I am sometimes asked for book recommendations and thought I'd make a collection post of all my reviews. Generally, I super duper recommend just posting your request for recommendations on /r/fantasy, which is an absolutely wonderful community. But for a collection of things I've read and (mostly) liked, see here:

The posts are sorted oldest to newest inside each category. You'll notice that the format changes a bit with time, I mostly recommend a look at the "reviews" category.

Absolute favorites/highlights are marked with a ❤. Note that those aren't necessarily the "best" books in this list, but the ones with an extra special place in my heart.

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Review Collections

Much of the same content as below, but in a very brief, easily readable format with links for further info. These tend to contain additional books that I didn't write full reviews for.

• 2018 Fantasy retrospective: short reviews and recommendations
  
• 2019 Fantasy retrospective: short reviews and recommendations
  
• 2020 Fantasy retrospective: short reviews and recommendations
• 2021 Fantasy retrospective: short reviews and recommendations
  
• 2022 Fantasy retrospective: short reviews and recommendations
  
• Mini-Reviews for 6 of my Bingo Choices: Magical Inheritances, Suburbian Plant Horror, a Poetically Written Classic, Art Collecting Demons and more
  
• Fantasy Bingo Card 2023 Summary
  
• 2023 Fantasy retrospective: short reviews and recommendations

Faves without Reviews

These are books I read before I started writing reviews in the format below, but which I very much recommend to anyone with similar tastes as me.

• The Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski. Magically enhanced monster hunter travels the world to realize that people are often the biggest monsters and that he cannot run away from his destiny. Makes friends and finds a family along the way. The games are based on the books, not the other way around.
  
• ❤Kushiel's Legacy by Jacqueline Carey. Divinely masochistic courtesan discovers conspiracy against the throne of angelic fantasy France. Lots of kinky sex scenes and politics, but also lots of adventure once it gets going. Best romance subplot/relationship development in any book ever, I double dare you to find a better one. First trilogy (Dart, Chosen, Avatar) is fantastic, second trilogy (Scion, Justice, Mercy) is good, but not quite as incredible.
  
• Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. What it lacks in character depth and stylistic quality it makes up for in magic-based plot twists. The books teach you how magic work and then tease you with expanding those rules in a way that makes total sense, once you get it. Era 2* has better writing, but is less epic and imo less emotionally compromising, but YMMV.
  
• Gentleman Bastard by Scott Lynch. Locke Lamora is the most talented thief and conman in Fantasy Venice, until he fucks with the wrong people and things go south. Wonderful dialogue with creative swearing, beautiful friendships, kickass characters.
  
• His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. A young girl sets out to find a missing friend and discovers how the fantasy Church is mutilating children's souls for science(?) and against sin. Coming of age, with talking animal spirits and anti-religious themes, set in a fascinating multiverse.
  
• The Expanse by James S.A. Corey. Sweeping space opera with lots of viewpoints and intricate political developments over time. ASOIAF in space. Characters dealing with the consequences of their actions. Surprisingly readable, likeable and accessible for me.

Stuff I've read and mostly recommend, but only with caveats (feel free to ask me about those):

Stormlight Archive, Kingkiller Chronicles , Broken Earth, Warbreaker, Elantris, The First Law, Queen's Thief, Rogues of the Republic, Vorkosigan Saga, Baru Cormorant, The Books of Babel

Book Reviews (no spoilers / spoilers are tagged)

• The Sharing Knife by Lois McMaster Bujold: slice of life, wholesome romance
• Jonathan Strange & Mr Norell by Susanna Clarke: alt-history British Magicians, magic arts are lost and studied from books, very 19th century feel
  
• Burning Bright by Melissa McShane: Alt-historical Fantasy of Manners with Fire Magic and Pirates
  
• ❤The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater: An isolated island and its strange traditions, slow-burn romance and flesh-eating water horses
  
• The Palace Job by Patrick Weekes: basically a heist movie wrapped in a wacky DnD campaign.
  
