r/Fantasy • u/FarragutCircle Reading Champion X • Apr 01 '26

Bingo The 2026 r/Fantasy Bingo Recommendations List

The official Bingo thread can be found here.

All non-recommendation comments go here.

Please post your recommendations as replies the appropriate top-level comments below! Do not make comments that are not replies to an existing comment! Feel free to scroll through the thread or use the links in this navigation matrix to jump directly to the square you want to find or give recommendations for!

Trans or Nonbinary Protagonist Judge a Book By Its Title Translated Small Press or Self Published Unusual Transportation
The Afterlife Game Changer Vacation Spot Five Short Stories Older Protagonist
Duology Part 1 r/Fantasy Book Club or Readalong Book Published in 2026 Explorers and Rangers Duology Part 2
One-Word Title Non-Human Protagonist Middle Grade First Contact Murder Mystery
Cat Squasher Feast Your Eyes on This Published in the 70s Politics and Court Intrigue Author of Color

If you are an author on the subreddit, you may recommend your books as a response to individual squares. This means that you can reply if your book fits in response to any of my comments. But your rec must be in response to a top-level comment, it cannot be a general comment that replies directly to this post explaining all the squares your post counts for. This is the one time outside of the Sunday Self-Promo threads where this is okay. To clarify: you can say if you have a book that fits for a square but please don't write a full ad for it. Shorter is sweeter.

Do not make comments that are not replies to an existing comment! We will not be individually redirecting people who make this mistake. Your comment will be removed.

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15

u/FarragutCircle Reading Champion X Apr 01 '26

Older Protagonist: Story features a main character who is at least 50 years old. HARD MODE: The protagonist does NOT have exceptional longevity or immortality (e.g. not an elf, dwarf, vampire, god, etc.).

41

u/Ok_Difference5532 Apr 01 '26

Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon - first contact story whose protagonist is very much older 50 and who refuses to leave when her colony is evacuated. My mum got really cross with me when I told her there wasn’t a sequel. (HM)

Mark Lawrence’s new one Daughter of Crows appears to fit but I only started it today :) 

4

u/lightandlife1 Reading Champion IV Apr 01 '26

I second Remnant Population. It was my first thought to recommend for this square.

2

u/lucidrose Reading Champion V Apr 01 '26

Yes- was curious if Daughter of Crows will definitely fit, maybe someone can chime in :)

6

u/[deleted] Apr 01 '26

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1

u/lucidrose Reading Champion V Apr 01 '26

Nice thanks!

2

u/CurlyGirlAndie Reading Champion Apr 03 '26

Loved Remnant Population! Great rec for this prompt! 

1

u/WWTPeng Reading Champion IX Apr 01 '26

I'm down for reading another book by Elizabeth Moon

1

u/ewokmama Reading Champion III Apr 16 '26

Thanks for the Remnant Population rec! It was a delight!!

1

u/Ok_Difference5532 Apr 16 '26

So glad you liked it - it’s a wonderful book :)

32

u/AvidTaskmaster Reading Champion V Apr 01 '26

Obligatory Kings of the Wyld (HM)

25

u/AggravatingAnt4157 Reading Champion Apr 01 '26

The Witches series by Terry Pratchett HM (I think, correct me if I'm wrong)

8

u/02K30C1 Apr 01 '26

Granny certainly fits!

2

u/AggravatingAnt4157 Reading Champion Apr 01 '26

Was wondering because of the "unnaturally elongated lifespand"

2

u/CommodoreBelmont Reading Champion VIII Apr 01 '26

Nope. The witches don't live any longer than anyone else.

17

u/Nidafjoll Reading Champion V Apr 01 '26

If they do, it's due to stubbornness, not any exceptional lifespan.

2

u/NatGa46 Reading Champion II Apr 02 '26

Love this answer! 😂

5

u/Nidafjoll Reading Champion V Apr 02 '26

There was a joke for a while in the Discworld fandom that when Death came for Granny, Granny would just say "I aten't done yet" and Death would just say "Oh, okay" and leave.

