Netflix has quietly dropped the three best video game adaptations by both audience and critical consensus in the forms of Arcane, Castlevania and to a lesser extent, DOTA: Dragon’s Blood.
It also just so happens that all three series are heavily fantasy oriented and have adapted and even expanded upon the world building of their source material in really compelling ways.
I’ve been quite disappointed with most modern fantasy adaptations in live action, but I hope that the success of these shows will encourage studios to put some big money into adapting some other beloved fantasy works from other mediums beyond video games in an animated format.
EDIT:
Just wanted to clarify some confusion about the OP.
I often see this point floated around in discussions about sex in fiction and how people are hypocritical for sometimes wanting the most brutal violence on the page but not wanting even for a moment any sex between their characters. While I do think fantasy should have more sex, this is kind of an unfair argument to me that falsely equates these two things.
The thing about violence in fantasy is that it is a staple. People often pick up fantasy to read about magic fights or dragon battles or whatnot. I know going into a Brandon Sanderson book that I’m probably gonna get a cool magic system that is exploited to kill people. Similarly if you pick up something grimdark you are probably gonna get some more brutal violence, and you will probably EXPECT that.
While I primarily read for character dynamics and I’m sure few read exclusively for violence, the fact remains that part of why many of us read fantasy is for this kinda thing. I want to see how a 14 year old girl uses bread magic to …
Hello Fantasy fans.
I’m a longtime lover of fantasy fiction. I started in my teens with the Bartimaeus Trilogy, Harry Potter series etc. I was also, naturally, attracted to ‘fan fic’ from my favourite universes, so I was familiar with smut.
I stopped reading as often in my early 20s, then got back into it around 22⁄23 with Joe Abercrombie. I was immediately hooked in by the Grimdark thing, the realism and violence and sometimes, sex. I found the books riveting, and moved on to many more such as Mark Lawrence, Brent weeks etc.
When I started using Reddit a lot, I found that most of us overwhelmingly hate sex scenes in books. I don’t mean the clearly misogynistic stuff in the likes of Goodkind - I mean that overall everyone seems to either really dislike sex scenes or even milder sexual connotations. Just look through this sub to see examples everywhere.
It brings to mind the strange relationship our society has with sex. We’d happily watch a TV …
I am currently quite sick and tired of the romance in the novels I read to only have miscommunication as the main conflict between the two love interests. I am looking for Fantasy books that have more interesting and better written conflicts than that. Any suggestions?
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Thanks!
Much to the bewilderment of other visually impaired people, I love to collect hardcovers of my favorite books. Something about being surrounded by the tangible evidence of the stories I love so much is beautiful and intoxicating, regardless of if I can read them that way.
I bought a signed copy of The Black Prism by Brent Weeks, and in the additional notes, I happened to mention that I’m blind. Reading has always been a reliably accessible interest.
His response was to not only sign my copy in print, but look into and successfully find a way to get the quote and signature in Braille.
I am blown away by and incredibly grateful for the thoughtfullness of a gesture that he did not need to make. I value the concept of the signed books I have, but I never imagined I’d be able to open one and truly experience it in the same way as sighted readers do.
I am so proud and grateful to be a reader. I hope so much that this is something that becomes more common.
I mean this in either a good or bad way. I just finished reading The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins (thanks to the readers of this sub recommending it). And I don’t even know where to put it genre wise. Is it sci Fi? Is it urban fantasy? Is it both? It had me mentally exhausted, in a good way, after finishing it (intentionally leaving out spoilers here).
What books left you mentally numb and questioning everything after you finished them?
EDIT: WOW! This post is blowing up. I’m sorry I can’t respond to all of you. But there are so many awesome responses. And thank you for the awards!
edit: spoilers below
I say this as someone who used to claim that 1984 is one of my favorite books.
While I can’t confidently say that BNW is a better written novel than 1984 (the controller’s discussion at the end of the book is a little heavy handed), I think it’s a much better dystopian novel than 1984.
BNW has so much more nuance. It’s a dystopia, but is it really a dystopia if everyone’s happy? No one has worries or stressors, there’s (assumedly) no poverty, no wanting. Everyone is biologically conditioned to be content with their place in life. If the lower classes can’t be unhappy, is it really morally wrong to prohibit social mobility?
Depression, outside of Helmholtz and Bernard who are flaws in the system, is nonexistent. The loneliness epidemic that the we see today has been fixed. Everyone has somebody. Even if those relationships are only a surface level, the people have been conditioned from birth to find that acceptable.
I …
This is my favorite book ever. The way it was written was so good and the interview format was perfect. I was scared for a lot of the book and a few times I cried. The image of the battle of Yonkers will forever be in my brain. 10⁄10
The concept of the Quislings was really intriguing and I found that the cultural variations in the names of the zombies like G’s in America or Zed Heads in Australia were really cool.
I kept imagining myself at the start of the great panic having to escape while fighting with other people for supplies
I think that the consistency of the governments was really accurate as they wouldn’t all just crumble at the first signs of a zombie outbreak
The only part I didn’t love was the interview with the ex astronaut. I kept finding myself wanting to get back to the hordes
Cover: https://i.imgur.com/jR78IxW.jpg
Synopsis:
From the master of the space opera, Alastair Reynolds, comes a dark, mind-bending SF adventure spread across time and space, Doctor Silas Coade has been tasked with keeping his crew safe as they adventure across the galaxy in search of a mysterious artifact, but as things keep going wrong, Silas soon realizes that something more sinister is at work, and this may not even be the first time it’s happened.
In the 1800s, a sailing ship crashes off the coast of Norway. In the 1900s, a Zepellin explores an icy canyon in Antarctica. In the far future, a spaceship sets out for an alien artifact. Each excursion goes horribly wrong. And on every journey, Dr. Silas Coade is the physician, but only Silas seems to realize that these events keep repeating themselves. And it’s up to him to figure out why and how. And how to stop it all from happening again.
Hard to believe the awesome Barlowe’s Guide was first published in 1979! Has anyone done any illustrated books like this since?
Hiya, just finished Ishiguro’s work, and I found it to be a marvelous work. I know that it will not sit well with many readers. But, if one can come to the work with as much of a blank slate as one can, and let that story be told as it is, I feel that one will experience one of the better novels of the year. Whew!
These are what I would think of as “the main ones”, but please add any you think I’ve missed:
Analog
Asimov’s
Clarkesworld
Fantasy & Science Fiction
Lightspeed
Apex
Escape Pod
Diabolical Plots
Fireside
Strange Horizons
Uncanny
This is at around 1:04:00ish remaining on Netflix. It’s the only time that guitar riff occurs in the song.
My friend loves it and edited it for me here: https://youtu.be/NsxhmXEmRZY
Ray has a wet dream right when Ray Parker is supposed to sing Bustin Makes Me Feel Good.
Proof the line was in use at the time and Ray Parker Jr might have known it
The first clip is the original movie. The second is the edit of the retail song added in sync. They deleted it on purpose
They removed this from movie details, please let this stay up this time. OC
Edit: many commenters have shared Neil Cicieregas “Bustin” which is great https://youtu.be/0tdyU_gW6WE
Also this Key & Peele skit: https://youtu.be/GxjNOv5QPzM
This person noticed it first online. I didn’t see it until someone commented but first props to them.
For me, the opening sequence of inglorious basterds is just on a different plane altogether. The build up, the suspense and the acting is just top notch. I was so hooked with the opening sequence, that I didn’t care how the rest of the movie is or would be, I was completely sold. I know this is a bit typical Tarantino, but it’s still his greatest opening sequence atleast according to me.