R/Fantasy Bingo 2024! 

"Preferably non-fiction" she says, about a book rec for the *sci-fi/fantasy* bingo board. 😂

Merphy talks about not being organised would be the free space for a Merphy Napier bingo card.

for space opera I would recommend Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold one of the most sleeper great sci-fi and Bujold helped inspire Jim Butcher.

For orcs trolls or Goblins just read one of Daniels books. You could argue he counts as two of those :D

For Space Opera, I started reading Sun Eater, and I'm absolutely loving it! I haven't been hooked by a first book in a series since The Way of Kings.

Just to let you know the Book Club or Readalong square is specifically for Book Clubs and Readalongs done by r/Fantasy. There is a whole spreadsheet of over 400 books linked on the r/fantasy 2024 Bingo post that count for that square.

Bard: A river enchanted Charater with disability: Godkiller

The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold is a Quick, FUN, fast pace SPACE OPERA where the main character has a disability in a society that hates and fears them, but defines how he is determined to rise to the top anyway. So great! I'd start with The Warriors Apprentice.

Orcs, Trolls and Goblins: it is that you put Fifth Elephant on there, but there are several Discworlds that fit this... Unseen Academicals comes to mind, I recall that one having all 3 in it.

If you wanted a good survival *fiction*, The Martian by Andy Weir is quite good! Assuming you haven’t read it yet, of course.

For Bard: Maestros of the Anthymn: Dark Tide Rising by R.A. McDougall! So good.

The goblin emperor would work for Orcs, Trolls & Goblins and the left hand of darkness would work for survival but it's not non-fiction

Disability: the Miles Vorkosigan series. I think you have liked the ones you read?

Pulls out a bingo card and goes on to play 'blackout' after getting a bingo.

For the Space Opera, in the hopes that it just means a story set in space, I very highly recommend "to be taught, if fortunate" by Becky Chambers. It's short, but very well written with an immersive world, very lovable characters and some cool concepts and questions woven into the world and its lore. For a fantasy story with a main character with a disability, I highly recommend "The theft of sunlight" by Intisar Khanani. It's a fast-paced story set in a magical world with very lovable characters who are trying to right a great evil and hold a corrupt upper class accountable for their crimes.

I think Fool's Errand would work for dreams :) (One day I'll stop pushing Hobb books on you, but not today!)

What a coincidence, this is also my first time attempting the r/fantasy bingo, let's see how it goes considering I don't think I've ever read 25 books in a year. Some notes: One of the rules states that it must be speculative fiction, so I don't think a nonfiction survival would count. Also the Read along/Book club category specifically states that it must be a r/Fantasy read along/book club. So Hitchhiker's wouldn't count, but I believe Small Favor (Jim Butcher) would. Obviously this only applies if you care about following their rules. The one suggestion I have is Ascendance of a Bookworm for Character with a Disability. I think Myne's condition would count as a disability. I'm not sure how much of the series you've read but this could be an opportunity to continue reading it (or restart from the novels).

Hello. For the Bard slot I suggest "Song for Arbonne" by Guy Gavriel Kay. for Orks, Trolls etc I suggest "Elfen" by Bernardt Hennen, or "The broken Sword" by Poul Anderson.

For the space opera I recommend The Long Way To a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers or otherwise, it's the Hitchhikers guide a space opera? Then you could swap it for a later bookclub pick. For the Orc's space, I don't know if you've already read Legends and Lattes or Bookshops and Bonedust.

- Dreams: Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman - Dark Academia: If We Were Villains by ML Rio -Character with Disability: Half a King by Joe Abercrombie - Orc, Tolls etc.: The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman, Orconomics by J. Zachary Pike, or The First Watch by Dale Lucas - Space Opera: Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds - Set in a Small Town: Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

I'm so jealous of merphy's hair lol

I would like to offer The Witches of Karres as a space opera for your board. It is a wonderful story about 3 witches giving a space captain a hard time. This is basically a stand alone even though there are sequels, however the sequels are written by other authors since James Schmidt past away. I think you will really like this book because it is so funny and cute. You will be laughing all the way through.

For Character with a Disability, John Scalzi’s Lock In is fun.