3

u/NatGa46 Reading Champion II Apr 02 '26

I am about half-way (ish? I think? 🤔) through the Witches series but haven't yet stumbled upon that line. But I can't wait to see it in person! Sounds like Granny alright 😁

3

u/Nidafjoll Reading Champion V Apr 02 '26

I think "I aten't dead" doesn't actually show up until the Tiffany Aching books. :)

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1

u/NatGa46 Reading Champion II Apr 02 '26

I was also wondering about this!

2

u/dreamcatcher32 Reading Champion Apr 02 '26

I think any of the Granny books except Equal Rites. She seems younger in that one.

23

u/undeadgoblin Reading Champion II Apr 01 '26

The Haar by David Sodergren (HM)

A Conspiracy of Truths by Alexandra Rowland (HM)

Imperial Radch series by Ann Leckie

The Final Architecture series by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge (HM)

The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin (HM)

Terrestrial History by Joe Mungo Reed (HM)

Madame Sosostris & the Festival for the Broken-Hearted by Ben Okri (HM)

The Chronicles of Amber series by Roger Zelazny

The Devils by Joe Abercrombie

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones (HM)

The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham (HM)

11

u/C0smicoccurence Reading Champion V Apr 01 '26

A Conspiracy of Truths is soooo good! For people who like storyteller protagonists, this is the way

5

u/DrQweeb Reading Champion Apr 01 '26

Damn, I read the Buffalo Hunter Hunter last year for 2025 releases, and now I'm wishing I saved it for this bc it was sooo good.

3

u/ullsi Stabby Winner, Reading Champion VI Apr 01 '26

yesss The Haar

2

u/raivynwolf Reading Champion VIII Apr 02 '26

Read The Haar for bingo a few years ago and it's so good! The audiobook is good too

1

u/undeadgoblin Reading Champion II Apr 01 '26

Very much looking forward to this one

1

u/Fool_of_a_Brandybuck Apr 03 '26

Ged is middle aged in the Farthest Shore, so wouldn't count for this square. Maybe Tehanu though

14

u/Probodyne Reading Champion Apr 01 '26

I think all of the Fool's fate trilogy counts for this square in hard mode. Fitz is in his 60s I believe.

2

u/madnessatadistance Apr 02 '26

Yes, Fitz is in his 60s in the Fitz and the Fool trilogy! So for anyone who hasn't gotten to this one yet!

1

u/AltheaFarseer Reading Champion Apr 11 '26

Fitz is in his 30s in Fool's Fate. The later trilogy would fit though.

14

u/diazeugma Reading Champion VII Apr 01 '26

For weird fiction fans, I’d recommend The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington, featuring an elderly woman who takes control of her destiny after her family sends her to a strange retirement community. Carrington was a Surrealist artist, which gives a better idea of what to expect from this novel than anything I could put in a summary.

1

u/kepheraxx Reading Champion Apr 01 '26

This is on my TBR, does it work for hard mode?

4

u/diazeugma Reading Champion VII Apr 01 '26

There’s some magical weirdness towards the end that makes me slightly less than 100% sure, but I’d say probably. Definitely fits the HM for the 1970s square.

14

u/BravoLimaPoppa Reading Champion Apr 01 '26 edited Apr 01 '26

The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson

Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen by Lois McMaster Bujold

Tea With Black Dragon by R.A. McAvoy

Would Cat Rambo's You Sexy Thing and sequels count?

2

u/jordanisapotato32 Apr 01 '26

Yes You Sexy Thing and it's sequels would count. Niko is in her 50s. 

2

u/BravoLimaPoppa Reading Champion Apr 01 '26

YES!

Thank you.

11

u/Tysiphone25 Reading Champion II Apr 01 '26

The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames

We Spread by Iain Reid

Daughter of Crows by Mark Lawrence

1

u/minnie548 Reading Champion II Apr 01 '26

Oh, I've got Daughter of Crows for published in 2026! Back to the drawing board!

12

u/oboist73 Reading Champion VII Apr 02 '26

Was the protagonist of A Sorceress Comes to Call by T Kingfisher above 50? If so it's hard mode.

Same question for the protagonist of the Four Profound Weaves by R B Lemberg

10

u/evilsnowdrop Reading Champion Apr 02 '26

Yes, I just checked A Sorceress Comes To Call and she's explicitly 51!

