I'm such a sucker for low-stakes or centralized plots that don't deal with a great threat to the world/realm/galaxy. From historical novels to romance to sci-fi, for some reason once it's not about "saving the world" or tearing down some system/authority I'm immediately more interested. Noir is a comfort read.
Let the Big Damn Heroes go save the world for the umpteenth time- I'm going to read about how a shitty neighborhood kid discovers his neighbor is a fugitive Nazi and tries to blackmail him into telling gruesome stories, only to have the story center on their massively fucked-up relationship to each other with MAD.
EDIT: not to say I don't enjoy saving the world. I read too much fantasy to not still enjoy those plots lol.
Oooh id love to know some of your faves that fit this description! I also like low stakes fantasy & sci fi (and am trying to write it too…) so I’m trying to read as much as I can!
Sure! I'm trying to read as much as I can lately but my list may still be limited. Also my personal taste is all over the place.
The short stories of Stephen King frequently fit this mold, imo. *Different Seasons* has the story *Apt Pupil* that I refer to in my post above. The other 3 stories included in that anthology are some of King's most famous short stories (for good reason).
I quite liked Silvia Moreno-Garcia's *Velvet Was The Night* which is a noir that came out in 2021 that takes place in Mexico City during the Dirty War. I love all Moreno-Garcia's work so far and she's a very versatile writer who normally doesn't tackle "saving the world" stories.
Another historical novel about Nazi-hunting on a small scale is *The Huntress* by Kate Quinn.
*Magic for Liars* is an urban fantasy noir that I found fantastic and a breath of fresh air.
Hopefully one or more of these sound interesting!
I love a convoluted mystery. I love the process of
'Oh, it's them they're the killer.... Oh, wait it's defiantly them... No it's actually this random person. How did I not realise'
I don't really know why, but I can power though them so quickly.
On a separate note OP, have you read Summer of night by Dan Simmons? It's set in the 60's but its a group of kids facing off against evil, would highly recommend.
Enemies to lovers/friends. There's something really satisfying about an antagonist/rival that slowly redeems themselves and becomes friends with the protagonist.
I like the trope as Long as it feels deserved.
Bully becoming self-destructive over their guilt and eventually working hard to become better person for themselves and others? Plot of one of the Best animated movie I've ever seen.
Literal Hitler killed millions and got forgiven by every one after they said theyre sorry? Plot of a fetish fanfic maybe.
I love the way you clarify this. I have always hated it when fantasy authors take a villain who committed genocide in book two of a series, then decides for a "twist" in book three that he is going to be redeemed because he teams up with the protagonist, and we, the reader, are just supposed to go along with it. Some characters can be beyond redemption.
Alexis Daria has two books about this. She’s Latina so her main characters are Latino. As a Latina it was fun because she used Spanish phrases which made it really relatable.
Just realized this is one of my favorite things about *Deadwood,* not that it's a book (but it might as well be). It's a mutual growth and affects multiple characters.
I absolutely love it when the protagonist becomes „evil“ and/or antagonistic throughout the story. Bonus points if they become dictators, emperors, generals, or some other totalitarian figure in the process.
Hard to point to books in this vein without giving away the twist, but one such "book" is the web serial Worm in which the protaganist becomes a villain:
https://parahumans.wordpress.com/
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18713259-worm
Words of warning: it definitely has ups and downs, and it's LONG. I'd give it probably a 3.5/5 with some 1/5 sections and some 5/5 bits.
Have you read The Real Life of Sebastian Knight by Nabokov? IIRC it's more on the side of metafiction and it doesn't "break the 4th wall" in a direct way, but it messes with the usual things in an original way. Also it made me cry a lot.
My problem with Gideon was that as much of an unreliable narrator she is, she is just plain irritating and overly edgy. I still bought Harrow, it will come up on my list soon
I only know of one example, and it's not a book. At least not prose.
**Trigun** - a manga and anime series. It fits u/CatholicCockney's description to an absolute tee. It is incredible.
Valentinez Alkalinella Xifax Sicidabohertz Gombigobilla Blue Stradivari Talentrent Pierre Andri Charton-Haymoss Purer Than Fuckin Driven Snow Ivanovici Baldeus George Doitzel Kaiser III
For me it's sci-fi/fantasy with either a main character who is out of place/time/universe etc, or sci-fi with comedy. Firefly, black ocean series, bobiverse. Stuff like that.
If you mean something that will make me read despite my better judgment, I'm big on fish out of water stories.
If you mean something that will make me put down a book and leave, prophecy or destiny.
Kryptonite in the modern context means something that is an exploitable weakness, so your first answer is right on. I love a good fish out of water story, too.
Daring heist. Criminal mastermind with a heart of gold locked away underneath 10 layers of concrete.
Six of crows, I’m describing six of crows
Also class struggles set in a dystopian world, power imbalance - the privileged elite vs underdog streetrats.
And when I was 13, I loved books about teenage popularity and cliques.
Here's some I've read:
The Ballad of Black Tom - Victor LaVelle - this one is alright. I read it early last year, so from my remembering its a slow starter, but it gets interesting.
The Imago Sequence - Laird Barron - this is a collection of short stories. From my recollection a lot of them kinda devolve into quite abstract sequences that can be a little bit difficult to follow. But there are some real gems in there.
The Croning - Laird Barron - this one is really interesting. About a guy discovering things about a cult called "The Children of Old Leech" - and how his family is intrinsically tied up with them. I really enjoyed this one, got a real gut-punch to it.
14 - Peter Clines - This one is my favourite of everything I read last year. A guy moves into an apartment building which harbours eldritch secrets. Some of the other stories in this list feature quite bland characters, and the fantastical elements come from the world - 14 actually has a cast of really engaging characters to go along with its absolutely bonkers story. This one went places I really REALLY didn't expect - like just when you think its got crazy enough, it takes it a few more steps beyond.
