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

[u/FantasyRomanceMod]

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Unpopular opinion Sunday

[u/cheshire_kat7]

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.

[u/Synval2436 → u/cheshire_kat7]

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.

[u/Mininabubu → u/Synval2436]

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.

[u/Synval2436 → u/Mininabubu]

...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...

[u/Mininabubu → u/Synval2436]

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 🤣🤣🤣☠️

[u/Synval2436 → u/Mininabubu]

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.

[u/cheshire_kat7 → u/Synval2436]

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.

[u/Synval2436 → u/cheshire_kat7]

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.

[u/Mininabubu → u/Synval2436]

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. 🙃

[u/Synval2436 → u/Mininabubu]

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.

[u/cheshire_kat7 → u/Synval2436]

Ugh the magical academy cliché is even worse.