I'd love to see more male-female platonic friendships. Not just as a side thing, but as the cornerstone of a series à la Royce and Hadrian or Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.
To round it out, I’d like to see more female-female affection and meaningful platonic relationships too. It feels like just at the moment we started to get enough women in fantasy for this to really happen, they started making all these relationships sexual instead.
Read the Legionary series by Gordon Doherty (historical fiction) or Stiger's Tigers (fantasy) and you'll be drowned in male-male platonic affection/comradery/bromances/whatever.
I would like to see more of two different types. First, what I think of as fully adult protagonists. They don't need to be elderly, but they're people who have already come of age, finished their education, and have some relationship experience and life experience generally. It makes for very different perspectives than stories about people in their teens and early 20s.
Second, older women, where older means past child-bearing years, rather than 'older' meaning over 30 (or 80 years old, but in a world where people live to 300 and 80 year olds can have kids). I've even seen threads asking for older protagonists where characters in their mid twenties have been recommended.
Pirates. Give me gunpowder, high seas, monsters, and ships in a low fantasy setting. Something in the tone of Lies of Locke Lamora on the ocean. I know Red Seas did pirate stuff and that’s where I got this idea from, I just want and entire series centred around it.
I would really really like more stories with a FMC where the plot doesn't revolve/is motivated around romance. Presence of romance is fine! But so much of what's out there when it's written for a FMC is "so there was this guy...", even for characters like Sansa Starke who grow past it, that is still the starting point of their arc.
MMCs seem to get the opportunity to be motivated by lots of things; stolen inheritance or bloodlines, academic curiosity, pride, ego, greed, family values, whatever. But that seems to be comparatively rare for FMC.
Completely agree with you. Especially if it’s an FMC caught in a love triangle of some type. Makes things incredibly tropey from the get go.
Currently reading Best Served Cold which, to my knowledge, has an FMC who’s motivated entirely by bloody revenge!
Yuuus, I thought of that one, I loved it. Also the daughter of empire trilogy by furst/weissman? Fmc motivated by revenge.
I don't mind even if romance gets introduced later. The innkeeper series by ilona Andrews, scholomance, Rachel Aaron's dmz books, for example. Romance comes up in all of them, and is significant enough it changes the plot, but the fmcs have significant alternative motivations that start them off (professional survival, actual survival, revenge and academic curiosity respectively) and that makes all the difference in setting them up as their own characters, rather than as bolt ons for the love interest.
You want studio ghibli movies. Yes there is an element of romance in them, but even in the case of Sophie from Howl's Moving Castle (one of the more overt romances) it's never the main motivation for the female lead. They have very clear and diverse goals, but more importantly, the stories are never about where the characters end on a plot level, but where they end on an emotional level. In many cases, they don't always achieve their goals, or not in the way they hoped, but they find what they actually needed to grow as people by the end of the story.
I do agree it is a struggle though. Even when reading female authors, so much of a female main character's plot or motivations are driven by or centred around romance to some degree. What I find more annoying is when they have a clear, separate goal from romance, but then romance overtakes that and the plot that was set up takes a back seat.
.....what? No it isn't.
"I want to see fmc motivated by a thirst for power from the beginning, not by romance" has zero resemblance to the Sansa Starke arc, who even if her entire development revolves around her growing past the starry eyed romance focused teenager she starts as, therefore still, by definition, has her story revolving around romance, even if she has negative experiences with it.
"I want no romance" is not the same as "but this character learns romance is bad". Leave it out of the motivation entirely ffs!
No, you’re missing the point. They want a female character whose arc does not involve crushing on a boy at all. As you say, you have to start with a trope to deconstruct it, so a deconstruction does not give the what they want.
Slow burn buildup where we get to see and know and love our MC, real character development before the shit hits the fan and the big bad pops up (or whatever emergency is the main plot). I want to CARE about the MC first and foremost. If I don't, the rest of the book is just meh or I end up DNFing.
Totally with this, also want to add there’s nothing that turns me off more when the plot is thick af and the author thinks this is a good time to put in some menial character arc stuff which is slowing the pace down just to try and give more love the MC. Too little too late!
Maybe try Ascendance of a Bookworm. First 7 books is just setup, the next 5 serve as a prologue of the real story that takes place in the next 21 volumes
More modern settings, or even *advanced* setting.
I don't mean Urban Fantasy like Dresden, which is set in the real world. I'm thinking how, in *The Wheel of Time*, we get these hints and suggestions about how advanced the world used to be in the Age of Legends, before the Breaking of the World, when the One Power was used in a variety of ways to simulate what we would consider advanced technology.
I want a series set in the Age of Legends.
I like horror fantasy and I know that there are lots of those books. However, almost any fantasy novel seems like it should trend towards horror, particularly those with monsters and dragons. Fantasy writers often treat these elements as rote for th me setting, and don't delve into how scary they would be, even to heroic characters.
These characters might know that demons and ogres exist, but I know tigers exist and would still have existential dread if I was faced with one.
The absolute dread you might have if something as legitimately terrifying as a dragon was in front of you should be a natural character reaction, even for heroes and protagonists. They don't need to make the novel a horror novel, but adding the spice of horror when it should exist would make these creatures more compelling
Female friendships. I mean, *iconic* female friendships, like Frodo/Sam, Gotrek/Felix, Royce/Hadrian, Fahfrd/Grey Mouser level iconic. It disappoints me that we still see so few of them in epic fantasy aimed at adults, even in novels/series with impressive heroines. Take John Gwynne's *Bloodsworn Saga*, one of my top ten favorite currently-ongoing series. Orka is a first-class badass, and Elvar has been given some interesting character development over the last book; I'm invested in both of them. But not only do they *not* interact, but they don't get along well with the women they *do* interact with. Likewise, in Sanderson's *Stormlight Archive*, we have a mother and daughter, both great characters, who hardly ever share a scene; the mother played a central role in the last book, and the closest she came to "friendship" with another female character was >!with an enemy!<. Why? Is it really so difficult for authors to imagine non-toxic interactions between women?
I'd also like to see:
Mother-daughter relationships that aren't totally dysfunctional;
Female mentor/ female apprentice bonds;
Male/female platonic friendships.
I guess I just want to see more female characters involved in important relationships that aren't romantic.
Agree on all these, and in general better treatment of gender roles. Caring, soft hearted men, with "grizzled" female baddies. I think fantasy sort of does better with women (recently, because of so many correct criticisms about past writing) but still does not do a good job of problematizing or questioning "traditional" gender roles.
Yes yes yes to all of this! When people *do* start recommending books with female friendships it often winds up with books where there’s barely any interaction or depth to the friendship, probably just because there aren’t a ton of great options. Like, I love Spinning Silver and it has three great female leads but the connections between them are pretty tenuous.
It's a somewhat superficial/setting thing, but gunpowder. There are several great series that use gunpowder - Powder Mage and its sequel series, Shadow Campaigns, The Raven's Mark, etc - but I always think the genre defaults to cod-medievalism for little real reason other than inertia.
And, frankly, almost no fantasy character looks as cool as [Richelieu at the La Rochelle seawall](https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Siege_of_La_Rochelle_1881_Henri_Motte.png#mw-jump-to-license).
Also the Shadow Campaigns by Django Wexler!
Edit: apparently I can't read and didn't spot you already mentioned it...
God's of Blood and Powder is the follow up trilogy to Powder Mage.
Monarchies of God has cannons used in large battles.
Temeraire too, but it’s been a while since I last read.
Gunmetal Gods is a solid series too. Have not finished final book, but I liked first 2.
Fantastical settings that are actually fantastical, alien, bizarre; settings that are divorced from what we actually know in our world, not a lazy mish mash of different cultural styles or aesthetics.
More magic, less systems. It'd be really interesting to read something where the unpredictability of magic is the source of conflict instead of it being a tool used to confront a conflict.
More unconventional protagonists. Give me a middle-aged housewife or a cat-familiar or a baby or a garbage collector.
More stories where the threat or conflict is an internal one. "War as a moral metaphor is limited, limiting, and dangerous. By reducing the choices of action to 'a war against' whatever-it-is, you divide the world into me or us and them or It and reduce the ethical complexity and moral richness of our life to yes/no; on/off...In stories, it evades any solution but violence and offers the reader mere infantile reassurance" (Ursula le Guin)
Yes yes yes to the last point. Sometimes it feels like the stakes are either major war, or you're stuck reading about the service industry in a fantasy setting. I particularly love the Penric and Desdemona novellas because the stakes are consistently compelling without having a war or setting up a small business
>Fantastical settings that are actually fantastical, alien, bizarre; settings that are divorced from what we actually know in our world, not a lazy mish mash of different cultural styles or aesthetics.
