What Do You Mean There Are Different Types of Fantasy?

If you are new to the fantasy genre or have only read the occasional book or series within the genre because of Booktok, then it may surprise you that, yes, there are many subgenres within fantasy itself. You may be surprised to learn this even if you are an avid fantasy reader, but just pick up books that look good. Did you know there are a couple different types of magic systems as well? Today, I am going to do a bit of a deep-dive into what defines fantasy, itself, as well as what makes each subgenre unique. Going in, just know that it is not uncommon for subgenres to overlap. A book can be high fantasy and grimdark fantasy as well as another can be low fantasy and cozy fantasy or vice versa. These are essentially description tags the book community uses to further distinguish types of books so readers might have a better sense of what they are picking up. 

Fantasy

What is fantasy? This seems pretty self-explanatory, but let's talk about it just in case someone doesn't know. Fantasy is an all-encompassing term to describe books that contain magical elements. It differs from science fiction as the elements will often defy the rules of our physical world in a way that cannot be attributed to advancing science and technology. The vast majority of the books discussed on my blog and all of the books listed below will fall into this category. For my purposes, I tend to think of this genre as a tree that branches out into many subgenres. Fantasy is the trunk. Hold on to this metaphor--I'll be coming back to it!

High Fantasy

High fantasy describes any book that is not set in real world history. The terms "high fantasy" and "epic fantasy" tend to get used interchangeably, but there are subtle differences. In my tree metaphor, I would consider high fantasy to be a main limb of the tree, as it's broader and more encompassing, whereas epic fantasy is a smaller branch off of that limb. Basically, if a book is set in a fictional world with a fictional history, it's considered high.

Examples: The Hobbit, Warbreaker, and Priory of the Orange Tree

Low Fantasy

Next on the list is low fantasy. No, it does not mean "lesser." Far from it actually! Fantasy books that are set around real-world places or events are considered low fantasy. These are the books that tend to have magic hidden in the real world. I would consider this to be another main limb of my fantasy tree, as there are many other subgenres that are similar, but again, this one is more general and less specific.

Examples: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Outlander, and Twilight

Epic Fantasy

Now that the "foundation" of fantasy is established, let's start digging into the more specific genres starting with EPIC FANTASY. Epic fantasy are books that have a very large, grand scale story revolving around an equally large cast of characters facing an ultimate big bad with the potential for world-ending stakes. The classic good vs. evil, if you will. These books are typically a part of a large series as there is often way too much to put into just one book. More often than not, epic fantasy books tend to be a branch off of the high fantasy limb in my fantasy tree, but that is definitely not always the case. 

Examples: Wheel of Time, Lord of the Rings, and Storrmlight Archive

Urban Fantasy

Likewise, I would consider urban fantasy to be a branch of the low fantasy limb for obvious reasons. It takes place in the real world, more specifically, the modern real world. (Anyone else start singing "Real World" by Matchbox 20? No? Just me? Ok, moving on...)

Examples: Dresden Files, Shadowhunter Chronicles, and American Gods

Historical Fantasy

Like urban fantasy, this is often set in the real world, making it a branch off of low fantasy. Historical fantasy typically is a re-imagining of an actual historical event with magical elements inserted. There is usually a balance between realism and fantasy elements. 

Examples: Outlander, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, and What the Wind Knows 

Sword and Sorcery

Honestly, I didn't even know this was a subgenre until I started looking into how many different types of fantasy there was. It's defined as a competent hero that fights their way to victory, often with exciting but violent battles. I feel like this is kind of summed up within the definition of other subgenres, but people like it as it's own thing, so who am I to argue? I could see this being a branch off of either high or low fantasy and even being an offshoot of a more specific subgenre as well. 

Examples: Conan, Game of Thrones, and The Name of the Wind

Dark Fantasy

This type of fantasy doesn't necessarily stem from high or low fantasy. What characterizes dark fantasy is the focus on a creepy atmosphere, rather than violence.

Examples: Coraline, The Graveyard Book, and Fairy Tale

Grimdark Fantasy

Again, grimdark fantasy doesn't require any specific setting as far as real-world or fictional. What makes grimdark grimdark is the overall tone. The setting is usually very grim (hence the term grimdark), the characters consist of anti-heroes, and there is often more violence. 

Examples: Lies of Locke Lamora, The Blade Itself, and The Poppy War

Steampunk Fantasy

Unlike all of the other subgenres, this one doesn't usually have a lot of magic or other fantasy elements in it. Steampunk fantasy is usually an alternative Victorian Era, or sometimes Wild West, setting. There is usually a heavy focus on technology, usually that is steam powered. Based on that, I would consider it a branch off of the low fantasy limb.

