Everybody loves a good hot take, but more often than not they are horribly negative. For example, if I have to read the supposedly unpopular opinion of “Stormlight Archive is just YA fantasy” once more, I might burn my bookshelf. So, in the interest of making things a bit more fun, do you have any hot takes that show something in a good light?
For example, I enjoyed ‘the slog’ in Wheel of Time, and it has some of my favourite parts of the series in it. Might be more of a lukewarm take, but here we are.
Hi, everyone! I’m Dr. Cait Stevenson a.k.a. /u/sunagainstgold. You might know me from AskHistorians; you probably don’t know me as the host of the podcast Whose Dark Ages? And now I’m also the author of How to Slay a Dragon: A Fantasy Hero’s Guide to the Real Middle Ages!
Got an inn to find, a cursed swamp to cross, or need something to do while the princess saves herself, thank you very much? Medieval history has all the answers you could need, no matter how “fantasy” the problem!
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Awhile back, we got a question on AskHistorians about whether Rohan was historically accurate. To quote a disgruntled reader: “IT’S A FANTASY F***ING HORSE KINGDOM.” But–OP wasn’t wrong. We do look for realistic medievalist fantasy; we want that anchor, we want that knowledge.
So I figured–instead of using history to inspire fantasy, why not use fantasy to teach history? If the “old …
It seems to me that of the big “fantastical” fiction genres–fantasy, sci-fi, horror–fantasy seems to overwhelmingly have the highest concentration of series. Often the novels of these series are long (500+ pages) and not infrequently the series themselves have a lot of volumes (e.g. Wheel of Time).
By comparison, sci-fi and horror seem to have many more standalones. Horror for sure, and while sci-fi has plenty of series, there are more instances of jumping around in a world/universe (e.g. Culture).
Why do you think that is? What about the fantasy genre lends itself so heavily to three book minimum series that’s different from sci-fi, horror, or other fantastical genres?
I really like it when fantasy authors add in small details that are different from the real world. I think it helps with the immersion experience and makes the world feel more well thought out. Sometimes it’s these details that make me really feel that I’m reading about a different planet/world as opposed to an alternative version of Earth.
A few of my favourites:
Multiple moons, I loved this little detail in The Lies of Locke Lamora. As a side note, I loved Locke’s world in general and is probably one of the few fantasy places I would like to live in.
Seasons that span years in ASOIAF. This especially helped given how much Martin loves to keep things as realistic as possible, so I really felt the small details helped with the world building here.
Naming conventions and pronunciations. I’m going to use ASOIAF again, but this isn’t the only series this applies to. Martin really thought about names in detail and it was a way to show regional differences, …
I started with the Harry Potter series I so desperately wanted to read as a child and flew through them. I always loved books but found reading through the same page 4-5 times daunting. With this font paired with the dark mode option, I’ve even read an entire 345 book in one day!
Dyslexia prevented me from fully absorbing the material. Now I’m whisked away to whichever world I choose. I never thought I’d ever be able to enjoy reading as I do now. I’m incredibly grateful.
**EDIT: Sorry guys, it gets really busy at 6 am!
I am aware that audiobooks exist. I listen to people talk all day. I can’t listen to two people at once. I’ve tried them and I don’t enjoy them.
There are absolutely studies that show the font DOES NOT help you to read faster, more accurately, or even help at all. This is NOT a remedy for dyslexia.
I’m NOT advertising the font as a cure all. Just stating that with MY Dyslexia it helps ME feel more comfortable. I misread words, skip over entire paragraphs, lose my …
Yes, this is partly in response to the recent Little Women post, but more broadly about similar posts I have seen here that always seem to get a lot of attention and praise and many comments I’ve seen over the years.
Like so many other teenage girls in high school, I had to read and relate to 95% male-centric stories written by men. I never questioned why we were reading so many “boy books” because the books were not presented as “boy books,” they were just presented as normal literature. The curriculum at my school allowed for just a smidgeon of diversity with Pride and Prejudice and The Scarlet Letter. This was never seen as an issue; it’s just how it was. I still remember clearly hearing the boys in my small class groaning about having to read a “girl book” when we started Pride and Prejudice. The fact that the author was a woman or the main characters women or some combination of those two facts in the boys’ minds was enough to make them sneer at it. It was mildly …
Just as a recent post mentioned that literature written by women should be presented primarily as literature, so should literature written by diverse authors be presented primarily as literature, NOT as texts for social justice and learning about diversity.
The texts should be looked at first as literature, tackling things like what it means to be human, the meaning of beauty, and how to live a good life. Only when we read diverse authors with this is mind will we actually be able to truly accept them into the canon of literature in the way that we read other authors.
