So these are kind of fun, especially when you haven’t got any reviews coming down the pipeline currently and need content for your bots devoted readers.
NOPE! Trope: a trope that makes you go NOPE.
Hm. This is going to be either, “Fantasy novel that is entirely a travelogue of named characters going from Point A to Point B, where at Point B they will prevent and/or cause the end of the world.” See: Abhorsen and Black Sun Rising. See this viciously mocked in: A Tough Guide to Fantasyland and Dark Lord of Derkholm.
Or, “If you kill the alien queen, all of the worker/fighter bugs just stop moving/fighting you and die.” Dude….no. Just No. Everyone likes to point at Starship Troopers for inventing the “worker bugs fight, queen bug rules” concept, but they’re also ignoring one of the most badass scenes in the novel, which is that Sergeant Zim takes a queen hostage and then blows up the underground nest as he escapes–which, while it forms a climactic scene, still isn’t the end of the war. The war never ends until all the troops come home, after all….
But that would require them to read a book printed before the Current Day, so.
NOPE! Recommendation: a book recommendation that is constantly pushed at you, that you simply refuse to read.
Eh. I don’t waste brain space on stuff I haven’t read and don’t intend to.
The Three-Body Problem, I guess. It just looks boring.
NOPE! Cliche: a cliche or writing pet peeve that always makes you roll your eyes.
– The big guy is slow and dumb, and also aggressive, which justifies the hero picking a fight with him, and then winning because heroes win fights, right? Right? Right?
– Evil Christians go out of their way to be intolerant and evil to the poor magical heroine (it’s generally always a heroine), sometimes to the point of leaguing up with the *actual* forces of evil, Just Because They’re Evil Christians Who Are Intolerant. Dude, your imagination. Use it. Creativity. Use it. Originality: it’s a good thing. Use it. (See: The Bear and the Nightengale.)
NOPE! Love interest: the love interest that’s not worthy of being one.
Much as I love Gordon Dickson’s old-school mil-scifi, he did have some slight difficulties in writing heroines to match his larger than life heroes, and by the time he gets around to writing an out-and-out superhuman, Donal Graeme….poor Donal ends up matched with the dumbest blonde in the solar system. Anea of Kultis is so incredibly dense and utterly useless it’s apparent that the only way anyone would want her is if she was genetically designed specifically for them….which Anea was–but not for Donal. So….?
Oh! And any version of Dresden Files shipping that isn’t Harry/Murphy.
(sobs)
NOPE! Villain: a villain you would hate to cross.
Since we’re on the subject of the Dresden Files: Gentleman John Marcone, of course. Marcone is a scary bad guy, because he knows exactly what he wants to do, knows how far he will have to go to get it done, and in full knowledge of these things and their consequences, commits to going the distance. Sometimes this aim isn’t all bad–sometimes it means making sure that prostitution is safe, victimless, and takes places with all parties of legal age. Sometimes, it means shooting two men in the head and shipping them and the third man across the continent in a sealed cattle car to send a message.
Darth Vader! You do not want to cross Vader, either, unless you happen to be able to breathe through your gills.
NOPE! Author: an author you had a bad experience reading for and have decided to quit.
Genevieve Cogman. She writes really good fanfiction! She has a way with dry, droll, British-auntie humor. She had a bright idea for an amazing adventure fantasy series. She’s terrible at writing adventure fantasy.
Michael Moorcock. He had a bright idea, once upon a time, and promising talent. Unfortunately, he combined it with a sordid mind and a lack of respect for his audiences and genre. Respect goes two ways; liking goes two ways. If you neither respect a genre enough to play by its conventions and rules, nor like it enough to pay it homage as you subvert and play with its conventions, the genre and it’s audience aren’t going to like you.
The good: The writing style is engaging and workmanlike, and the plot is too, initially. The author is an actual horse person–she breeds and trains Lipizzaners. It definitely shows. She’s also a history buff. That also shows, although not to the extent of belaboring the work. There is a pleasant tinge of depth to her worldbuilding and a nicely-tuned amount of forethought in her Imperial-barbarian relationships; but that’s as far as it goes. Likewise, the characters themselves have a certain amount of verisimilitude.
Riders of Skaith 
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