What ruins a good fantasy story?

[moonjinx]

When people in stories apparently never seem to learn...

kinda like Eragon... ninja  

[tecche]

NightIntent

I agree with annyonig characters being a killer for books. Though someitmes it works for me. Especially if the character I don't like is getting his or her a** beat multiple times throughout the book. Which so doesn't happen often enough.

The Redwall series was good, for a while. After that, I just kept reading it because I loved the hares. They're so much fun. I eventually got bored of the series as a whole, though, hares or not.

But... but... how can you not like modern fantasies?! Yes, I know, to each their own, but there are some awesome modern fantasies out there. To name a couple off the top of my head, The Dresden Files (which I mention too much), The Women of the Otherworld, and Dead Witch Walking. I've read one book (Elske, I believe it was) that pulls off medieval times getting gunpowder fairly well.

I actually like several modern fantasies. The Dresden Files were amusing, Dead Witch Walking, though not the Women of the Otherworld. Diane Duane's Young Wizards series that I like, is a sort of modern fantasy as well, even Laurell K Hamilton's stuff.. Though as a general rule, I lose interest in worlds when guns are introduced - or at least where it was previously medieval. I forget which book it was, but they introduced gun powder not badly, but not interestingly. Which I guess is just as, well, bad. The other one is where it's a modern setting, they hint at magic, but never say for sure. It's annoying.
Now that I think about it, I like medieval. I like modern. I just dislike transitional period between the two. I have no idea why.  

[NightIntent]

*Coughcough* I'm slightly guilty of hinting at magic but not saying for sure, in one of my stories which I will never finish because I lost interest in it. But I was planning on introducing a mage! Okay, more likely making an already existing character a mage and having the main character being shocked by it, but same thing. Almost.

Transitional periods never really interested me. I don't think I've read a single fantasy book set in a transitional period, that I can really remember off the top of my head. Modern I really like, medieval I kinda got discouraged from after reading First Rider's Call. That books just killed so much interest in a lot of things for me.

Read The Women of the Otherworld. It's such a good series. The... I believe sixth book comes out in late May this year. Yeah, sixth book. Bitten, Stolen, Dime Store Magic, Industrial Magic, and Haunted are the other ones. Broken is the nest installment. And, no, Bitten doesn't have vampires. Bitten, Stolen, and Broken all have a werewolf named Elena as the main character and narrator. Dime Store Magic and Industrial Magic have a witch named Paige as the narrator, and Haunted has another witch named Eve. They're all awesome books. My favorite is Dime Store Magic.  

[tecche]

Really? I liked First Rider's Call. Did you read the first one? Green Rider too? If so, did you not like that one too?

As to the Women of the Otherworld. I've tried reading them. I just keep losing interest. I guess I don't like the main characters enough to stick with it long enough to get to the interesting ones. My friend has read them, and likes them. So, I know a bit about it. I think I don't like werewolves that much. You get a lot of recycled plot points with them, I think.

Oh, you know what a really good book? Cry of the Icemark by Stuart Hill. I picked it up randomly in the bookstore because the title caught my eye. That has werewolves, and vampires, and giant talking leopards. xd  

[Shaunie007]

I hate repetativ details in books... I was reading this one book recently and whenever something "scary" happned the book started describing exactly how much the main character was sweating. It was incredibly annoying.
Other than that, I always get hung up on really small errors in books... almost all books have them and I just love spotting them and pointing them out to other people... does that make me weird?
And last but not least, I HATE mushy love stories, especially if its in a high passed book, and all the sudden the main character finds the love of his/her life and half the book after that is about their damn romance. Excuse me all people who love that stuff but I'm just a huge love cynic so that really bugs me.  

[Claudia de Lenfent]

Superfluous sex. Sex in general is gross...but when there's no point....  

[NightIntent]

tecche

Really? I liked First Rider's Call. Did you read the first one? Green Rider too? If so, did you not like that one too?

