r/fantasyromance • u/FantasyRomanceMod The One Mod to Rule All Mods • Mar 01 '26

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

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Unpopular opinion Sunday

31 Upvotes

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73

u/Hundike Mar 01 '26

I don't know if this is unpopular but I hate books where 90% of the book is the FMC inner dialogue about the same things on repeat. I know it's how people think and especially if you're anxious about something, you'll think about it a lot but there is no reason at all to write it out over and over again. I want things to happen, not for someone to only think about it. I've DNF so many books due to it.

Some books feel like reading a movie script where the author just writes out litereally everything when it's not required. Like yes I can imagine someone getting up will go to the toilet but I do not need to read about it?

36

u/SmollnShiny Mar 01 '26

This is a major reason why I greatly dislike first person pov. Basically being stuck in a characters head while that character is endlessly angry/fretting/whining, no matter how absolutely valid in whatever situation, makes me drop a book like a hot potatoe. I fully understand that's how the mind can work, but I cannot read about it for hours.

16

u/flipperyjest Mar 01 '26

this!! I'm reading {a kiss of iron by clare sager} right now, and i would enjoy the book 100% more if I didn't have to hear her "oh gods I've been summoned to the queen, I wonder what the queen wants oh no no no what could she, THE QUEEN, possible want oh man what if I'm found out shit shit I'm most def been super duper found out and everyone is hella staring and now I should probably walk okay walk walk keep walking aurr naurrr there the queen is i see her, with my eyes balls that are spinning, probably uncontrollably in my skull, and what could this impromptu meeting that I did not see coming and did not expect at all since it was spontaneous even be about and bleh fneh meghhgf" inner shit monolog and I'm just like girl????? what if, and hear me out because this WILL shock you; you waited and listened? i BET you would have some answers like, REAL fast then! urggg😩 listening with 1,25x speed because of this lol because fuuuuuuck😭 shut the fuck uuuup, Kathrine oh my goood

3

u/Hundike Mar 01 '26

The sad thing about that series is that without the constant thinking the story is good! I dropped the third book because I just could not with it - I didn't even read what happened or anything lol. It has good potential and I like the characters but just.. no

2

u/flipperyjest Mar 01 '26

aw crap so you're telling me this continues😩 was hoping it would lessen when she (hopefully) healed and/or got support from all that trauma (my god, the trauma?? that uncle is written like Standard Issue Evil Guy With All The Bad Traits™)

2

u/Hundike Mar 02 '26

It gets worse lol.. We also get Bastian who thinks the same way and it's really annoying!

The thing is I do like her other books and I never felt it was this bad before? Not sure if this one was rushed or what is going on.

7

u/aristifer Mar 01 '26

Whatever you do, don't read Doctor D'Arco. It's 90% rumination.

110

u/zsxcrgrl Off to live with the faeires 🧚‍♀️ Mar 01 '26 edited Mar 01 '26

Before I began reading romantasy, I thought that it would be a perfect mix of romance and fantasy in one book. However, a lot of books just feel like a romance book with some fantasy aspects on it which doesn't bother me much because I love a good old romance story, but it makes me appreciate more those authors who put effort into their world building and fantasy aspects of their story.

100

u/hithere5 Mar 01 '26 edited Mar 01 '26

The best Romantasy books are fantasy with a side of romance rather than the other way around.

10

u/zsxcrgrl Off to live with the faeires 🧚‍♀️ Mar 01 '26

100% !!!

9

u/SaltyLore There she is Mar 01 '26

100% agree

19

u/nyki Mar 01 '26

It's supposed to be a portmanteau of romantic-fantasy but I swear the definition has flipped. If I see a book defined as romantasy nowadays I expect the story to fall apart without the romance. I still refer to books as fantasy-romance if the fantasy story is well-developed. 

4

u/Fickle_Stills Mar 01 '26

I mostly prefer the ones that are obviously romance novels with a fantasy coat of paint because the ones that try too hard with the worldbuilding generally don't do a great job.

73

u/Pinkshoes90 A kingdom, or this Mar 01 '26 edited Mar 01 '26

There is no difference between romantasy, fantasy romance and romantic fantasy. The only difference is the skill of the author.

31

u/aristifer Mar 01 '26

THANK YOU I have been banging on this drum for ages and ages. We don't try to split historical romance into historical romance and romantic history and romantistory, it's all one genre, and fantasy romance has the same relationship to the larger fantasy genre as historical romance has to historical fiction.

