When reading fantasy books, I generally apply two arbitrary criteria that I have found useful in determining books I like. The first is I look for the willingness of the author to kill important characters — not secondary or briefly mentioned characters. I’ve always felt that to do so was brave and showed a willingness to push the story’s limits rather than following a predictable course. The second is actually from Aristotle’s Poetics. Summarized, Aristotle says the primary character must be believable. In essence, the character must be more human than superhuman.
Read More
I might say "formulaic" actually.
Your review made me curious, so I looked this book up. Sure enough: Tor. Tor seems to specialize in these…
It's a tightrope act for sure.
[…] Stuart (2 December 2015). “Roadside Picnic: Russian SF classic with parallels to Vandermeer’s Area X | Fantasy Lit…. fantasyliterature.com. Retrieved 8 […]
yes, I mean, there are certainly lots of good sci-fi/fantasy novellas out there, so they aren't impossible to do, but…