The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald is a classic, I really liked it, for the "orcs trolls & goblins" category.

For Bard I highly recommend Letters From a Shipwreck in the Sea of Suns and Moons by Raymond St. Elmo.

For the Small Town category: Morcant. Modern fantasy set in Silver Plume, Colorado.

Since you are reading a lot of Tchaikovsky recently Id recomend Shard of Earth, the first book in his final Architecture Trilogy for space opera. I read the entire trilogy in the beginning of this year and really enjoyed it.

For Orcs, Trolls & Goblins, you might want to try Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman. Premise: the world is conquered by bureaucratic aliens that turn it into an 18 level reality-tv D&D-style dungeon. The apocalypse will be televised! I cannot oversell how delightful I found this book. It's smart, snarky with a Douglas Adams humor and ability to make a crack-y premise feel real and serious. As the series goes on there's late Dresden Files caliber world expansion. Yes, those are big calls and I stand by them! Hope this helps! Good luck with the rest of your bingo!!!

Great survival non-fiction: Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. Fascinating story about an American WWII bombadier whose plane crashed in the Pacific. He survived for about 2 months at sea before being picked up by the Japanese and sent to a POW camp

Assuming you plan to read Stormlight 5 when it releases at the end of the year, that could probably fit into quite a few slots (of the remaining options, maybe dreams if visions feature as heavily as they have in the earlier books of the series)

Wouldn't the S.A. Barnes book you're planning to read count for survival? I know it's a horror sub-genre but Dead Silence definitely would have counted as a survival plot, maybe Ghost Station will as well!

Rick Riordan's Kane Chronicle's series works for "dreams"

Emily Wilde’s encyclopaedia will work for a small town setting or reference material

A wonderful space opera book is Saga, which is a graphic novel series. One of my absolute favorites ever and new issues are still coming out.

For Space Opera I'd definitely recommend Sun Eater/Empire of Silence

Great idea for a video. Set in a Small Town- -- Floating Dragon. Peter Straub is an amazing horror writer and this book is much like Stephen King's It, which it may partially have inspired, only with much less bloat so it will hopefully be an easier read for you. Dreams -- The Mirror of Her Dreams by Stephen R. Donaldson. Another great book (volume one of a two volume series) by a legendary fantasy author. Low fantasy with lots of courtly intrigue. Bards -- Either Dragonsong, the first book of the Harper Hall trilogy, which is the best work of Anne McCaffrey and Pern, in my opinion or Magic's Pawn by Mercedes Lackey, the first book of the Last-Herald Mage trilogy, which was the first high fantasy series by a major publisher to feature a gay protagonist. Dark Academia seems to be a much broader category than I thought if it includes Orlando by Virginia Woolf and Ariel by Sylvia Plath as well as book like Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Picture of Dorian Gray, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as well as American Gods by Neil Gaiman. There's got to be something you'd like to read in there somewhere. Disability --- This is a tough category to find done correctly. I can only again recommend Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen R. Donaldson which features a character or leprosy and City of Golden Shadow, the first in the Otherland series by Tad Williams, since it has several characters with disabilities that are treated respectfully. Orc, Trolls, and Goblins, Oh My! -- Tad Williams again for his Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series that starts with The Dragonbone chair. Recommended for anyone looking for a different take on the typical fantasy races and who likes long epic sagas. Apparently the great science fiction/fantast writer Jack Vance once wrote a fun short novel about a literal musical opera performed in outer space called Space Opera which should count. Failing that there's also Piers Anthony's Bio of a Space Tyrant series for an unusual take on the genre. The first volume is called Refugee. Don't know nothing about survival but Shackleton's 1914 expedition has got to be one of the most uplifting non-fiction examples of that. Any book about that is probably going to a good read.

Set in a small town: Almost any Stephen King book.

Fifth Elephant and Jingo? Got bored from the publication order huh:D Can’t wait for the Discworld videos!

Chain Gang All-Stars is what I chose for Survival. It's fantastic and explores real world issues as well.

Orconomics for the orcs trolls and goblins, it's great, has Discworld vibes.

Stormlight 5 later this year could definitely fit some of the unused categories.

