Fantasy Flack

I've been working on a dark fantasy novel for a couple years now and have been doing my due diligence to try to learn more and grow as a writer. One of the big things I have gleamed is that you need to read, read, read and honestly it has helped alot. Right now I am trying to really focus on how these authors truly write. Prose, world building, story telling, POVs, etc.

What I have come across is alot of fantasy novels I have read before or some I'm reading more recently get a lot of flack. Lack of originality and poor world building along with subpar dialogue is mainly what I have seen as the critiques.

I was surprised at first when I saw Eragon mentioned because when I was a teenager I loved that series and thought it was the best fantasy I had ever read. But now I see why people say it's not the greatest because it is kind of a compilation of Star Wars meets LOTR.

I just started Quicksilver by Callie Hart last night and so far I really like it and looked into the author and was initially inspired at the fact that she has written over 40 novels in the dark romantasy genre and seems super successful. I came back here and looked her up and started reading the reviews and again was surprised at the negative feedback, but I am only 4 chapters in right now anyway.

I will say I have read some newer novels lately and the stories are just boring and lackluster IMO. You wait and wait for something exciting to happen and it just doesn't. So I sit there and wonder how those wind up on the shelves next to the ones that I have found captivating but are criticized for bad writing.

I also take into consideration how much time and effort and heart authors put into their works whether I like the story or not. My dream is to be published someday and I am starting to really understand how big of a process this really is and being published is not an easy feat.

My main reason for the post is really what should I be reading for some examples of the good writing all of these critics are looking for. I'm going to 2nd&Charles and maybe Barnes and Noble this weekend and want to pick up a few new books to read and would love some suggestions, new or old.