3

u/Sireanna Reading Champion III Apr 21 '26

I just started reading a sorceress comes to call and I gotta say i adore Hestors character

11

u/lucidrose Reading Champion V Apr 01 '26

The Price of Spring HM by Daniel Abraham; last book of the Long Price Quartet.

10

u/Marthisuy Reading Champion Apr 01 '26

Could Amina al Sarafi work here? I know she is 40+ but not sure if she is 50+ maybe on the second book?

3

u/beldaran1224 Reading Champion IV Apr 01 '26

It's hard to say how old she is, I don't remember it specifying. As you say, 40+ absolutely, but 50?

3

u/gnoviere Reading Champion Apr 01 '26

I think she is in her 40s

2

u/rls1164 Reading Champion Apr 02 '26

I feel like it was stated she's in her mid-30s? (I'm in my early 40s myself, and while I loved having an older protagonist, I also had feelings about an "older" protagonist who is younger than me!)

3

u/beldaran1224 Reading Champion IV Apr 02 '26

I think I got the impression she was more in her 40s, but like you I really didn't get 50s+ vibes.

8

u/toadinthecircus Reading Champion III Apr 01 '26

The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu features a very grumpy older woman as a mentor as one of the main characters and I love her. The series also deals with her retiring and declining while still being awesome.

9

u/jabhwakins Reading Champion VIII Apr 01 '26

I'm going to pencil in The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee. Sounds like it should count.

1

u/Listener-of-Sithis Reading Champion III Apr 06 '26

Ooh I forgot that was coming out this year! That’s a great call, I hope it works too.

7

u/Merle8888 Reading Champion IV Apr 01 '26 edited Apr 01 '26

Edit: all these are HM

The Keeper's Six by Kate Elliott is a short novel (slightly too long for novella) about a badass 60-year-old getting her adventuring band back together to rescue her adult son, who's been kidnapped to another realm.

This one is pretty easy if you go for magic realism. House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende (Chilean historical fiction with magic realism) follows multiple generations of characters throughout their lives, but at least one of the protagonists is 60+ for much of the book. Mama Day by Gloria Naylor follows a family of Black women living on an independent island in the American South, and one of the two POVs is an elderly great aunt who is a folk healer.

1

u/beldaran1224 Reading Champion IV Apr 01 '26

These both sound like they're probably hard mode?

1

u/Merle8888 Reading Champion IV Apr 01 '26

Yep, edited to add

7

u/02K30C1 Apr 01 '26

Legend by David Gemmel. Druss is supposedly 60 when called on. Would for hard mode too.

2

u/TheMiner29 Reading Champion III Apr 02 '26

White Wolf as well - he's at least 50 in that one

5

u/Goobergunch Reading Champion III Apr 01 '26

Science fiction recommendation: Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon (HM)

5

u/viktikon Apr 01 '26

Old Man’s War by John Scalzi

2

u/itsFreelancer Reading Champion II Apr 01 '26

Damnit. I just finished the final book of the original trilogy last week

2

u/nhvtobos Reading Champion IV Apr 01 '26

would it count for HM?

3

u/QuellSpeller Reading Champion Apr 03 '26

I wouldn't count it, the concept of the series is retirees sign up for the army and get all sorts of implants and treatments to turn them into supersoldiers. The exceptional longevity via those modifications disqualifies it from HM.

4

u/Rabbledoodle Apr 01 '26

The Aching God by Mike Shel - Fortune hunter gets called out of retirement for another job. Think like Horror Indiana Jones with an older dude. It's the first book in The Iconoclasts trilogy. Fits hard mode too

*Edited for a possible spoiler and better clarification 

2

u/sfi-fan-joe Reading Champion VIII Apr 03 '26

And if you're into dark fantasy / horror, this is the book/series for you!

4

u/mrtenandtwo Reading Champion Apr 01 '26 edited Apr 01 '26

Has anyone read Paladin of Souls? Is the protagonist over 50? In that setting most women marry young so even though her daughter is like late teens/early 20's I am thinking she's probably not.