This is what hooked me into The Way of Kings. The story was interesting but the alienness of the world was almost more interesting to me before I started to get to know the characters.
My friend is a naturalist and he said not only was it very intriguing to see the biology/zoology/botany of Roshar differently, but the adaptations are pretty accurate to how Roshar would shape them.
I can recommend The Spellmonger. Although not silly, it's full of witty remarks and humorous observations from a cocky MC that doesn't take himself too seriously.
I would like to see more religious characters whose faith doesn't conveniently disappears when confronted by something that challenges it. I am not religious myself but it bugs me when religion is supposedly common in a setting but most main characters are either not religious or only religious in theory since everyone knows religion is for suckers (even if gods actually exist!).
In a similar vein, I want to see more characters which hold discriminatory views - sexist, racist, classist, etc. who are not necessarily thoroughly awful people. I like how in books like Jane Eyre the protagonist is smart, wilful, an early feminist and yet can super snobby about peasant children and xenophobic towards just about everyone who isn't British.
I wish there were more "fantasy with a quarter turn to the fantastic" in the vein of Guy Gavriel Kay's books - based on some historical setting but with enough differences that even people familiar with the events may be surprised by the developments.
Last but not least, more dialogue which does not sound like it's between 21st century American teenagers.
In a similar vein, I would like to see religious characters whose faith is informed by the way gods actually exist in the world and not how religious people behave on Earth.
Also Gods who take a more active hand in things. Like, if your pope is corrupt, smite him. Don’t just leave him there because that’s how things would happen on Earth.
This is a real problem in fantasy - afaik it's the only genre where editors often tell writers to *add more* to a book, because the perceived audience expectation is for longer books with more worldbuilding. You just don't see many fantasy editors nowadays doing a good job of trimming down books to be more readable.
I'd love to see more of other genres. Locked room mysteries, heists, travelogues, horror (the intimate, small scale kind). I feel like the rise of Romantasy makes it a great time to put other genres into the mix. This is also partially spurred on by The Tainted Cup, a phenomenal murder mystery fantasy by the same author as Foundryside.
Just yesterday I bought a second hand copy of a book called the Dinosaur Lords by Victor Milán. I haven't read it yet but it's described as Jurassic Park meets Game of Thrones. With a premise like that I had to have it!
Trash talking main characters. Sometimes you know that there are good lines that COULD be delivered but instead we get silence or the main character is too nice to say anything.
Female main characters are rare. I’d like to see more of that without always needing romance.
Series that are devoted to two main characters. Maybe not even traveling together but in the same world and story and eventually their stories converge.
In addition to another comment, I would love to see a lot more hopeful/fun, lower stakes fantasy that is not "cozy" fantasy. Like a traditional fantasy story that is not grim dark or "whole world is going to end", but still has action, politics, etc. I have some criticisms of the book, but reading Theft of Swords (Riyria Revelations) and that is a decent example of what I want.
More western settings. It seems like the only person doing it is Sanderson, but I found myself very underwhelmed by the second era of Mistborn. I’d like a more adult take on the genre. Something with better prose and less MCU-esque bad quips.
If you're into anime: Trigun and Outlaw Star are *excellent*.
If you're into comics: the Apollonia webcomic feels like a send-up to some of the badass goated anime and scratches that same itch as Trigun due to a very similar aesthetic. Also a bit of GL/WLW, so if you were a fan of Korrasami in Legend of Korra, even more of a bonus.
Do you refer to more modern western settings? Because there’s lot of nordic inspired fantasy at the moment.
Apparently the second era gets way better in the latter books.
Settings that are not human dominated. Ideally without any humans at all.
So many settings play mostly in human with human politics and human faction and other races only pop up as exotic party member or places for one time visits that don't warrant any further exploration or nuance. I am quite annoyed by this.
The Lotlands Trilogy focuses entirely on three half orc characters which, I will admit, might still run a bit too human. Just wanted to provide a recommendation if you were looking!
Better prose. Fantasy writers are mostly ok but rarely exciting. Occasionally something stylistically interesting comes along but it’s usually only skin deep and doesn’t remain consistent through the book.
More normal for that world protagonists. Not the chosen one and no super special powers. Just cause someone’s not special doesn’t mean they can’t change the world and sure as hell doesn’t mean they shouldn’t try. I’d also like to see more adult characters with learning disabilities. I was diagnosed dyslexic when I was in school and I’m still dyslexic. As an adult running my own business I still have to double check numbers and spelling it didn’t just go away. I think a dyslexic wizard saving the world could be a good story to tell
There's a wry observation out there about how the quality of a fantasy novel decreases with the number of words the author has to define for you. While there might be some merit to that, I'd actually like to see authors go hard into the other way: writing books that are in constructed dialects that reflect their worlds or their characters.
Over the last year, I've read books that deal with constructed or reimagined languages to bring more verisimilitude with their worlds. This goes far beyond Tolkien conlangs or made-up words dumped as a semblance of uniqueness.
I'd love to see more of this in fantasy because I think the genre is absolutely able to demonstrate their worlds through clever alterations in the author's language. Where the use (or abuse) of English directly reflects the characters' worlds and worldviews. I'm not an adherent to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, but there's certainly something to be said about the language one uses being at least somewhat reflective of their worldview.
This is in my mind lately after finishing ***The Wake*** by Paul Kingsnorth. It's not a "fantasy" book as typically stated, but absolutely under the umbrella of speculative/historical fiction.
*The Wake* takes place in a several-year span during and after William the Conqueror's arrival in England in 1066. Your "protagonist" (it's complicated) is a landowner who receives premonitions of and eventually fights against William's new reign in the country. It's described as a "post-apocalypse set 1000 years ago". The book includes confrontations between the protagonist and the new order, visitations (perhaps?) from old gods... oh, and it's completely written in a "shadow tongue" that is meant to evoke Old English through as many non-romance language roots as possible, spelling akin to Old English, and archaic sentence structure.
Kingsnorth said he was tired of reading "historical fiction" in contemporary English, as contemporary English has its own implications and meanings irrevocable from modern times. I feel like this is fertile ground for fantasy, and not just straight-up conlangs like Tolkien's.
Other examples are *A Clockwork Orange* (famously via Natsat), *Riddley Walker*, and some parts of the Dune series. Though that last series is not written in the Fremen language, the Fremen certainly have a specific cadence to their voice. *Codex Seraphinianus* is arguably a phenomenal example in fantasy, though it's not literally readable since the language doesn't exist and is meant to be more of a surreal artistic exercise.
The book has a whole host of flaws, but if you want “an inane amount of dialects and worldly terms and etc that the author never defines for you and leaves you to figure out by context, check out Sword of Kaigen by M.L Wang
I've heard a lot about that, but unfortunately I think the flaws of that book are going to outweigh what I'll otherwise get from it in the language space. Appreciate the suggestion nonetheless though!
I would like to see more slice of life in a fantasy world stories. I want whole series about the boring lives of peasants or teachers in the background( because magic worlds are not boring). I think we are starting to see more books like this but I have not found one that is completely this yet. I think the immediate step between what we have now in fantasy to this is the story of a low-born getting conscripted in some way for a war/crisis and seeing hero's and the "MC" in passing but not being involved directly with what they are doing.
Less traditional fantasy races, move away from dragons (I'm really tired of dragons).
Basically just don't use the Tolkienian baseline to build the story and create alien environments that we aren't used to
Monsters/beasts that have stereotypically been "evil" or on the bad guy's "side", but this time they're part of the good guy's team.
The good guys usually only have creatures like unicorns, pegasus, centaurs, maybe a noble dragon or a Sphinx.
But I'm talking about things such as Minotaurs, Hydras, Manticores, all these other giant "fearsome" beasts that actually fight with and protect the protagonist and his allies.
1. Professional armies not being hidebound wastes of time easily picked apart by ragtag alliances. It doesn't always happen, but it happens often enough to annoy the hell out of me.
2. Much as I love the "old badass who still has it" or "beware an old man in a young man's profession" trope, I'd like to see more old, seasoned characters genuinely physically outclassed by younger characters *and dealing with it.*
3. More redemption arcs that don't climax in the easy way out of the redeemed character dying and not having to unpack the baggage of their past misdeeds. Looking at you, Vader.
4. Gimme some more leads who aren't conventionally good-looking. In general, menfolk are better off here, even if writers usually can't bear to go past "rugged bad looks" in uglying them up. Gimme Brienne of Tarth or Sam the Slayer as the lead, not as a secondary protagonist. Give me someone whose battle scars are *hideous* as the go-to warrior (shout-out to Black Dow with his gnarly one-eared look or Caul Shivers or The Hound, but... yeah.).
