/lit/ - Literature

>>11340317
you guys are all fags

>>11340317
>what events kill a book you're reading?
shitty character development
>what books have you dropped so far for the year?
Time enough for love, just too much degeneracy and its not even smut. Shitty characters.
The reality dysfunction, It was time to read Don Quixote for lit and the book was gooing slow, nothing relay peaked my interest. I may continue it at some point, but the part with "gods bother" ruined it in a way.

Ok, here's what we'll do. Since you people (including me) can't manage to pick one book we're going to read both. We'll start with The Stars My Destination, because it's longer, and then we'll read Roadside Picnic. Next time we vote will be in late august and We will be automatically nominated. I hope everyone is satisfied.

>>11340317
>what events kill a book you're reading?
Love triangles.

>what makes you instantly drop a book you're reading?
Anytime the author uses their book to soapbox about current issues. These days it's all about sexism and racism. Also any kind of NTR is an instant drop for me.

>what books have you dropped so far for the year?
Surprisingly none.

I read the first Unwind years ago.
It was the average dystopian fiction, but in this one kids were being "unwind" (i.e. getting their organs removed) by the government as punishment instead of jail, or as offerings by the parents. It was entertaining, for what it was, but I never bothered to read the other two books.

>>11340340
STOP BEING A FRIGGING BRAINLET MONTHLY READING GUY
IT'S TWENTY SECOND 22ND NOT TWENTY SECONTH 22TH

>>11340360
>Also any kind of NTR is an instant drop for me.
So you didn't read Daniel Black? He was ntr'd twice. But thots gonna be thots.

What is your definition of ntr? If your gf cheats on you, do you consider that ntr? Because gfs cheat on guys regularly. You better believe during the time you were together your gf cheated on you.

>>11340383
Maybe NTR wasn't the best term, it's just the first one to pop into my head. Infidelity would be a better term. And no I haven't read Daniel Black. And if you really think that all girls cheat on their partner "regularly" then you're pretty fucking dumb and should stop getting porn mixed up with real life.

Around the last 100 pages of the third book of Throne of Glass there's this scene where the MC is pretty much beaten and in agony and suddenly she sees all her past friends/family in front of her and they tell her to "git up bitch" (not literally). And then suddenly she becomes a walking nukes and nukes the baddies with fire magic.

Have Western authors taken this from anime cliches or has this always been a thing?
It's that I'm reading this series when I'm bored at work, but to be fair, it wasn't a deus ex machina asspull even if it still reads like anime cringe.

>>11340383
>Daniel Black
Are you fucking 13 underage?

>>11340317
>>what makes you instantly drop a book you're reading?
i power through even if I'm pissed off.

>>11340454
I forgot to include this.
Maas did pull a deus ex machina a page later because she only had enough energy left to nuke 2 of the 4 baddies.
Because somehow that other guy introduced in part 3 is something to her (forgot the name) so he can channel his energy into her so she had enough energy to nuke the other 2 baddies.

I'm going to read something different.

>>11340454
>>11340465
damn and I thought I was having it bad wading through Oathbringer

>>11340454
>Have Western authors always been anime
Yes including that scene in the Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Phillip K Dick where the main villain decides to turn himself into a loli and one of the protagonists is scarred for life.

The most anime scene I have read in a long time.

>>11340480
>Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
Thanks, this will be on my plan to read.

>>11340480
Instead of anime, maybe I should have been more precise.
That shit pulled in Throne of Glass seems like cookie cutter shounen shit. Even if the rest of it reads like girl drama.

>>11340317
Brandon Sanderson a hackfraud

>>11340317
>what events kill a book you're reading?
GRI Approval
>what makes you instantly drop a book you're reading?
I don't think I've ever insta-dropped a book. In the rare instance I don't finish one it tends to be a slow exhaustion of interest.
>what books have you dropped so far for the year?
None

help me decide what to read first sffg
i dont like having too many characters

farseer
mistborn
the broken empire

>>11340549
https://www.random.org

If it ends with 1-3 then Farseer, 4-6 Mistborn, 7-9 broken empire. 0 is reroll.
Or just use your post number.

Reading Latro in the Mist for the second time. Are there any servers or sites that are good for Wolfe discussion? Honestly there's so much to uncover in his works and it brings me a giddy joy to be shown more.

>>11340499
Exactly this.

>>11340515
he's a publisher's dream

martin, rothfuss and lynch are the real frauds

>>11340549
out of those read mark lawrence

>>11340490
I liked that book a lot because it gave off Eva vibes.

>>11340340
already read it, wasn't that good i can be arsed again

>>11340589
Do not trust this man

>>11340549
mistborn isn't worth reading

>>11340596
Eva is pretty cool.

>>11340499
Shounen/Shoujo = for boys/girls
YA = for boys/girls
They serve the same purpose for the same demographic, and Japan has been under the influence of western pop culture and has influenced it in turn. It's no surprise that they share similar basic clichés.