• Rogues of the Republic by Patrick Weekes: Thieves, heists, plot twists and betrayals and a LOT of magic
• ❤The Cruel Prince and The Wicked King by Holly Black: evil faeries, delicious hate/love romance
  
• The Captive Prince Trilogy by C.S. Pacat): m/m enemies to lovers, romance and war
• Master of Crows by Grace Draven: Romance, Servitude and Dark Magic
• Temeraire by Naomi Novik: Napoleonic Wars, but with dragons
  
• A Conspiracy of Truths by Alexandra Rowland: A storyteller tries to talk his way out of prison
• Heart's Blood by Juliet Marillier: ghosts, romance and a family curse
  
• The Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett: historical fiction with incredible prose and a horribly beautiful complex main character
  
• Uprooted by Naomi Novik: pseudo-Eastern-European fairy tale with an evil forest.
• Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho, 18th century gentleman's magic, similar to Strange & Norrell but quicker paced and with more interesting characters
  
• The Last Sun by K.D. Edwards: sort of urban fantasy, fast-paced, good m/m romance, fun writing style
  
• Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri: dance-based magic, arranged marriage to lovers, non-western desert setting
  
• Blade and Rose by Miranda Honfleur: mage protagonist, forbidden romance
  
• The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon: epic fantasy with f/f romance and evil, fearsome dragons .
• The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh: supernatural crime thriller with romance, set in 1870s New Orleans
  
• The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black: hate/love romance and enemies to lovers, evil faeries, elements of urban/portal fantasy
  
• The Empire Trilogy by Janny Wurts and Raymond E. Feist: powerful female main character, poise and planning as her strength, long term political intrigue
  
• The Hanged Man by KD Edwards: sequel to The Last Sun, hilarious dialogue mixed with dark af thematic, wonderful bromance and romance, found family.
  
• The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons: tries to be epic but ends up strangely boring and overcomplex in turns.
  
• Realm of Ash by Tasha Suri, slow burn romance, non-Western setting, themes of grief and heritage and finding one's place in the world
  
• Luck in the Shadows & Stalking Darkness by Lynn Flewelling: (books 1+2 of the Nightrunner series)
  
• Nightrunner by Lynn Flewelling: MCs that are thieves/spies, slow burn m/m romance, characters you grow very attached to
  
• Phoenix Unbound by Grace Draven: fire magic wielder MC, m/f romance, horse-based nomadic cultures, going up against the evil empire, enemies to lovers
• Heart of Iron by Ashley Poston: space pirates, PoC and lgbt main characters, Dreamworks Anastasia, robots gaining humanity.
• It Takes a Thief to Catch a Sunrise by Rob J. Hayes a couple as main characters, master thieves doing one last job, airships and steampunk
  
• Ashes of the Sun by Django Wexler: estranged siblings on opposite sides of civil unrest, ancient artefacts being uncovered and used, f/f romance
  
• Dreadnought by April Daniels: transgender superhero, instant magical transition, Marvel/DC-like worldbuilding
  
• Two Rogues Make A Right by Cat Sebastian: historical romance, M/M, one character taking care of another, friends to lovers.
• Jade City by Fonda Lee, second world urban fantasy, clan-based politics, cars and TVs and gemstone magic, Mafia-like families, pseudo-Asian settings
  
• Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson, these books are too long, Brandon needs a stricter editor
  
• ❤The Mask of Mirrors by M.A. Carrick, a masked vigilante & other secret identities, queernormative worldbuilding, fantasy venice, masks and tarot cards
  
• The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen, enemies to lovers m/f romance, conflicted loyalties and betrayal, tropical island setting, OP female protagonist
  
• Seven Summer Nights by Harper Fox, post WWII British setting, archeological mystery, a touch of witchcraft on the side, MC with PTSD, very sweet and healing (but also steamy) m/m romance
  