Examples: Infernal Devices, Boneshaker, and The Falconer

Science Fantasy

Science fantasy blends the elements of science fiction and fantasy. It tends to have heavy elements of technology, but will often have elements that are not explained by advancing technology and science. I would branch this subgenre off of low fantasy, as well.

Examples: Cinder, The Fifth Season, and This Is How You Lose a Time War

Portal Fantasy

Portal fantasy is kind of like a bridge between high and low fantasy. It is defined by characters traveling from the real world to a fantasy world through, you guessed it, a portal!

Examples: Chronicles of Narnia, Peter Pan, and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Paranormal Romance

Paranormal romance would be a branch off of low fantasy as they are set in the real world with paranormal characters such as vampires, werewolves, and ghosts. As the name suggests, romance is also a key plot element.

Examples: Twilight, Vampire Academy, and Beautiful Creatures

Fantasy Romance

Fantasy romance is the romance subgenre that branches off of high fantasy. These books take place in entirely fictional worlds and also have a heavy emphasis on romance. 

Examples: A Court of Thorns and Roses, Shadow and Bone, and From Blood and Ash

Medieval Fantasy/Arthurian Fantasy

Books in this subgenre usually are more high fantasy type books, but they can be set in the real world as well. They are inspired by the Medieval time period and often center around myths and legends.

Examples: The Once and Future King, The Mists of Avalon, and The Farseer Trilogy

Cozy Fantasy

Cozy fantasy is just what it sounds like. Cozy. These books are lighthearted, low stakes, and low violence. The are the perfect palate cleanser after completing an epic fantasy. They are also perfect for if you just aren't into the intense high stakes the other subgenres have but still like to read about magic. This is another subgenre that can branch off of either high or low fantasy.

Examples: House in the Cerulean Sea, Legends and Lattes, and The Goblin Emporer

Fantasy Retellings

Another self-naming subgenre, fantasy retellings are fairy tales and myths reimagined. There is a huge trend right now of doing spicy retellings. 

Examples:  The Song of Achilles, Alice, and A Touch of Darkness

Magic Systems

Whew! That was a lot to get through. Honestly, there are many more subgenres than what I covered here, but I tried to hit the main ones that people like to talk about. Now on to magic systems. Thankfully, this section will be much shorter, as there are essentially two types: hard magic systems and soft magic systems. 

Hard Magic Systems

Hard magic systems have set rules and limitations. The magic is consistent and predictable. It's almost as if there is a scientific formula to how the magic works. By writers choosing to use a hard magic system, the characters will often have problem-solve within their set limitations to overcome obstacles. The reader will also get a deep understanding of the magic system. A strength of this magic system, in my opinion, is that characters cannot just magic themselves out of a situation and magic can't be used to move the plot forward (usually). I like the law and order of hard magic systems.

Examples: Allomancy in Mistborn, Surgebinding in Stormlight Archives, and Coporalki, Etherealki, Materialki in Grishaverse

Soft Magic System

Soft magic systems are the opposite. They typically have few rules, if any, and are used more to inspire awe and wonder. With soft magic systems, there is more sense of mystery than with hard magic. It's also easier to adapt to an ever changing story. Although I can definitely see the pros to soft magic, for me the cons tend to be deal breakers: Soft magic systems often lead to magic being used as a plot device. "Oh no! The character is trapped, but he got out because magic!" This leads to convenient endings, which frustrates me. Another drawback to soft magic systems is inconsistencies. Due to being able to adapt to the story, there are often inconsistencies that just get explained away with a wave of the wand. Personally, I like rules.

Examples: Gandalf's magic in The Lord of the Rings, and Naming in The Kingkiller Chronicles

Hybrid Magic System

I know... I know! I said there were only two sections here. But, there are actually three. The last one is a hybrid magic system. This is when the magic system has rules of what magic can and cannot do, but they are easily and frequently bent, if not flat out broken, to fit the needs of the plot. Then, when the rules of magic change, it's usually explained that suddenly it works because "reasons."

Example: the magic in Harry Potter

Conclusion

Although the definitions of everything above is accurate, some of it (primarily with my tree metophor) is my interpretation. Also, it should be noted that classifying many books as one thing or another is subjective, so if you don't agree with where I classified something, that is totally fine. Some of these subgenres are not ones that I would normally read, so I was at the mercy of Google for giving me recommendations for them. This was meant to be a "brief" rundown of different types of fantasy and different types of magic systems to help you make sense of what people like me are talking about. 

Let me know what you think of posts like this. Love it? Hate it? Want me to do more deep dives into elements of fantasy literature? Let me know in the comments below!