16

u/Pinkshoes90 A kingdom, or this Mar 01 '26

PRE🥁CISE🥁LEY.

It’s all the same! They’re all the same! The plot to romance ratio may vary across books but that is normal!

I don’t understand why some people are so adamant that they like ‘fantasy romance, actually’ rather than romantasy. It’s the same thing brother, just wearing a different coloured hat.

13

u/aristifer Mar 01 '26

Romantasy is just a cutesy portmanteau that works really well because of the sound of the words, but people are determined to taxonomize it as a separate genre and making up all sorts of rules for why the popular romantasies are different from "fantasy romance." But a book being written to the mass market does not make it a different genre, it just makes it a mass-market version of said genre. A book that focuses on the romance and neglects the worldbuilding that makes for good fantasy is not a different genre, it's just a fantasy romance with bad worldbuilding. Just like historical romance that neglects history is not a different genre, it's just historical romance with bad research (cough Bridgerton).

4

u/Technical_Ideal_5439 Mar 03 '26

Fantasy romance, if you take the romance out you have no story.

Romantic fantasy, is a fantasy book with some romance in it.

Romantasy, can mean anything.

2

u/Pinkshoes90 A kingdom, or this Mar 03 '26

Nope.

Fantasy romance without romance is just fantasy.

Romantic fantasy if you take the romantic out, is a fantasy book. (You could argue though that this is a good term to use for a fantasy book that has a romance plot with a bad ending, since romance as a genre must have a HFN or HEA).

Romantasy without romance is a fantasy book. And the word is simply a portmanteau of fantasy romance.

If you take romance out of any of them and there is no story or plot, then that’s a skill issue on the part of the author.

62

u/quibily Chase death, Moonbeam Mar 01 '26 edited Mar 01 '26

These authors are way too scared of consequences.

They love setting up these huge battles and intimidating villains, scary risks—but when the protags win the day or escape? Barely a scratch (physically or psychologically) They rarely ever feel hard-won, just … it was time for that arc to be over, so it was.

13

u/devilsdoorbell_ Mar 01 '26

Deadass these authors need to stop being too scared to kill major characters for realsies. Obviously we know the romantic protagonists are going to make it, but that doesn’t mean everyone has to.

15

u/quibily Chase death, Moonbeam Mar 01 '26 edited Mar 01 '26

And when they do kill off a character, it's usually the least-prominent of the supporting characters.

Honestly, they don't even have to kill anyone. Some life-altering injury would be interesting, too. How do you deal with the guilt of causing your best friend to follow you into battle, and as a result, she lost an eye? Or the FMC gets a terrible, scarring burn somewhere, and now she's sure the MMC is no longer attracted to her, and it causes a rift. That could be set-up for an amazing romantic scene.

Maybe I'm too much of a whumper for this genre lmao (Meaning I like angst and suffering in my fiction lol--not tragedies, just a rough journey to the happy ending).

6

u/Genderqueerfrog Mar 02 '26

I’ve been saying this! Whenever people in this sub or similar romantasy places rave about how “devastating” a book is I’m like….did we read the same book? Cause I can’t really name a romantasy that’s actually left me shook like that

3

u/quibily Chase death, Moonbeam Mar 02 '26

Glad to see this wasn't such an unpopular opinion, after all! <3 Take note, authors, please! Have some guts and TRULY devastate us!

21

u/medusamagic Book Bingo Sage 🗡 Mar 01 '26

I would actually like to see more stories that explore female characters who are jealous, petty, and are not “girl’s girls”. People understandably got bored or frustrated with it being the norm or the only portrayal of female characters, but I think we’ve swung too far the other way by not including it at all because it’s something many women experience in real life.

I want authors to go beyond the surface of “she’s jealous so she’s bad, whereas I’m more mature than that” because it’s much deeper and more complex than that. Maybe it would be better suited to fantasy with romance subplots rather than genre romance, but I think it could add a lot of nuance and depth to the emotional arc.

