Wednesday 25 April 2012

Fantasy Fatigue

Going along with yesterday's unfinished book post, I've realized something recently that greatly disturbs me.  I'm a fantasy girl.  I've been reading predominately traditional fantasy for 20 years.  And I'm getting tired of it.

I suspect I've just read too many fantasy novels in my life.  Even books and authors whose work I love (and there are many) just don't interest me right now.  I've got several series that I enjoy that I simply can't bring myself to read the next book of.  And that despite the fact that I know I'll like the books when I read them.  I'm just getting too much of a 'been there, read that a dozen times already' feeling.

I've been reading a lot more science fiction in the past year or so and I believe this is why.  I'm not as familiar with the tropes, so when I read something that's been done a thousand times it still feels fresh and new to me.  My husband has a great collection of books (mostly hard SF and space opera, which I rarely read, even when I read SF) that I'm looking forward to reading.

What does that mean for this blog?  After I'm done my current batch of books I'll be doing a LOT more SF reviews.  I expect to read a lot of older books, classics and books in subgenres I haven't touched on much so far.  I won't ignore fantasy, but I feel I need a break from it for a few months at least so I can rediscover my love for the genre.  And all its tropes. 

1 comment:

Paul Weimer said...

If a genre, or even a whole field is not making you happy to read, then yeah, its time to let it lie fallow and come back to it again fresh sometime.