It’s not secret that I love reading challenges and the r/Fantasy bingo is my favorite of the year. I’m a mod there, so ofc, biased, but it’s so much fun. It’s huge, runs each year from April 1st to March 30th. A few hundred people participate. Starting last year we have a discussion thread for each square. Mountains of book recs. And the prompt themselves are always fun, with a normal mode, a hard more and a special hero mode for reviewing all the things! Here’s the big post with all the information & square definitions, if I can tempt you into participating. 

A lot of people do multiple cards and pick extra themes for their cards, and I’m one of them. For this year I’m doing three cards, one featuring only BIPOC authors, one only books I already own, and a third I’m totally not but actually yes doing. The BIPOC authors card is also 80% owned books, but there are 5 squares I couldn’t cover with what I had. I’m also accidently doing a 3rd card of books I hadn’t planned but ended up fitting, this one has a few squares still blank.

I tried to run a few quick stats, I messed up somewhere cause they don’t add up, but this aproximately it:

• demographics: books with white authors 19, books with Black authors 12, Indigenous:1, Asian 7, Latinx 2
• author gender: women 22, men 12, non-binary 6
• books owned before bingo: 19, new books: 22
• book club/readalong books: 15
• SciFi: 7, Fantasy: 34
• Adult 34, YA 7, MG 2
• First in series: 18, Further in series: 13, Stand Alone 11

Since I’m doing 3 cards rather than try to fit 75 mini-reviews/descriptions at the end of the year gonna try and split them into 2 posts, one now that I’m about half way done and one at the end.

First Row Across:

• Five SFF Short Stories

  • Love After the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction by Joshua Whitehead
  • Exhalation by Ted Chiang
  • Her Magical Pet: Benefit F/F Story Collection by Rachel Manija Brown

• Set in Asia

• • The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart – loved it for the interesting world with bone magic constructs and the twisty plot. I liked how the different PoV characters switched between different views of the empire. Melphi is super cute.
  • The Fire Eye Chosen by Samuel Gately
  • The Cat Who Saved Books by Sōsuke Natsukawa – fell just short of having the right vibes for me, but it’s a cool story for lovers of cats and books

• A Selection from the r/Fantasy A to Z Genre Guide

  • Imaro by Charles Saunders – Enjoyed it a lot, the African-inspired world was great and I loved the evil creepy magic, will read on
  • Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
  • Into the Labyrinth by John Bierce – Loved it, I am very rarely in the mood for progression fantasy but this time it hit just right, loved the magic school and found family

• Found Family

  • Catch Lili Too by Sophie Whittemore
  • The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin (found this recced as such on GR but I am skeptical)

• First Person POV

  • Thorn by Intisar Khanani
  • Half-Off Ragnarok by Seanan McGuire
  • Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer – didn’t have a clue what was going on most of the time, still loved it. Interesting and pretty unique society, set in a future but told in an anachronistic style

Second Row Across:

• Book Club OR Readalong Book

  • Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia – this book won me over when the hot nekkid god arrived and because I am a sucker for death/underworld mythology
  • Pet by Akwaeke Emezi – short and full of heart, a youngish YA story feeling somewere between comforting and bittersweet, loved the titular Pet character
  • A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny – currently reading, so much fun, cats and dogs and other companions oh my

• New to You Author

  • Exit West by Mohsin Hamad – really liked it, had no clue what it would be about and was pleasantly surprised. It showed the migrant life through a very interesting perspective.
  • Ashes of the Sun by Django Wexler
  • The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle -TiL I might actually be into horror cause I keep loving the ones I try. Creepy cosmic horror

• Gothic Fantasy

  • Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeannette Ng – dripping with atmosphere as any good gothic book should, I loved the world here and, oddly, how weird and uncomfortable the romance was
  • The Half-Killed by Quenby Olson

• Backlist Book

  • The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin – this series is quickly becoming a favorites, loved learning so many new things/exploring motivations of the people in this world
  • The Element of Fire by Martha Wells
  • Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan – meh, not great not terrible, didn’t feel it lived up to Sullivan’s other series as the characters weren’t as charming

• Revenge-Seeking Character

  • Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse – the world was the star of the show in this one and I’m here for it. I felt like it kinda both delivered what it promised and ended on a cliffhanger, liked it, can’t wait for the next.
  • The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold – Miles is miles of fun as always, great chaos energy, laughed out loud
  • The Eternal Champion by Michael Moorcock – liked it much better than expected, dark and violent but not graphic, felt a lot fresher than its age

Third Row Across:

• Mystery Plot

  • The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard
  • Tenebre Miercuri by Daniel Timariu
  • Night Shift Dragons by Rachel Aaron – fun end to a series, it was good to have more dragons in this one

• Comfort Read

  • Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston –  Loved it, such a great fun and magical MG novel. Gave me the feeling of being a young one discovering magic again
  • Oathbreakers by Mercedes Lackey – first book in the series was bleah, this one was great though, back to the feel good vibes I came for
  • Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker, Wendy Xu – reread! this graphic novel is just so feel-good and mushy and accepting, I love the granny witches and the visiting family, the budding romance, super cute

• Published in 2021

  • Escaping Exodus: Symbiosis by Nicky Drayden – currently reading, lots of fun, I was thinking it was more light-hearted than the first but then it hit me with some body horror
  • A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark – I just love steampunk djinn in Cairo, and this was fun (if kinda predictable) mystery. Fatma is so stylish, and the whole book really, very much here for the fashions. Honestly I would probably love anything Clark writes at this point
  • The King of Faerie by A.J. Lancaster – great series ender, everything scales up and the plots all come together in interesting ways, great payoff.

