Okay. You know what. I am a die-hard Silmarillion fangirl. It was my first proper fandom and I still get nostalgic for it sometime.
I would never ever in a million years put it on a list of recommended SFF books. It's a history book, it was Christopher Tolkien compiling a bunch of his father's notes to give an overview, it is NOT meant to be read like an average fiction book and if you try sitting it down and reading it from cover to cover oh dear lord. I mean there are some fantastic stories hidden in there but the operative word is "hidden". I tell people that if they want to try to read it, I recommend reading fanfic alongside it so that you can manage to keep track of the characters and events. I. just. What.
73. The Legend of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore
WHAT. WHAT. NO. NOOOOOO. (I, uh, read a few more of these than I really should have because I could see the *potential* in the series and kept thinking "maybe in the next book he'll actually do something with it!" be warned - he doesn't. He really, really doesn't.)
99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony
I tried rereading these a while back because I remember liking the first book when I was 15 and was so disgusted by the misogyny that I couldn't get through the book at all.
100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis
*boggles*
Okay, look. When I read these books, I'd read and loved Narnia - and completely failed to notice that there was any Christian allegory in there at all.
In this one? I was choking on the damn religious content because it was just. That. Blatant. If you think Narnia hits you over the head with Lewis's form of Christianity, this is like getting a damn skyscraper dropped on you. I also remember being totally unable to follow the plot in the third book and it being completely incoherent, but that may be because my brain had decided to withdraw for self-protection after getting battered with CHRISTIANITY.
I would love to hear your recs, though! I'd like to read more fantasy, but I'd also like to read less white male fantasy and don't entirely know where to start.
no subject
46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien
Okay. You know what. I am a die-hard Silmarillion fangirl. It was my first proper fandom and I still get nostalgic for it sometime.
I would never ever in a million years put it on a list of recommended SFF books. It's a history book, it was Christopher Tolkien compiling a bunch of his father's notes to give an overview, it is NOT meant to be read like an average fiction book and if you try sitting it down and reading it from cover to cover oh dear lord. I mean there are some fantastic stories hidden in there but the operative word is "hidden". I tell people that if they want to try to read it, I recommend reading fanfic alongside it so that you can manage to keep track of the characters and events. I. just. What.
73. The Legend of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore
WHAT. WHAT. NO. NOOOOOO. (I, uh, read a few more of these than I really should have because I could see the *potential* in the series and kept thinking "maybe in the next book he'll actually do something with it!" be warned - he doesn't. He really, really doesn't.)
99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony
I tried rereading these a while back because I remember liking the first book when I was 15 and was so disgusted by the misogyny that I couldn't get through the book at all.
100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis
*boggles*
Okay, look. When I read these books, I'd read and loved Narnia - and completely failed to notice that there was any Christian allegory in there at all.
In this one? I was choking on the damn religious content because it was just. That. Blatant. If you think Narnia hits you over the head with Lewis's form of Christianity, this is like getting a damn skyscraper dropped on you. I also remember being totally unable to follow the plot in the third book and it being completely incoherent, but that may be because my brain had decided to withdraw for self-protection after getting battered with CHRISTIANITY.
I would love to hear your recs, though! I'd like to read more fantasy, but I'd also like to read less white male fantasy and don't entirely know where to start.