Hey all,
I’m kind of old now (32M), but my Ma used to read The Hobbit to me when I was too young to read for myself. As a child, I read a lot of fantasy from Redwall to The Lord of The Rings. When the first Harry Potter came out, I was still in elementary and my Ma got me hooked again! I love her and I love a good fantasy story. What I love about The Hobbit in particular is how the heroes are just insignificant dudes who enjoy a good smoke, good food and drinks at their home but they step out of the comforts of their home and are swept away by adventure! It will always be my favorite! Tales of Earthsea by Ursula K Le Guin is great! This is all just a prelude to how disappointed I am by a lot of the modern epic fantasy. I like dark fantasy! Me and my lil bro totally vibed on Diablo 2 when I was a kid and I really dig The Old Kingdom/Abhorsen series by Garth Nix! However, rape is something I am not into. Particularly when it gets as bad as interspecies rape, gang rape, etc., which …
My 15th book, The Girl And The Moon published today. The Book of the Ice trilogy is now complete. So, if you were waiting, jump in!
My 5 trilogies are all very different in character, so if you didn’t like one, you might like the next. Here’s a guide.
My 15th book is also an end to various loose connections between my various works. This prompted me to write a piece on endings recently.
Another thing I get up to is shepherding the annual Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off SPFBO contest wherein 300 fantasy books are considered by 10 blogs, eventually producing 10 finalists and one champion.
The contest ends in 2 days, and the top of the leader-board is the tightest it has ever been after a super close contest between all the finalists.
In addition to writing fiction I’ve been a research scientist, sold evening gowns, written computer games, written for computer games, been hustled into a police van in Guatemala, climbed an active volcano, and been nominated for at …
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(TLDR at the bottom of you want it)
I knew I liked Novik ever since ripping through all 9 books of Temeraire, and while A Deadly Education is a very different kind of story, it was still immensely enjoyable. That’s easy to say broadly, though, so here are two very specific points I absolutely loved.
FIRST: Novik has taken many common tropes in this novel and twisted them in a way that simultaneously feels totally refreshing and yet completely natural.
This is one thing I’m getting a little bored of. I want more fantasy magic systems to more like the one we have in the Stormlight Archive, where people get their powers because of their actions not the circumstances they are born into. I think a magic that is acquired in a similar way to surgebinding will result in a much more interesting story. I’m not super well read in fantasy so I could be wrong, but this is my experience so far.
Not all wardrobes are created equal.
https://www.theonion.com/ikea-wardrobe-contains-cheap-poorly-constructed-fantas-1848362920
Don’t get me wrong, I like a good multiperspective story every now and then, but I feel like recently the fantasy market has been flooded with them. It bothers me because I get jerked around the story, and don’t get time to get involved with the characters like a single perspective book.
Anyone else feel this way, or just me?
My 18 year old daughter and I just picked up The Final Flaw, a science fiction book about the importance of neurodiversity that released this week. She has Tourette’s syndrome and immediately upon seeing the main character had it too, we purchased it.
I was honestly floored. Often times books written about characters with disabilities use them as a way for the reader to feel pity. This one was the opposite. The book takes place ~25 years in the future where genetic manipulation is becoming mainstream and society is just beginning to remove traits like autism and Tourette’s syndrome. The main character, despite his disadvantages, has really positive self-talk and loves himself despite his imperfections. He is deeply conflicted about removing these traits from society and is put in a position where he is at the center of the conflict.
The book was great, but the best part is the way that it has impacted my daughter. It’s the fastest I’ve ever seen her read a …
I’m struggling through Sarah J. Maas’ Heir of Fire right now and am seriously considering DNFing the book. The pacing is slow, and I don’t like where the story is going with one of my favorite characters.I’ve looked online to see if it gets any better after this book, but apparently it does not. I’m seriously considering leaving the series unfinished, although I’ve enjoyed the first two books.
Has anyone else experienced this feeling?
I’m really enjoying them.
I really enjoy military scifi and after reading expeditionary force I’m looking for some more.
However after reading through a few now I have to say, expeditionary force had a little bit of the alpha male bs but nothing compared to the majority.
I get that it’s leaning into military culture but I find its overdone in most of the books to the point of distracting as well as making me not like the main character when they push the whole alpha male bordering on toxic masculinity.
Things like:.
The main character wanting to punch someone he meets because their hair is a few inches longer than a buzz cut….
whenever anyone offers them food that’s not meat they will be disgusted..
Same thing with hard drinks.
Comments about women - just sexism in general.
Does anyone know of any military scifi or similar where the main character is not like this.. or at least it’s kept to a minimal and reasonable level like exofo?
I bloody love the way Charles Stross writes.
I’m re-reading Singularity Sky and there’s a lot in the way that he writes that reminds me of Pterry.
There are so many things that I didn’t catch on my first read through.
“Accelerating to speeds faster than light was, of course, impossible. General relativity had made that clear enough back in the twentieth century. However, since then a number of ways of circumventing the speed limit had turned up; by now, there were at least six different known methods of moving mass or information from A to B without going through c.”
Pretty much what’s in the title. Real page-turners with a palpable sense of danger?
Hello, my daughter and I listen to books from time to time, we have listened to Artemis fowl, which she liked very much, now we are listening to the wizard of Earthsea, she likes it also, but has specifically requested a book about a girl or a woman. She is seven years old, she likes adventure stories, she likes magic and sci fi and fairies and love stories and adventure and all the stuff that little girls like. Any recommendations would be appreciated. Thank you.