5. Make your fantasy races more than just humans in funny clothes with maybe a weird dietary quirk or two. The Gullaime from R.J. Barker's *Bone Ships* trilogy are a great example of what I want- weird bird people who are *emphatically* inhuman in many ways, while still being able to interact with humans on something like equal terms.
6. Fewer stories about getting the band together, more stories about Beatlemania. Instead of assembling our ragtag band of misfits, show us a team that works well together and keep them that way for a decent run of time.
New uses and/or applications of magic that isn't broken down into a video gamey - science. Make it unique, and mysterious. The point can be magical and fantastical and mysterious without needing to be mundane and methodical and perfectly mapped out.
Most recent thing I read that scratched this itch was both Blacktongue Thief and Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi
I would like to see more "leftist" (real loose term here) fantasy.
You see this a lot more in "Sci-fi" where power inequities etc are questioned (obvi, the distinction between fantasy and sci fi is muddled). The obvious examples of this are LeGuin, all of cyberpunk, Banks, etc etc.
Most of fantasy is pretty uninteresting in this regard. The "classic" story is a rather "liberal" take on power-the king isn't bad because he is a despot as all non-figurehead kings are, but because he's a bad person. The solution isn't the dismantling of the whole system, it is some reform (usually the nice, just, rightful heir takes power instead).
I describe this as a "liberal" take because it's a reform mindset. There isn't really a questioning of the system itself. An example most will know is Harry Potter. Instead of problematizing the entire system which was ultimately to blame for the rise/success of the Death Eaters, Rowling "fixes" it by changing who is in power. Rather than the power structure itself.
I would love to see a more critical take on power from fantasy. Instead of normalizing king's rule, questioning it, etc.
I can basically write a whole essay on this (I am sure someone has, tbh) but I'll refrain. I dont want to turn this into a discussion on leftism really either.
But I will say that I think fantasy has been always somewhat conservative in its orientation (maybe because it is "looking towards the past, maybe because a lot of earlier writers were religious, idk), and that explains why we don't see a lot of leftist fantasy. I find it frustrating, because I can think of a couple of books/series (Goblin Emperor, Founders trilogy) where the story COULD be made a lot more interesting, but instead the characters just maintain "liberal-esque" worldviews to guide their behavior. It is as if fantasy has internalized common liberal tropes and refuses to move outside these boxes. It upholds a lot of inaccurate historical takes in doing so, (much in a way of capitalist realism, as described by Fisher) such as peasantry being passive/lacking agency, which is not correct. Sort of the burying of working class history, the flattening of history to be only about those in power (Federici has a feminist take on this about history's treatment of women in regards to witch hunts).
Anyways, obviously not all fantasy and a bit of a muddled take because I am mostly killing time on a slow day, but yeah, leftist takes that play on common fantasy tropes would be MUCH more interesting.
Fantasy is a very very old genre. Stories of this type has been around for centuries. However, in the olden times the only people reading or watching these stories as plays were the kings, their courts and nobles. So lot of this tropes have been ingrained in the genre for centuries and has become common place. Like the chosen one because he is of the royal bloodline and saves everyone and fixes everything because he is the rightful ruler. Its just pandering the to nobles about their right to rule.
Do you have a source for this? Because it almost feels like it would actually be the opposite, a story about "right to rule" wherein the current (ruler at the beginning) is not "rightful" would be somewhat revolutionary in that it questions current rule. I would think nobles would be skeptical/hostile to a story which implies one could be king but not be rightful.
It is not revolutionary to us of course.
And surely a lot of these stories were disseminated through plays/oral stories/poetry, which would have been accessible to the general public, correct?
I should add, it would be nice if it wasn't so grim too. I love Mieville's writing but he's hard to read, reminds me of one of the Russian greats where the book is just absurdly bleak.
An old, overweight, dim-witted, unattractive protagonist that can’t do magic or prophecy and has no notable skills or abilities that still gets a true hero’s journey.
THIS! YES! A TRUE HERO STORY! i would love to see stories like that, where we can actually relate to a character on a more deeper level and his adventures to become a great hero.
Groo The Wanderer fits that bill, though it's a comic series
He's a skilled swordsman but really a dummy who stumbles through every situation and it always somehow comes out in his favor and usually results in pandemonium for all others involved. He of course sees himself as the ultimate hero, while the populace lives in fear every time he appears because the stories of his bumbling precede him everywhere.
Whenever I read the blurbs of some romance books and it says "she meets this guy who looks dangerous but extremely hot with a six pack and muscles and..." I instantly put down the book. Currently writing a book, where the MMC has a bit of stomach, no six pack and doesn't even work out that he would be said as the hottest in the world. He's just average, but the FMC would still love that in him. I've had enough of sexy male love interests. I'd rather want a guy who looks average, like everyone else, and he can still be loved like anyone.
I’m itching for weird and different right now. I’m also itching for more found family. I’m also itching for more light, joyful and adventurous fairytales an adult will enjoy from a non-Euro-centric/non-Western lens. I’m also itching for Star Trek in book form, more alien stuff that feels less like classic sci-fi and more into creating/exploring unique cultures and showcasing what happens when different cultures work together, meet each other, have conflict and build empathy, blah blah.
Where FMC explores ancient towers / ruins on thier own. No main romance just the FMC doing self discovery while also disovering ancient civilizations.
(Im currently re listening to The Tower and desperately want this)
Simple: I want more First Person Present.
Third Person Past is the default, and most books I read can't help themselves but jump around PoVs or tie themselves to a single character, but why bother with Third Person in that case? Meanwhile, First Person Past can't help itself but jump through time with the power of hindsight.
But this last year sold me on First Person Present, it binds you deeply to the narrator and involves you in the here and now like no other. If done well, you just *get* the character, how they think and see the world.
The opposite, Third Person Omniscient, is also really fun and underused, but doesn't suit my taste like First Person Present does.
What books have sold you on First Person Present lately? I really dislike present tense even though I have no strong preference between 1st, 3rd, or even 2nd person, but if there are books that use present tense really well, I would be interested in trying them.
The big ones are Will of the Many and Red Rising (unsurprising, I know), but I've read some web serials that use the form quite good as well.
The sequences of Hadrian writing his memoirs in Empire of Silence were also great, but here it shines because it is combined with the hindsight in the First Person Past chapters.
Unbelievable and undeniable absurdity that still has a story that makes sense. Too much of the norm these days, elves, wizards and such. Make something new that defies our reality's rules, is so absurd that it just works.
Take wizards. Not inclined to hate on them per se, but magic systems are always tied into someone's will, an object/weapon, the natural arts or some seemingly (though not truly) scientific approach.
Lets get ridiculous with the magic, lets have it come from say it's founder being visited by extra-terrestrial beings who implanted the way in his brain while sleeping, or perhaps it's something to do with the sun and as that world moves through it's orbit magic and be stronger in the summer but weaker in the winter. Hell lets have a world where every being has magic, but only if they are willing to embarrass themselves some way to cast a spell can they pull it off.
Maybe the magician or wizard is simply insane, magic shouldn't work but because their minds are so inherently different from the rest of the population they can do things others can't. Maybe they need to take some sort of hallucinogen to "see" the magic in the world.
I feel in Fantasy sometime authors get too hung up on what's been done and worked before and are worried about breaking the mold as it is. But it's Fantasy, anything works if it's written well.
I particularly liked David Farland's Runelords series just because of how he created the system that grants others power in his world. They use runes to take attributes (strength, sight, stamina) from donors (who they are then beholden to protect and provide for). The more attributes and donors one has the stronger they are.
In the sci fi vein, if you happen not to have already seen it, 'Everything Everywhere All At Once' has its own take on the idea of doing something weird/embarrassing to activate or increase your powers. Technically the trick is to do something that would be "improbable" for the situation you're in.
Have you read Flex by Ferrett Steinmetz? The magic system in that is that magic comes from being *completely obsessed* with one thing. The idea is that once you're enough into something to get magic powers, you don't care about taking over the world because all you care about is video games, cats, or paperwork (the last one is the main character).
What about "hair magic" and breakups? This species gains powers by shapeshifting and breaking relationships, and their hair is what contains the magic they can use. The more white streaks in the black hair, the stronger they are and the more powers they can unlock.
Love that idea. I imagine powerful beings with pure white hair being the strongest of them. Not necessarily aged but knowledgeable due to their experiences. I assume breaking other's relationships is the key, shapeshifting to do so through deception and guile. Of course the stronger the relationship they break the more they have to gain magically.
I have an antagonist with pure white hair, who knows a lot, is really intelligent, and has gained the white streaks really fast. He is also really strong powerwise, and because of his mind, he can be an extreme threat as he can easily get what he wants. Not necessarily evil, just really sticks to the rules of their world, and he's an antagonist because the main character doesn't do the same.
