,

Contemporary Fantasy that will appeal to guys and also girls but is less about romance and more about action and a great story
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724 books · 625 voters · list created October 12th, 2012 by Daniel Bice (votes) .
249 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Tracie 697 books
553 friends
Nerine 1770 books
866 friends
Liza 67 books
0 friends
Paula 1039 books
321 friends
Deathofrats 2768 books
8 friends
I.S. 158 books
1203 friends
aStriD_maRie 1659 books
308 friends
Yuki 5 books
2 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-43 of 43 (43 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Jimmie (new)

Jimmie Whittenbarger Sweet list. I've read 65% of these and LOVED most of them.


message 2: by Daniel (new)

Daniel Bice thank you make sure to add more books once you come across them Im always looking for the next one!


message 3: by Xenophon (new)

Xenophon Hendrix How far back do you want to go for "contemporary," or is a contemporary setting as of the date they were written OK?


message 4: by Daniel (new)

Daniel Bice Xenophon wrote: "How far back do you want to go for "contemporary," or is a contemporary setting as of the date they were written OK?"

if its a good book add it on there


message 5: by Andrew (new)

Andrew Obrigewitsch Iron Druid is No. 1, WTF. That's like the B movies of fantasy.


message 6: by Artemas (new)

Artemas Is it really necessary to add every single book from a series? It stands to reason that if the first book of a series is on this list that readers can assume the other books of the series qualify as well. This list is bloated as hell.


message 7: by [deleted user] (new)

Artemas wrote: "Is it really necessary to add every single book from a series? It stands to reason that if the first book of a series is on this list that readers can assume the other books of the series qualify ..."

I agree 100%.


message 8: by [deleted user] (new)

This list is a nice idea, but in addition to it being bloated, there's some old books on it [Robert A. Heinlein's Glory Road], and some others that are blatantly more chick lit [Jennifer Estep's I'm 100% certain of].


message 9: by [deleted user] (new)

I can somewhat agree with Heinlein, but not with Fritz Leiber.


message 10: by Artemas (new)

Artemas Yeah, I think a concrete definition of "contemporary" needs to be added with the title.


message 11: by Bob (new)

Bob most of the books on this list are awesome. So, how did shit like "Demon Accords" get on here? I had to buy a gallon of mind bleach after attempting to read twilight for boys.


message 12: by [deleted user] (new)

Just to be clear, I'm voting on 'contemporary' in regards to the date they were written, not the time periods in which I sometimes I wish I could adventure. :)


message 13: by Christy (new)

Christy Stewart If you need to be pointed to books that are good "for guys" you are so insecure with your gender that I'm surprised you even admit to being able to read lest you appear too feminine.


message 14: by James (new)

James G Christy wrote: "If you need to be pointed to books that are good "for guys" you are so insecure with your gender that I'm surprised you even admit to being able to read lest you appear too feminine."

Ridiculous. I think you read way too much into this..
I am not insecure in my gender, I just don't like heavy romance and heavy sex in my fantasy books..


message 15: by Christy (new)

Christy Stewart So romance and sex is for "girl books"

Not only are you stereotyping women, you're using misogyny to disparage your fellow men who enjoy romance and sex in novels.

If this wasn't about gender your list would've been "fantasy novels without romance" and there would've been nothing wrong with it.


message 16: by James (new)

James G First of all, it isn't "My List"
Secondly, not all stereotypes are bad or negative. Generally, yes, more women are into romance novels than men. Ask any publisher who their main demographic is for romance novels..
I have been in many discussions with male readers of Fantasy/UF who love the genres, but do not like the romance to be too heavy. It's just a fact. It's not negative stereotyping, it's not misogyny, it just is..
You are making a mountain of a molehill.


message 17: by Christy (new)

Christy Stewart If it isn't your list and why are you defending it? You just like arguing with women?

This is offensive simply because it gendered these books and the subsequent content therein. To say that most consumers of romance novels are women so therefore fantasy novels that involve romance are for women is ridiculous. It would be like saying that the romance novels with fantasy are from men. And besides, any statistics on gender are immediately flawed if they base gender off of the binary system.

And there is no such thing as positive stereotyping, it always marginalizes people which is always a result of bigotry.


message 18: by James (new)

James G Christy wrote: "If it isn't your list and why are you defending it? You just like arguing with women?

This is offensive simply because it gendered these books and the subsequent content therein. To say that most ..."


No, I just like pointing out when people get offended too easy. Do you think that publishers are lying when they say that their main Romance demographic is women?

Do you post similar diatribes on the many many "Lists for Women" etc etc? Do you just like arguing with men? Just curious.


message 19: by James (new)

James G Christy wrote: "If it isn't your list and why are you defending it? You just like arguing with women?

