My favourite genre is fantasy, but like most people, I too have some issues with my fave. Like they all say, nothing is perfect, right? So today, I'll go over some tropes or concepts or common occurrences that I see in this genre that aren't really my cup of tea. It doesn't mean that these are bad or that the authors who employ these in their stories aren't skilled. I can even understand why these concepts make sense in certain contexts or might appeal to some readers. But they just don't work for me.

In another blog post, I will talk about some of my favourite fantasy concepts. And perhaps after that, I will write another one specifically about romance tropes I like and dislike. As you all know, I can be very choosy about how I want romance in books to play out, to the point that I will often DNF a book if I so much as catch a whiff of a trope I hate.

(EDIT: In the previous version of this post, I used the term "trope" to describe these items, but while I was working on the post about the things I like, I realized many of the things I'm talking about aren't actually tropes. So I'm broadening the term a little.)

So, let's get started!

Novices being better than masters for no reason

We've all seen this. A young boy or girl from the country, all wide-eyed and innocent, gets whisked away to the magic-filled city. Or perhaps they're from the slums, and the royalty suddenly takes interest in them. Regardless, they find out they're the most powerful magician that any of the elites have seen in ages! Experienced crones and aged scholars begrudgingly beg for their wise advice, because for no apparent reason, this young person knows everything and can do anything with magic, even though they didn't know they possessed such skills five minutes ago.

Now, I don't want to appear elitist. I know that this trope really appeals to people who want to see someone challenge those who are stuck in their ivory towers. And honestly, I am one of those people! I love seeing the underdog outsmart people who think they're always right. Ironically however, I find that this trope often ends up reinforcing the concept of ivory towers instead. When someone is inherently better than anyone else through no effort of their own, that reinforces the idea that certain areas of society are inherently closed off to some folks no matter how hard they work or how skilled they get. What prevents the protagonist from forming their own ivory tower eventually?

Do I believe that novices can be better than masters at some things? Of course! I think no matter how advanced you've gotten in a particular field, you can always learn something new from an outside perspective. Sometimes the most creative ideas come from the people who haven't been so knee-deep in that field, because their mindsets aren't stuck in a rut or they aren't aware of limitations that masters assume are set in stone.

However, I most appreciate this trope when the underdog uses something from their unconventional background that makes them think or act differently from the average master. Jumping off of the example I gave above, if the young boy or girl uses their knowledge of country folklore or street superstition to piece together a new way to use magic, then that's impressive. Even more so if that type of background was something that masters sniffed at and derided. This is where a character can really show their mettle or their cunning. Applying knowledge gathered or talents honed from elsewhere to wield magic in a new way takes great creativity and insight. It's this type of underdog stories that I really adore.

But if the character's affinity for magic has nothing to do with skills and knowledge they've gathered through their own experiences and effort? It's a little hard for me to believe they will be better than people who have spent decades studying and wielding magic. This is why I'm also wary of the Chosen One trope, because most of the time it plays out exactly like this.

Poor Female Representation

Ah, this is probably one of the most common criticisms regarding the fantasy genre. I'm not here to talk about the consequences on a grand scale of having harmful representation, because you'll find plenty of other sources that can articulate the issue better than I can. Also, I'm actually pretty good at choosing books that have great female representation, so this one doesn't bother me as much as other tropes.

That said, there are three types of poor female representation I don't like for the simple reason that they annoy me, so I'll tackle each of those separately.

No female characters

Yes, yes, I know what you're thinking. "Leng, your favourite series is The Queen's Thief! How can you complain about this?" I admit it, it seems a little hypocritical when two books in my favourite series don't have any prominent female characters. In my defense, I read The Thief back when I wasn't as intentional about my reading choices, and I didn't become fully invested in the series until after the third book. And then The Queen of Attolia and The King of Attolia showed me some of the most complex and subversive female roles in any books I've ever read.

But this isn't a post about my feelings about The Queen's Thief. (Although if you do want a post on that, let me know, because I have many, many feelings about it.)

I just find it weird reading a book with no female characters. As a matter of fact, I would much prefer books with Smurfette than a book with no women at all. I'm a woman, and growing up, I've almost always had exclusively female friend-groups (blame it on my strict parents), and even in my own family and extended family, the ratio of female to male is a little skewed to the former. Again, I'm not saying you can't have a good, well-written story without any female characters. It just feels weird to me. It's like having a story where nobody eats and food doesn't exist. I know that many people will retort that there are plenty of spheres historically from which females have been excluded, and that there are still interesting stories to tell within these spheres. That's true too. It's just not my cup of tea.

All female characters are either princesses or prostitutes

Or assassins. Being an assassin is a very popular career these days for female characters in fantasy.

It's not that I have something against princesses or prostitutes or assassins. It's that I think it's a lamentable waste of opportunity not to come up with more creative careers for your female characters in the fantasy genre. Admittedly, male characters tend to get pigeonholed into very tried-and-true careers as well (soldier, thief, rake), but I find that writers tend to be a little better in giving these old roles a new spin. Whereas for female roles, there seems to be less subversion or twists.

