a critique of modern fantasy

Omar B

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Terrible article, totally one sided showing a total bias on the journalist part or a deliberate attempt to smear a whole genre.

I don’t particularly care for fantasy per se. What I actually cherish is something far more rare: the elevated prose poetry, mythopoeic subcreation, and thematic richness that only the best fantasy achieves, and that echoes in important particulars the myths and fables of old.

I found that bit pretty funny because he seemed to be describing GRRM's Song of Fire and Ice series, the I get to the part about how he feels about the Malazan books and I was all "nope, I guess he wouldnt like GRRM either."

The article reads like a guys who's angry at a genre for growing. The type of fantacy he seems to enjoy which from his cues in the article seem to run toward high-fantasy (sure he mentioned Howard, but everybody loves Howard). It's still there and going strong, he can find all the pretty young farmboys plucked out of obscurity to become heroes and old curmudgeons who turn out to be kindly wizards if he wishes to look. For the rest of us, we have read that novel, those novels, that series, and the extended cut.
 

granfire

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Somehow it's like taking the 'Twilight' series as measure of romance...

There is good stuff out there. Sometimes the good stuff is by word of mouth. Heaven knows, I never heard of Pratchett until last summer. Or I would have missed out on a lot of good stuff had I not talked to a bunch of smart kids in the last 4 or 5 years. (for the more wholesome representatives, check out the Young Adult section of the library)
Top Authors there are Garth Nix and Eoin Colfer (Hitch hiker's guide not with standing)

Saying 'only the old stuff is good' is like people claiming since after the Beatles and Led Zeppelin there was no good music.
 

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