I at 30 actively try to avoid ya unless I’ve heard really really good things. I can’t emotional and like mentally connect to a 16 year old anymore. My brain is always yelling about how they are making stupid choices. 😂😂😂😂then I’m like remember silly they are 16. Calm down.
I have Black Sun and I haven’t read it yet, but Foundryside is my new favorite thing. I’m halfway through Shorefall and I can’t FIND Locklands anywhere and it’s gonna drive me up a wall. These are both standalones but I really enjoyed A Master of Djinn and A Strange and Stubborn Endurance this year. I’d also mention The Atlas Six, but I feel like very specific people vibe with that one-it’s glacially slow paced.
I just read the prologue of this and downloaded it today. Now I’m really excited for it. Another great long con book is The Lies of Locke Lamora. The sequels weren’t as good, but you can read it as a stand alone, really and it was amazing.
if you like books with con artists i would definitely recommend the daevabad trilogy, if you haven't read it already! the main character nahri is a con artist and the plot takes off when one of her plots becomes more... involved than she anticipated (MAGIC MAGIC MAGIC!!!!!!) this series is super special to me and i think all the worldbuilding, complex character development, political intrigue, and plot is all superrr well thought out, even if the first book takes a bit to really take off. have i mentioned how rich the world is..... im also a bit biased bc its based in middle eastern history which is super special to me but overall. absolute favorite i cant recommend it enough
@@Thenoobestgirl YEAH OKAY FAIR POINT. nahri is forever a con artist in my heart though (and i do think it impacts her character arc/narration etc) but yeah we dont see all that much conning unfortunately
Omg the Daevabad series is so freaking good. I've reread it a couple times and I'm always so impressed with how tight the story is, especially considering its length. Chakraborty is so strong with both character writing and plot, which I haven't seen much in fantasy.
I actually just started getting into fantasy books! It can be a very overwhelming genre to get into, in my opinion. Not to mention that fantasy readers can sometimes come off as, I don't know, gatekeepy or elitism? Like if you don't read the fantasy books that they specifically hold up as the pinnacle of literature, you're reading wrong. I appreciate the recommendations because I'm looking for easy entry into the genre. I wasn't about to jump into something like Wheel of Time.
Read what feels enjoyable to you without guilt. My main genera was always fantasy and i'm one of those who prefer the the lord of the rings movie trilogy rather than the books, and i don't care. Just look up fantasy that is closer to what you read normally and then if you like, start exploring other types.
@@BooksRebound That sounds like a really interesting story and exactly like something I'd read! I'll definitely look for it the next time I'm out looking for books, it sounds really fun! I've heard about His Dark Materials before, but not We Ride The Storm!
Kushiel's Dart and Kushiel's Chosen. I haven't read the third book yet. But all that political shenanigans and sex worker religion and uuuugh everything tbh
Jacqueline Carey is one of my top favorite authors of all time. I have read nearly all of her books and I love them all for different reasons. The Kushiel series is my favorite series of all time. Starless is one of my favorite stand alone of all time. She is a spectacular author!!
All of them are in my TBR already, now I'm bumping them up. The only one I did read was Black Sun, which was sooo good (I had mix feeling with then following book tho)
I read it and it’s sequel back to back and the sequel is considerably weaker in some parts than the first. I’m not sure if the final book would be able to keep up with all that was set up
Oh my word - the fact that you started this with Mask of Mirrors made me *so* freaking happy cause it's so, so good and so underhyped! No spoilers but book 2 is even higher stakes- it's amazing. And the crime lord and the spider get so much more page time, it's incredible. The politics, the competing magic systems... All get *bigger* and better in two, and book 3 comes out not only this year, but in August! I can't wait! I'm now inspired to try to restart Black Sun cause.. yeah that graphic scene you mentioned was a lot and I put it down, but I need to retry that.
Also - ok, for everyone who hasn't read it- there's a lot of great rep in the series as well. Book series has a lot of great women characters - the authors are a woman and a non binary author so no men writing women awkwardly, we love to see it. There's queer rep, there's trans rep. It's fantastic. Also... It's just fun. Our main character is not only con artisting but also trying to figure out who the masked vigilante (who's basically magical Zorro) is! It's political - but it's also Batman! What's not to love?!
I recently finished jade war and oh my god was it good. I doubt anyone will be ever okay after what happened there. It's about 2 clans doing war. And there's also high-stakes duel between 2 high-ranking ladies of opposing clans. Also things people do in these books to screw their enemies... Horrible.
I really liked all of Tasha Suri’s books so far. They’re inspired by Mughal India, and while I prefer her initial duology, starting with Empire of Sand, her current series, starting with The Jasmine Throne has been great too.
@@kitfairchild9784 have you read book two, Realm of Ash, yet? It’s more of a companion novel than a direct sequel, since it’s about different characters, but I loved that one too! The Jasmine Throne and its sequel, The Oleander Sword are a more traditional fantasy series, following the same characters.
@courtmontana I'm debating on whether to pick up Realm of Ash. On one hand, I like the world and magic system (seriously, the dancing and dreamfire was so unique) Suri built but on the other hand, I'm worried the second one will have a more typical fantasy plot and I won't connect with the characters. What I really liked about Empire of Sand was the FMC reluctantly joined a cult and had to fight her way out. I love a corrupted religious leader as the villian. I did like how the romance contributed to the story too and I felt it developed very naturally. I love fantasy romance but it can be kinda smutty. Empire of Sand had just the right amount of spice without being overly descriptive. I want some fluff now where Mehr and Amun rebuild a clan together or something. But I think the first book tied up their story nicely.
I just read The Fifth Season by. N.K Jemisin, It’s a fantasy that uses a little bit of science to explain its magic system. It has a lot of heart and its world building and application is very smart. 4/5 Stars (Not 5 stars because at various points I felt like there was a lot of hand waving over the setting description, which made it hard for me to visualize location.) Putting all of your recs on my tbr
Yes! The Rook and the Rose! I've been trying to convince my very small circle of book friends to read it. LOVE Arenza! And Grey...and just everyone! I'm definitely looking forward to the final book in the series!
i need to preface this with "i really love urban fantasy" so. Shrug. Books in the following series fluctuated between 3.5-5 stars - Mercy Thompson Series by Patricia Briggs - Kate Daniels Series by Ilona Andrews - Walker Papers Series by C.E. Murphy - Allie Beckstrom Series and Ordinary Magic series by Devon Monk specifically, but really anything by Monk. - Essentially anything written by Hailey Edwards. - The Slow Regard of Silent Things (a novella inside of the Kingkiller Chronicle) by Patrick Rothfuss is my favorite book Pat has written. Yes, the two Kingkiller books out are good, but SRST is pure magic. - The Tomboy graphic novel series by Mia Goodwin. - Powder Mage series by Brian McClellan - The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi - Scalzi is also your man for Sci-Fi/Fantasy Space Opera Military-Fiction-In-Space-With-A-Fantastical-Twist it's really good stuff. (Old Man's War is very good, as is The Interdependency), and his audiobook narrator is a delight. - Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki - Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree - The First Bright Thing by J.R. Dawson - Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle - NOW HOLD ON no i know you know that name hold on this isn't one of the dragon f*cking books ok? This is a Dark Queer Horror Mystery Thriller that keeps you on your toes. Trust me. It's GOOD. - The Wayfarer Redemption Series by Sara Douglass (oo old school (by that i mean '95, ages ago))
I don't read many YA books, but I love listening to booktubers make fun of them lol. I go for things more mature, more complex themes and better writing. Like most of the books you mention here (haven't read all of them). Robert Jackson Bennett is definitely up there in terms of favorite authors.