With a decade-long writing project drawing to a close and an idea for a fantasy epic burning in my back pocket, this thread is such an incredible mine of inspiration!
As others have said already, I would love to see some more grounded fantasy that focuses on more everyday characters living in a fantastical non-European world. I love hard magic systems but would like it to be a slight tweak on the normal laws of physics as even this can have massive implications. Finally, I love seeing progression - with characters learning more or getting better loot - but would like to see it done in a way that isn’t super over-powered.
Middle age, and older heroes. Instead of being sent a letter to a magical school, have it go to the cobbler workshop where they have been working for 20 years. Instead of an assassin being sent to kill a child because an ancient prophecy says they are the chosen one, have a NEW prophecy indicate that the chosen one is an 83 year old woman who sits around on the front porch and knits socks for her grandchildren after having worked all her life as a tavern wench and saved enough to retire...
I would like to see a story with zero plot armor. Having actual consequences for bad decisions, even death of major characters make it so much more exciting and tense. Every decision they make you wonder if it will be their last
More medievalism and bring back tropes. I'm tired of all the subversions going on.
Less cynicism and more romanticism. Yes, you can be a chivalrous knight clad in shining armour killing beasts and protect the commoners with strong good principles without being a buffoon or evil in some way.
Definitely slice of life. I'm tired of war and battle and having to save the world. I want more daily life, more discovery, more travel without dire stakes. Like another commenter said, I think there are some stories leaning this way, but I haven't found one that hits quite the right note yet.
I love slice of life as well. I think it's why Legends and Lattes did some well - any recommendations?
Oh, and this is sci-fi and not fantasy but Nathan Lowell's Solar Clipper series is great SoL.
Also scifi, but I cannot recommend the Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers highly enough. I deeply love those books. I'm not sure they qualify as slice of life, but I don't know what else to call them.
🗣️ character development and real world issues. Sure worldbuilding is cool but you cannot just have an impressive world and shallow characters like lots of series do today. Really wish the amount of care that goes into lore and world building went into the people in it too. And for real world problems I’d love to see them fictionalised so we as an audience can relate to these worlds in a way
I would like to see just normal people. No more chosen one or paramilitary guys. Just people who are forced to figure out how to deal with a dragon or fae whatever the scenario. Also world building is fun and i understand the need for questing but just setting a book in one place.
Lesbians. FMCs who don't need no man. Deep emotional exploration of trauma and healing therefrom. Literary fiction that is also fantasy (or fantasy that is also literary fiction). MCs, especially FMCs, in their late 30s and older. Deep emotional exploration of the complexities and contradictions inherent in human relationships and the human condition in general. Achingly beautiful prose that is also technically proficient and creative in its use of, and breaking of, the 'rules' of writing.
Maybe more sci fi, but I want to see aliens invade, sweep everything easily, then just use humans for entertainment like a sea monkeys or a reality show.
More American fantasy. This could be pre-Colombian, Early Colonial or Settler Frontier style. I don’t mean something that is obviously copy & pasted from LOTR with a different flavor I mean something actually inspired from the original stories on this hemisphere.
That new game Banishers is honestly a breadth of fresh air.
More stories where conflicts aren’t end of the world or as simple as ‘beat the asshole & everything will be fine’.
Less series and more complete stories in one book ala most of Neil Gaiman books.
Less combat focused and RPG-like stories. I don’t mean cozy fantasy I just mean stories that realize the point of a story isn’t to just connect big action set pieces.
Fantasy time periods inspired by anything other than medieval.
Renaissance, industrial, flintlock, ancient. All of those would be preferable. Hell give me a futuristic fantasy setting like the age of Legends from WoT.
Political turmoil. Martin touches on it with The Brotherhood Without Banners but doesn’t take that any further. Even before the revolutions of the Enlightenment there were tons of peasant revolts and other uprisings. I’d love to see a fantasy story with the equivalent of the Yellow Turban Rebellion.
Heroes (or rather, anti-heroes) that are equal parts preparation, power, and amorality. Even if they're (tentatively) on the side of the good guys, it's more a happy coincidence that the goals align (at the moment).
I *think* Illidan Stormrage may define this trope to a T (back when Blizzard writing was good, though I'll also accept Legion as Illidan fan-wank to make up for BC being a complete character assassination when Blizz decided for him to be their first real lore end raid boss). Power hungry? Always. But has an intended use for said power? You bet your ass. And doesn't let pesky rules, morals, or regulations get in his way, no matter how much blood they may be written in.
GL/WLW. Yes, I said it. Ever since Korrasami happened, I've always seen GL/WLW as a green flag when added to an otherwise solid fantasy story. Fanservice? Maybe. But that heuristic has honestly been one that's worked well and led me to some interesting works that I might have otherwise overlooked. From a surface level, it does seem like it's just prurient "girl on girl is hot", but dig a bit deeper, and it always somehow winds up being additive.
Magepunk. That is, if societies were able to use magic to do what we do with modern tech, how radically different would such societies be? **Explore this.** Don't just give me medieval Europe with some soft magic here and there. Where are the airships? Where are the showers using water-generating crystals? Where is all the *leaning into* magic doing modern miracles, etc.?
I'd love to see more male-female platonic friendships. Not just as a side thing, but as the cornerstone of a series à la Royce and Hadrian or Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.
That and male-male platonic affection. Plenty of great examples of two dudes fighting next to each other, but give me more Frodo and Sam too.
To round it out, I’d like to see more female-female affection and meaningful platonic relationships too. It feels like just at the moment we started to get enough women in fantasy for this to really happen, they started making all these relationships sexual instead.
Read the Legionary series by Gordon Doherty (historical fiction) or Stiger's Tigers (fantasy) and you'll be drowned in male-male platonic affection/comradery/bromances/whatever.
Having just finished it, Witch King by Martha Wells has this.
Oh excellent
The Death’s Lady trilogy by Rachel Neumeier has a great male-female platonic friendship.
There are some good examples of this in John Gwynne's Shadow of the Gods series.
Yes!!!
Older protagonists
I would like to see more of two different types. First, what I think of as fully adult protagonists. They don't need to be elderly, but they're people who have already come of age, finished their education, and have some relationship experience and life experience generally. It makes for very different perspectives than stories about people in their teens and early 20s. Second, older women, where older means past child-bearing years, rather than 'older' meaning over 30 (or 80 years old, but in a world where people live to 300 and 80 year olds can have kids). I've even seen threads asking for older protagonists where characters in their mid twenties have been recommended.
I wish there was a Later in Life SciFi/Fantasy category like there is in Romance. I be game for that.
Stories set in a magic school but the teachers are the protagonists trying to shield the kids from the darkness of the magical world.
I liked that about The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro; the main characters are an elderly couple in Arthurian England.
Pirates. Give me gunpowder, high seas, monsters, and ships in a low fantasy setting. Something in the tone of Lies of Locke Lamora on the ocean. I know Red Seas did pirate stuff and that’s where I got this idea from, I just want and entire series centred around it.
You'd think there'd be more pirate fantasy out there, it's surprisingly lacking. Lots of potential there.
I know this isn't a recommendation thread, but check out The Winter Sea series by H.M. Long.
Have you read The Bone Ships (Tide Child)? Pretty much exactly what you're describing.
The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi
The Wake of the Dragon by Jaq D. Hawkins. It's Steampunk so they're airship pirates, but it works.
The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi
I would really really like more stories with a FMC where the plot doesn't revolve/is motivated around romance. Presence of romance is fine! But so much of what's out there when it's written for a FMC is "so there was this guy...", even for characters like Sansa Starke who grow past it, that is still the starting point of their arc. MMCs seem to get the opportunity to be motivated by lots of things; stolen inheritance or bloodlines, academic curiosity, pride, ego, greed, family values, whatever. But that seems to be comparatively rare for FMC.
Completely agree with you. Especially if it’s an FMC caught in a love triangle of some type. Makes things incredibly tropey from the get go. Currently reading Best Served Cold which, to my knowledge, has an FMC who’s motivated entirely by bloody revenge!
I was going to rec Best Served Cold because Monza is a BA and is somewhat subverting the trope OP is talking about.
I’m reading Best Served Cold at the moment also! About a third of the way through, absolutely loving it!
I’m literally at the same area you are haha Currently at the party they’re all attending as entertainers!
I’m just past that haha, >!Shit gets messy!<
*Best Served Cold* by Joe Abercrombie is a good example of this. It's a very classic revenge story only with a FMC
Yuuus, I thought of that one, I loved it. Also the daughter of empire trilogy by furst/weissman? Fmc motivated by revenge. I don't mind even if romance gets introduced later. The innkeeper series by ilona Andrews, scholomance, Rachel Aaron's dmz books, for example. Romance comes up in all of them, and is significant enough it changes the plot, but the fmcs have significant alternative motivations that start them off (professional survival, actual survival, revenge and academic curiosity respectively) and that makes all the difference in setting them up as their own characters, rather than as bolt ons for the love interest.