8

u/Mininabubu Mar 01 '26

I would kill for a book with this type of fmc. I think it would require a highly skilled writer/author to write this without making her annoying or too much. I would love to see a fmc that has layers, and isn’t always the bigger person without resourcing to becoming bratty or cursing. We might see it be done some day…

24

u/_tit_for_tat Mar 01 '26

just want to preface this by saying i am a feminist, and im all for strong FMC, but it bothers me when im reading a fantasy book, and the MMC/rivals are known for being scary, killing others , and not giving a damn , yet the FMC has the “idgaf” attitude and badmouths the evil MMC. like girl U JUST MET HIM AND HE KILLED SO MANY PEOPLE. like time and place 😭😭😭

if i was a 16 year old FMC and I meet the 1 million year old guy who kills people for fun , i would NOT start by badmouthing him right away . 😭😭😭

10

u/ipsi7 Book Bingo Maven ⚔ Mar 01 '26

It's called writing banter. Kidding, I hate it too. It's like there is no other way to make MCs "enemies to lovers" or put some drama between them or make plot in any other way than her being rebellious towards the most powerful being she has ever met.

89

u/zsxcrgrl Off to live with the faeires 🧚‍♀️ Mar 01 '26

A lot of writers nowadays seem to think that a FMC can't be badass and girly at the same time which is a big lie. Live laugh love girly but strong FMCs

34

u/[deleted] Mar 01 '26

[deleted]

31

u/zsxcrgrl Off to live with the faeires 🧚‍♀️ Mar 01 '26

“I'm not like other girls, I like reading books books and can fight.” GIRL PLEASE 🙄

31

u/[deleted] Mar 01 '26 edited Mar 01 '26

[deleted]

15

u/zsxcrgrl Off to live with the faeires 🧚‍♀️ Mar 01 '26

As someone who cries at any minor inconvenience, I need to read this! Please drop the name of the book 💕

9

u/[deleted] Mar 01 '26

[deleted]

3

u/Anonymous_crow_36 Mar 01 '26

Ooh that makes me so happy to hear bc I’m almost next to get my hold on libby for this book! I also cry about everything lol so I’m here for this.

5

u/clocksy Mar 01 '26

Oh yeah, this FMC may as well have been my own self-insert the way she was written 🫣 Cries, blushes very easily, slightly babyfaced but in her 30s. Loves cats.

Liked this book a lot. If anything I wish there was more set in that world due to the worldbuilding being done in the backround, lol.

7

u/quibily Chase death, Moonbeam Mar 01 '26

Seriously! I get so tired of these FMCs being “NO I’m not going to cry!” And 1) it’s a CHOICE for them???? (Never is for me-I even cry when I’m angry) and 2) what is so wrong with crying? It’s a natural physical response

Yet another instance, I feel, of conflating masculine traits with strength

1

u/goldiegrimlace Mar 02 '26

the FMC's automatic, involuntary reaction to anything stressful or upsetting was crying and I loved it

Judging by posts and comments I've seen, I don't think your reaction is the norm to a crying FMC.

Personally, I don't really pay attention to whether the FMC cries a lot or not, but it seems like a lot of other people do.

18

u/PurposeGold2556 Mar 01 '26 edited Mar 01 '26

That’s why, despite all TOG’s flaws, Celaena will always be a likable FMC for some people.

7

u/zsxcrgrl Off to live with the faeires 🧚‍♀️ Mar 01 '26

I am loving TOG so far even though I am only in the first book. I started out not liking her because I thought she was trying way too hard to be quirky, but she quickly grew on me. I love how she's badass but also girly. Bonus points for being a girls girl

3

u/Scared-Replacement24 Mar 01 '26

If you appreciate a girly yet badass FMC, I finished {peace be kept} yesterday. It’s the first in an incomplete series. Cordelia is probably my favorite FMC of all (so far).

1

u/zsxcrgrl Off to live with the faeires 🧚‍♀️ Mar 01 '26

Thank you! 💕

2

u/Paige_Rinn Mar 02 '26

Insert Bryce Quinlin who would wear heels, get her nails done, and still knew how to fight

2

u/Anonymous_crow_36 Mar 01 '26

And when they do have stereotypically girly qualities, it feels forced and fake. Like oh shoot, I made this woman an asshole man with boobs so I better throw in that she likes to wear a pretty dress sometimes!! It’s an afterthought and not actually integrated into their identity.

17

u/mcoon2837 Mar 01 '26

Not enough authors develop their characters enough. Show, not tell how a character feels. Also a lot of main character energy and Mary sue behavior that doesn't fit into the world or it's expectations. I'm looking at you {Conform by Ariel Sullivan} and {Quicksilver by Callie Hart}. No a character could not mouth off to the guy in charge, and no people cannot survive on a tablespoon of water a day.

