skybluepink77 t1_itg4266 wrote on October 23, 2022 at 11:54 AM

As a very rough guide, the more 'literary' the book is [rather than a book that's been designed to sit very happily on the fantasy shelf], the more unusual the book is and more willing it is to avoid the epic cliches/quest etc tropes.

So you could try 'literary fantasy/scifi'?

I know you don't want specific titles, but as I'm the same as you in that I don't want to read the same old cliches over and over, I'd go for an author like Susanna Clarke [eg Piranesi] which goes off on its own path. It's certainly slice of life but a very, very odd life!

Valdrothos OP t1_itgkeev wrote on October 23, 2022 at 2:21 PM

>Susanna Clarke

One of the things I'm specifically looking to avoid is historical fiction. I'll update the post, I though I had that in there.

I will probably have to resort to using the recommendations thread. I am currently checking literary fantasy, but as the prime example right out of the gate is LotR I don't know.

skybluepink77 t1_itglnh2 wrote on October 23, 2022 at 2:31 PM

Of Clarke's two novels to date, one - Jonathan Strange - is sort of placed in the Napoleonic era [ but it is not an 'historical' novel] and Piranesi is contemporary [again, sort of.]

LOTR isn't really slice of life, but it's well-written. And of course, is the classic 'quest' story. So - it's whatever you want to go for!