It's episode 221 and time for us to talk about Epic & High Fantasy! We talk about maps, magic, monsters, whether Pokémon counts as epic fantasy, and more!

You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system.

In this episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray 🦇 | Jam Edwards

Things We Read (or tried to…)

• A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton
• Daughter of the Empire by Janny Wurts and Raymond E. Feist
• Anji Kills a King by Evan Leikam
• Notorious Sorcerer by Davinia Evans
• Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

Other Media We Mentioned

• Masters of Reality by John Darnielle
• Dragon Riders of Pern by Anne McCaffery
• Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
• Discworld by Terry Pratchett
• Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan
• The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon
• Swords Comic
• His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
• The Song of the Lioness by Tamora Pierce
• Magician: Apprentice by Raymond E. Feist
• The Old Kingdom by Garth Nix
• The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne
• The Will of the Many by James Islington
• Redwall by Brian Jacques
• The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks
• Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
• The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan
• The Riftwar Cycle by Raymond E. Feist and others
• The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
• Betrayal at Krondor
• Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

Links, Articles, and Things

• List of high fantasy fiction (Wikipedia)

20 Epic & High Fantasy Books by BIPOC Authors

Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers' Advisory Podcast chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of the lists can be found here.

• Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
• Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed
• A Broken Blade by Melissa Blair
• Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake
• The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu
• The Unbroken by C. L. Clark
• The Daughters of Izdihar by Hadeer Elsbai
• The Lost Dreamer by Lizz Huerta
• Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
• The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin
• The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez
• Liar's Test by Ambelin Kwaymullina
• Seventhblade by Tonia Laird
• Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee
• The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu
• Beasts Made of Night by Tochi Onyebuchi
• Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
• The Door on the Sea by Caskey Russell
• The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri
• An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Give us feedback!

• Fill out the form to ask for a recommendation or suggest a genre or title for us to read!

Check out our Tumblr, join our Discord Server, or send us an email!

Join us again on Tuesday, December 2nd when we'll be talking about Books from the 1980s.

Then on Tuesday, December 16th we'll be talking about our favourite books of 2025!