No, we’re not talking today about the little corndog shaped creatures from Despicable Me. Or, more accurately perhaps, it’s not all that we’re talking about today. When it comes to combat, there are two options for making the protagonist struggle: conflict of wit or conflict of number. That is to say, outsmarted versus outmatched. Is … More Let’s Talk Tropes: Minions
Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle was one of those formative fantasy series that really began my obsession for the genre. I remember seeing that blue dragon on the cover way back in middle school, and it drew me in the same way that the bow and arrow drew me in for Kristin Cashore’s work. Like Cashore’s … More Book Review: To Sleep in a Sea of Stars
As we get closer and closer to the beginning of a new year, it’s time I take a consolidated look at all the bookish things I’m looking forward to in 2021. Over the past month, I’ve been adding books to my TBR list. Some of them aren’t released until next year, and others are ones … More Setting My 2021 Reading Goals
In a genre that likes to play with monarchy, it’s no surprise that several fantasy stories have a big toolbox when it comes to throne-related tropes. For a genre, too, that frequently attempts to set its protagonist apart from everyone else, transforming them from something “common” to something “special,” it is perhaps also unsurprising that … More Let’s Talk Tropes: The Lost Heir
You know, with a name so common and short as “Katie,” I really did trick myself into thinking this was going to be an easy one, but nope! My bookshelf is still waiting to be filled out, at least with physical books. Most of the books I’ve read throughout my bookish career, I borrowed from … More The Name Game Book Tag
Welcome to what I hope will be the first of a series of posts focused on tropes common in the fantasy genre. So if you enjoy the post, be sure to leave a like, and while you’re there, feel free to recommend what other tropes you think I should discuss. First, a definition is in … More Let’s Talk Tropes: The Chosen One
Although magic is not a requirement for fantasy settings, they are a staple of the genre. When it comes to how new and unique a novel’s magic system is, well, they can be just as varied as fantasy as a genre. Yet there are a few categories that most magic systems either fall into or … More Five Types of Magic Systems
First lines are difficult no matter the genre, and although fantasy allows for a wider range of topics to start off the book, the variety of choices can make it harder to pick which one is best. I’ve taken some of the fantasy books off of my shelf, a mix of urban fantasy, YA fantasy, … More The Craft of Bookish First Lines
There exists in fantasy a trope that doesn’t quite feel like a trope until it comes to your attention that it appears quite frequently. It is the adventurer’s best friend and most subtle deus ex machina. It is, in essence, the “ancient language” trope, in which there exists two languages in a fantasy setting: the … More A Matter of Language and Culture
