As their 100-book special looms ever closer, Geordie takes them back to a book which he meant to bring on the podcast about five years ago, a book which some weirdly personal connections. Its like if the Shadowhunter books were really good! And about King Arthur! And set at Geordie's Alma Mater! Precision engineered to appeal to him. And it turns out that Duncan really doesn't like it...Join in on a challenging discussion as both hosts reckon with the good, the bad, argue over where it butts heads with Arthurian canon, and try to weigh when personal experience completely trumps a book's best qualities.If nothing else, Geordie gets very excited to explain Arthur lore, the etymology behind Excalibur, and how much he hates the town of Clayton, Georgia. This one is for the nerds.

After enduring some completely preventable recording issues, Duncan and Geordie are back, counting down the last couple of books before their 100th! This time they are joined by Bookstagrammer Kellie Greene (@theportsmouth_pageturner) to return to the world of sexy fae with Sarah J. Maas' debut, Throne of Glass.As Duncan discovers just how badass and beautiful and well-read and good at piano our hero, Celeana Sardoffian is, Geordie recounts his own experience of the series, and Kellie expounds on why she loves the series so much. And, because no authentic discussion of Throne of Glass can be had without discussing the massive twist, in a first for the podcast, Duncan is kicked out to protect him from spoilers.Is Duncan #TeamChaol? Why does Geordie hate Rowan so much? And will Kellie and Duncan finally force him to read the Chaol's spin-off book? Find out now!Like the show? Follow us on Insta: @IsThisJustFantasyPodcast, or ask us a question via [email protected]

This episode Duncan and Geordie take a look a darling of the type of nerds who, if you say your favourite books are Harry Potter, Fourth Wing, and Ice Breaker, will tell you to read The Balde Itself - The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch.Duncan takes Geordie through the Gentlemen Bastards series' surprising publication history, and Geordie slightly overestimates how many The Usual Suspects style twists he expected from the book - it has 'LIES' right there in the title!Like the show? Follow us on Insta: @IsThisJustFantasyPodcast, or ask us a question via [email protected]

Have you ever wondered what the world would be like if Edward Cullen wasn't Mormon, or Xaden Riarson didn't have #believewomen in his Tinder profile? Then this is the episode for you, as Duncan and Geordie cover From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout.They discuss a parade of bizarre and lazy worldbuilding, dangling plot threads, unusually basic wording errors, and possibly the shadiest love-story they've covered on the podcast so far (and that's saying something). Duncan found it so dry that he forgot the book existed until shortly before recording, and Geordie struggles with the fact he used to like it!Like the show? Follow us on Insta: @IsThisJustFantasyPodcast, or ask us a question via [email protected]

A divisive episode. Duncan declares victory as Geordie is forced to hand in his membership to the 'pretencious nerd who doesn't like Brandon Sanderson books' club, because this one is a corker.They cover Mistborn: The Final Empire, covering its excellent twists and implemenation of magic, its surprising themematic coherence and nuance, and Geordie has no choice to admit that this time, maybe worldbuilding is important to making a fantasy novel work. Its not all glaze though, they cover their complaints about the book's depiction of women, and the weird age gap between the love interests.Has this turned Geordie around on Sanderson? And how long will Duncan be smug about it?Like the show? Follow us on Insta: @IsThisJustFantasyPodcast, or ask us a question via [email protected]

At long last, the fellas cover one of the big daddies of epic fantasy. For Duncan its a return to an old-favourite, whilst Geordie experiences it for the first time. They discuss the start of Robert Jordan's saga: 'The Eye of the World.'Geordie wrestles with explaining how a book can be boring 'but in a good way,' whilst Duncan keeps forgetting how much of what he thinks happens in this book, won't happen till books 2-4, and how many of his favourite characters still kinda suck. Geordie challenges the book's attempts at depiciting a matriarchal system, whilst Duncan struggles with how to keep telling Geordie that most of his complaints will be solved if he Just. Keeps. Reading. The. Books!Apologies to fans of Nynaeve for butchering her name all episode. (How is it pronounced Nah-Neeve?!)Like the show? Follow us on Insta: @IsThisJustFantasyPodcast, or ask us a question via [email protected]

Consumer warning: this episode contains no Condors. But it does contain an in-depth review of one of the most influencial yet unknown books the fellas have covered on the podcast, the first part of Jin Yong's Legend of the Condor Heroes - "the Chinese Lord of the Rings."They cover the unbelievable Kung Fu action, the surprising blend of fantasy and real history, and the best plot twist they've encounter on the podcast yet. Duncan tries very hard to pronounce names correctly this time, whilst Geordie spends too much time on dubious "translate your name into Chinese" websites instead of actually releasing the episode on time.Like the show? Follow us on Insta: @IsThisJustFantasyPodcast, or ask us a question via [email protected]

Ah, 2025. An impossibly long and packed year which just flew by. In their annual tradition, Duncan and Geordie take a look back at a year full of ambitious pulls, many surprises, and a couple of truly dire low-points (in terms of books, the podcast is obviously better than ever)!They take a look at everything they've reviewed to select their Most Surprising, Most Disapointing, Favourite, Worst, and of course their Best book of the year. Will they be in agreement, or is their time for one last heated debate before the ball drops?

Merry Christmas and Good Yule! You must've been good this year because Santa Claus is delivering you the annual Is This Just Fantasy Christmas episode (and if you haven't, lock your doors. Krampus is coming.) This year the fellas cover Krampus: The Yule Lord by writer/artist Brom.This episode: Geordie admits he's running out of Christmas episode ideas and has a little rant about depictions of valkyries, Duncan is horrified by Germanic Christmas traditions, and they both struggle not to call Santa "Father Christmas." Find out what they make of the high-highs and the boring low-lows of this dark retelling of Santa Claus-meets-American Gods-meets-Justified-meets-Jingle All the Way, the classic formula!Look forward to next episode where they review all the books they've covered in 2025 and announce the beginning to 2026.

Don't ask: 'who's the biggest badass in fantasy?' Only fools ask that question. The real question is: 'how do you measure badassitude?' For years, nobody could answer this enigma. But finally, after months of tireless study and experimentation, Geordie has found it: an empiral, scientific system where we throw a list of the best fantasy heroes we've encountered on the podcast into a gauntlet of horror movies with the sole mission of protecting us.This episode we ask the important questions like: which horror movie monsters can be defeated by a rabbit? Which fantasy heores would beat Shaggy from the live-action Scooby-Doo films or escape a Saw trap? Which heroes would chop their foot? Could the Overlook Hotel defeat Goku? And would Obi-Wan Kenobi be able to save Christmas? Find out now!