Five Things (Almost) Every Fantasy Novel Has

Sorry for the lack of posts this week, it's been another long week at work. Finals are in progress, so a couple co-workers took the week off. But that's okay, most money for me! At least everyone else is eager for hours, so we're not too desperate.

Anyway, I've been reading the Inheritance Series (Eragon, Eldest... ect.) and I've come to notice a few things that a bunch of fantasy novels seem to share. And I'm not talking about the races of creatures, like elves and dwarves, as those are uniform and not expected to change. I mean small details.

1) If there is a blacksmith, he's a good guy. The more muscles, the better.

2) If there is a large mountain range, they have to have the word Mist in them. Like the Misty Mountains, or the Mountains of Mist.

3) If it starts off with an average person living in a small village tucked into the middle of nowhere, that person is the savior of the world, and that village is actually the ancient site of a once grand and very important city, which almost everyone just conveniently forgot about.

4) A character is going to get married? Better do it before that hoard of monsters come knocking at your door. (which happens to be a small village tucked into the middle of nowhere)

5) If a character needs to know something, they will not only learn it within a month, they will be a master of it, because it's 'just in them'.


Most of these examples stem from three series; Lord of the Rings, Wheel of Time, and Inheritance. I'm guessing that Robert Jordan and Christopher Paolini both read Tolkien, and took a lot of examples from him. Not to say that they're bad books (Wheel of Time is still very far up on my favorite books list), but they do tend to follow a predictable path on these five points.

The Art of Imagination: Medieval Fantasy

While listening to the radio on my way home today, my mom turned to a station that was talking about books. Now you would think this would peak my interest, but every time I listen to this radio show, or any other talk show or media that has anything to do with books, I never know the authors or the books, and most of the time I have no interest in them. The truth is, I'm rooted in speculative fiction. I hate non-fiction, especially biographies, I don't have much interest for teen fiction (though you don't find that being talked about much either), and my interest in literature has been in a steep decline ever since entering college. I find myself fascinated when someone does not like the same genre as I do, as I have grown up reading such things as Chronicals of Narnia, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Ranger's Apprentice, Tamora Pierce, and all number of other YA fiction. Furthermore, it seemed like back then everyone I talked to back then knew exactly what those books were (to a degree). They had all read them, enjoyed them, and kept reading similar books. At some point this ended. people 'matured' and grew out of these 'childish' novels. I am going to advocate for these overshadowed pieces of art.

Speculative Fiction is a genre that means the subject matter could never be real, or has a 99.99% chance of never coming true. It is dragons, unicorns and magic, wizards and superhuman knights. It's flying cars that run on nothing but air and humans with super powers. It's extra terrestrial beings that look suspiciously similar to humans and long dead creatures coming back to life. It is the real escape, because with anything else, there is always that possibility that the fiction will become non-fiction. Speculative Fiction is the only genre where you can truly escape from reality. 

Now that I've caught your attention, I should steer you in the right direction. I personally like medieval fantasy the best. I would say that 90% of my book shelf is medieval fantasy. This sub genre is, obviously, set in a medieval era world, whether it's Earth or otherwise. 

One of the most well known examples is George R. R. Martin's series A Song of Ice and Fire (adapted into the TV series A Game of Thrones). This series is good for getting the realistic effect while combined with a tad of fantasy. In fact, I think it would be better if the dragons were taken out completely. It's well written and the plot makes you think, but it's not my favourite series. 

For something more high fantasy, definitely go with Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. With this one you have to be careful that you're not too used to the movies though, as that was severely affect your opinion of the books. I'll admit that I was never able to finish the books, because I could not stop thinking about all the differences between the books and the movies. 

If that difference turns you off, then I would suggest Robert Jordan's A Wheel of Time series. It's much like Lord of the Rings, but almost five times longer, with a more complicated plot that branches out several dozen times and (mostly) comes back to tie into a neat bow at the end. Many people who have read it will say that it's not worth it past the sixth book. This is definitely untrue. I highly suspect those people never bothered to finish reading the series, as by the twelfth book it definitely picks up. This is also when Brandon Sanderson took over the series after the death of Robert Jordan.  The Wheel Of Time is one of my favourite series, and although it may get a little slow at some points, by the end of each book you will be itching to pick up the next.

Those are the top three Medieval Fantasy series that I have read, but there are definitely plenty more. Medieval Fantasy is defined not only by the time era, but by characterization. These books will typically portray knights, kings, queens, royalty, thieves, assassins, farmers, shepherds, mages, and any number of people associated with medieval times. Along with them will often (but not always) be mythical creatures, such as dragons, unicorns, Minotaurs, elves, dwarves, mermaids, centaurs, and so on. And finally, to truly make it a speculative fiction piece, is the magic. This can come in unexplained forms (such as in Harry Potter), or in ways that are attempted to be explained using religion or science (such as in Elantris). Not all cases of speculative fiction need to have magic though, as Tolkien proved in his books, which although contain mythical creatures, never really had magic (aside from the wizards, who were rare and kept magic very exclusive, to the point that it was part of being a race, rather than a knowledge, much like immortality to elves.)