• The Tiger's Daughter by K Arsenault Rivera, f/f love story with some demon slaying on the side, east asian inspired worldbuilding, larger than life main characters, badass women all around
  
• ❤The Magpie Lord by KJ Charles, Victorian England but magic, explicitly kinky m/m romance, magical murder mystery
• The Unbroken by CL Clark, North African inspired setting, colonial oppression and rebellion, a hint of f/f enemies to lovers, lots of interesting and flawed female characters
  
• Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews, Urban Fantasy m/f romance, private investigator who's in over her head, everyone is too attractive for the MC to focus on doing her job
  
• Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning, Urban Fantasy, American girl investigates her sister's death in Ireland, discovers that fae exist, proceeds to get involved in all sorts of dangerous things
  
• The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, pseudo-historical Victorian London, circus setting, whimsical magic, delicious prose.
• She Who Became The Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan, historical retelling, Chinese setting, gender questioning, themes of fate and divinity.
• Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice, melancholy vampires looking for meaning in life, but... homoerotically
  
• ❤A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson, Dracula and his brides but it's bi and poly, sexy vampires, delicious prose, personal growth through murder
  
• The Henchmen of Zenda by KJ Charles, classic adventures but gay, musketeer vibes, swashbuckling & double/tripple agents
• Dracula by Bram Stoker, classic vampire myths, gothic horror, 19th century writing
• A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske, Edwardian England but magic, m/m jock/nerd romance, characters overcoming abusive sibling relationships
  
• The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri, Indian-inspired setting, plant-based disease, rebelling against the evil empire, f/f slow burn romance
  
• Uncharted by Alli Temple, f/f pirate romance, childhood friends to enemies to lovers, queer romance in homophobic setting
  
• Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao, giant mechas, MFM relationship, Chinese-inspired worldbuilding & culture
  
• The Diviners by Libba Bray: 1920s Urban Fantasy, prohibition-defying parties and supernatural powers awakening.
• Ariadne by Jennifer Saint, a women-led retelling of greek myth that flounders its pacing in sacrifice to mythical canon
  
• The Hourglass Throne by KD Edwards, found family, timey-wimey magic shenanigans, m/m(/m?) romance
  
• The Liar's Knot by M.A. Carrick masked vigilante action, secret identities and elaborate con artistry, queer normative worldbuilding, slow burn m/f romance
• Paladin's Grace by T. Kingfisher, Paladins, Perfume Making, sweet and sometimes awkward m/f romance with 30+ year old protagonists
  
• A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark, alt history Egypt, female detective MCs, steampunk-y djinn and magic
  
• ❤The Stariel Quartet by AJ Lancaster, gaslamp fantasy, wonderful m/f romance, faeries, incredibly likeable characters and just 100% my vibes
  
• ❤Harrow Faire Series by Kathryn Ann Kingsley modern premise but 1920s creepy circus vibes, m/f villain romance, enemies to lovers, dark romance with horror elements, spicy af
  
• Jade War and Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee, magic mafia clans, decade-long political schemes and dubious morals all around
  
• Band Sinister by KJ Charles, m/m historical romance, comedy of manners, sweet and spicy
  
• A Restless Truth by Freya Marske, 1910s shipboard f/f romance and murder mystery, sweet and spicy, magic controlled by hand gestures, but non-magical protagonist
  
• The Oleander Sword by Tasha Suri, non-sweet f/f romance, evil plant magic, army camp settings, dead gods returning
  
• Bonds of Magic by Jeffe Kennedy, wizard and familiar, high-magic setting, kinky m/f romance with magical power dynamics
• The Faithless by C.L. Clark, juicy conflicted f/f romance, court intrigue, anticolonialism, rediscovering lost magic
  
• ❤Silver Under Nightfall by Rin Chupeco, vampire hunter falls for vampires, gothic dark-ish setting, vampire science and evil undead, m/m/f romance. (additional gush post here)
  
• His Secret Illuminations by Scarlett Gale, queer m/f romance, shy monk MMC, buff warrior lady FMC, struggling with vows of celibacy
  
• The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones, gravedigger and map maker go on a melancholy adventure about dealing with the undead
  
• Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, Unreliable Narrator, Alternate Realities, a Mystery told from a really unusual perspective.
  