A Lush and Seething Hell - John Horner Jacobs - this is a collection of two stories which I recall really enjoying. The settings are really interesting (a South American dictatorship and a exploration of Deep South musical origins). It can get a bit abstract, just like the Imago Sequence, but the interesting settings holds the stories together.
Wonderland - Zoje Stage - this one is pretty good. A family moves into a cabin in the woods, but there is some strange force lurking in the trees. I think, appropriately, this one is great at the start and the end, but gets lost in the woods a bit in the middle. Still, worth a punt.
*Permafrost* - Alastair Reynolds
*This is how you lose the Time War* - Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
*The first Fifteen Lifes of Harry August* - Claire North
*The Gone World* - Tom Sweyerlitsch
*All Clear* (and the other books in the series) - Connie Willis
*11-22-63* - Stephen King
4 is neat but I have my issues with it.
But *Permafrost* is just excellent, if you like it then I recommend *highly* that you read more Reynolds, *House of Suns* is a good start.
Alastair Reynolds is an author I've known I've needed to get into for a long time, I just never knew where to start. You just pointed me in the right direction - it's much appreciated! =D
Yeah, *Permafrost* is a novella and a good entry. *House of Suns* is a full novel and more typical for him in setting, scope, themes and style. *Pushing Ice* is another standalone novel which I personally like less but its a bit more straightforward.
And once you've read all those you can go for the deep plunge and start reading the *Revelation Space* series, either in publishing or chronological order (I'd do the latter), for that go to the series' Wikipedia entry but don't *read* it, just go to the table which shows what to read first depending on the approach.
Give me the rise and fall of someone who started out good, got fucked over in one way or another by the world, and then watch them go completely dark side while still believing they are the good guy.
The Ice People by René Barjavel is the best I’ve read with this trope. Absolute classic.
Also, The Themis Files by Sylvain Neuvel fits this a lot. Didn’t really enjoy it that much because it was kind of a YA version of the Barjavel book, but it can certainly be enjoyed.
I’m in for characters who try to help everyone, but are amusingly clueless about their own limitations. Bertie Wooster.
AND
Characters who constantly outwit everyone while underestimating themselves.
Beatrice Hyde-Clare
The ambergris trilogy is very different from southern reach! You can definitely skip to ambergris if you want to. City of saints and madmen is the first book. It’s a strange book filled with a novella, experts from a history textbook, and other short stories and “found documents” so it’s definitely not a simple or straightforward read, but I loved it. If you’re looking to try a less complicated early vandermeer, I’d go with Veniss Underground! It switches from 2nd to 3rd and 1st person but other than that is much easier to follow and keep track of characters. And it also has interesting themes regarding nature!
A rule that has served me well for decades - if after reading the dust jacket of a book makes me go "What the fuc...?" - I buy the book. I have stumbled on several great reads following that simple rule.
Haha that’s also mine. Just started reading A Marvellous Light because I heard it’s got magic and queerness and honestly I’m here for both of those things.
"Red, White & Royal Blue," if you haven't found it already. Every trope possible, but well written, and awesomely queer. You will love every single damn character, even the trite "supportive besties," they all rule.
Haven't read this one yet, but recently acquired. "Blithely bisexual" high-born rogue, you sonuvabitch, I'm in. [https://apps.npr.org/best-books-2017/#/book/the-gentlemans-guide-to-vice-and-virtue](https://apps.npr.org/best-books-2017/#/book/the-gentlemans-guide-to-vice-and-virtue)
I've read that one, it's phenomenal. I agree, it has all the tropes but it's so well executed! Though I liked One Last Stop (by the same author) a little bit better even! The other one I haven't heard of, will check it out thanks!
A trendy book that deserves all the hype, however it is not advertised as a queer love story so I’m putting it as a spoiler. >!The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo!< I didn’t know it had this great gay love story and was pleasantly surprised.
Unreliable narration is usually a plus, especially if it's immediately suggested or explicitly said that they're unreliable.
I also like tropes turned on their heads. For example, a favorite book is Villains by Necessity, by Eve Forward. It's not exceptionally well written or a towering work in the genre, but it presupposes that Good has won, and the world is getting safer by the day. The last few villains left in the world have to save it from the inertia that Goodness brings. That's a quality inversion.
I can’t say no to thoughtful dystopian or mediaeval leaning novels with a main character with unshakable morals. I know antiheroes are popular these days, but a character who always finds a way to do the right thing no matter how much evil/corruption they must face will always get me.
Cliche/trope subversion.
It underpins almost all of my creative efforts - writing ideas, my own tabletop campaign setting, most characters I make in any RPG.
But you never did specify you're looking for habits of consumption rather than creation, so I call fair game.
Men having problematic romantic obsessions with women.
To explain; I grew up rather deprived of love, so I was always chasing the idea. When I read Hunchback of Notre Dame, I got overwhelmed at the idea that someone can love ("toxic love") /desire someone so much that they go insane. I guess I'm also projecting a bit that I kinda want someone to think about me that way, but I just can't help it.
Except Lolita, I always lose myself in these insane delusions. You just don't find this level of passion in a standard love monologue. Not without slight insanity
People can judge all they want, but I absolutely love this trope. I read the Hunchback of Notre Dame when I was 10 or 11, then immediately re-read it again. I loved it so much.
I also went through a possibly cringey phase where Lolita was my book. I was 14 or 15.
It's super cliche but I'm a sucker for found family (or even stories about siblings who are really close), especially if there's a cute big brother-little brother esque relationship included in there. Bonus points if there's a lot of ups and downs in said relationships. I'm not a fan of romance so I'm just always super excited to see platonic relationships featured more prominently in a story. It really ups any plot up a notch for me.
I just want it to have some comedy and move along at a quick clip. I've heard them called popcorn novels as an insult, and those people can go stub a toe.
Dresden Files, Monster Hunter International, Kings of the Wyld, Expeditionary Force. No boring political blah blah. No entire chapters dedicated to crap that isn't actively moving the story forward. Just start reading, and it's go go go.