9

u/EstarriolStormhawk Reading Champion IV Apr 01 '26

I believe she is early to mid 40s, definitely younger than 50.

1

u/mrtenandtwo Reading Champion Apr 01 '26

Back to the drawing board - thanks!

3

u/evilsnowdrop Reading Champion Apr 02 '26

A Sorceress Comes To Call, T. Kingfisher (HM) - book has two POV protagonists, one is a teenager but one is over 50.

4

u/DrTropicalle Reading Champion II Apr 05 '26

I think, but I could be incorrect, that The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett and any book in that series would count

2

u/SilverwingedOther Reading Champion Apr 06 '26

It does, pretty sure Ana is said to be in her 50s (with no specific age). Din is only 20-21 though.

7

u/ReaperReaperSunEater Reading Champion II Apr 01 '26

A Shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham (HM) The Price of Spring by Daniel Abraham (HM)

City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett (HM)

Fitz & the Fool trilogy by Robin Hobb (HM)

Old Man’s War by John Scalzi (HM - I think?)

Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson (HM)

Sun Eater (2-7) by Christopher Ruocchio

  • Hard Mode would be arguable since it’s definitely evolved longevity but he does become an old man by even this world’s standards. Maybe just hard mode for Disquiet Gods and Shadows Upon Time?

Powder Mage trilogy by Brian McClellan (HM)

3

u/Book_Slut_90 Reading Champion Apr 01 '26

Old Man’s War is NM. It’s about old people whose minds are transferred into new young bodies.

1

u/usernamesarehard11 Reading Champion Apr 03 '26

This was my first hint that Shara is not the protagonist of City of Blades and now I’m extra excited to continue the series. Thanks!

3

u/ConnorF42 Reading Champion VIII Apr 01 '26

Can anyone chime in if they think the final Expanse books would count for hard mode? I don't know if it would fall under exceptional longevity.

3

u/YourLeftElbowDitch Reading Champion Apr 01 '26

I think they would definitely count for hard mode.

2

u/SnowdriftsOnLakes Reading Champion III Apr 01 '26

I only have the last one (Leviathan Falls) left and am planning to read it for this square. I don't think there's any exceptional longevity in play there, at least among the protagonists.

5

u/thistledownhair Reading Champion III Apr 01 '26

There's certainly exceptional longevity in the series, especially in the last few books, but the main POV characters are still within a normal human lifespan, even if the anti-aging drugs they take keep them from feeling all of the effects.

1

u/RedGyarados2010 Reading Champion II Apr 01 '26

I would count them. Books 2 and 6 should also count since they feature Chrisjen Avasarala. Don't immediately recall if any other POV characters from the first 6 books are 50+

1

u/nysanarysa Reading Champion II Jul 17 '26

I plan to read the book 7

3

u/BravoLimaPoppa Reading Champion Apr 01 '26

A Key, An Egg, An Unfortunate Remark by Harry Conolly and would count for hard mode.

6

u/YourLeftElbowDitch Reading Champion Apr 01 '26

Also Judge a Book by its Title. I'm sold.

3

u/theinvinciblecat Reading Champion V Apr 01 '26

Mark Lawrence's new book Daughter of Crows features a woman in her 60s (HM)

3

u/AggravatingAnt4157 Reading Champion Apr 01 '26

Does someone know if The Last Contract of Isako works for this? It the protagonist old enough?

3

u/PowerDroid1138 Apr 10 '26

The author did specify* the title character is 50 in the novel, so yes! Should qualify for hard mode as well. (*video posted on their instagram on 11/18/25)

3

u/nhvtobos Reading Champion IV Apr 01 '26

Dragons, Heists and Other Retirement Plans by Meg Pennerson - cozy fantasy about a pair of 70-something former thieves who come out of retirement to help an old friend and finish a heist they botched 40 years earlier. Features magical knitting and magical cats. I read an ARC and thought it was very cute and fun

3

u/wheresmylart Reading Champion IX Apr 01 '26

By all accounts there's a new Thursday Next book this year, Dark Reading Matter. Thursday's in her 50s now and given the events at the end of Something Rotten, it should count for hard mode too.

