Wyrd and Wonder Journey Tag: Part Three

Welcome back to week three of my Wyrd and Wonder Journey Tag! Every week, I’m doing book recs based on locations on the fabulous map created by Ariana over at The Book Nook for the event.

If you’re interested in my previous adventures, links are below! And if you want to add these to your TBR, all covers link to Goodreads.

(One final note, Twin Peaks is a location on the image below, but that prompt will be used a different week!)

Wyrd and Wonder Journey Tag: Part One
Wyrd and Wonder Journey Tag: Part Two

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The Sorcerer’s Tower: THE DEFIANT HEIR by Melissa Caruso
A book full of magic users
Melissa Caruso’s SWORD & FIRE series is full of mages throughout, but I had to shoutout the second book in the trilogy, THE DEFIANT HEIR. It’s my favorite of the series for multiple reasons, but not least of which is that we spend most of the book amongst the Witch Lords. These powerful magic users are bound to the land they call their territory and can draw power from the land and everything in it, making them formidable foes. Our protagonist Lady Amalia has been sent as a diplomat to a great gathering of the Witch Lords, who are trying to decide if Amalia’s kingdom has become enough of a nuisance to invade and crush.

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Grimdark Forest: THE BLADE ITSELF by Joe Abercrombie
A grimdark novel. You know….one that’s grim…and dark
I don’t read a ton of grimdark, as I like my fantasy to be more hopeful than bleak, so I went with a grimdark classic, the very first of THE FIRST LAW series. Abercrombie continuously manages to find a way to make you care about some terrible people, an achievement I find truly impressive. Those who like books focused on character over plot should move this up to the top of the TBR.

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Cozy Cottage: LEGENDS & LATTES by Travis Baldree
A cozy fantasy novel
Look, I know it’s not original to recommend LEGENDS & LATTES for a cozy fantasy, but it’s the book that made cozy fantasy mainstream for a reason. It is incredibly soothing to “watch” Viv take an abandoned building and build it up into a small business. If you’re a gamer, the best thing I can equate it to is watching a stream of STARDEW VALLEY. That gentle, satisfying progress of taking nothing and making *something.* There’s occasional trials and tribulations along the way, but LEGENDS & LATTES is about the low stakes successes that still matter in your life.

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The Woven City – JADE CITY by Fonda Lee
A city stitched together so well, it feels real
I’ve talked frequently about how good Fonda Lee’s character writing is, but she deserves equal acclaim for her world-building. She imparts such history to the region she’s created that it feels like a real place, somewhere you could legitimately fly to right now. The history of the island of Kekon and the city of Janloon inform everything from international politics to character motivations and is part of what makes those characters so real and compelling in the first place.

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Lover’s Crossing – REIGN & RUIN by JD Evans
A fantasy romance rec
I’m not lying when I say this set the bar for what I look for in fantasy romance. The set up: two warring mage kingdoms are trying to find a way to strike an alliance and end decades of enmity before a third kingdom comes and conquers them both. On one side, the daughter of the ruling sultan, hoping to establish her credentials to take over as his health fails; on the other, the brother of a brutal mage leader who is conflicted about the best path forward for his people. It’s a slow burn build, with the first half focusing primarily on politics and action, and the back-half leaning into the romance and a splash of spice. This book made me an instant fan of the author, and I’ve been slowly working my through the rest of the series, which focuses on a different romantic pairing while moving the overall plot forward.