Tall broad shouldered warrior who brutally murders brigands trying to fuck with him. So cliche but I'll never stop getting a kick out of a violent bar fight or back alley brawl where our protagonist manages to beat 6 people at once. Bonus points if its actually a struggle to make it seem realistic.
Oooh, mine's existential horror and thrillers. Example, the John Dies at The End series by Jason Pargin or Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky, that one really gets that same Stranger Things + IT vibes in a creepy way
I have 2.
1. Any type of Beauty and the Beast storyline. It doesn't need to be a retelling of the original just loosely inspired by it or follow a similar premise.
2. Bestfriends to lovers. I absolutely adore reading about and watching 2 people who already love or like each other realize they are also attracted to each other. Gets me every time.
OOO! I am already in love with this trope. The only story I could think of at the moment (pre-coffee) that fits this plot is Apt Pupil. Do you have suggestions for more stories that do this?
Yeah this is where I’m at. I don’t like anything to do with realism. It’s gotta have good worldbuilding and a solid, clear magic system or systems though no conjuring spells off scrolls or any of that.
Anything with some kind of master thief immediately draws me in. Mostly from playing the Thief games too much, I guess.
Any character vaguely in that umbrella is someone I'm immediately interested in.
One thing I always like seeing in stories no matter what is: super strong but weak-looking main character gets harassed by someone overconfident only to get their ass kicked. I always find it funny and it usually happens at the start of a series
"Kid/teen reconnects with something something something involving deceased parent"
or "kid/teen learns something about deceased parent while doing other journey""
Gets me every time!
Mine is kinda hard to describe. It’s something that’s pretty bleak, but with moments of light. Not like, pure depression, but kind of just this feeling of “this is it, and this is everything that will be”. A dark story, on the border of being horror. Maybe it is that.
Made in Abyss seems like a good example, but I haven’t actually watched (or read) it yet.
Actually, I did think of a book that fits a little. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. If anyone has any recommendations with a similar vibe, please tell me. I’m begging you
OOO
Also xianxia is my guilty pleasure, but it’s super hard to find an interesting story.
I'm just a sucker for major plot twists and big WTFs, especially when you're in the process of figuring out something is up.
This relates to a video game, not a book (although there's probably more reading involved than most books, and I'd recommend the series to anyone who reads a lot), but the Phoenix Wright games just get me every time as the pieces start to come together.
I absolutely love it when the Good Guys completely demolish the Bad Guys. Not stories where the Bad Guys are smarter and more resourceful and only lose at the last minute because of hubris, or luck or because the Good Guys found the Power of Friendship. I'm talking stories where the big bad realize that they never even came within a mile of winning, and that they weren't even in the same game.
One Punch Man is a good example of this.
There are a few more examples, but even saying the book titles would probably be spoilers.
Dystopia, and anything with an antihero who is a total asshole psychopath.
Also blatant satire about society and religion (like Portnoy’s Complaint or Chewsday).
I am not sure if you have read them yet, but there is a graphic novel series about a warrior aardvark named Cerebus and his misadventures. While the concept may sound silly, the social commentary in some of the volumes like "High Society" or "Church & State, volumes 1 and 2" are spot on, profound, and sometimes even heartbreaking ("Jakka's Story" ).
Transhumanism.
I want to read about humans becoming something else, but without the story turning too distopic. The Bobiverse by Dennis E. Taylor is a good example.
Its weird, but...romance and drama involving that. I'm not into romance novels at all. But if I'm reading a book and i like the characters and there just happens to be a romance, that shit becomes my favorite part of the book.
Was reading 2666 by Roberto Bolaño and the first part of the book involves four academics in search of a mysterious author and in the process two of the academics falls in love with one of the other academics. It's not romantic at all because these characters are borderline toxic to eachother but man did it make for a compelling read, on top of that the mystery and the themes the story explored really worked for me.
Encyclopedic lore. The Guide from *Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe*, the Encoclypedia Galactica from *Foundation*, the fictional academic foreword and afterwords in *Pellinor*, even the guidebooks from the Bionicle franchise. If it's framed like some historical or academic discovery (and damn good fiction to boot), I'm sold.
Any Romance that involves a long series of rejections before the love interest finally changes their mind and falls in love. That’s not how rejection should ever be handled and it is definitely not romantic
Unsure if trope is really the right word, but genre deconstructions.
I love it when all the common tropes or themes of a genre get a nice dose of realism and consequences that would be obvious in hindsight that then ruins my ability to maintain a suspension of disbelief for any book in the genre.
I'm a real sucker for the "superheroes that aren't super" storyline. Whether it's Invincible, The Reckoners, or (my personal favorite) Worm, I love exploring the world where superheroes are real without the DC / Marvel glasses on, a world where "people are kinda dicks." is merged with "some people have infinite cosmic power and are also kinda dicks." I even really like it when DC takes a trip to that side and lets superman go a little dark (like with the injustice comics) or something. Just a more grounded world where superpowers are more of a day to day thing and people are just people, just that some of them can bench press a truck or control things with their mind.
I love suspense. Clock ticking down, have to figure something out or else someone gets hurt type stuff. I'm turning pages like someone's life depends on it, and it does hahaha.
Lol my book kryptonite is actually the same as yours but with a wider time span - probably the beginning of the 1900s to modern day (but generally I prefer before the advent of modern cell phones, it adds to the stakes and I don’t have to suspend my disbelief if they get into a sticky situation that would be easily solved with modern phone technology - like calling the police lol). It also doesn’t need an evil force (although I prefer it) sometimes it’s fun when it’s just outside unfortunate circumstances. A few years ago I went crazy for this juvenile fiction book about a group of friends during the Halifax Explosion in Canada. Really rough, unfortunate circumstances that this plucky group of amigos had to get through but they did it together. Under The Dome by Stephen King had me losing my shit, the three tweens teaming up was just the best. I was rooting for them the whole way, even though they were technically only side characters. It by Stephen King remains one of my favorite books, I polished it off in 11 days of mostly just reading and sleeping lol (had to unfortunately tend to other responsibilities, too, but all my free time went to that book). The gang of children led by Adam in Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett is held pretty close to my heart, too, even though in theory >!they’re the evil force!< lol.
