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The internet is awash in opinions over which fantasy tropes work and which do not. Though their opinions can make some sense (and more often than not, are absolutely vicious no matter how much sense they make), I have to say I'd rather defer to fantasy authors themselves to hear about their least favorite tropes. And at BookCon 2026, I got to do just that.

See, I was at the This is Going to Be Epic panel featuring none other than Cassandra Clare, Sarah Mughal Rana, and Chelsea Abdullah, or as you might know them - the authors of fantasy best-sellers Clockwork Princess, Dawn of the Firebird, and The Stardust Thief, respectively. As the panel was winding down, moderator Bethany Taylor posed a simple question: what fantasy tropes need to die?

"I don't like the trope in fantasy," began Rana, "Of when you get to the end of the story and all the characters have to give up their powers."

"You took my trope!" exclaimed Clare, "That's what I was going to say! What I hate the most is girl has to give up her powers for love."

This received a round of applause from the audience, which signals to this reporter that the fantasy community in general might be over the trope Rana brought up. There was, though, one popular fantasy commonality that didn't get a resounding rebuke, revealed when Abdullah mentioned she hates when, "the mentor character has to die."

"I love that!" said Rana, laughing.

"I always love the mentor characters," argued Abdullah, "And I understand that the intention is always, 'Oh, the mentor has to die for the main character to grow.' But I don't think that's true."

"They can just hang around like Obi-Wan and sort of say stuff," said Clare, maybe seeking some common ground?

"I could see them being some sort of ghostly apparition," Abdullah agreed, "But I don't know. I always fall in love with mentor characters and I love that bond to between mentor and student. So every time, every time, I can see it coming on the horizon I'm like, 'Don't do it, don't get attached to this precious old man, because he dies."

That also earned some applause, but Rana was undeterred.

"I love death," she said. "So I think they should die.

"I'm not getting in the middle of this," Clare concluded, perhaps wisely. Don't get me wrong, it was clear that every author on the panel was going to supporting the others, regardless of their stance on whether lovable old men should die for heroes to grow. As I mentioned at the top, though, that internet out there is not so kind.

Here's a list of all the major upcoming prose novels in our favorite genres.