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I'm currently reading "The Gallic Wars." It's very interesting, but it demands a lot from the reader.
Yeah, it's hard to come up with "something better" in fantasy in general, because to be considered fantasy, it has to be banal and cliché. It's such a primitive genre, what can you do?
Can you recommend some entertaining books to read?
I'm currently reading "The Gallic Wars." It's very interesting, but it requires a lot from the reader.
Sometimes I just want something light and easy to read, but not something poorly written. I've stopped keeping up with new releases because I don't really know what's out there.
I also recommend V. Shishkov's novel "Emelian Pugachev" in 3 volumes.
Fantasy is limited in itself; if there are no corporations/mercenaries/aliens in the sci-fi setting, it will remain just fantasy. But if there is no magic/non-humans/swords in the fantasy setting, it will most likely be just a simple fairy tale.
I love History, especially ancient history. Titus Livius writes well. I don't boast about it or impose it on anyone, it's a matter of taste. Historical books are interesting to read, but you need a good knowledge base for that. But then you start to understand where Tolkien got his inspiration from :D
The main hero is just a simple country boy with a family sword, who suddenly turns out to be an awesome heir to a huge kingdom/an overpowered artifact falls into his hands/bandits kill his parents, and he sets off on a journey to an old hermit-teacher to take revenge.
This is a typical, incredibly banal plot of the most banal fantasy. Exceptions in books and games (let's not talk about movies) are extremely rare.
Mostly, it's just a bunch of clichés and templates.
Yes, in sci-fi, things are different. :) There are four pieces of the template.
War - mercenaries - corporations - alien civilizations.
And something is created from them. Just change the order...
corporations - war - mercenaries - alien civilizations.
alien civilizations - corporations - war - mercenaries.
war - alien civilizations - mercenaries - corporations.
And so on... lots of new things.
And the supervillains in sci-fi are just amazing. They don't know what they want and why they need world domination so much... but they NEED it! And they are everywhere.
WHAT OTHER MAGIC?!!!! ARE YOU SOME KIND OF NOOB???? WHAT SKILLS???????? FLYING???? ABSURD!!!!!! WHAT DOES "WON'T KILL" MEAN? HE HAS THE HIT POINTS OF TWO HORSES, DAMN IT, WHAT DOES "WON'T KILL" MEAN?!!!! OR WHEN YOU SEE THEM, YOU SHOUT - OH MY GOD, DEMONS!!!! THEY'LL STEAL MY SOUL NOW, SOONER MAGIC! ARMAGEDDON!!!
OH NO, A GNOL!!!!!! THE MOST TERRIFYING ORC WITH MAGIC!!!!
HAHAHAHA!!!!!