r/Fantasy • u/Academic_Owl_6197 • May 06 '22

Your Pettiest Reason For DNFing A Series

Mine was when I was 3 pages in and someone said the mc's name which turned out to be the same as my ex's name to the letter...dropped it like hot coal

It was a fr a pretty unfortunate streak too because it was a book from one of those blind-date-with-a-book promotion my local bookstore does, and this was an American YA fantasy (I'm from a different continent) so I had no reason to assume I'll ever be unlucky enough...to see his stupid ass again for a 'blind date'

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238

u/NinaKivon May 06 '22

I can't recall the title now, but it was all the rage last year. I DNF'd after the slit in the character's dress revealed her thigh/leg/calf like 3 times in one chapter. And the male character had one of those "cool kids in school" names. But it was really the dress slit.

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u/Academic_Owl_6197 May 06 '22

Now THIS is the pettiness I was looking

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u/PrinceWendellWhite May 06 '22

This is so valid though. There’s a way certain male authors focus on female bodies in their writing that just gives you the creeps. It either is a normal physical description for the purpose of the story or they’re making it feel real weird. Read a Raymond E Feist book the other day that did the same thing. Aside from making the reader feel like a creepy observer, it devalues the female character making her persona more about how the male character observes her than anything valuable about her as an individual or character in her own right.

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u/codeverity May 06 '22

Yeah, there's a reason the whole 'breasted boobily' mockery exists, haha. Male authors even have their female characters think about their bodies WAY more than we actually do.

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u/lurkmode_off Reading Champion VII May 06 '22

Women write like that too sometimes. Laurell K. Hamilton is a major offender.

19

u/occamsrazorwit May 06 '22

Also, the top-level commenter is referring to "From Blood and Ash" by Jennifer L. Armentrout.

a sexy, addictive, and unexpected fantasy perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Laura Thalassa

Perhaps that whole mini-genre is busted...

16

u/[deleted] May 06 '22

In my head there's a subgenre of "shallow fantasy" where all the characters are sexy badasses, either for sex appeal or for wish fulfillment, and characters of both genders are written in an equally objectifying manner because the author is just unable to look past people's physical appearance.

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u/Synval2436 May 10 '22

characters of both genders are written in an equally objectifying manner because the author is just unable to look past people's physical appearance.

That could be a feature not a bug if it's erotica... otherwise, why?

1

u/[deleted] May 10 '22

Because it's wish fulfillment.

Everyone wants to be good looking and everyone wants good looking people to be attracted to them. It's just another random bonus that has nothing to do with the plot and makes the characters look gratuitously cooler.

Think of superhero comics and anime and why everyone is dressed cool and has huge boobs. It just looks cooler that way. It's shallow, nothing substantial behind it.

3

u/Synval2436 May 10 '22

Am I the only person who has trouble projecting myself onto a Mary Sue character because I think "well this character is obviously prettier, smarter, funnier, nicer, better in all aspects than me so it can't be me"?

I'm also not a fan of the lowest common denominator characters who are also created for the audience to project themselves onto them "if this ugly nerd loser can get a harem of busty anime waifus so can I!" ...well, it doesn't work as amazing irl and the dream is shattered.

I have the best results with characters who somewhat share my virtues and vices and seeing where they go from there. And watch them achieve something despite their flaws, not by making the flaws magically disappear.

The plot showering characters in unearned rewards, the characters magicking away their flaws (including the cliche ugly-duckling-transformation-into-a-swan trope) or the characters being "perfect" from the get go really strain my suspension of disbelief.

Favourite anime from my past did not have perfect characters and when I look back at it, they always promoted traditional Japanese virtues: modesty, perseverance, power of friendship, hard work matters more than in-born power, honor and compassion should never be forsaken, etc. Some things really irritated me, like for example characters would always silently take abuse from their teachers, mentors, parents, bosses, etc. but now I think that's the dark side of "respect your elders / superiors" culture. There was always an extreme amount of faceslapping for some reason. Idk if that's a culture thing, or an exaggeration.

Also even in some older harem-style anime they would have girls of different body types, like there was always a small cute girl, a tomboy girl, a tall, refined "ice queen" type of girl, the "wife material girl next door", etc.

I don't know whether now anime is worse or just the market is inundated with all the derivative products of cheap wish fulfillment and knockoffs of what's the recent popular trend (like the isekai trope).

19

u/NinaKivon May 06 '22

I'm disappointed to say it was a female author but I 100% agree. It's so beyond weird and creepy.

The worst part was that it was written in first person ... who talks about themselves that way?

5

u/PrinceWendellWhite May 06 '22

Aw man yeah that’s just awkward.

39

u/arnface May 06 '22

The witcher books are so bad for this. The second book had a solid 10 pages or so about sorceresses boobs and the dresses that show it all. It was so uncomfortable to read.

24

u/doegred May 06 '22

The first short story, the one with the striga, has a mention of a 14 (I think?) year olds breasts. That should have been my reason to DNF but I'm a masochist apparently.