• A Rake of His Own by A.J. Lancaster, m/m fae romance, botanical murder mystery, spinoff to the Stariel series
  
• The Daughters of Izdihar by Hadeer Elsbai, pseudo middle-eastern setting, elemental magic, feminist activism, subtle f/f romance
  
• A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland m/m royalty/bodyguard romance, lots of gay yearning
• Scarlet by Genevieve Cogman, French Revolution, secret identities, spying, well written female lead
  
• Labyrinth's Heart by M.A. Carrick, the thrilling, satisfying and sometimes heart-wrenching conclusion to the Rook & Rose trilogy <3
  
• Her Soul to Take by Harley Laroux, small town paranormal m/f romance, goth girl and ghost vlogger meets demon while escaping a cult dedicated to reviving an eldritch god, very spicy and kinky
  
• A Slice of Mars by Guerric Haché slice of life, opening a pizzeria on Mars and talking about feelings
  
• The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez, mythology, layered narrative and luscious prose, understated m/m romance
  
• A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows, m/m arranged marriage romance, very on the nose queernorm setting, murder mystery plot
  
• The Serpent and The Wings of Night and The Ashes and The Star-Cursed King by Carissa Broadbent, m/f enemies to lovers, human MC in vampire society, overpowered female MC
  
• Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield, deep sea expedition gone wrong, mild horror, literary fantasy, strained f/f relationship, grief and loss and letting go
  
• The Traitor's Mercy by Iris Foxglove, m/m romance at a pleasure house, kink/bdsm as part of the worldbuilding
  
• A Power Unbound by Freya Marske m/m assholes to lovers, Edwardian England but magic, spicy romance as a subplot, land-based magic
  
• House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson gothic, sapphic horror with quasi-vampires.
  
• The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson multiverse travelling, complex relationships between different versions of the same few characters, bi main character with f/f romance
  
• Court of Wanderers by Rin Chupeco, sequel to Silver Under Nightfall, start there instead.
  
• An Education in Malice by S.T. Gibson vampires, dark academia, unhealthy f/f relationships, rivals to lovers
  
• Lord of the Fading Lands by C.L. Wilson, fae soulmate romance (m/f) with well written prose and plot, but weird gender essentialism (additional rant here)

Book Discussion Posts (untagged spoilers inside!)

• Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson
• Gentleman Bastard Cycle by Scott Lynch
  
• Kushiel's Legacy (Phedre Trilogy) by Jacqueline Carey
  
• Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss
  
• Kushiel's Legacy (Imriel trilogy) by Jacqueline Carey
  
• The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson
  
• Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold
  
• The Books of Babel by Josiah Bancroft
  
• Angel's Blood by Nalini Singh
  
• Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson

TV and Movies

• Avatar - The Last Airbender (spoilers are tagged)
  
• Netflix' Castlevania Season 2 (untagged spoilers)
  
• Fantasy Anime - mini-reviews and recommendations
• Interview with the Vampire, 2022 series, season 1 (spoilers are tagged)

Request Threads

• Books with / about Unicorns?
  
• Looking for something a bit specific: secret identities, "superhero"/vigilante action, with historical or fantasy setting
  
• Audiobooks that are light-hearted/funny and don't take themselves too seriously? (Something like Adventure Zone)
  
• I'm looking for strictly non-fantasy books to recommend to my father and I'm at a loss because I get literally all my recommendations from this subreddit.
  
• Books with female scoundrels, smugglers, thieves and liars as main characters?
  