This is offensive simply because it gendered these books and the subsequent content therein. To say that most ..."


"Women make up 91 percent of romance book buyers, and men make up 9 percent."
http://www.rwa.org/p/cm/ld/fid=582

Go take out your misplaced anger on them..


message 20: by Christy (new)

Christy Stewart "To say that most consumers of romance novels are women so therefore fantasy novels that involve romance are for women is ridiculous."

I never said that women don't read romance novels.

Nice move on sidestepping that call out on bigotry.

And as we are finally at that place where a man stops listening to what the woman actually said I'm not going to spend any more time on you. Enjoy your books for men, TV dinners for men, deodorant for men…


message 21: by James (last edited May 24, 2014 07:36PM) (new)

James G Christy wrote: ""To say that most consumers of romance novels are women so therefore fantasy novels that involve romance are for women is ridiculous."

I never said that women don't read romance novels.

Nice move..."


Your hypocrisy is astounding.. Hope you enjoy your books for women..
..your deodorant for women, shampoo for women, etc etc. *facepalm


message 22: by KilaViking (new)

KilaViking This list's comments are EXACTLY why I don't interact more on this site. Petty freaking arguments over a list of books. Like it or don't. Is it really necessary to comment on it? Especially about the list being misogynistic.

Christy - do explain this list: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8... - how is that list not misandrist? How are your comments not to be construed as misandry? You're pretty much convinced all men are ignorant, inbred, illiterate beings.

Pot, kettle. Red X if you don't like it. Grow up and ignore what you don't like.


message 23: by Christy (new)

Christy Stewart I didn't make nor vote in it, so why should I be judged for it?


message 24: by James (new)

James G Christy wrote: "I didn't make nor vote in it, so why should I be judged for it?"

Pot, meet kettle :\


message 25: by Christy (new)

Christy Stewart I also didn't defend it


message 26: by Daniel (new)

Daniel Bice Thank you every who has voted on this list, there are a lot of great books on here that both men and women can enjoy. It is list like this one that help spread the word even just a little so that more people can enjoy them!


message 27: by Sandra (new)

Sandra Andrew wrote: "Iron Druid is No. 1, WTF. That's like the B movies of fantasy."

I guess a shit ton of people think you have lousy taste.


message 28: by Nati (new)

Nati Pretty good list here,specially the Dark Fantasy books.


message 29: by C3zpo (new)

C3zpo Christy wrote: "I also didn't defend it"

No you just thrashed it which is far worse. I could agree with your point if the list was called something like "urban fantasy not for the fairer sex" however as it stands your misplaced anger is just ridiculous in my opinion.
This list is good and helped me find a lot of books I enjoyed.


message 30: by Tamara (last edited Mar 16, 2017 03:22PM) (new)

Tamara Very good list! Good part I already read, and a good part is on my "want to read" list.

But I really don't see any point in this "for guys" in the title, it is unnecessary. If you wanted to say that these are books that don't have hard romance in them, you could have said it in numerous other ways. This is just laziness.

Books are either good or bad, and that has nothing to do with gender.....the beauty of books is that they are unisex ;)


message 31: by Matt (new)

Matt Tamara wrote: "Very good list! Good part I already read, and a good part is on my "want to read" list.

But I really don't see any point in this "for guys" in the title, it is unnecessary. If you wanted to say th..."


do you think the "children's book" category is lazy since many adults enjoy them and some children could enjoy violent books with sex in them?

to say that different genders do not have different tastes in some book subject matter, in a statistically significant way, is just ridiculous.


message 32: by James (new)

James G Well said Matt


message 33: by Matt (last edited Oct 05, 2015 03:13PM) (new)

Matt "any statistics on gender are immediately flawed if they base gender off of the binary system"

christy's posts are awesome. she needs to come back and share her view on the segregation of bathrooms and sports. daniel trying to appease everyone by letting in old books and adding "also girls but is less about romance and more about action and a great story", is hilarious. there are even two *romance for guys" books in the top 70. christy basically just intimidated him to act like light romance was what he meant by fantasy for guys. it seems to me his title change would be even more offensive to christy since it implies a great story is something girls would care less about.


message 34: by Blake (new)

Blake Nice list, title, in my humble opinion needs more definition, and a good show in the comments too!


message 35: by Jeff Snavely (new)

Jeff Snavely Christy wrote: ""To say that most consumers of romance novels are women so therefore fantasy novels that involve romance are for women is ridiculous."

I never said that women don't read romance novels.

Nice move..."


Enjoy your low self esteem.


message 36: by Elentarri (new)

Elentarri Thanks for the list. I was getting tired of all the lists being inundated with Twilight and what looks for all the world like soft porn book covers.

