Recs if you like The King Must Die...

Here are some fantasy novels with black FMCs!

Fantasy and sci-fi books where much of the plot is driven by politics

I love the Pagebound community but the one thing I don’t like about the app is how it incentives sticking to popular books more likely to have a decent amount of posts. (Granted some of this has to do with it being a little new) It’s my experience however that the hidden gems or even just less popular books are often just as if not more interesting as the best sellers.

So this is my list of books with 5 posts or less that I think deserve more love.

Lady knights are great but they make you think historical and European. I’ll take woman warriors in just about any setting (but I might group gunslingers and brawlers separately for my own idiosyncratic purposes). Be warned the woman warrior might be a side character, but I promise they’ll have a significant role.

Books releasing in November of 2025! Indie & trad

A vibes-based list themed after Legend of Zelda.

Inspo: the Gorons and Gerudo, where the dungeons usually involve a test of wills, skilled combat, and stealth. Their themes overlap in complimentary ways, so I bundled them together in one list to reduce redundancy. Themes: duty-bound, deceiving appearances, forging your own path, challenge a broken system.