So every year r/Fantasy over on Reddit runs a SFF bingo board, basically a reading challenge with a ton of wonderfully varied prompts! It runs from April to the following year’s April, and I take part every year, though I usually don’t manage to write-up what I read for the blog here. BUT FOR ONCE: BEHOLD!
I definitely don’t do the bingo properly: the goal is to read things you wouldn’t otherwise, but I mostly use it to get through my ever-growing tbr. I rarely have to seek out books I’ve never heard of to fill a square – though I did have to do that this year, for more than a few prompts!
I managed the Hard Mode of every prompt, because I’m an obsessive perfectionist who should be stopped.
Knights and Paladins: Brighter Than Scale
Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame by Neon Yang
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads
A new Queer, Asian-inspired fantasy novella about a renowned dragon slayer who never takes her armor off in public, Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame reads like She Who Became the Sun meets The Mandalorian, with dragons!
The fiercely independent nation of Quanbao is isolated, reclusive, and something of a mystery to the rest of the world. It is rumored that there, dragons are not feared as is right and proper but instead loved and worshiped.
Yeva is perhaps a strange emissary to these people. Not only because their face has never been seen in public, but because they are a hero born to a birthright that makes them suited for their task—hunting dragons.
And so the dragon hunter must woo Quanbao's queen—the Lady Sookhee—to understand what secrets she is hiding. A woman reasonably suspicious of Yeva's intentions, and the imperial might of the throne she represents, Sookhee bears the burden of the safety of her entire people. How can she trust this stranger newly arrived to her court, a weapon forged in blood and fire, to understand what her people need and how best to safeguard their future?
Alas, I found this a real letdown, all telling-not-showing after a very strong beginning. It probably didn’t help that I reread Black Tides of Heaven just before this; it made all the ways in which Scales is lacking really stark.
Hidden Gem: The Candlevine Gardener and Other Stories
The Candlevine Gardener and Other Stories by Yoon Ha Lee
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Goodreads
A gardener at the end of the universe, a raven engineer, a cat who has forgotten how to fly, and more—all these appear in Yoon Ha Lee's flash fairy tales. Previously available on Patreon, they have been collected in this volume for your delectation.
I’ve adored Fox’s Tower for years, but had no idea Lee had another collection of microfiction!!! But he does and it’s just as exquisite as Tower – just more mermaids than foxes this time!
Published in the 80s: Neveryóna
Neveryóna: Or, the Tale of Signs and Cities by Samuel R. Delany
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Secondary World No Magic
Goodreads
The Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author of Tales of Nevèrÿon “continues to surprise and delight” with this thought-provoking epic fantasy ( The New York Times ).
One of the few in Nevèrÿon who can read and write, pryn has saddled a wild dragon and taken off from a mountain ledge. Self-described as an adventurer, warrior, and thief, in her journey pryn will meet plotting merchants, sinister aristocrats, half-mad villagers, and a storyteller who claims to have invented writing itself. The land of Nevèrÿon is mired in a civil war over slavery, and pryn will also find herself—for a while—fighting alongside Gorgik the Liberator, from whom she will learn the cunning she needs as she journeys further and further south in search of a sunken city; for at history’s dawn, some dangers even dragons cannot protect you from.
The second volume in Samuel R. Delany’s Return to Nevèrÿon cycle, Neveryóna is the longer of its two full-length novels. (The other is The Tale of Plagues and Carnivals .) An intriguing meditation on the power of language, the rise of cities, and the dawn of myth, markets, and money, it is a truly wonder-filled adventure.
I truly don’t have the words to express how much I loathed this book. Long-winded, pretentious af, plotless, one big excuse to lecture the reader on so many topics I did not care about – topics that, to be clear, I usually find incredibly interesting, but the way this book is written smothered my interest to death with a pillow. Would not have finished it if I wasn’t reading it for the bingo!
