The Genre Bucket

After complaining as much as I did in my review of Book of Three  I thought it was only fair to discuss the fantasy subgenre I do enjoy: Sword and Sorcery. Coined in the 1960's as a way to describe what made Robert E. Howard and other writers stand separate in their fantasy output from what people referred to as High Fantasy ie Lord of the Rings, Sword and Sorcery simply put is fantasy made immediate. But what does that mean? Essentially High Fantasy focuses on all encompassing world significant battles of good versus evil whereas Sword and Sorcery is marked by the battle an individual may fight against a monster for instance, and the consequences that could affect them from that fight. By paring down the stakes to the effects on an individual those stakes become that much more real to the reader and consequently more visceral. Focusing in on an individual also gives room to flesh that character out with believable flaws and strengths. High Fantasy falls into the trap of Mary Sue c...

I have a confession to make. I enjoy fantasy but I find it intrinsically boring. In many ways all fantasy blends together for me especially since I'm familiar with the patterns mythos and fairytales work within due to having read some Joseph Campbell and his works on comparative mythology, as well as my general knowledge and interest in folklore and mythology. The real genre fatigue for me though comes from the fantasy genre specifically overusing high fantasy tropes familiar to most people from Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. This year I decided to try and participate in Fantasy December which is a practice in reading circles to read works from the Fantasy genre in December since it lends itself well to the season. I had always been mildly interested in Disney's The Black Cauldron film and thought hey, it's based on a book series this could be fun. Judging by the movie it's going to be harmless kids fantasy but could be a light, entertaining treat. I was wrong. I ...

Hello wonderful humans. You asked for it. You voted for it on my instagram @genrebucket. That's right, I'm going to review Young Adult Horror on this blog now! So what does that mean? Essentially Young Adult Horror from the 1980's through the late 1990's will be reviewed on here around every other week. Keeping in mind I'm no longer a teen girl (teen girls were actually the predominant audience for these books) I will be rating these using a scale of 15 teen girl points. These points will come from 3 categories each worth a max of 5 points each. These categories being likability/relatableness of the main character, the level of annoyingness/likability of the supporting characters, and the quality of WTF moments. Ah the 90's. The era of landline telephones, thriving malls, and teens making money watching kids of adults they barely know. This is the world of R.L. Stine's The Babysitter 4. The final volume in R.L. Stine's Babysitter  series for Point Horror...

Although I'm getting to this review a little late I thought it was important to talk about my final read during Epic November,  Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon. There are many comments online about its similarity to Stephen King's The Stand but I would argue that 1987's Swan Song should instead be viewed as its more violent, fantasy inspired cousin. Saying that, I have to preface that I have only seen The Stand's miniseries production. I was planning on reading it back to back with McCammon's novel but to McCammon's credit after finishing what could be called one of his finest novels, I needed to move on to something lighter. So what is Swan Song actually about? Similar to Stephen King's novel/doorstop (depending on who you ask) it's about the end of the world or more succinctly what humanity becomes in its aftermath and the powerplay between good and evil. Drastically different from King's work the apocalypse comes from all out nuclear war hinted at...