Bingo – Marked for Plot

2026 Bingo First Impressions

Another April, another bingo! Compared to last year, I’m feeling a lot more upbeat about reading. Stressed about money (if you’re American, I assume I’m not alone on this), but it’s looking possible that I might hit 200 books read in a year for the first time ever. I’ve been sitting on a lot of books waiting for April 1 to roll around, and now I get to dive in!

For those unfamiliar, r/Fantasy’s Bingo is simple. Over the course of a single year, you are challenged to read books meeting 25 prompts. You can’t repeat authors, and you only get 1 reread. That’s … pretty much it to be honest. To learn more about bingo, here is the official post for this year’s bingo card.

Bingo #3 – Sometimes Leftovers are the Most Delicious

It’s almost the end of March, which means the ending of the r/Fantasy Book Bingo Competition! I’ve already done write-ups for my two main cards (Achillean and Graphic Novels respectively). However, I realized that in all my other reading, I had enough to throw together a third card with no additional restrictions. It’s got some real gems, and I’m happy to say that there’s only one here that I left actively disliking. However, highlights include The Memory of the Ogisi, The City that Would Eat the World, The Sign of the Dragon, and But Not Too Bold.

r/Fantasy 2025 Bingo Card #2 – Comics and Graphic Novels

For the past three years, I’ve taught middle and high schoolers classes on reading and creating comics and graphic novels. What started as an impulsive decision quickly spun into a rekindling of my childhood love of sequential art. I grew up reading manga (unsurprisingly, I read a fairly equal balance of Shoenn and Shoujo; truly we gays get the best of both worlds) and finding my footing in what I like and dislike as an adult has been a fun adventure. Around November, I realized it would be pretty feasible for me to complete a bingo card comprised entirely of graphic novels. Some of these I read for school, others for personal enjoyment, and a few to explore things outside my perceived comfort zone.

Reviews are organized according to vibe so you can find the type of comic you’d enjoy, with my favorites within each category further towards the top. I anticipate that this is a challenge I’ll continue to pursue, though I think I’ll probably just read what’s interesting and see where the pieces fall for future years. Enjoy!

r/Fantasy 2025 Bingo Card #1 – Achillean Protagonists

This year for my r/fantasy book bingo challenge, I decided to limit myself to reading books exclusively with queer male protagonists. Specifically, I wanted to focus on gay/bi men in non-Romance stories when possible. I love romance books, but I wanted to push into some more ambitious spaces with this project. I ended up reading some books that easily fall into my all-time favorites. I also ended up with two more cards (a graphic novels card that I’m working on a post for and a ‘leftovers’ card when I realized I had enough books that worked for a third), but this was my focus for the year.

My goal was ‘read some gay shit and have a great time,’ and I have achieved that goal magnificently.

I’ve included short, one paragraph reviews of the 24 books (and one video game) that made the card below. For people who are more visual, I also made at-a-glance slides with pros/cons for each of the ~45 Achillean books I read since bingo started. While I could keep reading more to get an even more perfect card, I’d rather bank the reads I’m excited about for April and focus on reading other things for now.

2025 r/Fantasy Bingo First Impressions

Another April, another bingo! Life has been fairly busy for me (turns out buying a 100 year house means lots of projects) so reading time has been a bit more scarce. That said, bingo is an excuse to recharge my reading life and give myself some new direction.

Bingo is simple. Over the course of a single year, you are challenged to meet 25 challenges. Most will be filled by reading a book. You can’t repeat authors, and you only get 1 reread. That’s … pretty much it to be honest. To learn more about bingo, here is the official post for this year’s bingo card.

2024 Bingo: Final Card + Reflections

This is my fourth year of doing r/fantasy’s bingo challenge, and my fourth year of reading with the joy and intensity of my youth. You can find the official bingo announcement here, but the rules are simple: read 25 books by different authors, fitting a wide variety of categories.

I finally feel like I’ve caught up with a lot of the breakout hits I missed on my reading hiatus, though there are still some glaring gaps, and was ready to start exploring books as they were being released. And so this year I committed to completing a themed ‘published in 2024’ card. I committed to posting each review on r/fantasy, which eventually led to me creating this blog.