Love them or hate them, tropes are here to stay. They’re an easy way to show a viewer what a story is about, giving them the familiarity they crave, while being given the creative freedom to subvert audience expectations. Tropes are timeless, and most don’t need to vanish entirely—the problem Read more
Despite reaching great popularity among fans, there was another large cohort of readers who were left wanting after reading the legendary saga. They cited problems with characterization, prose, structure, and other issues both writing and politically related. While many loved the saga despite it’s flaws, others couldn’t overlook them and Read more
Harry Potter is famous for it’s whimsical world and it’s colourful characters, but Rowling was by no means the first author to employ such a writing style. Before we had Hogwarts or Privet Drive, there was Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, a giant peach, and a hotel which hosted a nasty Read more
While most of us who read fantasy are fairly well adjusted people, many of us can also be quite eccentric. After all, we spend hours reading about werewolf romances, elf rights, and the politics of Gods. That’s bound to rub off on us in an unusual way, and I’m here Read more
The Lord of the Rings, for all it’s fame, has never been a conventional book. Though it started the genre of fantasy as we know it, inspiring such works as The Dark Tower or Game of Thrones, it nevertheless bent many rules—even in it’s own day. The books are long; Read more
Harry Potter has become a household name. The series (and the films) have sold countless copies. They have become beloved, even by those who don’t favour fantasy, and were the stories which introduced children the world over to reading. With that in mind, it’s easy to believe there are only Read more
I’ve been reading for as long as I can remember: my childhood memories are peppered with trips to the library and summer afternoons, sitting in the shade as I sank further into a mythical world. It was my journey as a reader—or several journeys, if you quantify my adventures by Read more
Love it or hate it, Twilight, like most works of fantasy, generates it’s share of questions. When you’re dealing with magic in an age of science, you have to wonder how things work. Twilight, with it’s weird science and double chromosomes, is no exception. There are several questions to be Read more
With Harry Potter venturing into the realm of spin offs and prequels, there is some hope of other stories being explored in the Wizarding World. Whether these are sequels, or stories which have only been hinted at in the books, there is potential for new characters, environments, and tales that Read more
The seventh book of the Harry Potter series showed that Rowling could be as ruthless as George R. R. Martin when it came to killing characters, though the string of tragedies began in Goblet of Fire, when Cedric was killed by Voldemort as no more than a “spare.” Afterwards, each Read more