Elfundertheshelf commented on jordynreads's update
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A Trade of Blood
Robert Jackson Bennett
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Solarpunk Futures 🌞🪸🫂
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When all hope feels lost, solarpunk envisions a brighter future. These stories blend themes of sustainability, justice, and community building to address some of the biggest challenges of our time.
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Beyond the Bodice-Ripper: Historical Romance 🎩❤️🔥🐴
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From classic to more modern tales, this Quest is about defying stereotypes and encouraging diversity in historical romance.
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The Kaleidoscope of Time: A Time Travel Quest ⏳🕰️🚪
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From stolen centuries to days that echo themselves, these books breathe time travel into the weave, unraveling the seams of time and lingering in the threads that slip free.
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Death of the Author
Nnedi Okorafor
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Men Loving Men in Literary Fiction 🖤👥️🚬
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Literary fiction novels centering men who love men, written by queer men. "You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read." ~ James Baldwin
Elfundertheshelf commented on Elfundertheshelf's review of The Recreation of a Soul: A Gothic Tale
Once in a while a story comes your way, that among other things manages to remind you that synonyms are not just substitutes for the same word — why one simply cannot use the simpler alternative. Words have weight. They contribute to the efficacy of gripping prose. This is that kind of writing. In just a few pages the experience of being an artist, of why creation is an act of infusing soul into things is handled with care. The grief, dedication, sacrifice, and persistence that art demands is rendered through our main character. That art is, and, can at once be the vessel for sorrow and its relief is explained with expertise. Also, literal masks to convey emotions —yes.
Elfundertheshelf left a rating...
Once in a while a story comes your way, that among other things manages to remind you that synonyms are not just substitutes for the same word — why one simply cannot use the simpler alternative. Words have weight. They contribute to the efficacy of gripping prose. This is that kind of writing. In just a few pages the experience of being an artist, of why creation is an act of infusing soul into things is handled with care. The grief, dedication, sacrifice, and persistence that art demands is rendered through our main character. That art is, and, can at once be the vessel for sorrow and its relief is explained with expertise. Also, literal masks to convey emotions —yes.
Elfundertheshelf finished a book

The Recreation of a Soul: A Gothic Tale
A. W. Saint
Elfundertheshelf commented on erintripsey's review of The Wolf and His King
“I will always find you” “I am already found”
I want to wipe my memory so I can reread this for the first time again and again and again.
Merriam Webster should update their definition of “yearning” to just be this book.
Elfundertheshelf commented on erintripsey's review of The Wolf and His King
“I will always find you” “I am already found”
I want to wipe my memory so I can reread this for the first time again and again and again.
Merriam Webster should update their definition of “yearning” to just be this book.
Elfundertheshelf commented on a post


This quest is growing. I am excited to welcome all the new readers and all the suggestions they will bring with them to make this space unique. This is the perfect opportunity to make a dedicated post for everyone to suggest books they wish to see in this quest moving forward.
Who can make a book suggestion? Everyone can absolutely make as many suggestions as they think will fit the theme. If you have read a book you think fits, if you have been hearing about a book that you think will fit - yes drop it in. I will research every suggestion you make individually.Please include a very short description of the region your suggestion represents and why you recommend it to help me out.
What to look for before making a suggestion? a. Does the book in question belong to Fantasy/ Fantasy sub-genre? The quest aims to explore world cultures through the Fantasy genre. If the book you suggest has amazing mythological reference but is from a different genre it would not make the cut.
b. Is the book referencing/representing the myths and folklore of a region specifically? It is not enough if the book in question only represents the "people" of any region/country or includes certain ethnicities. It has to highlight the myths and folklore specifically. If the book has inspired you to research deeper into the culture it has drawn upon - that is a good sign for a recommendation here.
c. Is there any exception? Yes! The nature of myths and folklore is inherently transformative, and in places it becomes deeply intertwined with history and religion. This will reflect in the quest as well. Example: Consider Egypt, its ancient history hugs its mythology and religion quite tightly, in such cases to find individual representation becomes hard. For the sake of this quest however, we have to consider Egypt.
If it is not strictly High/Epic Fantasy but fantasy/speculative adjacent and it circles back to point (b) paragraph ii above, it might be considerable, this is a case mostly for Standalones (we cannot only have series here) or regions that are less written about in general.
I have included the recommendations I have received so far in the comments. Please upvote the favourites, and continue to suggest books as new comments. It is not guaranteed that the book you suggested WILL be included but I assure you that every suggestion will be fairly assessed and researched. Thank you ❤️
[Updated on 14.02.2026] Hello everyone! This is a quick update to let you know that at currently, we have 45 books in this quest, more or less encompassing Asian, African, Slavic, Indigenous myths and lore, with some Celtic, British, Turkic thrown in. As always I hope everyone will be making their way through the titles and sharing their thoughts. That said , we are in need of more book recommendations from middle-eastern nations including but not limited to Jewish myths . I am also looking to branch this into more niche regions so we will be moving away from broadly known places like China, Japan, India, Russia etc as of now and focus on lesser known countries within the diaspora. Moving forward we will only be adding books that are newer releases, considering 2025 onwards. So please drop in your recommendations for the latest releases in fantasy spiced with mythology and folklore that you have been eyeing or new release that you're excited about. Thank you . Happy reading!