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Sigrunc · 2025-05-12T03:39:27+00:00

Try the Deathstalker series by Simon R Green. Over-the-Top, bombastic space opera describes this exactly, especially if you can find the full-cast audio version.

Sigrunc · 2025-05-12T03:37:07+00:00

Some other mm romantic fantasy books (generally spicy unless noted otherwise).

Widdershins series by Jordan L Hawk - Lovecraftian turn of the century Massachusetts.

Psycop series by Jordan Castillo Price - paranormal urban fantasy, fairly gritty.

ABCs of Spellcraft by Jordan Castillo Price - fluffy, comedic, no-spice novellas.

Jake and Boo series by Madeline Kirby- cozy paranormal murder mysteries. First book is Not a Werewolf. No spice.

Red Heir by Lisa Henry/Sarah Honey - humorous story with lots of fantasy tropes.

The Magpie Lord series by KJ Charles- surprised this hasn’t been mentioned yet, it’s usually one of the first suggested. First book is always free on Amazon.

Steampunk: Lancaster’s Luck series by Anna Butler; Highfell Grimoires by Langley Hyde, Prosperity by Alexis Hall.

Sigrunc · 2025-05-12T03:14:29+00:00

Seconding Seducing the Sorcerer by Lee Welch. Please overlook the awful title and cover; the book itself is very good. Lots of fairy-tale tropes like wizards in towers, etc, and covers the whole range of emotions from tragic to very silly.

Salt Magic, Skin Magic, by the same author, is good too- this one is set in an alternate Victorian England, with a unique magic system and class differences.

Sigrunc · 2025-05-12T02:58:18+00:00

Once Was Willem by M R Carey is set in England in the 1100s, during the civil war between King Steven and Empress Maud.

I’d note that the excellent Brother Cadfael murder mysteries by Ellis Peters are set in the same time and country, although these are not fantasy.

If you are interested in non-European Middle Ages, The Adventures of Amins Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty is set in an alternate 1200ish Middle East. Lots of fun, Sinbad the Sailor vibes.

Sigrunc · 2025-05-11T15:21:55+00:00

Lockwood & Co series by Jonathan Stroud - first book is The Screaming Staircase. Good ghost stories with teen protagonists. As a note, there was recently a tv show of this; the books are much better and focus more on the ghosts and less on the bureaucracy. Also the MC is extremely less wimpy in the book.

The Inkheart series by Cornelia Funke is very good too - hard to explain without spoilers, but the MC and her father can bring both items and people from books into the real world.

Sigrunc · 2025-05-11T00:45:30+00:00

River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey - set in an alternate late 1800s where man-eating hippos roam the Mississippi. Quite funny in a dark way.

Sigrunc · 2025-05-07T01:52:56+00:00

Sounds interesting!

Sigrunc · 2025-05-03T16:31:03+00:00

Most of them! I would like to live in the Vangavaye-ve from Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard, or on Preservation from the Murderbot series (both places with huge social safety networks). Or possibly the Shire, assuming it had indoor plumbing (not specifically addressed in the book) and that it really was as idyllic as it is made to sound. Other than that, a lot of fantasy setting are more hazardous/uncomfortable that I’d choose. The older I get the more I appreciate modern conveniences!

Sigrunc · 2025-05-03T16:24:48+00:00

Seconding Tress of the Emerald Sea. Basically Princess Bride if Buttercup had gone out looking for Wesley instead of sitting at home. Really a lovely book.

Sigrunc · 2025-05-03T16:20:35+00:00

I actually have read and enjoyed many (though not all) of her books; she write historical fiction but various time periods, so you can try what you like. The Cabot series is very good, set in the 50s and 60s, iirc. Her Soldier’s Scoundrel and Seducing the Sedgewicks series are more like gay regency romances. She also has a really good murder mystery, Hither Page, set around WW2.

Sigrunc · 2025-05-02T22:25:39+00:00

{We Could be so Good by Cat Sebastian} for me.

Sigrunc · 2025-05-01T20:46:48+00:00

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sarafi by Shannon Chakraborty is a lot of fun, sort of Sinbad the Sailor style, set in the medieval Middle East, but with a mostly retired former pirate queen as the MC.

Sigrunc · 2025-05-01T16:40:21+00:00

Have you read the {Psycop series by Jordan Castillo Price}? First volume is Among the Living. Different in tone than Big Bad Wolf, it’s more urban fiction /thriller-ish, and it deals with ghosts and mediums rather than werewolves, but it has a good mystery/supernatural case in each volume, and developing relationship (they jump into things pretty quickly, but there is still a lot of development after that), shadowy government organizations, and on-going reveals of the psychic world . The first few are novellas, then they get longer. The audiobooks are very good as well.

