Fantasy with Friends poses questions each Monday about fantasy, either as a genre as a whole or individual works. It was created and is run by Pages Unbound. Learn about the weekly prompts and how to participate by visiting their Fantasy with Friends blog post.
Fantasy With Friends Weekly Question
Is there a common trope or concept you see in children’s fantasy stories that you think would be fun to see more of in adult fantasy?
While I rarely read children’s fantasy stories, one trope comes to mind that I think I enjoy more than, perhaps, a lot of others in the blogisphere? (I don’t know, you tell me!) I happen to like the Chosen One trope. I think we see more of it in children’s/middle grade/YA stories because it’s a good mechanism for coming of age discovery. Percy Jackson comes to mind as does Harry Potter and Pahua and the Soul Stealer (if I’m remembering it correctly). It can come with a lot of angst and frustration.
Done right, though, I think it could work in adult fantasy books, too. I can do without the hormonal angst. But I think the Chosen One provides a lot of avenues for world, lore, and character building, whatever the age of the character(s). There are plenty of incidences in real life when adults find out things about themselves or their family’s past, so why not also be the Chosen One?
I hadn’t realized this was a children’s book trope until you mentioned it, but now I’m trying to think of an adult book that uses it and I can’t!
I know, I sat here for a few minutes trying to think of an adult fantasy that uses “the chosen one” and couldn’t, either!
Ooh good pick. I feel like so many either love or hate this trope, but perhaps cos it was overdone in YA at one point and it felt like every YA fantasy had the chosen one trope. Now that you mention it though, I don’t think I recall any adult fantasy with a ‘chosen one’ (my brain is blanking hard, lol) 🤔
Agree–I think this trope is also a love or hate it kind of thing. I don’t recall reading a lot of books with that trope when I was a tween/teen, just Harry Potter, really. Maybe that’s why I’m not burned out on it. I think I read one of the Percy Jackson books, but I don’t remember anything about it.
I think this ties into the idea I’ve seen in some responses that adult books can use more wonder and whimsy. Children’s books will let you believe that you (or the character, but also you the reader) are special. Adults books like to be jaded sometimes. No one’s special. Nothing cool is just going to happen to you. Life is a drag. Or something like that. 😉
I guess it’s not that surprising that adult fantasy books have a jaded vibe to them…adults have experienced more sh*t, lol!
I’d love to see this, too! I read plenty of women’s fiction where women discover some secret or some special gift as an adult, and I’ll admit I’m still waiting for my mom to say, by the way, we’re witches and here’s your magic. Besides, Chosen One stories usually involve a chosen one having to save the world. Why couldn’t the world need saving when the Chosen One is an adult? That might be more fun with complications like work and family, and I’d love to see that explored.
Exactly! Adults discover plenty of things about themselves or their family…it doesn’t just happen to kids! I agree that it’d be fun to see the Chosen One trope explored with the responsibilities of a job or a family, etc.
I feel like there were more ‘Chosen Ones’ in adult fantasy when I was a kid (like David Eddings’ work, much as I hate bringing up the work of an abuser), so I think it kinda… went out of fashion? I have seen a couple that don’t use the term but it’s functionally what’s happening, but I’d love to see more exploration of it too.
I’ve never heard of David Eddings before, so I’m not familiar with his works or abuse (though just did a quick read about him on Wiki). It’d be nice if the Chosen One came back into fashion in adult books. It seems like a lot of the folks who’ve commented can’t really think of an example in adult fantasy.
Kids lit is super interesting because it tends to both be ahead of the curve in a lot of areas while also feeling super classic. Adult fantasy is only just now catching up to how diverse YA and MG markets have been for a while, for example. On the flip side, chosen ones and unknowable magic tend to be much more common in kids fantasy, which goes back to how the genre was written even before Tolkien made it the standard format for five decades.
I think you’re on to something about kids/YA lit being ahead of the curve…when I browse around the YA section in Barnes & Noble it seems a lot easier to find diverse reads there than in the adult sections.