[ SECRET POST #2882 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2882 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.


__________________________________________________



02.


__________________________________________________



03.


__________________________________________________



04.


__________________________________________________



05.


__________________________________________________



06.


__________________________________________________



07.


__________________________________________________



08.



__________________________________________________



09.


__________________________________________________



10.


__________________________________________________



11.


__________________________________________________



12.


__________________________________________________



13.









Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 061 secrets from Secret Submission Post #412.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[ketita]

Every genre has its shtick, and regrettably, fantasy fell into its own. It's not that I mind the medieval elves etc. setting (hello Tolkien derivatives), but you're right that it gets uninteresting after a while.
I'm actually partial to modern worlds that also have magic, but a lot of urban fantasy is romance with vampires/werewolves/etc. which I'm not very interested in either. I think the true power of fantasy is the freedom in it, but sadly, not a lot of authors really strain their imagination, it seems.

But I can rec a few, if you're interested:

Nine Princes in Amber - Roger Zelazny. If you've never read Zelazny you definitely should. He writes very weird and out-there, and it's definitely not your standard fare. Amber is actually a series, which kind of gets more wtf as it progresses, so you might not want to read all of them. But I wish more authors took a page out of Zelazny's books.

Almost anything by Diana Wynne Jones - she creates whimsical, fun worlds, many of which aren't medieval, and put a bit of a different twist on the way magic interacts with society. I have never read a single thing by her which I disliked.

Dinotopia by James Gurney - admittedly, it's not exactly 'fantasy' in the traditional sense, because there's no magic, just sentient dinosaurs. The books are more made-up travelogues than plot, and spend a lot of time on cultural details (which makes sense, since Gurney is an artist for the National Geographic). But these are some of the most beautiful books I own.

The Discworld series by Terry Pratchett - do I even need to endorse this one? Everybody should have heard of these books and read them, or at least tried.

These are just some of the stuff I thought of off the top of my head. I'm a big fantasy reader, so I can try to come up with more interesting titles if anybody's interested.
(I will hope other people post recs!)

[ketita]

Oh wait lemme add.

Transformation by Carol Berg (but the sequels can be skipped). A nice thing about that book is that it's more Middle-Eastern based fantasy than European, which is already a nice cultural change.

The Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer - it's YA, and features a world with extremely technological fairies who are at odds with humanity, starring a genius bratty human kid. The first books especially are great fun.

[othellia]

Ooh, Artemis Fowl! I completely forgot about them! Definitely seconding them.

Also, other than the annoying retcon in the first chapter, the sixth book just as amazing as the first couple.

[ketita]

The later books aren't bad, but I personally found myself a bit frustrated by the lack of... continuity? Emotional development? I don't even know how to define it, really, but I felt like the concept was a bit stagnant. And it's a shame, because I adored the hell out of them, and thought the series had the potential to be really stellar.

[othellia]

Yeah, he seemed to be set on keeping Holly and Artemis on permanent will they/won't they mode, Opal as the even number book villain, etc.

I actually rather liked Minerva (unlike the rest of fandom, it seems), so I was bummed that she essentially got put on a bus for the remainder of the series.

[ketita]

I actually liked Minerva too. There were several characters that never showed up again that I was disappointed about.
You're making me want to reread XD I never actually finished the series, because of the mixed reviews; I didn't want to disappoint myself, and I was a bit underwhelmed by The Time Paradox. Is it worth reading the last two?

[(Anonymous)]

I found The Atlantis Complex very disappointing, but REALLY enjoyed The Last Guardian.

[(Anonymous)]

If you like urban fantasy and humor you should definitely check out The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher (not the TV show though, I heard it wasn't very good).

[ketita]

I've actually read a bunch of them!
I enjoyed them, but didn't quite fall in love. There was something a bit too... obvious about the setting? I don't really know how to explain it.
Normally I like urban fantasy that's a bit more the style of say, China Mieville.

[th0rns_n_r0ses]

I really liked the show, it's fun. Is is as good as the books? No. But as long as you keep the idea in mind that it's loosely based on the books, it's good. And Terrance Mann kills it as Bob.

[(Anonymous)]

I like the TV show more than the books, both because I'm not a fan of Butcher's writing style and because book!Harry is too dickish for me to care about him. (I'm not entirely opposed to unsympathetic MCs, but I can only enjoy reading about them when the writing is superb.) I love the TV versions of Bob and Morgan, too.

[(Anonymous)]

I wanted to like the Dresden Files, but the prose was just so bad. Butcher does not understand about "show, don't tell". I've been told his writing gets better after a few books, but I couldn't get through more than a book and a half.

I've been tempted to watch the TV show just to get the story and avoid the prose :P

[frith_in_thorns]

I'm actually partial to modern worlds that also have magic, but a lot of urban fantasy is romance with vampires/werewolves/etc. which I'm not very interested in either.

Have you tried Seanan McGuire's books? She has two urban fantasy series, InCryptid (about mythical creatures living in the modern-day US) and October Daye (Fae in San Francisco). The October ones are some of my favourite books, mainly because she's got the knack of filling her books with absolutely wonderful characters. (Caveat: the first one, Rosemary and Rue, was her first novel ever, so it's definitely the least well written of them. But it does mean that the quality of her books goes up and up!)

[ketita]

I haven't, actually, but I will take a look :) I am a sucker for good characterization.
I'll admit that now that I think of it, part of my issue with urban fantasy may be that I'm a bit tired of reading about the US and London...

[(Anonymous)]

Have you read Dinotopia Lost by Alan Dean Foster? I'm not sure if I ever read the main Dinotopia books, but I remember reading younger YA spinoffs, I think.

Omg ADF wrote a sequel to his book.

[(Anonymous)]

OMG DINOTOPIA.

I wouldn't have thought of reccing it as fantasy - but you're absolutely right. It's got worldbuilding, it's got some magicky stuff hidden in there amongst the almost steampunk technology.

This was actually a really big influence on me - the way it's so detailed and takes such a realistic, almost historical look at things. And the beautiful illustrations. Very reminiscent of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells.

[ketita]

Dinotopia is pretty amazing. I got those books when I was a wee kid obsessed with dinosaurs, almost before I could read. I've reread them probably hundreds of times, and then recently I found out there was a third (Journey to Chandara) and rushed to get that one too. Admittedly it was a bit less good (my favorite is The World Beneath), but still awesome.
It's a shame the TV show they made on it was so lousy.