Annoying Fantasy Trends

[Orius]

I completely hate, and will not read books where the protagonist is a farmer who has no idea of his powers or ability.

This means Rand al'Thor from Jordan, and the loser whatshisname from Goodkind.

You might say, "What about Tolkien -- Frodo was a simple hobbit..."...

This is true, but he was a simple hobbit throughout the books. He didn't suddenly turn into Galdalf with a vertical deficiency.

Frodo wasn't a farmer; he was a wealthy idle hobbit that had the luxury of studying elvish lore and such. Same thing with Bilbo, he was a well-to-do bachelor before setting out for the Lonely Mountain. Hell, even Sam wasn't a farmer, he was a gardener . The only hobbit farmer we meet in the LotR is a minor character .

 

[Orius]

I am, to this day, surprised at the number of villians who make an evil overlord mistake.

I agree, the evil overlord list really should be required reading so aspiring fantasy authors.

 

[drothgery]

I agree, the evil overlord list really should be required reading so aspiring fantasy authors.

Err... isn't the hero supposed to win?

 

[Sado]

Err... isn't the hero supposed to win?

He or she is supposed to win in spite of the evil overlord not making dumb mistakes.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Trilogies are a cliche, and as much as I like Jordan's WoT, he's running the risk of having it dragged out far too much, so I'd avoid the never-ending story bit too.

Oh dear, this struck me as funny. He's "running the risk of having it dragged out far too much"? Heh. If he's only running the risk of it after more than, what, eleven books with no end in sight, what would have made it obvious?

But then, I was getting fed up in book 4 and gave up on Jordan in the middle of book 5 when I noticed him recycling his own plots.


Regards,
Eric Anondson

 

[FraserRonald]

To bring some contrast--do you have an example of a fantasy author that writes BETTER females than Jordan? The classics of fantasy have them as, well, "rarer than dragons", the D&D classics have them as either totally inconsistent or illogical, and the modern fantasy books I've read portray their women in the same range Tolkien does.

Try some Guy Gavriel Kay. He's done very well with women characters in my opinion. I would say Glen Cook does pretty well, but while his female characters are usually strong and capable, given that his main series--the Black Company--is about medieval mercenaries, they aren't as prevalent in that work as in some of his others.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Good women characters?

Find them in:

Mary Gentle's The Book of Ash series

Joel Rosenburg's Guardians of the Flame novels

Larry Niven's Dream Park books

As well as the works of Leigh Brackett, Barbara Hambly, Tanith Lee, and others.

 

[LizardWizard]

That sounds like a cross between the Belgariad and the D&D movie.

And a horrible one indeed...

 

[Turanil]

I am, to this day, surprised at the number of villians who make an evil overlord mistake.

I see at plausible that villains make idiotic mistakes. Villains are likely to be direly neurotic or even psychotic guys with very few connection with reality. Their motives are likely to be petty, such as prove to everyone how mighty they are, etc. Just get a look at Hitler's last days: he decided to remain in his blockhaus in Berlin, deceiving himself in pretending that a couple of German armies that didn't exist anymore were going to save the already lost city. In his hate and madness he did things that were obviously opposed to any logic when it became apparent the German were losing the war. The fact is, he was mad and with few connection with reality. The ultimate evil villain. I believe that someone totally sane and rationale in the first place, would see better and easier to do things smoothly, coherently, and wouldn't need to persecute people and perform any evil. Hence, IMO the stupid evil overlord makes sense.

 

[Orius]

Oh dear, this struck me as funny. He's "running the risk of having it dragged out far too much"? Heh. If he's only running the risk of it after more than, what, eleven books with no end in sight, what would have made it obvious?

That's because I haven't given up on him yet. The only books I found truely disappointing were 8 and 10.