sologdin Posted June 13, 2006 Share Posted June 13, 2006 leechy-- good call. but give tolkien a pass when he writes-- But the dawn is brief and the day full often belies its promise; and now the time drew on to the great wars of the powers of the North, when Noldor and Sindar and Men strove against the hosts of Morgoth Bauglir, and went down in ruin. --because it is so damned cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ixodes Posted June 13, 2006 Share Posted June 13, 2006 Although I like how it's done in ASOIAF, I really don't like psychic connections with wolves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Errant Bard Posted June 13, 2006 Share Posted June 13, 2006 So I've heard...I knew this one preceded Derkholm but haven't read it. And apparently it's out of print. I'll go on a hunt for it someday.I don't know if it's out of print now, but I got it easily from Amazon some months ago And yes it is a really funny book, even more so for someone who read lot of fantasy books before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf Girl Posted June 13, 2006 Share Posted June 13, 2006 I don't know if it's out of print now, but I got it easily from Amazon some months ago oh! Well I had checked there, but they didn't have any at the time. Now it appears they've got new/used. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elfqueen Posted June 13, 2006 Share Posted June 13, 2006 Lots of battles Blood and gore must be included.with alot of details :fence: Alot of court intrigue unexpected events And Alot of kinky sex..With some magic involved. No wait I actually like all that stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kat Posted June 13, 2006 Share Posted June 13, 2006 Not a cliche, really but common nonetheless: maps that all look the same and bear no resemblance to what a continent (or whatever) should really look like. Yes, this is fantasy. So what? My fantasy begins with a tectonically and topographically probable environment, but I'm probably just a big nerd. I'm beginning to resent chapters beginning with little made-up quotations from some "historian" or something of the sort. I skip past them. I can enjoy the authors fine--it just bugs me when they feel the need to insert these paragraphs which only have meaning to the truly geeky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinDonner Posted June 13, 2006 Share Posted June 13, 2006 My fantasy pet peeve has to be the let's-tell-you-the-plot-beforehand prophecy. Yeah, good call on that - I particularly hate it when the "prophecy" is that some newborn kid will bring down the dark lord, but the author can't actually be arsed to wait 20 years until the kid grows up, so the dark lord is brought down by someone else while he tries to eliminate this prophesied threat... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vagrancy Posted June 13, 2006 Share Posted June 13, 2006 My fantasy pet peeve has to be the let's-tell-you-the-plot-beforehand prophecy. I am eternally grateful to Tad Williams for turning that particular cliche on its head in Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn. Yes. Especially if it's written in horribly worded, quasi-medieval mangled poetry *cough*SaraDouglass*cough*. My own pet peeve revolved around the Girls vs. Boys thing, a la Eddings and Jordan (also ties in with the Band of pubescent Heroes cliche). Yes, there has to be bickering of some sort in every group of people, but does it have to be so gender-stratified? And does it have to happen so bloody often? And why, for the love of Green Cherries, is it inevitable that the guy and girl that bicker the most always end up together? Out here in the real world, I'd imagine that if a man and woman are forever at odds with each other, and argue loudly over every little thing, then it's a sign that the two of them don't like each other. Then again, maybe I'm the insane one. Also! Why does the Princess Escaping From an Arranged Marriage OMG always end up with the very first guy she sets eyes on outside of the castle? You'd think the girl would want to shop around; enjoy her new-found freedom before settling down with one of those annoyingly callow youths. J.V. Jones' The Book of Words turned that particular cliche on its head though, I was gratified to see. And ditto on the glaringly obvious sexual fantasies interjected throughout some fantasy novels. It's true, there are quite a few fantasies where the plot quite honestly hinges on things like incest, sado-masochism, sexual slavery, rape and what have you, and it's reasonable for the reader to be filled in on these kinds of things; however when every depraved sexual incidence is described in lingering detail - more detail than most other plot points - you know you have a problem (and the author probably needs to have a long chat with his/her therapist). Ah. And I hate elves. Pale, skinny, snobbishly superior asshats, the lot of them. :mad: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lany Freelove Cassandra Posted June 13, 2006 Share Posted June 13, 2006 Like most of you, I like my fantasy to be as real as possible: no matter how many hours a day you practice, you do not become a blade master is 6-12 months; while I don't mind the bastard child of king/queen, farm boys rarely have the ability to lead armies and marry a princess; too much magic by too many people---what do you even need armies for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolf Girl Posted June 13, 2006 Share Posted June 13, 2006 My own pet peeve revolved around the Girls vs. Boys thing, a la Eddings and Jordan (also ties in with the Band of pubescent Heroes cliche). Yes, there has to be bickering of some sort in every group of people, but does it have to be so gender-stratified? And does it have to happen so bloody often? And why, for the love of Green Cherries, is it inevitable that the guy and girl that bicker the most always end up together? Out here in the real world, I'd imagine that if a man and woman are forever at odds with each other, and argue loudly over every little thing, then it's a sign that the two of them don't like each other. Then again, maybe I'm the insane one. This is one of my huge peeves with Eddings, but frankly it's not limited to fantasy: this construct manifests itself everywhere, and is nothing but tired. Eddings manages to eke the most 7th-grade feeling from it though, with his cutesy dialog and one-dimensional scenes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerol Posted June 13, 2006 Share Posted June 13, 2006 What about The Evil Chicken? