#Fantasy Genre Trends

[joncronshawauthor]

Heroic Journeys in Modern Fantasy: The Rise of Flawed Protagonists

Once upon a time, in the kingdom of modern fantasy literature, a new kind of hero began to emerge. Gone are the days when heroes were as spotless as a knight’s freshly polished armour. Today’s fantasy protagonists are more akin to a warrior who’s been through a few too many battles and perhaps one too many visits to the mead hall. They’re flawed, complex, and as perfectly imperfect as a spell…

[featherymalignancy]

Okay like if you agree, but….

here are 3 trends that I wish the fantasy genre would take a break from for a little while.

*Quick disclosure, this isn’t meant to feel overly negative, I mostly want to hear other people’s opinions on these trends and others!*

Hungry Games-esque “a competition with deadly stakes” plot lines. On the one hand, I get it, because like the rest of the world, I was totally enthralled by this premise when it was first introduced in the 2000 Japanese film Battle Royale and later, the Hunger Games. However, at this point the idea of the main character entering into a deadly competition feels a little tired and predictable, and unlike Battle Royale and The Hunger Games, the many of the latest iterations lack the searing social commentary which made the premise so compelling. Notable Examples: Serpent and the Wings of Night, Lightlark, The Jasad Heir

Motherfucking EPIGRAPHS. You know, that line or paragraph of text which proceeds every chapter. In the fantasy genre, often it is an except from a historical or religious text from the world in which the book is set. And here’s the thing—it’s not that I hate epigraphs, or that I don’t understand their purpose. They can be an elegant way to add context to the story without burdening the main narrative with too much exposition, and they can also help the created world to feel more “lived in”. Having said that, I feel like they are starting to get way overused, and for me, they’ve gone from feeling like a cool way for the author to provide context and add meta commentary to their story to serving as a slightly less clunky vehicle of info-dumping. Like…am I supposed to be remembering the characters of this lore which I only ever hear about through these epigraphs, because I can assure you, I am not. In other instances, they can feel like an authors lack of faith in the reader, as if they are afraid we might miss the point if they don’t include an unsubtle cue as to where we ought to focus our attention at the start of every chapter. I respect the role epigraphs have played in fantasy classics like Dune and Wheel of Time, but I currently feel the number of novels employing them has become fatiguing, and I hope the trend of including them decreases, at least in the short-term. Notable examples: Fourth Wing (Empyrean Series, Swordcatcher, Furyborn (Empirium series)

A [Blank] of [Blank] and [Blank] Not much to say here other than…when are romantasy authors going to let this go?? 😮‍💨😮‍💨 While you could argue the true genesis of this title naming convention could be GRRM’s A Song of Ice of Fire, I think we can all agree that—for better or worse—it was the popularity of ACOTAR that sent this title style into the stratosphere, and at this point, it has become ubiquitous to the point of literal disorientation. To me there is nothing inherently wrong with this title style (though I would also argue there is nothing particularly gripping about it, at least not enough to warrant a trend of this size) but it basically renders all of these books—which are already of a similar vibe and style—virtually indistinguishable. As a reader on the hunt for new books to scratch that romantasy itch, it’s nearly impossible to tell the dozens of titles bearing this title apart, which means I have no sense which which ones I’ve read, which I haven’t, which caught my interest, which I started and didn’t care for, etc. I have idea how much of this is a consequence of publishers trying to capitalize on a known entity in order to make the most money and how much is just the fact that naming a book is really fucking hard, but good lord, what is it gonna take to stop this madness? Notable examples: quite literally too many to name

What do yall think? Do you agree, disagree? What are some fantasy trends you’d like to see go away/make a comeback

[metanarrates]

would you say shoujo boys are a Character Type in a distinct manner from the way shounen girls are?

oh, absolutely. while of course the overall character trends present in both genres can be very broad and leave room for a lot of variation, much like how the archetypal shonen girl is defined by her potential romantic relation to the protagonist, the archetypal shoujo boy is perhaps even more so. this is because while shonen absolutely includes romance as a component of its frequently-escapist storytelling, shoujo almost ALWAYS includes romance as a main focus.

(disclaimer that I'm talking very very broadly with trends I've seen in the genres, and not about specific individual works. there's a lot of shoujo with mainstream popularity that deals with telling different types of stories, and the same is true for shonen. it's just also true that it's been very rare for me to encounter a shoujo work that isn't romantically focused, and I spend a LOT of time scrolling manga sites to find shoujo when I want to read something chill.)

for the shoujo boy, the specific archetypes he's drawing off of tend to be what's currently in fashion at the moment, but the common denominators tend to be that he is older, usually more "worldly" than the protagonist, and possesses great social, political, or magical power. if he's in a fantasy story, he is either a duke or a prince. if he's in a more modern story, he is likely considered to be at the top of a social hierarchy. you'll notice that all these factors translate to him being more powerful than the protagonist. this is for a very specific reason! a critical component of shoujo romance stories is that the hero almost always needs to be capable of protecting the heroine in some way.

you could make an ENTIRE gender studies course on this, but I won't digress into that very interesting tangent. here, I'm just attempting to identify the common archetype and the fantasy underpinning that archetype. for now, it's enough to say that the fantasy of having a boyfriend who can protect you is nearly universally shown in shoujo romances. these tropes are usually true of both main male leads and any secondary love interest that the protagonist picks up, btw.

