I want to experience more historical cmedia that's not about royalty
@Forestofglory MOOD. also more historical fiction and fantasy in general!
@soph_sol that too! I don't approve of all this monarchy/imperialism
@Forestofglory exactly!!!!!!! and then there are the books that are like, "we know there are problems, here's a brief nod in the text so you know we know, but the fantasy of power is fun so we're just gonna move RIGHT on by" and I'm just like.....uh huh............... really.
@soph_sol SFF does love a fantasy of political agency
Though I think the thing I find most frustrating is when they are like let's just replace the King/Emperor/Minister and now everything is better and we don't have to think about systemic change
@soph_sol @Forestofglory one of the things Victoria Goddard’s Astandalas series has going for it is that it *does* at least put ‘deconstructing the monarchy’ at the center of its power fantasy, even if it is still a little too ‘two people can just completely reshape the world and thats a good thing with no troubling implications’ for my tastes
@soph_sol @Forestofglory yeah they are definitely in the doorstopper lineage of fantasy 😂 there are several short stories / novellas set in the same universe, which might help give you a better taste of whether they’re worth the commitment? It’s been a bit since I read them but I think eg. Portrait of a Wide Seas Islander would be standalone enough to read as a taster
@soph_sol @Forestofglory i hope its helpful if you do!
@Satsuma @soph_sol I have heard mixed things about those books but they are just so long!