Lame Reads

Does anyone else detest this genre as much as I do?

I was reading Diplomacy of Wolves by Holly Lisle, which I think would have been an excellent book if the plot didn't revolve around warring noble houses. I had to put it down because I've been through this in A Game of Thrones and Kushiel's Dart and I just couldn't make myself like these books for that very same reason. I mean, the author creates this wonderfully rich world with unique customs, interesting monsters, and magic, (or simply rehashed France into a land of Mary Sues, *coughJaquelineCareycough*) yet they choose to focus on who assassinated who and kings bickering with each other.

If A Game of Thrones focused on Jon Snow up at the wall, fighting the Others, I'd have found it a lot more enjoyable and would have actually picked up the next book. Instead, I was treated to 800 pages of "political intrigue." Kushiel's Dart is a different rant for a different day.

It just seems like a waste. There are numerous plots that take place in our world that have diddly squat to do with politics, so why can't the same hold true for fantasy worlds?

I suppose it's just a subgenre, and I'd easily steer clear of it if every fantasy book that's ever been recommended to me (except Eragon). Is it good ol' Sci Fi Ghetto rearing it's ugly head? Fans of these books call them "mature" and "original" which is just plain old snobbery. Doesn't matter how complex the characters are, how smoothly you plotted it, or how unique and believable of a world you created, if the main plot revolves around defeating an evil necromancer, it's for kiddies and less intelligent life forms.

In defense, the concept of politics turns a few gears in our heads. Though often times chessmasters are flat characters with predictable goals and lazily written motives. Why did Melisandre in Kushiel's Dart want part of the throne? Because she's the villain. I'll give this one to A Game of Thrones, because there were some very interesting twists. The book just wasn't for me.

Well, the Diplomacy in the title should have tipped me off. Shame about the book, though. Lisle has great writing advice, so I expected this book to be a lot more interesting.