another critical component of the archetype is that the shoujo boy has a wound that only the female protagonist can heal. whether that's physical (guy undergoing a magical transformation into something, guy with rare magical disease, etc) or emotional (usually the guy's got some trauma,) there is almost always something uniquely healing about the protagonist that draws him to her. if he's a womanizer, she can make him faithful to only her. if he's brooding, she possesses the ability to make him smile. he is always thinking about her. it's difficult for him to take his eyes off her when they're in a room together. and if he isn't someone who is usually gentle to others, somehow he is capable of being gentle to the protagonist.

honestly, i would say his actual personality is way less important than his story utility. whether he's a sweet childhood friend, an overbearing romantic pursuer, a brooding loner, or anything else, it's almost always true that a major male character will present some traits of an idealized male love interest as mentioned above. his personality traits outside of that will just appeal to varying and more specific types of fantasy boyfriend.

the shonen girl, by contrast, often requires a very specific personality type to be the object of desire (and usually the object of plot) in her story. while there are exceptions, the most common shonen girl archetype that I've seen is just kind of generically feminine and sweet. if she fights, she often loses. if she tries to be active, her attempts at agency will end with her being damselled. think kairi from kingdom hearts or orihime from bleach.

on that note, that's also a major point of divergence between the two archetypes. while the shonen girl frequently exists as a plot macguffin and object of desire, the shoujo boy is very frequently a driver of plot. whether he's swooping in to save the protagonist from an evil dragon, fighting the protagonist in an academic rivalry, or the protagonist's arranged-marriage husband with a big secret, he usually moves the plot forward with his actions. though the honor of main plot driver either goes to the protagonist herself or to outside forces such as a villain, every major male lead in a shoujo story will contribute to the plot momentum in some way. again, you could write a gender studies thesis on this.

but that's my broad analysis of trends! I'll note that the bulk of both shoujo AND shonen I've read are almost always fantasy, so my perspective of big trends might be a little skewed to those genres. I'm not too sure what usually goes on in shoujo with contemporary settings, for example. feel free to add on with any thoughts of your own, especially if you think I'm off base about something!

[qqchurch]

the psychic damage i get over people calling series that are decidedly not isekai, "isekai"...

[mysticdragon3md3]

Fantasy trends we need to GET RID OF #dejatwo #dnd #fantasy #medieval #d...

[sleepless-crows]

does anyone have any book recommendations? please share

[antisisyphus]

also like. any issues u have w ya can be levied against publishing writ large

[area51-escapee]

Going to research cozy horror as a post got me thinking but I didn’t want to bother the op with my tag ramble

[fastepp]

i need YA to be better written and I need full grown adults to stop recommending me YA. these two things are related.

[asordidbarwere]

I DON'T care about termina♡

[cruelsister-moved2]

12 and 3 for the book asks!

12:Any books that disappointed you? Yeah 😭 like this book daughter of the moon goddess was marketed as like a mythological retelling and then it was just like the most generic magic school YA fantasy love triangle it was soooo bad thats like 8h of my live ill NEVER get back..... also wasnt prepared for earthsea being really misogynistic. scream. also honestly the prose of basically every new release I've read has been disappointing to me sorry to be a hater

3: What were your top five books of the year? ngl most of my top books this year were nonfiction, but i really liked she who became the sun by shelley parker-chan like its not a perfect book but it was enjoyable and exciting the way it depicts gender. and human acts by han kang was really good. everything else i liked was like short story collections and nonfiction ngl. wait i mean i enjoyed reading (the first 3 books of) earthsea but the misogyny literally left such a bad taste in my mouth 😭 i know she addressed it later etc etc but it just blindsided me bc i didn’t expect it also in the first book when ged’s little creature thing died i literally almost DNFed

[vestestafantasy]

Exploring The Evolution of Sword and Sorcery Genre

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[midshipmank]

one day i will find them….the mythical 5-star lesbian fantasy and 5-star gay scifi……

[techdriveplay]

The Most Anticipated Action Games of 2024

As we leap into 2024, the gaming community is buzzing with excitement for the plethora of action-packed titles set to grace our screens. Following a year that set an incredibly high bar for video game releases, 2024 is shaping up to continue this trend, promising a diverse range of games that cater to every type of action enthusiast. From heart-pounding adventures to strategy-driven battles, the…

[howdoesone]

How does one evaluate the influence of historical events or cultural trends on science fiction or fantasy literature?

Science fiction and fantasy literature is often reflective of the society in which it is created. As such, these genres are heavily influenced by historical events and cultural trends. Writers often use science fiction and fantasy as a vehicle to explore social, political, and cultural issues. Understanding the influence of historical events and cultural trends on science fiction and fantasy…

[cyallowitz]

What is an Isekai?

What is an Isekai?

Google Image Search The graphic pretty much does the job.  Isekai is the term used when we’re talking about anime and manga.  Yet, this isn’t exclusive to those genres.  In fact, the concept of a person from one world being transported to another is fairly common.  We usually call them by their general genre, but the following would be Isekai: Tron (Science Fiction) Jumanji (Action…