The Fantasy Hive Closure – ANNOUNCEMENT
We’ve made the difficult decision to close The Fantasy Hive.
Sadly, the site has become too large for us to manage enjoyably anymore, and rather than see it evolve into something else under someone else’s management, we’ve decided to close it.
We will continue to take part in SPFBO 11, which runs until the end of the year, so you’ll still be able to find TO, Cat and Vinay’s SPFBO reviews here. But from 1st August 2026 we will not be publishing any other content.
We won’t be taking the site down, all the amazing content produced over the years will still be accessible.
Read on to hear from the team and find out where you can continue following them:
I joined the Hive in 2018 as a reviewer and Laura’s assistant, helping her with editing the Author Spotlights! By 2020, Laura was looking to step down to concentrate on her writing, so I took over the editing full time, supported on the organising and communication side by Nils. That was the first year we ran Women in SFF – which went on to gain huge support over the five years we organised it. Definitely my proudest achievement on the Fantasy Hive!
I’ve had an incredible time running the site and working alongside some of the best genre reviewers out there right now! As much as I’ve loved my time on the site, I’m very much looking forward to my next reviewing chapter; a new, small-scale blog with Nils called The Same Page.
Moving forward, you can find my reviews on The Same Page (still under construction) and on the following socials:
The Same Page instagram | bethanmaybooks instagram | The Same Page bluesky | bethanmay bluesky
I joined The Fantasy Hive in 2019 as a reviewer and social media empress (basically I ran the instagram and twitter account!) and then as Laura stepped down I wanted to share the running of the site with Beth to take some of the pressure off of her. I can honestly say I’ve loved every minute of it.
From interacting and building relationships with publishers and authors to having an outlet for my lengthy reviews and creating amazing features such as Cruising the Cosmere and Women in SFF, I am grateful for all the opportunities The Fantasy Hive has given me. I’m also truly thankful to all the publicists who have kindly sent me arcs for reviewing on the site.
I’m so grateful for the friendships I’ve made along the way too, especially with Beth who I couldn’t be without, who I’ve had amazing buddy reads with and who I’m excited to be sharing our next reviewing adventure together.
Moving forward, you can find my reviews on The Same Page (still under construction) and on the following socials:
The Same Page instagram | The Same Page bluesky | nils.reviewsit instagram | nilsreviewsit bluesky
Time seems to have flown! I’ve been a humble reviewer for the Fantasy Hive for a while, but also had the fun of interviewing several great authors and even being part of the Embargo Shenanigans of the Alchemised release last year! I’m currently loving the SPFBO final stages and have been so glad to be part of this super-friendly bookish community – it will absolutely be missed.
If you still want to see my thoughts on all things Book, I can be found at Cats Books or on my Instagram/Threads, Tiktok and BlueSky.
I joined the Hive back at the start of 2018 and have really enjoyed being a part of such a vibrant team full of speculative fiction enthusiasts. I have loved the opportunity to review some great early releases, to interview some fantastic authors and to see the best that self-published fantasy has to offer in several iterations of the SPFBO. The only things missing from my Hive achievement list are buddy reading the Silmarillion with Nils and getting Jonathan to read a Romantasy.
Moving forward you can find me at my new website fantasy-reviews.co.uk (Launching today!!) which will be full of my “reviews, reports, reveals and rants from and around the world of speculative fiction.”
You can also find me – probably ranting – on twitter, instagram, goodreads and bluesky.
Well, I am one of the newer recruits having joined the Hive a couple of years back. The Hive has been very kind to have me on and I have had a whale of a good time being part of this amazing gang. I have absolutely loved the opportunity to read some of the amazing releases of the genre and been allowed to share my thoughts and enthusiasm on the books to a wider audience. I am loving this experience of being part of SPFBOXI, having always seen it from afar and I am extremely grateful for this opportunity.
For my reviews and thoughts, you can find me on my blog – vinayvasan.substack.com. I am generally super active on book twitter at Vinayvasan. I have my presence across the other socials as well –
Life without Fantasy Hive is a little hard for me to think about. I’m tempted to quote Edmund Blackadder and quip that, like a broken pencil, it would be pointless. But I shan’t be melodramatic.
I’ve been here since the beginning, I joined when Laura set up the site, and saw it blossom under Beth’s and Nils’ leadership. What can I say, it’s been an absolute pleasure writing for these guys, and they have been so generous supporting my writing whatever crazy alleys it’s taken me. I could not have asked for more generous or supportive editors. It’s been a privilege to be a part of this community, and I will miss it dearly.
I will still be writing of course, I still write for Gingernuts Of Horror and you can find my music writing on OUTSIDELEFT and I hope anyone who enjoyed my writing will consider following me on Instagram @jonny.thornton and Bluesky @jonathanthornton.bsky.social.
All that remains to say is once again thank you to all my amazing colleagues and friends, with another shout out to Beth and Nils for all their hard work making this site what it is.
Delving into long-form reviews with the Hive has been a fabulous experience and I’ll always be grateful to Nils and Beth for having me on board, giving me my first opportunity to interview authors, and fuelling my (frankly unhealthy) obsession with T Kingfisher. They’re a wonderful team and such great minds and have made the Hive into such a great source for entertaining and reliable fantasy reviews.
If you want to find my other internet haunts you can find me on Instagram, YouTube, and (very rarely) on TikTok @verysmalltroll chatting about books, writing, D&D, and probably goblins in some form.
Gray
Despite my best efforts, the Fantasy Hive has been a bastion of positivity and joy in the SFF community. Thanks to the tireless work of Beth, Nils, and the rest of these maniacs. While I have been a rather inconsistent contributor over the years, I suppose that running an agony aunt column where I pretend to be an elderly wizard for as long as I did is something resembling an achievement…
If you want more of my nonsense: www.gdpenman.com
Thank you to everyone who has contributed over the years to this amazing site – to all the authors we’ve interviewed or have contributed guest posts or short stories, to all the publicists we’ve worked with who have sent books and authors our way, and anyone who has contributed in any way.
Thank you to all our readers and supporters over the years, for reading all our reviews and posts!
But most of all, thank you Nils, Jonathan, TO, Cat and Kat, Vinay, Emma and Gray.
You were the best team to work with and we made something extraodinarily special here.
Noooo…. I’ve only just found you! I’m on my third book of five epic fantasy novels and had reached the stage where I needed to reach out to others. Where have you gone? If you get together again, please tell everyone!
Best wishes to all of you from your friends at FanLit (fantasyliterature.com).
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Even though I’m sad the site is closing, I love how all of you are continuing to write via other avenues. It gives me hope that this splintering becomes a net positive overall, that even more great content is being put out into the world rather than simply being consumed.
It’s hard to imagine the SFF blogosphere without TFH! Well done for you everything you have all done, across your own individual journey’s and that of the FH.
Thanks Hive!
End of an era, gang! I shall miss this site terribly, but the work you all did here was amazing and you should be incredibly proud of all you achieved. xx