I’ve read and loved Mask of Mirrors!!!! And the sequel. The audio books are good too. Other faves: Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy (marketed as adult in the UK) The Tarot sequence series (first book needed more female rep but the later improve this massively) In the Ravenous Dark (poly rep)
Locklands (the finale to Foundryside) is one of the few books that left me completely stunned. I was just rethinking my entire life for a solid 5 hours after it, that's how much it affected me.
One of my personal favorite fantasy books is The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. It's a similar vein to the intrigue and politicking involved with a lot of the books recommended here. It has some of my favorite worldbuilding in any kind of fantasy, and if you're someone who likes fantasy linguistics, you'll definitely like it. It's about the fourth son of an emperor who unexpectedly rises to the throne after his distant family dies in an airship accident, and has to navigate the world of the royal court. It's so well paced and well constructed. Rather than humans, it just has elves and goblins, with steampunk vibes, amazingly likable characters, fascinating intrigue, and more. Just read it, it's amazing.
Oh my gosh yes! There are subsequent books in the same world about a side character: Witness for the Dead and Grief of Stones. Katherine Addison got her start writing as Sarah Monette, and her first quartet of books, The Doctrine of the Labyrinths, will *finally* be re-released in ebook format soon! The first book of the quartet is Melusine. This series is... it's not for everyone. There's a lot of content warnings, unlikable wizards, rivers of angst, and questionable decisions... but they are my favorite books of all time. Sarah/Katherine is one of the most wonderful writers I've ever read and (obviously) I can't stop gushing about her!
i havent watched this yet (it's late over here!) so sorry if this is off topic! when i got back into reading (at like 17+) i was reading exclusively young adult books. i enjoyed the character relationships, diversity, and beautiful writing. when i first started reading adult books, i noticed that a lot of them read very dry, but mostly how sexual they were-and i am not talking about smut. i mean when author out of the blue starts sexualizing characters (mostly women/girl) for no reason. i read a lot of smut, so sexualizing shit isnt the problem for me, it's just so jarring whenever im reading and it just goes to like "whenever she finished her morning runs, i watched as she panted, her shirt low and her breasts rising and falling as her sweat glistened in the sunlight" LIKE EW, JUST GET ON WITH THE STORY!! in my experience, it's mostly general fiction that does this, or older works. i never really had a problem with YA doing it, or newly published works (for the most part). now, almost 26, im finding it easier to pick up books that dont have that awkward focus on bodies, and it probably has to do with the fact i am reading a lot of works written by women 🤷🏻♀️ who knows!
I think this is also a byproduct of mostly women being categorized as YA and mostly men being categorized as Adult. I definitely find that this happens with male writers (especially if they're not BIPOC or LGBT) rather than with the Adult genre. I read a mix of YA and Adult, but mostly Adult and mostly Fantasy. And mostly female/BIPOC/LGBT+ authors. Largely because when I pick up a white male author it almost always includes stuff like this, even the modern novels 🙄
Yeah, the casual male gaze-y descriptions if women’s bodies has always put me off too. If the reader can identify each female character by her breast size, something has gone wrong, my dude. 😬
@@sk4348 i actually agree a lot, i've given up on a lot of published romance because there is always a lot of objectification of the men, weird internalized misogyny where the author clearly insults other women or write the main character as the embodiment of 'not like other girls', or reinforce heterosexual/sexist stereotypes (i'm talking about when they specify that oh "the man is supposed to do this" or "i left/cheated on my ex because he wasn't a real man like my new love interest Super Alpha CEO Chad"). If I'm ever in the mood for romance it's because I'm looking for a cozy read a lot of the times, an escape or something sweet/ fun -- but it's so difficult to get into if the whole thing is just uncomfortably toxic.
Ik it's clickbait in the thumbnail but it cracked me up, like yeah of course, a lot of them are. I stopped reading YA about 8 years ago, just didn't enjoy the prose style anymore, so my only contact w YA books is through my enjoyment of bad book reviews lol
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms was considered YA I think? It starts very YA like, but sh!t gets deep :D I lovee N.K. Jemisin. I also enjoyed the Dreamblood duology which isn't as famous as The Broken Earth. I think her books get more and more trippy and I love it
With that particular sex scene as well as the conversation surrounding the God who appears as a child and people take advantage of I don’t think it was written with a YA audience in mind, but I’m not 100% sure
Have you read "The Witch's Heart," by Genevieve Gornichec? It's an amazing examination of Norse myth and a beautiful portrait of a woman who is, at best, a minor character in the story we know. Her new book, "The Weaver and the Witch Queen" just came out yesterday, and I'm only about 100 pages in, but it's completely different, and still so good. Another recent favorite is R.B. Lemberg; I very much recommend them too!
My favorite fantasy series are Greenrider by Kristen Britain, Abhorsen series by Garth Nix, His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman, and The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper. All are complete except the greenrider series.
I’ve read Foundryside and the second book, Shorefall recently. I enjoyed both a lot, but for me the second lacked some character development, we didn’t see how their relationship came to be. I still need to read the third book, no idea where the story could go 🙂
Adult fantasy series I’ve loved are the Broken Earth trilogy by NK Jamison and A Marvellous Light/A Restless Truth by Freya Marske (Book 3 comes out this fall)
I don't love high fantasy but I absolutely fell in love with Foundryside when I read it on the off chance that I just loved the cover and didn't know much about it. I'll have to check out some of these other recommendations and hopefully I can find another one I love!
I feel like this is the only thing I recommend anymore, but seriously, The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch has something for everyone (except romance). A city full of gangs, con artists screwing over the rich, found family, great twists, humor, I could go on, but I won't.
I haven't read Foundryside yet, even though it's RJB's most popular series, but I absolutely loved his Divine Cities books. You seem to like a lotta industrial and post industrial setting (hard same) so City of Stairs might be right up your alley. Industrialization in the wake of the death of an entire pantheon is such a cool concept to me. Max Gladstone's Craft Sequence is similar but now the world is run by liches which is pretty sweet. For more queer characters and blood magic I recommend anything by Kameron Hurley but especially her Broken Heavens trilogy starting with The Mirror Empire. I love her messy and flawed characters. They're always fun to watch. Last recommend is Seth Dickinson's The Traitor Baru Cormorant which is a story about colonization and economic warfare with a sapphic lead trying to take down the empire that swallowed up her home from within. It's great. It's heartbreaking. I cried. 10/10.
The Broken Earth trilogy which everyone is recommending. I will also rec a lot of different types of fantasy so everyone can hopefully find something: > The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (it's a series called The Gentleman Bastards) and features two thieves running high stake heists. > The Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki; is actually SFF staring a woman who sold her soul to the devil, an female ship Captain from space who runs a donut shop with her crew, and the star of the show a trans teen girl just trying to survive and achieve her dreams (literally my favorite of the year) this is also a heavy story (CW: SA, assault, death, self-harm, transphobia, racism) > Piranesi by Susanna Clarke; this one takes place in an impossible house that looks like something out of Greek Myth and features a very wholesome man who doesn't remember who he is an cannot leave the house. Also the house is filled with columns, statues and the literal ocean which sometimes floods the place. > The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang; a high fantasy Asian inspired story that takes place on a small island of powerful samurai with elemental magic powers. This is a heavy story filled with war and has some heartbreaking elements. The character writing though is just incredible, some of the most fully realized people I have read in fiction (CW: SA, assault, death, bigotry, classism and sexism) > The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee; martial arts, crime family but with magical elements set in an Asian inspired city (not on Earth), this reminded me a lot of Godfather, since it's a crime family saga, but has some incredible characters all very human. The first book is good but the second and third were my favorites. (CW: assault/violence, death, bigotry, torture, classism, explosions and sexism) > A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson is a gothic fantasy told like a journal of letters to Dracula. The woman writing was his bride; the story is about a toxic abusive relationship and the people involved trying to escape (and succeeding which is told to you on page 2) Dracula. Modern vampire classic. (CW: assault/violence, death, sexism, emotional/physical abuse, gaslighting, manipulation, sexual manipulation) My fingers are tired now >< hope you find something you like if you are reading this.