High Fashion: The Mercy Makers
The Mercy Makers (The Moon Heresies, #1) by Tessa Gratton
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads
A talented heretic must decide between the pursuit of forbidden magic, or the ecstasy of forbidden love—either way, her choice will upend the world, in the start of a sweeping, romantic epic fantasy trilogy by New York Times bestselling author Tessa Gratton.
Can an empire trip and fall on a mere strand of silk?
Iriset is a prodigy and an outlaw. The daughter of a powerful criminal, she dons her alter ego Silk to create magical disguises for those in her father’s organization, but she longs to do more with her talent: to enhance what it means to be human by giving people wings, night-sight, and other abilities; to unlock the possibilities of gender and parenthood; to cure disease and even to end mortality itself.
Everything changes when her father is captured and sentenced to death. To save him, Iriset must infiltrate the palace and the empire’s fanatical ruling family. There, she realizes she has a chance—and an obligation—to bring down the entire corrupt system. She'll have to entangle herself in the lives of the emperor and his sister, getting them to trust and even to love her. But love is a two-way street, and Iriset’s own heart holds the most mysterious and impenetrable magic of all.
The Hard Mode for this prompt required a character who made their own fabric – and the making of Iriset’s silk is what kickstarts the whole book! More importantly: everything about Mercy Makers is perfect. I just finished reading it for the third time and it remains flawless. I cannot stress enough that if you have not read this yet, YOU NEED TO.
Down With the System: Redemptor
Redemptor (Raybearer, #2) by Jordan Ifueko
Genres: Fantasy, High Fantasy, YA
Goodreads
For the first time, an Empress Redemptor sits on Aritsar's throne. To appease the sinister spirits of the dead, Tarisai must now anoint a council of her own, coming into her full power as a Raybearer. She must then descend into the Underworld, a sacrifice to end all future atrocities.
Tarisai is determined to survive. Or at least, that's what she tells her increasingly distant circle of friends. Months into her shaky reign as empress, child spirits haunt her, demanding that she pay for past sins of the empire.
With the lives of her loved ones on the line, assassination attempts from unknown quarters, and a handsome new stranger she can't quite trust . . . Tarisai fears the pressure may consume her. But in this finale to the Raybearer duology, Tarisai must learn whether to die for justice . . . or to live for it.
The Hard Mode for this square specified that the system being done away with isn’t a government. There is a massive rearrangement of governance in Redemptor, but the system I meant when I picked it is the sacrificing hundreds of children to demons every year, as part of a treaty between humans and demons. Alas, as many other readers have found, I did not enjoy Redemptor nearly as much as I did Raybearer, book one in the duet: it’s extremely rushed, so none of the elements got the time they needed to shine, and it’s very clunky, especially in comparison to the first book.
Impossible Places: The Starving Saints
The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling
Genres: Adult, Horror, Queer Protagonists, Historical Fantasy
Goodreads
From the nationally bestselling author of The Luminous Dead and The Death of Jane Lawrence, a transfixing fever dream of medieval horror following three women in a besieged castle that descends ravenously into madness under the spell of mysterious, godlike visitors.
Aymar Castle has been under siege for six months. Food is running low and there has been no sign of rescue. But just as the survivors consider deliberately thinning their number, the castle stores are replenished. The sick are healed. And the divine figures of the Constant Lady and her Saints have arrived, despite the barricaded gates, offering succor in return for adoration.
Soon, the entire castle is under the sway of their saviors, partaking in intoxicating feasts of terrible origin. The war hero Ser Voyne gives her allegiance to the Constant Lady. Phosyne, a disorganized, paranoid nun-turned-sorceress, races to unravel the mystery of these new visitors and exonerate her experiments as their source. And in the bowels of the castle, a serving girl, Treila, is torn between her thirst for a secret vengeance against Voyne and the desperate need to escape from the horrors that are unfolding within Aymar's walls.
As the castle descends into bacchanalian madness—forgetting the massed army beyond its walls in favor of hedonistic ecstasy—these three women are the only ones to still see their situation for what it is. But they are not immune from the temptations of the castle's new masters… or each other; and their shifting alliances and entangled pasts bring violence to the surface. To save the castle, and themselves, will take a reimagining of who they are, and a reorganization of the very world itself.
