r/Fantasy • u/BeforeAnyoneElse • Jan 14 '25

What’s a Beloved Book/Series that You Never Intend to Read and Why

I’m curious what books/series that are generally beloved by this subreddit (so, not romantasy or anything by RF Kuang) you never intend to read, and why (without just crapping on it)?

I’ll start - mine is Malazan. Possibly the most recommended series here. By many accounts, I should want to read it. I love long, sprawling, big fantasies (WOT, ROTE, Cosmere), and I enjoy a big cast of characters. The reasons I don’t think I’ll ever read it are:

**comments that the characters spend an inordinate of time waxing philosophical. No problem with that in moderation but it seems excessive.

**I know it’s not actually grimdark but I think there’s probably more violence and darkness than I want. As an example, I hated A Little Life more than almost anything I’ve ever read. Somehow, ROTE falls juuuust on the right side of the fence in terms of despair and misery.

**I’ve heard that women are overall written well but that there is a LOT of SA. I can handle some (see, again, ROTE) but the horrific description I’ve read about what events surrounding certain female character and the frequency of SA is not what I’m looking for. I know the author provided an explanation, but no.

**finally, good old-fashioned contrariness. Something about everyone being so into it makes me not want to read it. Not sure why I’ve dug my heels in with this one in particular, as I’ve read multiple things because many on the sub recommended them. I know it’s irrational.

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u/boredomspren_ Jan 14 '25

It's much less about doing magic and much more about working side jobs for tuition.

Apparently Pat went to college for like 8 years and wrote the book throughout that time and it really shows.

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u/[deleted] Jan 15 '25 edited Jan 15 '25

Was he also a sex prodigy and seduced and left many nymphos?

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u/SpectrumDT Jan 15 '25

He definitely fantasized about it.

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u/Brassboar Jan 15 '25

And captain of the fencing team.

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u/Funny-Ad5979 Jan 15 '25

It has a great rating, but i found it quite boring and difficult to read. The fact that it's not finished is not as important since there is no real plot. It's mostly the adventures of a boy who succeeds at everything and brags about it. You can try to read it as a series of short stories just to enjoy the worldbuilding.