(no subject)

[fadeaccompli]

A few days back on Twitter, I asked:

I want to read more fluffy, happy escapist fantasy that does not have "and royalty is inherently awesome!" built in. Suggestions?

As requested, this is the list I got:

Prydain Chronicles, by Lloyd Alexander.
Elizabeth Scarborough
Steve Brust
Jasper Fforde
Girl Genius
Robert Rankin (with a caveat re: taste)
Emperor's Edge, by Lindsay Buroker
Terry Pratchett (especially the Watch books)
500 Kingdoms series, by Mercedes Lackey

It's not so large of a list as I'd hoped, and I am a little puzzled at some of the suggestions. (I cannot possibly put some of Fforde's books anywhere near the category of "fluffy", though I will cheerfully slot his first one into that list, and there are some Brust books that I found so depressing as to turn me off the entire series for years.) It possibly says more about my definitions of fluffy than anyone else's, that I find this list puzzling. But most of Terry Pratchett seems qualifiable, and Girl Genius seldom strays too far into the dark side of dark humor.

I do wonder what different suggestions I might've gotten if I hadn't included the caveat about royalty. Or, conversely, if I specifically asked for fantasy novels that aren't really chipper about hereditary rulers, but aren't grimdark as a whole either.

ETA: As a point of comparison, some things I would actually call fluffy and escapist are To Say Nothing of the Dog (which is not fantasy but otherwise applies), or the Belgariad (but it has the monarchy issue). Some Tamora Pierce (usually the earlier books in series), lots (but not all) Pratchett...

Comments

[archangelbeth]

Hmmm.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004FN1R28/ -- Girl Genius novel, free last time I looked, if you don't already have the e-copy.

Jim Hines' Stepsister Scheme is... not quite fluffy, though something that is blatantly "oh, look, fairy tales revisited" has a certain inherent lightness, often. Does have a certain amount of Awesome Royalty going on, because, well, fairy tale.

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/60566 - free SF short story. Mine. Inherently fluffy, as it involves furry aliens. >_> Not fantasy, though.

http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1178241/DarthAmmonite (#1 and #6 in particular, though #1 is SF).

Nurk by Ursula Vernon. Yes, it's a kidbook. SO? I read her Dragonbreath books, too. (And dadgummit, somebody better pick up Regency Ninja...)

Diana Wynn Jones! Howl's Moving Castle, say.

[fadeaccompli]

I own the Girl Genius novel. Rather so-so prose, but a fun story.

Stepsister Scheme is moderately fluffy, but also moderately "Woo, monarchy!" That it's hard to escape that is specifically why I asked for suggestions; if it were easy to avoid, I could just yank any fantasy novel off the shelf and not worry about that trope.

Nurk definitely qualifies as escapist fluffy fantasy. (Which involves rescuing the children of royalty, but since one gets the impression Nurk would as readily rescue anyone else in need of it, this is just fine. It's not the existence of monarchies that I object to.)

Howl's Moving Castle has a lot of excellent bits and a few bits so WTF as to render it almost unreadable to me, but still qualifies on pretty much all points.

I wish there were more adult fiction that qualified, but the strong contenders do seem to be weighting pretty heavily towards books aimed at teens or younger.

[archangelbeth]

Dozzit hafta be Fantasy? There's some fluffy SF amidst M.C.A. Hogarth's books, for instance. (And some... very non-fluffy SF, too.)

[fadeaccompli]

There are many fluffy non-fantasy books. And there are many fluffy fantasy books that are all "Woo, monarchs are awesome!" But for this particular list, yes, I was looking specifically for stuff that hits all the points noted.

[archangelbeth]

*nod*

Hmmm. Early MythAdventures (Aspirin)?

Craig Shaw Gardner's A Malady of Magicks might count. I don't remember much of it except that "urk, doom, and ferrets" got into my vocabulary from those. (eep, eep!) So there may be royalty.

Howl's Moving Castle has a couple sequels, though IIRC one of them may include some royalty as clients.

[archangelbeth]

*digs around*

Hughart: Bridge of Birds

Friesner: Harlot's Ruse (old, may be very hard to find), probably her Chicks in Chainmail anthologies (her as editor)

Scarborough: the Unicorn Creed. (Middle of a trilogy, stands on its own just fine.)

The Princess Bride! (Edit: Which does have "princess" going on, but considering who she's running away from eventually...)

Hm. Found a list that suggests the Percy Jackson books qualify. Might be worth a look-see.

http://archipelagocomic.com/comic/ may count, overall? ...don't read the current page. It's one of the more serious pages. >_>

http://www.widdershinscomic.com/ is good.

http://www.skindeepcomic.com/ has some amusing bits.

[leticia]

I'd argue that since she's only a princess if she marries him and, and none of the -born- royals are especially... idealized there's certainly no 'royalty is awesome' going on in Princess Bride. Royals yes, awesome yes, royals awesome no.

[fadeaccompli]

Oh, yeah, the Princess Bride totally qualifies. Despite the "real" ending, even. Fluffy and silly and entertaining, decidedly fantasy, and so forth. I don't object to royalty appearing in fantasy novels; I just happened to be looking for books that didn't have the built-in assumption that that made them better than other people.