I've lately really been into Time Loop books. There have been some fantastic ones that I've found and I find that despite how well it has been used in TV and movies that it can really be effective in books. Some great examples are How To Be A Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wrexler or The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North.
When it comes to my least favourite…I'm not sure WHY but I absolutely hate in books when conflict arises because of a case of mistaken identity. Whether it is someone pretending to be someone else or a long lost twin or whatever I just cannot stand it. I immediately start getting anxious.
What tropes do you enjoy and what ones do you detest?
by moegreeb
3 Comments
Not sure if this can be classified as a trope but books where there are several story lines/characters and it comes together at a later point of the book. I can think of a few books where this is done perfectly but a lot of the time it feels lazy?
Like: Unreliable narration/morally ambiguous characters, on the nose/vivid descriptions of grim situations and no sugarcoating (think Human Acts by Han Kang)
Hate: stereotypical portrayals of autism, weak/submissive female characters, repetitive statements, books with overly long sentences, anticlimatic ending, extramarital affairs or cheating, author tells the reader instead of showing things
My least favourite trope is when I can tell from how the character anticipates the future, whether those events will happen or not.
“She started walking home, thinking about how she can’t wait to draw a hot bath and relax after everything that happened today.”
“Finally, he got it! He would gather the remaining troops and surprise the enemy through the secret entrance.”
You can bet anything she didn’t get to take that bath, and he didn’t successfully execute the secret attack. The book explains it this way, so that when their plans don’t work out, you at least know what they were trying to do. If their plans were going to succeed, you would just see them do it, and wouldn’t need to see them think about it ahead of time.