I used to read and love quite a bit of fantasy/speculative fiction when I was younger. Some of my big childhood/teen favorites were Harry Potter, His Dark Materials, The Hunger Games, and Twilight. Now I’d like to come back to fantasy as an adult, but I’m still figuring out what kind of fantasy works for me now.

Recently I read Robin Hobb’s Farseer Trilogy. I liked it and even though it actually made me cry a couple of times, something about the narration/writing style still felt oddly detached to me. I’m not entirely sure why.

I also read Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, which I really liked, though maybe more as literary fiction than as fantasy. It didn’t quite give me the “returning to fantasy” feeling I was looking for, but I enjoyed the atmosphere, mythic Americana, road-trip structure, and weirdness.

Outside fantasy, some books/authors I’ve loved or rated highly include:

- Haruki Murakami — Kafka on the Shore, The Wind-Up Bird

- Chronicle, Killing Commendatore

- Donna Tartt — The Secret History, The Goldfinch

- Thomas Pynchon — The Crying of Lot 49, Inherent Vice

- Kurt Vonnegut — Slaughterhouse-Five, Welcome to the Monkey House

- John Williams — Stoner

I’m open to both classic/foundational fantasy and modern fantasy. I’d especially love recommendations that might help me figure out what kind of fantasy I actually like as an adult.

Just saw an advertisement for it (on Channel 4 app, here in UK), it looked pretty good. Surprised that there's apparently no posts about it here on the sci fi sub. Anyone seen it? Any good? Apparently it's more like a spy thriller set in sci fi/cyber punk type setting

I just wanted something with similar feeling. Philosophers stone was the first book I ever read and I was also 11 at that time(so the same age as the characters).

And I turned 18 a couple of months ago and read the HP books again and I feel so sad. I'm not the same age as the characters anymore. And just reading the books again took me back to my childhood

At 11 i had a bit of hope that Hogwarts was real and my letter might arrive anytime soon

Books with characters aged 18-21 would be great

(Also i have read almost all Rick Riordan books already)

I just finished watching The Ark and i honestly enjoyed the whole space survival, crew drama vibe more than I expected now Im trying to find another scifi show that feels similar something with a spaceship crew and tension between characters, survival situations, quantum physics, exploration, or political drama in space like The Expanse. i have already watched shows like Lost in Space, The Expanse, and a few others, so Im mainly looking for underrated or less known recommendations. Any good suggestions?

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Welcome to the daily recommendation requests and simple questions thread, now 1025.83% more adorable than ever before!

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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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I know this is a hackneyed topic, but recently I came up with the idea of what the ending of Mass Effect 3 might look like, taking into account the original idea of the motivation of the Reapers by the author of the story of the first two parts, Drew Karpishin.

It's clear that everyone mostly complains about the tricolor fork when choosing an ending. But I've almost never noticed criticism of the writers' chosen motivation for the Reapers.

In fact, the motivation of the Reapers was the destruction of advanced races on the verge of creating artificial intelligence. The rationale for this act is the belief that any artificial intelligence will eventually destroy all organic life in the galaxy or even the universe if it finds a way to travel between galaxies.

There are several problems with this plot twist:

*● The theory of the destruction of organic life by artificial intelligence is a concept that is on the verge of sociological speculation and a bad-tasting narrative cliche inspired by Dune and Terminator. This is simply unconvincing for the motivation associated with the cyclical genocide of all intelligent life with the galaxy.*

*● It is not entirely clear whether the use of the mass relay and the Citadel is related to or is an indicator that an advanced civilization has created or is on the verge of creating AI. Given the experience from the real world, it is more likely that we will create a AGI before we can go beyond the solar system.*

*● Moreover, there is a political ban on the creation of full-fledged AI in the galaxy. This in itself is part of the solution to the problem, and perhaps should delay the Reapers' decision to destroy intelligent and organic life.*

*● And 300 years before the first part of the story, the Geth AI was created. What if they had destroyed the organic life in the galaxy before the Reapers? But even the way Geths behave does not correspond to how an artificial intelligence should behave according to the Reapers. The Geths simply moved out of the habitable part of the galaxy and disappeared.*

What exactly was Drew Karpishin's original idea?

