/lit/ - Literature

>>11223599
I hate OP for using this image even if it's supposed to be ironic

>>11223599
>no assassin gf

wtf i hate being alive now

>>11223619
It must be ironic going off the first line. So I'm ok with it.

I just read All Systems Red. This won a Hugo? It's not bad, but it isn't anything to right home about.

>>11223599
To add to the next OP:
https://imgoat.com/uploads/b44928ae11/114276.jpg

>>11223669
>he doesn't know that SJM graduated Magna Cum Laude from Hamilton College in 2008 with a degree in Creative Writing and a minor in Religious Studies.

>>11223729
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_J._Maas

>Maas began writing what would become her debut novel, Throne of Glass, when she was sixteen years old. After writing several chapters of the novel (then titled Queen of Glass), she posted them on FictionPress.com, where it was one of the most popular stories on the site. It was later removed from the site when she decided to try to publish the novel. The story line of the series is based on Cinderella, with the premise of "What if Cinderella was not a servant, but an assassin? And what if she didn't attend the ball to meet the prince, but to kill him, instead?"

Life is unfair.

>>11223729
Stop trying to make this a meme Allison, it'll never be a meme

>>11223755
I knew it was Cinderella-based but now how. That's actually not a bad story hook.

>>11223823
A girl can dream, can't she?

sarah j maas seems nice

>>11223755
>What if Cinderella was not a servant, but a braphog?
>And what if she didn't attend the ball to meet the prince, but to sit on his face, instead?

Please donate to my patreon if you want me to finish this, my dream project.

>>11223755
When will the assassin girl kill someone in cold blood?

>>11223703
I read it too and agree. In general the Hugos don't really seem to track quality.

>finish There Are Doors recently
>find I have a lot in common with Adam Green, wonder what Wolfe himself thought of the man
>"He has almost no virtues. By that I don't mean that he has many vices, but he is... not outstanding in any good way. He is a man of very limited intelligence, not terribly courageous, not terribly energetic or enterprising or any of those other things."
>tfw

>>11223703
Award winning books rarely are. I’ve concluded, for my own tastes, the Hugos/Nebulas/Stokers are no longer relevant.

>>11223599
Halfway through Zelazny's Sign of the Unicorn

Current hypothesis is that Corwin did it, and purposefully induced amnesia in himself so that even he would be unaware of his guilt during the course of the story, to make his poker face perfect.

If I am correct I will pay myself $10

>>11224242
Oh man, someone who's actually reading Amber. I've suggested it a few times in these threads but no one ever payed much attention. Corwin is such a great protagonist.

>>11224242
What happens if you lose?

>>11224256
Amber is my favorite adult series. (Prydain is my all-time favorite series because nostalgia.)

>>11224188
They're basically the "most popular book" award, good for gauging what's popular with general readers but if you want to find more literary stuff you're better off with the more specialized awards like the David Gemell or Clarke or whatever.

Reminder that the second ever winner was this pile of dogshit that won apparently because of Scientology and the author was popular for writing short stories so people just voted based on name recognition.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They%27d_Rather_Be_Right

What's with the "self-published on google play/amazon art cover" aesthetic that looks so cheap?

>>11224451

Well generally it is cheap. Pay some cosplayer on Deviant Art a couple hundred bucks to do "generic fantasy cover" and then add some filters and effects with photoshop and you're good.

Baen is also especially bad at times. It seems they only give their successful authors access to real cover art and stick the rest of them with cheesy 3D art or photomontages.

>>11224451
Cover art is surprisingly expensive. Even basic original drawn art will cost a few hundred $. Art for a published book will be more like a thousand.

>>11224451
>>11224500
>>11224504
A decent piece of cover art takes almost 30 hours for a good artist to paint unless you're some crazy asian like Feng Zhu or a russian artist (and most of these fags will have had to go to art school or spent many years improving to a degree where it doesn't look like shit) so even at minimum wage it is 450 USD.

I've been drawing nonstop since I was six and still can't paint realism like the pros on artstation in anything that isn't a study.

Writers and artists don't tend to have too much on the intersection front because if you write you probably don't have time to draw and if you draw you definitely don't have enough time to improve on the writing front unless you are a NEET.

>>11223599
Why the fuck would you put a slightly fantasy version of yourself on the cover of your book? Jesus I'm picturing Rotfuss doing this.

>>11223599
Brandon Sanderson is a homosexual charlatan

Reading Ada Palmer (too like the lighting) right now; 10% in and the gender neutral pronouns really got old already. Is this another Ancillary Justice?

>>11224609
i always assumed she was fat for some reason so i had to look her up. you weren't kidding

>>11224614

>>11224614
>>11224651
don't lie, you both wish you were the gummy bears

>>11224633
There are no gender neutral pronouns you homosexual charlatan

>>11224659
Every time they talk about the special kid they refer to him as they (and them). I'm not lying.

>>11224650
If I ever write a book I'll just put myself dressed in fetish gear and some fasionable scar on the cover. Might work on tinder too.

>>11224333
>What happens if you lose?

Then I will force myself to read something bad from my backlog.

>>11224784
why would you keep bad books in your backlog?

I wanted to like it, but it was too much.
Giving up based Virgineering to become a Slutceress.

>>11224800
Same reason you got bottle or two of Heineken in your fridge and Plain Janes in your contact list.

>>11224800
This dunderhead doesn't read "bad books".
Everyone point 'n laugh.

>>11224815
I read [feudal Western European rank] of Thorns once. Pretty shit, especially that time he set off a nuke by lighting it on fire and fought a necromancer with his sword.

>>11224834
I remember him being so edgy he fought off an evil wizard with the darkness that was inside of him.

>>11224834
The nuke thing was kinda silly because it made no sense but he tried to make it less ridiculous in the sequel by explaining it was only the trigger mechanism that exploded

>>11224911
"Oh shit, that's not how nukes work? You don't just light plutonium on fire and it goes kaboom?"

