Flights of Fantasy discussion

Here's the place to list your recommended themes and/or subgenres for the future Fantasy polls.


ETA: Please try and include a Listopia list or something similiar to help us grok your theme suggestions. Thank you!

I've found a lot of good (and sadly also a lot of bad) LITRPG books lately so I'll suggest LITRPG.

Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "I've found a lot of good (and sadly also a lot of bad) LITRPG books lately so I'll suggest LITRPG."

Hmmm...what is LITRPG?

Book set in an RPG setting. There are a few examples. People get trapped in an RPG, someone is in a precarious health state and takes refuge in an RPG. My favorite so far is a series where NPCs take on the role of players in an emergency.

By the way, just in case RPG:Role Playing Game
NPC: NonPlayer Character

Mike, are you talking about NPCs?

What LitRPG have you read that you like? I like the Way of the Shaman (though irked the next book is not out yet or even translated for all I know) and Ascend Online was fun.

Yep (pardon the technical jargon). I've read the existing books in the series and am waiting for the next.

lol, no problem on the jargon. We all have to learn at some point. I got into LitRPG's this year. Most of them are pretty bad. The good ones totally make me want to want to go back and game. Ready Player One should go on the list.

Read that when it came out, pretty good I agree.

Hey...go back to gaming??? I'm 65 and still play RPGs on my PC (mostly older ones, but you know I like them) and I'm in a table top RPG group (1st and 2nd edition D&D) every Fri. night. (I'm one of the rotating DMs. I play mostly 2nd but Nick plays mostly 1st).

I'm just finishing The Crystal Sphere (The Neuro Book #1) LitRPG Series, not bad.

I suggest pre-1950s fantasy

Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "Book set in an RPG setting. There are a few examples. People get trapped in an RPG, someone is in a precarious health state and takes refuge in an RPG. My favorite so far is a series where NPCs tak..."

So, something like when we read Quag Keep?

Is Magic too broad/ generic?

Nyssa wrote: "Is Magic too broad/ generic?"

I would say it was too generic.

Are you looking for something magic heavy (i.e. Mercedes Lackey's Winds of Change) or something that features magic somewhat? Or something like Magical Realism?

Looks like it MrsJ. I haven't read that one...I'll have to run it down, LOL.

Thanks.

I'm reading one now called The Way of the Clan Book 1. It started slowly but it's got me hooked now...good brain candy.

Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "Read that when it came out, pretty good I agree.

Hey...go back to gaming??? I'm 65 and still play RPGs on my PC (mostly older ones, but you know I like them) and I'm in a table top RPG group (1st ..."

I have too many things I like to do. I used to play all the systems & PC for RPG, puzzle & strat games. Only so-so on point & shoot. Now I play a few games on my phone/tablet but that's it. Not enough time to play the games & do all the other things that I love to do. Gotta pick & choose.

I splurged on games during a sale last year and barely played them. I miss it but not enough to dedicate a ton of time. =)

What LitRPG books would you recommend?

Feel free to check my book shelves, I have some that are on a gaming book shelf.

I'd still say that NPCs (the series) is my favorite. The one I'm reading now has me hooked but I'm not sure (yet) if it's part of a series. The article here lists more books, but it may all be this book originally published in parts... I can't find it/them anywhere else. The Way of the Clan Book 1.

There are several I rated 4 stars and then (sadly) a lot of mediocre to poor books.

Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "Looks like it MrsJ. I haven't read that one...I'll have to run it down, LOL.

Thanks.

I'm reading one now called The Way of the Clan Book 1. It started slowly but it's got me hooke..."

That looks good!

I liked Quag Keep (review: http://bookslifewine.com/r-quag-keep/ ) but others felt it was too slow and/or too many board-game elements being used too literally.

The Way of the Clan Book 1 & the rest of the series up to 6 is available on Kindle Unlimited. I added it to my TBR.

I have NPC's down to try out on audio. I'll bump it up on my list.

I enjoyed certain fantasy books because it was like an RPG played out without players behind it.

Mike, have you read the fifth book, The Karmadont Chess Set? When I got to the end, I was super grumpy to find out that there's no date for the release of book 6. A matter of translation I'm sure.

Have you two read Caverns of Socrates? That's an older one but I loved that book.

Could we possibly take continued book discussion to another thread and leave this one open for people to suggest themes and subgenres? :)

Nyssa wrote: "Is Magic too broad/ generic?"

I'd agree with MrsJ - too broad of a theme.

But if you wanted to narrow it down some... high magic, low magic, magical realism, etc... that would work.

colleen the convivial curmudgeon wrote: "Nyssa wrote: "Is Magic too broad/ generic?"

I'd agree with MrsJ - too broad of a theme.

But if you wanted to narrow it down some... high magic, low magic, magical realism, etc... that would work."

MrsJoseph wrote: "Nyssa wrote: "Is Magic too broad/ generic?"