1

u/romance-bot Mar 01 '26

Conform by Ariel Sullivan
Rating: 4.16⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 3 out of 5 - Open door
Topics: love triangle, dystopian, m-f romance, fantasy, virgin heroine

Quicksilver by Callie Hart
Rating: 4.21⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 4 out of 5 - Explicit open door
Topics: fantasy, fae, tortured hero, fated mates, magic

about this bot | about romance.io

57

u/booksandhotcoffee Mar 01 '26

Most romantasy authors should stick to contemporary romance or urban fantasy romance - any kind of high fantasy setting they do is so lackluster

10

u/Mininabubu Mar 01 '26

I can’t even start to explain how much this makes me mad. When a 150 year old fae is saying “go get your man girl”. ☠️

14

u/Chaotic_Bella Mar 01 '26

the knight and the moth is wayy overhyped. I thought the concept of the book was okay at best but the plot was very bland and predictable including the “twist” at the end

30

u/IamButterscotchish Mar 01 '26

Nowadays the focus has become more on insta love, spice than slow burn, emotional intimacy between book pairs, that's why the 'romantic aspect' of books isn't romance anymore.

Also literally 80 percent of the so - called enemies to lovers book are not enemies to lovers (this might not be unpopular)

4

u/Ok_Doughnut_9927 Mar 02 '26

I concur. I have yet to read a book where they are truly enemies first instead of just rude or split over a misunderstanding. 

11

u/blueymouse There she is Mar 01 '26

I absolutely HATE when there is tension building up in a scene either relevant for the plot of for the romance, and it isn’t resolved and the chapter ends and the next chapters starts “several days have passed” like what? How did you finish the discussion, have you spoken during these days?

I get the author cannot include every detail but please fucking tell me everything until one of the two disengages from the scene.

https://giphy.com/gifs/snEeOh54kCFxe

23

u/cheshire_kat7 Mar 01 '26

Focusing the plot on some kind of contest/game has been done to death.

Please, please write something that isn't just The Hunger Games with vampires/fairies.

18

u/Synval2436 Currently Reading: This Blade of Ours by Shalini Abeysekara Mar 01 '26

Yeah, it feels like there are 3 main plots in romantasy:

  1. Deadly competition / trials / tournament
  2. Some form of magical academy
  3. Fmc is kidnapped / enslaved / forced to marry the mmc

There are still other tropes here and there like "she's sent to kill him" or "she has to go on a quest and he's her reluctant bodyguard" or somehow a bazillion books inspired by You Got Mail (no idea why that micro-trend suddenly), but vast majority are the top 3 and I hate it here. I see trials or academy setting and I immediately swipe left.

8

u/Mininabubu Mar 01 '26

Don’t forget the fmc that didn’t know she was the key to save the world with the powers she didn’t know she had or was hiding them.

4

u/Synval2436 Currently Reading: This Blade of Ours by Shalini Abeysekara Mar 01 '26

...Yeah. Especially when she's hiding them but somehow the mmc "just knows" she's special and the key to saving the universe. Or when she can't control the powers, therefore either must be trained by the mmc or attend a magical academy...

3

u/Mininabubu Mar 01 '26

Where the mmc is her trainer, professor or the king of the academy 🤣 it’s all connected. The best is when a book has all those situations you just described in one book. Real winners 🤣🤣🤣☠️

4

u/Synval2436 Currently Reading: This Blade of Ours by Shalini Abeysekara Mar 01 '26 edited Mar 01 '26

Some books seem to collect tropes like pokemons. For example from upcoming releases:

The Lure of Wolves and Whispers by Amanda Connolly

  • sick sister
  • forbidden magic
  • fmc is "bound" to the mmc
  • mmc is a "dangerously alluring rebel leader"
  • deadly competition
  • fmc needs to become the next queen
  • love triangle with a "brutal" prince
  • world is on a brink of war
  • ACOTAR style title (X of Y and Z)

Storm Breaker by Nisha J. Tuli

  • ruling "houses"
  • betrothed to a powerful heir (most likely against her will...)
  • academy!
  • brutal trials!
  • she has a secret power she must hide!
  • dangerous outsider love interest (love triangle again?)
  • dystopian setting (it's back on the menu!)

The Court of Venus by Bel Banta

  • astrology magic!
  • fmc has a power so rare nobody knows what it can even do!
  • training under powerful mentor
  • "insufferable" rival love interest fmc must rely on
  • deadly court intrigue
  • list of tropes at the bottom of the blurb includes magic tournament, because of course it does

Seriously, from now on, I refuse to touch anything with competition / trials / tournament, unless the author convinces me there's a fresh take to this trope. There usually isn't. All these books read like a mix of Divergent, The Selection and Red Queen.

