topic: faeries

I love good faerie stories. They're far more complex and interesting than the typical vampire or angel or werewolf thing (should I call this grouping of topics, VAW?) Honestly, there hasn't been a single faerie book that I've read that wasn't terrible. Some examples of my favourites.

The Lament books by Maggie Steivater are more cultural and emotional, and brilliant. The Wicked Lovely books are rich with just mad fun and wicked fantasy plots. The books following Tithe are equally amazing! Melissa Marr and Holly Black are goddesses of Faerie fiction. I love them both to death!

topic: faeries 

All my topic posts have been complaints, but this is not one of them. I think it's because faerie books are more difficult to write that there aren't so many generic ones out there. Wings, by Aprilynne Pike, is amazingly creative, with the concept that faeries are plants, or function like plants. She writes lots of details into it that weaves sense into fiction.

why do I like them so much?

 It takes loads of creativity and imagination to create faerie stories. You've got a whole new culture to define,   a race to create and give realistic qualities to, and a complicated political structure to build. Given that there are foundations, such as the Seelie and Unseelie Court and Fae like Oberon and Titania and that sort of thing. And also tales of faeries in many cultures, but there's always foundations when writing anything. 

 When there's a lot of time and effort and depth in a book, the book becomes more enjoyable, more realistic and true. For instance, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of The Rings series. He created entire languages, histories and "religions" that took many many years to build, and from that he wrote the world of Middle Earth. To write up an entire world from his mind! Fantasy writers definitely have it hard.

as a reader

From the other topic posts, I don't enjoy mindless reading. As an awesome blogger commented: 

"a significant percentage of YA lit is made for the indulgence of the teenage sense rather than the engagement of the teenage mind"  ---Julia

YES! Exactly! Most Faerie themed books fall into the small percentage of YA Lit that DOES engage the mind. It's thought provoking fantasy, which in my opinion is the best type of fantasy. As a reader, books that tug at my brain are books I'd love to read.

as a writer

 To those writers who dare to write Faerie themed books, I applaud you. It's definitely a challenge it even begin a novel of this sort, but to make it good is phenomenal. Keep writing, you Faerie novelists, because if you can accomplish this, you're a very talented writer.