Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

Making a spot to share book recs you got from freebie sources or as part of subscriptions such as KU, Audible+, Hoopla, etc.

If they are only temporarily on sale, please share over in the book sales thread instead! https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

*Authors, self-promotion rules still apply. Please only share your own books in the self-promotion folder. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

Here are a few of the KU books I've enjoyed that come to mind off the top of my head.

Series:
- Rob J. Haye's books including the War Eternal Series and Never Die (standalone)
- Richard Nell's Ash and Sand series starting with Kings of Paradise
- I haven't read them all, but there's a bunch of Michael R. Fletcher's books (unfortunately not the first two Manifest Delusions books, though)
- The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang, but be warned only the first one is on KU

Standalones:
- Faithless by Graham Austin-King was a grimdark I read recently
- a couple of Neil Gaiman's books, including American Gods and The Graveyard Book
- Greek retelling, The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Also, might be good to have a little explanation of different free-ish services for people who don't know... here are the ones I know of... but I am not the most knowledgeable about them, so further information and edits welcome.

Library Services (at least in the U.S.)
Hoopla (https://www.hoopladigital.com/) is a free digital library for anyone with a library card. Audiobooks, ebooks, even movies and music. You get a specific number of checkouts a month (depending on your library). The selection also changes according to your library, but not much--usually if someone says a book is available on hoopla it is true for most folks. Books can be checked out for 21 days/3 weeks.

Libby formerly Overdrive. Similar to Hoopla, but only ebooks and audiobooks. Selection drastically different depending on what library you have a card with. However, unlike Hoopla, if you have multiple library cards it searches all of your libraries and puts you in the best line. Hoopla only connects to one library. Your library pays for licenses to a specific number of copies of each book, so you may have to wait in line for a book to become available--however, there is no monthly limit. There is a limit on the number of books checked out at one time, and number of holds at one time. Checkout time also varies according to library. You can also search for books your library doesn't have yet (new releases) and ask to be notified if copies become available.

Also, if anyone has family in the military, I've heard the military library/Libby is AWESOME.

Sora (https://soraapp.com) if anyone has kids or works in education, you can get Sora, which is like Libby but for school libraries. Mostly limited to YA and children's books.

Netgalley (https://www.netgalley.com) If you like writing reviews or helping authors out, this site/app lets you request free ARC copies of books in return for honest reviews. Audiobooks and ebooks and even physical books can be requested, but it isn't guaranteed your requests will be granted, and you do have an obligation to write a review in a timely manner.

Open Library (https://openlibrary.org/help/faq/borrow) Is a wait-in-line style library (like Libby) with ebooks authorized through Adobe Digital Editions and audiobooks recorded by volunteers (I think). I haven't tried it out yet, but it has a decent collection of older SF.

I've been getting people into the New Orleans Library, which has an out-of-state card available for $50/mo, very easy to sign up for, has a great Libby catalogue, and 20 borrows/month on Hoopla.
Information page: (https://nolalibrary.org/new-to-the-li...)
Search page: (https://neworleans.polarislibrary.com...)

Other out-of-state Library information:
9th Street: https://www.9thstreetbooks.com/how-to...
Book Riot: https://bookriot.com/out-of-state-lib...

Subscription Sites:
Kindle Unlimited--Subscription through Amazon for ebooks. Several different subscription choices and prices vary as deals often come around. Lots of indie authors. If you have both KU and Audible, you can often "check out" a KU book and then get the audiobook for cheaper ($7.50 instead of $10).

Audible (https://www.audible.com/) Subscription service related to Amazon, for audiobooks. You get a certain number of "credits" depending on your subscription (usually around $10/credit) that you can spend on audiobooks. Also has an extensive catalogue of library checkouts. Some audiobooks are ONLY available on Audible--look for the yellow corner banner.

Everand (formerly Scribd) (https://www.everand.com) Subscription service similar to Audible AND KU (~$12/mo) with audiobooks AND ebooks and more available. Checkouts are not unlimited, but the limit is not obvious.
--TY Ann-Marie for addition!