I participated last year for the first time. I didn't clear the board, but I did get BINGO. I just cleared two for this year. It's a fun challenge.

So I actually just finished the book I had found for the Dark Academia and I would recommend that! The book is called A Study in Drowning, and I was surprised at how much it grabbed me. It's about a woman who has seen visions all her life and found comfort and refuge in a particular book, and now while in university she starts to uncover the story of her favorite author after that author passed. It has those dark academia vibes for SURE, and also has an interesting world, tackles hard themes, and has really solid character growth. I ALSO finished my square for Bards this past week, and I... can't actually recommend that one, lol. I read Lark and Wren, which is book #1 of Mercedes Lackey's Bardic Voices series. I would absolutely discuss it with someone because the reason I don't like it mostly has to do with narrative structure, so I find it interesting - but interesting in its mediocrity, hah.

Oh geez a few of these rules are problems for me. I'm a bit of a slow reader so 25 books is a little much for me. I tend to get locked into a series too, so different authors is kinda problematic as well. (like: I'm currently rereading the entire Cosmere series, inspired by how much I enjoyed the "new" Stormlight Archive books (Oathbringer and Rhythm of War were both first reads) - went back to Elantris (had mostly forgotten the story there), Warbreaker (an old favourite) and currently working through Mistborn (currently halfway through Hero of Ages, while doing the concurrent reading with Secret History)...and that's pretty much what I've read over the last 6 months or so? Oh, and most of these are rereads, so I'm also one to struggle with the 1-reread-only rule. (My reading speed is pretty normal, I've just somehow gotten out of the habit of having dedicated reading time - probably because I no longer have a dedicated reading space as I stopped using my bed as such to try to improve my sleep. Really should look into getting myself a nice chair or couch for that.)

For the Space opera, I would recommend Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. I just read it and it’s a top book for me this year, it’s not too long either.

For orcs, trolls and goblins 'Orconomics' might work. Not sure if it has trolls but definitely orcs and goblins. Also Pratchett has at least trolls in some of his books, not sure about the other two

0:00 This is the first Im hearing of a Fantasy Bingo XD

Lions of Al-Rassan has a prologue and an epilogue, but it is not about criminals, so lucky you changed it haha! Although, if you wanted to use a different book for the prologue/epilogue one (since so many books have them) Guy Gavriel Kay has two books about musician characters - Tigana and Song for Arbonne. For Space opera, I'd recommend Sun Eater (you told Daniel you would read it anyways 😆) and for dreams...hmm...maybe Fool's Errand finally?

Dreams: Natsume Yuujinchou. Not sure if Manga counts for these things, but MC is frequently having insightful dreams of all the Youkai he's interacting with. It's also set in a small town.

A short Space Opera - I think "We Are Legion (We Are Bob)" by Dennis E. Taylor qualifies. I read it recently and had a blast. It's fairly heavy on nerd/pop culture references and doesn''t get too heavy on the science aspects. I thought it was a really fun read.

The Terror by Dan Simmons fits both as Non-fiction and fiction Survival, about the ship the terror and erebus finding the north west passage.

Orc trolls and goblins I highly recommend dungeon crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman excellent book!!!

I'm participating this year too! i'm hoping to get a full blackout as well. I have to find a romantasy, character with a disability, and a prologue and epilogue.. but the last two i'm sure I'll find.. its that romantasy that has me kind of :X

Oooh fun vid, and I’ll be reading Lions of Al-Rassan this year as well. Enjoy Empire of Ivory!!

NPCs by Drew Hayes is first book in a series -- where the NPCs in a gaming group become the PCs. You get to see their lives affected by PCs and what they do in exchange. And one of the main characters, Grumph, is a half orc. Another, Thistle, is a gnome

For Dark Academia I would recomend a Hungarian classic if you would entertain the idea (don't worry there is a translation), namely Abigail by Magda Szabó. This book is about growing up in World War II hungary, as the country slowly drifts under Nazi power. The protagonist Gina is the only child of a general, who has long been happy to spoil his daughter. Then one day, seemingly with no explanation the general sends her away to a religious boarding school (trust me it fits dark academy, but just barley haha) in a backwater little town. The plot overall is full of mystery and love. This was one of my favourites growing up, and since it's available in English I will never miss an opportunity to try to direct some international attention to it.