Honestly, I mostly read non-YA books. I read so many when I was young that a lot of the newer YA books give me this feeling of “haven’t I read this before??”. Not to say that I don’t EVER read YA but I just don’t as often as I used to. I love adult authors like Rebecca Makkai, Amy Tan, Stephen King etc and I’ve loved some of the YA authors’s adult fiction novels too.
My favorite fantasy series is Lords of Arcadia by R Lee Smith. This girl finds a griffin egg while camping with her family and takes it home. For the next decade she keeps it warm and safe, telling no one. Then it hatches and she has to take it somewhere a griffin can grow up safely. I'm a huge fan of anything R Lee Smith writes. Her standalones are are also amazing. They sometimes include romantic relationships but are NOT romance novels, fyi. Best to know that up front.
@@ReadswithRachel content warnings though! I forgot to mention that all of these deal with something there should be a warning for. So yeah, check those first.
This is perfect because I've been reading a lot of adult fantasy lately and I was running out of books that I wanted to read! This also helped me in figuring out whether to read The Mask of Mirrors or not, definitely reading it now.
The Lies of Locke Lamora was a great book with a con artist! I haven't read the sequels yet tho and unfortunately its looking like the series is never going to be finished... but I still enjoyed the first book :)
The Atlas Six. It kind of reads like a YA depending on who’s POV your reading from but the vocabulary and humor is very much adult and it’s just the best Dark Academia fantasy I’ve found so far so definitely check it out if your in the mood for something like that. Beautiful cover as well. (Self published is better though)
It’s so funny! I like to cite that book as the worst book I have read this far (yes, in absolute!)! I know why it works and why it is good, why people like it, etc., so I do not judge, but every time I see its title my brain goes into angry mode!
I like A.F.Dery’ ‘Broken Lords’ duology. It’s a loose retelling of Beauty and the Beast except the beast is human, not cursed and doesn’t transform into a handsome prince and the beauty has a gift that allows her to help others but at a cost to herself. There is magic in Dery’s world but it’s a quiet unassuming sort of magic. The characters are well written and their love story is a meeting of two intelligent, complex and ultimately kind and caring people who come to find a deep and honest love for each other.
Since no one else has mentioned it: I really loved Red Sister by Mark Lawrence for reasons probably exclusive to me, but for everyone else it’s about nun assassins and the power of friendship with a science fantasy based setting and an almost exclusively female cast.
I freaking love Book of the Ancestor! It's high-stakes magical school done actually well, a fascinating world, and Nona manages to be both terrifying and heartwarming somehow, which is just impressive.
I can suggest Give the Dark My Love by Beth Revis (i want to read the second book so badly, but can't seem to find it). This one has necromancy has the magic, alchemy and there is a plague like desease that the main character wants to fight and know the cause of. The memoirs of Lady Trent series by Marie Brennan which is a series that i've been loving it, about a fantasy world the looks like your 19th century in which a woman wants to study dragons (she is basically a dragon naturalist). And i also recently read a book of a series a still didn't finished but want to called The Black Tides of Heaven by Neon Yang. I think you will find the world interesting, mostly how gender is dealt with in this world.
Masques and its sequel Wolfsbane by Patricia Briggs is a nice fantasy read. Her stand-alone title The Hob's Bargain is also really good. Honestly, Briggs' entire resume of books is good, but those are my favorites. If urban fantasy is more your thing, the October/Toby Daye by Seanan Maguire series is really good, barring the second book, which was the only boring one.
The Mask of Mirrors is great. I'm so ready for the third book to release in August :D. I wanna a read it basically the moment it releases. It's at least partly inspired by Venice (so you're right on Italy). Venice is the city of masks (or was in the past). It's also an urban fantasy though. What I get from this you like complex stories with politics in it. Some of my fave fantasies with those things are: The Empire Trilogy by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts & The Paths of Latistyne by Isabel Steiger. For a fantasy romance with political stuff in it I recommend the Mousai series by E.L. Mellow. And hestitantly I'd say give a try to Gods of the Wyrdwood by RJ Barker. But I just recently read it and need to sit with it a bit longer. It definitely had a rocky start (but that might've been partly due to me not really being in a mood to read because I had headaches). That book is insanely queer from polyamory to nonbinary people having a third gender. The ruling order is really bad for said non binary people though. So be warned op what basically constitutes to recounting of a mass murder. It's related to the magic and mainly something specific the ruler wants to do but *shudder*
The Wolf of Oren-Yaro was so good! And totally agree about the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. I read it years ago but I still find myself opening it to reread certain passages.
Congratulations on being a good influencer! I just bought both The Mask of Mirrors and Black Sun! I will be on a fairly long drive soon, and I am SO EXCITED to have them as prioritized readings on my TBR after I finish the two books I am reading right now!
Some of my adult fantasy 5* this year were: The Warden, (sapphic mc and queernorm world), Engines of Empire, The Justice of Kings and The Will of the Many.
My recommendations: 'Fortuna Sworn' series by K. J. Sutton (This is a heartfelt found family paranormal fantasy with a badass but emotionally vulnerable MC and phenomenal side characters ❤❤❤ I love this series so much) 'The Daevabad Trilogy' by S. A. Chakraborty (Persian mythology inspired world, a complex political story with lots of conflicts that keeps you at the edge of your seat the whole way through, constantly wondering what's going to happen next) 'The Bridge Kingdom' series by Danielle L. Jensen (This series is not a traditional fantasy since there isn't actually any magic in it, but it is set in a fictional world. It's got spying and battles between nations and betrayals galore with really interesting geopolitical elements. It's a series of duologies, each following a different enemies to lovers couple and it's really good.) 'Dark Shores' series by Danielle L. Jensen (Take ancient Rome/Greece, make it magical and collide it with colonial conquests, a godly war against corruptive magic, enemies to lovers and a compelling political struggle and you, get this series. :) 'Shades of Magic' series by V. E. Schwab (4 Londons, a wholesome his brother's keeper relationship, elemental & blood magic, a wild kleptomaniac female con artist pirate and a war against corruptive magic and wonderful writing by my favorite author. ❤❤❤ And it's getting a reboot very very soon!) And lastly: 'The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue' by V. E. Schwab (One of my favorite standalones. ❤ A Faustian bargain gone wrong, a heartfelt exploration of reasons for being alive and the marks you leave behind you on the world as you go through it, with a love story, cats, queer characters and a fickle god. Remember, kids - never pray to the gods that answer after dark!)
Hey, more of a literary person who does love fantasy themes - I feel like you might love some of my favorite authors (Madeline Miller, some YA, particularly thinking of here; Alex Rose, , which is maybe a little magical realism/sci-fi but he has written some traditional fantasy; and Haruki Murakami, who again is more magic themes). All of these, at least that I've encountered, are mostly devoid of any sex stuff and weird themes (well, not , but it's a feminist origin story, so all's well in the end). Anyway, I have really enjoyed your channel and you have opened me up to some things (and helped me as a publishing newbie)!
The Roots of Chaos series is phenomenal feminist fantasy. Especially I feel the prequel was more compelling than the actual first, but both are fantastic. It’s got a lot of world building that some people find boring, but honestly it is probably the best world building I’ve seen so far in a world so immense.
The talking key is very funny, it is my favorite character. I actually don’t really want to read the second book because I don’t believe the key is in there.
