I joined this platform at the very start of 2026 and it made my year. I encountered the best people here, got many wonderful recommendations, was able to increase my reading time a LOT (while in 2025 I read 8 books, only this first 6 months, I read 14).

Many people have been here before me and built this community I stumbled on and love so much, so thankful to all of you<3

I read someone say that a certain book, Sky daddy maybe? I don't remember and can't find the post, had been a really huge thing on pagebound last year, and it got me wondering, before I got here, which were the most popular books, what was the most discussed topic, what was going on? Anybody who's been here longer can fulfill my curiosity?

Hello everyone!

I am making a new suggestion post because the original is a bit buried and I want to ensure it's easy to find the criteria for what does and does not qualify.

If you have a suggestion for books to add to this quest, please comment them here. Make sure to double check that it has not already been requested on this post. If your suggestion is already here, please upvote the existing comment as I will use the upvotes to gauge interest!

What qualifies a book for this quest? The books in this quest are structured around a game or trial rather than just including games/trials somewhere in the book. The entire narrative is about preparing for the games, the games themselves, and the aftermath of the games.

Examples of books that would not fit despite including a game/trial plot point:

• The Will of the Many by James Islington
• The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
• The Poppy War by R F Kuang

While the games/trials in these books are important to the story, the books are not about the games/trials.

10/28/25 note: I am currently focusing on adding diverse voices, especially BIPOC authors, to balance the quest a bit more.

12/15/25 note: All suggestions from the old post and one-off posts have been added as individual comments here. If yours was missed please create a separate comment on this post.

4/1/26 note: I will be reviewing options between now and June to add a few more to this quest!

7/3/26 note: 6 new books have been added to the quest! I will be looking to add more books towards the end of the year (October-December). This post is getting quite long so I may make a new one with all the existing suggestions but for now, keep adding new suggestions to this post :)

hello all and welcome!!! i dedicate this quest to the animal kingdom! 🐈🐶🦥🐇🦔🐿️🦊🐻🐖🐃🦋🐐🐍🐝🦍🦅🐟🐢🐯🐓🐅🐙🐑🐘🦎🦌🐺🦉🐳🦇🐌🦒🦞🦘🐊🦫🪱

i’m so excited to share “through the eyes of animals” w/ you all!

if you’ve got recommendations i’m all ears!! please comment any suggestions you’ve got on this post, but first check to make sure it matches my criteria! i’d also love any further info or thoughts you have on the book you’re submitting for consideration!

some notes on my criteria:

• books must (obviously) feature animal main characters whose thoughts and experiences guide the story + frame the world. this can be through first or third person narration as long as it’s clear that an animal or multiple animals are the lens through which we’re experiencing the story.
• multiple povs / non-animal povs are okay! as long as the portion of the book told through an animal pov is significant! one or two chapters isn’t really enough - ideally i’d say like i’m looking for at least 30/40% animal pov or higher. if it’s less than that, the animal pov section would have to make quite an impact on the story to be considered!
• talking animals ≠ animal pov. if the animals just talk to people but are not the protagonists or narrators the book won’t be a good fit!
• while there are lots of awesome animal narrators in the realm of children’s literature, i am trying to steer clear of children’s lit and middle grade as much as possible + instead prioritize YA and adult. you’ll see i have a few books on here that are borderline children’s or middle grade, but i’ve included them bc they’ve got some more adult themes and are classics among adults as well!
• i want to have a diverse array of animals represented here! right now, for example, i’ve got a lot of dogs and foxes, so i am more inclined towards adding books that feature other animal povs (feel free to still suggest titles ofc!). similarly, since there is a(n incredible) cat pov quest, i will probably only add a few more books that are from the pov of a cat and only a cat to this quest over time - and no more books from @ehawley’s awesome quest will be considered to lessen the crossover!! again, please feel free to submit any requests you’d like, no harm no foul if it doesn’t fit and others can use the comments as further reading regardless of if your suggestions ends up in the quest or not!

i will keep this spreadsheet updated with all books that are currently in consideration, and if i choose not to add them i'll put my reasoning on the sheet!! if you have specific reasoning for why you think it’d be a good fit lmk as well!!