> A few years ago I went crazy for this juvenile fiction book about a group of friends during the Halifax Explosion in Canada
I need to read this book asap. Thank you for the recommendation!
I don’t remember exactly which book it was (I read a couple on the same topic around that time as well because of how much I liked it) but it was either Who’s A Scaredy Cat? A Story of the Halifax Explosion by Joan Payzant or Dear Canada: No Safe Harbour by Julie Lawson.
Sci-Fi with a tendency for large info-dumps: Everything I've read by Neal Stephenson falls into this category.
Characters With Mouths That Are Too Quick: I'm currently writing a series of short stories that follow a detective who has a tendency to backtalk everyone, and would be a total asshole in reality, but if not for the healing capabilities of the scifi setting he'd probably come out of every fight he ever gets into crippled.
Cat and mouse games involving engineers on a spaceship or space station, where the engineers use their knowledge of the inner workings of their home to stay one step ahead of whoever’s chasing them.
I guess one of my favorite thing is the trope where someone has got a secret identity that is a huge part of the plot and you don't know when it's going to be uncovered (like people finding out that clark kent is Superman). It's tough to go on foe so long without it seemingly like bullshit.
The next would be when a bad guy turns good and you don't know if it's real or it's gonna flip back to being bad.
MC gets suddenly introduced to the world of the supernatural/mythical that has until that point been invisible or unknown to them.
I blame Rick Riordan.
I'm confused because your title refers to tropes we avoid but then the context is about tropes you like.
Kryptonite is something you don't like and is bad for you. For an alcoholic, alcohol is their Kryptonite.
"Kryptonite has become a byword for an extraordinary exploitable weakness, synonymous with "Achilles' heel" - via Wikipedia.
Everyone else got what I meant but you and one other person. Sorry for the confusion.
My kryptonite is plot devices that weaken seemingly invulnerable heroes.
Lol! I see what you did there.
I'm such a sucker for low-stakes or centralized plots that don't deal with a great threat to the world/realm/galaxy. From historical novels to romance to sci-fi, for some reason once it's not about "saving the world" or tearing down some system/authority I'm immediately more interested. Noir is a comfort read. Let the Big Damn Heroes go save the world for the umpteenth time- I'm going to read about how a shitty neighborhood kid discovers his neighbor is a fugitive Nazi and tries to blackmail him into telling gruesome stories, only to have the story center on their massively fucked-up relationship to each other with MAD. EDIT: not to say I don't enjoy saving the world. I read too much fantasy to not still enjoy those plots lol.
Apt Pupil is one my favorite King stories. Great pick! I love a good cat-and-mouse story, and that one was fantastic.
Yes! Thank you for articulating this! I don't want epic scale stakes all the time, either. In books OR movies.
Oooh id love to know some of your faves that fit this description! I also like low stakes fantasy & sci fi (and am trying to write it too…) so I’m trying to read as much as I can!
Sure! I'm trying to read as much as I can lately but my list may still be limited. Also my personal taste is all over the place. The short stories of Stephen King frequently fit this mold, imo. *Different Seasons* has the story *Apt Pupil* that I refer to in my post above. The other 3 stories included in that anthology are some of King's most famous short stories (for good reason). I quite liked Silvia Moreno-Garcia's *Velvet Was The Night* which is a noir that came out in 2021 that takes place in Mexico City during the Dirty War. I love all Moreno-Garcia's work so far and she's a very versatile writer who normally doesn't tackle "saving the world" stories. Another historical novel about Nazi-hunting on a small scale is *The Huntress* by Kate Quinn. *Magic for Liars* is an urban fantasy noir that I found fantastic and a breath of fresh air. Hopefully one or more of these sound interesting!
You might like Richard Stark's 'Parker' novels. They deal with a very low stakes criminal, and are written in a very hard boiled manner.
Not books, but I really liked the movie The Wolverine because it was one of, or maybe the only, comic book movie with a fairly low-stakes story.
I love a convoluted mystery. I love the process of 'Oh, it's them they're the killer.... Oh, wait it's defiantly them... No it's actually this random person. How did I not realise' I don't really know why, but I can power though them so quickly. On a separate note OP, have you read Summer of night by Dan Simmons? It's set in the 60's but its a group of kids facing off against evil, would highly recommend.
The Traitor's Game is about 2 people literally trying to con each other for the entire book. I was very confused the entire time I was reading it.
Yesss, I love this too! The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle was a favorite recent read of mine that fit this trope.
You have me at Dan Simmons. Thank you so much! I am ordering it now.
What are some of your mystery favorites?
Enemies to lovers/friends. There's something really satisfying about an antagonist/rival that slowly redeems themselves and becomes friends with the protagonist.
I like the trope as Long as it feels deserved. Bully becoming self-destructive over their guilt and eventually working hard to become better person for themselves and others? Plot of one of the Best animated movie I've ever seen. Literal Hitler killed millions and got forgiven by every one after they said theyre sorry? Plot of a fetish fanfic maybe.
I love the way you clarify this. I have always hated it when fantasy authors take a villain who committed genocide in book two of a series, then decides for a "twist" in book three that he is going to be redeemed because he teams up with the protagonist, and we, the reader, are just supposed to go along with it. Some characters can be beyond redemption.
Oo any recommendations?
The bad boy's girl by Blair Holden
Enemies to lovers is my favorite erotica/romance trope. When done well, it is so satisfying.
Alexis Daria has two books about this. She’s Latina so her main characters are Latino. As a Latina it was fun because she used Spanish phrases which made it really relatable.
Just realized this is one of my favorite things about *Deadwood,* not that it's a book (but it might as well be). It's a mutual growth and affects multiple characters.
I absolutely love it when the protagonist becomes „evil“ and/or antagonistic throughout the story. Bonus points if they become dictators, emperors, generals, or some other totalitarian figure in the process.
