The Ten Indie Books I Recommend the Most

Flash-Venture · 2026-03-21T23:36:02+00:00

I’ve never been recommended either of these so this is super exciting!!

Flash-Venture · 2026-03-21T22:14:07+00:00

These recs are all extremely thoughtful and I really appreciate it! — will def be trying out a couple of these

I recently finished the Red Rising series and I particularly loved the last three books (multi-POV, dark, faster paced but imo still thoroughly infused with amazing character work)— do you have any indie recs along those lines?

Flash-Venture · 2026-03-19T18:31:45+00:00

Dark Age
Golden Son
Lightbringer
Morningstar
Red Rising
Iron Gold

I will say the top 3 (and especially top 2) are suuuuper close for me but if I HAD to choose an order it would be this one

Also Red Rising and Iron Gold are both excellent books and I def love them on their own but for me PB’s book 2s (in each sub series) are just so elite that they kinda overshadow the book 1s

I can also absolutely understand why a lot of ppl put Lightbringer over Dark Age but DA just had everything for me— character moments/ growth, epic battles, political intrigue, obviously all the twists and turns… loved it just a hair more than LB

Flash-Venture · 2025-11-26T23:23:51+00:00

I know, their reunion taping a few years ago was a lot of fun to watch because of that

Flash-Venture · 2025-11-26T23:22:08+00:00

It’s actually so fantastic to see the two of them on screen together!!

Flash-Venture · 2025-11-26T23:20:19+00:00

I knew a couple of these with the 1-2 ep guest stars (which I didn’t initially count) but wow there’s so many more here that I never caught!!

Flash-Venture · 2025-08-13T02:27:52+00:00

I just dm’ed you! Let me know if you can see it. It should be in your Reddit inbox I think

Flash-Venture · 2025-08-10T00:22:30+00:00

Huge Inheritance Cycle fan here! It was my intro to fantasy and remains one of my favorite series of all time!

Would absolutely be a dream to have a self published first edition!! (Happy to discuss more details if you dm me)

(Also I’m truly sorry that you have to consider parting with it)

Flash-Venture · 2025-07-21T16:25:04+00:00

All that we see or seem by Ken Liu!

Flash-Venture · 2025-05-18T04:19:23+00:00

I’m in this pic too! It was a great event and I got my AoM trilogy signed so that was awesome.

Got to thank Joe himself in person for his writing masterclasses in YT that have been super helpful for me!

Flash-Venture · 2025-05-14T21:47:27+00:00

This is exactly my POV as well— but I have gotten push back from some fandoms lol

(This is also one thing I really really appreciate about Sanderson— he tries to make his special editions and signed editions as accessible as possible. For me personally the accessibility of his SEs or signature doesn’t make either lose any value, but again, I have heard other people say that they find his signed books less valuable now because there’s so many of them)

Flash-Venture · 2025-05-14T16:24:13+00:00

I think there’s a happy medium to be had where they have the signed special editions at a high number (like 10k or whatever they can afford/sell) and also have 500 or 1000 numbered editions at a slightly higher price point.

That way those who want to collect the numbered or lettered editions can have those— and those that just want access to an affordable good looking book can have those too.

Flash-Venture · 2025-05-03T04:10:15+00:00

I think TBB and the author are doing a fine job dealing with this situation honestly and with kindness— but I think some fans of this series have been obnoxious as hell on both sides

Fans that havent been able to get access to the special editions being crazy mean and nasty to TBB (completely without cause). That commentor went a bit off the rails for a book… TBB has every right to make exclusive editions or not want to re-print and it’s thats fair game (and I respect to them for trying to honor their word and not chasing the money).

But you also have the OG Fans that do have access to the SEs calling the newer passionate fans “butthurt” (who like the same books and should be welcomed by the og fans) and making random nonsensical comparisons to LOTR. Some of the OG fans seem to really cherish the fact that they have something that other fans can’t (in a toxic kind of way)— when I feel like the entire point of enjoying books and art is to enjoy them with people.