• Cat Squasher: 500+ Pages

  • Jade City by Fonda Lee
  • Age of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan – meh again, way too much rapid tech growth for my tastes
  • The Winter King by C.L. Wilson – a romance novel that has a lot of strange sex writing in the first half, but the second half turned truly epic, I got much more invested that I was expecting

• SFF-Related Nonfiction

  • Darkly: Blackness and America’s Gothic Soul by Leila Taylor
  • Hustlers, Harlots and Heroes: A Regency and Steampunk Field Guide by Krista D. Ball

Fourth Row Across:

• Latinx or Latin American Author 

  • Cradle of Sea and Soil by Bernie Anés Paz
  • Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
  • A Dash of Trouble by Anna Meriano – a cosy middle grade book, quick fun read, lead to unscheduled baking of cookies

• Self-Published 

  • Songs of Insurrection by J.C. Kang
  • The Lord of Stariel by A.J. Lancaster – I binged this whole series in a little over a week, a secondary world regency-vibes romance with faeries and great characters that I rooted for so much

• Forest Setting

  • The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri – loved it! it took me a good chunk to get used to the switching PoVs (my epic fantasy is rusty) but once I got the hang of them I loved every character, the creepy woods and creepier magic system were great and I’m a huge fan of stories showing how women wield power in situations where they’re not meant to have any.
  • The Stone Knife by Anna Stephens

• Genre Mashup 

  • The Midnight Bargain by C.L. Polk – loved it, such a great mix of infuriating and comforting. A regency-like secondary world fantasy of manners book in a very sexist society with a main character who’s not having it and makes friends with two greats foreigners.
  • The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal – this series was already great in my book but this entry took it higher. I loved the new main character (I was a bit worried about that) and the plot was gripping and relentless
  • The Philosopher’s Flight by Tom Miller – good book that I read at a wrong time for me. It sort of gender-flips sexism in a world with conflict brewing and something about it was too frustrating to read in shitty times.

• Has Chapter Titles 

  • The Winged Histories by Sofia Samatar
  • The Origin of Birds in the Footprints of Writing by Raymond St. Elmo
  • Piranesi by Susanna Clarke – unlike anything else, very atmospheric, quiet weird, focussed on big house, less you know the better

Fifth Row Across:

• Title: _____ of _____ 

  • The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson
  • The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin – brrr brrrr cold. I liked this, but as usual with Le Guin I found it a slow read. I think at its time it was a revolutionary take on gender, but reading it now it really was the cold that stuck with me more, I think I’ve just read more books with non-binary characters than with ice-planets.
  • Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold – I love the world of the five gods so much! It was great to be back, I admit I went through the entire audiobook in one day so it’s very mushed together in my mind I need to relisten

• First Contact

  • Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor
  • Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente

• Trans or Nonbinary Character

  • The Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow – Very much liked the characters even though the alien colonization setting is most grim. Music was woven into the tale in an interesting way.
  • The Four Profound Weaves by B.R. Lemberg – liked it a lot, a very atmospheric novella with the feel of an old tale. The characters are older people which makes for an interesting change.
  • Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey – I loved the concept of the book, wild-west librarians distributing books among isolated towns. I wish the lens were a little wider and we got to know the side characters more.

• Debut Author 

  • Elemental: Shadows of Otherside Book 1 by Whitney Hill – Something just didn’t click with me here, I think because elves and vampires being in the same universe apparently confuses me cause I associate them with the same sort of stereotypes.
  • Child of the Daystar by Bryce O’Connor – This started off great with a young dragon-like kid in a travelling merchant sort of culture, nice family, lots of fun. Then it got all serious and grim on me and I’m just not into that, so lost me in the second half, too much mudering left and right.
  • Finna by Nino Cipri – fun furniture-store multiverse novella. It’s an interesting concept with some fun worlds and unsubtle criticisms, it was good but quite great

• Witches 

  • The Shadow Glass by Rin Chupeco – good ending to the series, I liked how it showed the contrast between what the MC has been and what she’d become, also there was one bit where I laughed out loud and was m
  • Season of the Witch by Sarah Rees Brennan – Lots of fun, super quick read, characters I know and love from the TV show, really good tie-in novel
  • Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron – a dark YA inspired by African folklore, I liked it a lot, actually finished listening to it between after I started this long ass post, so it’s greyed out in pics. A good mix of some really nice moments in between lots of very nasty ones. I love gods in books so very into all the orisha stuff.

That’s it for now, suprisingly less bingo shuffling this year than usual, pretty on plan so far, I think cat squasher is the only square where none of my current choices match what I had planned, because for some reason I’m not into reading big books on kindle atm, but print or audio seems ok.