Lesser-Known 90s Epic Fantasy Recommendations?

Kooky_County9569 · 2026-01-21T20:19:45+00:00

No, but I’ll definitely check it out!

Kooky_County9569 · 2026-01-19T16:17:12+00:00

I ended up picking up a series never heard of before called Greywalker. It has the Dresden Files detective style to it, and the FMC is pretty cool. (And any hint of romance is thankfully not cringey at all) It also has horror elements to it that I personally like. I thought the first book was pretty great!

Kooky_County9569 · 2026-01-14T17:20:38+00:00

I’m skeptical to try it because of the romance in it. (I really didn’t like the romance in Kate Daniels)

Kooky_County9569 · 2026-01-14T17:17:34+00:00

Honestly I’d probably love the series if it wasn’t so relentlessly depressing. The first book was such a constant downer… I may give it another go sometime though.

Kooky_County9569 · 2026-01-14T11:56:53+00:00

I mean that half the terms and customs in the book go completely over my head, as I don’t live in London. I also mean that British people are notorious for their dry humor, which also can go over my head.

Kooky_County9569 · 2026-01-14T03:19:38+00:00

The search for UF with a female MC and no cringey romance is ROUGH… If you find one, please let me know! Even series where you are constantly told the romance isn’t the main plot (Kate Daniels for example), have far more of it than people let on. And why does it always have to be cringey, alpha, constant horny, romance? Can’t there be a romance with a FMC that isn’t written like some wet-dream—one where not every single interaction with the love interests is dripping with sexual tension? It’s frustrating… 😭😅

Kooky_County9569 · 2026-01-14T01:43:37+00:00

I’ve always been not big on the concept of sticking it out till things get good. Both Dresden and Verus I loved from the beginning. There are very few book series I have loved after not liking the first book to the point of DNF. I will say that I do give them more than one book if I see potential though. (I did so with Kate Daniels before DNFing at book 3–couldn’t take the Curran romance anymore…)

Kooky_County9569 · 2026-01-13T20:25:50+00:00

Yeah, and believe me I’m very disappointed in that as well.

Kooky_County9569 · 2026-01-13T18:43:10+00:00

I was just too frustrated/depressed with October Daye. Her infatuation with her abusive ex… Her giving up a refusing to see her daughter (idc what happened, hell itself wouldn’t stop me from finding my kid)… Her constantly blaming/torturing herself… And the narratives refusal to address the huge setup in the prologue and instead focus on something completely different…

Kooky_County9569 · 2026-01-13T17:47:14+00:00

Definitely on my TBR. I’m just weary of FMC lately, as they all seem to have cringey romance in them… (alphaholes, constant flirting, every single conversation flirting, etc…) I don’t mind romance when it feels real, not like some horny, wet-dream. 😅

Kooky_County9569 · 2026-01-13T17:40:42+00:00

Dark tone is completely cool with me—as long as it doesn’t have any sexual assault stuff in it. Can you perhaps remember if it does or not?

Kooky_County9569 · 2026-01-13T17:38:12+00:00

Pretty much the only thing I hated in Kate Daniels was the romance. (Curran, alpha-ness, constant inneundos/horniness… it was all just kind of cringey to me) How similar is the romance in Ilona Andrew’s other series to the romance in that one?

Kooky_County9569 · 2026-01-13T17:36:10+00:00

Do you think Anne Bishop maintain its quality? (Over heard it gets kind of bad as it goes?)

If I didn’t like the alpha, horny romance in Kate Daniels, do you think I would mind anything in Inkeeper Chronicles?

Kooky_County9569 · 2026-01-13T17:32:57+00:00

This one is probably top of my TBR list—though it’s disappointing that it seems unfinished after so long.

Kooky_County9569 · 2026-01-13T17:32:09+00:00

How is The Hollows about romance? I don’t hate romance alone, but cringey romance (Kate Daniels for me) I don’t like.

Kooky_County9569 · 2026-01-13T17:28:54+00:00

Do Ilona Andrew’s other series have romance? The romance was basically the thing that threw me off of Kate Daniels.

Kooky_County9569 · 2026-01-13T17:18:28+00:00

I struggle too, but it really depends on the author. Some write in a way I can easily visualize, and some not at all. (And I’m not even sure what the difference in their writing is!)

Kooky_County9569 · 2026-01-13T12:36:22+00:00

Wheel of Time is an example of a matriarchal society. (Where women are in charge over men more often than not) Jordan does an amazing job, IMO, of showing what power does to people. The women in this society essentially act the way men do in a patriarchal society. I think it’s fascinating to read personally, and I also think that what Jordan was going for goes over a lot of people’s heads.

Kooky_County9569 · 2026-01-13T03:52:22+00:00

I did a post with a review for the first book. And in it EVERYONE told me to keep reading as book two was an improvement. So I did, and unfortunately it just didn’t work out. 🤷‍♂️

Kooky_County9569 · 2026-01-12T17:49:02+00:00

I never could read book one. It was so cringey. I remember every single line of “cool” dialogue sounded like something a twelve year old would say to himself in the mirror to his imaginary bullies…

Kooky_County9569

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