This started so well, but then dissolved into what I can only call waffling; the tension vanished and everything became more and more random, and not in a hallucinatory fever-dream way, either. Lots of deus ex machinas and inexplicable personality changes. I spent the last third half-asleep, honestly.
A Book in Parts: Audition For the Fox
Audition For The Fox by Martin Cahill
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Goodreads
In this stellar debut fantasy, a trickster Fox god challenges an underachieving acolyte to save herself by saving her own ancestors. But are Nesi and her new friends from the past prepared to defeat the ferocious Wolfhounds of Zemin?
“If you love my worlds, you're going to love Cahill’ stunning imagination, daring premises, and deep character dives. A new author to watch.”—N. K. Jemisin, author of the Broken Earth series
[STARRED REVIEW] “A marvelous and heartbreaking tale.”
—Library JournalNesi is desperate to earn the patronage of one of the Ninety-Nine Pillars of Heaven. As a child with godly blood in her, if she cannot earn a divine chaperone, she will never be allowed to leave her temple home. But with ninety-six failed auditions and few options left, Nesi makes a risky prayer to T’sidaan, the Fox of Tricks.
In folk tales, the Fox is a lovable prankster. But despite their humor and charm, T’sidaan, and their audition, is no joke. They throw Nesi back in time three hundred years, when her homeland is occupied by the brutal Wolfhounds of Zemin.
Now, Nesi must learn a trickster’s guile to snatch a fortress from the disgraced and exiled 100th The Wolf of the Hunt.
This gave me several galaxy-brain moments, but more than anything it was the gorgeous prose and decadently unique worldbuilding that held me spellbound. SO MUCH SWOONING. Hurry up and give Cahill a contract for more books in this setting already, Tachyon!
My review! And my interview with the author!
Gods and Pantheons: Saint Death’s Herald
Saint Death's Herald (Saint Death #2) by C.S.E. Cooney
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads
Lanie Stones is the necromancer that Death has been praying for.
Heartbroken, exiled from her homeland as a traitor, Lanie Stones would rather take refuge in good books and delicate pastries than hunt a deathless abomination, but that is the duty she has chosen.
The abomination in question happens to be her own great-grandfather, the powerful necromancer Irradiant Stones. Grandpa Rad has escaped from his prison and stolen a body, and is heading to the icy country of Skakhmat where he died, to finish the genocide he started. Fortunately for her, Lanie has her powerful death magic, including the power to sing the restless dead to their eternal slumber; and she has her new family by her side.
Grandpa Rad may have finally met his match.
NO ONE is surprised that I adored this; it was fated. Herald is quite different to its predecessor Daughter but is equally marvellous – and especially good for this particular square because there’s a whole lot of in-world theology that’s very critical to the story! I needed to read it twice to fully parse all of it – there are LAYERS, and I didn’t catch them all on a first read-through – but it rewarded close, thoughtful reading ENDLESSLY. While being a ridiculous amount of fun!
Last in a Series: Horizon
Horizon (The Sharing Knife, #4) by Lois McMaster Bujold
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Goodreads
Fawn's husband Dag apprentices to a master groundsetter. But the camp has rigid mores with respect to farmers like Fawn's people. The pair must answer the question posed when they killed their first malice together: When old traditions fail, can their untried new ways win?
You’re allowed one reread in the bingo, and I spent mine here with Horizon – my original plan was to read the whole of the Elemental Logic series for this square, but ironically I didn’t get to the last of that series in time. Oh well! Trying to find a book for this square (especially since the Hard Mode was to use the last book in a series of four or more) did make me realise how few not-trilogy series I read these days.
ANYWAY. I continue to adore this series without reservation, and I love Horizon as a finale! I’ve honestly lost count of how many times I’ve reread these…
Book Club or Readalong Book: The Thread That Binds
The Thread That Binds (Eternal Library #1) by Cedar McCloud
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads
The books are restless. At the Eternal Library, books are more than the paper, ink, and thread they're made from--they're full of spirits. Only a handful of people will ever be invited to the Bindery to learn the craft of etheric bookbinding: the creation of intricate illuminated manuscripts, Bound with a secret that will make them last forever.
