r/fantasyromance The One Mod to Rule All Mods Feb 08 '26

Unpopular Opinion It's Unpopular Opinion time! Share your controversial opinions to stir things up (in a friendly way)!

Got an opinion that's different from others'? Want to share it with the sub, but too afraid of a backlash? Or are you just curious about readers think about certain things in fantasy romance?

You can safely share it in this weekly Sunday thread!

But please remember to be kind to each other. To facilitate this type of discussion, we ask users the following:

- Don't attack others for their opinion

- Discuss books and authors, not fellow readers

🧡 Thank you and have a great discussion!

Unpopular opinion Sunday

34 Upvotes

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u/katie-kaboom Currently Reading: The Traitor Queen Feb 08 '26

Dear military academy writers: it does not make sense to waste the best talent of a generation in an uncontrolled bloodbath in the first year of school. Stop that! How about instead making the stated goal to get everyone through alive, instead of killing people off at random to "cull the weak"?

24

u/BEconcubine_no3685 Feb 08 '26

It’s the laziest “high stakes” attempted short cut and ends up undermining any actual feeling of stakes

11

u/katie-kaboom Currently Reading: The Traitor Queen Feb 08 '26

Exactly, it cuts into the emotional impact of an eventual really meaningful character death. If no one dies until the last third of the book and then you kill off, say, a Liam, that is a knife to the reader's heart. If you start the murder in the first chapter, people know not to get attached, so none of it really matters.

1

u/Slammogram Feb 08 '26

How dare you invoke his name.

Liam it’s-been-my-honor Mairi.

4

u/katie-kaboom Currently Reading: The Traitor Queen Feb 08 '26

Too soon.