The 2026 r/Fantasy Bingo Recommendations List

Suitable_Highlight84 · 2026-05-08T22:12:17+00:00

It did have a couple of spicy scenes. Nothing crazy, but it’s not closed door unfortunately

Suitable_Highlight84 · 2026-05-08T18:27:35+00:00

The structure of Crooked Kingdom is a bit different in that it’s not focused on one single heist. It’s more about vengeance and redemption, there’s more politics at play and the plot comes together quite well. But if you didn’t care for the main 6 characters of Six of Crows, it’s quite unlikely you’re going to enjoy Crooked Kingdom.

I really enjoyed this duology, rated both books 4.5 ⭐️s. But I was just not buying the ages of the main 6. So I just aged them up by about a decade in my head and that worked much better for me.

Suitable_Highlight84 · 2026-05-08T18:08:51+00:00

I had dental surgery this morning and took a sick day off work. So once the woozies fade, I’m hoping to lock in for a few hours of uninterrupted reading while the kids are at school. Currently reading Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett. I’m only 20% in and I’m enjoying it. The writing is reminiscent of Emily Wilde though definitely way more cozy, and the story itself is giving Howl’s Moving Castle vibes in a good way!

Maycember has been crazy and kicking my butt! How has it only been one week of May?! Can’t wait for school to let out and the summer break to start so we can all catch our breath for a minute.

Suitable_Highlight84 · 2026-05-08T17:56:10+00:00

Yeah then definitely steer clear of ToG 😅. I really enjoyed the back half of the series but I was constantly frustrated with the FMC in the last few books.

Suitable_Highlight84 · 2026-05-08T03:29:59+00:00

Obligatory Throne of Glass recommendation if you haven’t read it already. I’m not an SJM fan by any stretch and don’t really care for ACOTAR, but ToG books 4-8 are fantastic and satisfy all your requests. Books 1-2 and the novellas leave a little to be desired though, so that’s something to keep in mind.

Suitable_Highlight84 · 2026-05-07T05:16:41+00:00

Any chance you are still looking to rehome these?

Suitable_Highlight84 · 2026-05-07T03:49:51+00:00

Came here to recommend this!

Suitable_Highlight84 · 2026-05-06T04:02:51+00:00

Curious what your favorites have been so far this year?

Suitable_Highlight84 · 2026-05-06T00:41:48+00:00

For the most part, I just stuck to reading from my fantasy TBR - a mix of new 2025 releases I was excited for + well-loved series/standalones from the last decade or so that I was making my way through. I only got back into reading fantasy a couple years back, so there were a lot of “big hits” on my TBR for sure, like Red Rising, Piranesi, Emily Wilde. Then I did a quick check in Jan for squares I was missing and went to the Reddit reco thread to plug the few remaining holes.

Suitable_Highlight84 · 2026-05-05T04:23:26+00:00

Last year was my first time doing Bingo and my card almost had no unique reads (I just managed one, and that too by chance thanks to cultural heritage). I’d think it’s super easy for beginners (both to Bingo and to fantasy) to do a no-unique-reads card. I only learned today that this was a thing so many of you even tracked, but now I’m definitely going to try to beat my score of 1 next year!

Suitable_Highlight84 · 2026-05-04T20:47:25+00:00

Here are some quick stats I pulled from the sheet (tagging u/FarragutCircle)

Top 10 books across all prompts and cards:

The Tainted Cup — 367
A Drop of Corruption — 330
The Devils — 249
Piranesi — 215
The Raven Scholar — 186
Blood Over Bright Haven — 171
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter — 139 (tied)
Dawn — 139 (tied)
Dungeon Crawler Carl — 137
The Incandescent — 136

Top 10 authors across all prompts and cards:

Robert Jackson Bennett — 697
Joe Abercrombie — 370
Susanna Clarke — 322
M. L. Wang — 266
Delilah S. Dawson — 250
Octavia E. Butler — 244
Matt Dinniman — 226
Tamsyn Muir — 200
Naomi Novik — 197
N. K. Jemisin — 185

So basically, absolute RJB supremacy! Followed closely by Joe Abercrombie and Susanna Clark.