You know who I think gives her female characters very creative livelihoods? T. Kingfisher! From a baker with a sourdough-starter familiar, to a skilled perfumer, to an expert forger of official documents, I'm amazed at the wide array of careers Kingfisher has come up with for her female characters. And looking at those examples, it's not like the writer is coming up with these careers out of the blue. (While a baker and a forger is pretty typical, I'll confess that Grace was the first perfumer I've ever encountered in any fantasy book.) But Kingfisher writes these roles with a new magical spin appropriate for her setting.

A single female character embodying every characteristic

I mentioned above that I prefer the Smurfette principle than having no female characters at all. And while this is true most of the time, there's one depiction of the Smurfette that really grinds my gears. It's when the writer clearly wants to represent a wide range of feminine traits, but they didn't budget for the number of characters accordingly, and hence, they end up stuffing every single one of these traits into the lone female character. That's how we get the young, cute, skinny girl who can beat up every villain, and yet clean up nicely in make-up and a ballgown; she's book-smart and street-smart; she's sassy and fierce, yet vulnerable and loses all the time to the male protagonist; she doesn't give a damn about anybody, yet she's the team's HR department.

The unfortunate outcome of this trope is that we get a Mary Sue, and nobody enjoys a Mary Sue. And readers end up hating the character, which is ironic, because the writer's intention was to probably make her so awesome she appeals to everybody.

The best remedy to this is honestly just to have more female characters in the cast. Then you get consistent characterization for every single one. None of them even have to be a main character. Those of you who have seen or read Fullmetal Alchemist might agree that its female representation was excellent, and yet even the most prominent female characters like Riza Hawkeye and Winry Rockbell were, at best, only supportive characters.

Checklist Quests

This is such a staple of classic fantasy, going all the way back to fairy tales, but I just get so bored reading it. What do I mean by "checklist quests"? You know, those quests where first, the hero has to fetch magical potatoes, then they need to collect one-horned iguanas, then they must travel to the north of the wind to capture the scent of the moon. And only when they have all these ingredients can they actually proceed to solving whatever problem prompted their quest in the first place.

Oh, but it gets worse! Because sometimes, in an attempt to make the journey even harder for the hero, the writer will throw in a twist in there! Suddenly, it's impossible to collect one-horned iguanas without... you guessed it: going on a different checklist quest to collect even more items.

I don't know why I find this type of quests so boring. I think part of it is that it feels predictable. Even though you know there will be twists along the way, in the end, the story will still revolve around retrieving these objects or going to specific places. Usually the beginning of the story will also heavily hint at what flaw or weakness the character will overcome in this quest (ie. fear of iguanas, allergy to potatoes, etc.), so even the character arc becomes predictable. I don't think I've ever read a checklist quest type of story where I felt excited about going on the journey with the character.

The strange thing is that heist stories may actually be a variation of this, and yet I love heists! But I think the difference is that heists usually involve an ensemble of characters with different specializations, and it's more exciting to see how they apply these specializations to their quest. I also think that the character arcs in heists are prompted not by the specific things they have to steal, but by the fact that they have to work together.

Unexplained European Folklore Creatures

Okay, this one isn't really a trope, and more of an issue with authors underestimating their global reach or under-developing their worlds.

Although many people all over the world will recognize typical European folkloric creatures these days, I still think it's a good idea to introduce any fantasy creature with a bit of breathing room. Especially because there are instances when the book might end up in the hands of someone who isn't familiar with this creature. The first time I encountered a brownie in a fantasy book, it took me an entire chapter to realize that the protagonist wasn't actually afraid of a freshly baked fudge square that came from an oven.

I also think that because European folkloric creatures are ubiquitous, so many writers have given their own spin to them already. The fairies that appear in Maggie Stiefvater's Lament aren't the same fairies that appear in R.J. Anderson's Spellhunter. The trolls that appear in Harry Potter aren't the same trolls that appear in Ella Enchanted. Sure, there are similarities. But writers often infuse them with unique attributes that work well within the world of their story. In fact, one of the things I really look forward to when I pick up a fantasy book is seeing how the author makes these creatures unique. So when I encounter a book where a fairy or a troll comes along, but there's no description of how they appear in this world and what kind of relationships they have with humans, I get a little annoyed.

No Consequences to Using Magic

My issue with this trope is less about the magic itself having an actual effect on its wielder, but more about the character themselves experiencing consequences from their social sphere for wreaking havoc with their magic. Again, this might seem kind of ironic as someone who was a huge fan of Dragon Ball when I was a kid, but in Dragon Ball's defense, it had the kind of whimsical world where you can blow up a planet and bring it back with a wish. That's just how things work in that setting.

However, when I'm reading a fantasy book where the world is a little more rational than DBZ, sometimes I can't help but feel let down when a very powerful character doesn't face any repercussions for unleashing magic in a destructive way. Especially when magic is shown to be a scarce resource. It just doesn't make sense to me how someone can waste all that coveted resource for their own gains, and nobody bats an eyelash. Even a comment like, "Hey, you destroyed the river that nourishes this city. We'll take that out of your treasury," can make the situation feel more believable.

Now this can simply be a plotting problem or a characterization problem, but I've seen it enough times that I do think there are writers and readers out there who are okay with powerful magic not having any societal consequences. But to me, it's a little difficult to swallow.

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All right, that wraps up this post! What do you guys think? Were you able to predict the entries on this list based on my previous book reviews? Which ones surprised you?

Which fantasy tropes or common themes and elements do you folks dislike?