As to the Women of the Otherworld. I've tried reading them. I just keep losing interest. I guess I don't like the main characters enough to stick with it long enough to get to the interesting ones. My friend has read them, and likes them. So, I know a bit about it. I think I don't like werewolves that much. You get a lot of recycled plot points with them, I think.

Oh, you know what a really good book? Cry of the Icemark by Stuart Hill. I picked it up randomly in the bookstore because the title caught my eye. That has werewolves, and vampires, and giant talking leopards. xd

No, I loved Green Rider. So much. I don't know what I hated about First Rider's Call, but the entire book, aside from the first chapter where Karigan's riding around in her nightgown, bugs the living hell out of me. On top of that, I haven't been able to read Green Rider since I read First Rider's Call. Which sucks, because I love that book. Yet I'm still waiting for the third in the series. Just so I can see if it's any better.

I don't much like Elena as a narrator or a character. As I've explained to my friend, she's too perfect to me. Outwardly, it seems like she has the perfect life. Sure, when you get deeper it seems like her life's not so great. But still. Prolonged youth, fast metabolism, supposedly hot fiance, a guardian-person with a huge house and money. What else do you need? I mean, sure, she turns into a wolf every few days. And her boyfriend's a jealous, possessive weirdo who's more wolf than human. But who knows that? n.n I prefer Paige much more. Eve is an okay character, but Paige is my favorite. I want a book in Savannah's viewpoint. I like Savannah. And Cassandra, but I doubt that's gonna happen.

Cry of the Icemark, huh? I'll look at it next time I go the bookstore and actually have money. n.n"  

[NightIntent]

Shaunie007

And last but not least, I HATE mushy love stories, especially if its in a high passed book, and all the sudden the main character finds the love of his/her life and half the book after that is about their damn romance. Excuse me all people who love that stuff but I'm just a huge love cynic so that really bugs me.

You know what book that made me think of? The Wizard's Ward. It's got a fairly good plotline, but the unresolved sexual tension starting at page 40-something is just too annoying. That's not exactly what you were talking about, but it's fairly similar. I hate mushy romance things. Which is why it's odd that I read romance books once in a while. I think I do it just so I have somethnig to yell at.  

[tecche]

NightIntent

Shaunie007

And last but not least, I HATE mushy love stories, especially if its in a high passed book, and all the sudden the main character finds the love of his/her life and half the book after that is about their damn romance. Excuse me all people who love that stuff but I'm just a huge love cynic so that really bugs me.

You know what book that made me think of? The Wizard's Ward. It's got a fairly good plotline, but the unresolved sexual tension starting at page 40-something is just too annoying. That's not exactly what you were talking about, but it's fairly similar. I hate mushy romance things. Which is why it's odd that I read romance books once in a while. I think I do it just so I have somethnig to yell at.

What's this? You don't like angst? ::has been warped into over-dramatic mode:: Oh, but how wonderful angst is! I especially love witty, snarky characters that can't admit to liking each other. ::snickers::
On a more serious note, I do have a limit, or maybe more accurately, a type of romance/sexual tension I'm tolerant of. The whole girly ::drops into high pitched mimicry::, 'Does he like me? Does he not like me? Oh, what should I do? Oh, oh, I can't handle it all" [/end mimic]. That sort of thing makes me wretch, but as I said before, I find that romantic tension can be a lot of fun, done well.  

[NightIntent]

Thsi sexual tension was more the "Oh, I like him, and I'm pretty sure he likes me, since he's almost said as much, but I can't act on my feelings because I'm destined to become the wife of some guy who's been asleep for thousands of years and I can't betray him, even though I odn't know him or who he is or anything like that, so I can't do anythnig with this guy that I already know and love" type. Which, I found out, annoys me. Especially when I got to the ending. Which, might I add, I was able to predict just from reading the summary on the back. Now that is pathetic. I'm no good at predicting things, mostly because I try not to.  

