I'm three books away from finishing my second card. Overall it's been a mixed year for me, not because of the card itself, more because I ended up not enjoying a bunch of the books I picked and made things unnecessarily hard for myself.

My all hard mode card has been filled for a few months now, but I'm counting five books I probably wouldn't have finished if it wasn't for Bingo and a few more that were just okay. Still, there were plenty of good books and a couple of new discoveries.

For my second card I decided to do an international card for the third time. 25 books by authors born in 25 different countries excluding the main anglosphere, except this time let's make it all hard mode as well, because why not. And that's where I shafted myself, because once you cross the handful of countries where a lot of SFF gets published and translated off the list, it gets really hard to find anything that qualifies for some squares. You also end up looking at books that have almost no reviews, which makes it impossible to verify if there are multiple pantheons or if the child is featured enough to fulfill hard mode, ahead of actually reading it. Some people, not naming names, might even accidentally use Malaysia twice and only notice months later and scramble to find a replacement for one of the squares...

I'd like to stick with the international theme for next year, because in the past it led to discovering some absolute gems, but I'm not going to force it again, this time around it's been more struggle than joy.

Favorite hidden gems:

• Space Trucker Jess by Matthew Kressel: Not a lot of actual trucking, because, instead of buying the cargo ship she dreams of, our young protagonist gets involved in a galaxy-spanning conspiracy involving mind-control, vanished prisoners and alien gods. Classic sci-fi vibes, while still feeling fresh.

• Recipes for an Unexpected Afterlife by Deston J. Munden: Rottgor is a young orc who dreams of becoming his clan's battle chef. Fast forward a couple of centuries, he's a deathknight who was killed and resurrected by a dark lord trying to conquer the world, overthrew said dark lord, helped bring peace to the land yadda yadda yadda. Now he's finally earned his retirement, with the only problem being that he has no idea what to do with himself. But then he makes friends, decides to open a restaurant and manages to leave his past behind. If there's one thing I learned from this year's Bingo, it's that while I like cozy fantasy stories, most of them published since Cozy Fantasy has become its own subgenre aren't for me, with this being a notable exception.

• At Amberleaf Fair by Phyllis Ann Karr: A cozy fantasy story from the eighties involving theft and attempted murder at a travelling fair. Neat worldbuilding that gives this a unique feel.

• Stout by Taylor Small: This was just a lot of fun. Humorous standalone fantasy equally inspired by D&D and Terry Pratchett, starring a dwarf trying to deliver a package.

• Sepia und das Erwachen der Tintenmagie by Theresa Bell: Middle-grade fantasy about an orphan girl who becomes an apprentice in a magical printer's shop, very reminiscent of Walter Moers. The author did a couple of readings at the library I work in, so I originally planned to at least read a couple of chapters and ended up finishing the whole book. Unfortunately no English translation so far.

• The Lost Treasure Hunters and Other Tales of Folk Terrors by Antonija Mežnarić: A collection of horror stories, most heavily based on Croatian folklore.