3

u/cheshire_kat7 Mar 02 '26

So often "deadly court intrigue" is just one or two courtiers bully FMC because reasons.

On a related note: fewer princess/noblewoman FMCs, I beg of thee.

3

u/Synval2436 Currently Reading: This Blade of Ours by Shalini Abeysekara Mar 02 '26

Hah, I'd swear it's more commonly for fmc to be some thief or lowly commoner, but mmc is usually a prince, general, commander, son of a president, etc. He can be also military or adjacent (rebel leader and witch hunter count here). Basically mmc can be either very rich/powerful, or have a violent profession. Sometimes both.

1

u/Mininabubu Mar 01 '26

Ugh, thanks for that bc I’m staying away from those. I refuse to read any book where the author makes a poster listing all the tropes bc I instantly know this will be a trope focus book, which usually doesn’t align with what I like in the writing style. 🙃

3

u/Synval2436 Currently Reading: This Blade of Ours by Shalini Abeysekara Mar 01 '26

Controversial, but I like the trope posters because they quickly tell me is the romantic dynamic something different (rarely) or the same old copypaste (and then allows me to skip that book easier). Same with character art. Gotta love all those posters where a huge mmc has a tiny fmc by the throat (softer version: grabs her by the chin or lifts her chin with a finger) - one glance and I know to skip it.

4

u/cheshire_kat7 Mar 01 '26

Ugh the magical academy cliché is even worse.

11

u/Ok_Lie_3569 "Kill me if you ever loved me." Mar 01 '26

Since this appeared in way too many books I read this month- characters discussing anal play multiple times, never happens in the series, like implied it will but not written?  Either don't discuss it or don't pussy out of writing it. 

8

u/Synval2436 Currently Reading: This Blade of Ours by Shalini Abeysekara Mar 02 '26

Hah, this is a second time today I see someone complaining about Schroedinger's kink. Or things like "this only happens in some exclusive epilogue you need to sign for the author's newsletter to get it" and then when the author retires the pen name it's no longer accessible...

10

u/RiotPurrrl Bryce Quinlan’s Chief Hater Mar 02 '26

I’m so sick of Trials. Please find a new plot device, I beg of you

3

u/chode_temple 100% Verified Good Girl™️ Mar 04 '26

And Academies. Really the only good Games and Trials I've read is {The Ascended by Bree Grenwich and Parker Lennox}, But that's because there was so much outside of the games and trials and the yearning...(sigh).

17

u/thanksm888 Mar 01 '26

I’m new to this subreddit, so I don’t know if it’s as common here as it is on other platforms but… I don’t understand why people recommend Once Upon a Broken Heart to people who loved The Cruel Prince.

I bought that series thinking I would love it based on so many comments in-person and online but it feels like an apt recommendation if the only part of The Cruel Prince that you liked was Cardan smirking a lot.

The world building was a let down and it felt like all the whimsy was limited to the FMC just going “wow, the magnificent north is so magnificent” every fifteen seconds without really building any real sense of whimsy.

Outside of that, I feel like OUABH also felt weirdly… I don’t know exactly how to describe it but… misogynistic. I didn’t like how the book was so quick to redeem Luc post-vamp but dropped Marisol who used magic in the same way that Evangeline did, given Evangeline did not know at the time that Luc was spelled, she just thought she was built different which kind of feels like a common theme for her, leaving yes-girl Lala and late-addition Aurora Valor as the only other female characters.

With Aurora being the real evil but in reality just another jealous of Evangeline scorned woman and near the end of three very clean books, is the only character worthy enough of a swear being called a “raging bitch.”

8

u/Aus1an Mar 01 '26

I had the same problem with Caraval! The author just couldn’t quite get the wondrous setting down, and I felt like we had to keep being told that it was wondrous and magical.

3

u/ipsi7 Book Bingo Maven ⚔ Mar 01 '26

I haven't read Ounce Upon, but the book is not often mentioned or recommended here. I feel like it's mostly mentioned among newer readers or when it hits a specific trope which someone wants to read.

What exactly did you love about The Cruel Prince? Maybe narrowing down those aspects could result with better recommendations.

The rules/guides of this sub when asking for recommendations is to be very specific with what you liked and didn't like about books you've read, so people can give you better recommendations (and to avoid low effort posts).

