As I am reading The Chronicles of the Black Company, a blurb on the back struck me as being something of an important statement when it comes to stories and how they are written.
“With the Black Company series Glen Cook single-handedly changed the face of fantasy—something a lot of people didn’t notice and maybe still don’t. He brought the story down to a human level, dispensing with the cliché archetypes of princes, kings, and evil sorcerers. Reading his stuff was like reading Vietnam War fiction on peyote.” [emphasis mine]
– Steven Erikson, author of the series: Malazan Book of the Fallen.
And, while it does take some effort at first to get into the mindset of the world of the Black Company (that peyote element is not terribly far off at times), I am having to agree with Erikson. Even after these many years since the first book was published in his series, it seems that there is an overabundance of fantasy books that rely on the archetypes and tropes Erikson puts down. Many books are essentially medieval superhero novels that strictly follow the Hero’s cycle outlined by Joseph Campbell. In many cases, there are no consequences for using “super powers”, no leash to prevent them from getting out of hand, be it magic, tools, or skills. Many stories in the genre are little more than “power fantasies”, even if called something else. And, often, they don’t feel real (I know, that’s sometimes the point).
I like a “lived-in” quality of some fantasy and science-fiction worlds, where there are not so much palaces, but worn down castles, crumbling from siege; or where a magic user can overdo it (or can’t always do it), or suffer significant health consequences as a result — to the point of death in some cases. You know, making a world that is less fantastic and more… human. With or without magic. With or without swords.
That’s not to say that high fantasy (swaaards and sworcery!) with the heroes cycle doesn’t have its place, but I find myself much more in thrall with stories where those tropes are not played to the hilt. And have to appreciate authors who are looking for more down-to-earth ways of telling a fantastic yarn.
Have you read any good fantasy lately that skips the “nobody who climbs rank to save the world” theme? Tell me about it in the comments.
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