Mark Lawrence to his editor, early 21st century

>>11224674
Honestly I found Mycroft constantly pointing out how they're referring to somebody with the opposite pronouns of their gender to be far more annoying. With Bridger it was more like a "royal we."

>>11224911
I've got a passing familiarity with explosives and one of the techniques for disarming a damaged nuclear weapon is to pour gasoline or diesel fuel inside it, because it will cause the conventional explosives to burn instead of explode if they're triggered accidentally.

So from what I've heard of the book, dousing a nuke with hog tallow and setting it on fire would actually have the opposite effect. Could make for a decent Swordsmen of Varnis style parody.

>>11224964
The most interesting thing in Rendezvous with Rama is "disarming the nuke Lethal Weapon style" and the fact that it would work IRL.

>>11224609
tbf she's quite a fine looking lass.

>>11224674
That's something the narrator does. Palmer isn't asking you to agree with him 100%. TLTL is generally better than Ancillary Justice, although the latter does a better job at being a standalone. Hopefully the fourth book wins a major award.

>>11225122
>TLTL is generally better than Ancillary Justice
Sucking dick for crack money can generally be considered better than ancillary justice

Started reading The Expanse tonight (I'm liking the show, fuck off). Couldn't get past the first page. Every other sentence reads like it was written by an 8th grader. Did no one edit this shit?

No gf that cums laud.
Life is suffering.

>>11225226
should i watch the expense?

>>11225243
If you like space shit then yes, it's quite good. But I now know why the books aren't brought up on /lit/. The world building on the show is very interesting and I'm guessing the books are the same, but the actual writing is fucking atrocious (in the book).

Finished the series of pic related today. Not sure what to make of the ending, really enjoyed books 2 to 4. The first in the series had a really slow start and was somewhat disorientating with constant shifts in POV. The last book suffered mainly because the there was so much left for the protagonist to do and still defeat the big bad, I thought the inclusion of a third independent antagonist at the start of the fourth book a bit left field but It did also explain certain things.

The author really knows his stuff about mediaeval armour and weapons but I'm also really looking forward to not having to read the word 'puissant' 30 times a chapter. Author went a bit overboard with the magic in final book.

I r8 the series 3.8/5. Enjoyed the protagonist, easy read once you got used to it, actually enjoyed reading an author whom is clearly obsessed with mediaeval armour, weaponry and warfare.

I started reading Boneshaker some years ago and dropped it midway, is it worth it to pick it back up?

I was really into steampunk at the time

>>11225243
It's the best television sci fi this decade. It translates to screen easier than a lot of "better" sci fi would.

>mfw going through Amazon's top 100 fantasy bestsellers

I just want to read something that's popular so I can discuss it with a lot of people, but I don't want to read absolute dogshit.

>>11225362
>I just want to read something that's popular so I can discuss it with a lot of people, but I don't want to read absolute dogshit.
ASOIAF or Lord of the Rings, most sold copies of all fantasy books worldwide so statistically speaking you're likely to meet someone whom has read such a book.

I recently read Dracula, and liked it. It was rough in points (after the tenth page devoted to characters droning about how sweet and sincere every other character is it got old), but overall I really liked it. I can't remember the last time I was actually on the edge of my seat reading a book, but that final chase and confrontation had me completely gripped.

Could anyone recommend me some further reading related to Dracula?

>>11225226
That and the Mary sue captain that for some reason is the only one that can solve the problems. After 2 books I had to give up.

Has anyone read the Book of the New Sun? Any opinions/advice?

>#TeamChaol or #TeamDorian?
>What's your favourite Sarah J. Maas book?
>How much are you squeeing over the announcement of her new series?

What is going on here? Are you having a stroke OP?

>>11224188
Hugos are the People's Choice Awards
don't believe anyone trying to shittalk them about political bias

>>11224500
Baen cover art is beyond even the quality of self published
It is its own unique category of bad
even their "A" list successful authors get atrocious art

If you read in English, make sure your version is the 2011 translation.
Download: https://share.soupwhale.com/bibliotik/files/Solaris%20-%20Stanislaw%20Lem/

>>11224834
>[feudal Western European rank] of Thorns
I absolutely love this shit.

>>11225630
This looks like a cheesy '80s comedy poster.
I don't think I could handle 1 million words of David Weber.

>>11225667
>>11224834
Ok I heard that was bad but Red Sister seems to have better reviews. Did anyone like Red Sister?

This is what bad writing looks like.

>>11225542
Frankenstein and Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde are the obvious answers. For more old ass vampire stories you could try The Vampyre, a Tale.

Why aren't you reading Throne of Glass and what's your excuse?

>>11224804
>Not liking the degenerate
Maybe Heinlein's Friday is more for you, prude!

>>11225603
>Has anyone read the Book of the New Sun?
It's an absolute masterpiece.

>advice
Be prepared for a demanding book, it's not for everyone. The text is a puzzle, two seemingly unrelated parts might come together and give you an deeper understanding of the story. An offhand comment made in book four throw new light on a mysterious passage from book two. Rereading makes everything even better.

>>11225724
im a shitlord mysogeekneest naysi.

>>11225724
I'm neither a meme lord nor interested in generic YA.

>>11223599
Was Asimov a good writer?

>>11226085
No. However, his ideas played a big part in laying the foundations for later sci-fi.

>>11225717
"oof"

>>11225717
Wrong, it's good.

>>11225717
I agree, why'd you post a cap from Peace tho?

>>11224834
I enjoyed Prince of Fools, the part where he gets rote in a pub with the edgy lad from [feudal Western European rank] of Thorns after shagging his bride to be was quite funny.

>>11225724
She graduated Magna Cum loudly, her writing is too intelligent for me.

The Emperor's Blades

>>11226679

Who can even stop her now?

>>11226134
He nevet got pacing right for one. His early Foundation books went by too fast, the latter were slower than shit running through a chronically constipated chink's digestive system. Only The Mule parts worked well

>>11226818
*blocks your path*
You're old news sweetie.