It seems fairly simple, but the point is that it's such an elegant concept that it puts the elements of the lore in their place and makes those elements work for the story.

The idea is that the use of the mass effect, which at its core allows one to exceed the speed of light by warping the space-time continuum, releases dark energy that accelerates entropy in the Milky Way. Increasing the scale of this technology within the universe would simply lead to heat death. Although Drew Karpishin said it would lead to a Big Crunch, that is likely a mistake on his part, since an increase in dark energy cannot possibly lead to that.

Thus, the Reapers' primary motivation here was their attempt to prevent sentient races from making full use of mass effect technology until they found a way to neutralize the dark energy effect or a fundamentally different method of faster-than-light space travel.

With this premise for the Reapers' motivation, the existence of the mass relays and the Citadel makes sense and is tied to the Reapers' design, because these ancient objects serve not only as a physical trap for sentient races but also as a trap of ready-made technology, forcing sentient races not to create their own mass relay technologies. Moreover, dark energy is released on a strictly defined scale and in a controlled manner until the Reapers arrive.

SO IT JUST MAKES SENSE.

What thematic substance would the story have if we abandoned the "Organics vs. Synthetics" theme?

It could be a reflection on whether a civilization can make the sacrifice of self-destruction for the good of future species, or whether it is confident in its own strength. But if so, isn't such confidence self-deception? And if that civilization eventually understands that it truly was self-deception, would it be prepared to take all life in the galaxy down with it — just so as not to perish like cattle or a harvest, but to leave on its own terms, with dignity, preserving its autonomy? But again: if yes, is preserving autonomy under such conditions true dignity?

What kind of ending would I have wanted to see, considering everything said above?

Well, firstly, not a system where you literally choose an ending.

It would make sense to use a system where the gameplay and the decisions the player made over the course of the game influenced the outcome of the story. For example, making use of the storyline about building a coalition army and refining that aspect of the game to the level of micromanaging army resources, the state of which, up to a certain point, would determine whether one can stand against the Reapers. And that gameplay condition would become the trigger for a fork leading to large, hours-long epilogues, inside which one could optionally make small branching choices without changing the scenery.

Branches

From a game industry standpoint, it is unlikely that writers would dare to create a full-fledged story branch tied to the deliberate sabotage and destruction of all sentient life in the galaxy. Therefore, the structure of the final choices divides into three fundamental paths, depending on the player's success in the war and their willingness to accept the inevitable.

***Successful completion of the war:***

In any case, the player fights against the Reapers to the end. By making the right strategic decisions, you lead the allied fleet to victory over them.

In this ending, the Reapers are defeated, but the finale remains open: the objective reality is that no one in the galaxy knows whether the accelerated heat death of the universe can actually be stopped. However, having gained their long-awaited freedom, the sentient races do not give up — from now on, they will try to solve this fundamental cosmological puzzle on their own.

***Defeat in the war — Escape:***

In the event of making wrong or ineffective decisions that lead to a critical turning point in the war and defeat at the hands of the Reapers, an alternative path opens up for the player.

The remaining population of the galaxy makes a desperate attempt to flee to the most distant and uncharted sector of space. So that the Reapers cannot detect them, the refugees consciously and completely renounce the use of advanced technologies. The narrative in this branch shifts toward a profound humility — humility in the face of the destructive ambitions of sentient life that once tried to conquer dark energy, a force capable of destroying the universe itself.

We could observe in the epilogue how the great-grandchildren of asari or humans look at the stars and tell legends about "the times when we flew among them."

***Defeat in the war — Last Stand:***

If the war is lost and the Reapers gain the upper hand, the player is given the choice to follow the darkest path. Instead of fleeing and saving themselves, you can choose to keep fighting against all logic.

The galactic forces refuse to retreat or hide, choosing to fight all the same, to the very end, until the Reapers finally win. This is the most tragic, uncompromising finale of the trilogy, where civilization perishes entirely in battle but leaves on its own terms.

For the most part, these are my thoughts out loud. Have you had your own vision of what the ending of Mass Effect 3 could have been?