Booth by Jason Pellegrini

Title: Booth
Author: Jason Pellegrini
Genre:  Historical Fiction/Sci-Fi

I purchased this book from the author's website and chose to do an honest and unbiased review.  Jason Pellegrini neither requested nor is associated with this review.

Goodreads Description:

At dawn, on the day of his execution, Joseph Bateman finds himself reflecting on his life, one filled with poor decisions and evil people. Even his lifelong best friend played a pivotal role in earning Joseph his seat on death row.
A phenomenon occurs as the electricity meant to kill Joseph is sent through him, and his essence is ripped from the body he has known his entire life and thrown into a new one. Only the body he now inhabits isn’t new at all; it is the body of a person who lived over a hundred years before Joseph’s birth.
Now living in an unfamiliar era of history and trapped inside a foreign body, Joseph learns he has been sent back for a reason: to earn redemption for his damned soul and to find a sense of peace he has never known. All he needs to do to get there is to prevent one of history’s most infamous murders.

Here's What I Thought:

Booth was a very quick read for me.  I started it on Sunday and finished by Friday.  All in all, it probably took me about six hours total. That's fairly impressive for me seeing as how that adulting thing called "work" kept getting in the way.

Before continuing with this review, as a psych nurse, I feel a duty to issue a disclaimer that this book may contain triggers for those who have suffered from domestic violence and/or rape as it is not only mentioned, but goes into detail at times.  

True to the description, the story starts just before dawn on the morning of Joseph Bateman's execution.  However, it does not immediately go into his quest for redemption, but rather into a time of reflection. Over the next two-thirds of the book, I watched young Joey Beans turn into the hate-filled man that would walk to the electric chair.  My heart broke for him as he listened to his mother being beaten and raped on a nightly basis.  I was appalled by the horrible excuse of a human being Hank Bateman was.  I sympathized with Emily Bateman, as I have seen women in real life who walk the in the same shoes she wore.  I felt emotions resurface when reading about the sad ending to Liz Bateman's life, as I lost a cousin at a young age to an accident.

Mr. Pellegrini painted Joseph's childhood in such a way that, even though I have lived a relatively happy, perfect life, I could still identify with Joseph.  This was probably the most important thing to me.  When a character lives a life so different from my own, it's important that I can still find that connection. A spark.  

He was able to do it again with the introduction of Alex.  Alex is the tomboy, spitfire best-friend that eventually becomes Joseph's greatest love and ultimately focuses his hate (unintentionally) on blacks.  Alex was molded by her father at a young age that black people were lesser than her.  She knew that it wasn't right but, ultimately she was not able to rise above it and instead brought Joseph down. Joseph struggles with the idea of racism and if he is even racist at all throughout his youth with his best-friend.

It was a combination of his hate and his love of Alex, that Joseph kills a black man after he raped Alex on her way home from a friend's.  During his trial, Joseph makes it clear that he would have done it regardless if the man was black.  The judge choose to treat it as a hate crime and thus sentence him to death, giving him his chance at redemption.  

He then falls through time and is now in the body of John Wilkes Booth.  He also meets J, a man he has seen briefly 2 times before in his own times.  He learns that souls are reincarnated and their future lives can have a punishment inflicted based on their previous lives' actions.  He learns that he is on the path f redemption that only a few get to take and even fewer are successful.  At this point, everything Doctor Who has taught me started sending off warning bells.  Abraham Lincoln's assassination has to be a fixed point in time... What about the paradox it would create if Booth did not assassinate Lincoln.  If Booth did not assassinate Lincoln, Joseph's soul would not be punished by being forced to live the life he did and, therefore, would not need to go back in time to stop Booth from killing Lincoln.  If Joseph does not go back in time, Booth kills Lincoln... Paradox.

As the next several chapters unfold, Mr. Pellegrini very tastefully works around that by arranging circumstances so that, while Booth is not the one to pull the trigger, the world believes he is.  But wait... So this raises the question of whether or not Booth's movements in the next 12 days happen due to chance and circumstance or because Joseph already knows what they are and follows them because he knows what happens... Time travel=wibbly-wobbly (yes, yes, yes, I know I am a Doctor Who nerd.)

Also, what about the butterfly effect? Yes, unfortunately, it rears it's ugly head... As much as I would like to go into more detail, I feel that I should not. I don't want to spoil it! But with the butterfly effect now in full swing, he learns that his time as Booth was just another step along the path of his true redemption.  Its the choices he makes after what should be his "happily ever after" that will decide his true fate.

The story of Joseph Bateman's soul comes full circle and the ending was very satisfying, however not without a very emotional rollercoaster ride. Ultimately, all my concerns about the time travel did get resolved.  With all that being said, there were a couple things that I did not care for...