Kobo (https://www.kobo.com/us/en) Has a similar service to KU and Audible, though their interface is much klunkier. I actually haven't been able to find their audiobook catalogue for subscribers. I subscribe for the $10/month 1 credit audiobooks. Their audiobook app is also much klunkier, but the plus is that Kobo has a very good reputation for paying their authors, unlike Amazon.

Audiobooks.com (https://www.audiobooks.com) Subscription service with a catalogue of titles, regular deals, and 1-2 "free" audiobooks monthly--that you get to choose from a set selection.

Spotify (https://open.spotify.com) Has audiobooks in addition to music, though a much smaller selections. Spotify premium subscribers can listen to 15 hours of audiobooks "free" monthly.

Deal sites:
Chirp (https://www.chirpbooks.com/home) Audiobooks only. No subscription service necessary, but often has great deals on audiobooks.

Ereaderiq.com (https://www.ereaderiq.com)--found by @Marie ty!--"allows you to track Kindle books for promotions. I managed to snag quite a few books I had on the watchlist for free thanks to it. Or for a very good price. It even has an extension that allows you to add a book right from the Amazon book page. Also shows history of lowest prices for a book as long as someone already put it on watchlist. You can see if its available for free once in a while and put it on watch for next time."

BR for some of Rob J. Hayes's Never Die and the other Mortal Techniques books coming up April 10, 2024, BTW! Looking forward to it more with @Jenna's recommendation.

A few on Kindle Unlimited that I've enjoyed:
The Lord of Stariel series--we're reading these this month, almost done, and they're a very satisfying romantic fantasy series. First book is on Audible Plus.

The Gladiator's Downfall series--epic fantasy w/reverse harem romance. Great worldbuilding, lots of satisfying comeuppance moments. Finished series.

Reign & Ruin series--epic fantasy romance series inspired by Turkey/Middle-Eastern culture, great magic system and plot-building, very satisfying and varied character romances. Starts out as typical rotating-pair romance but builds into epic connected fantasy. Series in progress.

Dungeon Crawler Carl--listened on audible (not in catalogue) but it is on KU. Both funny and thoughtful. LitRPG.

Nirkatze wrote: "Also, might be good to have a little explanation of different free-ish services for people who don't know... here are the ones I know of... but I am not the most knowledgeable about them, so furthe..."

Another subscription app is Everand (FKA Scribd). It was unlimited at one point but that quickly changed, they have a not obvious limit but it is a good supplement for finding books.

Audible Plus:

Greatcoats series by Sebastien de Castell

I only read #1 a while back. I actually ended up not liking the book during the BR. 🙃 BRing the book made me more critical about details and it didn't hold up under scrutiny.

I'm willing to give the series another try or two. Added to my Audible Plus TBR.

Lots of good stuff on Hoopla seems to also be on Audible Plus... I've wasted so many Hoopla credits this past year...

Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling series, except for the newest ones...
same with her Guild Hunter series...
Alot of Helen Harper Urban Fantasy / Paranormal Romances: Lazy Girl's Guide to Magic, Highland Magic, Firebrand, etc...
Sisters Grimm
Greatcoats
Eddie Lacrosse & Tufa & Dandelion by Alex Bledsoe
Barbara Holloway legal thrillers by Kate Wilhelm

I started checking as of January and got the first in the Gunnie Rose on Audible+, the rest of the series is not available sadly.

Timelord Iain wrote: "Lots of good stuff on Hoopla seems to also be on Audible Plus... I've wasted so many Hoopla credits this past year...

Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling series, except for the newest ones...
same with ..."

I wish there was an easier way to check what's on Audible Plus. I have an add-on to my browser that tells me if something is on Hoopla or at the library.

Nirkatze wrote: "Also, might be good to have a little explanation of different free-ish services for people who don't know... here are the ones I know of... but I am not the most knowledgeable about them, so furthe..."