I LOVE THE MASK OF MIRRORS!! It was my absolute fav book series of 2022 and it felt super under appreciated. for some reason it has almost no big online presence despite having such memorable characters. :( i always want to recommend it to people, and honestly i've been considering rereading the first two books before the third comes out. totally noting down all the books from this i haven't read to check out, they all seem like books I'd enjoy. My recommendations are: "The First Sister" trilogy. I'm almost done reading it and wow it's been blowing my mind. I recommend audiobook format for that one because there's multiple narrators each character the last book has 7 different narrators. It deals with religion in a scifi setting in an intersting way, you might enjoy. I also recommend another I've recently read: "Unnatural Magic", plus the second follow up novel "The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry" which brought me endless laugher (in a good way). "The Unspoken Name" is another all time favorite adult fantasy novel of mine. There's a sequel, but the first book remains my favorite.
I love foundryside so much I reread it only three months later ksksk and I'm not even that much of a rereader (although maybe this book and this year has changed that). I reread to read the continuations which really dissapointed me but at least I can pretend they dont exist since it is mostly such a good story in itself ksksk
I read The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and the sequels and related short stories late last year. I think it’s the only time I’ve managed to read a trilogy back to back. I loved it so so much, though I do think there are a some very dark moments that I would have liked content warnings for, especially in Book 2. The gods are very inhuman, but I liked that. Too often immortal gods are portrayed as very oddly relatable and sometimes that can just make them feel like every other mage or witch, just a little extra powerful. I read Black Sun a few months ago, but felt quite disappointed by the ending. I don’t know how anyone could like Naranpa. She was probably my least favourite main character, and I don’t understand her religion or its significance, which is worrying because she’s meant to be the figurehead of her faith. Having said that, Xiala is amazing. Serapio is intriguing. There’s a fourth guy, but he’s kind of just there. I think my fave adult series is A Chorus of Dragons by Jenn Lyons, which begins with Book 1: The Ruin of Kings. Have you read that one?
xiala and serapio have my heart. i haven't read the sequel yet because god that cover is ugly but also i've been hearing different opinions about it and that's rarely good for me 😭
I have notice how N.K. Jemisin writes non-human charaters is absolutely fasinating. I read the prolouge of Fifth Season of the Broken Earth series, and I love how very "unnatural" and almost "uncanny" this one race is in their movements and speech to our human minds but to them, it's just normal. I also notice Fifth Season has a bit of that Poem "Rythem" to it without the Purple Prose, which is a great change of pace that is different from Lord Dunseny (I enjoyed it, but BOY was it hard to read his works after a time because you have to actually focus on what he's trying to say. Fifth Season doesn't have that problem). I'm loving Fifth Season so much that I think N.K. Jemisin may become my new favorite aurthor that I want to read all of her books like I do with Mercades Lackey, Anne McCaffery, and Robin McKinly when I can. (Ursla Le Guin *may* become that too if I like a few more stuff outside of the Earthsea series but we'll see. I know for sure I want to read more N.K. Jemisin)
@@ReadswithRachel I haven't. I JUST started reading Fifth season because my auntie in Germany wanted someone to talk about Broken Earth and she needed more people she knew to read it first. However, we talked more about it and she realized the story I was writing at the time had a similar conversation as Fifth Season in some cases (but not all, but there was still something there). I had wanted to read Fifth Season before that convo, but then I *really* wanted to read Fifth season where I would literally wait for my hold from the library to get it. Then I started reading A Wizard of Earthsea while I waited but then Fifth Season came in sooner than expected (I was 2 on the queue list, then suddenly I was 1) So now I'm trying to finish both A wizard of Earthsea as well reading Fifth Season xD But I think I will be reading more books of Jemisin's work because the Prolouge caught me and she does a beautiful job in the world building already. I'm also intrested in her Dreamblood Duology as that sounds intesting as well. (again, I just want to read all of her books now lol, If I can slowly work my way through 40-50 something books of Mercades Lackey, and not all of them are her strongest works.... I think I can handle reading through N.K. Jemisin.)
I loved The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. I liked the second book, but not as much. Still have to read the third book. I have Black Sun on my tbr. I'm now a bit hesitant to read it, since I'm a bit of a mood reader and I'm not sure what the right mood for that is.
Fantasy with mother MCs Shadow if the Gods by John Gwynne Fifth Season by NK Jemisson Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw The Sword of Kaigen by ML Wang The Adveniures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty (I didnt like the last two on the list but others do)
Brandon Sanderson is one of my favorite fantasy authors. He's written such a wide range of fiction; there's something for just about everyone! If you enjoy intricate worldbuilding and complex characters, I'd highly recommend him
If you're looking for more stories starring mothers, "The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi" by Shannon Chakraborty was really fun. I think I remember seeing "Empire of Gold" on your shelf, and while it's not nearly as political, it is similarly a historical fantasy that draws a lot from Middle Eastern folklore and involves a ragtag crew of misfits getting up to no good. Also has pretty strong heist vibes and a hot female pirate-adjascent captain. 🎉 P.S. I second all the recs for "The Lies of Locke Lamora" by Scott Lynch -- great heist/thief series, great character writer!
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The whole Broken Earth series by N.K.Jemmison is my all time favorite adult fantasy book series.
10000%!!
I know I’m going to love it and yet still have not cracked it open yet
It was good indeed, although I think that the ending could have been a bit more clearly crafted
I’ve only read the first two because both times it was such a visceral reading experience I’m kind of afraid of how the third one will make me feel.
@@ReadswithRachel if you like mothers as main characters it is definitely going to be up your alley
Everything N.K. Jemisin writes is golden to me.
I at 30 actively try to avoid ya unless I’ve heard really really good things. I can’t emotional and like mentally connect to a 16 year old anymore. My brain is always yelling about how they are making stupid choices. 😂😂😂😂then I’m like remember silly they are 16. Calm down.
it's wonderful to hear you speak about books you really like.
I’m so glad!
@@ReadswithRachel I'm def gonna check out the last one. It sounds FASCINATING.
I have Black Sun and I haven’t read it yet, but Foundryside is my new favorite thing. I’m halfway through Shorefall and I can’t FIND Locklands anywhere and it’s gonna drive me up a wall. These are both standalones but I really enjoyed A Master of Djinn and A Strange and Stubborn Endurance this year. I’d also mention The Atlas Six, but I feel like very specific people vibe with that one-it’s glacially slow paced.
I just read the prologue of this and downloaded it today. Now I’m really excited for it. Another great long con book is The Lies of Locke Lamora. The sequels weren’t as good, but you can read it as a stand alone, really and it was amazing.
I've heard such good things about this! All of my friends love it
if you like books with con artists i would definitely recommend the daevabad trilogy, if you haven't read it already! the main character nahri is a con artist and the plot takes off when one of her plots becomes more... involved than she anticipated (MAGIC MAGIC MAGIC!!!!!!) this series is super special to me and i think all the worldbuilding, complex character development, political intrigue, and plot is all superrr well thought out, even if the first book takes a bit to really take off. have i mentioned how rich the world is..... im also a bit biased bc its based in middle eastern history which is super special to me but overall. absolute favorite i cant recommend it enough
Phenomenal books! 💯 Recommend!
However I wouldn't exactly call it a con artist book since her conning lasts only like 2 or 3 chapters.
@@Thenoobestgirl YEAH OKAY FAIR POINT. nahri is forever a con artist in my heart though (and i do think it impacts her character arc/narration etc) but yeah we dont see all that much conning unfortunately
Omg the Daevabad series is so freaking good. I've reread it a couple times and I'm always so impressed with how tight the story is, especially considering its length. Chakraborty is so strong with both character writing and plot, which I haven't seen much in fantasy.
I actually just started getting into fantasy books! It can be a very overwhelming genre to get into, in my opinion. Not to mention that fantasy readers can sometimes come off as, I don't know, gatekeepy or elitism? Like if you don't read the fantasy books that they specifically hold up as the pinnacle of literature, you're reading wrong.