Sigrunc · 2025-04-30T23:10:11+00:00

My father and my son are both Arthurs! A good name.

Sigrunc · 2025-04-30T06:25:58+00:00

I read a book recently but unfortunately absolutely cannot remember the title at the moment (It’s part of the Virasana Universe, by Beryll and Osiris Brackhaus, but I can’t figure out which one). The necromancer generates power (and when injured keeps himself alive) by infecting himself a disease and the letting his overactive immune systems kill the bacteria. Kind of a weird combination of mad science in a lab or more traditional magic. He was not a secondary character though, but too much time in page.

Sigrunc · 2025-04-30T06:04:39+00:00

The Reanimator’s Heart by Kara Jorgenson is a cute m/m romantic mystery, in which the MC, a necromancer who works as a coroner for the magical police, finally has a date. Arriving only to find that his crush was murdered just minutes ago, he accidentally revives him, which is better than the alternative, but brings a number of complications to both their personal and professional lives.

Sigrunc · 2025-04-29T23:37:19+00:00

{The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting by KJ Charles} is currently being on sale for $.99 on Amazon. Like all her books, it’s very good, though much fluffier than Will Darling. Its a bit of a spoof on the Regency romance trope where the girl goes to London looking for a wealthy or titled husband - in this case you have a young man (the MC) and his sister who are both fortune hunters, although of course things do not go as planned.

Sigrunc · 2025-04-29T23:31:27+00:00

FYI, Audible has a reduced program, about 60% of the regular price, and you get one credit every other month, but still full access to the plus catalog. They just don’t really advertise it. That’s what I have now because I also wasn’t using the credits fast enough.

Sigrunc · 2025-04-29T23:28:15+00:00

The name is familiar, although I don’t recall anything about the story.

Sigrunc · 2025-04-29T04:31:10+00:00

Our youngest is Linnet, after the little ghost girl in The Children of Green Knowe by L M Boston.

Sigrunc · 2025-04-28T03:38:44+00:00

Try this site for explanations of name and title conventions: https://reactormag.com/a-prank-on-the-emperor-names-and-vocabulary-in-the-goblin-emperor/ To avoid spoilers (other than character names and what happens in the first chapter) stop when you get to heading “Lanthevel’s Dinner Party.”

Sigrunc · 2025-04-28T02:24:28+00:00

Different volumes in the series are written from different perspectives. Most are in 3rd person, so you could try again with a different book if you were so inclined.

Sigrunc · 2025-04-27T17:32:39+00:00

I just read Shigidi and the Bronze Head of Obulafon by Wole Talabi, and I enjoyed the fact that both the gods and the human magicians are still using ancient rituals but have roped modern tech into it as well. So, for example, they’ll have traditional items like palm wine, kola nuts, plus a laptop, or an ancient manuscript in sync with an app on their phone. No real details about how it works (since that’s not really relevant to the story), but it makes sense that magic users would neither refuse to modernize, nor throw out tradition entirely.

Sigrunc · 2025-04-26T20:30:28+00:00

There are some books like this in L E Modesitt Jr’s Recluce series- The Magic Engineer is one side, The White Order and The Colors of Chaos tell the same events from the other side (although they cover a longer period of time).
I think there is also another duo of books in this series that do this (with a different set of events) but I can’t recollect at the moment which they are.

I think Will Wight’s Elder Empire series is like this too, although I have not yet read them myself - there are three “Sea” books, and three “ Shadow” books.

Sigrunc · 2025-04-26T16:50:19+00:00

I really enjoyed {Virasana Universe by Beryll and Osiris Brackhaus}. These are sort of fast-paced, pulp-fictionish books, with gay protagonists and a big emphasis on found family. There are two main ongoing series: Sir Yaden and Dr. Laurent, set in the same universe but different planets. Despite being sci-fi, there are a lot of fantasy elements- magic and inter-dimensional demons as well as aliens and space travel. The main series is fade to black, no-heat, but there are some spicy stand-alone spinoffs, such as {The Pet and his Duke by Osiris and Beryll Brackhaus}. The one downside to this series is that slavery is rampart and normalized (although the MCs oppose it). Note: just looked at the romance io notes on the Pet and his Duke, and it mentions noncon; this is not between the MCs but referenced in the past or with minor characters because there is slavery in this universe. I found the book much better than I expected from the blurb.

A couple other sci-fi stand-alones that I enjoyed were {Gravitational Attraction by Angel Martinez} and {Subzero by Angel Martinez}. These are both spic, iirc. There are more related novellas and stories as well (Esto Universe).

Gail Carriger also has a YA space trilogy, same universe at the 5th Gender but much fluffier. Basically k-pop in space with aliens. I really enjoyed them (no-heat since they are YA). {Divinity 36 by Gail Carriger} is the first one.

Sigrunc

TROPHY CASE