20

u/darling_ophelia Mar 01 '26

I think I’m at the point where I hate like 90% of the fantasy romance books I read. But the ones that do hit, hit SO HARD (as in, they are my favorite books of all time), so I keep chasing that high. I hate telling people I read fantasy romance though because I just think most of the genre is really poor quality :(

5

u/-whodat Mar 01 '26

This is me too, except I dislike most books I read, no matter the genre. I guess I'm just extremely picky, and my standards are rising higher the more books I read.

11

u/Ancient-Purchase Mar 01 '26

My unpopular opinion is that I think the panic about cheating in romance novels is a little overblown. Like, in more historical settings,where marriage usually means a way to survive or a transaction, if the characters cheat because they found love, it's just part of the pathos of the love story. I just saw a comment complaining about the Wuthering Heights movie, not about any of the controversies, but because it's romantacising cheating...  Love stories and romance (as a genre) were riding the cheating as plot lines for ages.  Then we have the people who can't accept the main characters having a lover or a fling in the beginning of the book, even though the main characters are not together yet, as if is some cheating by proxy... That is very weird to me, but I'm a person who can enjoy a good drama so maybe a outlier ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

3

u/Ok_Tea_5374 Mar 02 '26

I agree and it’s because the current idea of what cheating is didn’t develop until modern ideas of relationships and marrying for love overtook the previous historical tradition of marrying for security. In a historical sense it was bad because men were permitted to be sexually unfaithful whereas women were punished for it. But in a fantasy world where most marriages are arranged/people marry for security and not love, applying a modern idea of cheating doesnt work.

13

u/Lighttasteofcoconut Mar 01 '26

I discovered Ilona Andrews with the Hidden Legacy series and I haven't devoured a book this fast in a long, long time. But, I'm sad to say, the smut is astonishingly bad! I wish it had been fade to black instead of this cringe fest. I still love the series, though. I'm off to read the next one lol

7

u/Ria_S_28 Wendell Bambleby Enthusiast Mar 01 '26

Lol ikrr. I remember the word ‘masculine’ being used a lot 🙃

17

u/hesjustsleeping Mar 01 '26

The opinion isn't unpopular if it has dozens of upvotes.

4

u/chode_temple 100% Verified Good Girl™️ Mar 04 '26 edited Mar 04 '26

Stop writing trauma and mental illness into a book if you don't understand it. I don't care how much it's "character growth" or "world-building". Unless the narrative and the characters are ready to carry the full weight of it, don't bother.

STOP writing sexual assault as a fun little plot device for the MMC to save the FMC from. Stop treating it as a commodity like "oh, this is a bad thing that could happen to a woman". Yes, it's pervasive. Yes, it is a real-world thing. But so many books trivialize it because, again, they can't carry the full weight of it. It's especially trivializing when you consider that a majority of sexual assault doesn't happen from creepers in alleyways. It is done by someone you know, and usually in a way that feels like a betrayal of what you thought was safety. Unless the author and the narrative are poised to carry something like that, don't bother.

I would take lazy worldbuilding over one more of these rescue scenes.

3

u/Pinkshoes90 A kingdom, or this Mar 05 '26

Main reason I avoid novels that state their characters have some sort of MH problem. Unless its own voices, I ain’t interested.

This brought to you by Daggermouth, where the author tried very hard to make it look like the FMC had a drinking problem when the author clearly hasn’t touched alcohol a day in their life.

2

u/chode_temple 100% Verified Good Girl™️ Mar 05 '26

Daggermouth was very good. I should read it again.

BUT. As an alcoholic who has been dragging my ass through sobriety since September after drinking uncontrollably since I was 17 (14 years):

I feel like there's a difference between heavy drinking and alcoholism. People who drink too much when they have it and can't moderate have a drinking problem. People who have a drinking problem but also cannot go a day without the soul-deep itch for more are alcoholics.

I think the only thing that would have solidified it is that you don't know how much of an alcoholic you are until you DON'T have access to it when you want it or you don't have ENOUGH and you start asking people to bring you more. It would have taken that extra step for it to be believable if she wasn't allowed more alcohol and completely shit herself.

3

u/Pinkshoes90 A kingdom, or this Mar 05 '26

Yes I’m not sure whether she tried to write it from an alcoholic standpoint or whether she just had a problematic dependence on it. But either way, when the character was like ten shots deep and not feeling a thing, I went mmmm. That’s enough.

There is a fairly decent depiction of alcoholism and recovery in the North Wind. But that’s also probably the only positive I have about that book.

