Annoying Fantasy Trends

[Sado]

This has more to do with RPG settings than novels, but I'm tired of the way so many settings have dozens of intelligent races, 90% of which are considered "monsters", who instead of having their own civilizations and cultures all live in little camps just beyond human civilization, just as smart as humans but arbitrarily less advanced? FR is one of the worst of these, and I really don't like the setting very much, but it seems like I end up playing it all the time because it's so widespread.

If anyone can recommend a good setting that doesn't work like this, let me know.

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

The obligatory "trilogizing" of every story. If you can't tell it in one book, it's probably not worth three. Or write one story, and then a sequel. But this whole "trilogy right out of the gate" thing has got to go.

Proper names with lots of apostrophes and/or multiple consecutive Y's. If I stumble over too many names too many times, the book gets gently returned to the bookcase never to be seen again.

Magic being the only gimmick. Very tired. Even D&D has psionics and kung-fu powers. I'm not saying get rid of anything fantastical, but if one more guy waves his hands around, whispers an incantation/silent prayer to his god, and lightning shoots out of his palms I'm gonna vomit with rage.

As an extension of the farmboy thing, I'm really sick of the over-reliance on the Hero's Journey, with a pathetic n00b in book one who becomes an archmage/lord/demigod by the end of book three. Hey, how about a guy who starts off kinda badass? No one cared about the long, angst-ridden journey Bruce Willis's character went on to became such a badass before he finally showed up at the Nakatomi Tower in Die Hard.

 

[dreaded_beast]

Main characters who are hypocrites

Main characters who are neither good nor evil

Typical Medieval (European) Fantasy

The big, loud, arrogant barbarian, but everyone still loves him

The weakling, comic-relief wizard

When the author tries to force us to see how "good" and "loveable" the main character is by literally telling us "so and so is such a good person. Only the most compassionate of people would have their heart breaking at a moment like this." Bah.

 

[Desdichado]

Magic being the only gimmick. Very tired. Even D&D has psionics and kung-fu powers. I'm not saying get rid of anything fantastical, but if one more guy waves his hands around, whispers an incantation/silent prayer to his god, and lightning shoots out of his palms I'm gonna vomit with rage.

Uh, maybe it's just fantasy you're tired of, then?

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

Uh, maybe it's just fantasy you're tired of, then?

I'll concede that I don't read much fantasy (playing D&D is another thing). I find fiction in the genre pretty uninspired, on the whole.

But y'know, I went out this weekend and saw Hero with Jet Li, and it got me to thinking. This movie is obviously fantastical - you do have guys running over water and doing hang-time jumps Michael Jordan only dreams about. But nothing was overtly magical. These guys were just scarily skilled.

So what if you had magic without the MAGIC? Why can't somebody try something new and different? Why all the Gandalf clones?

The only thing fantasy has to be is fantastical. All these trappings like a wizened old sorcerer with a pointy hat are just that, trappings. I'd like to see a book where someone does something miraculous and no one calls it "magic".

Or I could just go back to not reading fantasy. Suits me just fine.

 

[Dark Jezter]

The obligatory "trilogizing" of every story. If you can't tell it in one book, it's probably not worth three. Or write one story, and then a sequel. But this whole "trilogy right out of the gate" thing has got to go.

In that case, you'd probably like what Ed Greenwood had to say about trilogies during an interview he gave a while back...

"Long, long ago (before TSR, Inc., bought the rights to the Forgotten Realms) I'd decided I disliked "preplanned fantasy trilogies." I had nothing against series, or book-after-somewhat-related-book set in the same world, but I had developed a dislike for tales crafted and planned as three-book releases. (The Lord of the Rings was chopped into three books by its original publisher, but its success led to many publishers thinking that fantasies should appear in trilogies.) In my opinion, when these written-to-be-three-books sagas were attempted by most writers, the reader ended up with an unfolding-the-problem-and-introducing-the-cast first book (that sometimes moved very s-s-s-slowly indeed), then an everyone-rushes-everywhere-and-fights-but-nothing-gets-resolved middle book, and then a blast-the-trumpets-save-the-world-great-big-doom concluding book. Instead, I wanted every fantasy book I read to stand alone as a complete tale, so if readers never knew there were others involving the same setting or characters, they could still enjoy the one they had found, all by itself."​

 

[RangerWickett]

In that case, you'd probably like what Ed Greenwood had to say about trilogies during an interview he gave a while back...

Elminster, Making of a Mage
Elminster in Hell
Elminster's Daughter


*grin*

In fantasy, I'm actually bored with historical language. I don't mind if fantasy characters say, "Cool," or "What the ?" if it makes sense in the setting. Heck, my games don't require players to speak with stiltations, so I am equally lax with my reading.

I haven't read much fantasy lately, but Drizzt has been angsty for a very long time. I know you can't have a book where the character is happy all the time, but maybe, like, a short story from Salvatore. "A Day in the Life of Drizzt Do'Urden." Drizzt hangs out with his buddies, practices sword-fighting with a young and impressionable adventurer, and tells a funny story of the time he accidentally left Alustriel's bedchamber wearing her stockings. It'd be a hoot.

 

[Belen]

I really hate it when authors slap fantasy settings and names on novels that are all about heaving bosoms and pulsing loins, and try to claim it's a fantasy novel rather than a romance novel. While not all their novels are like this, Anne McAffrey and Mercedes Lackey are both guilty of this charge on multiple counts.

We must not be reading the same McCaffrey and Lackey. I find both authors do an excellent job and rarely read like a romance novel.

To each his own, I guess.

 

[Ralts Bloodthorne]

"A Day in the Life of Drizzt Do'Urden." Drizzt hangs out with his buddies, practices sword-fighting with a young and impressionable adventurer, and tells a funny story of the time he accidentally left Alustriel's bedchamber wearing her stockings. It'd be a hoot.

If it ends with him and Wulfgar picking up prostitutes and running off without paying, I might buy that.

Twice.

 

[Robbert Raets]

If anyone can recommend a good setting that doesn't work like this, let me know.

Eberron!