Do I Need a Break From Fantasy?

GASP SHOCK HORROR. But I think I do.

I've always found it really interesting, the way everyone in the community has such different preferences. I've seen a lot of people who just don't enjoy fantasy most of the time. And a lot of people who rarely read contemporary, too. I used to be one of those people. Anna and the French Kiss was the first contemporary I read and loved, and I don't think I started reading more of them until a year or two ago.

I love fantasy! I love mythical creatures and I love magic. I love the different kinds of worlds we get to see, like the jungle or the Night Court or a bunch of different Londons. Fantasy is the bees knees.

Except that I can't get through it anymore. 


I can never seem to focus and power through a fantasy book anymore. It feels like such a chore. Whereas I used to love worldbuilding, now I get bogged down with all the details and history and get distracted by something else within minutes. I started A Court of Mist and Fury on May 27th and just finished it this week (and I did a lot of skimming). Picking up The Reader by Traci Chee, which has really been a great book so far, feels like a chore. (Of course, I left it at home, where I won't be for another two weeks. THE UNIVERSE IS CONSPIRING AGAINST ME.)

And yet I picked up My Life Next Door for a reread and got through 120 pages within one night. When I'm in a deep slump, I usually try to read an NA to get me out of it because I can read them so fast even when I don't love them. Because the writing just tends to be a little simpler and doesn't include page-long descriptions of a palace or the complicated history of a kingdom, I feel the need to skim less and it's so much easier to power through.

But you know what REALLY tells me I need to accept that I need a break? The Raven King.

The Raven Cycle is one of my absolute favorite series. The characters are so beautiful and the storyline is so different and intriguing. I was so excited for finale, but now I can't even bring myself to open it. I don't feel afraid of what's going to happen, I don't feel nervous about it. I feel nothing. Which is the problem. Maggie's writing is beautiful, but it's always been something I need to concentrate on to really understand what's going on. I need to concentrate. And that's something I haven't really been able to do lately, which is a story for another time.

And so for a little while, I'm going to stick to contemporary. It might only last for three books, who knows. But I think this is the first time in my life I've had to actively avoid a genre just to keep reading. I do need to try and finish A Shadow Bright and Burning first, but after that, I have a few contemporaries in mind. The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon, The Conspiracy of Us by Maggie Hall, and Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow are at the top of my list, but I want a few cute and fluffy ones that go quickly to throw in there too.

Any suggestions? Have you ever felt like you just had to take a break from a genre to keep enjoying reading?