About Us
A site built by fantasy readers, for fantasy readers. Honest reviews, curated lists and genuine recommendations to help you find your next favourite read.
Welcome to Fantasy Book Recommendations, a site built by fantasy readers, for fantasy readers.
Our team of reviewers is made up of true fantasy fans. We are people who have been reading and enjoying fantasy stories since childhood, from the gateway classics that first pulled us into other worlds to the doorstopper epics, grimdark sagas and cosy comfort reads we devour today. Fantasy is not a passing interest for us. It is the genre we grew up with, the one we return to again and again, and the one we know inside out.
That lifelong love of the genre is the foundation of everything on this site. Every recommendation we make comes from genuine reading experience, not from repackaged blurbs or lists copied from elsewhere.
Our aim is simple: to give you comprehensive, honest advice and insights on fantasy books so you can find your next favourite read.
That covers a lot of ground. On Fantasy Book Recommendations you will find:
One thing that sets us apart is the breadth of our reading. We cover traditionally published fantasy, from the big names and award winners to the midlist gems that deserve more attention. But we are just as passionate about independently published books and indie authors.
Some of the most original and exciting fantasy being written today comes from the indie world, and it rarely gets the coverage it deserves. We make a point of reading it, reviewing it and recommending it alongside traditionally published work. If a book is good, it earns its place on our lists, regardless of who published it.
We are passionate about sharing stories. There are few things better than pressing a brilliant book into someone's hands and hearing them rave about it weeks later. That feeling is what this site exists to recreate, at scale.
Fantasy is a vast genre. With thousands of new titles published every year across dozens of subgenres, finding your next great read can feel overwhelming. Our job is to cut through that noise and help you discover the books and authors that are right for you, whether you are a lifelong reader of epic fantasy or picking up your very first romantasy.
You can read more about how we select, read and review books in our editorial policy.
Fantasy Author, Editor & Reviewer
Richie Billing is a fantasy author, editor and lifelong reader of the genre. He has been reading fantasy since childhood, working his way from Roald Dahl and Artemis Fowl through to The Hobbit, Harry Potter and, eventually, the epic and grimdark sagas of writers like George RR Martin, Raymond E Feist and Joe Abercrombie that shaped his own writing.
For the past ten years, Richie has written fantasy fiction of his own. His debut epic fantasy novel, Pariah's Lament, was published in 2021, followed by the political fantasy novella Together We Rise in 2025 and the short story collection Tales of Tervia. His short fiction has been widely published in magazines and anthologies, adapted for BBC Radio, translated into other languages and even taught in Swedish secondary schools.
Richie is also the author of A Fantasy Writers' Handbook, an acclaimed guide to the craft of writing fantasy that has helped aspiring authors land book deals. That deep understanding of the mechanics of storytelling, from character arcs and plotting to worldbuilding and prose style, informs every review and recommendation he writes. He knows not just whether a book works, but why it works.
Alongside his writing, Richie works as an experienced copy editor and teaches creative writing, both online and in his home city of Liverpool. He is a regular speaker at conventions such as Fantasycon.
Since 2019, Richie has hosted The Fantasy Writers' Toolshed, a podcast devoted to fantasy fiction and the craft of storytelling. Across more than a hundred episodes he has interviewed dozens upon dozens of bestselling fantasy authors, from Adrian Tchaikovsky and Jennifer L Armentrout to Jayne Ann Krentz, along with editors, literary agents, historians and folklorists. Those conversations give him a rare, behind-the-scenes insight into how the genre's best books are written and published, and that insight feeds directly into the recommendations you will find on this site.
You can learn more about Richie's books and writing at richiebilling.com or find him on Goodreads.
Have a question, a book you think we should read, or a recommendation request? We would love to hear from you.
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