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Re: Books

You're kind of stuck with the books made for kids there Princess. It'll be hard to find a fantasy novel, or even a novel period for that matter, that has no stakes, since no stakes means no dramatic tension, and plot armor nerfs dramatic tension pretty heavily. What you have described as not liking is not really described by the word "dark," it's really one of the basic and essential elements of storytelling - conflict. You'll probably struggle to find a story without some sort of conflict period, and finding one that is both without an essential part of any story that is also somehow actually good is most likely going to be impossible.

You could try mystery or romance novels set in a fantasy setting, but the former tend to be actually dark as opposed to the regular fantasy sort of "dark," while the latter tend to be pretty bad overall. Besides them, the only place you're likely going to find elves sitting by a fire for more than a brief scene would likely be in lemons on the internet. Political fantasy in which the characters don't do much actual fighting themselves tends to follow after Game of Thrones, even in the older stuff, so you won't find much refuge in that.... And good luck looking for an adventure story in which ye characters are never in danger that isn't also utter shit.
 
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I've been rereading yon Tamora Pierce books lately. I'm doing the Circle series now, since a new book for it comes out later this month - I've got the first quartet down, and now I've just gotta work through the second, where the group's split apart and gone off to travel and do stuff with their teachers. I think then comes the new book, and then The Will of the Empress, where they all come back together and stuff.

I'd forgotten a lot of shit in these things, mang - like Flick in Briar's book. <_>

I really love how they do magic in these books. :x
 
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Maybe I am not explaining myself clearly. I'm not looking for a book that has NO CONFLICT WHATSOEVER, like all sunshine and daisies (but I do like that).

I'm looking for a good story that doesn't resort to killing off characters all the time and/or throwing them into a vat of fucking horse piss, put them in a torture rack or cut off their ears for fun. Because honestly like 90% of the fantasy stories I've read do that and I'm tired of it. You can have a good story with conflict, adventure, and all that without doing all that disgusting shit. Maybe I'll just have to write it myself...
 
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It's a little stupid and absurd, but I think Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies would fill that role.
 
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Would Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Slayer fit that category then too? ;)
 
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That one can get pretty graphic, especially considering what set Abe off to start the whole thing. Probably not for Princess.
 
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IDK, I've never read it. Just knew that my sister liked it a lot. Which to be fair, she's the most violent person I know, so.... maybe not the best link...
 
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Don't get me wrong, I think it's an entertaining book, and I'd recommend that as well as Unholy Knight to just about anyone. They're just not in touch with what Princess is looking for.

(I really don't like using that nick, but Ranger Princess is too long, ranger is a user, and RP just confuses me. Ranger P, maybe?)
 
Re: Books

Cuddlebuddy suggests the 500 Kingdoms series by Mercedes Lackey, Written in Red, but Anne Bishop, which has a lot of side characters and no body count on the good guy's side, Ironskin, which is Victorian fantasy mixed with mystery and a dash of Jane Eyre. And if you want more contemporary, actiony fantasy, there's Rob Thurman's Cal Leandros series, beginning with Nightlife. There's some hairy moments, but you don't have to worry about the side characters, and if it's one thing my CB does, it's latch on to the side characters and *bitch* when they don't get enough screen time because they are just as awesome, if not moreso, than the main characters.

From me, the Dragonriders of Pern series (although avoid the novels of early Pern. Dragonsdawn can get kind of dark.) and while, in Dragonquest there's a rather scary moment, it gets better. Or, if you want to keep things fairly light, go with the Harpers of Pern series (Dragonsinger, Dragonsong, Dragondrums), which is a little more teen oriented and less harrowing. I will say, though, these are a little more scifi, despite the presence of the dragons, however, Pern is a very low-tech world, so it's kind of feudal.

I'll skim my shelves a little bit later to see if there's anything else I can recommend. And by God, if you hate characters dying and you read the Shannara series, how the *hell* did you get through Elfqueen?
 
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Delicious klah.



I remember reading yon Mercedes Lackey books in like, Middle School - the Dargon Ridey ones - and only recently was made aware that people on the intertubes bitch about her as an author or something.

I think a year or two ago I nabbed another of her books wherein crippled babies get put in metal lifesupport balls and learn to be spaceships and stuff. That was kinda neato.
 
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That's not Mercedes Lackey, dear. That's Anne McCaffrey. And you're thinking of the "Ship Who" series, which, when you think about it, is rather inspirational, as these women, who basically have these debilitated bodies, take control of and run SPACESHIPS instead of letting their handicaps get the better of them. I recommend the first one, The Ship Who Sang, but the first story is positively gut-wrenching but the other ones show how clever and resourceful Helva is, despite her physical limitations.
 
Re: Books

Ranger Princess said:
Maybe I am not explaining myself clearly. I'm not looking for a book that has NO CONFLICT WHATSOEVER, like all sunshine and daisies (but I do like that).