Audiobooks.com is also a subscription service, and there is Spotify. If you have a premium account there you can listen to 15 hours of audio books a month.

It's just like library searches. Gotta look up author/title/series.

Audible App Recommendations are much better than website. In the last few months, I've been checking recs in app via Book Title and then check info on website.

I made a couple of lists for Audible Plus books & series in Vagabond 2023 thread but the posts are buried in chats. 😆

Tammie wrote: "Audiobooks.com is also a subscription service, and there is Spotify. If you have a premium account there you can listen to 15 hours of audio books a month...."

Thanks! Added to the big post. I don't have those subscriptions so I'm not sure if my summary is correct--let me know if there's anything to add.

Audiobooks on Spotify:

-15 audiobook hours, not actual listening time. If you listen at a faster speed, you're not listening for 15 hrs. So it's like recorded time vs actual listening time.

- 15 hours refresh each monthly cycle. Determined by when Premium payment starts.

- Sound quality for audiobooks are great! You can choose to stream in low, medium or high quality. Mine is set at medium and there's a noticeable quality difference.

- Included in Premium Audiobook selection has grown a lot. Be careful to note if it's included or not, because the not included will take you to a pay for audiobook link.

- Cons: No counter to show how much time you have used. You need to track it yourself.

- If you already have Spotify, it's a great addon for audiobook options. I've found most of the popular releases and some niche stuff like LitRPG, Asian Light Novel translations, etc. You can also do a search for books and may find amateur/fan made narration.

- If you enjoy podcast story series, there's a bunch of those on there too and the podcasts DO NOT USE audiobook hours.

Scribd
I tried this a few times. I think it's ok for people who will read/listen to about 10-12 books in a month, but it's terrible for anyone that reads fast.

There's no clear limit on how much you can read. I had 7 audiobooks downloaded and listened to several in a few days. Scribd decided I was reading too fast, blocked me from all selections until "next cycle month", and deleted all of the audiobooks (including the one I was reading & didn't finish).

I also had a friend try it out for several months. She canceled subscription and still got charged for service. Had to deal with customer service and got a refund after 45 days. 🙄

Scribd is now Everand, the app with the Scribd tag is just documents I believe. So far as I know the monthly limits are set by genre so if you read too many fantasy books according to them you should be able to listen to a romance or a biography or whatever. When the app was first released it was legitimately unlimited and the romance listeners just blew it up and they either had to put in the limits or close. I still subscribe as a supplement to my library and personal library. I think 10-12 is a lot though, the limit used to kick in after like 4 or 5 but people on Reddit have indicated that since the rebrand to Everand the limit is 2-3. I'll have to check that out, I have been listening to a lot of Audible books I already own recently.

Yeah, it's been a few years since I tried Scribd. It was unlimited at that time with unwritten cutoffs. It wasn't a genre limit because I had UF, Thriller, Mystery and LitRPG. 🤷‍♀️

Overall, it was a meh experience and not worth the money paid for me.

I did a free trial of Scribd a while ago and didn't like the limits.

Just finished Dragon Heist on audiobook and loved it--it's an audible-only title and costs $, but the ebook version is on KU. Like a D&D story in modern American South but funnier.

I recently discovered Ereaderiq.com which allows you to track Kindle books for promotions. I managed to snag quite a few books I had on the watchlist for free thanks to it. Or for a very good price. It even has an extension that allows you to add a book right from the Amazon book page. Also shows history of lowest prices for a book as long as someone already put it on watchlist. You can see if its available for free once in a while and put it on watch for next time.

Sounds great… similar to the steam database site…

Thanks for info Marie, sounds great 😃

Timelord Iain wrote: "Sounds great… similar to the steam database site…"

Indeed something like that. Idk if some other exists but this one works well. Just sometimes if the Kindle version changes you need to add it again. Also, some promotions are region-locked, so it might still be the original price for you.