Tabby is a dreamwalker, a witch who escapes into the stories of sleep to avoid a birth family that's never loved em enough. Amane is a cartomancer, a medium who speaks for the Unseen, but doesn't know how to speak for her own needs. Rhiannon is highly psychic, an archivist who can See into the past, but only has eyes on the future.
Their stories intertwine as they discover the secrets of etheric binding, the Library's archives, and those of their mentors--the three of whom are competing to be the next Head Librarian, the Speaker for all the books. How do you know who's truly worth being part of your family? Sometimes we must forge connections in order to heal; other times, those bonds must be broken.
I was delighted when the r/Fantasy chose this as a monthly read, because it had been on my tbr for ages! It’s cosy and relatively low-stakes, but the stakes are all emotionally intense for the characters involved, which gave Threads an immediacy a lot of cosy fantasy lacks. And it was wonderfully easy to read, something I could turn to even while in the grips of bad brain-fog – which I appreciate immensely! Mega points, too, for the beautifully varied depictions of nonbinary folx!
Parent Protagonist: The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association
The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association by Caitlin Rozakis
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Goodreads
Two parents and their recently-bitten-werewolf daughter try to fit into a privileged New England society of magic aristocracy. But deadly terrors await them – ancient prophecies, remorseless magical trials, hidden conspiracies and the PTA bake sale.
When Vivian’s kindergartner, Aria, gets bitten by a werewolf, she is rapidly inducted into the hidden community of magical schools. Reeling from their sudden move, Vivian finds herself having to pick the right sacrificial dagger for Aria, keep stocked up on chew toys and play PTA politics with sirens and chthonic nymphs and people who literally can set her hair on fire.
As Vivian careens from hellhounds in the school corridors and demons at the talent show, she races to keep up with all the arcane secrets of her new society – shops only accessible by magic portal, the brutal Trials to enter high school, and the eternal inferno that is the parents’ WhatsApp group.
And looming over everything is a prophecy of doom that sounds suspiciously like it’s about Aria. Vivian might be facing the end of days, just as soon as she can get her daughter dressed and out of the door…
NATURALLY I had to choose Grimoire Grammar School for this prompt! It was too perfect a match not to. And I adored this: besides being a really, really fun perspective on magical schooling, I thought Rozakis did an incredible job at showcasing how complicated being a grown-up can be. Genuinely impressed by how Rozakis kept me sympathising with Vivian even when she was imploding; I think this book put a much-needed polish on my compassion.
Epistolary: What Manner of Man
What Manner of Man by St John Starling
Genres: Adult, Horror, Queer Protagonists, Historical Fantasy
Goodreads
What would tempt you to sin?
A sweet and naïve priest at war with his desires, tormented by nightly dreams of a wicked demon.
A vampire lord forced to do the unthinkable, battling needs he can scarcely control.
Father Ardelian has been summoned to a distant, secluded island to perform an exorcism. What will happen when he begins to suspect his host — the mysterious, nocturnal lord of the manor — of wanting him for another reason entirely? Will the piously celibate priest be able to resist his monstrous host’s diabolically seductive charms?
What Manner of Man is a blasphemous queer horror romance about a priest and a vampire, inspired by Bram Stoker’s Dracula. A tale of forbidden love with themes of devil worship, demonic possession, and human sacrifice — this is the long-awaited completed version of the widely beloved story which rose to fame and fortune in the form of a newsletter!
Nothing like Dracula, but still plenty of fun! This was my first unapologetically Gothic read in a while, and it has me on the lookout for more Gothic queerness. (Recs are welcome!) There was a really impressive transformation of naivete into determined idealism over the course of the book that gave me plenty to think about, and of course plenty of Catholic-related kink (we love to see it!)