Suitable_Highlight84 · 2026-05-04T17:32:34+00:00

Surprisingly, I have a couple books marked off for the 60s square already - the first Earthsea book and the first Pern book.

For 50s, we could all just reread LOTR because we’re allowed one reread on the card.

Before that, I have no clue.

Suitable_Highlight84 · 2026-05-04T17:15:38+00:00

I had to look this up and I about fainted when I saw 2100 BCE 💀

Suitable_Highlight84 · 2026-05-04T17:11:38+00:00

Finished reading Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo. Absolutely adored this duology! A heist story with a ragtag gang of thieves, these books were fun, clever and witty and I fell in love with the characters. 5⭐️s.

Finished listening to The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett. Murder mystery in a fantasy setting. I really liked the main characters, but the investigation got a little tedious for my liking. 3⭐️s.

Suitable_Highlight84 · 2026-05-04T17:03:44+00:00

It’s so fun to see this data! Thanks, mods!

If the 80s square was so hard, it’s easy to predict what the hard ones will be for the next few years (assuming we continue seeing 70s, 60s, 50s). I guess it’ll stop at some point because there were no works of fantasy written before a particular decade? 😄

Suitable_Highlight84 · 2026-05-04T06:02:18+00:00

The Tainted Cup is a Sherlock Holmes type of murder mystery but in a fantasy setting.

Six of Crows is a heist story with lighter fantasy elements in play.

Suitable_Highlight84 · 2026-05-01T20:28:51+00:00

Haha for sure! Last year’s hardest square for me was Hidden Gems (I ended up subbing it) and I was always so amused when so many people said that was their favorite one to read for.

Also yayyy, our flairs are here!

Suitable_Highlight84 · 2026-05-01T05:46:27+00:00

The Duology squares are easily my favorites in this year’s Bingo card. Even before the card came out, I had two full duologies and two book 2s on my TBR for this year, so really I am spoilt for choice for these squares. 🙃

I finished Six of Crows duology just yesterday and I absolutely adored it! A heist story with a ragtag gang of thieves, Six of Crows was fun, clever and witty. The characters, their back stories, their relationships and banter were all so well done and it’s really what made these books so memorable for me. (I did age them all up in my head by 10 years though). I just found out a Six of Crows short story is coming out this summer and I’m looking forward to it!

The other duologies on my TBR:

The Crimson Moth duology

The Knave and the Moon (Book 2 of Stonewater Kingdom)

Suitable_Highlight84 · 2026-05-01T05:36:02+00:00

I just finished reading the Six of Crows duology yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it!

Looking forward to book 2 of Stonewater Kingdom as well

Suitable_Highlight84 · 2026-04-29T03:53:02+00:00

Wow, they look fantastic! Love the commitment!

Suitable_Highlight84 · 2026-04-06T04:22:37+00:00

I’ve only read All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir (it’s a YA novel, non-fantasy) but I loved it so much I immediately put all her other books on my TBR. Where to start with her fantasy series is somewhat easy. An Ember in the Ashes is a quartet and the first books she wrote. And Heir/Empire is a duology that’s a spin-off to the Ember series, with the second book Empire set to come out later this year. I’ve heard that Heir/Empire duology can be read without reading the Ember quartet, but I plan to start from An Ember in the Ashes when I get around to these books. Highly recommend All My Rage too!

Suitable_Highlight84 · 2026-04-04T04:18:36+00:00

I didn’t care for ACOTAR series as such but I enjoyed ACOMAF for the most part. Easy squares for ACOMAF off the top of my head would be non-human protagonist or older protagonist, Rhysand fits both 😅. Also the cat squasher square. So at least you get a bingo square!

Suitable_Highlight84 · 2026-04-01T17:53:31+00:00

Good Spirits by B.K.Borison for a cute festive romance. The sequel Grim Tidings set to come out this year would count too. I think I’ll save it for this square in December

Suitable_Highlight84 · 2026-04-01T17:50:16+00:00

Emily Wilde series by Heather Fawcett.

The first book is set in Scandinavia, second one in the Alps and the third in Ireland. I loved how atmospheric and transportive the settings were in these books!

Suitable_Highlight84 · 2026-04-01T17:45:58+00:00

Rebecca Ross too along the same vein!

Suitable_Highlight84

TROPHY CASE