N.K. Jemisin, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

[Larry.]

Actually, as someone who not only read the book but who first reviewed it here, I would indeed dispute that it is very focused on the romantic element. To me, the main focus was on the mirroring of the mortal/immortal conflicts and the romance is more an element of strife than anything independent by itself.

[Liadin]

BTW saying that the problem is with me because I think everything is romance - how do you know the problem is me? You have not read the book. Why are so many people saying it is heavily into romance that Jemisin had to reply to these people? If it was merely regular fantasy with some romance, why would so many people comment on the heavy romantic content?

In all fairness, what I actually said was that the quotations you had posted as evidence that the novel was written in a romancy way did not seem nearly as purple to me as you evidently thought they were, and I thought you were being oversensitive to any hint of romance and using that to declare the book a romance novel (based on your basing your argument on those quotes). I stand by my comment about the quotes; none of them are out of place in a different genre.

Seriously, when was the last time a fantasy writer had to explicitly state that his or her book is not romance? I can't recall a single instance.

I don't follow authors' blogs all that much, but I certainly run across people accusing random fantasy books they don't like and which have romance subplots of being romance. I've seen reviews to that effect of books like Bujold's The Curse of Chalion, which is not a romance novel by any stretch of the imagination. And Jemisin makes that particular argument in the comments, not the post itself.

[Gigei]

I thought you were being oversensitive to any hint of romance and using that to declare the book a romance novel (based on your basing your argument on those quotes).

Wow, really? Since when did I base my entire argument on those quotes? Like, never.

What you actually said makes it seem like I go around yelling "omg romance cooties" every time there is some romantic content which is absolutely ridiculous.

You are saying "oh the quotes are fine, the problem is you" without even having read the book or giving any proof. I also stand by my own posts as

- I have actually read the book

- I have cheesy quotes to prove it

- I also discussed some of the romantic tropes

- I compared the book with other fantasy/romance books with actual specific examples

My post was clearly about the entire book, the tropes, situations and other elements. Saying I made my analysis from some quotes is absurd. You made your analysis from a few sentences that I quoted. I actually read the book, as you can probably tell from me being able to discuss the entire thing.

Why don't you go re-read what I actually wrote?

Note that if I actually quoted or discussed all the romance parts it would be 200 pages. That's how many of those lines are in the book.

Huh, Gigei, I don't see anything wrong with the quotes you posted. If you start insisting that something is cheesy and terrible as soon as two characters kiss, or one professes to love/be attracted to the other, maybe the problem is with you, not the book? Those sorts of things do happen in most real-life relationships, y'know. And saying any book with quotes like

is a romance novel would make everything but the most testosterone-heavy of bad SFF (y'know, of the sort where there's one female character and she's a prostitute) a romance novel.

I mean, really, I roll my eyes as much as anyone else when characters start professing their love in long speeches heavy with figurative language, especially when such speeches are delivered to third parties (!), but this sounds pretty unobjectionable.

[Liadin]

Why don't you go re-read what I actually wrote?

On the other hand, if Jemisin wants to be taken seriously as a fantasy writer then she needs to take it easy with the cheesey romance lines such as

So, in your mind, any instance of a character murmuring an endearment and kissing another character is a "cheesy romance novel quote" that will prevent an author from being taken seriously as a fantasy writer. That's what I took issue with.

I don't need to have read the book to be able to point out what's wrong with your argument. But I do hate to continue to clutter up this thread with my posts and they certainly seem unwelcome to you, so I will not post further on the subject unless I decide to read the book.

[MinDonner]

I'm not gonna read this whole thread yet for fear of spoilers, just posting to say that I'm about halfway through this book and so far it's brilliant. :)

[Starkess]

I'm not gonna read this whole thread yet for fear of spoilers, just posting to say that I'm about halfway through this book and so far it's brilliant. :)

I wouldn't bother with the thread...

[Sci-2]

You know, I wonder sometimes how many of the people that complained about the godsex enjoyed the felurian(however you spell it, I'm not looking it up) parts of Wise Man's Fear. I'm not saying you're all a bunch of misogynistic bastards...just a few of you!

I thought it was Abysmally stupid, all this "Prettiest Woman In the Wurld" nonsense. Almost everytime I talk to other guys about girls, there's always at least one that someone thinks is super hot and I just get confused.