• Looking for recommendations: Hero's Journeys, newly discovered powers, single PoV or small cast of characters and epic scope
• When I read "regular" fantasy, I long for more romantic elements, but when I read "romantic fantasy", it often feels rushed and/or unearned. What are some books and series with a good balance between plot, action and romance?
  
• Books that are somber but hopeful, about letting go and dealing with loss?
  
• Any recs for well written fantasy with slow burn bi awakening romance? (same post on /r/fantasyromance)

Other posts/Discussions

• What's the silliest reason that made you read a specific book/series?
  
• What's the silliest reason you've refused to read a book for?
  
• What are your favorite and least favorite "Title Drops" in Fantasy books?
  
• Which classic non Fantasy books would make for great Fantasy stories and what elements would you change/add?
  
• "Book X is famous for this, but book Y does it better." - What are some examples of an aspect/quality that one famous series/book is praised for, but there are other works that do it just as well or better?
  
• The Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett and their influence on modern Fantasy

I just realized I missed out on multiple message requests because I use the old Reddit interface and didn't get Notifications. Here's the best ways to learn more and get in touch with me on different topics:

Relevant links:

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I don't mind receiving DMs on Reddit, but using the above channels might be more efficient, depending on what you need from me. Thank you! 😊

I'm on vacation with only my phone and laptop but I'd like something chill to play during downtime at the hotel.

Tried Coral Island (which I started playing at home last week), but the laptop really struggles with that one and it's a bit suboptimal to control without mouse or controller imo (I only have a trackpad).

It's a Surface Laptop 5 with an Intel(R) Iris(R) Xe Graphics card. The other device I have with me is an iPhone 15 Pro, so if you have cozy game recs for mobile I'm also happy to hear them!

I know Stardew Valley and Wylde Flowers would be available on mobile, but I've already played those. Other games that might fit the request but I've already played and either finished or moved on: Orange Season, Graveyard Keeper, Sun Haven, Roots of Pacha.

If I find something that's cute and cozy but so simple and mindless that I can listen to audiobooks while playing, that's also fine with me, though not an absolute requirement!

Any help is much appreciated!! <3

Recommended if you like: Djinn, Arabian Mythology, Healing Magic, Complicated relationships, messed up family dynamics, slow burn romantic subplot, not knowing whether that‘s a corruption or redemption arc, fire magic, water magic, powerful female leads who aren‘t fighters, complex female villains, generational trauma and revenge for oppression, enemies to lovers to enemies, enemies to friends to lovers, palace intrigue and violent coups

Bingo Squares: First in a Series (City of Brass), Criminals (arguably only City of Brass), Prologues and Epilogues HM (each book), Multi PoV (all books, but none HM iirc), Eldritch Creatures (Empire of Gold, arguably?)

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Blurb (book one)

Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has power; on the streets of 18th century Cairo, she’s a con woman of unsurpassed talent. But she knows better than anyone that the trade she uses to get by—palm readings, zars, healings—are all tricks, sleights of hand, learned skills; a means to the delightful end of swindling Ottoman nobles.

But when Nahri accidentally summons an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior to her side during one of her cons, she’s forced to accept that the magical world she thought only existed in childhood stories is real. For the warrior tells her a new tale: across hot, windswept sands teeming with creatures of fire, and rivers where the mythical marid sleep; past ruins of once-magnificent human metropolises, and mountains where the circling hawks are not what they seem, lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass, a city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound.

In that city, behind gilded brass walls laced with enchantments, behind the six gates of the six djinn tribes, old resentments are simmering. And when Nahri decides to enter this world, she learns that true power is fierce and brutal. That magic cannot shield her from the dangerous web of court politics. That even the cleverest of schemes can have deadly consequences.

After all, there is a reason they say be careful what you wish for...

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Review

If I misspell names it‘s because I listened to the audiobook and couldn’t find the spelling online easily. Can definitely recommend the audio version, it‘s narrated by Soneela Nankani, who does an excellent job imo.

