Quote:
Originally Posted by salty-horse
Some awards are popularity contests, others are by a small committee, and in all of them you'll find some very puzzling choices from time to time 
Since "everything is political" you'll need to qualify it more.
Do you mean fiction where people are arguing over policy and societal structure, or fiction about topics that align with the current real-life social struggles?
Most "epic fantasy" involves the ruling class, which means politics, since they make decisions that affect the people they rule over, and
there's a lot of that in City of Brass, from what I'm reading. And it also has the other kind I mentioned. Den of Geek's review describes it as "a rich historical fantasy world which works as escapist fiction, while also drawing topical parallels to our current sociopolitical situation". |
I agree that contests are often popularity contests and/or are politically motivated. With all that in mind, I still look to see what has been awarded. Epic Fantasy (as such) may often involve the ruling class (as you state), but this doesn't bother me too much, just so long as the story moves along and is interesting [to me].
I much prefer older SF (what the 'old-timers' called Sci-Fi); the newer stuff is just so boringly 'correct' for our current times - to me. I therefore avoid most new SF, since it doesn't suit my current reading needs. (I'll leave it at that.)
City of Brass still sounds interesting, but if it's 'romance-heavy' [not that there's anything wrong with that], then I'll just pass. But...I do now have the ebook, and I'll attempt to read it. That cover is gorgeous, by the way. And it looks like great fun. If it dwells too deeply into the sociopolitical situation of our current times, then it's a simple matter to just close it.
Here's my favorite Fantasy Trilogy.