Fat fantasy with maps

[sholio]

When I was accumulating reading material for my anticipated downtime this winter, I came across the Riftwar series (Raymond Feist) in a box of books from my teenagehood in the attic. I've now reread the first one and part of the next, and I just gotta say that while some of my childhood book loves have transferred over well to adulthood, I seem to have had a way higher tolerance for blatantly Tolkein-inspired Fat Fantasy when I was a teenager than I do now. A lot of this is grindingly dull for me now.

I also wonder if this would be marketed as YA now, with the first book's focus on the teenage protagonists' coming of age and first loves.

However, I'm enjoying it enough to keep going, and I still remember my favorite character in these books: Arutha, the brooding prince with the crooked smile. And he's still my favorite, so clearly that much about my tastes hasn't changed in the 30+ years since I last reread these! In fact, while I remember nothing else about the books, I still remember what part of which book in which Terrible Things Happen To Arutha because evidently I reread those parts a lot.

Comments

[yhlee]

OMG, Riftwar. That takes me right back. So, I only read a couple of the main Riftwar books - my introduction to that ~setting was Raymond Feist & Janny Wurts' spin-off Servant of the Empire trilogy, which my sister and I tore through and then were VERY DISAPPOINTED BY.

So, the two things that pissed me off about the Servant of the Empire books: they're set in fake Asia (rather strongly coded IMO as Fantasy Feudal Japan) and they concern the rise of a ruthless Fake Asian female heroine navigating clan politics. She has a Fake Asian husband that Yune and I liked perfectly well. Naturally, she throws him over for a Fake European slave from Midkemia who Shows Her All The Things That Are Wrong About Her Culture, and then she falls in love with him and leaves her Fake Asian husband and swoons into Fake European's arms and has his baby. I WAS SO ANGRY.

The other minor thing that pissed me off is that the author's notes in one? of the books thank a Korean couple for hosting them in Korea while they researched their Fake Asia book, but I'm sorry, these books are VERY CLEARLY Fake Japan. :/

I don't think I actually read more than one or two of the main Riftwars books after that, and I don't remember details! I did go on to read Janny Wurts' Wars of Light and Shadow epic fantasy, which had some AMAZING plot chess stratagems/counter-stratagems in some of the middle books, especially Warhost of Vastmark and The Ships of Merior. Plus SUPER buttery feuding brothers. HOWEVER. Look at these publication dates:

part 1
Curse of the Mistwraith (book 1) - 1993

part 2
Ships of Merior - 1994
Warhost of Vastmark - 1995

part 3
Fugitive Prince - 1995 - I think I fell out around here.
Grand Conspiracy - 1999 - uh-oh...
Peril's Gate - 2001
Traitor's Knot - 2004
Stormed Fortress - 2007

part 4
Initiate's Trial - 2011
Destiny's Conflict - 2017

part 5
Song of the Mysteries is PROJECTED and is not out yet.

Yeah. I remember really loving these books at the time, and I'm sure Wurts had very good reason for the increasing delays between books, but I'm done.

As an aside, since Wurts is an illustrator, she did her own cover, so actually I do know what the author thinks her main character looks like. XD

[yhlee]

...that said, I read SO MUCH David Eddings at that age as well (Belgariad, Malloreon, Elenium, Tamuli) so it's not like I have any moral high ground here.

[sholio]

Yeeeeuuuup, even no further along than I am (which is a couple of chapters into the second book), it's abundantly clear that Our Relatable Heroes are from Fantasy Europe, while Our Mysterious and Incomprehensible Invaders (with their slavery and warlike ways and social structure far too complex for outsiders to comprehend) are from Fantasy Asia. I am not charmed to say the least. :///

(I may skip a lot of this book, which I'm currently finding racist AND boring, but I at least need to read as far as book 3, the book that promises an Arutha-centric plot on the cover which I remember being highly disappointing due to mostly not being about Arutha at all. xD)

HOWEVER. Look at these publication dates:

LOLOLOLOL, I don't know whether to be impressed or alarmed that she's still going. I think I did read the Wurts collaboration Riftwar books back when I was very Read All The Fantasy in high school (but don't remember them now AT ALL) but never read any of her main series despite being vaguely aware of it. I was limited to the contents of Waldenbooks and occasional trips to the library.

[yhlee]

I understand! I will stick it out LONG past what's resaonable either because I want MOAR of a favorite character (or I'm waiting for a character I hate to die, haha). I did not realize that the main Riftwars books had...even more of the racism. :/

Oh gosh, I remember Waldenbooks...;_;

[sovay]

Oh gosh, I remember Waldenbooks.

I worked at Waldenbooks.

[sovay]

Naturally, she throws him over for a Fake European slave from Midkemia who Shows Her All The Things That Are Wrong About Her Culture, and then she falls in love with him and leaves her Fake Asian husband and swoons into Fake European's arms and has his baby.

Justice for Fake Asian Husband!

[dorinda]

I seem to have had a way higher tolerance for blatantly Tolkein-inspired Fat Fantasy when I was a teenager than I do now

I was just thinking about that the other day--I definitely had that higher tolerance. I remember how excited I was about the first three Sword of Shannara books when they were new. And I can faintly remember why, which was this enormous hunger for More Tolkien, which I wasn't gonna get. (And I hadn't discovered fanfic yet.)

Eventually, the blatantly-derivative-fat-fantasy genre stopped coming within a mile of scratching that itch, and my yearnings redirected themselves.