Been reading Blindsight all weekend and I think I hate the author, and his access to various science/math topics on Wikipedia, yet I can't put it down

>>11225791
Does Book of the New Sun read like this
>>11225717 ? I was planning to pick it up after seeing all the praise on here but that was genuinely unpleasant.

>>11225717
Lmao only an engineer could throw a parenthesis inside another parenthesis. Holy shit.

>>11227008
It's impossible to tell from a single sentence and I have not read Peace so I must say that I don't know. The language is fairly complex, with long sentences, archaic/unusual words and contradictory statements.

>>11227008
Random excerpt from the first chapter of botns pulled from google

>We believe that we invent symbols. The truth is that they invent us; we are their creatures, shaped by their hard, defining edges. When soldiers take their oath they are given a coin, an asimi stamped with the profile of the Autarch. Their acceptance of that coin is their acceptance of the special duties and burdens of military life—they are soldiers from that moment, though they may know nothing of the management of arms. I did not know that then, but it is a profound mistake to believe that we must know of such things to be influenced by them, and in fact to believe so is to believe in the most debased and superstitious kind of magic. The would-be sorcerer alone has faith in the efficacy of pure knowledge; rational people know that things act of themselves or not at all.

>>11227041
Fuck me It's actually two parentheses inside another parenthesis. Where was the editor?

>>11227048
that's much better. ill likely grab it with my next haul.
>>11227041
>>11227056
autist writers both frustrate and amaze me at once. if only i had a big boy brain to compete with them

>>11227008
>>11227048
Can confirm that BotNS writing is easy enough to follow. The only part that felt droning to me was the very beginning of Sword where he describes Thrax for 10% of the book. Everything else felt meaningful enough to keep me attentive.

>>11227121
Literally the best part of that book. It's like a layman's guide to the cultural, economic and linguistic state of the place and it's amazing

>>11227136
Agreed

>>11227136
>>11227142
It was overall pretty inconsequential. Don't reply to yourself with an upvote.

>>11227150
You don't need to samefag to get 3-4 posts in a row riding Gene's dick here anon

>>11225729
Kek, already read it. A bit more than I like, but It'll probably get a reread sometime.
It's not the existence of degeneracy in Iron Dragon that ruins it, but the sheer amount of page space devoted to a detailed recounting of it. For me it crossed the line into erotica, and I'd rather be reading SFF.

>>11227085
Yeah? You gonna go grab a sick haul next time? Sick haul bro. Cant wait to see your book haul vid on youtube my dude. Nice

>>11227150
>pretty inconsequential
Debatable. Regardless I found it to be interesting. I really enjoyed the sometimes hidden elements of the past, such as the beast-soldiers in the wall.

>>11227150
It was relevant when he starts wandering around the city later in the book.

>reading hyperion
>second story is apparently "battlefield romance"
Someone please tell me this isn't going to be as boring and annoying as I think it will be.

>>11227199
The only bad one is the detective and Keats fanfic galore manure extravaganza faggotry edition. All the other 5 are good, especially the poet's

>>11227171
don't forget to hit the notification bell so you'll never miss a beat! *toefist*

>>11227216
Dan Simmons went all magnus come laudanum with his Keats fanboyism. What the fuck was that shit?

>>11227199
Don't read the sequels.

>>11227199
Ignore >>11227226 and read Fall of Hyperion. Endymion is awful.

>>11227266
Fall of Hyperion is alright, but it ends with a cliffhanger that's only resolved in the terrible 3rd and 4th books. Or at least that's how I remember it.

>>11225717
Huh, so this is the power of Gene "Gene Wolfe is the greatest writer in the English language alive today. Let me repeat that: Gene Wolfe is the greatest writer in the English language alive today! I mean it.Shakespearewas a better stylist,Melvillewas more important to American letters, andCharles Dickenshad a defter hand at creating characters. But among living writers, there is nobody who can even approach Gene Wolfe for brilliance of prose, clarity of thought, and depth in meaning" Wolfe.

>>11227289
My memory erased everything about Endimyon except the title. I call it a blessing

>>11227299
Did your mom die choking on a Pringle or something?

gonna read leviathan wakes because of how much i like the show, what should i expect?

>>11227309
Good action, great Miller chapters, so and so Holden ones. They aced the pacing.

>>11227309
Good world building and hard sci-fi fluff coupled with a fairly cheesy plot. You'll like it if you liked the show.

>>11227313
it was written by a couple dudes right? how do they bounce of each other is it well done or can you tell when someone else is writing?

>>11227347
They wrote the show too. Holden and Miller meet about the same time as in the show. There are differences, just not major. I burned through the first 3 in a week, they're incredibly easy to read.

>>11227347
>They wrote the show too.
oh damn didnt know that, good to know thanks bud

What are some other books with this anesthetic?

>>11227401
Hyperion put me to sleep last night

>>11227454
I'll put your brain to sleep you fat Irish fuck.

>>11227266
It's not that bad but you can see it falling apart with all the keets and Deus ex machina talk.

>>11227631
It made me hate Keats. Oh and he's such a fucking bore.

>>11226873
How's her book?

>>11225700
Here's one of my "favorite" Baen covers.

>>11227840
>introduction by george paul

>>11227840
Jut wow. Either they're trolling or their art department needs to be fired.

>>11226085
>Was Asimov a good writer?

Not really. He's sort of the archetypal "engineer scifi author," he's got big ideas but his prose was workmanlike at best and he's excessively prone to infodumps.

>>11226085
From what I've seen, his ideas inside and outside of his writing is better than the writing itself. For example, he was an astrobiologist, and even designed an organism that would be able to function similar to familiar cells but within a nonpolar solvent. At least I read that on Wikipedia.

>>11228069
I gather the draw is that the author can get a fully customized cover showing their favorite scene from the book or whatever, at a lower cost than paying a traditional artist.

Allegedly Lois McMaster Bujold hates most of the covers the Vorkosigan books get, but every time she's vetoed a cover the book has had worse sales so she's stopped complaining.

