SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

I would like to read a new fantasy book. I want it to be a lesser-known author though. I want it to be from someone who is trying to make it in this competitive field. Anyone got a good one for me?

I do!

David Mogo, Godhunter

One Bad Week: A Jonathan Crowley Chronical

The House of Shattered Wings

Spellwright

Emily Eternal

Not even 100 ratings here on GR but my positive-surprise Fantasy read of the year:

The Way of Thorn and Thunder by Daniel Heath Justice

The Grey Bastards - he has got 4 books out - but maybe that is new enough - this one is a bit different.

I loved The Grey Bastards.

Thank you! I may try to read most of these suggestions. The way of thorn and thunder looks like where I will start because it only has 96 ratings. The grey bastards looks really good but it has over 1k ratings. I am a struggling author myself, so I want to try to help out those who are also trying

I meant over 3k, not 1k

I like to read books with less than 15 ratings. You can find great passion projects by indies.

@Phillip Murell do you have any suggestions in the fantasy genre with 15 or less ratings?

I don’t think there’s a way to search Goodreads by number of ratings. We can do it on individual shelves, but I don’t see a way to do it globally.

I loved Daniel M. Ford's Paladin trilogy (books released in 2016/2017/2018), starting with Ordination. It's at ~600 ratings on GR. It's also on the longer end (first book is 500+ pages, the third is 700+).
Battle Mage is a standalone on the longer end (~650p) but with a 4,47 at 5k ratings so sounds like a good bet.
And, lastly, Dragon Fate and Dragon Blade (2x ~400 pages, 600/400 ratings) as a quick-to-read lighthearted dragon fantasy (there are also two more books loosely following it but the first two are a bit better IMO).

I have reviewed all of them myself and should have some amount of highlights as well (hail Kindle) if you want to know more about them.
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Phillip wrote: "I like to read books with less than 15 ratings. You can find great passion projects by indies."

I had some very special feelings when I was the first to rate/review a book.

In Listopia there are some "underrated" lists but they aren't likely to have struggling new authors... they tend to be for B list books from older B list authors, ime.

Tomas wrote: "I had some very special feelings when I was the first to rate/review a book."

I feel the same way. Many times books with zero reviews jump to the front of the queue so I can get that feeling again.

I've been the first to review two books. My special feelings on being the first to review them were "intimidated." Rightfully or no, I felt like I'd be setting the tenor for all other reviews that followed, and in neither case was my opinion of the book especially high.

As for a relatively underappreciated book: Los Nefilim by T. Frohock, a collection of three urban fantasy/supernatural novellas set during the revolutionary period in Spain in the 1930s. Part cozy, part scary. Presently has a little over 100 ratings on GR.