On two occasions I’ve encountered people that only read sci-fi, and once someone who only read fantasy. I find that really strange. I can see why you’d have a preference for one or the other, I have, although it changes back and forth.
Am I wrong in thinking that if you like one form of fantastic literature, you should like the other? Well obviously since people don’t. But do YOU find it strange as well? If not, then why etc
by RunnagateRampant
11 Comments
I go back and forth between both, but sometimes when I’m reading fantasy I find myself wondering if I do like sci-fi, and vice versa. I have to be in the mood for either one. I guess some people find only one of them appealing?
I have to say that I like sci-fi but don’t really feel much for fantasy. Exactly what you described! It’s not even something I can really describe. I never fancied Game Of Thrones, for example, even though I know it’s objectively a great show to get into. Not a Lord of the Rings fan either. I’ve seen fantasy books recommended and started to read the blurb and it just doesn’t pull me in. Put that exact same story in space and make the elves and shit into sentient AI and alien species and I’ll eat it up! I always joke that my reasoning is that I *Don’t do Dragons* 😂
I only read Sci-fi. ASOIAF is the one exception I can think of. I do like fantasy, I just don’t ever read it.
I do read both (among other things), but I can see someone liking one or the other.
I think it ultimately comes down to preferring space or magic a lot of the time.
I don’t always care for sci-fi, especially hard sci-fi. I like techno thrillers and lighter sci-fi stuff, but I struggle reading more hardcore stuff. I enjoy watching sci-fi however.
I find it really strange to care about what other people read.
This is a huge overgeneralization, but I think that enduring sci fi tends to focus on philosophical questions by exploring novel, what-if scenarios that could reasonably take place in our world, whereas enduring fantasy tends to appeal to archetypes and trends in human history going back ages using entirely new worlds. Both are fantastical, but the former is far more speculative in the sense that it takes our world and extends, and the latter takes a new world and bridges back. I almost think of it like sci fi explores outward, fantasy inward. I like both genres but I mostly read sci fi or sci fi adjacent books and I hardly read fantasy and it makes sense to me why people would only enjoy one of them.
My husband only reads sci-do and I only read fantasy. Well, we read other genres, but out of the sci-do/fantasy genre, we stick to our preferred side. I like the magic and “in the past” settings of fantasy and he enjoys the futuristic settings of science fiction. I’m all for dragons and prophecy and high magic and an imagined past and he loves robots and scientific advancement and the outer reaches of human achievement. Science fiction just doesn’t really interest me and the fantasy setting just doesn’t really interest him.
As a side note, we’re both “okay” with Star Wars (not a book, I know). It’s a space fantasy, so it kind of crosses both genres, but doesn’t hit the aspects of either that we like, so neither of us love it, even though people assume that we would be practically obsessed with it, given everything else we’re fans of.
Why would that be weird? Some people find fantasy worlds interesting, some people find sci fi stuff interesting, and some find both interesting. They have similarities, hence the general “speculative fiction” umbrella term, and there’s some overlap, but I like magic and don’t like space so I mostly read fantasy (I’m simplifying but you know what I mean). Also, life is short and I’ll never read all the books I might enjoy so it absolutely makes sense to prioritize the books you think you’d enjoy most and there’s nothing wrong with that being fantasy, sci Fi, romance, whatever. So yes, I think you’re incorrect to be judgemental about people’s genre preferences. If there weren’t any differences between the two, they wouldn’t be two different genres in the first place.
I’m not really into magic systems so I stick to scifi and I don’t see anything wrong with it. I get your point but I like what I like.
Why would that be strange?
I read very, very little fantasy. I don’t find the aesthetic that interesting, and the whole knights and magic stuff just doesn’t appeal to me. I love sci-fi.
It’s just set dressing, really, but so what? I find the sci-fi aesthetic interesting and fun. I find the fantasy aesthetic boring and un-interesting.
It’s just personal taste. It’s like food; just because someone likes one vegetable doesn’t mean they like them all. Just because someone likes swordfish doesn’t mean they’ll like anchovies.