Hi, I've tried to get into contact with CJ Cherryh but nothing has worked. She used to sell ebooks on her website Closed Circle, but the service shut down a few years ago due to outdated code. Some of the ebooks were unique and never published elsewhere, such as revised and rewritten versions of her Rusalka series. Does anyone have direct line to Cherryh? I really want to see this material preserved for posterity in Kindle and other stores with the rest of her works, as well as read it myself. I managed to buy the revised ebook of the first Rusalka book shortly before the service shut down, but not the rest. As I heard, the third book was almost completely rewritten! Thanks!

Am looking for recommendations for age appropriate children’s fantasy (or even some sci fi elements) books, ideally looking early school ages. Something without all the ‘orrible gory murder etc. thanks in advance

Honestly I like Michael moreeeee than dean cuz why does the cold,rude and nonchalant guys get the girl always???????? Seriously it’s giving me second ml syndrome 🥲😭

Looking for suggestions for books that involve/take place in a Magical Library. I'm reading Genevieve Cogman's Invisible Library series and loving them, looking for more things about extra dimensional or otherwise interesting libraries.

Other books with magic libraries I read and liked:

The Library at Mount Char

Wooing the Witch Queen

The Discworld books with the Unseen University

Kit Rocha's Mercenary Librarians books

My dad is starting to listen to audiobooks and was recommended scifi/fantasy by his psychologist. Fantasy is my favorite genre, however the closest thing to what he would like that I've read is The First Law. Do you guys have any suggestions for as little cringe as possible, as much action as possible type of books for a 56 year old man. Anything similar to the First Law I think he would really enjoy.

Edit: Thank you all for your suggestions! I've already added a few to his phone from this list, and will continue to reference it.

About 6 months ago, I read Princess Of Mars and really liked it. But there's barely anything else like the Barsoom books-I know there's other stuff out there, but there's rather slim pickings.

I’ve just started reading Piranesi and it feels nuts to try and remember details like the Third Northern Hall, Ninth Vestibule, Nine-Hundred-and-Sixtieth Hall to the West – I mean wtf I feel trolled. Every second phrase is capitalised. The beehive woman and calendar with the albatross are strange enough to wrap my head round but in a cool way.

Does it get easier as I read on? This is making my brain hurt. If this is by design I have ADHD and that’s unfair

Pardon me if this was done here before because it’s just that I wanted to gush about some of my favorite young adult novels since I have been going on a collecting binge lately.

One novel I just found from a library recently is called Hyo the Hellmaker as it’s hard to explain the premise, but I am loving the novel since it has some really good illustrations in it, plus it takes place in what looks like Feudal Japan as I am having a good time with the book so far.

I recently read >!In the Shadow of Lightning by Brian McClellan!< and I've noticed that a lot of fantasy books I've read these days. It's mostly just all humans and only humans. I'm looking for a series where the characters fight actual monsters.

It's okay if the monsters are sentient, so long as they're otherwise completely inhuman. Also, preferably no eldritch horrors

Stuff I already read that has at least some monster fights:

Stormlight Archive (and the rest of the cosmere) by Brandon Sanderson

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinimen

The Bound and The Broken by Ryan Cahill

Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan

The Black Tongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman

Mage Errant by John Bierce

Cradle by Will Wight (and everything else he wrote)

Spoiler tag just in case.

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Finding Adrian Tchaikovsky’s books felt like a breath of fresh air at first. After having read the Children Of Time and Dogs Of War books, though (as well as a few standalone novels), I’ve become so tired of the way he writes stories.

I think that he has a lot of interesting ideas, but it irritates me so much every time I start a new book and the story unfolds in the same “here’s a chapter in the present and then here’s a chapter from the past, ad infinitum” manner as the rest of them. It would be one thing if he used the idea sparingly, but every single book feels like it’s rehashing the same ground as the ones that came before. It’s like watching a Shyamalan movie. Once you know there’s a twist coming, it lessens the impact when it hits.

It’s gotten to the point that it’s started to affect how I feel about books by other authors. I’m currently reading Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, and despite the fact that it won multiple awards, the use of the trope has started to make it feel shoddy and poorly thought out.

I just finished The Faith Of Beasts by James SA Corey a week ago and it was refreshingly straightforward. Beginning, middle, and end. I really want to keep reading Tchaikovsky’s work, but if the rest of his books follow the same pattern as the others, eventually I’m just going to write him off and move on.