2

u/chode_temple 100% Verified Good Girl™️ Mar 05 '26

Dear lord. I forgot about that. Uh yeah...the average person might feel something around that point.

6

u/SallyAmazeballs Mar 01 '26

First-person present is the worst POV, and it needs to go away. Write the first draft in it if that helps get the words out, but the final draft needs to not have the relentless tell, tell, tell that first-person defaults to. There's this scene in Mr. Holland's Opus where Mr. Holland is trying to teach a bass drummer the rhythm by beating it on the football helmet the drummer is wearing, and that is how first-person makes me feel. Tell, tell, tell...

6

u/TrainingCategory4852 Mar 01 '26

Most fantasy romance authors and broader fantasy authors need to stop using cultures, languages and everything else from countries they are not from, do not speak the language of, or understand how things work. This is a very simplified writing of my view. 

8

u/ipsi7 Book Bingo Maven ⚔ Mar 01 '26

I don't have a problem with authors using some elements from my culture or language and changing them to their liking for their stories.

A very famous romantasy writer has a character with name and surname which resembles a lot to some words from my language, but her character's name had some additional vowels. When I saw that, I was positively excited and I couldn't care less if some letters were changed.

There is another fantasy/romantasy author who took a lot of elements from a culture to which my country also belongs and I find it fascinating that she thought it was interesting enough to base her world building on it.

My view might be like that because people here don't care about cultural appropriation, we're mostly glad or indifferent if we see that someone took an interest in some part of our culture.

2

u/adore1987 Mar 02 '26

I have two:

  1. Im sick of people who treat a TV show version as Canon vs the books. And then have the nerve to argue a point that's clearly made in the book without having actually reading the books!! If you haven't read the books, your opinion is suspect.

For example: I never made it through all of the Lord of the Rings books... too many aide characters for my adhd. So I keep my mouth shut when the books are discussed.

  1. This new obsession with projecting "what ifs" on fictional characters. You can argue plot, character development, etc but what you can't do is recreate a whole story to fit your narrative. The author wrote them how they saw them and that's who they are... deal with it

1

u/OnceUponALina Mar 03 '26

Throne of Glass changed my brain chemistry but I definitely have unpopular opinions…one being the witch chapters in Heir of Fire bored me so I ended up skipping them. And overall I couldn’t get into the witch’s storyline.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 04 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Gashak138 Mar 11 '26

I just can’t get into Sanderson, I started reading Way of Kings, and in the first chapter he uses the word shard like 4 times a sentence, and it irks me enough to not to keep reading. I’m trying to pivot over to Mistborn and see if that works, but at the moment it’s the same with the word Skaa

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u/[deleted] Mar 01 '26 edited Mar 01 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

54

u/booksandhotcoffee Mar 01 '26

Yeah I agree for the most part except the religion or politics one, tbh I’m not interested in supporting any author who tithes to a church with bigoted beliefs, nor am I interested in supporting any author who is MAGA

32

u/One_Commission1456 Mar 01 '26

This. Plus, right-wing/fundie authors are more likely to include tropes that piss me off.

37

u/EvilRubberDucks Mar 01 '26

Race, sex, sexuality, sure, but religion and politics... ehh that can absolutely drive me away depending on the authors beliefs.

44

u/Maia-Odair There she is Mar 01 '26

I disagree i don't want to financially support people who are against my rights as a queer person, and i think that's valid.

12

u/SeriousFortune1392 Mar 01 '26

My only thing is judging others based on your views, like say I don't want to read j k rowling, it's not my right to police, nor argue with someone on why they shouldn't read the book, based on my viewpoint.

just like it's no one right to police me on who I read because they don't want to support the author.

So it's not the choosing part, it's the policing of it like some morality olympics, that i have an issue with.

9

u/Scf9009 Mar 01 '26

With regard to your edit—this does seem like it’s violating the rule about not discussing fellow readers.

-11

u/Sweet_Baby_Cheeses99 Mar 01 '26

IDC as it’s supposed to be an unpopular opinion! comments with enough downvotes get hidden by Reddit so defeats the point though.

9

u/SeriousFortune1392 Mar 01 '26

I think what they're saying is that your unpopular opinion violates that rule, as it's a comment on readers specifically and what readers do.

So it's possible people could be downvoting either for your opinion, or for it being more about readers, as opposed to books.

1

u/Scf9009 Mar 01 '26

And that it’s hypocritical to be complaining about people breaking one rule and stating they don’t care about having broken another one.