Have you ever read The Expanse? Some people might disagree about whether its a space opera but it IS classified as one & honestly its a pretty universally loved series that is really good for fantasy fans. The first book is leviathan wakes & I think theres a high chance youll enjoy it if you havent already read it. It follows a crew on a space ship & also a detective & its just good, easy to read, fun, with character & plot focus.

Bard: Bloody Rose by Nicholas Eames fits! The sequel to Kings of the Wyld. Dark Academia: Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo or A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik. Orcs, Trolls, Goblins: Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher Disability: Noor by Nnedi Okorafor Space Opera: We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor (Bobiverse book 1, ask Lynn about this) Survival: Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson Small Town: Starling House by Alix E. Harrow (Valkyrie’s favorite author) I haven’t read all of these but I’ve read most and the rest come recommended by multiple sources or are from trusted authors, so you can look into them. This is my third time doing the bingo!

Small town- We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson.

sci-fi space opera - "Shards of Earth" by Adrian Tchaikovsky

For Bards - The Deadlands: Hunted by Skye Melki-Wegner is a middle grade dinosaur adventure, and one of the main characters is a storyteller! Super fun series so far.

For space opera, you might dig House of Suns by Alistair Reynolds. He was an astrophysicist, so he does big concept scifi like you saw in 3 body -- hardcore physics, BDOs (big dumb objects), etc. But its much more approachable for us non-physicists, and actually has great writing and characters

Space Opera: I really enjoyed Chilling Effect By Valerie Valdes. Not super long, got a lot of drama going on. It does get a little bit repetitive (I think there's 3 mini-arcs with the exact. Same. Formula) for a while, but then iirc it does break from that when it introduces a new sub plot

If you have never tried the Pellinor books by Alison Croggon, they hit the bard promot.

For the Survival category: For Whom the Selkie Sings. Historical fantasy involving merfolk. An obscure, ocean-based survival novella.

I think a court of mist and fury would fit in the dreams category

the Fifth Elephant was one of my fav Discworlds as a teen, can't wait to see how you get on with it! (the Josh Kirby cover is gorgeous btw) 🔥🐘🔥

Space Opera: Empire of Silence Dark academia: Will of the Many/deadly education

I would recommend Bujold any day for Space Opera. I love her books, especially Cetaganda and Cryoburn. The relativity of morals and ethics, political intrigues and actually smart character.

Dark Academia - Ninth House or A Deadly Education! Non fic reccs - How Not to Die (Nutritional book, not survival!) Pathogensis (an overview of world history with a germ focused lens)

Pick up the next Vorkosigan book - that'll cover you for either Space Opera or Character With a Disability! Another space opera rec: The Player of Games by Iain M Banks; it's short (about 300 pages) and though there are other books set in the same universe, it stands alone.

For Space Opera A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

I know you already have a Pratchett on the list, but Orc, Trolls, Goblins, Oh my is perfect for Thud! or Snuff.

Would've recommended you Sun Eater my favourite current publishing series but its 6 books in and the 7th is due for next year so it doesn't fit your taste for the space operas not being too large unfortunately.

wonder what merph looks like with hair middle-parted. is that bookcase in merph's house or at barnes & nobles?

The Expanse is totally worth it. It's a bit long but I think it compares nicely to other books you like.

I love planning my card every year but rarely end up finishing it.

For the dream prompt, maybe the Sandman Series by Neil Gaiman?

Survival non-fiction: 1) Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival 2) Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors 3) The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride

Horns by Joe hill takes place in a small town

Space Opera: The expanse (a little long but worth a read).

For the orcs and goblins type of fantasy try Dragonbone chair and space opera definitely Empire of Silence (Suneater)

For Dark Academia I have recently enjoyed Ninth House and Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo. Additionally I have nearly finished the Scholomance trilogy by Naomi Novik, and it is excellent as well!

For survival fiction, Whalefall has gotten tons of good reviews. It’s on my radar, but I haven’t read it yet.