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinDonner Posted June 13, 2006 Share Posted June 13, 2006 Don't know if this has been posted here before, but it's pretty funny: Fantasy Novelists' Exam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lupigis Posted June 13, 2006 Share Posted June 13, 2006 Don't know if this has been posted here before, but it's pretty funny: Fantasy Novelists' Exam That was fun! Do you not know when the hay baler was invented? Are there actually low-tech fantasies out there featuring bales of hay? I've never seen one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lany Freelove Cassandra Posted June 13, 2006 Share Posted June 13, 2006 Did absolutely nothing happen in the previous book you wrote, yet you figure you're still many sequels away from finishing your "story"? laughed my ass off and I think the next one was about writing a prequel, even thought the story is not yet done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agulla Posted June 13, 2006 Share Posted June 13, 2006 Is the countryside in your novel littered with tombs and gravesites filled with ancient magical loot that nobody thought to steal centuries before? Yes, I knew I was forgetting one of my all time favourites. And of course there is one about the Thieves Guild too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mauvka Posted June 13, 2006 Share Posted June 13, 2006 The most irritating think to me, is when a book is touted as having "complicated intrigue" which turns out to consist of a group of nobles having parties, while the mysterious lady, who is related to the previous monarch distances herself from the said court and schemes to take the throne. Then her family and one or two allies come up with a hackneyed plan that involves attacking the capital city/killing the protagonist. Meanwhile "politics" involves backstabbing scheming, without showing any of the actual ruling/management of the kingdom. Pet question: Why must the plot of every fantasy novel include a war??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Paladin Posted June 13, 2006 Share Posted June 13, 2006 Pet question: Why must the plot of every fantasy novel include a war??? No war in Stardust, Wolfe's first three New Sun books (haven't read the fourth yet), all but one of the Elric books, Good Omens, The Hedge Knight or Sworn Sword, for starters off the top of my head. THK and TSS my be novellas, but they fit together in a big narrative that is at least novel length. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brienne the Beauty Posted June 13, 2006 Share Posted June 13, 2006 Oh yeah, the "Farmboy" is my least favourite cliche of all. Young lad with humble beginning finds out he has special powers and goes off on some grandiose quest. Why I hate it: 1) Pathetic attempt to make the main character seem like the underdog. If a guy can destroy reality with his mind, he is not the underdog, no matter how humble his beginnings. Extra annoyance points for the farmboy whines about how people despise him for his humble beginnings all the time, especially if it is clear that most people are in awe of him / terrified of his mind-boggling power. 2) Improbable competence. Despite having spend 14 years as a kicked and despised swineherd, the farmboy becomes one of the most accomplished swordsmen in the land within 6 months of picking up a sword. This is about as likely as someone winning Wimbledon within 6 months of picking up a raquet. Tennis stars train from early childhood, and swordsmen did too. 3) The quests are always so ridiculously big, with ludicrous cosmic consequences. I can empathise with a farmboy's quest to clear his father's name. I cannot identify with a quest to save all Reality from the evil Warlock. It's just too big to be done in every book. I can put up with this plotline occasionally, I admit, but it happens in pretty much every book. 4) Why the heck does the farmboy have to be secretly of noble descent? It seems like the author is trying to have his cake and eat it here. He wants the farmboy to come from a common background so that he seems like the underdog and ordinary readers can identify with him. But he also wants him to be of the most noble heritage in the land, with mystic powers owing to his royal heritage. So the farmboy ends up a confused mish-mash of the two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mauvka Posted June 13, 2006 Share Posted June 13, 2006 No war in Stardust, Wolfe's first three New Sun books (haven't read the fourth yet), all but one of the Elric books, Good Omens True, Pratchett limits the wars to only one book in four Tell me about Wolfe's books. I haven't read these. Would you reccomend them?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Paladin Posted June 13, 2006 Share Posted June 13, 2006 Tell me about Wolfe's books. I haven't read these. Would you reccomend them?? Well, Bakker's Prince of Nothing and Robin Hobb's books were series I picked up based on recommendations here. Wolfe seemed like the next most recommended author on the board. I loved Bakker's work (he's now in my top three authors, surpassing Martin), and really enjoyed the FitzChivalry trilogies (Liveships not so much), so I went out and bought Wolfe's New Sun. The plot is intriguing, and everything being from the POV of Severian is also a literary device I like (see FitzCivalry), but it often seems to me that Wolfe is trying too hard to make up new words to underline the alien-ness of his world. It really drags in places. I've put it down twice now to read other things. I'll finish it, it's certainly above average, but it's not great. Just my opinion (and contrary to many on the board), so your mileage may vary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.