šŸ§™ šŸ§™ā€ā™€ļø zap zap let's have a fantasy thread zap zap šŸ§™ā€ā™€ļø šŸ§™

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#1

Inspired by the every popular sci fi thread letā€™s do the same thing but for fantasy! Some thoughts:

  • books, TV, graphic novels etc all welcome

  • doesnā€™t have to be wizards and elves and that, all types of fantasy welcome. Gormenghast chat belongs in here as does magic realism etc

  • bonus points for recommendations that encourage inclusivity so if youā€™ve got recommendations for fantasy books etc created by as wide a range of people as possible that would be fab.

  • Some people have very strong feelings about Tolkein, which is fine but letā€™s keep it light and not let it dominate the thread.

Letā€™s go!

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:alien::rocket: pew pew let's have a sci-fi thread pew pew :alien::rocket:
#2

hereā€™s a wizard that tricknips drew for me after i badmouthed fantasy

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image866Ɨ1154 340 KB

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#3

Currently reading The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin and it is really excellent. Fantasy, but about as powerful an anti-racist message as youā€™ll find in any writing.

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#4

Got a self-imposed rule where Iā€™m not allowed to read two white male authored books in a row. Currently on my list are

  • Rain Wild Chronicles by Robin Hobb (not really into the dragon stuff and want to get back to the Fitz and Fool stuff)
  • Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
  • Black Leopard Red Wolf by Marlon James (about a third through and taking a break, canā€™t decide if Iā€™m enjoying it)
  • Emergency Skin by N. K. Jemisin (bloody love her)

Think Iā€™ve given up on Kushielā€™s Dart by Jacqueline Carey. Itā€™s supposed to be good sexy fantasy but itā€™s got a bad habit of doing the same thing the makes Sanderson totally unreadable to me, which is dumping a load of made up words onto the page in lieu of actual patient world building.

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#5

Wizard Tricknip has an excellent point, which the book I mentioned above illustrates perfectly

(no wizards though)

#6

Think I am going to read all the NKJ after Iā€™ve finished all the UKLG

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#7

Iā€™m going to kick things off with one of my favourite fantasy novels of all time: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke. This is one of the few books Iā€™ve read in the last however many years that actually justifies being 600 pages long. When I first read it I was really lukewarm on it for the first 200 pages or so and then it really got me. I think you have to appreciate the very very dry way itā€™s written and the fact that so much of it is mocking self-important and flawed men through the lens of magic.

I love the way that it deals with magic: the contrast between the ā€˜theoretical magiciansā€™ who just sit around their books arguing about the academic minutaie of magic without ever actually doing any and the ā€˜practical magiciansā€™ who have almost limitless power but are bounded by their own worldviews. Itā€™s utterly utterly wonderful 5*s.

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#8

Probably going to re-read the Patrick Rothfuss stuff before the third one comes out but (hot take alert) unless thereā€™s a magnificent heel turn and the whole thing until now has been epic bullshitting by an unreliable narrator then those books are actually trash.

#9

Ah! I donā€™t think I made it that far. It can go back on the list.

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#10

this is a fab rule.

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#11

This is what I thought after the first (never bothered with the second). The narrator is just too good to be true, isnā€™t he?

#12

Yeah. If it ends up being, effectively, a parody of white male power fantasyā€¦ fantasy then itā€™ll be great, but if itā€™s being played straight then it needs to get in the fucking sea.

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#13

I have The Name of the Wind in my reading pile, if I donā€™t like it Iā€™m binning off white male fantasy writing.

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#14

Itā€™s a really good page turner, but as soon as you engage any critical faculties it becomes a massive yikes.

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#15

@Scagden I appreciate the zap zap in the thread title as a nod to pew pew of the sci-fi thread :+1:

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#16

Itā€™s actually coming out soon? Spent the first 2 waiting for something to happenā€¦ It felt at the beginning that were going to be loads of incredible things happening. But no incredible things happened. But they were very readable, so Iā€™ll read the next one.

Reading Howlā€™s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones at the minute. Itā€™s a lot of fun. Not sure how she passed me by when I was a kid. Then going to keep being on the NK Jemisin Train and read The Obelisk Gate.

#17

The first 200 pages are very frustrating. Their very deliberately dry which changes as soon as Mr Strange arrives.
Itā€™s a great book and I really like the TV show as well, itā€™s a very good adaption.

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#18

There was something about a pulled Amazon listing for early August, but Iā€™ll believe it when I see it.

#19

Aha. Itā€™s probably going to be 800 pages about an epic lute solo. Just remembered all the lute business.

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#20

Iā€™m reading Gormenghast, as I mentioned in the sci-fi thread, so Iā€™ll say it again here in the appropriate place. How about that

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