>>11228245
Also it's not like they can't make good covers. This one looks way better than most of the CGI covers they shit out, basically the same composition and style as a lot of older traditional medium covers.

>>11228245
Baen knows their audience

>>11228245
This cover is hysterical.

>>11224242
Well, the conclusion of the book makes my hypothesis look unlikely. But there are too many clues not to expect a major unreliable narrator reveal, and the amnesia is the perfect foreshadowing of that. Especially since people around Corwin keep saying "you don't purposefully destroy your own memory as a strategy" etc. to absolve him. It's like the author is screaming "WINK, WINK"

1/5 of the way into Green and the late Mr. Lake drops this steaming little slice of anime on my chest. Fucking catgirls. Fuck off. Decent otherwise, so far, I suppose. If I had to guess at why this novel never did any sort of taking off, I'd blame the lack of relatable suspense in the beginning just a bit higher than the graphic incest fiction in it. The movement towards what I gather the real plot of this novel will be is glacial.

>>11228971
I’ve literally written better drivel than this while black out drunk. Furries were a mistake

>>11228971
Catgirl handholding?!!!

>>11228971
I used to follow his blog before he died of cancer for insights into publishing. He never broke out in a big way. Took him 10 years to get published but he never broke out in a big way

>>11228971

>>11225650
I don't normally visit this general but it just so happens that I got my copy of Solaris delivered today. Might pick it up when I'm done re-reading the Hobbit, though I'd be reading it in original Polish. Does that monthly reading spark any discussion?

There's a series of novels based around a post-apocalyptic world where medieval-type nations have risen in the remains of what was once a technologically advanced civilization. Anyone remember the name?

>>11228245

now thats a manly book. haha

>>11229054
that's one of the most common world building tropes out there

>>11228981
The worst part is that it's not even furry-furry. He explicitly makes them have human faces. If they were full-on furry, at least I'd be able to masturbate to it.

>>11229125
If it helps, I think the title began with a P. The intro is a bit of political world building, first thing you see happen is one of the characters riding a horse. The later entries also apparently vary wildly in terms of setting.

>>11229144
>The intro is a bit of political world building, first thing you see happen is one of the characters riding a horse.
This didn't narrow it down, either.

cradle

Jesus fucking christ. Wolfe's writing is an imitation of what literary, highbrow prose is supposed to look like, filtered through the brutish mind of an engineer.

>I saw that the dress was not as worn-looking as those she put on to dust in when there was no one in the house but myself, or when she was expecting no company.

>>11229306
Eh, that one looks fine to me. The earlier parenthesis one was pretty bad.

Here's another gem from the "the best writer alive. Period":

>>11229323
He could easily get rid of all the parentheses, and the parentheses inside the parentheses. The novel is filled to overflowing with them. This is sloppy, amateurish writing. I'm pretty sure his later books were heavily edited, otherwise there's no way anyone could enjoy reading him.

>>11228971
>Jay West uses literary tools like a boy swinging a 2x4 board at the reader's head. Characters the reader is not supposed to like are described with multitudes of adjectives that imply "bad" i.e. hair like maggots... lips like a duck... and a great many more. When used sparingly, these can be subtle hints to a reader that may be only realized subconsciously. not so in this book.

>If you are of the firm belief that any time girls get together, they all decide that the female body is irresistible and they get naked, and do all kinds of things that young boys supposedly dream about, this is the book for you. West seems obsessed with the idea, and rather than making a believable lesbian heroine, rather waves his own daydreams of girl on girl bondage around with disregard for the plot, with cheesy anatomy names like "sweetpocket" that one is supposed to read without laughing, and not get a similarly named frozen lunch item marketing song stuck in one's head.

>>11229406
>>If you are of the firm belief that any time girls get together, they all decide that the female body is irresistible and they get naked, and do all kinds of things that young boys supposedly dream about, this is the book for you.
>waves his own daydreams of girl on girl bondage around with disregard for the plot
yeah this is moving right to the top of my backlog

>>11229420
don't read bad books just because it's got titillation in it.

>>11229406
>>11229420
Those were what got me reading it, too. I can already say that Jay Lake was probably not a super great erotica writer from the one weird theological sex scene, so I am extremely eager to see how he handles the oh-so-delicate subject of underage lesbian orgies. It's basically all that's powering me through all this bullshit about learning to be a lady.

>>11228971
>>11229406
Picking this gem up right now.

>>11229568
Let me know what you think; I'm right at 20% of the way in having started this afternoon. The first couple chapters are super slow but they get at least slightly more interesting pretty soon.

>>11229579
I'll start when I'm done with this chapter in Boringbot. I need something ridiculous sounding right now

>>11225717
>>11229306
>>11229351
You realize that Peace is written from a first person POV, and the significance of that, right? This isn't Wolfe's voice, it's the character's voice, and the character is the type of guy that talks a lot while trying to hide the key facts of his narrative. But if you want to keep pulling isolated sentences out of context and criticizing the use of punctuation, have fun.

>>11229588
There's only been one ridiculous bit so far. I don't think it amps up in silly shit until the second third of the book, according to reviews.

>>11228981
>I’ve literally written better drivel than this while black out drunk.
P-post it. For my friend.

>>11229588
>I need something ridiculous sounding right now

Have you read Necrotech by K.C. Alexander?

The sequels starts off with the main character fisting a nun in a alley.

>>11229598
Yeah i noticed that this is the character's own neurotic voice, and not Wolfe's. The prose is actually pretty good when it's not the protagonist speaking, so i'll admit that i might be wrong here. Still, putting parentheses inside parentheses seems like a cheap and artificial way to produce that affect. It's all over the place, with pages upon pages of them, and I'm not even exasperating.

>>11225700
red sister is extremely edgy and at times quite cringy. Id reccomend pirating it desu, it was semi enjoyable to read but I was ashamed to be reading it at times.

>>11229603
Yeah, this is boring as fuck so far. I feel like I need a dose of ritalin for every paragraph.

