I'd love a relatable, intelligent human main character, but I really want humans to be more akin to… a goblin or some random niche lizardfolk race rather than the status quo.
It's always baffled me that humans are just the norm when every fantasy race has some sort of advantage over us – elves are magical, orcs are strong, dwarves mine really good, and so on.
I'm looking for rich worldbuilding that makes me feel like I'm in a multifaceted D&D type world. And when I say good worldbuilding – I don't just mean "has the breadth of Tolkein" but like, actually introduce the world in an appropriate way. I lose interest so fast if I have to read a mysterious prologue about some ancient war that won't matter until halfway through the book.
I don't like sci fi, and especially not 'humans are the chosen ones and are trying to overthrow the evil orcs/aliens'.
I have pretty low tolerance for bad writing so the kind of… I forget the name, paperback romance fantasy maybe, drives me up the wall.
Thanks for reading and any suggestions!
by Vellarchivist