Published in 2025: A King’s Trust
A King's Trust (Heart-Mage Trilogy, #1) by S.E. McPherson
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads
Fantasy | Romance | LGBTQ+
The spare becomes the heir and, on his path to the throne, discovers magical intrigue, a secret society pulling political strings, and not one, but two loves of his life.
Like many of the reads I picked for the bingo, King’s Trust ended up on my best of year list! I picked it up on a total whim and was consumed. Poly romantasy with an autistic MC with ADHD and an enormous heart: yes please! I fell in love with all the characters and regret nothing!
Author of Color: The Devourers
The Devourers by Indra Das
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Horror, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads
For readers of Neil Gaiman, Margaret Atwood, China Miéville, and David Mitchell comes a striking debut novel by a storyteller of keen insight and captivating imagination.
LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD WINNER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST
On a cool evening in Kolkata, India, beneath a full moon, as the whirling rhythms of traveling musicians fill the night, college professor Alok encounters a mysterious stranger with a bizarre confession and an extraordinary story. Tantalized by the man’s unfinished tale, Alok will do anything to hear its completion. So Alok agrees, at the stranger’s behest, to transcribe a collection of battered notebooks, weathered parchments, and once-living skins.
From these documents spills the chronicle of a race of people at once more than human yet kin to beasts, ruled by instincts and desires blood-deep and ages-old. The tale features a rough wanderer in seventeenth-century Mughal India who finds himself irrevocably drawn to a defiant woman—and destined to be torn asunder by two clashing worlds. With every passing chapter of beauty and brutality, Alok’s interest in the stranger grows and evolves into something darker and more urgent.
Shifting dreamlike between present and past with intoxicating language, visceral action, compelling characters, and stark emotion, The Devourers offers a reading experience quite unlike any other novel.
Praise for The Devourers
“A chilling, gorgeous saga that spans several centuries and many lands . . . The all-too-human characters—including the nonhuman ones—and the dreamlike, recursive plot serve to entrance the reader. . . . There’s no escaping The Devourers . Readers will savor every bite.” —N. K. Jemisin, The New York Times Book Review
“ The Devourers is beautiful. It is brutal. It is violent and vicious. . . . [It] also showcases Das’s incredible prowess with language and rhythm, and his ability to weave folklore and ancient legend with modern day loneliness.” — Tordotcom
“A wholly original, primal tale of love, violence, and transformation.” —Pierce Brown, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Red Rising Trilogy
“Astonishing . . . a narrative that takes possession of you and pulls you along in its wake.” —M. R. Carey, author of The Girl with All the Gifts
Devourers was one I had on my tbr for years and years – I even attempted it a few times, but always set it aside again because of the grimdark elements. Or what I thought was grimdark. Actually, it’s the very opposite of grimdark: there’s a lot of violence and gore and so on, but it’s – I don’t know how to explain it, but Das uses all that darkness to build something beautiful, or maybe to show us how beautiful life and humanity really are. It’s soul-searing.
Small Press or Self-Published: The Iron Below Remembers
The Iron Below Remembers by Sharang Biswas
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi, Science Fantasy
Goodreads
Set in an alternate version of the British Isles where South Asian imperial interest colonized much of the globe thanks to their advanced technology, Professor Laxman Yadav is dating Saviour, one of the world’s most famous superheroes, while also investigating possibly the most important archeological find of all time. Equal parts pulp caper and meta-textual academic text, this novella leans as heavily on footnotes as it does on explorations of queer romance.
My gods, this is so much fun! Gloriously gay, footnotes everywhere, fascinating worldbuilding – *chef’s kiss* Superheroes and ancient magic! In a UK that was colonised rather than coloniser! MAGNIFICENT.
Biopunk: Works of Vermin
The Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Horror, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads
'An intriguing work of whimsi-grotesquerie'OLIVIE BLAKE
He was sent to kill a pest. Instead, he found a monster.