[yhlee]

I read over a DOZEN of the Shannara books as a teen! They were fun at the time. I actively sought out Extruded Tolkien Product. In fact, I preferred Shannara to Lord of the Rings - heresy, I know, but in middle school I couldn't figure out Tolkien at all, and Shannara was more accessible. XD And then at some point in college I was abruptly Done with the genre.

[sholio]

I remember reading Shannara and also a BUNCH of books along those lines, but don't remember any of the details whatsoever now! I must have liked the Riftwar books more than most, since I kept them.

But yeah, back then I'd read any book along those lines that I could get my hands on. Now I'm a whole lot pickier.

[sheron]

the brooding prince with the crooked smile

Hello Sholio-id! (And also mine) XD

[sholio]

I KNOW. I am hilariously predictable and apparently was also just as predictable all the way back in high school. XD

[leesa_perrie]

In fact, while I remember nothing else about the books, I still remember what part of which book in which Terrible Things Happen To Arutha because evidently I reread those parts a lot.

LOL! I'm like that with TV shows. There are some scenes that I remember oh so very well, even decades later, because I rewatched them so much at the time. Usually angsty/hurty stuff for my main character, of course!! :D

[sholio]

Oh yeah, I definitely do that too, really with anything I'm into - TV shows or movies or books. :D It's interesting to pick up these books that I haven't read since my teen years and still remember which parts I used to read over and over!

[philomytha]

LOL I also have teenage-me books where I can now only remember the places where Terrible Things happened to whichever character I particularly wanted Terrible Things to happen to :-D

[sholio]

We know what we like! :D

[philomytha]

Come to think of it, my copy of Biggles Flies East from my childhood reliably falls open to the bit where Biggles is hallucinating while dragging Mayer across the desert with no water. And the bit where he thinks he shot Algy.

[sholio]

Those books are astonishingly good for h/c. I expect I would've been all over them if I had read them as a kid. (.... I mean, clearly I'm all over them reading them as an adult, so ...)

[sheron]

I don't know how many times I've re-read the Sweeps the Desert and the Malaria bits of h/c. A LOT.

[sheron]

By now I feel like the bit where he thinks Biggles shot Algy and walks away (while EvS stares at him realizing he's very upset but not knowing why!) is practically burned into my brain XD

[lilacsigil]

I was not a huge fan of the Riftwar series, but I loved the spin-off with Janny Wurts because it had a main female character AND her loyal spy dude who suffered a lot but was very smart. Also there was the dude from the other books from Fake Europe but eh, I was here for Young Empress and Spy Dude.

[yhlee]

I KNOW, I loved Young Empress and Spy Dude!!! And her original husband. It was the surprise racism once Fake European Dude showed up that ruined the books for me (not saying you're wrong to love them!) because...it was just, my sister and I were SO happy to find a fantasy series with Fantasy Asian characters, and then with the racist bits we felt kind of kicked in the stomach. But I really did love Mara.

[lilacsigil]

Mara was awesome! And I think (being a wee baby lesbian but not realising) I was so used to ignoring the Love Interest Dude Of Cool Woman that I completely erased him from my memory. I literally recall nothing about him except that he existed!

[yhlee]

Hahahaha, fair, and I find this so relatable - I mean, I am not a lesbian :) but there have definitely been times when I was entranced with Side Character Of My Heart And The Person They Should Obviously Get Together With in something I read in childhood and I have NO MEMORIES of the actualfax protagonist. XD

[rabid_bookwyrm]

Oh, I read... possibly all of these? I didn't recognize the Riftwar name, but then the first comment referencing Servant of the Empire just raised all the memories.

(brief trip to Wikipedia) - Aha, not remotely all of them. Looks like I bottomed out after the first three arcs/sub-series.

I wasn't super into the earlier books, the one I liked the best was The King's Buccaneer, plus the Servant of the Empire set.

I've been picking up some childhood books and discovering that they really don't catch me anymore - some are enjoyable enough that I'll keep them around anyway, but others I just need to let go. I tried The Black Cauldron, Lloyd Alexander, and The Squire's Tale, Gerald Morris, and both of them move way too fast and have very little connective tissue or character development. It's just one Event after another. Didn't used to bother me, but I'm no longer interested.

[sushiflop]

Daughter/Servant/Mistress of the Empire just collided into my memory with the force of a bowling ball to the stomach. I was SO INTO Mara's alliance with the cool bug creatures... I'm sure I'd feel very different about those books today.

[genarti]

Oh man, Riftwar!

My first Feist book was the sequel starring the twins who were... I don't even remember whose kids they were, but I remember it made a fascinating experience to read that and then go back and read the assured older generation as youths flailing around. (I too remember really liking Arutha with his crooked smile, too. And... Martin? Am I remembering the right series, that there was a woodsy ranger named Martin who was some kind of half-brother or something? Maybe I'm getting my series muddled.) I don't think I have the fortitude to reread them and find how much doesn't stand the test of time and maturity, though, lol.

[sovay]

the Riftwar series (Raymond Feist)

This was one of the series I never got into in high school even when they were going around most of my friend group (I can remember some of the covers, but none of the language, suggesting the bounce was almost instantaneous), but crooked smiles are classic.

[lannamichaels]

Riftwar! I haven't read those books is so long but even still just reading the name "Arutha" made me go "I love that guy!" and only vaugelly, uh, remember which one he is. ;)

[swan_tower]

Aruuuuuuuuuuthaaaaaaaaaa

Ahem yes I think I remember imprinting on him liking him, too. And . . . Martin? Yes, somebody else in your comments also mentioned a Martin, so I don't think I'm making him up.