I'm looking for a good story that doesn't resort to killing off characters all the time and/or throwing them into a vat of fucking horse piss, put them in a torture rack or cut off their ears for fun. Because honestly like 90% of the fantasy stories I've read do that and I'm tired of it. You can have a good story with conflict, adventure, and all that without doing all that disgusting shit. Maybe I'll just have to write it myself...
Click to expand...

I don't recall characters being dropped in horse piss in any of the books that I've read, and I've read plenty of them. I also haven't read much in the way of graphic torture in fantasy novels either. This leads me to question what sort of books you're reading. As for killing characters, see the issue with plot armor. No risk = no drama = boring as fuck story. Being told that none of the characters will die in the book is the sort of spoiler that usually leads me to put a book down and not pick it back up, but if you're really into that I guess Mercedes Lackley has some good stuff. I've only read the Obsidian Trilogy, but that only had one important character death that I recall and they got better within a chapter.
 
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I don't think it was really character death she was having an issue with. It's just the whole "shock value" some authors go for. Really though, I agree that it's just a sign of lack of creativity, and authors trying to one up each other. Sure, some do it well, like in Game of Thrones, but the majority of authors aren't that talented and just come off as lame and doing it to be dark and edgy for dark and edgy's sake. There's nothing wrong with it, but it's a lot like what I say about the Saw series. Gore and such has it's place, but it's no substitute for a good plot.
 
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Small example, though sci-fi: The Honor Harrington series. Death is such a cop out. I like the route taken here, involving losing a limb and eye. (And of course badass prosthetic), after roughly a whole book spent in an enemy prison. Much more interesting than just offing the character.
 
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Ohwait, fuck, that's right. <______________>

Apparently the one I got was PartnerShip, also. Went and looked it up. :x


So... fuck. I know I knew Mercedes Lackey's name from way back when, but I'm not sure where from now. Dammit.
 
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Thanks for the suggestions so far everyone. Some of these look really interesting.

@Elfqueen - I've not actually read the original Shanarra books (and I think I might not now!) I just started reading the Dark Legacy of Shanarra trilogy recently because my dad got the first book, "Wards of Faerie" for me for Christmas. I really liked it, and I decided to get the second and third books that just came out this year... though I'm a little nervous about them getting a lot darker than the first book, especially after reading the reviews. I can't help it though because I'm already too attached to the main character.

@Bitching about characters - LOL! I'm the same way, haha. I'm always complaining when certain characters don't get enough face time. Some of them are even more valuable than the main. ;) :D

@Nicknames: Well hmph. I prefer Ranger because I had it first (just check the dates!), and it was also the nick I used in Rachel Chat when I first joined ULMF. Over the years, some people have called me Rangie/Rangey or Range, so those also work. Sometimes I ponder changing my username to something else, but I dunno.
 
Re: Books

You may not want to read on then. I've only read the first three Shannara books, but a main character who got a lot of screen time died in every single one of them. They were usually the best moments in those books by my reckoning, but you probably wouldn't like them. Granted, the newer ones might be completely different, so iunno.
 
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Yeah, a lot of the major plot points in the Shanarra books can be a huge sock in the gut. I read up to...just before Talismans before I put the series aside. There's a few moments that stick out in the series for me that didn't have me going "No, no no no no!" and nearly throwing the book but definitely few and far between. They're good, don't get me wrong, but they can be horribly depressing, too.

Still haven't been downstairs to check my shelves *laughs* If you're looking for some really light reading with a heavy (and I mean *heavy*) dose of humor, check out Robert Aspirin's Myth series (First book is "Another Fine Myth" and it just goes downhill from there...). The puns are plentiful, the characters colorful (especially the trollop with the green hair), and the plots fantastical, from a quest for revenge to stopping a war to a high stakes poker game, we have trolls, dragons, demons, gargoyles, wizards, assassins, and mobsters (including a faerie godfather.) Hopefully you'll get a giggle out of them.
 
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Mercedes Lackey's "Gwenhwyfar" was a nice take on Arthurian legend... specifically focusing on the Queen Gwenhwyfar.

Early R.A. Salvatore is pretty fun romps in the Forgotten Realms, long before he tried to go dark and edgy in his recent trilogies.

A Companion to Wolves by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear is a nice fantasy story that doesn't go in depth into the darker aspects of the world, or at least so I found. Norse based, about warriors who bond with wolves to protect mankind against rampaging trolls. There's some gay sex, some adventures through icy mountains and lush forests. Good times. People do die, but not in explicit gruesome detail.
 
Re: Books

Decided to poke around on Companion to Wolves, Sin, and found some mixed reviews on Amazon. I'm curious as to your take on how they handle the violence and the sex (since the main reviews I've seen have been one way or the other.) If you want to PM me to not spoil things for Ranger (or anyone else) go ahead, or, well, toss it in a spoiler tag or something if you don't want to bother. Seems interesting enough, and one reviewer pegged what I was thinking when I read it (Pern with Wolves), so now I'm curious.
 
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