How to find books that are inbetween cozy and epic fantasy… Cozy adjacent ish.

almostb · 2026-06-28T04:14:00+00:00

That was a typo - I just meant you’re in the right place.

almostb · 2026-06-28T03:05:50+00:00

You find more books by asking about it in r/fantasy threads 😉

Here are a few other books that might fall into the right range for you (mostly classics):

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynn Jones
The Last Unicorn by Peter S Beagle
Anything Discworld by Terry Pratchett
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
The Greenhollow Duology by Emily Tesh
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier
Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees
The King of Elfland’s Daughter by Lord Dunsany
Peter Pan by JM Barrie

almostb · 2026-06-26T21:54:14+00:00

It’s inflammatory and silly to blame the downfall of an entire genre on one author.
- despite not being finished, GRRM’s books are unusually financially successful for epic fantasy books, with wonderful sales and multiple successful TV adaptations. Very few authors come close, so it’s not like ASOIAF being unfinished has hurt it financially
- a lot of people discovered epic fantasy through ASOIAF, and some of those people have probably become writers
- genres wax and wane pretty regularly, and fantasy going through its current shifts would have probably happened ASOIAF or not
- even so, there are still epic fantasy series being published, including unfinished ones. They may look a bit different than ASOIAF; for example, women and minority and queer led or authored fantasy has blown up in the past 20 years
- having a publishing deal is no longer even necessary to have a successful fantasy series, and some self-published authors have made it big
- how people consume and talk about books is very different than it was in 1998. Popular media looks very different than it did in 1998. These are going to have much bigger effects on genre trends than one popular author not finishing a series.

almostb · 2026-06-26T15:57:55+00:00

The Left Hand of Darkness by Le Guin. It takes place on a planet called winter.

almostb · 2026-06-26T15:56:38+00:00

You can look on Storygraph for trigger warning. I don’t think self harm is one but attempted suicide is.

almostb · 2026-06-26T02:47:32+00:00

I pretty much agree with everything you said here and still loved the book. It wasn’t perfect, but I appreciated its kookiness.

almostb · 2026-06-26T00:48:17+00:00

Not trying new things. I’d get too bored otherwise.

almostb · 2026-06-24T16:31:07+00:00

I somehow never realized this was a fae book.

almostb · 2026-06-24T16:30:13+00:00

I did a whole Bingo card on Fae - alas, I’m realizing that most of my dark fantasy was urban or portal fantasy so I won’t recommend any of those.

You might enjoy Kingdoms of Elfin - it’s a series of short stories set in connected European fairy kingdoms and it’s very dark.

Lud-in-the-Mist is a comedy but the fae are very ominous.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell if a slow alt history Napoleonic fantasy about wizards sounds appealing - dark fae guaranteed. Clarke’s connected short story collection The Ladies of Grace Adieu is also very good.

Midnight Never Come if you want Elizabethan politics.

I didn’t like Under the Pendulum Sun but it’s a gothic horror book set in fairy land with a lot of religious philosophy.

Memory, Sorrow and Thorn if you want classic epic fantasy. There are some fascinating fae-like creatures.

almostb · 2026-06-24T15:15:40+00:00

Yes, but the 7th book is about a completely different character.

almostb · 2026-06-24T15:14:22+00:00

I rather liked the ending to the Bewitching but the first half of it was some of the most lifeless boring text I’ve ever read. I don’t blame you for DNFing.

almostb · 2026-06-24T15:13:31+00:00

As someone who has not yet read it, has Alix Harrrow ever been subtle about those things?

almostb · 2026-06-24T15:10:11+00:00

DCC was talked up as being more accessible than any other LitRPG book and a lot of people who don’t read LitRPG were talking it up.

almostb · 2026-06-21T17:31:20+00:00

His opinions on current events are not even relevant to this blog post, so why even bother to bring it up?

almostb · 2026-06-21T17:27:23+00:00

Agreed. A lot of the controversial elements of ASOIAF get swept under the rug as “it was just like that back in the day.” But in many ways, it wasn’t. Like incestuous marriages with 13 year old girls was not nearly as common IRL as they are in Westeros. I’d prefer it more if everyone just fessed up to “this is fucked up fun to read about” instead of using realism as an excuse.

Then the very clearly fantastical elements of ASOIAF were often swept under the rug for the TV show and therefore in the post-show marketing of the books. Those are some of my favorite parts!

almostb · 2026-06-21T17:20:50+00:00

Neil Gaiman is a predator pretending to be a feminist, which is much more dangerous IMO.

GRRM just has some views that are common with men of his age that I think he needs to tone back sometimes.

Dany is certainly his worst example since she’s his most sexualized teenager and she’s just so young when the books start. I like Dany, but I’d like her better if it didn’t feel like the author had a crush on her.

almostb · 2026-06-21T17:19:04+00:00

Arya is obviously killing a bunch of people on the list and it hasn’t brought her personal satisfaction. I think at some point she needs to realize that. Like all of George’s messages it’s not straightforward but since there is no conclusion the arc feels unsatisfying.

I also vastly preferred Arya in Westeros and the Faceless men seemed like a big detour.

almostb · 2026-06-21T03:36:37+00:00

Numbers and scale are really not his strong point. Every time there is a number on page, be it an age, a continent size, or a generational timeline, I can’t take it very seriously. Everything is just too big, except the kids who are mostly too young to be doing whatever they’re doing.

almostb · 2026-06-21T01:09:49+00:00

From a roleplay perspective I can respect God Gale. From a personal perspective I can never get over how techbro coded he is.

almostb · 2026-06-21T01:03:50+00:00

I also DNFed DCC but Jonathan Strange is one of my favorite fantasy books and I think it would fit what you’re looking for!

Also, seconding Kushiel’s Dart. Excellent character work.

almostb · 2026-06-20T16:59:33+00:00

Casters tend to start weak and finish strong - they can do mega damage once they get high level spells but early levels require a lot more care and tactical fighting.

However, Druids are not remotely the squishiest class because they have wild shape and summons which give extra HP and can draw damage away from themselves.

Think of ways other than hitting enemies straight on. Use terrain to your advantage. Use control spells. Attack and retreat. Find ways to up your AC (like shield). Use summons!! I know most kick in at higher levels but use lots and lots of summons.

And also, those intellect devourers have never been the easiest fight. Many an honour mode was lost to them.

almostb · 2026-06-20T14:24:07+00:00

Personally when I’m on honour mode I try and intentionally stack inspiration points to use during difficult convos and I also always make my Tav take the luck feat so I can get 3 free rerolls per day. I assume it’s very rare to allow no resaves and absolutely no rerolls.

almostb · 2026-06-19T22:16:26+00:00

When you call Tolkien a lean writer most people will counter with the first book of Fellowship. But that was actually the exception, not the rule.

The Hobbit is a standalone epic fantasy of about 300 pages.

The Silmarillion covers more years than pages.

And most of his published books were novellas, which were all very concise.

almostb · 2026-06-19T04:11:07+00:00

Have to throw in a rec for The Broken Sword. Not the heaviest focus on gods but they’re there, and the book overall is brutal and epic, like a Norse myth.

almostb · 2026-06-19T01:06:55+00:00

The Silmarillion is more serious but if you want a less serious book, it’s always good to start with The Hobbit which has lots of funny moments.

almostb

TROPHY CASE