/lit/ - Literature

I know since its beginnings a lot of SF has been tied to an individualist ideology that comes across, explicitly or subtly, as libertarian. Which makes sense in a lot of ways.

But I was just wondering if you all know any SF literature that is specifically pro-Marxist in tone? Not just multi-cultural or anti-capitalist or something, but actually pro-collectivist. It doesn't even have to be very good, I'm just curious. Thanks for any help!

>>2196373
Oh yeah, I've been meaning to read that, I read King Rat a while back and found its premises cool but a little unmemorable as a whole.

Any other recs?

>>2196562
I wouldn't call Vonnegut or Sturgeon "Marxist" though. I admit ignorance about most of the New Wave you mentioned (as you guessed, most of my knowledge is Heinlein, Clarke, Asimov, etc) - though I have read most of Le Guin's bibliography I again would not classify any of it as strictly "Marxist". Certainly leftist and at times anarchist, though.

I guess I was more looking for direct Marxist propaganda. I'm making this sound like a school project lol, it's not, I'm just curious. I'll look into everything else you mentioned I don't recognize, thanks.

>>2196622
Got ya. I'll for sure look into both, have a lot of time to read these days. Any opinions on Kim Stanley Robinson/Mars? Also on my list recommended from a friend.

What is the best conspiracy theory/New World Order/New Age cult/etc book or text out there? I don't necessarily mean the most "true", but the most engaging. I've read a handful of dolphin cult texts this year and quite enjoyed them. So maybe looking for something more light/cosmic/healing at the same time, rather than strictly political? I'm interested in The Biggest Secret, but it seems like it might be kind of a slog.

Any suggestions?

>>2220717
OK - which ones do you like? Is that better?

Does anyone else here think the Hunger Games were hackneyed and shitty, even for a children's book, and obvious rip-offs of Battle Royale which no slobbering Amerifat reviewer seems to ever mention?

Is there anything more contemptible than the Boomer faggots' lionizing of the "beat" generation?

Seriously most of this stuff is straight up shit. At the very least, it's not fit for a classroom environment in the slightest. I thought the beats were supposed to be "rebellious", and yet Boomer scum expects kids to write tight essays about their shitty drug addict "heroes".

Name a video game that has any actual substance in addition to its gameplay value.
Video games are not an art form.

Harry Potter series
A Song of Ice and Fire series

gay

Paladin of the Sword by Marvin Knight

[The Story]

Barely escaping into Hell after being pursued by a group of oathbreaking Paladins, Darren and his mother find themselves trapped in the dark. Struggling to survive against First Order Imps and Demons, the two eek out a survivable lifestyle... until returning to the surface. His mother betrayed and killed in the aftermath, Darren is forced back into Hell with no guide but his mother's old skill books and a dagger-turned-sword named Melancholy. For the next 15 years he trained in those infernal pits. Learning and mastering skills to become a demon to literal demons, capable of creating an aura that can kill their weakest without exertion or effort.

Hell hasn't been a challenge to Darren since he was 10 years old, but the surface? Humans? An entirely different story all together. Feeling that he's strong enough to leave Hell and follow his Mother's dying words, Darren breaks out by killing a lesser Duke of Hell and teleporting himself into a forest outside of his destination. Directly on the path of a merchant caravan ran by a gorgeous pink-haired woman named Cassandra and her cousin Callum.

Becoming their defender for the trip to Linedeep, Darren soon becomes infatuated with the pink haired caravanner and vows to protect her. This takes them into direct confrontation with a bandit king and his legion of followers, all blessed by demons... In a world that's been twisted by ambition, there's only one man that truly follows the light. Its up to Darren, Melancholy and his tremendously powerful and purifying cock to save this world. Perhaps even return its people to the Seraph's holy graces...

[The Character(s)]

The only character that exists in this book is Darren, a behemoth of a Stu corded with muscle after a lifetime in a one-man war. A paladin by training, he completely lacks social skills and instead relies on Cassandra, Callum, and a 3rd group member - Morgana. Unfamiliar with the fairer sex and the 'ample globules' they carry on their chest, Darren is at first stunned into silence by the forward advances of these women... until 2 prostitutes show him exactly how to please a woman. These skills come in handy during the first 3rd of the book, requiring a threesome to break a summoning spell for a prince of Hell. Driven into a righteous cock lust, Morgana and Cassandra exist solely to hang off of Darren's arm.

Callum as a character is our yardstick for the common man. Whatever he fails at, Darren succeeds in without effort or trail. The sheer amount of times this man nearly dies in this book and is saved by the strapping paladin is staggering. Believe he's used as the reader's self-insert as he's on a journey of growth and power after meeting Darren.

