I haven’t posted in a few days because I’ve been busy with school and nanowrimo, but I wanted to come back today and write about a few things. I’m going to first be elaborating on some things I talked about last week, and I’m also going to be writing a few paragraphs on the topic for Friday’s let’s talk bookish topic. I didn’t have time to write an entire post, but I did want to write a little about it, so I’m going to do that as well.

My Bookish Rambles is a weekly feature on my blog where I talk about all sorts of bookish things! I write about topics that I’m interested in, and also answer questions that you all send to me, and write about things you want to know my opinion on.

You can always read my introduction post, for more information about this!

The chosen one trope

Last week I talked a little about how the chosen one trope is often used in middle grade fantasy. A kid, probably about the age of 12, finds out they have some special power and also needs to save the world with those newfound powers.

And while it is used quite a bit, there are so many different spins on the chosen one trope, and when done well, it can be such an amazing type of story.

Whether the chosen one in question is a bridge between two worlds, or a child of the gods, the trope is not one that gets old.

I personally really love reading middle-grade fantasies with the chosen one trope, because it can be so fun!

Death in middle-grade

I also talked about how all middle-grade fantasies often fall into two categories, either with death or no death, but I didn’t talk about which one I prefer. And now that I really think about it, I’m not sure.

If you’re going to write a middle-grade fantasy, or really any fantasy with no death, you have to make it realistic. You’re telling me no one dies? Okay, well is that reasonable in the circumstances? How dangerous is the world?

That’s not to say that it’s impossible to have a good fantasy with no death. Far from that. There are lots of fantasy novels that don’t involve death, that don’t have death as a factor, that I still love.

And not that I love watching my favorite characters die, it definitely adds a level of gravity to all of those dangerous quests and complicated heists that we all love reading about.

So do I have a preference? I wouldn’t say that I do. It’s more that it really depends on the book, and what is the most realistic to the world, and to the situation.

Romance as a subplot

Romance as a subplot was the topic for Let’s Talk Bookish this week. Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly discussion post hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books where each week there is a topic, and you write a post about that topic! Usually the posts are supposed to be on Friday’s, but since I didn’t have time this week I thought that I would briefly talk about it here!

So, what do I even mean by romance as a subplot? Well, by that I mean having romance in a book as part of the plot, just not the main part. For example, a group of people going on a dangerous adventure together to retrieve a stolen artifact might be the main plot, and a subplot might be that two people in the group are falling in love.

And romance in general, as the plot or subplot is a very popular genre in the book community. Take enemies to lovers for example. That one trope is so loved, and come on, who wouldn’t want to see their two favorite characters fight with each other for two hundred pages before they start to be the least bit cordial to each other.

I’m not sure how I feel about reading romance as a whole. I do think that I definitely prefer it as a subplot, but it can be fun to read as the main genre.

I recently read Soothsayer, by Kathryn Amurra, a historical romance, and I actually really liked it! Tweet Cute, by Emma Lord is an adorable YA rom com that I loved so, so much!!

So it kind of depends for me, and because I haven’t really thought about it before, I don’t know what I prefer.

I’m not going to write any more on this right now, but do let me know in the comments if you have any questions about this topic!

Wrapping this up…

I had fun with this week’s post, and I hope that it was interesting for you all to read! As always, I would love to hear from you about questions you have for me, or any topics you think would be interesting for me to write about next week.

I have had some trouble with the form, but you can still try to fill that out using the link below, although if I don’t say anything about it next week, it means I probably didn’t get your response.

Here is the link to the google form: https://forms.gle/6KF9Edw9wfzakrit6

I’d also love to hear from you in the comments, so if you can, that is probably the most reliable way for me to get your response.

What do you think about the chosen one trope in books? Do you like romance as a subplot? What did you think of this post? Chat with me in the comments below!