>>11229962
Once the Dancing Mistress shows up, you can safely start to skim a little slower.

Book of the Long Sun gets shitty when you realize it's just Gene Wolfe complaining about the overzealous puritanical nature of certain religious sects

>>11224156
When she makes some blood pudding.

>>11225724
Writing my gangbang fantasy novel. Jeeze. Cut me some slack.

>>11230023
Seeing the trash that gets posted in /sffg/ has given me how that my trash will get published too.

When I actually finish something.

>>11230036
*hope

>>11229698
It is pretty cheap, I'll give you that. I could weakly defend it as a stylistic choice mirroring the theme of stories within stories, but I'm the first to admit that a stylistic choice, even in service of a theme of the story, is a negative if it hurts how the story reads.

>>11223755
Paradise Lost is pretty much fan fiction.

How do I learn to world build as well as he does? Whenever I try anything like that in m writing, the people in my writing group say "it doesn't forward the story, get rid of it!" and yet they praise GRRM's going off for ten pages at a time with the history of a castle someone is pissing on.

>>11224238
ahahaha

>>11230203
You can't dump exposition all at once, you have to leave a breadcrumb trail of interesting tidbits that keep the reader wanting to learn more

>>11230203
Maintain some suspense while you do it. ASOIAF starts off very quickly - establishing the tensions between the families, putting them in close proximity, the approach of Robert - and the pace only slows down to allow for castles and ships and such shit afterwards. Also with writing groups the trick is to listen, not to obey.

>>11230203
One of the things GRRM is actually good at is making the background interesting. The little hints we get about Asshai, Yi Ti, the Drowned God, the Long Night, and other mythic places and times are a hundred times more interesting than any of the descriptions of generic not-England (Westeros), generic not-Italy (the Free Cities), generic not-Rome (Valyria), etc.

>>11230203
Martin doesn't lead off with lengthy descriptions of castles and noble lineages, he doles it out over the course of hundreds of pages of his series. This is a problem many would-be epic fantasy authors have, I have noticed. They tip their world building hand too early into the series. You need to build up a sense of mystery around it. Name drop here and there, and move on. Make readers curious, trust they are interested in things, and then gradually explain as the story advances and this information becomes more crucial.

Or maybe just don't ever explain things fully. That's the Malazan route. Malazan doesn't even have an official world map, just a bunch of region ones that fans have tried to piece together to get a full picture of the Malazan world. Tons of stuff is alluded to but never explained because it was never essential to the story.

>>11224964
>Mycroft constantly pointing out how they're referring to somebody with the opposite pronouns of their gender
So. Fucking. Annoying.

Majipoor is pretty wordy. Like seriously half of it are descriptions of the city and then shapeshifting aliens

the links in the op don't work

>>11230939
Looks like imgoat.com let it's ssl cert expire

whenever an author describes a character as dark skinned or chocolate skinned I just imagine them as a tan white person

>>11229760
Thanks. I hoped Red Sister was an improvement over Prince of Thorns but it seems not a lot. I'll try some anyway.

>>11228830
No spoilers but I think the next book is my favorite after Nine Princes. (The second series wasn't nearly as good as the first but I still liked it anyway.)

I just finished Prince of Thorns. took two days which is very fast for a brainlet such as myself, but its only 320 pages to be fair. So /lit/, what did i think?

Just finished Death's End
Holy shit, what a ride
If it weren't for the whole "restarting the universe" thing, it'd be one of the bleakest settings I've seen in sci-fi
Also how does Chun manage to fuck everything up as much as she does
Luo Ji was based as fuck and while Chun is relateable, she still cocks up everything for humanity twice

Also Tri-Solarans are fucking dickheads, once they have the upper hand they go mad with power and start planning genocide, but then when they get BTFO again they go back to "oh we love your culture so much, let's coexist <3"

So The Forever War was great, are any of the sequels worth reading?

>>11231151
I applaud you for reading 160 pages/day. The book is shit.

>>11231151
It was quite edgy, yet also horribly boring.
Somehow, even the infamous nuke moment did nothing for me.
The characters are either retarded (most of his brothers) or edgy autistic fucks, and all end up equally unmemorable.

Just finished The Rook and Stiletto, both of which are now definitely top 10 fantasy for me. Does anything come close in prose, tone and execution? It has a unique sort of black humor I haven't read anywhere else while still keeping up excellent worldbuilding and an intriguing (and serious) plot.

10/10 definitely rec unless you hate female protags

>summer/patio season
>working all the time
>can't read as much
at least i can talk to guests about botns right?

Will Wight is giving away The Traveler's Gate trilogy for free on June 1st. He will also release Book 5 of the Cradle series that day.
http://www.willwight.com/a-blog-of-dubious-intent/5-years-travelers-gate-trilogy-free

>>11228085
His pop-sci books are fantastic and are really what he should be judged by. His prose fiction is generally much weaker.

Courting Death!

I want to read some light novels. Any recommendations?

>>11232191
The Cradle series by Will Wight. It is like those Chinese Wuxia webnovels excpet without the Chinese retardations.

>>11232205
Traveler's gate was 100% anime. I'll check it out.

>>11231836
the nuke reveal wasn't handled very well and lacked urgency. I also didn't like the fantasy focus leading up to it with all the ghosts. If a story is gonna have nukes and computers, I'd rather it be sci-fi (which as far as i can tell, this really isn't unless the ghosts are holograms or something similar). There's some hints with the philosophers and i sort of guessed what was going on when they started referencing the thousand suns and the door of souls being left ajar, but it still felt too random for something that seemed largely inconsequential.
The only character i "enjoyed" was Jorg, because of the narration. The dialogue itself didn't stand out the same as his psychotic perspective, and he's far too proficient for his own good. One example that comes to mind is when he holds a knife to Katharine and seemingly swoons her despite appearing as some violent urchin who she has no reason to trust. Its sort of explained that he's a puppet and all this shit but even that reveal was handled terribly.
I've heard the next book is a genuine improvement, anyone want to weigh in?