Enter the decadent, deadly city of Tiliard, carved into the stump of an ancient tree. In its canopy, the pampered elite warp minds with toxic perfume; in its roots, gangs of exterminators hunt a colossal worm with an appetite for beauty.In a complex, chaotic city, Guy Moulène has a simple keep his sister out of debt. For her sake, he'll take on any job, no matter how vile.
As an exterminator, Guy hunts the uncanny pests that crawl up from the river. These vermin are all strange, and often dangerous. His latest quarry is a worm the size of a dragon with a deadly venom and a ravenous taste for artwork. As it digests Tiliard from the sewers to the opera houses, its toxin reshapes the future of the city. No sane person would hunt it, if they had the choice.
Guy doesn't have a choice.
'A lush and seductive story, rife with opulent horror and decaying decadence' SUNYI DEAN
I thought Ennes’ debut, Leech, was incredible; Works of Vermin blows it out of the water. In so many ways, this feels like it was written just for me, swoonworthy prose, intoxicating fuckery, gender weirdness, opulently bonkers worldbuilding…! Gods, I highlighted so many lines. THERE’S PLOT-RELEVANT EMBROIDERY. How is this not a bestseller already?!
Elves and/or Dwarves: Tomb of Dragons
The Tomb of Dragons (The Cemeteries of Amalo, #3) by Katherine Addison
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads
Thara Celehar has lost his ability to speak with the dead. When that title of Witness for the Dead is gone, what defines him?
While his title may be gone, his duties are not. Celehar contends with a municipal cemetery with fifty years of secrets, the damage of a revethavar he’s terrified to remember, and a group of miners who are more than willing to trade Celehar’s life for a chance at what they feel they’re owed.
Celehar does not have to face these impossible tasks alone. Joining him are his mentee Velhiro Tomasaran, still finding her footing with the investigative nature of their job; Iäna Pel-Thenhior, his beloved opera director friend and avid supporter; and the valiant guard captain Hanu Olgarezh.
Amidst the backdrop of a murder and a brewing political uprising, Celehar must seek justice for those who cannot find it themselves under a tense political system. The repercussions of his quest are never as simple they seem, and Celehar’s own life and happiness hang in the balance.
Probably the most common book used for this square! Kind of a no-brainer for many of us, given the timing. Alas, I ended up with very mixed feelings – adored the dragons, but I was very flat-footed by the clumsy, abrupt dashing of the romance that was building since the first book, and the awkward levering-in of a new love interest. A very rocky conclusion to a series I really loved!
LGBTQIA Protagonist: The Incandescent
The Incandescent by Emily Tesh
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads
Naomi Novik's Scholomance series meets Plain Bad Heroines in this sapphic dark academia fantasy by instant national and international bestselling author Emily Tesh, winner of the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards.
"Look at you, eating magic like you're one of us."
Doctor Walden is the Director of Magic at Chetwood Academy and one of the most powerful magicians in England. Her days consist of meetings, teaching A-Level Invocation to four talented, chaotic sixth formers, more meetings, and securing the school's boundaries from demonic incursions.
Walden is good at her job―no, Walden is great at her job. But demons are masters of manipulation. It’s her responsibility to keep her school with its six hundred students and centuries-old legacy safe. And it’s possible the entity Walden most needs to keep her school safe from―is herself.
Given my strong preference for queer sff there were a lot of books I could have used for this square! I chose Incandescent just to spotlight it, because it’s magnificent. (And I like the pair it makes with Grimoire Grammar School.) Loved how it managed to balance nostalgia with a brutal look at privilege – and the demons! PROPERLY NOT-HUMAN. Plus a really, really clever approach to magic – the reasoning behind why some objects can be possessed? GENIUS.
Five SFF Short Stories: So You Want To Be A Robot
So You Want To Be A Robot: 22 Stories of Science Fiction and Fantasy by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Goodreads
“Divergent characters find themselves in startling situations in this debut collection of unconventional sci-fi and fantasy stories... A sparkling sequence of tales that bends and flips familiar ideas and fantastic visions.”