I appreciate the recommendations because I'm looking for easy entry into the genre. I wasn't about to jump into something like Wheel of Time.
Read what feels enjoyable to you without guilt. My main genera was always fantasy and i'm one of those who prefer the the lord of the rings movie trilogy rather than the books, and i don't care. Just look up fantasy that is closer to what you read normally and then if you like, start exploring other types.
Gatekeepers are so fkn annoying, like sorry I don’t want to read a 20 book series 🤷♀️
@@BooksRebound That sounds like a really interesting story and exactly like something I'd read! I'll definitely look for it the next time I'm out looking for books, it sounds really fun! I've heard about His Dark Materials before, but not We Ride The Storm!
Kushiel's Dart and Kushiel's Chosen. I haven't read the third book yet. But all that political shenanigans and sex worker religion and uuuugh everything tbh
I cannot wait to read this
Omg I wanna read this 😱
Jacqueline Carey is one of my top favorite authors of all time. I have read nearly all of her books and I love them all for different reasons. The Kushiel series is my favorite series of all time. Starless is one of my favorite stand alone of all time. She is a spectacular author!!
All of them are in my TBR already, now I'm bumping them up.
The only one I did read was Black Sun, which was sooo good (I had mix feeling with then following book tho)
I've heard most people did NOT like the Black Sun sequel!
I read it and it’s sequel back to back and the sequel is considerably weaker in some parts than the first. I’m not sure if the final book would be able to keep up with all that was set up
Oh my word - the fact that you started this with Mask of Mirrors made me *so* freaking happy cause it's so, so good and so underhyped! No spoilers but book 2 is even higher stakes- it's amazing. And the crime lord and the spider get so much more page time, it's incredible. The politics, the competing magic systems... All get *bigger* and better in two, and book 3 comes out not only this year, but in August! I can't wait!
I'm now inspired to try to restart Black Sun cause.. yeah that graphic scene you mentioned was a lot and I put it down, but I need to retry that.
Also - ok, for everyone who hasn't read it- there's a lot of great rep in the series as well. Book series has a lot of great women characters - the authors are a woman and a non binary author so no men writing women awkwardly, we love to see it. There's queer rep, there's trans rep. It's fantastic.
Also... It's just fun. Our main character is not only con artisting but also trying to figure out who the masked vigilante (who's basically magical Zorro) is!
It's political - but it's also Batman! What's not to love?!
My friend LOVES the rook and rose and said that book two was even better!
I recently finished jade war and oh my god was it good. I doubt anyone will be ever okay after what happened there. It's about 2 clans doing war. And there's also high-stakes duel between 2 high-ranking ladies of opposing clans. Also things people do in these books to screw their enemies... Horrible.
I really liked all of Tasha Suri’s books so far. They’re inspired by Mughal India, and while I prefer her initial duology, starting with Empire of Sand, her current series, starting with The Jasmine Throne has been great too.
I’ve heard nothing but good things about Suri’s books! I know Sam from thoughts on tomes is a big fan
Came here to say Jasmine Throne! I can't wait to read more from her!
I just finished Empire of Sand and have a book hangover from it! Makes me want to pick up Jasmine Throne.
@@kitfairchild9784 have you read book two, Realm of Ash, yet? It’s more of a companion novel than a direct sequel, since it’s about different characters, but I loved that one too! The Jasmine Throne and its sequel, The Oleander Sword are a more traditional fantasy series, following the same characters.
@courtmontana I'm debating on whether to pick up Realm of Ash. On one hand, I like the world and magic system (seriously, the dancing and dreamfire was so unique) Suri built but on the other hand, I'm worried the second one will have a more typical fantasy plot and I won't connect with the characters. What I really liked about Empire of Sand was the FMC reluctantly joined a cult and had to fight her way out. I love a corrupted religious leader as the villian. I did like how the romance contributed to the story too and I felt it developed very naturally. I love fantasy romance but it can be kinda smutty. Empire of Sand had just the right amount of spice without being overly descriptive. I want some fluff now where Mehr and Amun rebuild a clan together or something. But I think the first book tied up their story nicely.
I just read The Fifth Season by. N.K Jemisin, It’s a fantasy that uses a little bit of science to explain its magic system. It has a lot of heart and its world building and application is very smart. 4/5 Stars (Not 5 stars because at various points I felt like there was a lot of hand waving over the setting description, which made it hard for me to visualize location.)
Putting all of your recs on my tbr
I adored A Master of Djinn by P Djeli Clark
YES for mothers as main characters in fantasy!
Mask of Mirrors/ The Rook & Rose series is my absolute favorite fantasy series! Always happy for you to mention it, Rachel ❤🪞
It's so good! Glad to see another fan!
Yes! The Rook and the Rose! I've been trying to convince my very small circle of book friends to read it. LOVE Arenza! And Grey...and just everyone! I'm definitely looking forward to the final book in the series!
i need to preface this with "i really love urban fantasy" so. Shrug. Books in the following series fluctuated between 3.5-5 stars
- Mercy Thompson Series by Patricia Briggs
- Kate Daniels Series by Ilona Andrews
- Walker Papers Series by C.E. Murphy
- Allie Beckstrom Series and Ordinary Magic series by Devon Monk specifically, but really anything by Monk.
- Essentially anything written by Hailey Edwards.
- The Slow Regard of Silent Things (a novella inside of the Kingkiller Chronicle) by Patrick Rothfuss is my favorite book Pat has written. Yes, the two Kingkiller books out are good, but SRST is pure magic.
- The Tomboy graphic novel series by Mia Goodwin.
- Powder Mage series by Brian McClellan
- The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi - Scalzi is also your man for Sci-Fi/Fantasy Space Opera Military-Fiction-In-Space-With-A-Fantastical-Twist it's really good stuff. (Old Man's War is very good, as is The Interdependency), and his audiobook narrator is a delight.
- Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
- Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
- The First Bright Thing by J.R. Dawson
- Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle - NOW HOLD ON no i know you know that name hold on this isn't one of the dragon f*cking books ok? This is a Dark Queer Horror Mystery Thriller that keeps you on your toes. Trust me. It's GOOD.
- The Wayfarer Redemption Series by Sara Douglass (oo old school (by that i mean '95, ages ago))
I don't read many YA books, but I love listening to booktubers make fun of them lol. I go for things more mature, more complex themes and better writing. Like most of the books you mention here (haven't read all of them). Robert Jackson Bennett is definitely up there in terms of favorite authors.
Bennett really is so talented. I was surprised at how immersed I was in Foundryside.
I’ve read and loved Mask of Mirrors!!!! And the sequel. The audio books are good too.
Other faves:
Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy (marketed as adult in the UK)
The Tarot sequence series (first book needed more female rep but the later improve this massively)
In the Ravenous Dark (poly rep)
Oh I like in the ravenous dark!
Yessssss, thank you for the adult recs!!!❤
Locklands (the finale to Foundryside) is one of the few books that left me completely stunned. I was just rethinking my entire life for a solid 5 hours after it, that's how much it affected me.
One of my personal favorite fantasy books is The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. It's a similar vein to the intrigue and politicking involved with a lot of the books recommended here. It has some of my favorite worldbuilding in any kind of fantasy, and if you're someone who likes fantasy linguistics, you'll definitely like it. It's about the fourth son of an emperor who unexpectedly rises to the throne after his distant family dies in an airship accident, and has to navigate the world of the royal court. It's so well paced and well constructed. Rather than humans, it just has elves and goblins, with steampunk vibes, amazingly likable characters, fascinating intrigue, and more. Just read it, it's amazing.