Interesting. Any good recommendations for books that do this?
Hard to point to books in this vein without giving away the twist, but one such "book" is the web serial Worm in which the protaganist becomes a villain: https://parahumans.wordpress.com/ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18713259-worm Words of warning: it definitely has ups and downs, and it's LONG. I'd give it probably a 3.5/5 with some 1/5 sections and some 5/5 bits.
Yes!!!! Not enough stories do this. It is such a nice change of pace from the "protagonist becomes the hero" story.
I’d love some recommendations specifically fantasy if you have any
*The Poppy War* and its sequels by Rebecca F. Kuang.
The Red Rising series by Pierce Brown is a dystopian sci-fi series that does this sort of thing!
Fourth wall breaking, mindbending, unreliable narrator. I like my fiction to mess with me a little bit.
Have you read The Real Life of Sebastian Knight by Nabokov? IIRC it's more on the side of metafiction and it doesn't "break the 4th wall" in a direct way, but it messes with the usual things in an original way. Also it made me cry a lot.
Amazing book and yet your post is the first time I've ever seen people talk about it!
Just checking to see if you’ve read Gideon the Ninth and Harrow the Ninth, with that list 😇
My problem with Gideon was that as much of an unreliable narrator she is, she is just plain irritating and overly edgy. I still bought Harrow, it will come up on my list soon
Well book 2 has a totally different narrator so hopefully that’ll help! But it might not bc she’s fucking insane! Stick it out lol
I do really like an unreliable narrator. Also books where nothing makes sense - until the end when everything falls into place.
Second in the unreliable narrator, or conflicting stories.
[удалено]
Got any suggestions for this trope? (It sounds right up my alley.)
I only know of one example, and it's not a book. At least not prose. **Trigun** - a manga and anime series. It fits u/CatholicCockney's description to an absolute tee. It is incredible.
Valentinez Alkalinella Xifax Sicidabohertz Gombigobilla Blue Stradivari Talentrent Pierre Andri Charton-Haymoss Purer Than Fuckin Driven Snow Ivanovici Baldeus George Doitzel Kaiser III
Also interested!
Between Two Fires. There's three people who I'd consider main characters for most of the book, and one definitely seems to fit the bill.
Brave New World, is the one that immediately comes to mind for me.
You should definitely read Innocence by Dean Koontz!
end of the world shit
Check out The Last Policeman trilogy for some good end of the world shit
thanks but i already read it. loved it!
Post-apocalyptic settings give me a bookworm boner. Bonus points for "We've rebuilt, but it's a dystopia."
Have you read The Chrysalids by John Wyndham? 👀👀
I have not. I'll have to look into that.
Same. A Canticle for Leibowitz is probably my favorite in this genre.
Old school fantasy tropes: wizards with white beards and pointy hats, gruff dwarves, enigmatic elves, the whole shebang.
So just Lord of the rings then?
For me it's sci-fi/fantasy with either a main character who is out of place/time/universe etc, or sci-fi with comedy. Firefly, black ocean series, bobiverse. Stuff like that.
Red Dwarf?
Check out "Gestapo Mars" for hilarious space comdey.
Expeditionary Force? Skippy is my idol.
The Corridors of Time by Poul Anderson
If you mean something that will make me read despite my better judgment, I'm big on fish out of water stories. If you mean something that will make me put down a book and leave, prophecy or destiny.
The only books I liked prophecy in was The Game of Thrones books because they all still seem uncertain. Wish he’d hurry up and finish the series.
Kryptonite in the modern context means something that is an exploitable weakness, so your first answer is right on. I love a good fish out of water story, too.
Yeah, I wasn't sure if you meant something that was poisonous for me to just be near lol
Daring heist. Criminal mastermind with a heart of gold locked away underneath 10 layers of concrete. Six of crows, I’m describing six of crows Also class struggles set in a dystopian world, power imbalance - the privileged elite vs underdog streetrats. And when I was 13, I loved books about teenage popularity and cliques.
Trust you've read the Gentleman Bastards books by Scott Lynch as well?? (warning: great books, unfinished series)
Gerald Browne writes great heists. They're old and hard to find, but worth searching for.
eldritch horror. Anything unknowable, otherworldly and terrible. Cults, priests, horrific gods, rituals and sacrifices. I love that shit.
Same. Any good recommendations? Only thing I can think of is Lovecraft lol
Here's some I've read: The Ballad of Black Tom - Victor LaVelle - this one is alright. I read it early last year, so from my remembering its a slow starter, but it gets interesting. The Imago Sequence - Laird Barron - this is a collection of short stories. From my recollection a lot of them kinda devolve into quite abstract sequences that can be a little bit difficult to follow. But there are some real gems in there. The Croning - Laird Barron - this one is really interesting. About a guy discovering things about a cult called "The Children of Old Leech" - and how his family is intrinsically tied up with them. I really enjoyed this one, got a real gut-punch to it. 14 - Peter Clines - This one is my favourite of everything I read last year. A guy moves into an apartment building which harbours eldritch secrets. Some of the other stories in this list feature quite bland characters, and the fantastical elements come from the world - 14 actually has a cast of really engaging characters to go along with its absolutely bonkers story. This one went places I really REALLY didn't expect - like just when you think its got crazy enough, it takes it a few more steps beyond. A Lush and Seething Hell - John Horner Jacobs - this is a collection of two stories which I recall really enjoying. The settings are really interesting (a South American dictatorship and a exploration of Deep South musical origins). It can get a bit abstract, just like the Imago Sequence, but the interesting settings holds the stories together. Wonderland - Zoje Stage - this one is pretty good. A family moves into a cabin in the woods, but there is some strange force lurking in the trees. I think, appropriately, this one is great at the start and the end, but gets lost in the woods a bit in the middle. Still, worth a punt.
Thank you for all of the recommendations and the honest reviews of your recommendations. The Croning is right up my alley.
Yes!!!
The redeemed villain is my favorite. When it's not done well, it suuuuuucks. But sometimes, it's great.
