Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.
Original title: Top Ten Things That When They Are Even HINTED At In A Book Will Mean Amy Want's To Read It Right Now (but that title was too long).
Found Families/Family Of Choice
I am a huge fan of dissimilar people banding together and forming a bond that surpasses genetics. (AKA: Merry Band of Misfits!)
Diversity That Isn't Issues
I love diversity in my books, I love it when it crops up and is handled well and makes me sigh in contentment that diversity is getting out there in books. However, I'm not a fan of 'issues' books. I know they're important and I'm glad we've got them - but, truly, they're not what I want to read. I love the books that have characters that are racially or sexually diverse, that are disabled or anything else that could rightfully fit under the heading of 'diverse' and that's only another facet of who they are instead of defining them. And the book.
Fairytale Retelling
There's just something so fun knowing the framework of the story and picking up on the little things that reference back to the fairytale but then getting to watch as an author makes the story their own.
Not Typically 'Strong' Women
I have never liked the archetype of the strong woman that has to prove she's one of the guys and has no emotions until that one breakdown so the love interest can realize that she's human too. (Or, I might be mixing archetypes. Whatever. I dislike them both.) What I do like though is when the strong woman/girl can be strong without falling into the 'hates girly things, strong fighter, emotionless' pitfall. Let her like pretty things, maybe even clothes. Let her get along with other girls without thinking they're frivolous. Let her like cooking. Let her be smart but pretty much useless in a fight. But, through it all, let her be a force to be reckoned with - even if it's in a quiet way.
Villain Confusion
I could go two ways with this. The first being the villain is the person confused. I do love a good conflicted villain. But, what is even better, is if as the reader I'm confused as to who the villain is. I love those books that can introduce a character and make me go 'bad guy!' and then gradually begin to realize that they're not so bad. Or vise versa is awesome to, where it's only late in the story that I realize that the hero's been the villain (or totally off their rocker) all along.
Airship Pirates
There's a song:
Nuf said right there.
Talking Dragons
While just having dragons is awesome as it is, I love it when the dragon/s form part of the group of companions. Like dragon riders, or simply (though I suppose there's nothing simple about it) a dragon that can shapeshift.
Complication in my Fantasy
I don't really know how to describe this, just that's it's a thing. Like when a fantasy books alludes to things not going well for the characters and things getting messed up, especially if they kind of brought it on themselves through poor decision making. And the narrative knowing they made a bad choice and the character eventually realizing it too.
Magic
I think the whole 'magic in a fantasy story' is kind of done. Now so many fantasy books are going a different way with more 'realism' (whatever that means in this situation) and I kind of miss the magic in my books. I like all forms of magic (though I do lean a little towards necromancers) and I want to read books where magic is celebrated and books where magic is persecuted. So, yeah, I definitely look for magic in my fantasy books.
Don't go back and count because that's only nine but I really couldn't come up with a tenth. Not one that I'd feel as strongly about as these. So, have you read any books with these things in them?
Original title: Top Ten Things That When They Are Even HINTED At In A Book Will Mean Amy Want's To Read It Right Now (but that title was too long).
Found Families/Family Of Choice
I am a huge fan of dissimilar people banding together and forming a bond that surpasses genetics. (AKA: Merry Band of Misfits!)
Diversity That Isn't Issues
I love diversity in my books, I love it when it crops up and is handled well and makes me sigh in contentment that diversity is getting out there in books. However, I'm not a fan of 'issues' books. I know they're important and I'm glad we've got them - but, truly, they're not what I want to read. I love the books that have characters that are racially or sexually diverse, that are disabled or anything else that could rightfully fit under the heading of 'diverse' and that's only another facet of who they are instead of defining them. And the book.
Fairytale Retelling
There's just something so fun knowing the framework of the story and picking up on the little things that reference back to the fairytale but then getting to watch as an author makes the story their own.
Not Typically 'Strong' Women
I have never liked the archetype of the strong woman that has to prove she's one of the guys and has no emotions until that one breakdown so the love interest can realize that she's human too. (Or, I might be mixing archetypes. Whatever. I dislike them both.) What I do like though is when the strong woman/girl can be strong without falling into the 'hates girly things, strong fighter, emotionless' pitfall. Let her like pretty things, maybe even clothes. Let her get along with other girls without thinking they're frivolous. Let her like cooking. Let her be smart but pretty much useless in a fight. But, through it all, let her be a force to be reckoned with - even if it's in a quiet way.
Villain Confusion
I could go two ways with this. The first being the villain is the person confused. I do love a good conflicted villain. But, what is even better, is if as the reader I'm confused as to who the villain is. I love those books that can introduce a character and make me go 'bad guy!' and then gradually begin to realize that they're not so bad. Or vise versa is awesome to, where it's only late in the story that I realize that the hero's been the villain (or totally off their rocker) all along.
Airship Pirates
There's a song:
Nuf said right there.
Talking Dragons
While just having dragons is awesome as it is, I love it when the dragon/s form part of the group of companions. Like dragon riders, or simply (though I suppose there's nothing simple about it) a dragon that can shapeshift.
Complication in my Fantasy
I don't really know how to describe this, just that's it's a thing. Like when a fantasy books alludes to things not going well for the characters and things getting messed up, especially if they kind of brought it on themselves through poor decision making. And the narrative knowing they made a bad choice and the character eventually realizing it too.
Magic
I think the whole 'magic in a fantasy story' is kind of done. Now so many fantasy books are going a different way with more 'realism' (whatever that means in this situation) and I kind of miss the magic in my books. I like all forms of magic (though I do lean a little towards necromancers) and I want to read books where magic is celebrated and books where magic is persecuted. So, yeah, I definitely look for magic in my fantasy books.
Don't go back and count because that's only nine but I really couldn't come up with a tenth. Not one that I'd feel as strongly about as these. So, have you read any books with these things in them?
