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boringbonding t1_j1e7ywx wrote

I love when a fiction book includes well researched non-fiction elements like telling you the (correct) history of certain things, describing the process that is used to do real life things, giving insight into certain ways of life, etc. Or in fantasy, giving realistic detailed processes for things that aren’t necessarily realistic.

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Optimistic__Elephant t1_j1ezprn wrote

Les Mis is full of that. There’s chapters on the history of sewers if I remember correctly.

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tintinsays t1_j1ha7e0 wrote

There is. To be fair, this is because it was printed chapter by chapter so he got paid more the more he wrote. Still fascinating chapters!

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Hopefulcupcake3255 t1_j1heitt wrote

Or how detailed he got about rituals in nunnery. For my 12 yrs old brain growing up in Iran, I had my parallel world of living in 20th century but shared experience of nuns ...

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The__Imp t1_j1kjstp wrote

I’ve heard them called divergences of genius. There’s also one that is basically a 50 page blow by blow retelling of the principal actions in the battle of Waterloo that is only barely tangentially related to a story.

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TheGrumpyre t1_j1ehz23 wrote

It's one of those magic tricks for a writer, where if they can convincingly describe something that the reader knows to be real, it lends extra credibility to the parts where they describe things that only exist in imagination.

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Merle8888 t1_j1gejtd wrote

I wish more of them did it. My experience with books is that if you know something about something, you’d best avoid novels touching on the topic because they’ll only frustrate you, even if the uninitiated think they’re well-researched.

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TheGrumpyre t1_j1ghgod wrote

Indeed. I pity all fantasy fans who also know a lot about horses.

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Merle8888 t1_j1gimro wrote

Definitely! I can attest that knowing about politics and governance as a fantasy fan is almost as bad.

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tintinsays t1_j1haaif wrote

Absolutely. If you know where your towel is, you’re a real hoopy frood who must have just misplaced the rest of your belongings.

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AmateurEverything04 t1_j1epbaa wrote

This is one of the many reasons that “Contact” by Carl Sagan is my favorite book of all time.

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hgaterms t1_j1fmf74 wrote

Same with "The Martian." The amount of scientific accuracy research that went into that book is astounding.

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Research_Sea t1_j1fjx5n wrote

There's a certain fantasy vampire/supernatural series that often gets a lot of flack, but I love specifically how intensely the author researches the topics. If there are details about snakes, local wildlife, geography, types of fighting, weapons etc, they've been painstakingly researched and it shows. Absolutely love it.

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Hambone102 t1_j1gcirc wrote

The way of kings does this perfectly, so much of the world is defined to a point it’s pretty interesting to learn about something new or new discoveries

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DrakeRagon t1_j1gj620 wrote

In fantasy, I really like seeing the real life historical aspects explored, even if in passing.

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