Reasons I Love Fantasy

Hello fantasy fans. And other bookworms alike. Today’s post is all about the reasons I love fantasy, my go to genre of choice. I’d say about 80% of what I read is fantasy and the other 20% is the random junk that gets published in my bookish sphere that I want to read due to hype.

This is for Top Ten Tuesday, you can find the other posts here and you can check out all my list posts here. Would love to hear from you guys in the comments: tell me your favourite genre, what you like, what you hate. Are you a fantasy bookworm? Do you agree with me? What’s your favourite type of cheese? Let me know in the comments section!

Dragons

1. Obviously my number reason for being a fantasy fan is the dragons. And the griffins, the green elephants and flying door mice or whatever else is in your world. I’ve always been a fan of animals and magical animals are just a one up on those.

Magic

2. Like Dragons, magic is just a cool embellishment to any world. The limitless possibilities and uniqueness a character has when they discover they have a magic power is great, they are no longer bound by the dull rules of physics that stops us all and it’s so fun to see where the author will take that. When you have magic you can just do anything no explanation required, just blame it on the magic.

Escapism

3. Fantasy is so far away from the mundane life of work, tea breaks and pasta for dinner that is really a chance to get away. Enter a new world. Explore a new horizon and not need to worry about getting up at 6am the next day for work.

Hiding a big Secret

4. One of the things that has always weirdly drawn me to fantasy was the hiding it. Like in the TV show Merlin: the funny scenes where Merlin was doing magic behind Arthur’s back and the silly excuses he came up with. You get that in literature too, with City of Bones, Percy Jackson and even Harry Potter showing the odd scene of young protagonists hiding their powers that they never fail to make me chuckle.

Often no Deeper Meaning

5. What I love about a lot of fantasy novels is that you can close the book and leave it. I’m not saying you won’t take anything from the novel but you’re less likely to stretch and challenge your world view. I read pretty diversely and have stumbled across some shocking stuff that has really altered my opinions but occasionally I will want a read that will literally have no bearings on my real life. Nothing I can recognise or ponder over, a whole new world that I can take a leave as I please, the implausibility of it making it a little silly.

The Fandom

6. A pure joy for any fantasy bookworm is discovering other fantasy bookworms. Full of opinions, alternate endings, radical discussion and a weird love of swords, the fantasy community both online and in person has always been my favourite place to hang out.

The Creativity of the World

7. Fantasies can be sent in the past, present, future, different worlds, realms, space, time and anywhere along the continuum. When you open a fantasy you can literally step into anywhere and see anything, using a cheesy line I think I stole from an ad for Play dough when I was a kid: the only limit is your imagination.

The Medieval Vibe

8. Most fantasies at some point will doff it’s hat to the medieval world that conjured the original set of magical rules. The past when people actually believed and feared wizards, witches and dragons. Maybe it’ll include a castle, or the odd cloak or go the full hog and feature thatched roofs and cobbled streets, either way I love seeing how different authors incorporate folklore and the past into the fantasy story they are writing.

The Unguessable Plots

9. When reading a romance you go through the whole plot knowing that the protagonist is going to end up with someone in the story. There are other twists: the love interest/protagonist could die, some drama might flare up, but really you roughly know what you’re in for. Same with crime. With fantasy you have no idea. The plot can literally be taken anywhere. Although a lot of YA has become quite stale and the plots a little too obvious there is still the option to surprise me.

The Relationships

x. I’ve read other genres with some really tight-knit friendships and heart warming families. And there is obviously a strength in dealing with the mundane together. But, and I paraphrase from Harry Potter, friends who fight trolls together stay together. I find that the whirlwind, near death, edge of your seat action of fantasy makes it easier for the writer to develop strong and meaningful relationships between characters quickly. If friends for life formed out of 30 pages in any genres I’d be skeptical but in fantasy I can kind of see it.