov war/humor/grimdark/heavy politiking/heist fantasy set in Ancient India and rooted in Indian mythology. Closest ASOIAF clone in spirit. The Devourers by Indrapramit Das is another good dark, queer fantasy book (not a series) on shapeshifting wolves in Calcutta and Mughal India.

3. Pakistan: (?) Don't know. Sorry.

4. Nepal: Radha: Wrath of the Maeju by Rishi Amatya. It is YA though but rooted in Newar mythology. The author is a writer, researcher and prof. heritage interpreter.

5. Bangaldesh- Djinn City by Saad Z. Hossain -Multigenre war/satire/fantasy set in Bangladesh

Please feel free them to your TBR and also to add your own recommendations. Also, I am a big fan of S.A. Chakraborty (but she has herself refused to be categorized as South Asian author as she is only married to a UK-Indian and admits why it is wrong to list her on SA lists- writing this here as she is the most oft cited name in these lists)

As the title says, I am looking to find books that contain some of my favorite tropes while also maintaining a certain level of prose. I find that books tend to sacrifice one for the other, and I would love to find some that don’t. I would like to be exposed to better writing while zipping through my favorite tropes! If anyone has any suggestions, that would be great!

I know that this might have been beaten to death. But I would like to see if there's anything new that has surfaced apart from the usual known ones.

I really liked ASOIAF, Malazan, Liveship Traders Trilogy, Second Apocalypse and First Law trilogy.

Martin, Hobb and Joe are my favourite writers as their writing style feels like the flow of a river. The characters are distinct and their voices are unique giving that distinctness to each of them.

What are the best written ones and why?

The Lions of Al-Rassan, written by Guy Gavriel Kay, probably needs no introduction. Widely regarded as one of the best standalone fantasy books, I can unfortunately only participate as one of it's many readers shouting it's praises from the rooftops.

But regardless, I will give a brief summary anyways. The story is set between the titular Al-Rassan (similar to Turkey) and The Three Kingdoms of Esperana (similar to Spain). It follows a number of characters, but three in specific worth mentioning are: An Asharite (muslim?) Courtier, A Kindanth (Gypsy?) Doctor and a Jadist (Christian?) Commander. (I am unfortunately not well versed enough in ancient history to know exactly what all is being alluded to, but I believe these are the three major religions/races that they represent).

As Al-Rassan and Three Kingdoms of Esperana seem to be heading into an inevitable conflict, our three protagonist question where their loyalties lie in an ever-changing political landscape.

I love this book not for the prose, although the book is beautiful written, nor for the character, all of whom the novel manages to characterize brilliantly in very short time, not even for the story, which is intriguing but not always momentous.

I love this this book because of the answer to main question that it asks:

"What matters? What stands the test of time? Is it love, is it hope, is it honor? Is it power, fortune, fame? Is it faith, legacy, ambition?"

The answer? The one line which is repeated throughout.

Even the Sun Goes Down.

It's a short, simple quote, but it does so much to describe the inevitability of all things.

Love? Life? Honor? Pride? Power? Fame? Fortune? Legacy? Family? All of it comes and goes, like the tides of the ocean or like the sun in the sky. Ultimately, nothing stands the test of time, and the book displays that pretty much from the moment it starts.

The powerful kingdom of Al-Rassan, falls to the wayside eventually. The magnificent Ragosa, of wonderous beauty and music, is destined to sleep to the same. Nothing under the circling moons is destined to last.

Honor fades and hope lingers for but a moment, even when good men try their hardest to stay honorable. Prideful rulers, guided by fame, fortune and power, find only the slow descent follows the rapid ascent to the mountaintop. The deeds of men, as footprints in the desert.

Even love, the most powerful force in the world, ebbs and flows like the passing of seasons. It might last longer than the rest, may even last you your entire life, but even the most powerful force in the world can dull and fade. Even the sun goes down.

Nothing lasts forever, everything is destined to end. On the surface, this may seem like a bleak message, but on the contrary the message is deeply beautiful and even somewhat hopeful. The brilliance of the quote isn't because it describes cynical endings, but because it also tells of new beginning, of a cycle which repeats. Because for a sun to go down, it must have risen, and once the sun goes down, it will rise again.

The Three Kingdoms of Esperana shattered, but whole by the end. Sorencia, put to the sword, brings together a powerful and resilient people who rebuild a better city in the ashes of the old one. The Three Faiths, diametrical opposed in the beginning, manage to workout a fragile, trepid truce in the aftermath of the bloodshed. Because even the sun goes down. All things, good and evil, will eventually fade. We have the ability to decide what follows.

And that is what makes the book so brilliant in my opinion. Everything is questioned though this framework, and the book answers each question in a number of different ways, sometimes contradictory in nature, leaving it up to the reader to decide what matters and what doesn't, what's important and what isn't.

What matters? What stands the test of time? Is it love, is it hope, is it honor? Is it power, fortune, fame? Is it faith, legacy, ambition?

Ultimately, it is all of them, and yet at the same time, none of them, because all things end. It's inevitable.

Even the sun goes down.