Have you ever felt that you liked a genre but you really didn't? Or you really wanted to like it?
I remember seeing someone posted on Twitter saying how she really wished she was into books that dealt with parallel universes. And that sort of sparked the same feeling in me.
I mislead myself when I say that I absolutely love fantasy. But the truth is, I've always been more keen on Paranormal Romances. I think it's just me trying to get into fantasies lately. Or I'm just not reading the right ones. The ones I've picked up just haven't sparked me yet. Or I like them, but not
enough to really remember them. Or want to re-read them.
enough to really remember them. Or want to re-read them.
I've actually realized that I read more contemporaries than fantasy books. And I don't really read a lot of contemporaries.
I know one of my favorite writers out there is Sarah J. Maas and she writes fantasy. She does it so well. I absolutely love her world building. And then I also read An Ember In The Ashes which also blew me away. So maybe that's the thing, writing fantasy may not be so easy. Is that why it's hard to find such a compelling fantasy story? Possibly!! I feel like some of the most hyped stories are in this genre. And I will probably go into them with high expectations when I shouldn't.
I kind of wanted to talk about a pattern that I have started discovering about myself. I don't know if many of you know how there are sub-genres within the Fantasy genre itself.
There's high/epic, urban, dark, fairy tales, and mythology fantasy. There's more but these are really the ones I know more about. And I haven't really read all of these. But I just wanted to say that I don't love Urban Fantasy. I think it just turn me away. The one I really love is High Fantasy. I'm really into books that sort of have some royalty monarchy and assassins and pirates with a romance.
I've read some Urban books and I don't get fully immersed in the world.
High/Epic: It's defined by the setting in an imaginary world or by it's characters, themes, and plot. They often deal with a big struggle against evil forces. And there's a lot of supernatural creatures such as elves, dragons, sorcery, magic, demons, etc.
Urban: The setting is urban and the world actually exists. They are usually set in contemporary times and there are supernatural elements. But the times can be modern, historical, or futuristic. The only requirement for it to be urban is that it has to take place in a city.
Dark: They will have horror elements. It is sometimes used as another way of saying supernatural horror.
Fairy Tales: They include folklores and characters from such like fairies, goblins, trolls, dwarves, and magic.
Mythology: They center the story about myths or traditional stories about how the world has come to be the way it is. The main characters are usually always gods or supernatural heroes
I kind of wanted to talk about a pattern that I have started discovering about myself. I don't know if many of you know how there are sub-genres within the Fantasy genre itself.
There's high/epic, urban, dark, fairy tales, and mythology fantasy. There's more but these are really the ones I know more about. And I haven't really read all of these. But I just wanted to say that I don't love Urban Fantasy. I think it just turn me away. The one I really love is High Fantasy. I'm really into books that sort of have some royalty monarchy and assassins and pirates with a romance.
I've read some Urban books and I don't get fully immersed in the world.
High/Epic: It's defined by the setting in an imaginary world or by it's characters, themes, and plot. They often deal with a big struggle against evil forces. And there's a lot of supernatural creatures such as elves, dragons, sorcery, magic, demons, etc.
Urban: The setting is urban and the world actually exists. They are usually set in contemporary times and there are supernatural elements. But the times can be modern, historical, or futuristic. The only requirement for it to be urban is that it has to take place in a city.
Fairy Tales: They include folklores and characters from such like fairies, goblins, trolls, dwarves, and magic.
Mythology: They center the story about myths or traditional stories about how the world has come to be the way it is. The main characters are usually always gods or supernatural heroes
Also this is off-topic but I think fantasy books have the most beautiful and stunning covers. I mean just LOOK AT THOSE COVERS on the graphic!! Maybe that's why I want to love it so much. I just want to love them THAT much so that I can go buy them and have them on my shelf.
I even made a graphic about fantasy books!! I've read five of these (See Me, ACOTAR, An Ember In The Ashes, and The Girl At Midnight) and I'm really hoping to love the others. Don't they look so pretty right next to each other?!
What do you guys think? Has this ever happened to you? Tell me all about it in the comments below!!
I have the same problem too! I have a hard time getting into high fantasy stories. It's not that I don't like them or find them uninteresting, I just have to read each page a half a dozen times before it sinks in. It's taken me nearly three years to get halfway through Throne of Glass, because reading it takes so much effort and I'll just read other stuff.
ReplyDeleteI find that the format of the book can effect reading, too. If you're reading most urban fantasies as eBooks, maybe try a physical copy, or vise-versa.
Yeah they can be quite difficult to get into because I find that the world building can be hard to grasp.
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