[Final Thoughts]

Some of the clumsiest writing I've ever read and a plot that goes nowhere. The sex scenes were atrocious and I can't believe I had to listen to a narrated ahegao. Cultivation harems somehow beat litRPG's... Unbelievable.

2/10

>>22086041
My new lowest score for a title that I willingly finished. This shit broke my spirit. Darren takes us such presence and yet has no character, barely any speaking lines, and some of the worst development I've ever read. 'I can't read,' he admits in one chapter. Next chapter he finds a hidden slip of paper indicting a local Paladin guild in profiteering and can read it like an old pro? Character motivations change on a whim, the only exception being Callum who's a delicate little pissant for a bulk of the story. Plot developments come out of nowhere and it's all... just... bad.

I've written better smut while I was still in HS and still didn't refer to anyone's cock as a 'turgid member' or 'pulsating rod'.

>Lord of the Mysteries #1 by Cuttlefish – 9/10
>Dungeon Crawler Carl Series by Matt Dinniman - 9/10
>Cradle Series by Will Wight - 8/10
>Worth the Candle by Alex Wales - 8/10
>Mother of Learning Series - 8/10
>Ave Xia Rem Y by Mat Haz - 8/10
>All The Skills by Honour Rae - 7/10
>Iron Prince by Bryce O'Connor and Luke Chmilenko - 7/10
>Chrysalis by RinoZ - 7/10
>Forge of Destiny by Yrsillar - 7/10
>A Thousand Li by Tao Wong - 7/10
>Retribution Engine by Akaso - 6/10
>Beware of Chicken by Casualfarmer – 6/10
>Wandering Inn by Pirateaba - 6/10
>Virtuous Sons by Ya Boy - 6/10
>Bastion by Phil Tucker - 6/10
>The Primal Hunter by Zogarth - 6/10
>Sufficiently Advanced Magic by Andrew Rowe - 6/10
>Heaven's Laws by Apollos Thorne - 6/10
>Battle Mage Farmer by Seth Ring - 5/10
>I Shall Seal The Heavens by Er Gen - 5/10
>Reverend Insanity by Gu Zhen Ren - 5/10
>Soulhome by Sarah Lin - 5/10
>Soulship by Nathan Thompson - 4/10
>Azarinth Healer by Rhaegar - 3/10
>Reincarnation: Threads by Michael Head - 3/10
>Paladin of the Sword by Marvin Knight - 2/10
>Portal to Nova Roma by JR Mathews - Dropped
>He Who Fights Monsters by Shirtaloon - Dropped
>The Elevation Chronicles by Captain Capslock - Dropped
>Last Ship in Suzhou by Lungs - Dropped
>Defiance of the Fall by J.F. Brink - Dropped

>Still Reading (Cultivation)
18. The Human Emperor
19. Way of Choices by Mao Ni
20. Coiling Dragon

>Still Reading (LitRPG)
16. Re-Start (Level Up Series)
17. Dissonance
18. Infinite Realm
19. Mark of the Fool (Formerly: Perfect Run)
20. Dungeon Diving 101

>Currently Reading
Dungeon Diving 101
>Currently Listening
Coiling Dragon

Coiling Dragon by Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi

[The Story]

Born to the dying Baruch Clan on Yulan, Linley has distinguished himself as a prodigy from the age of 8. Old enough to be told of their Clan's hidden history, Linley learns that he shares blood with the legendary dragon-blooded warrior. After learning that he does not have enough of the blood to be a warrior, he decides to become a magus... and soon a legendary artifact, which provides a teacher in the spirit of a Saint Level Earth Magus named Doehring Cowart. It falls on Linley and his secret master to cultivate the power needed to reclaim his family's ancient heirloom sword and restore honor to his clan.

[The Character(s)]

Linley is the village head's eldest son and a descendant of a legendary warrior with EXCEPTIONAL elemental affinity and spiritual attunement. Upon discovering an ancient ring hidden in his estate and bonding with it through blood, he's able to conjure a 5,000 year old Saint-Level Magus who agrees to train him into a legendary Earth Magus. By the age of 10 he tries out for the Ernst Institute - the most famous Magus Academy on the continent - and learns that he has exceptional DUAL essence cultivation. Linley is not only able to bend earth to his will, but wind just as easily. With all that behind him, within his first year at the academy he is able to with 10,000 gold from an arrogant young master and establish himself as one of the top prodigies.

Doehring and Bebe are much simpler characters by comparison. Having escaped death by sequestering his soul inside of the Coiling Dragon Ring that Linley discovers, he emerges to a world vastly different from his own. Deciding to adopt Linley as a godson (as he's the only human who can see him), Doehring reveals that he is a 10th Level 'Saint' Cultivator of Earth Magic. What should've taken Linley 50 years to accomplish will now only take 10.