Airships?!? SIGN ME TF UP
Oh my gosh yes! There are subsequent books in the same world about a side character: Witness for the Dead and Grief of Stones. Katherine Addison got her start writing as Sarah Monette, and her first quartet of books, The Doctrine of the Labyrinths, will *finally* be re-released in ebook format soon! The first book of the quartet is Melusine. This series is... it's not for everyone. There's a lot of content warnings, unlikable wizards, rivers of angst, and questionable decisions... but they are my favorite books of all time. Sarah/Katherine is one of the most wonderful writers I've ever read and (obviously) I can't stop gushing about her!
I might just have to commission you to read one of my favorite adult series from back in the day.
Black Sun is one of my favorite books of all time!! I'm so happy to see you talk about it :D Soo excited for the third book to come out this August
i havent watched this yet (it's late over here!) so sorry if this is off topic!
when i got back into reading (at like 17+) i was reading exclusively young adult books. i enjoyed the character relationships, diversity, and beautiful writing. when i first started reading adult books, i noticed that a lot of them read very dry, but mostly how sexual they were-and i am not talking about smut. i mean when author out of the blue starts sexualizing characters (mostly women/girl) for no reason.
i read a lot of smut, so sexualizing shit isnt the problem for me, it's just so jarring whenever im reading and it just goes to like "whenever she finished her morning runs, i watched as she panted, her shirt low and her breasts rising and falling as her sweat glistened in the sunlight" LIKE EW, JUST GET ON WITH THE STORY!!
in my experience, it's mostly general fiction that does this, or older works. i never really had a problem with YA doing it, or newly published works (for the most part). now, almost 26, im finding it easier to pick up books that dont have that awkward focus on bodies, and it probably has to do with the fact i am reading a lot of works written by women 🤷🏻♀️ who knows!
I love fantasy and scifi and it pains me to pick up a promising novel only for the mediocre male author to wax poetically about tits for 200 pages
I think this is also a byproduct of mostly women being categorized as YA and mostly men being categorized as Adult.
I definitely find that this happens with male writers (especially if they're not BIPOC or LGBT) rather than with the Adult genre.
I read a mix of YA and Adult, but mostly Adult and mostly Fantasy. And mostly female/BIPOC/LGBT+ authors. Largely because when I pick up a white male author it almost always includes stuff like this, even the modern novels 🙄
Yeah, the casual male gaze-y descriptions if women’s bodies has always put me off too. If the reader can identify each female character by her breast size, something has gone wrong, my dude. 😬
@@sk4348 i actually agree a lot, i've given up on a lot of published romance because there is always a lot of objectification of the men, weird internalized misogyny where the author clearly insults other women or write the main character as the embodiment of 'not like other girls', or reinforce heterosexual/sexist stereotypes (i'm talking about when they specify that oh "the man is supposed to do this" or "i left/cheated on my ex because he wasn't a real man like my new love interest Super Alpha CEO Chad"). If I'm ever in the mood for romance it's because I'm looking for a cozy read a lot of the times, an escape or something sweet/ fun -- but it's so difficult to get into if the whole thing is just uncomfortably toxic.
Ik it's clickbait in the thumbnail but it cracked me up, like yeah of course, a lot of them are. I stopped reading YA about 8 years ago, just didn't enjoy the prose style anymore, so my only contact w YA books is through my enjoyment of bad book reviews lol
Yeahhhh clickbait is the name of the game I gotta do what I gotta do 😂
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms was considered YA I think? It starts very YA like, but sh!t gets deep :D I lovee N.K. Jemisin. I also enjoyed the Dreamblood duology which isn't as famous as The Broken Earth. I think her books get more and more trippy and I love it
With that particular sex scene as well as the conversation surrounding the God who appears as a child and people take advantage of I don’t think it was written with a YA audience in mind, but I’m not 100% sure
Have you read "The Witch's Heart," by Genevieve Gornichec? It's an amazing examination of Norse myth and a beautiful portrait of a woman who is, at best, a minor character in the story we know. Her new book, "The Weaver and the Witch Queen" just came out yesterday, and I'm only about 100 pages in, but it's completely different, and still so good. Another recent favorite is R.B. Lemberg; I very much recommend them too!
My favorite fantasy series are Greenrider by Kristen Britain, Abhorsen series by Garth Nix, His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman, and The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper. All are complete except the greenrider series.
I love Green Rider but God does the woman take FOREVER with her books! And puts Kharigan through so much hell!
Greenrider still isn't complete?! Wow, I burned through everything that was out in like 2002 and lost track of it after that.
@jojobookish9529 nope still not done
I’ve read Foundryside and the second book, Shorefall recently. I enjoyed both a lot, but for me the second lacked some character development, we didn’t see how their relationship came to be. I still need to read the third book, no idea where the story could go 🙂
Adult fantasy series I’ve loved are the Broken Earth trilogy by NK Jamison and A Marvellous Light/A Restless Truth by Freya Marske (Book 3 comes out this fall)
I don't love high fantasy but I absolutely fell in love with Foundryside when I read it on the off chance that I just loved the cover and didn't know much about it. I'll have to check out some of these other recommendations and hopefully I can find another one I love!
I feel like this is the only thing I recommend anymore, but seriously, The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch has something for everyone (except romance). A city full of gangs, con artists screwing over the rich, found family, great twists, humor, I could go on, but I won't.
I haven't read Foundryside yet, even though it's RJB's most popular series, but I absolutely loved his Divine Cities books. You seem to like a lotta industrial and post industrial setting (hard same) so City of Stairs might be right up your alley. Industrialization in the wake of the death of an entire pantheon is such a cool concept to me. Max Gladstone's Craft Sequence is similar but now the world is run by liches which is pretty sweet. For more queer characters and blood magic I recommend anything by Kameron Hurley but especially her Broken Heavens trilogy starting with The Mirror Empire. I love her messy and flawed characters. They're always fun to watch. Last recommend is Seth Dickinson's The Traitor Baru Cormorant which is a story about colonization and economic warfare with a sapphic lead trying to take down the empire that swallowed up her home from within. It's great. It's heartbreaking. I cried. 10/10.
i mostly read adult fantasy and sci fi these days, thank you for these reccs!! mask of mirrors sounds totally up my alley, time to add it to my tbr
The Broken Earth trilogy which everyone is recommending. I will also rec a lot of different types of fantasy so everyone can hopefully find something:
> The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (it's a series called The Gentleman Bastards) and features two thieves running high stake heists.
> The Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki; is actually SFF staring a woman who sold her soul to the devil, an female ship Captain from space who runs a donut shop with her crew, and the star of the show a trans teen girl just trying to survive and achieve her dreams (literally my favorite of the year) this is also a heavy story (CW: SA, assault, death, self-harm, transphobia, racism)
> Piranesi by Susanna Clarke; this one takes place in an impossible house that looks like something out of Greek Myth and features a very wholesome man who doesn't remember who he is an cannot leave the house. Also the house is filled with columns, statues and the literal ocean which sometimes floods the place.
> The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang; a high fantasy Asian inspired story that takes place on a small island of powerful samurai with elemental magic powers. This is a heavy story filled with war and has some heartbreaking elements. The character writing though is just incredible, some of the most fully realized people I have read in fiction (CW: SA, assault, death, bigotry, classism and sexism)
> The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee; martial arts, crime family but with magical elements set in an Asian inspired city (not on Earth), this reminded me a lot of Godfather, since it's a crime family saga, but has some incredible characters all very human. The first book is good but the second and third were my favorites. (CW: assault/violence, death, bigotry, torture, classism, explosions and sexism)
> A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson is a gothic fantasy told like a journal of letters to Dracula. The woman writing was his bride; the story is about a toxic abusive relationship and the people involved trying to escape (and succeeding which is told to you on page 2) Dracula. Modern vampire classic. (CW: assault/violence, death, sexism, emotional/physical abuse, gaslighting, manipulation, sexual manipulation)
My fingers are tired now >< hope you find something you like if you are reading this.