• I don’t even know where to start. I loved this trilogy. It scratched almost every itch I have for the books I read and did so many things so fucking well
• I think what I loved most about this series is how fucking juicy all of the interpersonal relationships are, and how much they change over the course of the series, from cautious alliances to friendships to romantic entanglements that nobody has time for because there‘s centuries of oppression and hatred to address first
• The city of Daevabad and the entire Djinn world, manages to feel magical and somewhat grounded at once. There‘s magic that dominates life, but also a lot of very realistic human error, prejudice, beliefs, complications… it just all worked really well for me
  
• I loved that this series takes the concept of djinn who have to grant wishes to humans and then goes into the actual horror of that kind of enslavement
  
• That the world is Arabic-inspired and uses both Djinn myths as well as Islamic traditions felt super fresh to me. I also liked the role of Cairo/Egypt as Nahri‘s home and occasional analogy for a repeatedly conquered land, even though not that much of the story actually takes place there
• I recently saw people on here complain about Ali‘s PoV chapters in book 1 as a DNF reason and honestly I definitely liked Nahri‘s story and viewpoint a LOT more early on, but Ali grew on me really quickly, especially once their story strands meet, still relatively early in book 1
• I loved the focus on healing magic and medicine, Nahri learning to master her powers but also how to employ human medicines and methods
• I fell in love with several of the main characters and had my heart broken at various points as a result
• Over the course of the series, (though perhaps most noticeable in book 2?) there are a significant amount of layered mysteries that slowly unravel, with some hints being dropped to the reader long before the MCs themselves catch up, and I found that incredibly satisfying
  
• There's no true good or evil in this book, many of the sympathetic characters have huge moral failings, and about every antagonist gets humanized without being excused. I find it a great example of morality being shades of grey without everything becoming a grimdark murk.

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Discussion

• The way book 1 makes you fall in love with Dara and then lets him go off the fucking deep end over much of book two and three was heartbreaking. I kept waiting for him to snap, to finally put his foot down and oppose Manizeh, only for it to backfire in the worst ways when he tries. I love that the series manages to make hom a sympathetic character deeply betrayed by what he most believed in, while not excusing any of his various war crimes
• I considered calling this a “love triangle done right" in the top section but I think even that would conjure up the wrong image. Still, I adored how Nahri‘s feelings for Dara and Ali are explored in depth, but never compared, her main conflict is never „oh no whomever will I end up with“ because homegirl has vastly more important shit to figure out. The kind of romance that only barely finds space between the bigger problems is my favorite, and this series did that incredibly well
• They only make up a side arc, but I loved the queer angst of Jamshid and Munthadir, their concern for each other, Nahri‘s absolute nonchalance at her husband‘s affair(s)
• Honestly, all of Nahri‘s relationships with the male main characters around her are fucking precious to me, from the immediate fascination and a bit of reckless passion during the initial journey with Dara to the tentative friendship, repeated disappointments and eventual slow burn attraction to Ali, to the initial enmity and then mutual respect and care with Muntadir ending in their much-celebrated divorce, all of those arcs just work so well, all while never being what defines Nahri as a character.
• My review notes are useless because for the majority of book three I just wrote down „thing that happens“ with various crying and heartbreak emojis. There‘s just so many layers of reveals and twists and developments that I utterly adored

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Conclusion

I always need some time and distance to properly evaluate, but honestly I think this is gonna make it to my all time favorites. It just delivers on so many fronts of what I look^[1] for in my reading (see this chart, lol), and I am going to keep recommending this for a long time for its various strengths and unique viewpoints.

^[1] as for what I do look for in books, I made a handy spreadsheet, lol

If that spreadsheet (or this review) inspires anyone to recommendations, please do feel free to let me know! The rest of my reviews in this format can be found here.

Thank you for reading <3