Linley's shadow beast Bebe is a small black mouse capable of minor teleportation. As he grows, he's able to shapeshift and become a terrifying monster capable of killing even 6th level cultivators with ease. He acts as Linley's protector and saves him when Linley's own overwhelming might won't do.

[The System]

The more one meditations and trains, the more their magical reserves and affinity grows though there's not a focus on this like in Reverend Insanity and ISSTH. The first book proposes ranks 1-9 with each being 'a world unto itself' before one achieves the level of SAINT and can easily bend the heavens and earth to their whims. Each cultivator can further diversify into an element: earth, wind, water, fire, lightning, darkness, and light but each elemental affinity will share the same techniques. All wind cultivators will know the same wind techniques, for instance.

Sainthood comes with understanding Profound Truths, though not explored heavily in the first book. This amps up a Saint's magic considerably and allows them to bond Saint-level spirit beasts.

>>22112929
[Final Thoughts]

Dropped on chapter 45 of 77.

Another overpowered MC who's given the entire world served up on a platter within the first 20 chapters. When met with a challenge Linley breezes through it with almost no worry, but 5 chapters later we'll be told through another character how harrowing it must have been. Entire dialogue chunks are dedicated to worshipping Linley as the #1 genius and it all grows tiresome after a while. Obviously not my cup of tea, since I enjoy my characters struggling and surviving. I wish I had a bingo card so that I could convey the sheer amount of tropes checked off in the first 15 chapters alone.

Presentation of the system was also a struggle in this book. More than once, random cultivators would show up in the sky and fight to inspire the main character's growth. They would use a named technique the one time and the author would avoid describing the techniques in favor of using the name. Usually this is fine, but a technique should evolve... We're told that the 'earth tremor will evolve into the earth spike and then the heaven's earth upper super decker' and it's never visually demonstrated in a combat again.

Unengaging system, boring characters, and an uninspired world. No more overpowered MCs. Might curate my remaining list to make sure I avoid them.

>Lord of the Mysteries by Cuttlefish – 9/10
>Dungeon Crawler Carl Series by Matt Dinniman - 9/10
>Cradle Series by Will Wight - 8/10
>Worth the Candle by Alex Wales - 8/10
>Mother of Learning Series - 8/10
>Ave Xia Rem Y by Mat Haz - 8/10
>All The Skills by Honour Rae - 7/10
>Iron Prince by Bryce O'Connor and Luke Chmilenko - 7/10
>Chrysalis by RinoZ - 7/10
>Forge of Destiny by Yrsillar - 7/10
>A Thousand Li by Tao Wong - 7/10
>Retribution Engine by Akaso - 6/10
>Beware of Chicken by Casualfarmer – 6/10
>Wandering Inn by Pirateaba - 6/10
>Virtuous Sons by Ya Boy - 6/10
>Bastion by Phil Tucker - 6/10
>The Primal Hunter by Zogarth - 6/10
>Sufficiently Advanced Magic by Andrew Rowe - 6/10
>Heaven's Laws by Apollos Thorne - 6/10
>Battle Mage Farmer by Seth Ring - 5/10
>I Shall Seal The Heavens by Er Gen - 5/10
>Reverend Insanity by Gu Zhen Ren - 5/10
>Soulhome by Sarah Lin - 5/10
>Soulship by Nathan Thompson - 4/10
>Azarinth Healer by Rhaegar - 3/10
>Reincarnation: Threads by Michael Head - 3/10
>Paladin of the Sword by Marvin Knight - 2/10
>Portal to Nova Roma by JR Mathews - Dropped
>He Who Fights Monsters by Shirtaloon - Dropped
>Coiling Dragon by Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi - Dropped
>The Elevation Chronicles by Captain Capslock - Dropped
>Last Ship in Suzhou by Lungs - Dropped
>Defiance of the Fall by J.F. Brink - Dropped

>Still Reading (Cultivation)
19. The Human Emperor
20. Way of Choices

>Still Reading (LitRPG)
16. Mark of the Fool (Formerly: Perfect Run)
17. Re-Start
18. Infinite Realm
19. Dissonance
20. Fostering Faust (Formerly: Dungeon Diving 101)

>Currently Reading
The Human Emperor
>Currently Listening
Mark of the Fool

>>22149745
>>22149748
Ah shit, forgot my name. Doesn't much matter. Wayward is pretty good so far, marked improvement from the last book which seemed to just be tying up loose ends to steamroll this plot forward. Infinite Realm is... OKAY but it had a Fang Yuan setup and I don't care very much for the narrative structure of Past and Present.

