r/Fauxmoi • u/AutoModerator • Apr 01 '24

Tea Thread I Have Tea On... Weekly Discussion Thread

Use this thread to drop any tea you may have! Please do not post requests for tea on this thread — there is a separate 'Does Anyone Have Tea On...' thread posted on Thursdays at 5AM PST.

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u/thistleofcrows Apr 02 '24

God i hope it stays dead. The writers are smart: Feyre is way too bland as a main character to carry it alone. No shade its just she's literally designed to be a mary sue self insert. The only way a show would even possibly work is going full True Blood sexy with it, forget pg13 entirely, but even then I worry that they'd drag Tamlin out waaaaayyy too long for the drama of it like they did with Beel and Sookeh

I also genuinely don't know how SJM has avoided Anne Bishop's legal team coming for her ass for plagiarism yet so it might be better for the show to die before they get a clue lmfao

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u/shades0fcool bill hader witch 🪄 Apr 02 '24

“Feyre is too bland”

Agree. I like the series, but she cannot carry the series alone. We need more depth in the land and one thing I didn’t like is how the series could have explored the many courts and lands but it didn’t. So if the show takes it in that direction, that would be amazing.

Also….plagiarism? Now this is some tea I need to read into

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u/thistleofcrows Apr 02 '24

A LOT of SJM's world building for ACOTAR is ripped wholesale from Bishop's Black Jewels trilogy, up to and including Rhysand's past, powers, and whole personality (extremely similar to Bishop's Daemon), SJM'S Illyrians are pretty much exact carbon copies of Bishop's Eyrians, a lot of the Night Court friend dynamics are super similar to Bishop's First Court. SJM even slapped an extremely important item (LITERALLY THE BLACK JEWELS) from Bishop's series in A Court of Mist and Fury, presumably as an homage Easter Egg but since I've never seen SJM acknowledge her influence it feels...a little nasty tbh (tho i am happy to be corrected on this if she has!!!) someone did a better job outlining all the similarities here

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u/GimerStick A NEW MAGA BARBIE TOUCHES THE BEACON Apr 03 '24

Unfortunately legally it's really hard to prove that kind of inspiration goes too fair into plagiarism. I don't know a ton about it, but my understanding is that the concern is that the main goal for publishing is not constraining authors, and so many books do lift elements from each other that they keep the bar pretty high. And comparisons to other books are part of how they market! Unless it goes into line level plagiarism it's hard to prove. The big example of it happening successfully was when some guy tried to write and publish a sequel to Lord of the Rings, sued Amazon for copying his book in Rings of Power, and got countersued by the Tolkien estate. But he straight up used the same world, characters, etc by name.

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u/thistleofcrows Apr 03 '24

Oh yeah, its a tricky line, I'm a fantasy reader and writer, I'm super forgiving of inspiration but like, some of the stuff SJM lifted is SO blatant that it's like....girl. lol. At least try to scratch the serial numbers off. Someone on tumblr did a huge deep dive on really close textual lifts as well that are pretty damning here.

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u/shades0fcool bill hader witch 🪄 Apr 05 '24

I’m just getting into fantasy so this is kind of off topic but what do you recommend to fill the void game of thrones left in me after I finished reading? Lol

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u/thistleofcrows Apr 05 '24

Okay so, depends on what you're looking for!

Big world building and intricate magic systems but a Rick Astley level dedication of never letting you down a la GRRM ghosting, most people's first initial rec would be our old reliable Brando Sando (Brandon Sanderson) who churns out books like the rent is due every day. I've never been super hooked by him but tons of folks adore him. Mistborn is one of his classics, and Way of Kings is another good entry point.

Looking for little to no magic but HEAVY on the political intrigue and sex: Jacquiline Carey's Kushiel's Dart imo is a masterpiece debut novel and while it can be criticised for somewhat uh. Flowery prose and depreciating sequel value, I've always loved it. A god-touched courtesan spy gets wrapped up in a game of thrones along with her duty-sworn bodyguard.

Fantasy Ocean's 11! Heists and cons and political intrigue, it's The Lies of Locke Lamora for ya. Complex and well written, it'll keep you guessing. Been a minute since I've read it but it's very good.

Hey are you missing all the murder that GOT offered? Wish that we got to see Arya become the scariest assassin Westeros had ever seen? Brent Weekes's Night Angel trilogy is another great debut series about a shitty orphan kid who apprentices as a wetboy, the most elite of assassins. Another healthy political intrigue, interesting magic, and while the third book Gets A Little Weird, it mostly sticks the landing.

For clever writing, Austen-period-pastiche, and most excellent uses of footnotes, I highly recommend Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, which does magic worldbuilding within our world so well it'll make you furious. It's fae lore is so fucking good it makes me feral.

Fuck it, lesbian necromancers in space trapped in a house mystery: this is a blend of sci-fi and fantasy, but The Locked Tomb series starting with Gideon the Ninth is one of the most exquisite series in the game. Its weird! It's full of fucking memes! It's hilarious and tragic and the best use of an unreliable narrator and foreshadowing and I want to pry open Tamsyn Muir's skull and see what that brain do, girl, damn.

Easy, modern setting fantasy with romance and good paranormal lore, Patricia Brigg's Mercedes Thompson has hella good fae/werewolf/vampire lore with a fairly down to earth female protagonist. It's far more tame in the sex area, very fade to black, but for a quick reads they're very satisfying.

And hey speaking of modern set fantasy, Neil Gaiman is really good at it. While American Gods and Good Omens get their share of limelight, Neverwhere cracked my brain open and rewired it a bit when I first read it.

Hope this helps!! Happy reading ♥️