Garlan the Gallant Posted August 9, 2020 Share Posted August 9, 2020 What fantasy book or books has the best romantic subplot? Looking for realistically done characterization, not love at first sight or puppy love. I have recently been reading the Licanius Trilogy which has little to no romantic subplot. Significantly less than Sanderson, for who he claims to be inspired from. That’s not saying much, considering that in my opinion Sanderson has some of the worst romantic subplots and characterization. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t read fantasy for the romantic subplots but I do enjoy a good one. And after reading almost three books of the Licanius trilogy, I could use one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HexMachina Posted August 9, 2020 Share Posted August 9, 2020 Robin Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings books. Its arguably not a sub-plot but Fitz and...I’ll leave that for you to interpret (though it is clear enough for me, and if you say different you’re wrong ). A quote to give some context: Quote By your left hand, I'd say you'd had a sweet and true love in your short life. A love that ended only in your death. Yet here in your right hand, I see a love that wends its way in and out of all your many years. That faithful heart has been absent for a time, but is soon to return to you again.” But even setting that aside, there are a lot of romantic subplots throughout the series, some of which i don’t want to mention in case you’ve not yet read the as they’re somewhat spoiler-y. And when I say Realm of the Elderlings series, i mean all of the series: Farseer, Liveships, Tawny Man, Rain Wilds, and FatF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garlan the Gallant Posted August 9, 2020 Author Share Posted August 9, 2020 29 minutes ago, HelenaExMachina said: Robin Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings books. Its arguably not a sub-plot but Fitz and...I’ll leave that for you to interpret (though it is clear enough for me, and if you say different you’re wrong ). A quote to give some context: But even setting that aside, there are a lot of romantic subplots throughout the series, some of which i don’t want to mention in case you’ve not yet read the as they’re somewhat spoiler-y. And when I say Realm of the Elderlings series, i mean all of the series: Farseer, Liveships, Tawny Man, Rain Wilds, and FatF. I’ve read most of Hobb’s books. I never took that relationship to be more than friends, despite the theories. The problem I have with Hobb is the extremely slow pace of the plot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongRider Posted August 9, 2020 Share Posted August 9, 2020 THE DAGGER AND THE COIN trilogy has a lovely romance between a younger man, Vincen and his hearts desire, Clara, a widow. I found it to be rather sweet and enjoyed reading their story as it fit within the larger plot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garlan the Gallant Posted August 9, 2020 Author Share Posted August 9, 2020 27 minutes ago, LongRider said: THE DAGGER AND THE COIN trilogy has a lovely romance between a younger man, Vincen and his hearts desire, Clara, a widow. I found it to be rather sweet and enjoyed reading their story as it fit within the larger plot. Agreed. That was done well. While technically a subplot, that was a rather small part of the plot though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.T. Phipps Posted August 9, 2020 Share Posted August 9, 2020 I actually love the "anti-romance" of Scott Lynch's Gentleman Bastard. Locke Lamora is impotent with other women, desperately in love with his childhood friend, and determined to reunite with her. When he meets her, he finds out she's sick of his stalking and loathes that he's written this entire epic romance between them when she's gone on to do her own thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongRider Posted August 9, 2020 Share Posted August 9, 2020 8 hours ago, Garlan the Gallant said: Agreed. That was done well. While technically a subplot, that was a rather small part of the plot though. True. Clara also became a spy and helped with the war in other ways and while a secondary character had a very interesting arc overall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spockydog Posted August 9, 2020 Share Posted August 9, 2020 Gimli and Legolas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Kilmore Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 20 hours ago, LongRider said: THE DAGGER AND THE COIN trilogy has a lovely romance between a younger man, Vincen and his hearts desire, Clara, a widow. I found it to be rather sweet and enjoyed reading their story as it fit within the larger plot. THE LONG PRINCE QUARTET has characters starting as young adults and going to their elder years, their relationship, romantic and otherwise are also part of the plot. Same Author too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo498 Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 Vance: Lyonesse Trilogy has several good romantic subplots (and at least one is not merely a subplot) but they are usually somewhat pre-modern, fairy-tale-like. Not Anna Karenina or Bridget Jones