>>11340606
it's comfortably better than the other two series there

>>11340340
I read a couple weeks ago, was very good and I will pick up the demolished man soon

>>11340623
I think the first one is good and could have been a good standalone. Don't care much for the sequel as i loathed the love triangle and I dnf'd the 3rd book, I really hated the 'the planet is dying and there's nothing we can do' schtick.

>>11340566
All you need for Latro, good for maybe two more weeks.
https://pastebin.com/ph2jJ5cV
https://pastebin.com/NK5a4ssp

>>11340376
>tfw I've gone and done goofed again
I'm sorry senpai, apparently they never taught me this shit in school.

>>11340597
>>11340677
Feel free to participate in the discussion anyway.

>what events kill a book you're reading?
Character's I find boring having long stretches of screen time, love triangles. I don't mind a bit of 'ooh this character is dark and edgy now' but there have better been some fucking lead up to it and not some sudden dark turn. Also one time when I was very young might have been 10 or 11 the mc's dog got its throat cut and I got so upset I dropped the book instantly and I never did finish it.
>what makes you instantly drop a book you're reading?
boring turning to exhaustion to putting the book down and not picking it up again.
>what books have you dropped so far for the year?
The first of the riftwar books, couldn't take the book seriously as the mc was called Pug and that my friends is a dog.

>>11340480
>that scene in the Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Phillip K Dick where the main villain decides to turn himself into a loli
Wew, I guess I know what I'm reading next.

I only drop a book if there are many mathematical/terminological errors.

I dropped Pareto’s Manual of Political Economy for the former.

>>11340739
I will, whoever is reading for the first time is in for a treat

Also a series I read a while ago kept minutely changing the names of certain characters from book to book and it irritated me that the author couldn't seem to decide which name he liked so he just swapped it around twice. very triggering.

Why are so many agents for sff women? I'm not memeing, I'm just honestly shocked as I search for people to query.

>>11340854
>Why are so many agents for sff women?
Because most writers are man.

How many people here contact authors about errors or misunderstandings in their books.

>>11340644
Broken Empire barely manages to be better than eating shit. I wouldn't recommend it to people I dislike.

How far can you go with incest? It seems brother/sister is somewhat acceptable. But I'm guessing mother/son is too far.

>>11340945
are you asking for a friend?

>>11340945
This is the wrong board Cletus

>>11340945
Just write erotica anon.

>>11340927
so mistborn and farseer are on par with eating shit?

>>11340927
It's edgy dumb Blood Meridian.

Do you like elves in Fantasy?

>>11340317
>what events kill a book you're reading?
Main characters taking over the government. I.e. one becomes king, then the others become his inner circle of advisers. The only graceful thing to do at that point is end the story because those characters cease to be interesting at that point. Also I dislike long info dumps about the setting's lore, because a big reason I read epic fantasy is for the setting and discovering its secrets as I read the story. If you give me everything up front it makes it really hard for me to give a shit and keep reading.
>what makes you instantly drop a book you're reading?
Almost nothing, it'd have to be either inexcusably bad writing or just eye-rollingly lame characters / storytelling for me to drop it. I don't often read books that meet that criteria.
>what books have you dropped so far for the year?
Throne of Glass was the only one. Couldn't get more than 50 pages into it before giving up. In this case I acknowledge I'm not the target audience for it, since I'm not a teenage girl.

>>11340994
Generally no, it's like reading bad fan fiction.

>>11340994
Not anything recent but Tolkien/Poul Anderson sure.

>>11340994
Basically every instance of elves I've read from authors in the last 40 years have been shamelessly ripping off Tolkien or trying very hard to be different from Tolkien, even though it's obvious all their ideas about elves still come from Tolkien so all they know how to do is copy him badly or do everything the opposite of what he did.

>>11340994
There is not one good fantasy book that features elves.

>>11340317
>what events kill a book you're reading?
When there is a scene where something is revealed and the characters are acting like it's the biggest deal and getting choked up and emotional, or their faces are going white because of shock and it's nothing worthy of those responses, or it's worthy of them but the descriptions are cliche/overkill.
>what makes you instantly drop a book you're reading?
When ideals come before story. I should be into the characters and plot before I realize you're trying to make a statement, I shouldn't get a waft of it on the first few pages.
>what books have you dropped so far for the year?
Slow reader, haven't dropped any, only read five

>>11340994
They belong in sexual fantasy only.

I'm new to reading science fiction books, anybody recommend me short science fiction book with max 300 pages?

>>11341078
Read The Last Question
Short story, should only take you a few minutes

>>11341102
>>11341078
http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html

>>11341109
thanks man love you, any more like this?

>>11341109
I liked rendezvous with rama, anything like that? so comfy to read because i dont have to memorize so many names like in other books, im a brainlet

>>11341158
Annihilation

>>11341168
Sorry, which author?

>>11341181

>>11340854
Everyone below the age of 50 who works in publishing is a woman.