Honestly, I mostly read non-YA books. I read so many when I was young that a lot of the newer YA books give me this feeling of “haven’t I read this before??”. Not to say that I don’t EVER read YA but I just don’t as often as I used to. I love adult authors like Rebecca Makkai, Amy Tan, Stephen King etc and I’ve loved some of the YA authors’s adult fiction novels too.
Did I hear "dragon riders" and it didn't suck? SIGN ME UP!
My favorite fantasy series is Lords of Arcadia by R Lee Smith. This girl finds a griffin egg while camping with her family and takes it home. For the next decade she keeps it warm and safe, telling no one. Then it hatches and she has to take it somewhere a griffin can grow up safely.
I'm a huge fan of anything R Lee Smith writes. Her standalones are are also amazing. They sometimes include romantic relationships but are NOT romance novels, fyi. Best to know that up front.
This sounds SO fun i am very interested!
@@ReadswithRachel content warnings though! I forgot to mention that all of these deal with something there should be a warning for. So yeah, check those first.
This is perfect because I've been reading a lot of adult fantasy lately and I was running out of books that I wanted to read! This also helped me in figuring out whether to read The Mask of Mirrors or not, definitely reading it now.
I loved A Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. For favorite adult fantasy - both the October Daye and InCryptid series by Seanan McGuire
Live the positive vibes and consistency in theme 😂
The Lies of Locke Lamora was a great book with a con artist! I haven't read the sequels yet tho and unfortunately its looking like the series is never going to be finished... but I still enjoyed the first book :)
The Atlas Six. It kind of reads like a YA depending on who’s POV your reading from but the vocabulary and humor is very much adult and it’s just the best Dark Academia fantasy I’ve found so far so definitely check it out if your in the mood for something like that. Beautiful cover as well. (Self published is better though)
I’ve been wanting to try this one!
It’s so funny! I like to cite that book as the worst book I have read this far (yes, in absolute!)! I know why it works and why it is good, why people like it, etc., so I do not judge, but every time I see its title my brain goes into angry mode!
I like A.F.Dery’ ‘Broken Lords’ duology.
It’s a loose retelling of Beauty and the Beast except the beast is human, not cursed and doesn’t transform into a handsome prince and the beauty has a gift that allows her to help others but at a cost to herself. There is magic in Dery’s world but it’s a quiet unassuming sort of magic.
The characters are well written and their love story is a meeting of two intelligent, complex and ultimately kind and caring people who come to find a deep and honest love for each other.
Since no one else has mentioned it: I really loved Red Sister by Mark Lawrence for reasons probably exclusive to me, but for everyone else it’s about nun assassins and the power of friendship with a science fantasy based setting and an almost exclusively female cast.
I freaking love Book of the Ancestor! It's high-stakes magical school done actually well, a fascinating world, and Nona manages to be both terrifying and heartwarming somehow, which is just impressive.
I can suggest Give the Dark My Love by Beth Revis (i want to read the second book so badly, but can't seem to find it). This one has necromancy has the magic, alchemy and there is a plague like desease that the main character wants to fight and know the cause of. The memoirs of Lady Trent series by Marie Brennan which is a series that i've been loving it, about a fantasy world the looks like your 19th century in which a woman wants to study dragons (she is basically a dragon naturalist). And i also recently read a book of a series a still didn't finished but want to called The Black Tides of Heaven by Neon Yang. I think you will find the world interesting, mostly how gender is dealt with in this world.
I’ve heard great things about Black Tides of Heaven!
Masques and its sequel Wolfsbane by Patricia Briggs is a nice fantasy read. Her stand-alone title The Hob's Bargain is also really good. Honestly, Briggs' entire resume of books is good, but those are my favorites. If urban fantasy is more your thing, the October/Toby Daye by Seanan Maguire series is really good, barring the second book, which was the only boring one.
I don't have any recommendations, unfortunately. However, I wanted to say that I appreciate hearing yours, and I'll be looking for them. Thank you. :)
Thank you for watching! I appreciate you
The Mask of Mirrors is great. I'm so ready for the third book to release in August :D. I wanna a read it basically the moment it releases. It's at least partly inspired by Venice (so you're right on Italy). Venice is the city of masks (or was in the past). It's also an urban fantasy though.
What I get from this you like complex stories with politics in it. Some of my fave fantasies with those things are: The Empire Trilogy by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts & The Paths of Latistyne by Isabel Steiger. For a fantasy romance with political stuff in it I recommend the Mousai series by E.L. Mellow.
And hestitantly I'd say give a try to Gods of the Wyrdwood by RJ Barker. But I just recently read it and need to sit with it a bit longer. It definitely had a rocky start (but that might've been partly due to me not really being in a mood to read because I had headaches). That book is insanely queer from polyamory to nonbinary people having a third gender. The ruling order is really bad for said non binary people though. So be warned op what basically constitutes to recounting of a mass murder. It's related to the magic and mainly something specific the ruler wants to do but *shudder*
The Wolf of Oren-Yaro was so good! And totally agree about the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. I read it years ago but I still find myself opening it to reread certain passages.
Yes!!
Just starting the video and the thumbnail has me feeling nervous because I refuse to accept any criticism of N. K. Jemisin. 😂
I LOVE HER DONT WORRY
I'm so happy to get book recs from a reviewer whose opinion I respect so much
I’m so glad 🥹
Congratulations on being a good influencer! I just bought both The Mask of Mirrors and Black Sun! I will be on a fairly long drive soon, and I am SO EXCITED to have them as prioritized readings on my TBR after I finish the two books I am reading right now!
I’m so happy to hear this! I hope you love them
Some of my adult fantasy 5* this year were: The Warden, (sapphic mc and queernorm world), Engines of Empire, The Justice of Kings and The Will of the Many.
adding the warden IMMEDIATELY TO CART
@@ReadswithRachel oh yay! I hope you like it! It was such a fun surprise for me.
My recommendations:
'Fortuna Sworn' series by K. J. Sutton
(This is a heartfelt found family paranormal fantasy with a badass but emotionally vulnerable MC and phenomenal side characters ❤❤❤ I love this series so much)
'The Daevabad Trilogy' by S. A. Chakraborty
(Persian mythology inspired world, a complex political story with lots of conflicts that keeps you at the edge of your seat the whole way through, constantly wondering what's going to happen next)
'The Bridge Kingdom' series by Danielle L. Jensen
(This series is not a traditional fantasy since there isn't actually any magic in it, but it is set in a fictional world. It's got spying and battles between nations and betrayals galore with really interesting geopolitical elements. It's a series of duologies, each following a different enemies to lovers couple and it's really good.)
'Dark Shores' series by Danielle L. Jensen
(Take ancient Rome/Greece, make it magical and collide it with colonial conquests, a godly war against corruptive magic, enemies to lovers and a compelling political struggle and you, get this series. :)
'Shades of Magic' series by V. E. Schwab
(4 Londons, a wholesome his brother's keeper relationship, elemental & blood magic, a wild kleptomaniac female con artist pirate and a war against corruptive magic and wonderful writing by my favorite author. ❤❤❤ And it's getting a reboot very very soon!)
And lastly:
'The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue' by V. E. Schwab
(One of my favorite standalones. ❤ A Faustian bargain gone wrong, a heartfelt exploration of reasons for being alive and the marks you leave behind you on the world as you go through it, with a love story, cats, queer characters and a fickle god. Remember, kids - never pray to the gods that answer after dark!)
I've been digging Mark Holloway's The Aspect series and E. M. Markoff's Ellderet series recently!
Who loves Narampa? I thought we all collectively hated her. Who missed the memo?!?!