BTW - I'm a woman, and I don't find the title offensive, nor do I have an issue with men being men. Men and women are different and complementary, it's supposed to be like that. Who else would I get to lift the big boulders in my garden, open my jam jars, and change the baby's diapers?. ;)
What I do find offensive is those delusional snowflakes insisting on castrating males and turning them into "girls" with penises. I also object to having them turn women into men with boobs, and their constant whining about everything.

If you can't handle real life, get a dummy and book yourself into a nice place with padded walls, spoon feeding options and no people interaction, where everything is sanitised and you won't have to deal with anything even vaguely adult, or heaven forbid, anyone that has an opinion different from yours!


message 37: by Tnkw01 (last edited Oct 26, 2016 10:13AM) (new)

Tnkw01 Elentarri wrote: "Thanks for the list. I was getting tired of all the lists being inundated with Twilight and what looks for all the world like soft porn book covers.

BTW - I'm a woman, and I don't find the title ..."


I really appreciate a healthy woman who has a high enough self esteem to admit that men and women are different and don't call anything with the words "for men" or "for guys" sexist.


message 38: by Katie (new)

Katie Hamilton Love the list! So many good books on here. I like that they tend to be more actiony than romance it's a good move in a world filled with tweeny Twilight/Divergent shenanigans.

I do agree though that just the 1st book in a series should be on here. It's a lot to scroll past.


message 39: by Tasula (new)

Tasula I enjoyed the argument, mostly because I found it laughable to see such sensitivity over a few words. As a few others said, I am a woman who doesn't find this list or its title offensive. I don't enjoy romance or sentimental angst in my contemporary fantasy. If it's in a book that is otherwise interesting, I just skip over that part. This list contains some books by favorite authors, although some are pretty far down the list. If anyone is interested in "action" contemporary fantasy, you can look at my 5 star reads or let me know & I will send you a list of authors to try.


message 40: by Tamara (last edited Mar 16, 2017 05:28PM) (new)

Tamara Matt wrote: "do you think the "children's book" category is lazy since many adults enjoy them and some children could enjoy violent books with sex in them?

to say that different genders do not have different tastes in some book subject matter, in a statistically significant way, is just ridiculous."



You are correct "children's book" is a category. And it is a category because these books were written primarily for children, even though adults read them to. Also you will notice there is no category "children's book for boys" or "children's book for girls", the category is just "children's literature".

Also fantasy is a category, horror is a category, romance is a category, poetry is a category .... if you were paying attention you will see there is no mention of gender. And it is because writers do not write these book having in mind only guys (or girls / women). They have in mind readers, no matter the gender. That being said, urban fantasy is a category, but "urban fantasy for guys" is not a literary category / genre.

So to summarize:
Yes, "children's book" is a category, "urban fantasy for guys" is not. Hence, your comparison is invalid.

And yes, different genders sometimes do have different tastes in some book subject matter, and sometimes they have the same tastes.....but that depends on preferences that have a lot to do with individual character and individual likes and dislikes, but very little to do directly with gender.
Just don't generalize things for your convenience......or fabricate literary category.


message 41: by James (last edited Apr 26, 2017 12:20AM) (new)

James G Have you bothered googling "Children's Books for Girls"? Yep, it's a thing. Example:
" Mighty Girl's book section features over 2,000 girl-empowering books starring stellar Mighty Girl characters."
http://www.amightygirl.com/books

Just because YOU don't agree with something doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It would be perfectly, intellectually, honest to say "I don't agree with separating books this way". But to say "books are not separated this way"? That's just ridiculously narrow minded.


message 42: by Freetarded (new)

Freetarded Tamara wrote: ..."

Your categories aren't any more canonical or valid than any other category anybody else could create. Are you so out of touch with reality that you believe that the books with softcore yaoi covers that line bookshelves aren't targeted to a certain gender? That they are made equally for men and women?


message 43: by TrashConnoisseur (new)

TrashConnoisseur Personally I think in this gender discussion many are missing a point after getting more and more offended by each other. Of course there are books aimed at a specific gender or demographic group, I won't deny that. But that point becomes invalid here since many of the books on that list are not aimed at male readers. If you asked Rothfuss who his main target readers are I doubt he'll tell you it's guys who like reading fantasy whereas, should you ask a romance author they would likely tell you the main target audience are women. I think that is more what people take offence with since the target group of the books here are not guys. Another factor might be that some women are getting annoyed by the reading stereotype that they enjoy books with romance and stuff more than other story features and this list name is just one thing where that frustration can be taken out on. Which I personally understand ;)
I'm sure the creator of the list wasn't planning of gathering any feminist or whatever wrath here but it's the internet, if there is no fault with the list title they'll find fault with some books that are on the list and cry out how such dirt could be included (points finger in comment section). I'm sure my comment is gonna offend someone as well although my intention was not that. Cheers


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