—KIRKUS REVIEWS ⭐ review [1st Edition]SSet aside traditional norms and the gender binary in this updated collection of twenty-two stories by Nebula Award finalist Merc Fenn Wolfmoor.
Here you'll find robots and cyborgs exploring their own forms of personhood; lose yourself in wildly imaginative landscapes and dystopian worlds; follow assassins, sentient shadows, sorrowful ghosts, and all forms of monsters. Dare to feel everything—from the brightest joy to sorrow and the rainbow of emotion in between.
Yet even in the darkest moments, there will always be hope.
---
SO YOU WANT TO BE A ROBOT (2nd Edition) includes the followingThis Is Not A Wardrobe Door
Tomorrow When We See The Sun
The Sorcerer's Unattainable Gardens
The Android's Prehistoric Menagerie
For Want of a Heart
Once I, Rose
Where Monsters Dance
A Survival Guide For When You're Trapped In A Black Hole
Thread
Under Wine-Bright Seas
Of Blessed Servitude
To The Knife-Cold Stars
Finding Home
Winter Bride
To The Monsters, With Love
Batteries For Your Doombot5000 Are Not Included
...Or Be Forever Fallen
Iron Aria
What Becomes Of The Third-Hearted
The Gentleman Of Chaos
Gray Skies, Red Wings, Blue Lips, Black Hearts
How To Become A Robot In 12 Easy Steps---
“The stories are all crafted with the deft and loving touch of an author who knows firsthand what it is to live in their characters’ skins. Each piece in this unmissable collection shimmers with bright explorations of love, loss, and the quest for hope.”
—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ⭐ review [1st Edition]
This was released in a new edition, so obviously I pounced on it. Just please don’t ask one me to pick a favourite out of the tales here. How am I supposed to choose between saving the world of the monsters who live under the bed, or an android raising dinos after the apocalypse, or ex-supervillains rescuing defunct robots? Trans assassins, terrifying winter lords, a sorcerer and their shadow (but not their shadow) being reunited? Am I supposed to give more weight to how ‘A Survival Guide For When You’re Trapped In A Black Hole’ had me flat-out sobbing, or to how ‘Under Wine-Bright Seas’ got into my dreams? Or maybe I’m meant to declare ‘Tomorrow When We See the Sun’ the best, for how many times I’ve come back to it since I first read it?
IMPOSSIBLE. CAN’T DO IT. THEY’RE ALL MY FAVES.
Stranger in a Strange Land: The Desert Talon
The Desert Talon (The Crowns of Ishia #2) by Karin Lowachee
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads
Sephihalé ele Janan sits in a prison cell in the southern island of Mazemoor, dreaming of escape. After months in a provisional prison for fighting for the imperial Kattakans, Janan is sponsored by another refugee who was once a part of his scattered family. Yearning to build a life on his sister’s land with the dragons their people revere, the peace Janan seeks is threatened by a ruthless dragon baron who covets both Janan’s connection to the earth and the battle dragon to which he is covenanted.
The conflict may drive Janan to acts of violence he hoped to leave behind in the war, and bring more death to the land Janan now calls home.
The Desert Talon is a story of two groups of people who, despite a common ancestry, have diverged so far in their beliefs that there appears to be little mutual ground—and the conflict may well start to unravel the burgeoning hopes of a country, and a man, still recovering from the ravages of war.
This one wobbled for me – I loved the first book in the trilogy, but this one…eh. You know when you can tell a book is technically good, but you’re not feeling it at all? That was Desert Talon for me, sigh.
Recycle a Bingo Square: The Gilda Stories
The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Goodreads
This remarkable novel begins in 1850s Louisiana, where Gilda escapes slavery and learns about freedom while working in a brothel. After being initiated into eternal life as one who "shares the blood" by two women there, Gilda spends the next 200 years searching for a place to call home. An instant lesbian classic when it was first published in 1991, The Gilda Stories has endured as an auspiciously prescient book in its explorations of blackness, radical ecology, re-definitions of family, and the erotic potential of the vampire story.
Thanks, I hate it. SO MUCH.