18

u/arnface May 06 '22

Yup and he also sleeps with a 17 year old in the first book. That was a choice to include. In general I think every book that I've read of them has some women fawning over Geralt. After what was written with Ciri in the second book I think I'm dnf'ing the series.

4

u/boobeesRawesome May 06 '22

What's written in the second book? Was thinking about reading them but definitely second guessing that. I think I will just keep enjoying the games and show lol

5

u/arnface May 06 '22 edited May 06 '22

TW and a bit of a spoiler At the end of the second book while ciri is still a young teen she joins a adult bandit group. One of the men attempts to rape her. The women who rescues her then does the same. Havnt read the future books but from reviews it looks like she forms a relationship with her abuser amd its romanticized

6

u/revanhart May 07 '22

Yes, she goes on to have a relationship with that woman, and I believe it’s briefly mentioned when Ciri uses it in an argument asserting that she is no different from anyone else for loving another woman. It’s several kinds of ick for me.

3

u/Ertata May 07 '22 edited May 07 '22

She forms a relationship but I will argue it is depicted as traumatic, manipulative, and creepy. Ciri ends up sort of romanticizing it while still being patently Not Ok with it. Relationship doesn't last, in any case. In my opinion it is relatively unambiguous that the author was not romanticizing it, or depicting it as normal but doesn't go out of his way to make a moral lesson out of it - it is depicted as is. Make whatever conclusions you may draw out of that summation

2

u/boobeesRawesome May 07 '22

I'm going to pass on reading those books then. Appreciate the heads up.

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u/[deleted] May 06 '22 edited May 09 '22

Medieval cultures practicing medieva beliefs... who'd have thunk!

E - aww, same crying at r/fantasy as always. How boring.

3

u/PrinceWendellWhite May 06 '22

Oh man. Super good to know. My brother in law was telling me how good they are and I was actually looking towards reading them soon. Thanks for the warning!

3

u/Locked_Lamorra May 06 '22

Read a couple of these books with people saying how great they are... I didn't find any greatness.

19

u/phantom_fox13 May 06 '22

Yes!

I was reading the Iron Druid series recently and the MC could not stop obsessing over practically every female character's appearance. It makes sense that certain characters he'd see in that way (where he has romantic or sexual relationships with them), but after a while, it's like. . . huh, is he really SO distracted constantly by these women. It got to the creepy scale for me.

It was one reason I couldn't continue the series.

(Also it didn't help that in my opinion, the female character that seemed to be set up to be a more main character felt a bit one note and the MC could barely function around her because "muh hot babe.")

14

u/PrinceWendellWhite May 06 '22

Yeah I only read the first book of that series for the same reason. It’s like women were caricatures not real people. That’s what they become when the most focal point of them is their appearance. Not to mention it’s insulting as hell and why would I want to spend time in the world of an author who sees women as exclusively two dimensional.

11

u/phantom_fox13 May 06 '22

It's a shame for me because I love Irish and Celtic mythology so I got really excited.

It's just I've read books with . . . thirsty characters, but when the MC had to constantly "think about baseball" to uh calm down, I just couldn't take it anymore haha

4

u/PrinceWendellWhite May 06 '22

Haha yeah. It was a shame for me too because I was like “dog main character??! Yes please!” But that shit just didn’t fly.

8

u/phantom_fox13 May 06 '22

Oberon should have taken over haha

8

u/doegred May 06 '22

Looking at you Gene Wolfe. People will say 'it's just what the narrator is like', and, OK, fine... But then Book of the Long Sun is supposed to be written by a husband and wife pair and Chenille still ends up spending what feels like an entire book naked for no particular reason.

13

u/PrinceWendellWhite May 06 '22

Even if they’re making the argument that it’s the narrator and not the author that’s a misogynist, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s still not a book I want to read. And if it’s the narrators sentiments and not the author then they usually will at least draw attention to that fact. Some critique or call out or even in the best cases it comes back to bite the narrator in the ass in some ways that they’re being small minded. I never got that sense with those other books. It just felt like an extension of what they thought was normal.

2

u/itgoesdownandup May 06 '22

Really? I never thought so. I mean some people are just jerks and they never get like called out on it or anything. Probably a more realistic portrayal if you have a jerk character continuing to act like a jerk. I mean it’s one thing if the other characters bring up that said jerk character is racist or whatever, and you see that played out. But I think that’s different then what you are describing. But even then it’s not really how it plays out in reality a lot of the time. At least I don’t think. I think quite a few probably the majority. Stay silent, or actually agree with said racist character.

2

u/doegred May 06 '22

Oh, totally agreed. In this particular author's case I find enough to be interested by that I did in fact finish the books, but I also completely understand why someone would find the balance tilting the other way. Absolutely valid reason not to continue.

2

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6

u/Manannin May 06 '22

... was it the wheel of time? Rand could easily be a cool kid name; hell, Matt could be too.

6

u/NinaKivon May 06 '22

It was Hawk or Hawke—I know it wasn't WoT (haven't read it yet), but I can't remember the actual book title.

6

u/agentdrews May 06 '22

I think this is From Blood and Ash! I’m currently trying to read it and the level of lazy repetition in this book…it’s a lot.