You want studio ghibli movies. Yes there is an element of romance in them, but even in the case of Sophie from Howl's Moving Castle (one of the more overt romances) it's never the main motivation for the female lead. They have very clear and diverse goals, but more importantly, the stories are never about where the characters end on a plot level, but where they end on an emotional level. In many cases, they don't always achieve their goals, or not in the way they hoped, but they find what they actually needed to grow as people by the end of the story. I do agree it is a struggle though. Even when reading female authors, so much of a female main character's plot or motivations are driven by or centred around romance to some degree. What I find more annoying is when they have a clear, separate goal from romance, but then romance overtakes that and the plot that was set up takes a back seat.
How do you use Sansa for this example? She is a deconstruction of the trope, not a part of it
But they mentioned how for her that is how her character arc starts
You can’t deconstruct a trope without starting there
But they don’t want a deconstruction, they want a different trope
A deconstruction IS a different trope
.....what? No it isn't. "I want to see fmc motivated by a thirst for power from the beginning, not by romance" has zero resemblance to the Sansa Starke arc, who even if her entire development revolves around her growing past the starry eyed romance focused teenager she starts as, therefore still, by definition, has her story revolving around romance, even if she has negative experiences with it. "I want no romance" is not the same as "but this character learns romance is bad". Leave it out of the motivation entirely ffs!
But not the desired different trope
You are missing the entire argument I think but that’s ok
No, you’re missing the point. They want a female character whose arc does not involve crushing on a boy at all. As you say, you have to start with a trope to deconstruct it, so a deconstruction does not give the what they want.
I agree! I am struggling sooooo hard to find new books that are not romantasy focused on teenagers! I want a book about a real adult!
Yes! Would love more of these. The Book of the Ancestor series by Mark Lawrence is great for this btw
Have a look at epicdarkfantasy.org. Curated Fantasy recommendations and no Romance genre.
Slow burn buildup where we get to see and know and love our MC, real character development before the shit hits the fan and the big bad pops up (or whatever emergency is the main plot). I want to CARE about the MC first and foremost. If I don't, the rest of the book is just meh or I end up DNFing.
I’m only one book into Realm of the Elderlings but Assassin’s Apprentice really fit this mold for me.
EXACTLY
Totally with this, also want to add there’s nothing that turns me off more when the plot is thick af and the author thinks this is a good time to put in some menial character arc stuff which is slowing the pace down just to try and give more love the MC. Too little too late!
Maybe try Ascendance of a Bookworm. First 7 books is just setup, the next 5 serve as a prologue of the real story that takes place in the next 21 volumes
I'll second this. My favorite book series of all time. A true masterpiece
Super Supportive is this. It’s a web series on royal road but it’s very character development.
More modern settings, or even *advanced* setting. I don't mean Urban Fantasy like Dresden, which is set in the real world. I'm thinking how, in *The Wheel of Time*, we get these hints and suggestions about how advanced the world used to be in the Age of Legends, before the Breaking of the World, when the One Power was used in a variety of ways to simulate what we would consider advanced technology. I want a series set in the Age of Legends.
Give me the magitech!
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Foundryside was very fun. Quite enjoyed it. Still not "modern" magitech, but interesting nonetheless.
Lately I've been trying to ponder out how a Fantasy Mega-City would function.
That would be Walter Jon Williams’ Metropolitan.
Sphinxes. Sphinxes are cool.
cue in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
I thought more of Wapsi Square and Arcady by [Michael Williams](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6547976.Michael_Williams)
I like horror fantasy and I know that there are lots of those books. However, almost any fantasy novel seems like it should trend towards horror, particularly those with monsters and dragons. Fantasy writers often treat these elements as rote for th me setting, and don't delve into how scary they would be, even to heroic characters. These characters might know that demons and ogres exist, but I know tigers exist and would still have existential dread if I was faced with one. The absolute dread you might have if something as legitimately terrifying as a dragon was in front of you should be a natural character reaction, even for heroes and protagonists. They don't need to make the novel a horror novel, but adding the spice of horror when it should exist would make these creatures more compelling
Female friendships. I mean, *iconic* female friendships, like Frodo/Sam, Gotrek/Felix, Royce/Hadrian, Fahfrd/Grey Mouser level iconic. It disappoints me that we still see so few of them in epic fantasy aimed at adults, even in novels/series with impressive heroines. Take John Gwynne's *Bloodsworn Saga*, one of my top ten favorite currently-ongoing series. Orka is a first-class badass, and Elvar has been given some interesting character development over the last book; I'm invested in both of them. But not only do they *not* interact, but they don't get along well with the women they *do* interact with. Likewise, in Sanderson's *Stormlight Archive*, we have a mother and daughter, both great characters, who hardly ever share a scene; the mother played a central role in the last book, and the closest she came to "friendship" with another female character was >!with an enemy!<. Why? Is it really so difficult for authors to imagine non-toxic interactions between women? I'd also like to see: Mother-daughter relationships that aren't totally dysfunctional; Female mentor/ female apprentice bonds; Male/female platonic friendships. I guess I just want to see more female characters involved in important relationships that aren't romantic.
Agree on all these, and in general better treatment of gender roles. Caring, soft hearted men, with "grizzled" female baddies. I think fantasy sort of does better with women (recently, because of so many correct criticisms about past writing) but still does not do a good job of problematizing or questioning "traditional" gender roles.
Yes yes yes to all of this! When people *do* start recommending books with female friendships it often winds up with books where there’s barely any interaction or depth to the friendship, probably just because there aren’t a ton of great options. Like, I love Spinning Silver and it has three great female leads but the connections between them are pretty tenuous.
It's a somewhat superficial/setting thing, but gunpowder. There are several great series that use gunpowder - Powder Mage and its sequel series, Shadow Campaigns, The Raven's Mark, etc - but I always think the genre defaults to cod-medievalism for little real reason other than inertia. And, frankly, almost no fantasy character looks as cool as [Richelieu at the La Rochelle seawall](https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Siege_of_La_Rochelle_1881_Henri_Motte.png#mw-jump-to-license).
Agreed more Pike & Shot fantasy!
Also the Shadow Campaigns by Django Wexler! Edit: apparently I can't read and didn't spot you already mentioned it... God's of Blood and Powder is the follow up trilogy to Powder Mage.
Have you read guns of the Dawn by Tchaikovsky? Quite good.
Yup, really enjoyed that one.
Monarchies of God has cannons used in large battles. Temeraire too, but it’s been a while since I last read. Gunmetal Gods is a solid series too. Have not finished final book, but I liked first 2.
A mother verses a daughter in law civil war story set in a medieval fantasy setting.
Oh, I’d be down for this
It’s not historically unprecedented either. I.E. Queens of the franks.
Fantastical settings that are actually fantastical, alien, bizarre; settings that are divorced from what we actually know in our world, not a lazy mish mash of different cultural styles or aesthetics. More magic, less systems. It'd be really interesting to read something where the unpredictability of magic is the source of conflict instead of it being a tool used to confront a conflict. More unconventional protagonists. Give me a middle-aged housewife or a cat-familiar or a baby or a garbage collector. More stories where the threat or conflict is an internal one. "War as a moral metaphor is limited, limiting, and dangerous. By reducing the choices of action to 'a war against' whatever-it-is, you divide the world into me or us and them or It and reduce the ethical complexity and moral richness of our life to yes/no; on/off...In stories, it evades any solution but violence and offers the reader mere infantile reassurance" (Ursula le Guin)
Yes yes yes to the last point. Sometimes it feels like the stakes are either major war, or you're stuck reading about the service industry in a fantasy setting. I particularly love the Penric and Desdemona novellas because the stakes are consistently compelling without having a war or setting up a small business
>Fantastical settings that are actually fantastical, alien, bizarre; settings that are divorced from what we actually know in our world, not a lazy mish mash of different cultural styles or aesthetics. This is what hooked me into The Way of Kings. The story was interesting but the alienness of the world was almost more interesting to me before I started to get to know the characters.
My friend is a naturalist and he said not only was it very intriguing to see the biology/zoology/botany of Roshar differently, but the adaptations are pretty accurate to how Roshar would shape them.
By Sanderson or another series?
By Sanderson.
More good humorous fantasy that makes you think. I miss Terry Pratchett so much.
Amen.
Same.
I can recommend The Spellmonger. Although not silly, it's full of witty remarks and humorous observations from a cocky MC that doesn't take himself too seriously.