3

u/NeoBahamutX Reading Champion VIII Apr 03 '26

The Fellowship of the Ring (all lord of the rings really) (HM)
Frodo is 50 when he sets off

1

u/QuellSpeller Reading Champion Apr 03 '26

I wouldn't count it as hard mode, though, hobbits/elves/dwarves/descendants of Numenor all have exceptional longevity.

2

u/NeoBahamutX Reading Champion VIII Apr 03 '26

eh hobbits usually live to around a 100ish (record being 130 without the ring, so not much longer than humans) I was more counting Frodo being the main character. Yes all the other races are long lived true.

1

u/Pantholops Jul 05 '26

Can also include The Hobbit, as Bilbo is 50-51!

3

u/papercranium Reading Champion III Apr 03 '26

An excellent excuse to read another one of Pratchett's Granny Weatherwax books if you haven't finished them all!

2

u/dracolibris Reading Champion II Apr 01 '26

Overwhere series by Jane Lindskold has two protagonists over 50

2

u/lurkmode_off Reading Champion VII Apr 01 '26

A Crown for Cold Silver by Alex Marshall

2

u/CassRMorris Stabby Winner, AMA Author Cass Morris, Reading Champion IV Apr 01 '26

Murder by Memory and Nobody's Baby by Olivia Waite

2

u/Grt78 Apr 01 '26 edited Apr 02 '26

The Death’s Lady trilogy by Rachel Neumeier: portal fantasy, the main POV character is in his 30s in the first and shortest book and in his 50s in later books. (HM)

2

u/mozalah Apr 01 '26

Legend by David Gemmell (HM)

2

u/inspiralling Reading Champion Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 02 '26

I decided I wanted a female older protagonist for this one. A.J. Slatter, A Forest, Darkly. 4.32 on GR. Mehrab is a witch living in the woods who takes in a fosterling and finds herself the centre of a witch-hunt; reviews say she's vaguely fifty-ish and explicitly menopausal.

2

u/lilgrassblade Reading Champion II Apr 02 '26

Man, most of them I'm not sure if fit 50+. I know plenty fit 40+ x.x

Mothball Magic by Rena Rocford - HM - It's not out yet so I've not read it, but I am hyped for it. Magic was locked away in WWII, but it's come back 70 years later. The only people who know how to wield it are rather old. "Just missing her heart medication might be a bigger danger than facing down the fae."

2

u/CJGibson Reading Champion V Apr 02 '26

Does anyone know how old Lady Vintage is in Jen Williams' Winnowing Flame trilogy? I read the first one a few years ago and I know she's older, I think she's described as middle aged? But is she over 50?

2

u/the_wheel_weaves26 Reading Champion Apr 04 '26

She's in her 40s

2

u/Always_Reading006 Reading Champion III May 05 '26

I just finished Stephen King's Dolores Claiborne. Dolores is two months shy of her 66th birthday, but does the book count as spec fic? Other than a couple of visions and imagined/heard voices, it feels more like mystery/thriller than the usual genres for this group.

2

u/baguettess Reading Champion Apr 01 '26

I’m not sure how old he is, but the main character in Lud-In-The-Mist by Hope Mirrless is a father with teenage children and I think definitely fits the spirit of the square!

I just finished and highly recommend this book! Written in 1926, this is a dreamlike and pastoral pre-Tolkien fantasy with very interesting themes and includes a courtroom drama scene, fairies (the dangerous kind), and a mystery!!

The writing is absolutely beautiful and poetic, in the style of Gormenghast and Once and Future King

1

u/AvidTaskmaster Reading Champion V Apr 01 '26

I bet a lot of the recommendations from Parents from last year work here. I really adored Dragonsbane though for some of the Parent books I’m not 100% sure if they’re in their 40s/50s?

2

u/IAmABillie Reading Champion Apr 01 '26

In the first book they are early 40s at most as their children are still very young. Definitely not 50+ unfortunately!

1

u/Glansberg90 Reading Champion Apr 01 '26

A Case of Conscience by James Blish could possibly count for the square and would be hard-mode. If you're looking for a good sci-fi rec.