Sanderson's not going to finish Wax and Wayne this year, is he?

so how are the night's dawn books? i keep hearing mixed things about them

>>11232605
that looks cool, is it a mix of sci-fi and fantasy?

Hi /sffg/!

I'm Peter Watts; I wrote Blindsight and Echopraxia - two of the finest works of scifi in the last few decades. I also wrote some other scifi books but nobody really talks about them.

Here's a picture of me with a timestamped post-it note to prove it really is me.

AMA

>>11232673
Ello Mr.Peter petar pumpklin peelah. I have never read all of your books we should talk about the ones no one will want to speak of. I liked your picture by the way, or i would have if i could find the like button. The only problem is i have not convinced proof is it REALLY you???

AMY

>>11231563
>Also Tri-Solarans are fucking dickheads, once they have the upper hand they go mad with power and start planning genocide, but then when they get BTFO again they go back to "oh we love your culture so much, let's coexist <3"

Perhaps there are some real-world parallels that come to mind.

Someone asked in a previous thread about books that used "real" magic. I recently started reading The Devil's Day aka Black Easter by James Blish, and this seems to be more or less what that poster was looking for.

>>11231563
>shitting on both Cheng Xin and the Trisolarans
You can't have the cake and eat it mang.

So I'm thinking in reading a series now, which one should I start first /sffg/: Original Dune Saga or Book of the New Sun?

>>11232881
botns for sure

>>11232881
PRINGLES

What sci-fi or fantasy series is the most kvlt?

I was asked to recommend some series to my little cousin, how does this hold up? I remember really enjoying it, but I'm scared that it was just because I was a tastelet when I was younger.

what was his fucking problem?

>>11232933
Niggers. He predicted amerimutt.

>>11232930
Doesn't hold up at all. The series gets completely insane and weird and becomes a meandering mess of different plots and genres. Also it's FIFTY FUCKING FOUR FUCKING BOOKS LONG.

What fantasy and SF novels did you read in your childhood/teems /lit/? Trying to think of a good book series to give as a present to my niece.

>>11232951
The Hobbit and Enders Game.

>>11232951
I liked Myth series, Black Company, LotR but I'm not sure these would be any good for a girl (well Myth is good for teens). Maybe Hobbit, if she's fairly young?

>>11232951
the seventh tower
Wind on Fire
Magic: The Gathering novels
the lord of the rings
redwall

>>11232945
Probably because it was being written by a dozen people.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animorphs#Ghostwriters

>>11232957
>>11232962
>>11232966
Thanks anons. I definitely wouldn't give her Black Company, she's way too young. The Hobbit + LotR or The Seventh Tower series seem like good bets.

>>11232951
Just give her Sanderson shit

>>11232989
most Garth Nix stuff should be okay
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman has a female MC and is intended for kids but has some rather gruesome parts

>>11232989
>LotR
The only thing I'd say about recommending that is if she's too young that may be too much for her. It's very long and very dense. Even a lot of adults can't finish the whole thing.

>>11233008
Don't do that, just give her Hobbit and LotR, more wholesome.

>>11232951
Why don't you buy her something by ursula le guin?
https://bookriot.com/2016/09/19/book-ursula-le-guin-every-age/

>>11233016
>Mormon written fantasy
>Not wholesome

>>11232951
Protip: Diana Wynne Jones
Enchanted Forest Chronicles would be good too

>>11233024
Only if female characters in his works are good role models.

>>11232951
his dark materials

>>11232917

>>11232881
Honestly, if you haven't read Dune you should. I know BotNS is /sffg/'s favourite series, and it is good, but Dune is basically required reading.

Certainly read through to God Emperor at least.

>>11233011
This. Give her Sabriel and Northern Lights.

>haven't read since beginning of high school
>got back into reading recently
>have zero imagination now
>absolutely can not picture anything the author describes about character features or scenery
I can still enjoy the story but it still feels bad

>>11233210
saved

normalfags aren’t human

>>11233210
It could be worse. I'm a well-educated professional who reads nonstop and my childlike, nimble mind makes me look like a fucking weirdo.

>>11233011
>most Garth Nix stuff should be okay
Sabriel is a great book. Its followups were let downs.

They aren't taking this very well

>>11232933
He was racist and sexist and so by modern standards his writing is awful.

>>11233210
Read Throne of Glass like the rest of us.
It has rich descriptions.

>>11233210
Start by spending five minutes a day remembering something from the day before, and imagining it in as much detail as possible, then adding something weird. One of the aliens from the Alien series standing on the street or something. Add that in detail like your memory is a movie and that was in the movie. Then expand to ten minutes. Eventually, start making up memories, or stop and read a description of a space and put the effort into kind of painting it in your mind. Do that here and there until it gets easier again. It's a muscle you haven't used much in a long time, is all.

>>11233228
You just need to learn to get it under control. Do you have ADHD, maybe?

>>11233247
>point out that tokenism is itself offensive and also harms a story
>liberals get salty
Nothing to see here.

>>11233255
He was racist for his time, too.

>>11233210
>absolutely can not picture anything the author describes about character features or scenery
How is that even possible? I cannot imagine (heh) being unable to visualize things from descriptions.

You obviously don't work in an artistic field but does your career require no innovation? Do you never have the need to picture something in your head?

filename

Are any of these decent?

>reading the Gor series
>pulp hack and slash adventure and intrigue with some sci-fi and slave-girls peppered in
>just the sort of amusing borderline trash I like to relax with
>reach 6
>"Huh, this has a lot more world building."
>"Wait, no, it just feels longer because it's about shit no one cares about like measurements and farming."
>Tarl goes emo
>"Well... at least it's character development, I guess."
>start 7
>it is now "Story of O lite"
WTF is this shit? What was he thinking? Couldn't he start a separate series for this? I know Tarl returns as the main character in the future, but I don't want to keep investing time in this if it just goes downhill from here. I want my pulp adventure, not softcore women's erotica.