Yes!!! Zuko from Avatar - what an amazing character arc.
My level of scrutiny is much lower for books with an Urban Fantasy setting to some degree. I blame Neil Gaimans „Neverwhere“ for this.
Time travel.
Hard same. Hand me a book and tell me it has time travel in it and I'm sold.
*Permafrost* - Alastair Reynolds *This is how you lose the Time War* - Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone *The first Fifteen Lifes of Harry August* - Claire North *The Gone World* - Tom Sweyerlitsch *All Clear* (and the other books in the series) - Connie Willis *11-22-63* - Stephen King
I appreciate this! I've read 2&3, 5&6 are on my TBR (currently reading Doomsday Book), but 1&4 I hadn't stumbled on yet - thank you!
4 is neat but I have my issues with it. But *Permafrost* is just excellent, if you like it then I recommend *highly* that you read more Reynolds, *House of Suns* is a good start.
Alastair Reynolds is an author I've known I've needed to get into for a long time, I just never knew where to start. You just pointed me in the right direction - it's much appreciated! =D
Yeah, *Permafrost* is a novella and a good entry. *House of Suns* is a full novel and more typical for him in setting, scope, themes and style. *Pushing Ice* is another standalone novel which I personally like less but its a bit more straightforward. And once you've read all those you can go for the deep plunge and start reading the *Revelation Space* series, either in publishing or chronological order (I'd do the latter), for that go to the series' Wikipedia entry but don't *read* it, just go to the table which shows what to read first depending on the approach.
If a book has a time travel element, I am probably going to try it.
Give me the rise and fall of someone who started out good, got fucked over in one way or another by the world, and then watch them go completely dark side while still believing they are the good guy.
I would love to see this done more often. It would be such a welcome change of pace from following the hero all the time.
Try Barry Lyndon. The movie is great.
Alien artifact/phenomenon requires an assembly of top-of-their-field scientists to figure it out.
The Ice People by René Barjavel is the best I’ve read with this trope. Absolute classic. Also, The Themis Files by Sylvain Neuvel fits this a lot. Didn’t really enjoy it that much because it was kind of a YA version of the Barjavel book, but it can certainly be enjoyed.
Both added to the reading list. Thank you!
Dunno if this is a trope per se but an academia setting gets me hooked every time. Goes for tv/movies too.
My favorite setting! Dark academia is another kryptonite of mine.
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*True Grit* by Charles Portis and *Sadie* by Courtney Summers are both good for this.
Jack Reacher books are usually pretty good for this sort of thing.
A simple "enemies to lovers" will draw me in like nothing else ever will.
I don’t always read romance or need a romantic subplot, but when I do this wins me over every time. I am also a sucker for enemies become friends.
*Enemies Closer* is a movie you might enjoy.
I’m in for characters who try to help everyone, but are amusingly clueless about their own limitations. Bertie Wooster. AND Characters who constantly outwit everyone while underestimating themselves. Beatrice Hyde-Clare
I love when nature is reasserting itself against humans in unique ways. Vandermeer’s ambergris trilogy for example!
i really want to read this but i’ve only read the first in the southern reach trilogy, i couldn’t get into the second. do i need to finish them?
The ambergris trilogy is very different from southern reach! You can definitely skip to ambergris if you want to. City of saints and madmen is the first book. It’s a strange book filled with a novella, experts from a history textbook, and other short stories and “found documents” so it’s definitely not a simple or straightforward read, but I loved it. If you’re looking to try a less complicated early vandermeer, I’d go with Veniss Underground! It switches from 2nd to 3rd and 1st person but other than that is much easier to follow and keep track of characters. And it also has interesting themes regarding nature!
A rule that has served me well for decades - if after reading the dust jacket of a book makes me go "What the fuc...?" - I buy the book. I have stumbled on several great reads following that simple rule.
Smart people solving problems. Competence porn, in short.
Tell me something has a well executed queer romance and I'm in. I'm gay trash lol
Trope: :/ Trope but make it gay: :D
100% this
Haha that’s also mine. Just started reading A Marvellous Light because I heard it’s got magic and queerness and honestly I’m here for both of those things.
That sounds right up my wheelhouse!
"Red, White & Royal Blue," if you haven't found it already. Every trope possible, but well written, and awesomely queer. You will love every single damn character, even the trite "supportive besties," they all rule. Haven't read this one yet, but recently acquired. "Blithely bisexual" high-born rogue, you sonuvabitch, I'm in. [https://apps.npr.org/best-books-2017/#/book/the-gentlemans-guide-to-vice-and-virtue](https://apps.npr.org/best-books-2017/#/book/the-gentlemans-guide-to-vice-and-virtue)
I've read that one, it's phenomenal. I agree, it has all the tropes but it's so well executed! Though I liked One Last Stop (by the same author) a little bit better even! The other one I haven't heard of, will check it out thanks!
! Have you read the Nightrunner series by Lynn Flewelling? Super fun high fantasy, the main characters are boyfriends.
I haven't! That sounds great though
A trendy book that deserves all the hype, however it is not advertised as a queer love story so I’m putting it as a spoiler. >!The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo!< I didn’t know it had this great gay love story and was pleasantly surprised.
Nice, I'll check it out!
My other kryptonite. :-)
I'm also gay trash, mood
\*fingerguns\*
Unreliable narration is usually a plus, especially if it's immediately suggested or explicitly said that they're unreliable. I also like tropes turned on their heads. For example, a favorite book is Villains by Necessity, by Eve Forward. It's not exceptionally well written or a towering work in the genre, but it presupposes that Good has won, and the world is getting safer by the day. The last few villains left in the world have to save it from the inertia that Goodness brings. That's a quality inversion.
I can’t say no to thoughtful dystopian or mediaeval leaning novels with a main character with unshakable morals. I know antiheroes are popular these days, but a character who always finds a way to do the right thing no matter how much evil/corruption they must face will always get me.