First, in the beginning, the number of times all of the characters' full names repeated themselves astounded me. Joseph Bateman. Liz Bateman. Hank Bateman. Emily Bateman. Alexandra Casings. Bill Casing. Again, and again, and again.  I get it.  I did not forget their names in the last three paragraphs.  I found this really distracting and more than slightly irritating.  But, obviously, I was able to get past it.

The second thing I didn't like was that, even in the end, Joseph is unable to figure out how J is.  I figured it out in a few paragraphs. He couldn't figure it out even after years.  It's not a huge deal, but still... Seriously? He couldn't figure it out? Ok, that rant is over.  

Overall I loved this book and would highly recommend it to anyone who asks. I already promised to borrow it to two of my coworkers.  They better not dog-ear the pages...

Oh, one more thing. Mr. Pellegrini, if you are reading this, you should really get your books in the Nook store.  Not everyone has a Kindle.  I've tried, and I just can't bring myself to cross over to the dark side of Amazon. 😆😅

                                     

Any Thoughts?

I would love to hear what you think! I get kind of rambly (yes, I probably made that word up, lol), so I am sure you are not surprised to hear that I could talk about this book a lot more.  Comment. Email. Whichever works best for you!

About The Author:

Jason Pellegrini is a Long Island native. He currently resides in Levittown, New York. His works include Booth, and The Replacement.

Links:

http://www.jasonpellegrinibooks.com/

JPellegrini1983

Southern Dust by Caspar Vega

Title: Southern Dust
Author: Caspar Vega
Genre: Pulp/Fantasy/Sci-Fi

I was provided with a digital copy of this work from the author for my honest and unbiased review.

Goodreads Description:

Gretchen Walker: A Southern belle living an idyllic life in the newly independent Alabama; worrying about the upcoming cotillion, and hoping more than anything to find a dapper young suitor from a good family. Might she end up getting more than she bargained for?

The Governor: The enigmatic leader responsible for achieving the aforementioned independence.

Roger Conaway: An enforcer trying to make a clean break. When his boss tells him a friend's daughter has gone missing, can Roger find the girl and get out of the game while he still has a shard of innocence left?

Dominic White: An obsessive Hornbuster overcome with grief; recovering from a nervous breakdown, and actively seeking revenge for his murdered sister.


Discover their interconnected stories in this diesel-fueled, black magic powered, vampire-creating extravaganza! 

Here's What I Thought:

The book was set up as a series of four separate, but intertwined vignettes.  The first vignette told the story of Gretchen and wasn't made up of more than a few pages.  It basically consisted of how she met the Governor.  Part 2 was the Governor's story.  This was a substantial portion of the book and told of his rise and fall. In part 3, Roger Conaway takes center stage with his story of how he went from an enforcer for a mobster to a super-soldier.  The fourth and final part tells the struggle of Dominic White after his sister's murder.

What I liked:

I initially wasn't a fan of the vignette style, but, upon further reflection of it, I actually really liked the approach. I was able to see each character's story from beginning to end without interruption.  This was a breath of fresh air as there are not a lot of authors who take this approach.

As bizarre as the premise of the book is, which the Federal Government falling apart shortly after Trump's highly successful Presidency and the individual states declaring their independence, I actually thought it was very intriguing.  What would happen if one of the states decided to declare independence in the 21st Century?

What I didn't like:

I really didn't care for the choppiness of the timelines for the characters.  The narration would suddenly drop off and then pick back up again and I wasn't always sure how much, if any, time had passed. It also made it difficult to connect with the characters on any personal level, as well as much of the detail seemed to be left out.

Also, there was mention of an incestuous relationship between Dominic and his sister. WHY? It doesn't add to the story.  It doesn't seem to serve a purpose, other than an "Oh, by the way..."  I would suggest just leaving that part out entirely.

The biggest thing that I did not like was that it seemed like Vega couldn't choose a genre, so he wrote them all in.  It starts off as a sort of political fiction book turned murder mystery with the assassination of the Governor.  Before too long, I'm reading a science fiction book by throwing the concept of a super soldier into the mix.  At that point, I was scratching my head going, "Ok..."  Finally, fantasy was brought into as well by introducing black magic.  Now I was thinking, "Seriously?"  Mr. Vega, if you are reading this, I would suggest just sticking to one genre or another.  By mashing these genres together, it appeared to be over-written.

Conclusion:

It was an interesting book, to say the least.  It is a very quick read.  If you are looking for an off-the-wall book to occupy the afternoon, this is the book for you.

Any Thoughts?

If you have any additional thoughts about the book, be sure to leave a comment or send me an email.

About The Author:

From supernatural pulp to hard-boiled noir to musings on politics and pop culture, Caspar Vega surprises, disgusts and entertains across many genres.

Links:

http://princeofpulp.com/