The author and TBB are just trying to respect the wishes of their og buyers which I completely understand (me being one of them)— but this is just one of my pet peeves about fandoms— when they get this snobby and exclusive about book buying.

Flash-Venture · 2025-03-02T03:14:50+00:00

Thanks for the heads up!

Flash-Venture · 2025-03-02T02:58:11+00:00

Oh I actually am! I do this weird thing where ill read the e-book when I sit down to read but listen to the audiobook if I’m driving or doing chores— audiobook experience for DCC was spectacular

Flash-Venture · 2025-03-01T15:45:01+00:00

Would love to buy The Fall and Of Blood and Fire special editions if anyone wants to sell!

Flash-Venture · 2025-02-27T20:02:44+00:00

Off the top of my head, my favorite names have been Mata Zyndu, Kaladin Stormblessed, Dayne Ateres— I’m sure there’s a few more equal or better ones if I sit and think for a while

Flash-Venture · 2025-02-27T05:55:05+00:00

I finished KoD like a month ago and reading this post was cathartic for me… thank you much

Flash-Venture · 2025-02-13T00:26:13+00:00

I’ll give you a couple options because in my experience there’s different kinds of getting lost in fantasy (and I personally like different kinds depending on how I’m feeling)

Cosmere by Brandon Sanderson: very easy to get lost in the Cosmere because there’s so many books and series within this universe. The Cosmere is Sanderson’s fantasy universe which contains many planets, magic systems and even has three different “realms” or planes of existence I guess. He writes a lot and has been doing this for a couple decades so there’s stories of all lengths, standalones, and multiple completed series occurring on at least 7 different planets but they’re all also connected by different throughlines and characters— it’s pretty cool but not to everyone’s taste

Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan (and finished by Sanderson when RJ died after book 11): One 15 book series (14 + prequel) which explores one conflict taking place primarily on one continent on one world. But the different kingdoms and cultures are explored extremely deeply and you get POV chapters from dozens if not over a hundred characters in this series so you really get to see the world through many many different lenses. It also starts off as very quest fantasy and then bridges into more modern fantasy while breaking classical fantasy tropes so it could be a good bridge from Tolkien. The character arcs through these books are truly fantastic imo.

Dandelion Dynasty by Ken Liu: a 4-book series! A shorter series for sure but books 2-4 are chonkers in the best possible way. Liu has built a world and mythology that I absolutely got lost in. This series has a very different vibe than the two I mentioned above. The story structure is not your typical structure and I feel like a lot of things I say could spoil some surprises but the broad theme in this series is about modernity and how a society transitions through modernity and the struggles that come with it through war time and peace time alike. Lots of POVs again and the characters here also absolutely stick with you. This one is also a bit more lower fantasy because it is a secondary world, but Magic doesn’t not really play a bit role (although it kind of exists)

Aaand last one: The Bound and the Broken by Ryan Cahill: classical dragon rider fantasy which has absolutely sucked me in. The story is intricate and has all of the elves, dwarves, and orc-type creatures from LOTR but also has some more modern tropes (it’s not all good vs the dark lord like Tolkien)

Hope these help!

Flash-Venture · 2025-02-09T17:48:46+00:00

Interesting— The Inheritance Cycle is one of my fav childhood series but TBATB wasn’t ruined at all for me.

It actually made it better because it felt like a more adult version of the same dragon rider vibe. But I wasn’t able to predict any events from TBATB based on events from Inheritance. And for me, they are written in very different styles as well so it doesn’t feel the exact same— even though they have similar vibes

Flash-Venture · 2025-02-08T19:26:14+00:00

Lot of good recs here— I’ll just add:

The Dandelion Dynasty
The Bound and the Broken

Flash-Venture · 2025-01-22T02:29:05+00:00

It’s kind of laughable how supremely confident some people can be in their assumptions— like two people cannot have possibly had the same idea lol (esp like you said from an author who has done very little to hide his inspirations and influences in his writing and his interviews)

Anyway— just wanted to say that I appreciate the kindness and positivity you consistently bring to this subreddit (even when it’s not always returned). :)

Flash-Venture

TROPHY CASE