the little olives drawing is adorable omg

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!

Context: As Pagebound grows, we have been brainstorming sustainable ways to create more Quests that the community is eager to see. We're trialing a new idea for a community-voted Quest, inspired by a List. More info in the last post I made in Founder's Announcements.

For the past week, Pagebound Royalty members have submitted nominations for Lists to inspire Quests. Jennifer and I have gone through and ensured all the Lists you'll be voting on meet our Quest guidelines. There are 86 Lists eligible for you to vote on, and you can find them in this spreadsheet.

There will be 3 winning Lists selected from different genre categories. You can vote for up to 3 lists from different genres. Submit your votes via this form through end of day April 8th. Take note of the Quest type when voting (Column C in the spreadsheet)! Many nominated Lists share a theme but vary in length. Preference for a Side vs Main Quest could help you decide which to vote for. Most Lists will be Side Quests, but Lists with many books (~60+) will be Main Quests.

The creators of the winning Lists will be able to accept/reject. If they accept, we will create a Quest inspired by their List, adapting the title & book list as necessary to fit Quest constraints. If they decline, we'll ask the runner-up! The resulting Quest will not be open to book additions since there will not be anyone actively maintaining the book list (similar to when a Main Quest hits its 100 book cap and is closed to further additions).

If this is a good experience for the community, we plan to run this List nomination + voting process quarterly. Our goals here are to encourage quality List-making, give the entire community a voice in Quest creation in a sustainable way, acknowledge our Royalty supporters, and create some exciting, diverse Quests!

Thanks for voting! Jennifer & Lucy

I feel like I'm so far into this book now that things are probably going to start getting real REALLY fast... I think I'll just keep existing in my little "this story should never end actually" bubble. 😭

When it comes to the special read along, I’m super curious about how participants choose the one book they’ll complete out of the 4 (or 5) options?

It’s always cool to see what everyone gravitates to and how they ultimately rate it.

I usually choose the book that’s already on my tbr and if it’s not, I’ll go for a genre I know I’ll enjoy since we have only a month to read the book. Anyone else?

I read a lot of children's books both for work and for fun, and I've noticed there isn't a lot of forum content or interaction with most children's books yet! Unless that book is by a big name (who also writes for YA/Adult) or part of a challenge/quest, it seems most kids books go under the radar. This goes for everything from picture books to middle grade novels, though the younger ones for sure seem to have the least interaction. I'm guessing the majority of PB users read mostly Adult and YA and aren't interested in reading younger, but if you are a children's book reader by profession or inclination, shout it out here so we can find and follow each other!

I read mostly picture and easy readers for work, and chapter books and middle grade novels for fun (what I call "work adjacent" lol) in addition to grown up books. I prefer speculative adventure fiction (SFF), spooky books, and graphic novels! What kind of kids books do you read?