[NightIntent]

To get somewhat back on topic.... I hate when authors have bad grammar. Hell, the grammar could simply not make sense and I'll get annoyed. For example, I was reading a book today and came across this sentence: "Now, I understand [whatever they were talking about]." By all rights, there isn't a pause between "now" and "I." Therefore, there shouldn't be a comma. In the same book it had the phrase "a animal" in a sentence. Ick. How do editors miss those things? There were a number of other grammar errors in the book, too. I saw sentence fragments, misused semi-colons, mis-used or unused commas, and a couple mispellings. Mispellings really get me. We have word processors now, that check for these things. People really shouldn't get spelling wrong in books.

This is, of course, the psycho-grammar-nazi-type-person coming out in me.  

[Shaunie007]

tecche

NightIntent

Shaunie007

And last but not least, I HATE mushy love stories, especially if its in a high passed book, and all the sudden the main character finds the love of his/her life and half the book after that is about their damn romance. Excuse me all people who love that stuff but I'm just a huge love cynic so that really bugs me.

You know what book that made me think of? The Wizard's Ward. It's got a fairly good plotline, but the unresolved sexual tension starting at page 40-something is just too annoying. That's not exactly what you were talking about, but it's fairly similar. I hate mushy romance things. Which is why it's odd that I read romance books once in a while. I think I do it just so I have somethnig to yell at.

What's this? You don't like angst? ::has been warped into over-dramatic mode:: Oh, but how wonderful angst is! I especially love witty, snarky characters that can't admit to liking each other. ::snickers::
On a more serious note, I do have a limit, or maybe more accurately, a type of romance/sexual tension I'm tolerant of. The whole girly ::drops into high pitched mimicry::, 'Does he like me? Does he not like me? Oh, what should I do? Oh, oh, I can't handle it all" [/end mimic]. That sort of thing makes me wretch, but as I said before, I find that romantic tension can be a lot of fun, done well.

Ok let me clearify one thing... I hate happy or stupid (girly or pridey) love stories and when the book is dominated by romance... I like when depression flows as long as it doesn't take over the book, It's when the plot gets stuck do to romance that i hate... The romance crap in a fantasy books is not suppose to be the main plot. but in moderation angst can be good.. sometime... ninja  

[tecche]

Wicked.

I have just thought up one thing that will drive a stake through the heart of any good fantasy story: when one has a certain number of tasks to do before a certain date (ie - homework) and it is the night before this date. You have a lovely book in front of you, and you decide you can put off this task just a little bit longer........five hours later. You've read a delightful story, but then realize that you now have to have said task(s) done within, oh in eight hours. You also have to sleep (maybe) and eat (maybe), and get have everything done, and be in the right place by the appointed time.

Nothing quite takes the wind out of the sails of a good story, than realizing you now have to do another four hours of not-fun reading, another two or more of writing, and you can no longer put it off.

I'm not a procrastinator. No, not at all. ninja  

[W h e e l]

I would say a good book can be ruined very much with things getting crammed togethor, leaving you confused as to what's going on, some books are perhaps a little to detailed, but at times there just aren't enough...  

[NightIntent]

tecche

Wicked.

I have just thought up one thing that will drive a stake through the heart of any good fantasy story: when one has a certain number of tasks to do before a certain date (ie - homework) and it is the night before this date. You have a lovely book in front of you, and you decide you can put off this task just a little bit longer........five hours later. You've read a delightful story, but then realize that you now have to have said task(s) done within, oh in eight hours. You also have to sleep (maybe) and eat (maybe), and get have everything done, and be in the right place by the appointed time.

Nothing quite takes the wind out of the sails of a good story, than realizing you now have to do another four hours of not-fun reading, another two or more of writing, and you can no longer put it off.

I'm not a procrastinator. No, not at all. ninja

xp I never do that. I finish books at school. During class. That way, I have time after school to go online and do homework. And, of course, start another book. Which is usually reserved for after I'm halfway-finsihed with homework. I picked up some bad work habits this school year. n.n" I haven't completely finished my homework at home in months.

Projects, though, I make sure to finish early, so I'm not rushing incessantly near when theyr'e due. Speaking of whcih, I need to finish my book for my report that's not due 'til June. I still need to find a non-fiction book for that....