For a survival non-fiction book. Unbroken. A story about Louis Zamperini. He was a WWII pilot who crashed in the Pacific. He had to survive on a raft in the ocean and then survive when he was discovered by the Japanese.

Recommendation for dreams: The Shadow of What was Lost. Small town: Bookshops and Bonedust.

Dark Academia- Never Night by Jay Kristoff (School for assations, great world building) Dreams- Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor (Might be a little bit of a stretch but main character is guided by a dream) Small Town- The Hidden by Melanie Golding (Small Coastal Town with selkie)

I’m doing Tigana for Bards (But you already have a Guy Gavriel Kay book anyways) I’m gonna do a Stephen king book for 90s and I’m using Thud! For Orcs Trolls and Goblins. I just finished the City Watch series today and I read thud! In April and just read snuff so either of those would count. I think any city watch discworld works for that. For character with a disability I’m going for Iron Widow, for space opera, Leviathan Wakes, for survival, Chain-Gang All-Stars and dreams The Spear Cuts Through Water. I went through the recommendations on r/fantasy and chose Sword of Kaigen for small town. I’m doing The Will of the Many for Dark Academia because I was already planning to read it but might swap it for Ninth House, Bunny, or A Study In Drowning. I haven’t decided 😅 probably whichever I read first.

I'd say that if you haven't read it yet, you should give The Secret History by Donna Tartt a try (for Dark Academia) since that's the book that started it all. It's one of my top 5 books of all time.

For Survival stories I really enjoyed In The Heart of The Sea by Nathanial Philbrick, Erebus by Michael Palin (or the fictional account of it, which is one of my favourite horror books, The Terror by Dan Simmons) and The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown (or its not as great fictional account, The Hunger by Alma Katsu). For Bards, I was shocked how much I loved A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross, was so lyrical and fantastical, felt like the right mix of a fairytale and a dream.

For dreams, possibly Elric by Michael Moorcock if you have not already read it.

For "Orcs, Trolls & Goblins" i recomend Priest, by Matt Colville. It's a self published book from a Videogame Narrative Writer, about a retired adventurer going back into adventuring. The best part is: it has the coolest tropes, like Found Family, Old Strong Friendships, Ancient Artifacts from Lost Civilization etc. The character work is just amazing, highly recommend it! It's also the first book from a series of 5. By now, the first and second are out, and the third is being written

This is my 3rd year participating in r/fantasy bingo, I found some new favorites. I hope Murphy does too 😆🔥

Weeee! I'm so glad to see you're participating in the Reddit Fantasy Bingo this year! Welcome! 😁 I found the prompts this year to be quite fun! It would also be nice if you'd make a recommendation video for the rest of us 😎 Regarding the recs - I'm planning to read Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente and hope that with such a title, it _has_ to be an actual space opera 😆 (not a scifi reader, thus I am not knowledgeable with scifi sub-genres) It is pitched as Eurovision IN SPACE!, and that just sounds super silly in all of the best ways 😆Also, it under 300 pages ☺

Space Opera: These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs! Orcs Trolls and Goblins: Orconomics Dark Academia: have you read Ninth House? I don’t have any other recommendations off the top of my head but I’m also participating! I’ve got my board lined up and I’m starting it next month

I'm late to this, but if you are still looking for recommendations and still considering a non-fiction survival book having enjoyed The Wager and Endurance, perhaps try out: - Madhouse at the end of the Earth, by Julian Sancton; or - Erebus: The story of a ship, by Michael Palin

-"published in the 90's" Lions of Al-Rassan also works for their (thats what im reading for that square) - "Orc, Trolls, & Goblins Oh My" any of the Discworld City watch fit - Temeraire works for that square but not for having a map, none of my copies have a map (kindle and physical), but it has appendices which count. - "Book Club" Hichhickers Guide works, but its not for just any book club only the ones in the description. - Im using "The Tainted Cup" for Disability and "Stormlight Archive 5" for 2024 published

For Bards, I would recommend The Stray Spirit by R.K. Ashwick

For dreams, how about Neil Gaiman’s Sandman?

For the Bards prompt, I'm planning to read A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross as I've heard it recommended by a few people!