Today, this formulation can be seen more and more often on the pages of electronic libraries. Moreover, both in an ironic and in a completely positive sense. The phenomenon is quite widespread and widely known, judging by the frequency of its mention and the high sales ratings of science fiction literature classified as belonging to this new genre.
I have specifically studied this issue. My list includes the following famous personalities: O. Gromyko, E. Petrova, O. Pankeeva, N. Pervukhina, A. Veter, O. Bezmirnaya, Yu. Morozova, E. Samoylova, M. Efiminyuk, O. Myakhar, N. Fedotova, and others.
In a nutshell, a typical female fantasy plot is structured approximately like this (underline as appropriate):
1. The main character is a witch (a girl with abilities, the chosen one, the stolen princess, a brave warrior).
2. She finds herself in a parallel world, where there are always gnomes, dragons, trolls, vampires, knights, sorcerers and a real villain, with whom she, naturally, has to fight.
3. The girl will cause an unprecedented furor among the local representatives of the strong half of humanity, even if she was not popular in her world. Elves (from 1 to 3), knights (unlimited), vampires (several are enough), princes or great commanders – 1 pc. secretly sigh about her. Maybe even the villain himself, if he is young and attractive.
4. Among the friends acquired by our heroine on her thorny path (she strives to get home, i.e. to her native world, and this despite the fact that she is destined to play the role of empress or supreme sorceress), there are goblins, necromancers, werewolves, mermaids and others.
5. The climax of it all is the ending. The girl has fallen in love. It is clear from the first pages, but throughout the story everyone (including the author and the reader) pretends not to notice anything, just as the central characters do not notice each other's feelings. They behave strangely: they quarrel, getting into the most ridiculous scrapes. It is considered chic to drop a friend in raspberry bushes or save him from a terrible beast, and then to complain all the way: “Oh God, why am I being punished like this, I should have fed you to that cute werewolf!”
6. The result of multi-page torment is a wedding. A special feature of all works in the style of female fantasy is the strange unwillingness of the main character to marry a handsome prince (an elf, a crowned vampire, the king of werewolves, a legendary commander). The girl literally runs away from the altar… But no one will let her ruin the long-awaited happy ending! Of course, her prudent friends catch her, pack her in a luxurious dress and escort her to her yearning husband, who is waiting for the happy moment when she can legally remind her other half of the raspberry bush, the werewolf, and everything else.
Of all the above-mentioned authors, perhaps only the books by O. Gromyko and E. Samoylova deserve special attention. Everything else is rehashes, combinatorials and other tricks. Some, in particular O. Myakhar and M. Efiminyuk, do not hide the fact that they write based on O. Gromyko's books.
O. Pankeeva also has a certain independence. But this is reading for an amateur. A very specific approach with a technical-erotic bias. E. Petrova can be praised only for the absolutely wonderful image of Leina, the heroine of the novel of the same name. An extremely sweet and endlessly ironic bitch.
N. Pervukhina gravitates towards Chinese mythology, and at the same time – towards A. Belyanin. In her series of books under the general title “Witch” (a very traditional title for women’s fantasy), in the features of the main male character – a science fiction writer, whose wife becomes the very witch mentioned in the title – a familiar character is clearly visible.
O. Bezmirnaya will please you with the series “Notes of a Drow Nicknamed Thunder”. A small pleasant variety – in the main role is a handsome dark elf. True, among the contenders for “eternal love” is a light elf. Trite, however…
Y. Morozova called her blessed work “Bodyguard for the Messiah”. The basis is taken and inflated to the extreme the situation with the unwillingness to marry the emperor. However, we must give credit to the author, the girl was still forcibly married. After which she successfully escaped and is still wandering somewhere in the forests and steppes of an alien world in the company of militant feminists and one gorgon (a male gorgon) in search of the way back home.
And N. Fedotova, without further ado, married her heroine to a big villain. More precisely, his son. In short, to a bad guy whose conscience woke up when he fell in love with “pure love” with the flame-haired leader of the barbarians with a charming little mouse on her shoulder.
A. Wind, contrary to the genre, provides his “Milady of the Three Worlds” with a husband who is not of noble birth. Who do you think he is? That's right, the wind. A special kind of magician. One of three brothers. And why she chose this one remains a rhetorical question. By the way, the action of the novel takes place quite organically in both worlds: ours and the parallel one. And in the second part, dearest Milady already acquires a young heir who brings a lot of trouble. Children with a magical gift (a la Harry Potter) are generally difficult to raise and avoid getting into all sorts of scary stories.
Another characteristic feature of female fantasy is the identification of the central character with her beloved self. This is most clearly seen in O. Gromyko's series with the hackneyed title “Witch”. The girl is called Volkha – the ancient Slavic equivalent of Olga. In addition, in E. Petrova, where the main character is called Lena. True, in a parallel world she is slightly renamed, and Leina is born.
To sum up all of the above, I would like to give you some advice: if you are bored, have nothing to do, and can't think at all – read traditional women's fantasy. Read it when you are lonely, unhappy, suffering from melancholy and hypochondria, or dreaming of a handsome prince. M. Efiminyuk and E. Petrova write the most cheerfully, several hours of healthy laughter are guaranteed. Just don't scare the neighbors…
