Student Blog: Getting Lost in Fantasy

Reading has become an escape for me in recent times, as I am sure it has for many. I rediscovered my love for reading, and specifically fantasy in the summer of 2024 when I began the A Court of Thorns and Roses, a gateway drug for many into the worlds created by author Sarah J. Maas. This series, while very popular on Tik Tok, became huge for me. I felt like I was finally reading something that I never wanted to put down, and I got very emotionally invested in the characters. I had never cried at a book before I read some of the final pages of A Court of Wings and Ruin and A Court of Silver Flames.

After being introduced to Sarah J. Maas, I decided that I had to read the Throne of Glass series, a much longer, less romantic series than ACOTAR. This was the first long fantasy series that I was going to tackle without the promise of tons of romance in each book. I knew that there would not be as much “faerie smut” (as described by readers on BookTok) in these books, but that was one of the reasons I wanted to tackle that beast of a series. I was just getting out of a reading slump, and it was exactly what I needed to keep me motivated.

People aren’t wrong when they say that that series is life-changing. In all eight books, there were maybe two or three intimate scenes, and while they were good scenes, their placement in the narrative wasn’t vital for me. I was much more attached to the emotional journeys each character was going on, and the action-packed battle scenes had me unable to put each book down.

I have always admired what fantasy authors can do. To be able to build a world completely from scratch, come up with a magic system, characters, and an adventurous plot on top of that is not an easy thing. I have realized in doing my own research for the fantasy book that I hope to write one day, there are so many unknown details and questions to be answered. 

I hope to one day gain enough confidence in myself to bring my story to life. It is daunting trying to write such a huge piece and feel assured that you are doing it justice. Being a writer means doubting yourself every step of the way. Someday, that doubt won’t be part of the story, just a hoop to jump through on the way to the ending.