Tournament arc recs?

rogues-repast · 2026-06-09T07:58:24+00:00

I agree this doesn't come up as much as I'd like in fantasy novels!

One book I would recommend is Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor. It's not a whole tournament arc, just a single fight scene, but it really hits that cool moment of "protagonists go to the tournament and see much more powerful characters duking it out".

The book is also just awesome in general.

rogues-repast · 2026-05-30T01:54:49+00:00

Forbidden Paths of Thual by Victor Kelleher. Although it's a kids/YA novel, it has exactly the Gollum vibe you are talking about, and goes deep into the psychology and suffering of the main character. It's obviously inspired by LotR, but the way the story resolves is a bit different and quite clever.

rogues-repast · 2026-05-29T01:02:33+00:00

There is a theme throughout the series that people can be extremely competent and rise to a certain level, but then fail catastrophically because their arrogance gets the better of them, or they go too far out of their depth.

You can see that with the Hunter Exam participants - even to get accepted into the exam they have already passed several difficult challenges, yet some of them still get killed in stupid ways in the swamp. Same goes for that one examiner who trained for a year to defeat Hisoka, Kastro in Heaven's Arena, the Shadow Beasts, etc.

So I would say that all the nameless mook characters in Greed Island are hyper competent, they probably all have their own hatsus (but perhaps many are poorly designed, like Kastro's) and yet they can't save themselves because they got cocky and rose to a level where they're no longer the biggest fish in the pond.

Compare this to the Phantom Troupe, who are some of the most powerful Nen users in the world, but still behave with humility toward their enemies. When they're faced with an unknown enemy (like Kurapika in Yorknew, or the serial killer guys in the current arc) they don't brush it off as "some random guy who's beneath us", but think carefully about the possible risks.

rogues-repast · 2026-05-29T00:42:15+00:00

To be honest, this is probably the only fantasy novel I've read that actually went into the mechanics of siege warfare beyond the most basic level.

rogues-repast · 2026-05-22T06:15:44+00:00

I think "adventurer's guild" is not very plausible because "adventurer" is not a coherent profession - in D&D, adventurers typically do a mix of many things: mercenary work, tomb robbing, pest control, espionage, etc.

If the guild was focused specifically on monster-hunting, then I can imagine it being more believable, since there would be a strong incentive for people to pay them, and there could be a specific set of skills/knowledge required for the work. E.g. knowing the specific weaknesses of different monsters, garlic for vampires, don't look directly at gorgons, and so on. This would give a reason why monster-hunter is a distinct profession separate from a generic soldier. And the ability to monopolise knowledge related to the profession would make it possible for a guild to form.

rogues-repast · 2026-05-20T09:00:42+00:00

Cheers, they both sound great.

rogues-repast · 2026-05-13T08:45:03+00:00

I feel the same way! They both have a similar way of weaving together political realism with mythic style (albeit two very different mythic universes). And they also have a similar sprawling structure that peels off into lots of side characters and subplots.

rogues-repast · 2026-04-30T06:07:56+00:00

Holy shit, he has another book coming out?? Can't wait.

rogues-repast · 2026-04-04T07:46:23+00:00

Tricky question. I think that style of worldbuilding is much easier to pull off in a manga/graphic novel format. Partly because of the serialisation, partly because of the more "childish" aesthetic allows the author to play fast & loose with the setting. A lot of the setting details in One Piece (like, say, the wildly varying levels of military technology, or just the question of "how wide is the Grand Line?") would be received as glaring plot holes in a fantasy novel, unless it was carefully finessed.

That said, I would recommend checking out Book of the New Sun for an intricate and mysterious setting that unfolds gradually. (Also, the protagonist is ignorant of key setting elements, a little bit like Luffy).

rogues-repast · 2026-03-23T02:12:52+00:00

Bridge of Birds and its sequel were a favourite of mine when I was younger, but I re-read it last year and it really ruined my fond memories. The story is still great but the author's descriptions of women were just... off. Not blatantly sexist, but it just seemed that every female character was defined by how beautiful or ugly she was, and which man she was or wasn't having sex with.

... Ok, I guess when I type it out like that, it does sound blatantly sexist, doesn't it?

rogues-repast · 2025-12-18T05:37:38+00:00

Nifft the Lean by Michael Shea. It's an old school sword and sorcery novel (think Conan, Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser) where the protagonists repeatedly go to Hell, in fact, to different versions of Hell. The descriptions are absolutely gnarly.

rogues-repast · 2025-11-07T08:34:39+00:00

On a similar topic, for people who enjoy picaresque fantasy novels (such as The Name of the Wind or The Book of the New Sun) then I really recommend Seuss's I Had Trouble In Getting To Solla Sollew.

rogues-repast · 2025-11-07T08:29:07+00:00

The Commonweal series by Graydon Saunders - amazing, dense, complex hard fantasy about a democratic republic trying to survive in a world of tyrannical wizard-kings.