Anyone here familiar with the series as a whole? Where does it go from here substance- and quality-wise?

>>11232933
Spooks, fish, niggers and the irish.

>>11232951
How old is this niece? Howl's Moving Castle, Bartimaeus trilogy, Temeraire, The Hobbit, Harry Potter.

>>11233344
I just skipped around to read degenerate sex parts, rest is rather boring and stupid, especially authors personal philosophy that is only enforced by deus ex aliens who kidnap people.

>>11227840
>it's a Shudderwock Shaman mirror
lol, what a mess, looks like a (misleading) box of an early 90's point and click game for the PC.

>>11233342
ringworld is decent.
Im reading reality dysfunction and its garbage.
no clue about the rest. But some people like the culture series, the one i read was shit so i never bother to read more.

Any well written titles (e.g. NOT the Kingkiller Chronicles) with a nice romantic story in them? I sorely miss interesting female characters in genre fiction.

>>11233393
I would want some to, just without love triangle shit.

>>11233410
Throne of Glass.

>>11233361
You mean it really does derail into being a bdsm women's novels series? Does it ever return to what made the first 6 fun? I mean I have nothing against smut, but I want to read about Tarl traveling around, thwarting bad guys and making bros.

>>11233418
It gets more fetishistic I would say, yes.

>>11232951
The Wizard of Earthsea

Guys, I don't know if I'm going to be able to finish Green. It's getting really bad.
>people in shitty not-india for some reason have their words translated to nonsensical grammar constructs, even though they're speaking their native language
>green keeps vomiting? it's happened basically every time it feasibly might have
>second appearance of the word "sweetpocket," this time in a disappointingly unnecessary BDSM scene
>every 14 year old speaks like she's 41 almost all the time, except sometimes green throws a cringy tantrum and acts like an 8 year old
>"spellcasting" is just saying platitudes in any language that's foreign to the region, or some shit like that, I don't know it only happened once and was extremely anti-climactic
Even the catgirl was better than this, and she seems to be gone now.

Hey, whichever one of you had this on your rec chart, how you doing, man? Are you okay? Do you just recommend everything you read without regard for actual quality, or did you seriously enjoy this? What is wrong with you? This is like 90% a book for 14 year old girls with 5% vomiting and 5% disappointing murder and sex.

>>11233342
Consider Phlebas is a fun introduction to the culture series, I'd recommend it and then move onto Matter, Players of Games, Use of Weapons and Excession in that order. That way you work your way up through how accessible they are and end with the best novel of the series.

>>11233439
Why do you force yourself to read bad books?

>>11232951
You could always just throw her off the roof like they do in my country to women trying to educate themselves

>>11232503
The next book is better and the ghosts are all holograms

>>11233459
Well, this one was recommended, and based on the reviews I thought it might be interesting. At this point I'm just invested in seeing the author really cut loose with the weird BDSM shit.

>>11233342
>Hamilton
Mixed; I would describe it as "epic science fantasy". He's a bit "reddit". Without knowing anything else about you, 50/50 you'll like it.

>Reynolds
I'm a fan; complaints tend to center around his poor characterization and a certain "tryhard" aura.

>Banks
Look up "The Culture". If that sounds interesting, go for it. Even if you don't like Consider Phlebas, you might like other Culture novels.

>Ringworld
Classic entry in the Big Dumb Object subgenre. It's worth your time. Don't bother with the sequels, unless you're really into yiffing -- that's not a joke.

>Kevin J. Anderson
That man is the epitome of a hack author. You should only read him if you're literally just attempting to kill some time.

>>11233344
Stop reading; it doesn't get better.

>>11233393
tigana

>>11233393
B O T N S
O
T
N
S

>>11233459
Not him, but I absolutely hate to stop reading books that I've invested time in. So if it somehow manages to keep my attention for an hour or so, I feel obligated to finish it. Maybe in a vain hope that it gets better or that there will be a good pay-off at the end, maybe just out of sheer completionism. The worst part is that this also applies to series: if it's a story spanning a dozen books that goes to absolute shit half way in, there's a good chance that I'll force myself to suffer trough at least 2-3 more, and maybe the whole 6 if I don't encounter another sharp dip in quality or if there's a momentary clearing with a ray of light in that shitstorm.

>>11231151
The MC is an edgelord, the characters generic and unlikable and the story boring. When whoever dies, all you think is "good riddance". Best thing I can say about it is that it's readable.

>>11233418
Literally just read Barsoom, it's like Gor except without all the fetish porn and also not shit.

>>11233549
The defining traits of Gor is that it's shit and contain fetish porn, how can anything be like Gor if it's without fetish porn and not shitty?

>>11233549
Gor is not shit because of fetish stuff, it's shit because of everything else.

>>11233561
The whole "ordinary man from Earth gets transported elsewhere in the solar system, finds he is capable of superhuman feats due to the lower gravity, and goes on to have manly pulp-style adventures in a vaguely medieval science-fantasy setting" thing is pretty similar.
>>11233575
I didn't say it was.

>>11233549
The whole point of Gor is that it's Barsoom with all the fetish shit made explicit instead of just left to the reader's imagination. Obviously Norman went off the deep end eventually.

>>11233549
>Gor except without all the fetish porn
pointless

>>11233470
what about the necromancers and the skeletons, that's fantasy right? The sage and the glass tree also comes to mind, as well as Corion and whatever darkness is in Jorg that saved him from his father's knife.

>>11233456
>>11233486
Thanks boys, I'll give Banks a shot

>>11233439
>Samma gave me suck against her breast

>>11233492
What do you mean by this? Because I can live with more bondage sex if Tarl still adventures around Gor and swordfights assholes. But if it's going to focus on the bdsm at the expense of adventure, that I will have a problem with.

>>11233393
Codex Alera. MC gets a /fit/ barbarian waifu and gets a happy ending with her. No cucking drama and no love triangles.

