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Sunday, October 30, 2011

Discussion: The Long Lost Fairy Princess Plot {told in gifs}

I'm hear to talk about something that's become pretty prominent in fantasy YA books: The girl that's a long lost faerie princess.

You know what I'm talking about, right? You have this average girl, and she's just going about her life when BAM, somehow the presence of the faerie world is revealed to her. It's then revealed to her that she's a faerie princess that was stolen away at birth, or given to human parents to raise, or something of that nature, and that she's very powerful and the heir to the throne. And then she's all like, '' I DON'T BELIEVE YOU YOU'RE LYING FAERIES AREN'T REAL! *twitches*"

GTFO
But, eventually she comes to terms with her new life. From there, she starts realizing her true powers, and coming into her own, while still harboring doubts about whether it's all real or not.... until one day she's just like BOOYAH, I'M A FAERIE PRINCESS BEETCHES.

LOOK AT MAH BOOTIFUL WINGSS!
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with this story-line. Some of my favorite series are based on this premise (Wondrous Strange anyone? Or how about The Iron Fey series?) I'm just pointing out that it's been done a lot lately.

My favorite part of these story lines is when the girl finally realizes that, yep, she's a faerie princess, and nope, those wings sprouting from her back are not just a big butterfly trying to eat her. At that point, she's all like:

And yeah, she usually IS fabulous.
Tell me, what do you think of the Long Lost Fairy Princess Plot? Have you read any books that use this story line?

8 comments:

  1. Ugh I'm SO TIRED of that plot. The first time I read it, it was in the form of Tithe by Holly Black, back in the early 2000s. Every time I've read it afterward, it's just been boring. Every girl is the same, and all the mythos surrounding the fae is the same. I feel like authors are afraid to make it their own. I couldn't stand Need by Carrie Jones, and I really hated the Iron Whatever-the-first-book-is. They're both very predictable along with having weak protags.

    Maybe it's just me, but I really would appreciate more originality in these fae books. It'd be cool to see the fairy princess all ready know she's a fairy princess. Or maybe have the main character not be SO BLAND. I mean, there's nothing special about these girls, they say it themselves. Maybe if the same tired plot had some interesting characters, then I'd try it again.

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  2. I liked the Melissa Marr WICKED LOVELY book I read (the first one). But maybe it's a trend that doesn't annoy me simply because I haven't read all that much in fantasy. So!

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  3. I agree. It's been done. And done. And then done some more. I don't mind the concept, but the stories are always predictable. The last one I read was SWITCHED by Amanda Hocking. In that one she's not a fairy, but a troll. However, the story is exactly the same. The thing that I notice a lot about these stories is that the girl rarely turns out to be "powerful", even though they constantly say that she is. I always wait for that powerful moment to come along, but most of the time they remain your typical damsel in distress. *gag*

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  4. I actually have a work in progress (well, fine, it's all in my head) that makes use of this trope. But I like this trope! It's fun and we get that delicious self-realization like, "hey, I CAN kick ass, no, I WILL kick ass!" which makes me tremendously happy. This trope is far better than the love quartrangle (I made up a new word just to describe it better).

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  5. The first book I read that had this plot was Need by Carrie Jones-it's about pixies. Then I read Wicked Lovely and Wondrous Strage that have that same plot. But even though Need had the same plot it felt different somehow.... I found more similarities between Wicked Lovely and Wondrous Strage rather with Need.

    But the thing is I'm not tired of it yet. The reason may be that I've only read 3 books about fairies-pixies... but I would't mind if the series started like that. I'm more interested on how the series will go on and end. That's what I want to be different.

    Frosy @ Books Like Fairytales
    http://frosybookreviews.blogspot.com/2011/10/1st-year-blogoversary.html

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  6. Your told in gifs posts make me laugh hysterically. Of course, the gifs are always right.

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  7. Ha ha, you kill me with these hilarious discussion posts. I know it's supposed to be a serious discussion, but you make it so much more fun adding in the hilarious gifs. Love these posts!

    But anyway, I know this HAS been done a lot lately. Though personally I haven't read any of them lately and I can't think of any that I have read that have it. THough I know I have to of. But I have heard about it a lot in summaries of books I want to read.

    Like Wicked Lovely, The Iron Fey series, Wondrous Strange. OH, OH. Wait! I do know one, kind of. if you can count this. The Need series, by Carrie Jones!

    I love that series. =D

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