I feel like there has been SO MUCH pretentiousness from fantasy fans about fantasy romance and goddamn that shit is annoying. Just because the idea of sex or sexual desire in fantasy novels scares you, doesn’t mean it is not real fantasy.
Average writing in a book does not make it not fantasy, hell, Sanderson is one of the most successful fantasy writers of our generation and his writing is no Tolkien thats for sure (as a massive Sanderson fan). There are plenty of male authors that constantly write descriptions of womens boobs, clothes, and figures as well as dudes wanting to have sex with every woman they see and somehow that is all fine since its from a man (Robert Jordan, Brent Weeks, Jim Butcher – I could give so many examples but you know what many books I am talking about). But god forbid a woman wants to have sex and displays sexual desire and it is all “shitty writing” and “no world building” since the world and magic system isn’t …
Hi, people of r/fantasy! Two years ago I posted this same question, and we got more 700 quotes!
Care to share some quotes? :)
I’m talking the ones you just couldn’t put down. I like to listen to audiobooks when I run and those need to be constantly tense / addictive. Any suggestions? I just finished the cradle series (which was perfect for this) Any other suggestions?!
Edit: was not expecting such a great response! Fell asleep and woke up to this. Thank you so much for the suggestions everyone
Edit 2: just wanted to say thank you again for everyone who took the time to comment. Couldn’t respond to everyone, but I’ve gone through so many comments and will now need to remortgage my house to update my audible library. Thanks everyone!
By likable I dont mean the hero who always makes the morally right choice. I mean a main character who you feel has a great personality, Somebody you would actually like to have in your friend group?
My personal favorite is Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s dedication on The Little Prince. What are your favorites?
“To Leon Werth
I ask children to forgive me for dedicating this book to a grown-up. I have a serious excuse; this grown-up is the best friend I have in the world. I have another excuse: this grown-up can understand everything, even books for children. I have a third excuse: he lives in France where he is hungry and cold. He needs to be comforted. If all these excuses are not enough, then I want to dedicate this book to the child whom this grown-up once was. All grown-ups were children first. (But few of them remember it.) So I correct my dedication:
To Leon Werth When he was a little boy”
Riddles are some of the most fascinating inventions of mankind. The amount of wit, wisdom, and cleverness that it takes to come up with a good riddle is astounding. If you scour the internet you can find some simple and basic ones, but great riddles are few and far between. I can only think of a few examples in literature (Homer’s Odyssey, Bilbo and Smegal in The Hobbit) and I have always felt that they pack a tiny punch when I really brood on them. I am wondering what is the best riddles that our world authors have produced. I feel like riddles are a literary tool that is underused, and hard to find, particularly because of the niche kind of wit that must exist in order to create some so unique and original. What are some of the best riddles that you have read, or perhaps even heard by extension of a book?
Sadly, I have to say that I think Fahrenheit 451 falls into this category. I love part 1 and part 2 and they are riveting and thrilling, lots of cliffhangers. I get a little let down by part 3, the pacing slows down, the ending is underwhelming and slow and sudden at the same time. Anyone agree?
What other books that you enjoyed throughout let you down with the ending?
EDIT: and by tomorrow I meant, Thursday I guess lol
Just got posted on twitter. Excited to see more from them!
https://x.com/orbitbooks/status/1722011047954174334?s=46&t=yPU7I9vYJoe0OROYDt9rKA
Andre Norton was both prolific and influential both for science fiction and fantasy, publishing works from the mid-1930s until her death in 2005.
As a pre-teen and teenager in the ‘80s we read a lot of her books and you can see her influence still among a lot of writers, especially with popular authors like Adrian Tchaikovsky.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_Norton_bibliography
Anyone here have any favorite books or short stories of hers you’d like to recommend to people who may be unfamiliar with her work?
This book will now be my go-to recommendation for newcomers to scifi, and will also be the crux of my argument for why scifi is so important. I think fiction in general is severly overlooked (probably not by you if you’re in this sub) for it’s ability to succinctly deliver a message faster and more accurately than non-fiction —scifi being paramount in that capacity. I was not ready for all the feels this story gave me. I picked it up because I’ve been taking a break from sci-fi, and having a little love affair with horror. Also, I have a thing for werewolves. So, after reading The Hen House and An Englishmen In Prattsville, I thought this would be a nice transition back into the genre I love. Wow, did it deliver.
SIDENOTE: most books I read play out in my head like a movie —sometimes with a score and specific camera angles. This book struck me more as a videogame that I could see myself really getting lost in.
Basically the title, in your guys opinions what SF books have the best prose?
I know the Culture series by Iain Banks is well loved, but I’m not really connecting with “The Player of Games”. I’m about a third of the way through.
I was told it was a better starting point than “Consider Phlebas”, because I was more interested in the Culture itself. That said, I feel like, while the Culture itself is still radical and interesting, all the stuff with the Empire of Azad feels heavy-handed, and that’s with me agreeing with the author. It feels like the book is spending pages and pages just to say “wow, modern capitalist society is terrible, it’s sexist, cruel, and unsustainable!” Which, like yeah, I agree with, but it feels like so many modern stories have moved past that to say more interesting things as it’s moved from a radical statement to the one of the main topics of discussion globally. I don’t need anyone to show me stuffs screwed up, I have eyes.
Does it get better, or am I better …