>>11233549
I'm parallel reading Barsoom as well, but I'm not a fan so far. Carter has 0 personality aside from being an unstoppable murderous sociopath towards people he finds himself in antagonism with. Tarl was a dimwitted idealist (despite being a college professor) but at least he was a likeable oaf. And the action was written better to boot.

>>11233189
Not the first anon, but is Dune really living up to it's praises? I want to try it out.

>>11233711
>open bobs and vagene

>>11233721
Reading Gor and complaining that the BDSM is getting in the way of the plot is like going to a metal concert and complaining that the loud music is getting in the way of trying to hold a conversation.

>>11233765
Nah, it's only good for fapping.

>>11233760
I'm a big fan of the Frank Herbert books, but don't read any done after his death.

>Dune - Can be read as a standalone, very good book, probably the most straightforward of the series
>Dune Messiah - I actually consider this to be the weakest, but it sets up a lot of things that are important for the rest of the series. I enjoyed it more on a second reading
>Children of Dune - Also very good, kind of a finale of sorts in that it wraps up Paul and Alia's stories with the later books being after a timeskip
>God Emperor of Dune - I'd say the best book in the series and definitely worth reading to. Set 3500 years after the previous book, really starts to come to grips with the long term consequences of Pauls actions, and the true costs of prescience
>Heretics and Chapterhouse - I think there's a 1500 year timeskip from God Emperor to these. Some folks don't like them so much, but I think you need to read them to really understand what the God Emperor's plan was all about.

>>11233765
Then you don't remember the first 6 novels. The sex scenes there is "they've had sex". It's your average hack and slash. This is why I'm here, part 7 doesn't just change direction, it's like I picked up a completely different series.

>>11233811
I wasn't talking about the sex scenes, I was talking about the BDSM. Book 1 is the least fetishistic of them all and besides the fetish-bait undertones running throughout the entire book there are multiple scenes that are nothing but fetish porn (Tarl dragging a blindfolded and handcuffed Talena through the swamp on a leash? Talena performing slave dances and then begging to be branded and talking about how much she wants to be Tarl's property?), and if you didn't even recognize them as such then you're so far outside the target audience of the series that I don't know what to tell you.

>>11233945
Even so, the books weren't about this. They just had it. Imagine if LotR went from just mentioning how orcs and Uruk-Hai were made to some sort of weird magic gene-manipulation fetish territory.

>>11233677
I can’t remember if this is a spoiler or not so read at your own risk. But basically humans destroy part of the fabric of reality and people’s psychic gestalt make it real. If enough people believe in necromancy than it’s real

>>11233760
Depends on how interesting you find Islamic esotericism. I grew up in the Middle East and I find Dune boring as shit

>>11234052
it is a spoiler, but not one that negatively affects things. at least now i won't be thinking the skeletons were really terminators through Jorg's medieval lens. i assume the spirit door being left ajar is what caused meme magic to manifest

On another note, I've started on The Way of Shadows (Night Angel Trilogy: 1) again after shelving it for months. About 220 pages in and still having trouble getting hooked. Kid just turned 18 so maybe that will help but i find Brent Weeks just goes on and on with exposition and mental forays that grind the pace. His master will ask him a question and Azoth will have a page of thinking garbage before the conversation resumes. I'm pretty much reading it to be rid of it at this point.

>>11233810
I gave up after II
nibba goes blind tf

What's with this Throne of Glass meme? Last I checked it was a garbage book. Why are people suddenly shilling it in these threads?

>>11234429
It's a meme. Pay it no attention.
That being said if someone has a download for it I would unironically read it just so I can shit on it from a position of knowledge.

>>11234429
dont pay attention to it. its thew forced meme fad.

>>11234408
It did take me two tries to get through Messiah. Like I say, it's better once you've read the others but it's certainly the hardest to get through.

>>11231563
reminder

>>11233342
Heartily recommend the Culture series, though I thought Excession was a hot mess. Player of Games is skippable too considering the higher quality of the other books.

>>11232951
Terry Pratchett. Either The Amazing Maurice, or the Tiffany Aching books, or Nation, for a start.

>>11234429
It’s one guy shilling it and like 6 guys just shamelessly tearing that guy an asshole

>>11234722
Somebody's just jealous about MAGNUM CUM ROD

im reading the first throne of glass and holy shit the female soldier character is so lame. Please tell me that later it focuses less on her and more on the campaign/magic part.

>>11235110
wait i meant shadow campaign not throne of glass. The meme is rubbing off on me lads.

>>11223599
Hey /sffg/, I'm writing a book which examines a lot of the ideas of young adult fantasy books. What is the best book for researching gods and creatures like angels?

I very much enjoyed black company, anything similar that i should read? emperors blades seems okay or am i sorely mistaken?

>>11234429
The author is sexy so I might read it. They say she'll be writing an "adult" book next, whatever that means. Fingers crossed.

>>11235303
But is she a Magna Cum Lord?

>>11235311
I've made it my aim to find out.

>>11233342

consider phlebas is overwritten and a tad stodgy but has awesome action, player of games is pretty ordinary imo, the ending was okay.

>>11235311
shes more into cuntcery and smugomancy.

>>11234429
Throne of Glass is a fun read. It's at least as good as Name of the Wind.

>>11235342
Too bad. I could have worked with cuntomancy.

>>11235357

>>11235303
is she sexy, or is she just not fat ?

>>11235438
She might be a little fat but she still looks like a man-pleaser. I am willing to perform the necessary experiments to get at the truth of the matter, whatever the cost.

>>11229351
>>11229306
These are OK. Convoluted clause structure isn't bad in of itself.

>>11225717
But this is pretty bad.

>>11235456
I wasn't calling her fat, just average. godspeed though anon. let us know how the setting is, its probably the only thing that isn't toxic

Someone really needs to pick up the Culture torch and keep running with it.

>>11224633
>Is this another Ancillary Justice?

Absolutely.
Hype without substance.

NEW THREAD

>>11235854
>>11235854
>>11235854

>>11234462
Is this from something?