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regarding urban fantasy
Jan. 26th, 2009 11:38 pmso, in celebration of having a bit of free time this past weekend, I went through two Georgette Heyer novels and an urban fantasy duo by Melissa Marr. the Heyer novels were, as expected, slyly funny and terribly endearing (although The Black Moth, which was apparently her first novel, was not as good as Friday's Child; I guess she had to work up to her genius), but the Marr books were kind of a let-down.
I say they're a let-down largely because I had read a few reactions to them that looked promising. they weren't terrible books; it's just that they weren't hugely original in any way. the reader knew exactly how Wicked Lovely was going to end from about a third of the way into the book, which, given that the prose was not exactly riveting, meant it was a sort of disinteresting read. I was slightly surprised by the end of Ink Exchange, but only slightly, and it wasn't a satisfying surprise. the plots to both books felt contrived; the reader could see the resolutions to all the conflicts, and it was sort of puzzling why there needed to be a book at all, when with five minutes conversation between the right people all the problems would have been solved. this is a problem with a lot of YA fantasy, though - the plots exist to drive the characters together, and not for their own sake. sadly, this tends to show in the implausibility of the plot.
on a slightly different note, though, what's up with all these urban fantasy books having the exact same plot? relatively ordinary girl is swept off her feet and into danger by a mysterious man of the Other World who is dedicated to defending her from the other dangerous creatures of his usual milieu. she may be torn between her fairy bad boy and the dependable human boy back home. there will be lots of goth delinquents hanging around to look picturesque. I have just described Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments books, Holly Black's Tithe trilogy, the Melissa Marr books, and, for that matter, Twilight, although I have only barely scratched the surface of what's wrong with those books (and they can't technically be described as urban fantasy). I mean, come on. were all the good plots taken?
every time I read urban fantasy I want to write my own, if only because hey! I live in a city! it would be an awesome setting for a fantasy book! sadly, I suffer from the exact same problems I listed above; namely, I mostly care about characters, so my plots suck. I can never think of anything that would get me through a short story, let alone a novel.
( Read more... )
I say they're a let-down largely because I had read a few reactions to them that looked promising. they weren't terrible books; it's just that they weren't hugely original in any way. the reader knew exactly how Wicked Lovely was going to end from about a third of the way into the book, which, given that the prose was not exactly riveting, meant it was a sort of disinteresting read. I was slightly surprised by the end of Ink Exchange, but only slightly, and it wasn't a satisfying surprise. the plots to both books felt contrived; the reader could see the resolutions to all the conflicts, and it was sort of puzzling why there needed to be a book at all, when with five minutes conversation between the right people all the problems would have been solved. this is a problem with a lot of YA fantasy, though - the plots exist to drive the characters together, and not for their own sake. sadly, this tends to show in the implausibility of the plot.
on a slightly different note, though, what's up with all these urban fantasy books having the exact same plot? relatively ordinary girl is swept off her feet and into danger by a mysterious man of the Other World who is dedicated to defending her from the other dangerous creatures of his usual milieu. she may be torn between her fairy bad boy and the dependable human boy back home. there will be lots of goth delinquents hanging around to look picturesque. I have just described Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments books, Holly Black's Tithe trilogy, the Melissa Marr books, and, for that matter, Twilight, although I have only barely scratched the surface of what's wrong with those books (and they can't technically be described as urban fantasy). I mean, come on. were all the good plots taken?
every time I read urban fantasy I want to write my own, if only because hey! I live in a city! it would be an awesome setting for a fantasy book! sadly, I suffer from the exact same problems I listed above; namely, I mostly care about characters, so my plots suck. I can never think of anything that would get me through a short story, let alone a novel.
( Read more... )
