/lit/ - Literature

>this state of this thread
Randists are truly the niggers of philosophy.

>25
>logic of desire
>phenomenology of spirit
>a hundred years of solitude
>moldbuggery
>the hidden life of trees

>>9581328

See, I don't think much of the Book of the New Sun simply because I find every character in it to be either completely unlikable or totally laughable (like many of the female characters). So this might be a difference in values. You can craft the most impeccable plot with clearly played-out themes, but if your characters are faggots, I simply won't care, and it will always be a 1/10 in my eyes. It's one thing if it's a novella or a movie, but if you're expecting me to put in days of reading or watching a series, then you should at least make an effort to make your characters likable. I can even put up with the main character being unlikable on purpose. But with Wolfe and many others I'm simply convinced they're far too autistic to be able to depict humans properly. Their minds aren't built for it.


Likewise, I can't say I care too much about ASoIaF coming to any particular conclusion. In theory, I'm not even opposed to him dying and leaving it unfinished, but now I am because if he doesn't give his own version, my mind is going to be burdened with D&D's shitty conclusion forever. I read genre fiction to be distracted and feel good, not to get analysis-mode on and get something out of it.

And how is comparing it to other fantasy epics unfair? That's what it is. If you picked up anything by Martin expecting a timeless work of literature, you're the one with the wrong expectations.

All I'm trying to say is that compared to other fantasy epics (WoT, Malazan, PoN), ASoIaF is clearly superior. Martin does characterization far better than the others, and he handles everything like dropping info to doing time-skips rather seamlessly. And that's as far as I'm willing to go. Outside of Tolkien, I wouldn't consider any of these highbrow authors worth taking seriously. It's just entertaining fiction.

>wishlist
>buying things

WEW.