Glossary
The Queens of Fantasy Glossary Guide:
Hello. Welcome to the Queens of Fantasy Glossary Guide, where you can find terms we might be using in our podcast and in our reviews that can help you out. Some of these terms are not exclusive to our podcast but are used frequently by us in specific ways. If you’re jumping into a series and we’re using this terminology, this is your guide to its full meaning.
For questions about our terms – or to chat with us and other readers! – join our Discord Server.
Review Terminology
Series Category: When talking about series categorization, we might use one of the following terms to overall describe a series.
Nerd Homework: Books under the category of Nerd Homework tend to be long works whose largest selling feature is that people like to talk about them. These series may not have changed the genre, per se, but they have been read by so many fantasy readers that the main worth of reading them, is having read them.
As the name suggests, Nerd Homework novels, may at times feel arduous and challenging, though they often offer knowledge into the fantasy genre as a whole. When you complete a Nerd Homework novel or series, you’ll likely have a lot to say – and we won’t promise what you want to say will be good or bad.
Tl;dr: Books that feel like homework.
Only the Strong Survive: Expect to be challenged by this series. Whether because of its length, its writing style, or some other fun factor, these books will be hard to read and a series will be hard to stay committed to.
When compared to other categories like Nerd Homework or A Hard Sell, an Only the Strong Survive series has a high dropout rate. You will be pushed to the edge, called out by metaphorical and literary demons to give up, but we promise that you’ll feel accomplished at the end – if we promise nothing else.
Tl;dr: Books worth reading if you can get through them.
Fantasy Foundation: Reading a Fantasy Foundation series is more than reading classic stories. Fantasy Foundation series and novels are books that changed the face of the genre. Think Lord of the Rings and Twilight. Think Frankenstein and Dracula. These stories – no matter when they were written – created some new spark in the fantasy genre. And, whether the tales themselves are good or bad, we can promise books written after these novels were never the same again.
Tl;dr: Books that changed the genre.
Required Reading: New to the fantasy world of reading? Here is your place to start. Require Reading novels and series have some fundamental overlaps with Fantasy Foundation, but are a bit of a different beast. These books don’t just focus on the game-changing novels, but on the books that you’ll want to know about before you hop into an online forum because they’re sure to come up. These books are a bit more fun on average than Nerd Homework books, and this list is a bit more condensed. Before you get your fantasy degree (if they ever get around to making those!), these books would be, well, required readings.
Tl;dr: Books for new readers.
Nouveau Fantasy:
A Hard Sell: Series in this category are not for the faint of heart, nor are they for those looking for an enjoyable time. These books are grim, sometimes disgusting, and always hard to convince others to read. Books on these lists are generally not recommended by your Queens, and they have a hard time thinking of fantastic reasons for anyone to pick them up. This is your warning.
Tl;dr: The worst of the worst, according to us.
Fantasy Royalty: These books are your Queens of Fantasy faves. While we can’t guarantee that we unanimously love each book in this category, you can rest assured that at least one of your Queens will defend a book in this category with her whole chest. These books have ascended to the throne based on the merit of being well-loved, enjoyable, and a work of art.
Tl;dr: The best of the best according to us.