so it's no secret that fantasy is one of the genres most infiltrated by "woke" or whatever you want to call it. can we get recommendations for recent fantasy books that are both un-pozzed and actually good?
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Larry Correa’s stuff is pretty good, he’s definitely not woke. There was some movement in fiction recently called Sad Puppies or something like that, it was a pushback against most of the recent fantasy and sci-fi shit being so faggy and pozzed, might be some good authors there.
I actually learned about him because he spoke out about the kinds of books that were winning awards.
I haven't read him, but Brandon Sanderson is a mormon. I doubt he's woke. He writes a shit ton.
I've read some of his stuff years ago. The mistborn books. Pretty decent. Puts a lot of effort into making the fantasy magic systems consistent, even managed to leverage it into a fairly coherent plot twist.
No overt wokeness, although technically there is a spunky young girl who briefly reigns as one of the most powerful people in the first book. Which feels like gateway stuff nowadays, but didn't at the time.
You know that wouldn’t be so bad if it was every now and then but that girl power trope has become so annoying since it’s in everything. So many modern shows run with the girl genius who knows everything theme.
Is Mistborn the best Brandon Sanderson series to start with? Are they all interconnected?
Mistborn is a great entry into his works. Good fun and well written with good characters.
Elantris is currently a one off and one of his first books. As such, the writing isn't as good as his other books but it's enjoyable and different.
The Stormlight Archives series is phenomenal but the hardest to start with. There's so much going on it takes a bit to grasp it all. I'd read mistborn first.
Get the audio books if you can. The VAs (2 for Stormlight Archives) are excellent.
Cool! Thanks.
Thanks! I thought he did a good job finishing WOT
Yeah, didn't want to spoil too much about her but, she's no Mary Sue. By the end of the first book she's looking pretty glowing, but thankfully it doesn't turn into an ever growing "now she's even more awesome" series.
I loved the first three mistborn books, have to say Vin is far from being a Mary Sue, didn't get on with the other books though the steampunky ones, just not my cup of tea
I found sanderson ungodly boring
(Urban/Harem) Fantasy/Super Hero/Cultivation/Science Fiction
Beware of Chicken (C)
Mother of Learning (F)
13th Paladin (F)
An Outcast in Another World Series (F)
Paranoid Mage (UF)
Tough Guy (SH)
Buryoku (C)
The Primal Hunter (C)
Arcane Casebook (UF)
Cradle Series (C)
Project Nemesis Series by Jeremy Robinson (UF)
The Spellmonger Series (F)
Backyard Dungeon (HF)
Solo Leveling (C)
The Ten Realms (C)
Emerilia Series (F)
Daniel Black (HF)
Crucible Series (UF)
Animus Series (SF)
Reality Benders (UF)
Defiance of the Fall (C)
The Last Reaper (SF)
He Who Fights with Monsters (C)[Has some woke parts]
The Magitech Chronicles (UF)
Dragon Heart Series (C)
Alex Roger Series (F)
Art of the Adept Series (F)
Mageborn Series (F)
Witchy World Series (UF)
Junkyard Pirate Series (SF)
The Valens Legacy (UHF)
The Bad Guys Series by Eric Ugland (F)
The Good Guys Series by Eric Ugland (F)
Myth Adventures by Robert Asprin (F)
Red Mage Series (F)
The Dresden Files (UF)
Monster Hunter International Series (UF)
Superhuman Series by Evan Currie (SH)
Vampire Files Series by P.N. Elrod (UF)
Super Powereds Series by Drew Hayes (SH)
Necroscope (UF)
Sentinels of Creation Series (UF)
Her Majesty's Wizard (F)
The Aegis of Merlin Series (UF)
Artemis Fowl Series (UF)
The Dao of Magic Series (C)
Jeremiah Hunt Chronicles (F)
The Temple Chronicles by Shayne Silvers (UF)
I’ve heard the books by Razorfist (who is heavily influenced by Pulps) and Shadversity are good. I plan on buying them but haven’t had a chance yet. But you make a good point just because something isn’t woke doesn’t make it good. I’m guilty of overhyping something simply for not being woke
>But you make a good point just because something isn’t woke doesn’t make it good. I’m guilty of overhyping something simply for not being woke
I'm actually going to claim the opposite - stuff that advertises itself as "anti-woke" tends to be on the range of mediocre to absolute garbage. I'm sure this post will be unpopular with people who see themselves as cheerleaders in a culture war, but the reality is that mixing politics and escapism is just inherently cringe.
Not gonna disagree because if you advertise as anti-woke then that still becomes your focus like someone who puts endless political stuff in their story like we see all the time now. I guess I meant ive watched something and was glad to not see the usual tropes but when I thought about it later I realized it wasn’t good
I agree that art probably shouldn't be explicitly anti-woke. Embedding political messaging in your work tends to age poorly and especially if it's a fictional world, is out of place.
There's nothing wrong with *advertising *that something isn't woke though.
If someone told me they were making a non-woke or anti-woke version of <Popular Thing> I'd be interested. But it still has to be good. You can't sell me on the political angle alone.
Shad writes boilerplate chosen one fic
There's very little. Even stuff that isn't crammed to the gills with prog messaging is usually steeped in boomer/cuck fagginess (e.g. ASoIF) or general wussbag heroes (Harry Twatter).
i.e. good luck finding anything as interesting as Piers Anthony or RA Heinlein.
I'll just shamelessly plug my own story about a guy who reincarnates as a dungeon
Damn I didn't know that. I'll have to check out this new release. I still name rpg characters after Kylar lol
There's lots of Western suggestions, but I've been reading Ascendance of a Bookworm. There's an anime that gives you the gist of the first few books, but the books are really the way to enjoy it. It's also complete if you can read Japanese.
It's definitely not woke, but good is subjective. I enjoy it, but others might not. At the very least it's considered good enough to get an anime adaptation.
I really hate fantasy compared to milsci (which is generally worse for that shit) . But one of the books I've read that gave off a lot of fantasy vibes would be Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe.
The settings and world feels fantasy but it's very clearly set so far into the future that for all intensive purposes technology is magic and swords are the weapons of choice.
You might like it.
I never get tired of rereading The Lies of Locke Lamora.
Sort of heist movie set in fantasy medieval/Renaissance Naples with great worldbuilding with Elder shit and excellent dialogue. Later books lose the touch but this one's good.
Magic and sharks are scary as hell and weighted hatchets are badass.
I read a couple of novellas. "Lord of the Forest" by Chris McInally and "Hellmouth" by Giles Kristian. Besides that, there was also "Between Two Fires" by Christopher Buehlman. He recently released another fantasy novel called "The Blacktongue Thief," which I have yet to read, but do have in my possession.
Not that I've seen.
Sword of Licanius trilogy