Is This Just Fantasy?

What if the hot vampires.... didn't kiss? Those are the kind of revolutionary ideas you can find in Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. Duncan raves over his first encounter with the book, even if Louis' self-indulgent despair gets at little too goth at times, whilst Geordie wishes he was back watching the TV show adaptation again. Tune in for Duncan getting a brief history lesson about vampires, disc...

Another year. Another Halloween Season. Another arbitrary compartmentalisation of a larger official chapter of Berserk. This time Geordie gets Duncan to read the Fantasia Chapter, but to read no farther than Berserk's shortest mini-arc: Spring Flowers of Days Long Passed. Duncan celebrates the exciting fights, the genuinely unsettling horror and tries to figure out how a crew of veteran monster sl...

Just when the world they thought they were dead, they returned!! After some.... let's call them extenuating circumstances... the review of Blood Over Brighthaven will at last see the light of day. And what a review! You've got analysis of social commentary, you've got debate around excellent world building and characters, you've got some genuinely hysterical bants about the only nice thing we'll e...

After a brief break, Duncan and Geordie are back to continue their journey into deciding that this Sanderson guy is actually pretty good at writing books. Huh? The Well of Ascension carries on the plot begun in Mistborn: The Final Empire, plunging it from the world of revolution into one of politics, siegecraft, and eerie supernatural forces. Its full of badass action - sometimes a little too bada...

Geordie has been banished to Spain for being mean to Steven Erikson. Whilst Duncan defends one of the most seminal, if controversial, modern additions to epic fantasy: 'Gardens of the Moon' the first book in Malazan: Book of the Fallen. Like the show? Follow us on Insta: @IsThisJustFantasyPodcast, or ask us a question via isthisjustfantasypodcast@gmail.com Featuring: Intro and Outro Music: Fantasy...

For this year's annual Troy book (only slightly too late for the release of Christopher Nolan's adaptation) the fellas get together to read The Odyssey, as translated by Emily Wilson, a woman who hates Nolan's film more than Duncan hates 'The Sheepfarmer's Daughter,' or more than Geordie hates admitting that he actually likes Brandon Sanderson now. Tune in to find out if Wilson's plain, accessible...

Finally Duncan gets to tell the story of King Arthur and his knights in the way he remembers it, in a classic, mostly faithful retelling by beloved children's author and horse terrorizer Michael Morpurgo. This time there's less bigotry and more lengthy explanations by Geordie about his favourite niche Arthurian myths. Tune in to learn the strange connection between Morgan le Fay, Charles the Great...

Pop the champagne, its time for the long awaited Top 100 Is This Just Fantasy Top 100 ranking spectacular, where Geordie and Duncan revisit and review all 100 novels they've read over the past four years, and finally determine the definitive greatest fantasy novel of all time. Some times the conversation is fraught. There are expected divisions - one day Geordie hopes he can forgive Duncan for his...

To celebrate their 100th(ish) book covered on the podcast, Geordie has selected one of the all time greats. A story which defines fantasy in many ways: Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie. Listen as Duncan and Geordie make a bet, Duncan explains his radical Moorcockian theories of the Hook-Pan loop, Geordie explains how a book-on-tape changed his relationship with music, and they both try to figure out whet...

This time the fellas embark on a contraversial journey as they reckon with one of the most acclaimed modern Sci-Fi and Fantasy novelists, N.K. Jemison, but not about how seminal work: The Broken Earth trilogy. Instead they take a look at her debut and examine where she first showed promise, and in fact first dabbled in themes she would go on to examine again in the Fifth Season. Does she start her...

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 o...

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...

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 sty...

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...

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 worl...

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...

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 en...

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, a...

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 val...

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 ho...

Its over at last. One of the most anticipated conclusions in history of the podcast. The fellas read and review Empire of the Dawn, the conclusion of Jay Kristoff's Empire of the Vampire trilogy. There's so much to discuss as they cover: the controversial change in illustrators, the exciting action, and a potentially devisive ending. Does the series stick the landing? Duncan marvels that any book...

At long last. The fellas set out to explore the hottest title in the world of fantasy right now. Their most anticipated read since their Top 50 Books review, their most Dragon Riders of Perny book since Dragonriders of Pern, and their horniest by far since The Eye of Argon. They cover: the steamy romance, the exciting pace, and just how unbelievably super special the heroine is, in one their nitpi...

The fellas wrap up their spooky month with the last halloween special, washing the taste of the Woman in Black out of their brains with an amazing collection of ghost stories, written by the creator of The Magnus Archives: Jonathan Sims. They reflect on the impressive change in mediums, as well as its somewhat heavy handed (yet nonetheless true) themes on capitalism, the environment and killing bi...

Some traditions never get old. Once again Duncan and Geordie return to the dark world of Berserk to wrap up its incredibly named Millenium Falcon Arc with Falconia. Its one of Geordie's favourite and least favourite parts of the series, containing some of the best action ever depicted in fiction, some astonishing world-building, a drastic change to the series' status quo... but it also spent three...

In the first part of their (somewhat delayed) Halloween Booooook Club, the fellas dive in to what is supposed to be one of the most iconic and scariest books in British horror: The Woman in Black.... and find it to be a massive disapointment. A dry, laughably unscary drag completely upstaged by both of its famous adaptations. Tune in to hear Geordie unleash the frustrations of a difficult day on a...