Does anyone agree with this, or feel that I am missing something?
EDIT: I really appreciate the people who have interpreted the ambiguity of my language and the imperfections of how I articulated this in the kindest way possible. My viewpoint and understanding of this topic is imperfect, and I am glad that we can truly discuss this as a genuine current point of view that people, including me, hold.
I also apologize …
I’ve seen people criticize books with the excuse that they couldn’t relate to the protagonist. Sometimes ive seen people completely stop midway through a book for that same reason. I get that one element is to live vicariously in this fictional world through a character of similar mind to you, but is that the only way to enjoy a book? Is that the main draw? There are times when ive read books where i cant relate to any of the characters but the characters (whilst completely crazy and the opposite of me) are fascinating. Sometimes the draw for the book isnt necessarily the characters themselves but a more broader picture of how all the different pieces in the plot come together.
I honestly think those who only look for ‘likeable’ characters or characters they can relate to are narrowing their selection and missing out on a lot of great books.
Edit: u/Wastedwaffles brought up a good point to expand on what Im saying. They even used an example about Dune which is …
This post is primarily to draw attention to the legendary John Wyndham and particularly the remarkable novel The Kraken Wakes. It’s worth drawing a comparison between this novel and the much better-known The Midwich Cuckoos to understand what makes both special, and what they have in common despite being very different takes on the classic alien invasion trope.
Both Midwich Cuckoos and Kraken Wakes, written in 1957 and 1953 respectively, exemplify the dour nature of most British SF. The aliens aren’t man-sized bugs that could be punched or ray-gunned into submission, like something from an early cover of Astounding magazine. The protagonists of the books aren’t muscular space captains in charge of rocket ships. There are no battles, and no victories worth celebrating.
In the case of Midwich Cuckoos, the invaders are beautiful, golden-eyed human children with a hive mind intelligence and telepathic powers. The ethical implication of how such an invasion might be …
They’re just gas giants with some fusion at the core right?
This was a 5* read for me after bouncing off of it 11 years ago because the opening chapters seemed like the Mos Eisley Cantina.
I read Project Hail Mary last week and loved it as well, We are Bob was always a recommendation in my peripheral, but I just never got around to it. Seeing it directly recommended after Hail Mary made me finally go for it.
Absolutely brilliant and tons of fun. I’m assuming the rest of the series holds up? I’m already working on getting the second book.
I appreciate scifi that has only limited or plausible jumps in technology but still makes me care about the characters and/or what’s happening. Examples: The Martian, Hail Mary Project, Seveneves, and The Expanse(lesser extent on the technology jumps).
Edit: holy smokes. I’m going to be busy for a while thanks everyone!
I was just thinking about Neuromancer and how the first time I read it I immediately couldn’t put it down. The opening sentence is iconic, but even beyond it.
“The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.”
Examples don’t have to literally start the first sentence though (would be a short list lol)
Edit: I might have overemphasized the first line or paragraph in my example. While it’s awesome if a book fits that, I’d broaden this to the first chapter or generally books you didn’t have to push through to get hooked
Just finished this book by Adrian Tchaikovsky. So good. At least in my top ten all time. Have any of you guys read his other books?
Don Bluth and Steven Spielberg brought us these masterpieces, which are both as dark but meaningful as the original The Land Before Time (also a Don Bluth film), and hold up really well, while not so much technically but more in terms of story-telling, but I do love the animation anyway.
I grew up with these movies and am 33 now but watched Fievel Goes West again tonight and thought of how today’s kids just get 3D Pixar/Dreamworks flicks, and hope that the classics of “traditional” animation don’t get buried among them. Not that I have anything against those studios or anything, though.
Plus FGW has John Cleese and both have Dom DeLuise. What’s not to love?
And then of course there’s All Dogs Go To Heaven, another Don Bluth flick with the tragic Judith Barsi (also played Ducky in TLBT) voicing the main character alongside Burt Reynolds.
Edit: Honourable mention to The Secret of NIMH (the book series is better, though).
Edit 2: This is now a Don …
One of the great things about Superbad is that it was funny in 2007 when I was 14 years old and it’s still funny now in 2021 when I am 28. It’s a movie that stands the test of time. Other sex comedies from earlier like American Pie really are dated in my opinion because of the 90’s look the kids had and the inclusion of the 90’s/early 2000’s rock music. It’s still funny but it gets distracting after a while. I also love how in the movie you slowly begin to understand that it’s not really a movie about 2 kids trying to get laid it’s about 2 kids trying to come to grips with facing the real world and being separated from their best friend.