Okay like if you agree, butā¦.
here are 3 trends that I wish the fantasy genre would take a break from for a little while.
*Quick disclosure, this isnāt meant to feel overly negative, I mostly want to hear other peopleās opinions on these trends and others!*
Hungry Games-esque āa competition with deadly stakesā plot lines. On the one hand, I get it, because like the rest of the world, I was totally enthralled by this premise when it was first introduced in the 2000 Japanese film Battle Royale and later, the Hunger Games. However, at this point the idea of the main character entering into a deadly competition feels a little tired and predictable, and unlike Battle Royale and The Hunger Games, the many of the latest iterations lack the searing social commentary which made the premise so compelling. Notable Examples: Serpent and the Wings of Night, Lightlark, The Jasad Heir
Motherfucking EPIGRAPHS. You know, that line or paragraph of text which proceeds every chapter. In the fantasy genre, often it is an except from a historical or religious text from the world in which the book is set. And hereās the thingāitās not that I hate epigraphs, or that I donāt understand their purpose. They can be an elegant way to add context to the story without burdening the main narrative with too much exposition, and they can also help the created world to feel more ālived inā. Having said that, I feel like they are starting to get way overused, and for me, theyāve gone from feeling like a cool way for the author to provide context and add meta commentary to their story to serving as a slightly less clunky vehicle of info-dumping. Likeā¦am I supposed to be remembering the characters of this lore which I only ever hear about through these epigraphs, because I can assure you, I am not. In other instances, they can feel like an authors lack of faith in the reader, as if they are afraid we might miss the point if they donāt include an unsubtle cue as to where we ought to focus our attention at the start of every chapter. I respect the role epigraphs have played in fantasy classics like Dune and Wheel of Time, but I currently feel the number of novels employing them has become fatiguing, and I hope the trend of including them decreases, at least in the short-term. Notable examples: Fourth Wing (Empyrean Series, Swordcatcher, Furyborn (Empirium series)
A [Blank] of [Blank] and [Blank] Not much to say here other thanā¦when are romantasy authors going to let this go?? š®āšØš®āšØ While you could argue the true genesis of this title naming convention could be GRRMās A Song of Ice of Fire, I think we can all agree thatāfor better or worseāit was the popularity of ACOTAR that sent this title style into the stratosphere, and at this point, it has become ubiquitous to the point of literal disorientation. To me there is nothing inherently wrong with this title style (though I would also argue there is nothing particularly gripping about it, at least not enough to warrant a trend of this size) but it basically renders all of these booksāwhich are already of a similar vibe and styleāvirtually indistinguishable. As a reader on the hunt for new books to scratch that romantasy itch, itās nearly impossible to tell the dozens of titles bearing this title apart, which means I have no sense which which ones Iāve read, which I havenāt, which caught my interest, which I started and didnāt care for, etc. I have idea how much of this is a consequence of publishers trying to capitalize on a known entity in order to make the most money and how much is just the fact that naming a book is really fucking hard, but good lord, what is it gonna take to stop this madness? Notable examples: quite literally too many to name
What do yall think? Do you agree, disagree? What are some fantasy trends youād like to see go away/make a comeback