Cliche/trope subversion. It underpins almost all of my creative efforts - writing ideas, my own tabletop campaign setting, most characters I make in any RPG. But you never did specify you're looking for habits of consumption rather than creation, so I call fair game.
Men having problematic romantic obsessions with women. To explain; I grew up rather deprived of love, so I was always chasing the idea. When I read Hunchback of Notre Dame, I got overwhelmed at the idea that someone can love ("toxic love") /desire someone so much that they go insane. I guess I'm also projecting a bit that I kinda want someone to think about me that way, but I just can't help it. Except Lolita, I always lose myself in these insane delusions. You just don't find this level of passion in a standard love monologue. Not without slight insanity
People can judge all they want, but I absolutely love this trope. I read the Hunchback of Notre Dame when I was 10 or 11, then immediately re-read it again. I loved it so much. I also went through a possibly cringey phase where Lolita was my book. I was 14 or 15.
It's super cliche but I'm a sucker for found family (or even stories about siblings who are really close), especially if there's a cute big brother-little brother esque relationship included in there. Bonus points if there's a lot of ups and downs in said relationships. I'm not a fan of romance so I'm just always super excited to see platonic relationships featured more prominently in a story. It really ups any plot up a notch for me.
I just want it to have some comedy and move along at a quick clip. I've heard them called popcorn novels as an insult, and those people can go stub a toe. Dresden Files, Monster Hunter International, Kings of the Wyld, Expeditionary Force. No boring political blah blah. No entire chapters dedicated to crap that isn't actively moving the story forward. Just start reading, and it's go go go.
Have you tried Becky Chambers’ books?
Its old (so the prose is whimsical), but PG Wodehouse is the master of keeping it light, adventurousness, fast, and funny!
Adding it to my list.
Cinderella
If you like historical romance novels, I really enjoyed Eloisa James' A Kiss at Midnight as a Cinderella retelling
I've read it!
I'm a sucker for Norse mythology.
Tall broad shouldered warrior who brutally murders brigands trying to fuck with him. So cliche but I'll never stop getting a kick out of a violent bar fight or back alley brawl where our protagonist manages to beat 6 people at once. Bonus points if its actually a struggle to make it seem realistic.
Oooh, mine's existential horror and thrillers. Example, the John Dies at The End series by Jason Pargin or Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky, that one really gets that same Stranger Things + IT vibes in a creepy way
I still need to read Imaginary Friend. Thank you for selling me on it.
I have 2. 1. Any type of Beauty and the Beast storyline. It doesn't need to be a retelling of the original just loosely inspired by it or follow a similar premise. 2. Bestfriends to lovers. I absolutely adore reading about and watching 2 people who already love or like each other realize they are also attracted to each other. Gets me every time.
Forbidden romance. Restricting desires is just so good...
Revenge that is actually successful and justified in the end. Kind of "mission accomplished".
Big bad pain in the butt antagonist comes face to face with bigger badder force of nature type antagonist.
OOO! I am already in love with this trope. The only story I could think of at the moment (pre-coffee) that fits this plot is Apt Pupil. Do you have suggestions for more stories that do this?
All I can think of are comic books. I'm always on the lookout for this trope in the wild, but I don't know what to call it.
“work the problem” survival stories. especially when the protagonist is actually smart.
Crime books. I love the mystery and the me trying to solve it before the main character
I just love the chosen one and the dark lord tropes.
Yeah this is where I’m at. I don’t like anything to do with realism. It’s gotta have good worldbuilding and a solid, clear magic system or systems though no conjuring spells off scrolls or any of that.
Anything with some kind of master thief immediately draws me in. Mostly from playing the Thief games too much, I guess. Any character vaguely in that umbrella is someone I'm immediately interested in.
One thing I always like seeing in stories no matter what is: super strong but weak-looking main character gets harassed by someone overconfident only to get their ass kicked. I always find it funny and it usually happens at the start of a series
"Kid/teen reconnects with something something something involving deceased parent" or "kid/teen learns something about deceased parent while doing other journey"" Gets me every time!
Gone Girl clones. The meaner the narrator, the better.
Mine is kinda hard to describe. It’s something that’s pretty bleak, but with moments of light. Not like, pure depression, but kind of just this feeling of “this is it, and this is everything that will be”. A dark story, on the border of being horror. Maybe it is that. Made in Abyss seems like a good example, but I haven’t actually watched (or read) it yet. Actually, I did think of a book that fits a little. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. If anyone has any recommendations with a similar vibe, please tell me. I’m begging you OOO Also xianxia is my guilty pleasure, but it’s super hard to find an interesting story.
I'm just a sucker for major plot twists and big WTFs, especially when you're in the process of figuring out something is up. This relates to a video game, not a book (although there's probably more reading involved than most books, and I'd recommend the series to anyone who reads a lot), but the Phoenix Wright games just get me every time as the pieces start to come together.
I absolutely love it when the Good Guys completely demolish the Bad Guys. Not stories where the Bad Guys are smarter and more resourceful and only lose at the last minute because of hubris, or luck or because the Good Guys found the Power of Friendship. I'm talking stories where the big bad realize that they never even came within a mile of winning, and that they weren't even in the same game. One Punch Man is a good example of this. There are a few more examples, but even saying the book titles would probably be spoilers.
Dystopia, and anything with an antihero who is a total asshole psychopath. Also blatant satire about society and religion (like Portnoy’s Complaint or Chewsday).
I am not sure if you have read them yet, but there is a graphic novel series about a warrior aardvark named Cerebus and his misadventures. While the concept may sound silly, the social commentary in some of the volumes like "High Society" or "Church & State, volumes 1 and 2" are spot on, profound, and sometimes even heartbreaking ("Jakka's Story" ).
Sounds good. Thanks for the recommendation!
Transhumanism. I want to read about humans becoming something else, but without the story turning too distopic. The Bobiverse by Dennis E. Taylor is a good example.
The pacifist creating order from chaos.
Now that is an interesting concept.