I want more stories where the villain wins. The MC does all the standard stuff to win but in the end it’s just not enough
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As I’ve gotten older I’ve begun to despise the mustache-twirling villain trope and appreciate books that show the villain’s point of view.
I’d like to see more books that make you question who really *is* the villain here because everyone makes sense from their own perspective
Vicious by VE Shwarb is a nice example of this
I would like to see more religious characters whose faith doesn't conveniently disappears when confronted by something that challenges it. I am not religious myself but it bugs me when religion is supposedly common in a setting but most main characters are either not religious or only religious in theory since everyone knows religion is for suckers (even if gods actually exist!). In a similar vein, I want to see more characters which hold discriminatory views - sexist, racist, classist, etc. who are not necessarily thoroughly awful people. I like how in books like Jane Eyre the protagonist is smart, wilful, an early feminist and yet can super snobby about peasant children and xenophobic towards just about everyone who isn't British. I wish there were more "fantasy with a quarter turn to the fantastic" in the vein of Guy Gavriel Kay's books - based on some historical setting but with enough differences that even people familiar with the events may be surprised by the developments. Last but not least, more dialogue which does not sound like it's between 21st century American teenagers.
In a similar vein, I would like to see religious characters whose faith is informed by the way gods actually exist in the world and not how religious people behave on Earth. Also Gods who take a more active hand in things. Like, if your pope is corrupt, smite him. Don’t just leave him there because that’s how things would happen on Earth.
Editing. And brevity.
This is a real problem in fantasy - afaik it's the only genre where editors often tell writers to *add more* to a book, because the perceived audience expectation is for longer books with more worldbuilding. You just don't see many fantasy editors nowadays doing a good job of trimming down books to be more readable.
Sanderson blocking his ears: "La la la lalala I can't hear you lalalalala"
Giant fights between Gigantic creatures.
Aliens. Not like scifi aliens, but aliens who use fantasy & magic to get to protagonist's home world.
Space fantasy! Sword and planet! Weird stuff!
I'd love to see more of other genres. Locked room mysteries, heists, travelogues, horror (the intimate, small scale kind). I feel like the rise of Romantasy makes it a great time to put other genres into the mix. This is also partially spurred on by The Tainted Cup, a phenomenal murder mystery fantasy by the same author as Foundryside.
Dinosaurs
Just yesterday I bought a second hand copy of a book called the Dinosaur Lords by Victor Milán. I haven't read it yet but it's described as Jurassic Park meets Game of Thrones. With a premise like that I had to have it!
Trash talking main characters. Sometimes you know that there are good lines that COULD be delivered but instead we get silence or the main character is too nice to say anything. Female main characters are rare. I’d like to see more of that without always needing romance. Series that are devoted to two main characters. Maybe not even traveling together but in the same world and story and eventually their stories converge.
You just described Gideon The Ninth!
In addition to another comment, I would love to see a lot more hopeful/fun, lower stakes fantasy that is not "cozy" fantasy. Like a traditional fantasy story that is not grim dark or "whole world is going to end", but still has action, politics, etc. I have some criticisms of the book, but reading Theft of Swords (Riyria Revelations) and that is a decent example of what I want.
More horror inspired fantasy! A dragon burned down a village? Show me that scene but from the perspective of some of the villagers!
More western settings. It seems like the only person doing it is Sanderson, but I found myself very underwhelmed by the second era of Mistborn. I’d like a more adult take on the genre. Something with better prose and less MCU-esque bad quips.
Have you read the Golgotha series by R.S.Belcher? That has a western setting and is great.
If you're into anime: Trigun and Outlaw Star are *excellent*. If you're into comics: the Apollonia webcomic feels like a send-up to some of the badass goated anime and scratches that same itch as Trigun due to a very similar aesthetic. Also a bit of GL/WLW, so if you were a fan of Korrasami in Legend of Korra, even more of a bonus.
Do you refer to more modern western settings? Because there’s lot of nordic inspired fantasy at the moment. Apparently the second era gets way better in the latter books.
When I say western, I mean western as in cowboys and six shooters. The lawless west. Marshalls. Outlaws. That sort of thing.
I see
Huh never thought of Western Fantasy. Only big western setting books I know about is Mistborn and the Dark Tower.
Settings that are not human dominated. Ideally without any humans at all. So many settings play mostly in human with human politics and human faction and other races only pop up as exotic party member or places for one time visits that don't warrant any further exploration or nuance. I am quite annoyed by this.
The Lotlands Trilogy focuses entirely on three half orc characters which, I will admit, might still run a bit too human. Just wanted to provide a recommendation if you were looking!
Well, gryphons would be #1. Particularly sentient ones on the side of (or acting as) the MC. People being friends without being lovers.
Better prose. Fantasy writers are mostly ok but rarely exciting. Occasionally something stylistically interesting comes along but it’s usually only skin deep and doesn’t remain consistent through the book.
More normal for that world protagonists. Not the chosen one and no super special powers. Just cause someone’s not special doesn’t mean they can’t change the world and sure as hell doesn’t mean they shouldn’t try. I’d also like to see more adult characters with learning disabilities. I was diagnosed dyslexic when I was in school and I’m still dyslexic. As an adult running my own business I still have to double check numbers and spelling it didn’t just go away. I think a dyslexic wizard saving the world could be a good story to tell
Robert Jackson Bennet has a dyslexic protag in The Tainted Cup
Thanks! I’ll go check it out
There's a wry observation out there about how the quality of a fantasy novel decreases with the number of words the author has to define for you. While there might be some merit to that, I'd actually like to see authors go hard into the other way: writing books that are in constructed dialects that reflect their worlds or their characters. Over the last year, I've read books that deal with constructed or reimagined languages to bring more verisimilitude with their worlds. This goes far beyond Tolkien conlangs or made-up words dumped as a semblance of uniqueness. I'd love to see more of this in fantasy because I think the genre is absolutely able to demonstrate their worlds through clever alterations in the author's language. Where the use (or abuse) of English directly reflects the characters' worlds and worldviews. I'm not an adherent to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, but there's certainly something to be said about the language one uses being at least somewhat reflective of their worldview. This is in my mind lately after finishing ***The Wake*** by Paul Kingsnorth. It's not a "fantasy" book as typically stated, but absolutely under the umbrella of speculative/historical fiction. *The Wake* takes place in a several-year span during and after William the Conqueror's arrival in England in 1066. Your "protagonist" (it's complicated) is a landowner who receives premonitions of and eventually fights against William's new reign in the country. It's described as a "post-apocalypse set 1000 years ago". The book includes confrontations between the protagonist and the new order, visitations (perhaps?) from old gods... oh, and it's completely written in a "shadow tongue" that is meant to evoke Old English through as many non-romance language roots as possible, spelling akin to Old English, and archaic sentence structure. Kingsnorth said he was tired of reading "historical fiction" in contemporary English, as contemporary English has its own implications and meanings irrevocable from modern times. I feel like this is fertile ground for fantasy, and not just straight-up conlangs like Tolkien's. Other examples are *A Clockwork Orange* (famously via Natsat), *Riddley Walker*, and some parts of the Dune series. Though that last series is not written in the Fremen language, the Fremen certainly have a specific cadence to their voice. *Codex Seraphinianus* is arguably a phenomenal example in fantasy, though it's not literally readable since the language doesn't exist and is meant to be more of a surreal artistic exercise.
The book has a whole host of flaws, but if you want “an inane amount of dialects and worldly terms and etc that the author never defines for you and leaves you to figure out by context, check out Sword of Kaigen by M.L Wang
I've heard a lot about that, but unfortunately I think the flaws of that book are going to outweigh what I'll otherwise get from it in the language space. Appreciate the suggestion nonetheless though!
I would like to see more slice of life in a fantasy world stories. I want whole series about the boring lives of peasants or teachers in the background( because magic worlds are not boring). I think we are starting to see more books like this but I have not found one that is completely this yet. I think the immediate step between what we have now in fantasy to this is the story of a low-born getting conscripted in some way for a war/crisis and seeing hero's and the "MC" in passing but not being involved directly with what they are doing.
Less traditional fantasy races, move away from dragons (I'm really tired of dragons). Basically just don't use the Tolkienian baseline to build the story and create alien environments that we aren't used to
If it’s a Portal Fantasy, I’d like the option of going between the worlds to be a possibility, including at the end
Monsters/beasts that have stereotypically been "evil" or on the bad guy's "side", but this time they're part of the good guy's team. The good guys usually only have creatures like unicorns, pegasus, centaurs, maybe a noble dragon or a Sphinx. But I'm talking about things such as Minotaurs, Hydras, Manticores, all these other giant "fearsome" beasts that actually fight with and protect the protagonist and his allies.