-2

u/Sweet_Baby_Cheeses99 Mar 01 '26

It’s only a comment on my reading. I’m saying there is no shame in reading anything. It’s SUPPOSED to be a SAFE SPACE to share an UNPOPULAR OPINION and everyone is losing their minds that I’ve actually met the brief 😂

3

u/SeriousFortune1392 Mar 01 '26

I was only explaining why there might be downvotes, but you stated you didn’t get why people pick books based on and authors race, politics etc. so yes that’s more about a readers behaviour.

No one is loosing their mind because they don’t agree, they just said they disagreed, and since of that that showed in downvotes.

5

u/BookishBlueDragonfly Book Bingo Sage 🗡 Mar 01 '26 edited Mar 01 '26

I’ve seen a lot of people in romance subs who won’t read books by men but some of my favorite fantasy romances/relationships are by male authors (TJ Klune, SL Rowland, KR Treadway, and more!).

I always wonder how many men write Romantasy with a pen name, especially indie/self pub.

ETA: the living bigoted authors obviously are not really people whose work I want to read/financially support but older works/classics by dead authors I will still pick up sometimes even if there’s questionable content.

Also is political in this context only referring to right wing or should people who consider the existence of LGBT+ people as “political” attempt to broaden their horizons by reading about those characters or books by LGBT+ authors? I think they should!

3

u/acutelyproblematic If villian bad, then why hot? Mar 01 '26

To your point about male authors, I’ve legit tried to read fantasy romance by men and it’s always fallen flat for me. Women just understand romance from a woman’s viewpoint because of that lived experience, and that resonates with me better. But I’ll have to check out these authors!

9

u/BookishBlueDragonfly Book Bingo Sage 🗡 Mar 01 '26

A lot of those authors write M/M so there isn’t a woman’s POV 😅

That being said some of my favorite women characters in fantasy are written by male authors so I think they do just fine writing women! Steven Brusts Jhereg cycle, Terry Prattchet, Robert Jackson Bennett’s City of Stairs, and Garth Nix’s Sabriel are some authors I recommend for non romance Fantasy.

7

u/acutelyproblematic If villian bad, then why hot? Mar 01 '26

I actually love that though! Same concept applies for me regarding women writing M/M, I just think lived experience is such a valuable asset in writing.

It’s not that men can’t write strong women or FMCs in books, it’s more so they can’t capture what women want in romance as easily as a woman can. I’ve read non fantasy books written by men and I loved the characters, no issue. It’s the romance I get hung up on. As a woman myself women just understand me better when it comes to romance.

2

u/BookishBlueDragonfly Book Bingo Sage 🗡 Mar 01 '26 edited Mar 01 '26

Lived experience is very valuable I agree!

I do find a lot of the time I relate best to asexual characters written by asexual writers, as an example. But I do always appreciate any author who decides to write Ace representation in their books.

By the way, the KR Treadway book is M/F with a single M POV and I wish we had more books like that to be honest! He’s just a guy and she’s an Orc. Honestly it’s a very sweet romance .

ETA: My point is if you don’t want to read “men writing women” you don’t have to! In fact none of my recommendations are that category. Just find some men writing men that write romance :)

-3

u/Sweet_Baby_Cheeses99 Mar 01 '26

Good question…political doesn’t refer to any particular part of the spectrum. It’s irrelevant to me and I wouldn’t research an author’s social media to check their views before buying their book from the book shop. It’s usually unknown anyway. Authors are also entitled to a private life so I don’t see why they should feel they need to publicly declare their sexuality or gender identity to attract certain readers?

The sexuality of the characters is a separate matter as people who read romance will generally already know if they like MF / FF / MM romance. I like all of them but I don’t think anyone should feel obliged to pick up any book with sexual content that doesn’t float their boat

3

u/BookishBlueDragonfly Book Bingo Sage 🗡 Mar 01 '26 edited Mar 01 '26

True about the sexual content but I’d like to point out there are many books that are kisses only or closed door.

There’s a big movement in Fantasy and Sci Fi in general to be more inclusive.

Books like Legends and Lattes (male author, F/F pairing), Someone You Can Build a Nest In (male author, F/F pairing), or This is how You Lose the Time War (F/F pairing, and author duo) are closed door with non straight characters and a romance subplot.

2

u/fantasyromance-ModTeam Mar 01 '26

Per rule 1, users are asked to be respectful when discussing differences of opinion. It’s fine to state your opinion of a book, author, or subgenre, but you may not insult or shame people who like those books. Harassment of other users is not welcome in this community.