Hard-Edged or Whimsical?

[Tecdavid]

Fantasy is a rather broad genre, really. When you really think about it, it is odd to think of Discworld and A Song of Ice and Fire sharing the same category. One's flippant and fun, the other's hardy and severe.

Which do you prefer? The more serious, darker stories, riddled with eye-widening battles and complex depth as they often are, or the crafty, whimsical stories, in which anything really can happen?

Also, do you believe a story can make decent use of both?

 

[TheTomG]

I have liked both kinds of books, and I am sure that - just like life - both can co-exist within the same story too.

 

[alchemist]

Personally, I don't like whole novels comprising fun and flippancy. Short stories, sure, but not a whole novel. I've only stopped reading 3 books in my lifetime and 2 were meant to be funny. I don't think the hilarity can be maintained for that long AND have a coherent story (and yes, that includes Discworld).

Therefore I prefer my Fantasy books dark, just like my, er (no, not tea, or chocolate)...okay, I just prefer my Fantasy dark.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

It depends where I'm reading it; on the train, somewhere distracting, I quite like whimsy, and I do like Pratchett, but for a real delve into story there needs to be some edge to it. Unremitting darkness, I struggle with too, but if I want light I'd probably read a Marian Keyes and leave my fantasy as a more serious undertaking.

 

[HareBrain]

I prefer it when a story has a variety of tone (assuming they fit properly together). One tone = monotonous.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

I like a great plot, good characters -- beyond that I'm not fussed. I just want to be taken in by the story. Best of all is a book that includes tears of laughter and sadness, and a few oh my gosh is that really what is going to happen moments.

 

[natalienoo]

I'm relatively new to intensive fantasy. I've read Hobb and Tolkien, but up until a year ago my fantasy focus was more around Robert Rankin, Jasper Fforde, and the occasional Pratchett. I've only recently read GRRM (which I'm grateful for. I'm not great at re-reading books and I would have forgotten everything by the time A Dance With Dragons came out).

I really enjoyed the ride with Westeros, but at the moment I'm re-reading the Thursday Next series so I can read One of Our Thursdays Is Missing with a fresh head of information.

I don't think my mind could have taken another intensive world immediately after GRRM but it doesn't mean I won't crave something fully enthralling after Fforde. They can most certainly work alongside one another.

Thrown in the odd classic sci-fi like Wells and Wyndham, the occasional horror from the likes of Barker or King, a little child's book here, a classic fiction there.. literature is love and I enjoy each ride.