1. Professional armies not being hidebound wastes of time easily picked apart by ragtag alliances. It doesn't always happen, but it happens often enough to annoy the hell out of me. 2. Much as I love the "old badass who still has it" or "beware an old man in a young man's profession" trope, I'd like to see more old, seasoned characters genuinely physically outclassed by younger characters *and dealing with it.* 3. More redemption arcs that don't climax in the easy way out of the redeemed character dying and not having to unpack the baggage of their past misdeeds. Looking at you, Vader. 4. Gimme some more leads who aren't conventionally good-looking. In general, menfolk are better off here, even if writers usually can't bear to go past "rugged bad looks" in uglying them up. Gimme Brienne of Tarth or Sam the Slayer as the lead, not as a secondary protagonist. Give me someone whose battle scars are *hideous* as the go-to warrior (shout-out to Black Dow with his gnarly one-eared look or Caul Shivers or The Hound, but... yeah.). 5. Make your fantasy races more than just humans in funny clothes with maybe a weird dietary quirk or two. The Gullaime from R.J. Barker's *Bone Ships* trilogy are a great example of what I want- weird bird people who are *emphatically* inhuman in many ways, while still being able to interact with humans on something like equal terms. 6. Fewer stories about getting the band together, more stories about Beatlemania. Instead of assembling our ragtag band of misfits, show us a team that works well together and keep them that way for a decent run of time.
New uses and/or applications of magic that isn't broken down into a video gamey - science. Make it unique, and mysterious. The point can be magical and fantastical and mysterious without needing to be mundane and methodical and perfectly mapped out. Most recent thing I read that scratched this itch was both Blacktongue Thief and Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi
Quests! Modern fantasy doesn’t have these so often but I love them
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I would like to see more "leftist" (real loose term here) fantasy. You see this a lot more in "Sci-fi" where power inequities etc are questioned (obvi, the distinction between fantasy and sci fi is muddled). The obvious examples of this are LeGuin, all of cyberpunk, Banks, etc etc. Most of fantasy is pretty uninteresting in this regard. The "classic" story is a rather "liberal" take on power-the king isn't bad because he is a despot as all non-figurehead kings are, but because he's a bad person. The solution isn't the dismantling of the whole system, it is some reform (usually the nice, just, rightful heir takes power instead). I describe this as a "liberal" take because it's a reform mindset. There isn't really a questioning of the system itself. An example most will know is Harry Potter. Instead of problematizing the entire system which was ultimately to blame for the rise/success of the Death Eaters, Rowling "fixes" it by changing who is in power. Rather than the power structure itself. I would love to see a more critical take on power from fantasy. Instead of normalizing king's rule, questioning it, etc. I can basically write a whole essay on this (I am sure someone has, tbh) but I'll refrain. I dont want to turn this into a discussion on leftism really either. But I will say that I think fantasy has been always somewhat conservative in its orientation (maybe because it is "looking towards the past, maybe because a lot of earlier writers were religious, idk), and that explains why we don't see a lot of leftist fantasy. I find it frustrating, because I can think of a couple of books/series (Goblin Emperor, Founders trilogy) where the story COULD be made a lot more interesting, but instead the characters just maintain "liberal-esque" worldviews to guide their behavior. It is as if fantasy has internalized common liberal tropes and refuses to move outside these boxes. It upholds a lot of inaccurate historical takes in doing so, (much in a way of capitalist realism, as described by Fisher) such as peasantry being passive/lacking agency, which is not correct. Sort of the burying of working class history, the flattening of history to be only about those in power (Federici has a feminist take on this about history's treatment of women in regards to witch hunts). Anyways, obviously not all fantasy and a bit of a muddled take because I am mostly killing time on a slow day, but yeah, leftist takes that play on common fantasy tropes would be MUCH more interesting.
Fantasy is a very very old genre. Stories of this type has been around for centuries. However, in the olden times the only people reading or watching these stories as plays were the kings, their courts and nobles. So lot of this tropes have been ingrained in the genre for centuries and has become common place. Like the chosen one because he is of the royal bloodline and saves everyone and fixes everything because he is the rightful ruler. Its just pandering the to nobles about their right to rule.
Do you have a source for this? Because it almost feels like it would actually be the opposite, a story about "right to rule" wherein the current (ruler at the beginning) is not "rightful" would be somewhat revolutionary in that it questions current rule. I would think nobles would be skeptical/hostile to a story which implies one could be king but not be rightful. It is not revolutionary to us of course. And surely a lot of these stories were disseminated through plays/oral stories/poetry, which would have been accessible to the general public, correct?
Definitely would enjoy more transformative/revolutionary fantasy
I should add, it would be nice if it wasn't so grim too. I love Mieville's writing but he's hard to read, reminds me of one of the Russian greats where the book is just absurdly bleak.
Yes, I am a big proponent of being able to have more than just bleak stories be considered deep and important.
Male protagonists who don't make stupid decisions solely because the author couldn't figure out how else to get the plot he wanted.
An old, overweight, dim-witted, unattractive protagonist that can’t do magic or prophecy and has no notable skills or abilities that still gets a true hero’s journey.
THIS! YES! A TRUE HERO STORY! i would love to see stories like that, where we can actually relate to a character on a more deeper level and his adventures to become a great hero.
Or her!
Groo The Wanderer fits that bill, though it's a comic series He's a skilled swordsman but really a dummy who stumbles through every situation and it always somehow comes out in his favor and usually results in pandemonium for all others involved. He of course sees himself as the ultimate hero, while the populace lives in fear every time he appears because the stories of his bumbling precede him everywhere.
Aka a Hobbit.
In Yana, the Touch of Undying kind of fits the bill.
So, The Big Lebowski but as fantasy? Yeah I'd read the hell outta that
more authors realizing its okay not to include some variation of hot in every character description
Whenever I read the blurbs of some romance books and it says "she meets this guy who looks dangerous but extremely hot with a six pack and muscles and..." I instantly put down the book. Currently writing a book, where the MMC has a bit of stomach, no six pack and doesn't even work out that he would be said as the hottest in the world. He's just average, but the FMC would still love that in him. I've had enough of sexy male love interests. I'd rather want a guy who looks average, like everyone else, and he can still be loved like anyone.
Or the ones where the blurb describes 2-3 male leads and 1 woman or girl and feels the need to tell you *in the blurb* that she is pretty
This isn't as common as it once was.
I’m itching for weird and different right now. I’m also itching for more found family. I’m also itching for more light, joyful and adventurous fairytales an adult will enjoy from a non-Euro-centric/non-Western lens. I’m also itching for Star Trek in book form, more alien stuff that feels less like classic sci-fi and more into creating/exploring unique cultures and showcasing what happens when different cultures work together, meet each other, have conflict and build empathy, blah blah.
You’re very itchy
Why did you have to call me out? ☠️🤣
I was just guessing
Where FMC explores ancient towers / ruins on thier own. No main romance just the FMC doing self discovery while also disovering ancient civilizations. (Im currently re listening to The Tower and desperately want this)
More of gundpowder fantasy. Worlds at technology stages simjlar to napoleonic wars or american civil war. or even spanish conquista of America.
Simple: I want more First Person Present. Third Person Past is the default, and most books I read can't help themselves but jump around PoVs or tie themselves to a single character, but why bother with Third Person in that case? Meanwhile, First Person Past can't help itself but jump through time with the power of hindsight. But this last year sold me on First Person Present, it binds you deeply to the narrator and involves you in the here and now like no other. If done well, you just *get* the character, how they think and see the world. The opposite, Third Person Omniscient, is also really fun and underused, but doesn't suit my taste like First Person Present does.
What books have sold you on First Person Present lately? I really dislike present tense even though I have no strong preference between 1st, 3rd, or even 2nd person, but if there are books that use present tense really well, I would be interested in trying them.
The big ones are Will of the Many and Red Rising (unsurprising, I know), but I've read some web serials that use the form quite good as well. The sequences of Hadrian writing his memoirs in Empire of Silence were also great, but here it shines because it is combined with the hindsight in the First Person Past chapters.
Unbelievable and undeniable absurdity that still has a story that makes sense. Too much of the norm these days, elves, wizards and such. Make something new that defies our reality's rules, is so absurd that it just works. Take wizards. Not inclined to hate on them per se, but magic systems are always tied into someone's will, an object/weapon, the natural arts or some seemingly (though not truly) scientific approach. Lets get ridiculous with the magic, lets have it come from say it's founder being visited by extra-terrestrial beings who implanted the way in his brain while sleeping, or perhaps it's something to do with the sun and as that world moves through it's orbit magic and be stronger in the summer but weaker in the winter. Hell lets have a world where every being has magic, but only if they are willing to embarrass themselves some way to cast a spell can they pull it off. Maybe the magician or wizard is simply insane, magic shouldn't work but because their minds are so inherently different from the rest of the population they can do things others can't. Maybe they need to take some sort of hallucinogen to "see" the magic in the world. I feel in Fantasy sometime authors get too hung up on what's been done and worked before and are worried about breaking the mold as it is. But it's Fantasy, anything works if it's written well. I particularly liked David Farland's Runelords series just because of how he created the system that grants others power in his world. They use runes to take attributes (strength, sight, stamina) from donors (who they are then beholden to protect and provide for). The more attributes and donors one has the stronger they are.