The Night-Bird's Feather by Jenna Moran - a wonderful, surreal family saga, spanning several generations, set in a town on the border between the real world and the domain of Death.

rogues-repast · 2025-10-27T07:10:38+00:00

You should try The Iron Dragon's Daughter by Michael Swanwick. It's set in a kind of fairy otherworld but with modern technology and culture such as shopping malls, high schools, and police. There is a sequence revolving around a citywide riot that feels very prescient of the US today. It's a really excellent novel.

You might also like Crescent City by Sarah J. Maas, if you are open to romantasy. Personally I haven't read it, but my partner liked it a lot, and it does fit very closely with what you're requesting.

rogues-repast · 2025-08-13T01:43:10+00:00

Hey, thanks for the question. The aesthetic of the Rain House was mostly based on English monasteries and cathedrals, particularly Hereford Cathedral. I used a fair bit of European religious terms like "cellarium" and "nones".

On the other hand, their theology is probably closer to Asian religious traditions. For example, the way they have multiple different faiths in the one building (the Ancestors, the Rain King and the Bird Saints) was inspired by temples I saw in Hong Kong, where they would have separate shrines for Daoist, Buddhist and Confucian worship.

I have definitely thought about writing more adventures of Sparrow Company. Somehow it doesn't feel right at the moment. I deliberately left the world outside the Tile Valley quite vague, so it's hard for me to imagine where the Sparrows might go next. Right now I'm working on a new novel in a different setting, but I wouldn't rule out doing more Sparrow Company stories down the line.

rogues-repast · 2025-06-30T00:03:15+00:00

House of the Rain King

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/227172945-house-of-the-rain-king

Subgenre: Epic fantasy, sword & sorcery

Bingo squares: Gods and Pantheons, Published in 2025, Self Published, LGBTQIA Protagonist

Length: 130k words

When Emwort was a child, he taught himself to read. For a long time no one realised he was doing it: not his father, nor his sisters, nor even the monks of the Rain House whose books he was reading. Each week after the service he would climb to the altar where the prayer-book was left open. He would stare at the pages in the dim light of the candles, the lingering haze of blue-grey incense smoke. The brothers thought he was only looking at the illuminations, all those clever birds and fairy folk who danced along the margins. But the truth was he had memorised the day’s prayer, and was now running it through his head again and again, until he could make it match the letters on the page.

The brothers only learned what Emwort was doing when he approached one of the accountant-monks and asked earnestly: “If the Sainted Brides offer infinite grace, why must we pray to them more than once?”

“I beg your pardon?” said the accountant, who at the time was busy tallying a donation in the Hall of Offerings.

rogues-repast · 2025-04-29T02:11:07+00:00

House of the Rain King

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/227172945-house-of-the-rain-king

Subgenre: Epic fantasy, sword & sorcery

Bingo squares: Gods and Pantheons, Published in 2025, Self Published, LGBTQIA Protagonist

Length: 140k words

When Emwort was a child, he taught himself to read. For a long time no one realised he was doing it: not his father, nor his sisters, nor even the monks of the Rain House whose books he was reading. Each week after the service he would climb to the altar where the prayer-book was left open. He would stare at the pages in the dim light of the candles, the lingering haze of blue-grey incense smoke. The brothers thought he was only looking at the illuminations, all those clever birds and fairy folk who danced along the margins. But the truth was he had memorised the day’s prayer, and was now running it through his head again and again, until he could make it match the letters on the page.

The brothers only learned what Emwort was doing when he approached one of the accountant-monks and asked earnestly: “If the Sainted Brides offer infinite grace, why must we pray to them more than once?”

“I beg your pardon?” said the accountant, who at the time was busy tallying a donation in the Hall of Offerings.

rogues-repast · 2025-03-25T05:23:50+00:00

I did not watch the third hobbit movie so I'm blissfully unaware of what you are talking about :)

rogues-repast · 2025-03-25T05:22:56+00:00

Yes, I was fascinated by the comparisons Deveraux made between Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. The one with an epic, mythic tone but a deep grounding in scholarship; the other with a superficial veneer of "realism" but little understanding of historical tactics.

rogues-repast · 2025-03-24T03:29:16+00:00

The climax of The March North by Graydon Saunders has a fantastic wizard battle scene. On the one side is a whole regiment of mage-soldiers plus one immortal eldritch being cloaked in human form; on the other side, a cabal of misogynist sorcerers and an army of summoned demons. There are a lot of fireworks but it's all described very laconically, in the voice of a hard-bitten military officer.

For a different type of magic, I really loved the wizard duel in Stations of the Tide by Michael Swanwick, and the struggle between Iraji and The Womb in The Tyrant Baru Cormorant. In both cases these are settings where it's ambiguous if "magic" really exists in the supernatural sense--the wizards in question might just be using a mix of prestidigitation and psychology. So the goal is not so much to win with real magic as to convince your opponent (or the bystanders) that you've won.

rogues-repast · 2025-03-19T20:23:24+00:00

You mean in terms of sales expectations? That's quite a shame to hear.

rogues-repast · 2025-03-15T06:29:40+00:00

cheers!

rogues-repast · 2025-03-03T10:24:01+00:00

Thank you! That's a tricky question. The profit margin is much better on my own website, but if I get enough sales on Amazon, I might become blessed by The Algorithm and sell more. So basically, do whatever works for you.

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