like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vaughn Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 On 8/9/2020 at 9:23 AM, C.T. Phipps said: I actually love the "anti-romance" of Scott Lynch's Gentleman Bastard. Locke Lamora is impotent with other women, desperately in love with his childhood friend, and determined to reunite with her. When he meets her, he finds out she's sick of his stalking and loathes that he's written this entire epic romance between them when she's gone on to do her own thing. and Lynch also had a very heartfelt depiction of the feeling of deep, life-long friendship that people can develop in parallel to that relationship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vaughn Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 [looks over at bookshelf full of Neal Stephenson books, keeps on looking] Gavriel Kay, while deemed 'horny' by some on here, I think does a good job getting the feeling of a certain kind of romance: feeling nervous, anxious, horny - the whole works. Not so much a chaste 'Pride and Prejudice' romance (also great) so much though but in the immortal words of Jarvis Cocker, not 'chocolate and roses but something dirtier than that.' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongRider Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 23 hours ago, Guy Kilmore said: THE LONG PRINCE QUARTET has characters starting as young adults and going to their elder years, their relationship, romantic and otherwise are also part of the plot. Same Author too. That’s right, TLPQ did have good romances in the early books, I’d forgotten about those. Loves found and loves lost IIRC, good stuff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry of the Lawn Posted August 12, 2020 Share Posted August 12, 2020 Sansa and the Hound, duh ***Hides*** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inkdaub Posted August 12, 2020 Share Posted August 12, 2020 3 hours ago, larrytheimp said: Sansa and the Hound, duh ***Hides*** I know the OP is talking about something a bit different, but I actually do like Sansa and the Hound in a way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astromech Posted August 12, 2020 Share Posted August 12, 2020 "Say one thing for Logen Ninefingers, say he's a lover." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HexMachina Posted August 12, 2020 Share Posted August 12, 2020 On 8/9/2020 at 6:47 AM, Garlan the Gallant said: I’ve read most of Hobb’s books. I never took that relationship to be more than friends, despite the theories. The problem I have with Hobb is the extremely slow pace of the plot. I think when you've read them all it's pretty hard to deny that at least one side of that was perhaps more than friendship. The Fool is pretty explicit about that in Tawny Man too. I would still class unreciprocated love as a type of romance. And it's not precisely unreciprocated, it is just returned in a different way. That's kind of what I love about the romantic side of Hobb's books though, some things can be read as romantic love, but there are so many other kinds of love and relationship explored and toyed with. As I said, there are also numerous other romantic subplots running throughout the series, most of which work very well. The pacing criticism of Hobb's books is quite common and I definitely think it's valid, I just love her writing and characters too much to care how slow the pace is. I could read hundreds of pages of them sitting in a cabin watching the world go by and enjoy it (hey that happens in the Tawny Man trilogy! ) On 8/9/2020 at 3:55 PM, LongRider said: True. Clara also became a spy and helped with the war in other ways and while a secondary character had a very interesting arc overall. I love Clara so much and just thinking about her character makes me want to revisit that series again. Its one I haven't reread so I can always justify that! The Broken Earth trilogy by NK Jemisin has several romantic "subplots" I guess. They aren't exactly subplots, more a larger part of the character acts and the resultant relationships are definitely part of the overall plot because of how they affect the characters. But very interesting imo, the moreso because they explore different kinds of relationship, not just straight and monogamous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongRider Posted August 12, 2020 Share Posted August 12, 2020 5 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said: I love Clara so much and just thinking about her character makes me want to revisit that series again. Its one I haven't reread so I can always justify that! My first re-read was just Clara’s arc, that’s how much I enjoyed all of her story. Her love story did cross age and class lines which kept it interesting. As for SanSan, yeah add me in there, but GRRM had other love stories sprinkled about, I’m also a fan of Sam and Gilly and of Brienne and Jamie. I guess I like love stories added to the larger story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vaughn Posted August 12, 2020 Share Posted August 12, 2020 Sam and Gilly always felt more transactional. Jon and Ygritte felt more real. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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