Anyway, enough of my babbling! I'll continue on Wednesday, going over another sub genre of Speculative Fiction.

A Memory of Light review

Today I finally finished the final book in the Wheel of Time series. I read the last page while on the bus, and I have to admit, by that point I was sniffling (Though that might have been from my cold...) Either way, it's hard to describe my feelings. I'm overjoyed that I could read the ending and find out what happened, but then it's the end. There will be no more Wheel of Time books, and even no more books in the same world. Although only some characters died, I feel like they all did, because I can never go back and discover for the first time who they are and what happens. It's like looking at childhood videos. You can appreciate that time and moment, but you can never go back and relive it to the same extent.

Furthermore, I think I've just realized how terrible Robert Jordan's death was. I only started reading the series after he died, and right before Brandon Sanderson took over the series. I was shocked when I found out about Jordan's death, but I was just happy to know that the series was continuing. Now that it's over, Sanderson has sworn that he will not continue in the same world that Jordan wrote, because Jordan didn't want anyone to take his work and continue with it for their own gain. The only thing Sanderson did was finish the series, but he will not go further. That means we will never see what happens after the final books, despite so many questions being left unanswered. I think that if Jordan was still alive, he would have continued, if not with the same characters, at least in the same world, and that would have provided the readers with some answers. As it is, A Memory of Light will be the final work in the Wheel of Time world.

Even the hope of a movie being made is pretty slim. Because there are fourteen books in the series, which spans about three years, it would be almost impossible to create a movie for each book without actors ageing significantly or dying. Some people have suggested making an anime, but honestly, I would rather never see a movie than see The Wheel of Time in anime. It would make it seem too juvenile and childish, and although I know lots of anime is meant for young adults or older, I cannot shake the feeling that everything would be exaggerated and comical. Personally, I think the best way to approach the movies would be the same way as they made Beowulf. It was skilfully done animation, where it was difficult to see the difference between reality and made up. They would still need actors for voices and models, but it would fix the ageing problem, and even the death of an actors wouldn't be too catastrophic. Of course, it would be very expensive with all the designers and programmers. However, it also takes away the cost for sets, costumes and props needed in a filmed movie.

And finally, for anyone who has not picked up The Wheel of Time yet, I urge you to do so. It can be a little slow sometimes, but as long as you have an interest in medieval fantasy, or fantasy of any kind, I can guarantee that you will get sucked into the world and plot.

**SPOILER WARNING**

I'm leaving the brief summary for the end, in case someone is reading this and doesn't want to stumble across a spoiler. The question I get asked the most is 'what is it about?' The easiest answer is 'It's the basic plot of good against evil. It's kind of like Lord of The Rings, but almost five times longer and five times better.' I say this because the characters are very deep and change drastically throughout the series. Not always physically, or from corruption, but also mentally, for good and for bad. It's not a sappy love story, but there is love, between characters and most definitely between the reader.

My favourite character is Mat. He's a gambler, trickster, curser and prankster. He is also fiercely loyal, and completely lovable, especially later on in the books.

A lot of people like Perrin, especially girls. He's like a teddy bear, or a large dog. He's a blacksmith and hates fighting or hurting anymore, and is almost more emotional than his wife. It's adorable.

Rand is the main character, but of the three he's my least favourite. He goes insane for a while, kind of turns into a douche, becomes a player (he has three girlfriends), but then he changes back into a really caring and gentle guy. Unfortunately, he's also prophesied to die while fighting to Dark One.

Which gets us into the plot. As I said, it's the basic fight between good and evil. The good is called the Light, and the evil is called the Dark or the Shadow. The idea is that there is a supernatural and almost omnipresent thing called the Dark One, or the Shadow Lord, or any number of other names. He was defeated long ago and locked away in a prison, but now he's starting to break out again, sending with it plagues, droughts, evil creates and any number of terrible things. With them comes the people called the Forsaken. They are able to do something called Channel, which is the power in this series. It's like magic, but it's used through weaves, which take skill and training to master, and of course, use energy. I would say about 1/8 of the world's population is able to channel, including men and women. However, for the first part of the series there is a taint on the men's side of the power (called the One Power). This makes it more of a curse for them, as they go insane if they channel too much. Unfortunately, Rand is able to channel, and starts gathering male channels, who are bound to go insane. I don't want to say much more about this though, as it would be getting too far into the plot. Anyway, there are plenty of other mythical people, things and ideas, many of which are completely unique to the Wheel of Time. What I love most is how each book seems to have a new problem or a new plot that will ultimately work toward the final Battle. Think the style of books like Harry Potter, with the setting and plot of Lord of the Rings. It provides for a good, long read that doesn't work itself out too perfectly or too quickly.