Hey, more of a literary person who does love fantasy themes - I feel like you might love some of my favorite authors (Madeline Miller, some YA, particularly thinking of here; Alex Rose, , which is maybe a little magical realism/sci-fi but he has written some traditional fantasy; and Haruki Murakami, who again is more magic themes). All of these, at least that I've encountered, are mostly devoid of any sex stuff and weird themes (well, not , but it's a feminist origin story, so all's well in the end).
Anyway, I have really enjoyed your channel and you have opened me up to some things (and helped me as a publishing newbie)!
I’m so glad to hear this!
I have a feeling Madeline Miller is going to be a favorite of mine once I finally try her out
The Roots of Chaos series is phenomenal feminist fantasy. Especially I feel the prequel was more compelling than the actual first, but both are fantastic. It’s got a lot of world building that some people find boring, but honestly it is probably the best world building I’ve seen so far in a world so immense.
The talking key is very funny, it is my favorite character. I actually don’t really want to read the second book because I don’t believe the key is in there.
The key is there but tbh you find out who the key is and I didn’t like that reveal
@@ReadswithRachel That's very sad, I will have to check it out then.
My favorite conman fantasy is definitely The Lies of Locke Lamora
Oh my gosh thank you Naranpa was aggressively boring and Xiala is my bookwife.
XIALA IS MY QUEEN
I LOVE THE MASK OF MIRRORS!! It was my absolute fav book series of 2022 and it felt super under appreciated. for some reason it has almost no big online presence despite having such memorable characters. :( i always want to recommend it to people, and honestly i've been considering rereading the first two books before the third comes out. totally noting down all the books from this i haven't read to check out, they all seem like books I'd enjoy.
My recommendations are: "The First Sister" trilogy. I'm almost done reading it and wow it's been blowing my mind. I recommend audiobook format for that one because there's multiple narrators each character the last book has 7 different narrators. It deals with religion in a scifi setting in an intersting way, you might enjoy. I also recommend another I've recently read: "Unnatural Magic", plus the second follow up novel "The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry" which brought me endless laugher (in a good way). "The Unspoken Name" is another all time favorite adult fantasy novel of mine. There's a sequel, but the first book remains my favorite.
This thumbnail gave me a heart attack 😂 the rest of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms series is also stellar if you ever get the time to revisit it!
I love foundryside so much I reread it only three months later ksksk and I'm not even that much of a rereader (although maybe this book and this year has changed that). I reread to read the continuations which really dissapointed me but at least I can pretend they dont exist since it is mostly such a good story in itself ksksk
I read The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and the sequels and related short stories late last year. I think it’s the only time I’ve managed to read a trilogy back to back. I loved it so so much, though I do think there are a some very dark moments that I would have liked content warnings for, especially in Book 2. The gods are very inhuman, but I liked that. Too often immortal gods are portrayed as very oddly relatable and sometimes that can just make them feel like every other mage or witch, just a little extra powerful.
I read Black Sun a few months ago, but felt quite disappointed by the ending. I don’t know how anyone could like Naranpa. She was probably my least favourite main character, and I don’t understand her religion or its significance, which is worrying because she’s meant to be the figurehead of her faith. Having said that, Xiala is amazing. Serapio is intriguing. There’s a fourth guy, but he’s kind of just there.
I think my fave adult series is A Chorus of Dragons by Jenn Lyons, which begins with Book 1: The Ruin of Kings. Have you read that one?
xiala and serapio have my heart. i haven't read the sequel yet because god that cover is ugly but also i've been hearing different opinions about it and that's rarely good for me 😭
That cover IS UGLY why’d they DO THAT
One of my favorite series is The Order of Deacons. I'm the only one in my family who likes it. 🤣😅
I’ll have to add that on goodreads!
I have notice how N.K. Jemisin writes non-human charaters is absolutely fasinating. I read the prolouge of Fifth Season of the Broken Earth series, and I love how very "unnatural" and almost "uncanny" this one race is in their movements and speech to our human minds but to them, it's just normal. I also notice Fifth Season has a bit of that Poem "Rythem" to it without the Purple Prose, which is a great change of pace that is different from Lord Dunseny (I enjoyed it, but BOY was it hard to read his works after a time because you have to actually focus on what he's trying to say. Fifth Season doesn't have that problem). I'm loving Fifth Season so much that I think N.K. Jemisin may become my new favorite aurthor that I want to read all of her books like I do with Mercades Lackey, Anne McCaffery, and Robin McKinly when I can. (Ursla Le Guin *may* become that too if I like a few more stuff outside of the Earthsea series but we'll see. I know for sure I want to read more N.K. Jemisin)
Have you read The City We Became? That’s the book that convinced me Jemisin was next level
@@ReadswithRachel I haven't. I JUST started reading Fifth season because my auntie in Germany wanted someone to talk about Broken Earth and she needed more people she knew to read it first. However, we talked more about it and she realized the story I was writing at the time had a similar conversation as Fifth Season in some cases (but not all, but there was still something there). I had wanted to read Fifth Season before that convo, but then I *really* wanted to read Fifth season where I would literally wait for my hold from the library to get it. Then I started reading A Wizard of Earthsea while I waited but then Fifth Season came in sooner than expected (I was 2 on the queue list, then suddenly I was 1) So now I'm trying to finish both A wizard of Earthsea as well reading Fifth Season xD But I think I will be reading more books of Jemisin's work because the Prolouge caught me and she does a beautiful job in the world building already. I'm also intrested in her Dreamblood Duology as that sounds intesting as well. (again, I just want to read all of her books now lol, If I can slowly work my way through 40-50 something books of Mercades Lackey, and not all of them are her strongest works.... I think I can handle reading through N.K. Jemisin.)
If you want a standalone adult fantasy with a mother as a main character, let me point you in the direction of The Sword of Kaigen.
Oh I've been wanting to read that one!
I loved The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. I liked the second book, but not as much. Still have to read the third book.
I have Black Sun on my tbr. I'm now a bit hesitant to read it, since I'm a bit of a mood reader and I'm not sure what the right mood for that is.
The mood for Black Sun is definitely when you’re in a dark but adventurous mood
Fantasy with mother MCs
Shadow if the Gods by John Gwynne
Fifth Season by NK Jemisson
Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan
The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw
The Sword of Kaigen by ML Wang
The Adveniures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty (I didnt like the last two on the list but others do)
Brandon Sanderson is one of my favorite fantasy authors. He's written such a wide range of fiction; there's something for just about everyone! If you enjoy intricate worldbuilding and complex characters, I'd highly recommend him
I’ve read his scifi series and enjoyed it and coincidentally I’m reading Elantris right now
@@ReadswithRachel I hope you enjoy it! There are definitely some problems with it but it's overall an excellent debut
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Ur so pretty
If you're looking for more stories starring mothers, "The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi" by Shannon Chakraborty was really fun. I think I remember seeing "Empire of Gold" on your shelf, and while it's not nearly as political, it is similarly a historical fantasy that draws a lot from Middle Eastern folklore and involves a ragtag crew of misfits getting up to no good. Also has pretty strong heist vibes and a hot female pirate-adjascent captain. 🎉
P.S. I second all the recs for "The Lies of Locke Lamora" by Scott Lynch -- great heist/thief series, great character writer!
Love this! Question: what are your thoughts about possibly doing an “it’s trash but entertaining af” sort of thing one day, if the weather is right? 🥹
I feel that way about serpent and dove! It’s been 4 years since I read it though so I’d have to reread to review
@@ReadswithRachel gotcha! It’d be a good one if the circumstances ever were right! Love your content.
Thank you so much!
you people really can’t read books that aren’t written for 12 year olds huh
You really didn’t watch the video and only read the thumbnail huh