'Victory is mine, victory is mine. Great day in the morning, people. Victory is mine!'

Finally, I have defeated her. Today's tennis session- thrashed mother, 6-3. HA. And HA again, I say. *preens* Who will fetch me my muffins and bagels, eh? :P

--------------

I recently finished reading Jim Butcher’s Princeps Fury, the fifth in his Codex Alera series, and it’s one of the best books ever.  Epic without being bogged down in clunky exposition and confusing detail, way more accessible than classics like Lord of the Rings, featuring a variety of characters with their own distinct personalities and stories, and most importantly, it has both a sense of humor and a bit of romance. I’m not a big fan of the trend for fantasies to turn into doom-and-gloom tragedies, so this series lifts my spirits.

 

( *generalities* )

-----------------------

( *more specifically* )

---------------

Unfortunately, this wonderful book has raised an appetite for fantasy. I say unfortunately, because I am so picky about what I expect that I am rarely pleased and more often disappointed. I've tried a few different fantasies in the past fortnight and I've enjoyed none of them so far.

In the first, the girl gets raped by the second chapter. To be fair, the rape wasn't gratuitous in the sense that it served no purpose, because it did shape her character and inform her actions, which started a series of events that had consequences throughout the rest of the book. But I don't care how brilliantly it's executed, I stop reading once it happens.

In another, it was going so well. Powerful magic dude rescues an urchin with powers of her own, and they work together to overthrow the corrupt system. I have a soft spot for these kinds of ships, ever since Daine/Numair in Tamora Pierce's The Immortals. [Call me deviant, I don't care. Although she was really young, but I'm ignoring that, lalala]. The book was so good that when I saw the second in Borders, I thought about buying it so I didn't have to wait for the library- except I read the blurb, everything came crashing down around my ears. The dude dies and she gets with some other guy. Ouch.

The third was part of a series. Absolutely adored the first book, again had plans to purchase them. But in the second, the chick finds out she's bonded to this vampire- who she has feeling for, I might add- and wants to get rid of the spell so she has sex with another guy. Wtf?! NO. I looked up the plot for the third book, and it's still about her relationship with the vampire and the UST and epic romance of it all, and I'm thinking, 'What's romantic about sleeping with another guy to try and sever the connection between her and the first guy?' So...yah. Down the drain.

The problem I have is that there are, for some reason, a lot of love triangles in fantasy novels. What is up with that? I'm a fan of the OTP so it hurts me deeply. What's so wrong with having the one couple and sticking to that, instead of trying to ratchet up the chick's number of sexual partners?

Please, gods, I have suffered enough. Send me more worthy fantasy novels, I beseech you.