Cozy SFF: His Secret Illuminations
His Secret Illuminations (The Warrior's Guild, #1) by Scarlett Gale
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Goodreads
A Sheltered Monk
By day, Lucían brews potions and illuminates manuscripts in service to the monastery that took him in as a child, wielding magic based in his faith and his purity. By night, he dreams of the world outside the cloister--a world he knows only in books and scrolls...
A Mysterious Warrior
A mercenary known as the She-Wolf hunts for a shipment of stolen manuscripts. When she needs a mage to track them down, she chooses Lucían for both his adorable blushes and his magic. She purchases his contract, hurling him headfirst into an adventure that will test both his skills and his self-control...
A Sacred Vow
Inexorably drawn to the She-Wolf's strength, surprising kindness, and heated touches, Lucían fights temptation at every turn. His holy magic is both vital to their mission and dependent upon his purity. How can he serve both her and the Lord if he gives in to his desire? As intrigue and danger forces them closer, how can he possibly resist?
Extremely adorable with unexpectedly lovely prose! And really fun flipping of typical romance gender roles. Surprised me by having genuine plot that wasn’t just an excuse to throw the characters together. This one had me all glittery and kicking my feet with delight, and the subsequent books in this setting were just as delightful! (I am particularly fond of book three!)
Generic Title: Song for the Basilisk
Song for the Basilisk by Patricia A. McKillip
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Goodreads
From the World Fantasy Award-winning author of The Bards of Bone Plain.
Something half-woke in him, and he froze on the threshold, seeing misshapen faces billow in the flames.
As a child, Rook had been taken in by the bards of Luly, and raised as one of their own. Of his past he knew nothing—except faint memoires of fire and death that he'd do anything to forget.
But nightmares, and a new threat to the island that had become his own, would not let him escape the dreadful fate of his true family. Haunted by the music of the bards, he left the only home he knew to wander the land of the power-hungry Basilisk who had destroyed his family. And perhaps, finally, to find a future in the fulfillment of his forgotten destiny...
This was one of the squares I most struggled to find a qualifying book for! (There were strict rules about what counted as a generic title and most suggestions were powerfully Not For Me.) Song For the Basilisk I read to my partner as a bedtime book, and it was fine. McKillip’s prose is always stunning, of course, and I liked how unconventional many of the elements felt – familiar, like the long-lost heir, but utilised in ways that went against the grain. Not bad at all, but not really for me; if it hadn’t been a bingo book I doubt I’d have finished it.
Not a Book: Mayfair Witches show
You can’t imagine how annoying it was that one of the BOOK BINGO prompts this year was to…not read a book. *shakes fist at r/Fantasy* RUDE. The Mayfair Witches show (I have not read the books and do not intend to, I don’t like Rice’s writing)* is bonkers but pretty. Didn’t make it the whole way through season one, but only because the partner and I got distracted by other things. I’m told the story gets even more bonkers later!
*I have of course watched all of Interview With the Vampire and adored it. I’m counting down the hours until season three/Vampire Lestat!
Pirates: Countess
Countess by Suzan Palumbo
Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Goodreads
A space opera pitched as a queer Caribbean Count of Monte Cristo, in which a betrayed Captain is set on a journey of revenge against the interplanetary Empire that has subjugated her people for generations.
Another one I absolutely hated. Awful clunky prose, super rushed storytelling (how can you fit the Count of Monte Cristo into a novella, really?) and I wanted to stab that ending. NO THANK YOU.
Overall, a pretty great set of reads! I can’t say the 2025 bingo card led me to any new favourites I wouldn’t have found without its prompts, but previous ones have, and maybe the 2026 one will! I know I want to try and use fewer 2026 releases for the next round.
Did you take part? How’d you do? Will you try the 2026 card? Let me know!
I was also so disappointed with the tomb of dragons ending! I was not following the theories but I was still shocked by this romance ending, it was so abrupt!
Very much same! The more I think about it the more unhappy I am about it. I wonder if she didn’t enjoy writing in that setting any more and just wanted it to be over with?