Fostering Faust by Randi Darren and WD Arand

[Synopsis]

Alex was a bastard in life, dying alone after heading a global technology firm. Finding himself in Limbo, a wraith named Leah appears and notified him that his failure to bug test a VR device capable of uploading one's consciousness lead to hundreds of thousands of people having their souls deleted. She makes him a deal... 'You can be reborn in a new world but you must make bargains in my name'. Alex accepts, looking for any alternative to Hell, and finds himself reborn as the influential Count Brit.

[Characters]

As Count Brit, Alex uses his Gordon Gecko-like business affinity to reorganize his realm's commerce and make himself so rich that money doesn't matter. A savvy man accomplishing most of his feats off screen, he also introduces strategic warfare to the battlefield through a knowledge of strategy games. He attends to the minutiae of his county including dispensing justice, which brings him in direct contact with law breaking women that he bends to his whims. This leads to the creation of...

The Numbered are women who serve a function in Alex's court such as maids, bodyguards, and assassins. They begin with Riley or 1, who is among the first to enter Alex's dungeon. Accused of a crime, she proves one of the easier to break and becomes a doting (and clingy) maid. 2 is Carla, who was part of a bandit party attempting to waylay Alex's group on a trip to the capitol. She is converted and bound in oaths to become his bodyguard and bed fellow, leading him to turn out most of the numbered. This goes all the way to 5 in this story, along with...

Alex's wives who are interviewed during a trip to the capitol. Anna proves to be an airhead but one so savvy at the business of manipulating people that she easily enters Alex's affairs with Leah. The other exists to be manipulated, earning her place as a wife by filching cum from #2 under Alex's command.

[Progression Mechanics]

Upon sealing his initial bargain with Leah, Alex is granted a crystal. For every deal he makes, the crystal will grow darker until entirely black. The more these deals are in Alex's favor, the darker it becomes. Alex receives a quota every month that he easily exceeds, filling crystals well ahead of time before receiving a means of storing months worth. These deals are Faustian bargains and Alex ties both women and men in oaths with deals progressing as the series go on.

[Final Thoughts]

What do you do when you want to write a harem rape fantasy but also want to get paid by Amazon? Well, you water everything down and force consent into every single chapter. Female characters are subbed out with duplicates only to be re-developed and sexually dominated along similar lines. Alex soon generates unlimited money and there's not really any stakes in this story. Funniest part of the story is when Alex gives everyone herpes and is so blasé about it that Leah has to cure it for him and give him magic cum as a mulligan.

3/10

>>22312905
>Lord of the Mysteries by Cuttlefish – 9/10
>Dungeon Crawler Carl Series by Matt Dinniman - 9/10
>Cradle Series by Will Wight - 8/10
>Worth the Candle by Alex Wales - 8/10
>Infinite Realm by Ivan Kal - 8/10
>Mother of Learning Series - 8/10
>Ave Xia Rem Y by Mat Haz - 8/10
>All The Skills by Honour Rae - 7/10
>Iron Prince by Bryce O'Connor and Luke Chmilenko - 7/10
>Chrysalis by RinoZ - 7/10
>Forge of Destiny by Yrsillar - 7/10
>A Thousand Li by Tao Wong - 7/10
>Mark of the Fool by JM Clarke - 6.5/10
>Retribution Engine by Akaso - 6/10
>Beware of Chicken by Casualfarmer – 6/10
>Wandering Inn by Pirateaba - 6/10
>Virtuous Sons by Ya Boy - 6/10 (Re-Reading)
>Bastion by Phil Tucker - 6/10
>The Primal Hunter by Zogarth - 6/10
>Sufficiently Advanced Magic by Andrew Rowe - 6/10
>Reverend Insanity by Gu Zhen Ren - 6/10
>Heaven's Laws by Apollos Thorne - 6/10
>Battle Mage Farmer by Seth Ring - 5/10
>I Shall Seal The Heavens by Er Gen - 5/10
>Soulhome by Sarah Lin - 5/10
>Monster Menu by Terrell Garrett - 4.5/10
>Soulship by Nathan Thompson - 4/10
>Azarinth Healer by Rhaegar - 3/10
>Fostering Faust by Randi Darren - 3/10
>Reincarnation: Threads by Michael Head - 3/10
>Paladin of the Sword by Marvin Knight - 2/10
>Portal to Nova Roma by JR Mathews - Dropped
>>The Human Emperor by Huangfu Qi - Dropped
>He Who Fights Monsters by Shirtaloon - Dropped
>Coiling Dragon by Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi - Dropped
>Dissonance by Nicoli Gonnella - Dropped
>The Elevation Chronicles by Captain Capslock - Dropped
>Last Ship in Suzhou by Lungs - Dropped
>Defiance of the Fall by J.F. Brink - Dropped

>Final Title
Way of Choices by Mao Ni

Ohhh, can you feel it? We're almost done.