General Fantasy Tropes in ISEF

Dear Friend,

I thought it might be fun to include a post on the General Fantasy Tropes you may find in my clean, YA, medieval Christian fantasy series, In the Shadow of Emerald Fire, or ISEF, for short.

Prefacing our conversation by saying that book tropes were nowhere within my scope of thinking when I gathered everything I’d need to actually publish Book 1-The Lost King’s Daughter is probably pretty important. This is also why it’s taken me this long to even consider what types of tropes are bound within the pages of my books!

Let’s explore mine. But first, if book tropes are new to you, as they were to my mom, I’ll uncover the definition of a trope to help us all stay on the same page.

What is a trope?

Quite simply, it’s a “common or overused theme or device: cliché,” per online Merriam-Webster, accessed on September 17, 2025.

How many types of tropes are there?

Lots!

I found 4 different book tropes I could include for my current book series: General Fantasy, Romance, Celtic, and Christian.

For today, I’ll just focus on General Fantasy Tropes in ISEF. This way you can see what types of various topics my book series may cover, either in part or occasionally in full.

I pulled up an easy schematic of sorts so you can view exactly what ISEF has to offer in General Fantasy trope terms.

I thought this was a pretty good rundown of all kinds of elements you may find in ISEF, particularly Book 1-The Lost King’s Daughter.

Some elements I made up, such as the blue-black sword. That just pertains to my story (or maybe someone else’s I’ve never even heard of); however, since it fit with the medievalism and the ancient relics segments, I thought it would be good to include the Great Queen’s sword.

What do you think?

Which General Fantasy trope intrigues you the most? The Loyal Knight? The Reluctant Heroine? The Ancient Relics?

For myself, I really liked the Loyal Knight and the Reluctant Heroine. These two fit my story to a T-sorry to be so cliché. Finockt is definitely a reluctant heroine. While she has spunk and is eager to put her village behind her in pursuit of obedience to her calling, she also has no desire to be in the limelight. She’s willing to help out because empathy and standing up for the underdog are some of her virtues, however, she’s also not interested in being anyone’s notable heroine.

As for the Loyal Knight…well, I’ll let you read my books to discover who that might be and why I love the depiction of this male character so much.

Am I missing any?

Did I forget to put a trope? Which elements come to mind when you think of my story? Leave a comment below or send me an email at contact@adgermanbooks.com and let me know your thoughts. I always love to hear from readers and will always respond, even if it takes me awhile.

Don’t forget to come back later so you can see what my other tropes entail!

Hope you enjoyed this General Fantasy Trope for ISEF, and until next time…God bless and take care. xoxo