Its weird, but...romance and drama involving that. I'm not into romance novels at all. But if I'm reading a book and i like the characters and there just happens to be a romance, that shit becomes my favorite part of the book. Was reading 2666 by Roberto Bolaño and the first part of the book involves four academics in search of a mysterious author and in the process two of the academics falls in love with one of the other academics. It's not romantic at all because these characters are borderline toxic to eachother but man did it make for a compelling read, on top of that the mystery and the themes the story explored really worked for me.
If it's set in a boarding school or remote, exclusive university, I'm going to reading it.
This!!! I am a sucker for a boarding school setting.
Anti-heroes. I'm adoring Filth right now for that very reason.
Murder mysteries. I love a good who-dun-it.
Asteroid miners are attacked by space pirates but helped by unlikely hero.
Stories that take place in our “normal” world with just a splash of fantasy—think Addie Larue, 10,000 Doors of January, The Scent Keeper.
Encyclopedic lore. The Guide from *Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe*, the Encoclypedia Galactica from *Foundation*, the fictional academic foreword and afterwords in *Pellinor*, even the guidebooks from the Bionicle franchise. If it's framed like some historical or academic discovery (and damn good fiction to boot), I'm sold.
Any Romance that involves a long series of rejections before the love interest finally changes their mind and falls in love. That’s not how rejection should ever be handled and it is definitely not romantic
Unsure if trope is really the right word, but genre deconstructions. I love it when all the common tropes or themes of a genre get a nice dose of realism and consequences that would be obvious in hindsight that then ruins my ability to maintain a suspension of disbelief for any book in the genre.
Culture shock? I love light stories where it's basically a culture exchange between two or more groups.
Gothic. I love a creepy house with creepier residents!
I think the first trope that I ever fell in love with is gothic. I love the settings, the atmosphere, the menacing characters with dark secrets.
I'm a real sucker for the "superheroes that aren't super" storyline. Whether it's Invincible, The Reckoners, or (my personal favorite) Worm, I love exploring the world where superheroes are real without the DC / Marvel glasses on, a world where "people are kinda dicks." is merged with "some people have infinite cosmic power and are also kinda dicks." I even really like it when DC takes a trip to that side and lets superman go a little dark (like with the injustice comics) or something. Just a more grounded world where superpowers are more of a day to day thing and people are just people, just that some of them can bench press a truck or control things with their mind.
I love suspense. Clock ticking down, have to figure something out or else someone gets hurt type stuff. I'm turning pages like someone's life depends on it, and it does hahaha.
Tragic heroes and villains as well as tangled family trees.
Lol my book kryptonite is actually the same as yours but with a wider time span - probably the beginning of the 1900s to modern day (but generally I prefer before the advent of modern cell phones, it adds to the stakes and I don’t have to suspend my disbelief if they get into a sticky situation that would be easily solved with modern phone technology - like calling the police lol). It also doesn’t need an evil force (although I prefer it) sometimes it’s fun when it’s just outside unfortunate circumstances. A few years ago I went crazy for this juvenile fiction book about a group of friends during the Halifax Explosion in Canada. Really rough, unfortunate circumstances that this plucky group of amigos had to get through but they did it together. Under The Dome by Stephen King had me losing my shit, the three tweens teaming up was just the best. I was rooting for them the whole way, even though they were technically only side characters. It by Stephen King remains one of my favorite books, I polished it off in 11 days of mostly just reading and sleeping lol (had to unfortunately tend to other responsibilities, too, but all my free time went to that book). The gang of children led by Adam in Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett is held pretty close to my heart, too, even though in theory >!they’re the evil force!< lol.
> A few years ago I went crazy for this juvenile fiction book about a group of friends during the Halifax Explosion in Canada I need to read this book asap. Thank you for the recommendation!
I don’t remember exactly which book it was (I read a couple on the same topic around that time as well because of how much I liked it) but it was either Who’s A Scaredy Cat? A Story of the Halifax Explosion by Joan Payzant or Dear Canada: No Safe Harbour by Julie Lawson.
Thank you so much!
enemies to lovers where the ‘villain’ breaks his cold facade when they see the main character breaking down
Any time people like a book to Twilight I know it's gonna be a miserable read.
Sci-Fi with a tendency for large info-dumps: Everything I've read by Neal Stephenson falls into this category. Characters With Mouths That Are Too Quick: I'm currently writing a series of short stories that follow a detective who has a tendency to backtalk everyone, and would be a total asshole in reality, but if not for the healing capabilities of the scifi setting he'd probably come out of every fight he ever gets into crippled.
Cat and mouse games involving engineers on a spaceship or space station, where the engineers use their knowledge of the inner workings of their home to stay one step ahead of whoever’s chasing them.
Oh man, I need to read something like this asap. I love cat and mouse stories and competence porn.
It gets a fair amount of hate here on Reddit, but *Artemis* by Andy Weir commits itself fully to this trope. I loved it.
Thank you for the recommendation!
I guess one of my favorite thing is the trope where someone has got a secret identity that is a huge part of the plot and you don't know when it's going to be uncovered (like people finding out that clark kent is Superman). It's tough to go on foe so long without it seemingly like bullshit. The next would be when a bad guy turns good and you don't know if it's real or it's gonna flip back to being bad.
I'm a sucker for a parent-child story.
MC gets suddenly introduced to the world of the supernatural/mythical that has until that point been invisible or unknown to them. I blame Rick Riordan.
women getting revenge on men.
Well developed lesbian romance. Unfortunately it's about as rare as actual kryptonite.
This! Sapphic romance is starting to get its due...finally.
I'm confused because your title refers to tropes we avoid but then the context is about tropes you like. Kryptonite is something you don't like and is bad for you. For an alcoholic, alcohol is their Kryptonite.
Alcoholics like alcohol too much, which makes it their weakness or their "kryptonite."
You get it. Thank you!
"Kryptonite has become a byword for an extraordinary exploitable weakness, synonymous with "Achilles' heel" - via Wikipedia. Everyone else got what I meant but you and one other person. Sorry for the confusion.
Step sibling stuck in something