Why You Should Join Goodreads

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 2 Comments
Home page of the social media site Goodreads

Okay, so I’ll get it out there first off: I love Goodreads. I am a Goodreads fangirl. Excepting perhaps Facebook, Goodreads is my favourite social media network. Like so many book-related things these days, it is owned by Amazon (sigh)… but I overlook that because it has instigated such a positive change in my reading life and behaviour.

If you’ve never tried it, and one (or all) of the below statements applies to you, there’s a good chance you’d enjoy using it too: Continue reading →

Why the World is Never Round in Fantasyland

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 4 Comments
“Welcome to the Discworld” photo by Stephen Topp via Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0

I’ve just returned from a round-the-world trip, and all that globe-encircling got me to thinking about the shape of worlds in epic fantasy novels. This isn’t the first time I’ve noticed it, but there’s a rather bizarre and archaic trait almost all fantasy worlds have in common: Continue reading →

17 Common Fantasy Sub-Genres

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 74 Comments

The fantasy genre is rich with a myriad of sub-genres, and each has its own conventions and trends. With the different terms floating around out there it can be easy to confuse or overlook key sub-genres. Finding a succinct list of the most notable ones – particularly a list with definitions and examples – is not always straightforward. So I thought I’d put my reading and researching to use and assemble one. Continue reading →

What is Fantasy Fiction?

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 5 Comments
Photo by Willis (CC BY 2.0)

If you read a lot in the genre, recognising a book or film as “fantasy fiction” is probably something innate and automatic. However, if you’re not familiar with it, or if you’ve wondered where the lines are drawn, a definition might help to clarify things.

But how do you define something as slippery and changeable as a genre? Continue reading →

How Many Pages Do You Read Before Giving Up On a Book?

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 19 Comments
Photo by Julian Ortiz via Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Anyone who reads regularly will be familiar with that feeling of struggling through the first pages or chapters of a book, pushing on because you’re waiting to see if it will get interesting. At some point the book either gets better and grabs your interest, or it doesn’t. If it doesn’t, you have two options:

1) force yourself to read a whole book you’re not enjoying, or
2) give up and start a different book.

Believe it or not, when I was younger I always selected option 1. Continue reading →

Growing up with Harry: What It Was like to Be a Teen During the Potter Craze

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 12 Comments
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone 1998 Adult Edition Cover. Photo by Nicola Alter (CC BY SA 4.0)

When I was 12 years old, my godfather gifted me a book. It looked terribly uninteresting. The title – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – evoked memories of Oliver Twist, a story I had never much liked. The cover – a black and white photo of a steam train – looked even drearier. I imagined it would be an autobiography of a poor English boy living near train tracks, or on a train. Boring.

Despite my godfather’s assurances it was “becoming quite popular in Europe” and that his children had liked it, I resolved not to read it. Continue reading →

Fantasy and Optimism: What’s the Use of a Happy Ending?

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 3 Comments
Photo by Nicola Alter (CC BY SA 4.0)

For me, happy endings have always been one of the biggest draw cards of fantasy fiction. However, I didn’t really place any significance on them till I was listening to a TED talk about gaming.

In this TED talk, game designer and researcher Jane McGonigal discusses the countless hours that are invested by humanity worldwide in playing video games every week.  Continue reading →

Are The Most Popular Fantasy Books The Best Fantasy Books?

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 6 Comments

Image: Popular Fantasy Novels

A month or so ago while trawling through Facebook I came across a Buzzfeed article titled The 51 Best Fantasy Series Ever Written. The image, for maximum click-enticing effect, was additionally headlined “The 51 Fantasy Series You Need to Read Before You Die”.

And yes, like the lemming I am, I clicked on it. Continue reading →

How Much Plausibility Would You Like With That?

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 10 Comments
Photo by NASA via Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0

I recently saw The Martian at the cinema, after having thoroughly enjoyed the book. For me, the film didn’t disappoint, and afterwards I was eager to discuss it with friends. And of course, amidst the discussions of what was and wasn’t the same as in the book, and what we liked and didn’t like, came a topic that always arises when discussing a science fiction book or film these days: plausibility.  Continue reading →

5 Ways Weddings Are Used in Fantasy Novels

/ Nicola | Thoughts on Fantasy / 6 Comments
Photo by Joel Bedford (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

So I’ve been a bit quiet on the blog front for a few months, namely because I got married and moved countries. Needless to say, both endeavours took up a decent amount of my time, so I’m going to shamelessly use them as my excuse!

All that wedding planning, however, inspired me to start up again with a wedding-themed post: how are nuptials usually handled in fantasy novels? Continue reading →