Notes
I remember trying, years ago, to explain to my father why "Star Wars" (then a brand-new movie) was amazing. "It looks real!" I said. "The ships look used, the ways they work make sense." To which he replied, "Spaceships aren't real." Conversation ender.
But that's how I feel about fantasy: I want my fantasy to feel REAL. Real places, real people, real problems. Real everyday challenges along with the overall 'big plot.' Real stories where everything doesn't always go right or well; where mistakes are made; where potential tragedy is as possible as potential success. Where sometimes success carries a heavy cost.
I want fantasy I can sink into, that becomes a real place to me, with real people I can care about.
Robin Hobb writes that kind of fantasy.
I love it.
(For the record, George R.R. Martin also writes that kind of fantasy. Much of the time. As did Tolkien, who began it all.)
But that's how I feel about fantasy: I want my fantasy to feel REAL. Real places, real people, real problems. Real everyday challenges along with the overall 'big plot.' Real stories where everything doesn't always go right or well; where mistakes are made; where potential tragedy is as possible as potential success. Where sometimes success carries a heavy cost.
I want fantasy I can sink into, that becomes a real place to me, with real people I can care about.
Robin Hobb writes that kind of fantasy.
I love it.
(For the record, George R.R. Martin also writes that kind of fantasy. Much of the time. As did Tolkien, who began it all.)