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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ycore Rixle" data-source="post: 1412009" data-attributes="member: 675">I think Eberron is fresh - if it really follows through on its "magical technology" and "D&D magic that makes sense" idea. I think this for the same reason that Jurgen points out about his Urbis world (which I haven't had the time to read about, but keep meaning to). Namely, these two assume a world dominated by D&D-style magic. Not a world with D&D-style magic that inexplicably doesn't over-run the medieval setting. But a place where the world has evolved according to the fact that magic exists, is readily attainable, and has been studied and practiced for centuries. I'm dying to see a well-done world like that.I can't agree that so-called "contemporary fantasy" is fresh. I love Joss Whedon, but Buffy is really just the 90's-female version of the Stan Lee superhero. The SLH is the hero whose power brings succor to those around him but hurts him personally at least as much as it helps. Stan Lee doesn't get nearly enough credit for bringing this archetype to modern literature (and pretty much inventing it - can anyone think of a true earlier example? Greek heroes with "tragic flaws" don't count, because in the SLH, the "tragic flaw" is the power itself, as opposed to hubris, jealousy, greed, etc. - it's hard to think of such heroes outside of the New Testament's superhero).Harry Potter is well done, but far more formulaic than fresh (not always a bad thing at all, but we're talking about freshness here). And American Gods, well, I just thought that was a muddle. Give me a nice clean Neverwhere, with its stock characters all gussied up in urban hippie bum-chic with Avalonian undertones, over a pointless picaresque roadshow depression-fest any day. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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