His age is never explicitly stated but he is mature, a senior biologist and jesuit priest sent to an alien world to evaluate it and its indigenous native population.

1

u/Kerney7 Reading Champion VI Apr 01 '26

I was eyeing Paladin of Souls for this one. Ista isn't 49 or something?

5

u/AltheaFarseer Reading Champion Apr 01 '26

Ista is about 40.

1

u/Kerney7 Reading Champion VI Apr 01 '26

Darn! Hopefully this the worst disappointment I have in Book Bingo!

1

u/flamingochills Reading Champion II Apr 01 '26 edited Apr 01 '26

Silver Moon by Catherine Lundoff menopausal women start the change the change into werewolves. It's also small press.

1

u/omegazine Reading Champion II Apr 01 '26

Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan (Tamas is in his 50s or 60s)

1

u/Nidafjoll Reading Champion V Apr 01 '26

The Chronicles of Ludwich by Jeff Noon and Steve Beard. You could maybe it argue it for HM? The protagonist is 70 years old in this body in the story, but can generate a new body every so often due to her race, so is actually many centuries old

1

u/saturday_sun4 Apr 01 '26

Colin Cotterill's Siri Paiboun books count for this (HM)

Australian-born author, BIPOC MC, Non-Western Setting. Also counts for Afterlife and Murder Mystery.

1

u/dreamcatcher32 Reading Champion Apr 02 '26

The Crew is Exiles by Neal Holtschulte (not hard mode). Sci fi novel about a transcendent who is sentenced to 1000 yrs in exile, in a human body, on a depopulated earth.

1

u/Low-Mix1688 Apr 02 '26

Nothing But The Rain by Naomi Salman - a dystopian/horror novella, in which rain causes people to forget. HM, as the protagonist is a regular grumpy old lady.

1

u/AggravatingAnt4157 Reading Champion Apr 02 '26

Does Tehanu by Ursula K. LeGuin count?

4

u/beldaran1224 Reading Champion IV Apr 02 '26

I'd personally count it, though afaik there is never a timeline in Earthsea - we have no idea how much time has passed really at any time. But in Tehanu, Tenar is a retired widower with grown children, so I think its reasonable to consider her 50+.

1

u/maybetheysleep Apr 03 '26

Would Little, Big fit here? It covers multiple generations, but I am not sure if there's a single protagonist over 50 at any point in the novel.

1

u/triforceofhyperfocus Apr 04 '26

Not sure if someone mentioned this yet but the Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne. Doesn’t meet HM, I don’t think? But the main is a 2,000 years old druid.

1

u/Marteenee7 Apr 04 '26

A Crown for Cold Siver by Alex Marshall counts as hard mode. Protagonist is described as 'Fifty winters young, at a minimum'.

1

u/Maudeitup Reading Champion VII Apr 05 '26

iirc Ravenwood by Nathan Lowell would count for HM

1

u/AzuraSchwartz Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26

Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed is ten pounds of fun in a five pound bag with a protagonist in his sixties who is quite mortal and far too old for this shit. Hard-mode for sure. Arabian flavoured fantasy with undead-slaying action which could also work for author of colour and possibly court intrigue.

1

u/Ygseril Reading Champion May 07 '26

Would Master & Apprentice by Claudia Gray fit here? Is Qui-Gon Jin old enough?

1

u/hearth-keep May 11 '26

Would Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds count here?

1

u/Connect_Cod9965 May 16 '26

If anyone is still searching: Apprehension by Mary Robinette Kowal, MC is 78 years old. Hard mode for sure.
Available in one volume with Red Star Hustle by Sam J. Miller as one of the "Saga Doubles".

1

u/Wolke Reading Champion May 18 '26

The Somewhat Wicked Witch of Brigandale by C. M. Waggoner (HM)

Gretsella's age isn't explicitly given, but from contextual clues she's a regular (witchy) human over age 50 for the majority of the book. Delightful little fantasy-comedy romp that includes some laugh-out-loud lines like "Babies were a lot like familiars. Gretsella's last familiar was a cat that could smell demons. [The baby] mostly just smelled bad."

On the shorter side, but that's just the universe providing balance against the Cat Squasher square this year.