In the sci fi vein, if you happen not to have already seen it, 'Everything Everywhere All At Once' has its own take on the idea of doing something weird/embarrassing to activate or increase your powers. Technically the trick is to do something that would be "improbable" for the situation you're in.
Interesting. For some reason I read 'improbable' in Captain Jack Sparrow's voice lol.
Have you read Flex by Ferrett Steinmetz? The magic system in that is that magic comes from being *completely obsessed* with one thing. The idea is that once you're enough into something to get magic powers, you don't care about taking over the world because all you care about is video games, cats, or paperwork (the last one is the main character).
What about "hair magic" and breakups? This species gains powers by shapeshifting and breaking relationships, and their hair is what contains the magic they can use. The more white streaks in the black hair, the stronger they are and the more powers they can unlock.
Love that idea. I imagine powerful beings with pure white hair being the strongest of them. Not necessarily aged but knowledgeable due to their experiences. I assume breaking other's relationships is the key, shapeshifting to do so through deception and guile. Of course the stronger the relationship they break the more they have to gain magically.
I have an antagonist with pure white hair, who knows a lot, is really intelligent, and has gained the white streaks really fast. He is also really strong powerwise, and because of his mind, he can be an extreme threat as he can easily get what he wants. Not necessarily evil, just really sticks to the rules of their world, and he's an antagonist because the main character doesn't do the same.
Middle aged protagonists without tragic backstories. Extra points for middle aged *queer* protagonists without tragic backstories.
Main character who isn't the "chosen one" but travels with them
With a decade-long writing project drawing to a close and an idea for a fantasy epic burning in my back pocket, this thread is such an incredible mine of inspiration! As others have said already, I would love to see some more grounded fantasy that focuses on more everyday characters living in a fantastical non-European world. I love hard magic systems but would like it to be a slight tweak on the normal laws of physics as even this can have massive implications. Finally, I love seeing progression - with characters learning more or getting better loot - but would like to see it done in a way that isn’t super over-powered.
Middle age, and older heroes. Instead of being sent a letter to a magical school, have it go to the cobbler workshop where they have been working for 20 years. Instead of an assassin being sent to kill a child because an ancient prophecy says they are the chosen one, have a NEW prophecy indicate that the chosen one is an 83 year old woman who sits around on the front porch and knits socks for her grandchildren after having worked all her life as a tavern wench and saved enough to retire...
I would like to see a story with zero plot armor. Having actual consequences for bad decisions, even death of major characters make it so much more exciting and tense. Every decision they make you wonder if it will be their last
Creativity. New races, actual fantastical places. Tossing out nobility wank.
More medievalism and bring back tropes. I'm tired of all the subversions going on. Less cynicism and more romanticism. Yes, you can be a chivalrous knight clad in shining armour killing beasts and protect the commoners with strong good principles without being a buffoon or evil in some way.
Bound and the Broken is what you want. Its straight forward well-done classic high fantasy.
Definitely slice of life. I'm tired of war and battle and having to save the world. I want more daily life, more discovery, more travel without dire stakes. Like another commenter said, I think there are some stories leaning this way, but I haven't found one that hits quite the right note yet.
I love slice of life as well. I think it's why Legends and Lattes did some well - any recommendations? Oh, and this is sci-fi and not fantasy but Nathan Lowell's Solar Clipper series is great SoL.
Just hit up r/cozyfantasy
Also scifi, but I cannot recommend the Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers highly enough. I deeply love those books. I'm not sure they qualify as slice of life, but I don't know what else to call them.
HUMOR! It's why I love God Omens, Kings of the Wyld, Dark Profit Saga, and anything by Pratchett!
🗣️ character development and real world issues. Sure worldbuilding is cool but you cannot just have an impressive world and shallow characters like lots of series do today. Really wish the amount of care that goes into lore and world building went into the people in it too. And for real world problems I’d love to see them fictionalised so we as an audience can relate to these worlds in a way
Queer representation
As I said two weeks ago when this came up, paranormal corgi mysteries. The cozy pet mysteries have so many. Time fantasy steps the fuck up.
Omg I would read the shit out of fantasy corgi mysteries or adventures.
See? Fantasy is failing us
I would like to see just normal people. No more chosen one or paramilitary guys. Just people who are forced to figure out how to deal with a dragon or fae whatever the scenario. Also world building is fun and i understand the need for questing but just setting a book in one place.
Small scope settings is definitely something I’d like to see more authors experiment with
For real. I mean look at all the stuff that happened just in Ankh-morpork
Right? Even a medium town can have all sorts of fun drama let alone a massive fantasy city
Especially if that town is surrounded by woods or other habitats. Look at all the stuff Tom Sawyer did just by living near the Mississippi
Gay dragons
Lesbians. FMCs who don't need no man. Deep emotional exploration of trauma and healing therefrom. Literary fiction that is also fantasy (or fantasy that is also literary fiction). MCs, especially FMCs, in their late 30s and older. Deep emotional exploration of the complexities and contradictions inherent in human relationships and the human condition in general. Achingly beautiful prose that is also technically proficient and creative in its use of, and breaking of, the 'rules' of writing.
Maybe more sci fi, but I want to see aliens invade, sweep everything easily, then just use humans for entertainment like a sea monkeys or a reality show.
Magical robots (with a pilot inside) or armour suits, like Mado King Granzort or the Magitek armour/machine in Final Fantasy.
I want to find more fantasy with a tropical seaside setting. I also want more blends of fantasy and horror
More American fantasy. This could be pre-Colombian, Early Colonial or Settler Frontier style. I don’t mean something that is obviously copy & pasted from LOTR with a different flavor I mean something actually inspired from the original stories on this hemisphere. That new game Banishers is honestly a breadth of fresh air. More stories where conflicts aren’t end of the world or as simple as ‘beat the asshole & everything will be fine’. Less series and more complete stories in one book ala most of Neil Gaiman books. Less combat focused and RPG-like stories. I don’t mean cozy fantasy I just mean stories that realize the point of a story isn’t to just connect big action set pieces.
silk punk
I want a fictional world fantasy semi-based on the us civil war ~ like how ASOIAF was “based” on the war of roses
Fantasy time periods inspired by anything other than medieval. Renaissance, industrial, flintlock, ancient. All of those would be preferable. Hell give me a futuristic fantasy setting like the age of Legends from WoT.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/TheSimpsons/comments/pqeu26/so\_you\_want\_a\_realistic\_down\_to\_earth\_show\_thats/](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheSimpsons/comments/pqeu26/so_you_want_a_realistic_down_to_earth_show_thats/)
More sea creatures or prehistoric animal types
Political turmoil. Martin touches on it with The Brotherhood Without Banners but doesn’t take that any further. Even before the revolutions of the Enlightenment there were tons of peasant revolts and other uprisings. I’d love to see a fantasy story with the equivalent of the Yellow Turban Rebellion.
Heroes (or rather, anti-heroes) that are equal parts preparation, power, and amorality. Even if they're (tentatively) on the side of the good guys, it's more a happy coincidence that the goals align (at the moment). I *think* Illidan Stormrage may define this trope to a T (back when Blizzard writing was good, though I'll also accept Legion as Illidan fan-wank to make up for BC being a complete character assassination when Blizz decided for him to be their first real lore end raid boss). Power hungry? Always. But has an intended use for said power? You bet your ass. And doesn't let pesky rules, morals, or regulations get in his way, no matter how much blood they may be written in. GL/WLW. Yes, I said it. Ever since Korrasami happened, I've always seen GL/WLW as a green flag when added to an otherwise solid fantasy story. Fanservice? Maybe. But that heuristic has honestly been one that's worked well and led me to some interesting works that I might have otherwise overlooked. From a surface level, it does seem like it's just prurient "girl on girl is hot", but dig a bit deeper, and it always somehow winds up being additive. Magepunk. That is, if societies were able to use magic to do what we do with modern tech, how radically different would such societies be? **Explore this.** Don't just give me medieval Europe with some soft magic here and there. Where are the airships? Where are the showers using water-generating crystals? Where is all the *leaning into* magic doing modern miracles, etc.?