I would say it was too generic.

Are you looking for something magic heavy (i.e. Mercedes Lackey's Winds of Change) or some..."

Hmm.. Magic like that found in series like Harry Potter, The Dresden Files, and anything by Ilona Andrews (especially the Innkeeper Chronicles)... So high magic in urban settings (?)

Soo, MrsJ and anyone interested I'll start a thread for LITRPG talk.

That would be Urban Fantasy Nyssa.

Start it and point to it from here. I find that works best. 0:)

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... LITRPG discussion

Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "That would be Urban Fantasy Nyssa."

There are tons of Urban Fantasy series that are low on magic - The Demon Hunting Soccor Mom, Black Dagger Brotherhood, and The Southern Vampire (Sookie Stackhouse) for instance.

* LitRPG
* High Magic Contemporary/Urban


This is all we've got so far.

If we're going to do a poll for September I'm going to be asking for noms soon... so get your themes in.

I'm gonna throw Faerie and Magical Realism into the mix because a) I like them and b) Becky's not around. *snort*

Travel Fantasy - like The Belgariad

Travel Fantasy? I may be behind...

Soo wrote: "Travel Fantasy? I may be behind..."

IDK what it's called. When a group of people (or at least 2) have to go on a journey to complete their task.

I'm gonna call it Quest Fantasy.

colleen the convivial curmudgeon wrote: "I'm gonna call it Quest Fantasy."

That'll work

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

nnnnert. Maybe not, lol. Most of those look like things I actively avoid, lol.

How about this list?

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

That's a lot closer!!

* LitRPG
* High Magic Contemporary/Urban
* Travel Fantasy: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
* Faerie
* Magical Realism

You guys have probably heard/read that I'm not a big David Eddings fan but I do recall several years ago when I read The Belgariad that felt as if I'd worn out my shoes as we were always traveling. So I think I get where you're coming from.

Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "You guys have probably heard/read that I'm not a big David Eddings fan but I do recall several years ago when I read The Belgariad that felt as if I'd worn out my shoes as we were always traveling...."

LOL

You sound like hubby when I tried to get him to read it. Less than 1/2 through book 1 he was DONE.

I got through them (I read Pawn of Prophecy last as it happens). I guess all books can't appeal to all readers. I was like " colleen the convivial curmudgeon" as my first thought was Lord of the Rings or Wheel of Time....like that.

:)

Aw, Mike. I love Eddings! I enjoyed all of their books. Well, the earlier works. The later stuff felt stuffy or something.

I read Lord of the Rings many times as a kid. I tried again in my late 20's and couldn't do it. Ha. Meanwhile, I read Eddings several times and also Wheel of Time up to book 7. It petered out after that.

Yeah the Wheel of Time conundrum is well known. One of the best epic fantasies ever written through book 6 or 7 and suddenly it become a soap opera moving as slowly as a glacier... sad.

You can probably go right to the last book and read it. The book has enough back ground that you can probably put together anything you might miss in all the intervening books.

I wish whoever owns the rights to the series would turn it over to a team of good editors so the repetitive "stuff" could be removed and the series brought back to "close to" what it could have been.

Soo wrote: "Aw, Mike. I love Eddings! I enjoyed all of their books. Well, the earlier works. The later stuff felt stuffy or something."

So very true. Althulus is terrible but readable and I do... O_O

The shining ones or whatever it was called was just...pure dreck. A total waste of time that left me in a state of near incoherent rage by the end.

Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "Read that when it came out, pretty good I agree.

Hey...go back to gaming??? I'm 65 and still play RPGs on my PC (mostly older ones, but you know I like them) and I'm in a table top RPG group (1st ..."

I used to DM 1st ed AD&D but also played 2nd ed. Played a lot of other RPGs like Call of Cthulhu back in the day. WOuldn't mind being in a group again. Sigh!

Soo wrote: "I have too many things I like to do. I used to play all the systems & PC for RPG, puzzle & strat games. Only so-so on point & shoot. Now I play a few games on my phone/tablet but that's it. Not enough time to play the games & do all the other things that I love to do. Gotta pick & choose."

I can relate to that!

Can I recommend historical fantasy. The listopedia list is way to teen focussed for me so I've included a link to a site below with a list.

http://bestfantasybooks.com/historica...

* LitRPG
* High Magic Contemporary/Urban
* Travel Fantasy: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
* Faerie
* Magical Realism
* Historical Fantasy

colleen the convivial curmudgeon wrote: "* LitRPG
* High Magic Contemporary/Urban
* Travel Fantasy: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
* Faerie
* Magical Realism"

Ha ha. Horror Fantasy. Like The Book of Lost Things. And fairy tale fantasy like The Book of Lost Things. :)

I'm detecting a theme from Felina...

Hey, you guys took away my genre...I have to get it back!