>>11341158
Ringworld
You might just try buying Clarke's books at random, he's got a pretty consistent style.

>>11340455
??
>Daniel Black is for underage b& 13 yr olds
U wot m8? Are you trying to say that Daniel Black is YA now?

>>11340729
thanks mang

>>11341374
Niven is fucking mediocre

>>11341374
>Ringworld
by larry niven?

>>11340699
>I really hated the 'the planet is dying and there's nothing we can do' schtick.
Hey buddy. How's the Alex Jones show these days? Don't forget the earth is flat and climate change is a hoax.

When do I get to the smut part of super sales

>>11341444
so mistborn is worth reading?

>>11341443
Super sales isn't smut. Tey these books if you want smut.

>>11341471
Fuck no. Isn't the title a dead giveaway?

>>11341483
Us aSoIaF included to bait people into reading the others?

>>11341492
Here ASOIAF is likely included to convince others not to read it.

>>11341471
Sanderson is not for everyone. I say give the emperor's soul and warbreaker a read first. If you like those books try Elantris then mistborn. If you don't like emperor's soul, don't continue on with Sanderson.

>>11341501
Brandon go and stay go.

>>11340945
>But I'm guessing mother/son is too far.
Not if your surname is Heinlein.

>>11341078
See >>11340340

>>11341501
Elantris is fucking horrible. It's worse than Sandersons other, more average, shit. Readers got blinded by the somewhat original setting and failed to notice that the writing is absolutely shit. It's really noticeable that it's his first book.

>>11341483
Third book of Wild Wastes was a pretty big letdown desu.

is weird west another idea masquerading as a manifested genre?

Give me a fun title to read.

>>11341920

>>11341920

>>11341920
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32905343-meddling-kids

>>11341920

>>11341951
Can't find an upload anywhere.
>>11341974
Never got into Discworld.
>>11342003
This seems wild, grabbing.
>>11342014
Can you give me a synopsis? This seems too vague of a title to search for and I am lazy.

Thanks, keep 'em comin'.

>>11340854
You can't afford to work in publishing If you don't have a boyfriend or husband to support you, It's unironically one of the most competitive industries in the world.

>>11341920
Stainless Steel Rat

>>11342028
>synopsis
A book-smart village teacher goes on a honeymoon to the Tower of Babel, but it is far from the interesting vacation destination advertised in the travel books and pamphlets, as it seems to be a literal tourist trap. He changes due to the danger of the tower, and starts to stand up for himself and what he's after. Just read it, it's wonderfully enjoyable.

Also, you should seriously consider getting into Discworld, definition of fun.
And I'll add Fforde's Shades of Grey to the list Fun Reads.

>>11342084
>vagina symbolism cover

Is Harry Potter worth reading for the first time as an adult without any nostalgia for it

>>11342303
If you enjoy YA books, sure.

>>11342303
Sure, why not?
You're just gonna waste that time on something else stupid anyway, admit it.

>>11342303
nope

Rape scenes tend to do it, but not all the time.
Finding out that the author was shitty does it.
I can't enjoy Philip K. Dick anymore, that asshole

>>11342303
Eh, I wouldn't say so.

>>11341920
>cosmerefag is out of books to read
The last time you asked I told you library at mount char and another, you only read library. Would you read the other one this time? I know you are doing engineering, try Daniel Black. Don't use the excuse you used last time, just read it.

Larry Correia on the SJWification of fantasy and science fiction. Amazing interview:
https://youtu.be/0kE8lXV_pCA

Any books have a setting based around one big city, like Perdido Street Station or Midgar from Final Fantasy 7?

>>11342464
Plenty. Can't remember any atm though.

>>11342447
I haven't read anything of Correia, what would you recommend?

>>11340317
>what events kill a book you're reading?
bad or no character development
female support characters that are just there to fill out the romance role
female characters that are built solely around their antagonism to men
romance for the sake of romance
lack of inner conflict
re-telling the same social issues without questioning or bringing any new perspective on them

>what makes you instantly drop a book you're reading?
character spamming: when i have 3-4-5 undeveloped characters shoved down my throat in the same scene and am expected to remember who's who with next to no distinguishing traits
every character sounds alike
author trying to push personal views into the narrative and telling me what i'm supposed to think about a situation

>what books have you dropped so far for the year?
surprisingly, none, i managed to see some pretty lame shit to the end

>>11342479
I haven't read him either.

>>11342447
>17:00
After Ninefox Gambit was nominated for a Hugo award last year I'm still surprised people deny this.

>>11342479
I've only read son of the black sword but it's actually pretty good. Still no follow-up though.

>>11342479
> what would you recommend?
Nothing, absolutely nothing. Any issues they have with women authors is kind of completely negated by the fact everything they write is utter utter shit.

>>11342464
guy gavriel kay's not-byzantium duology.

>>11340340
it's my favorite! y'all enjoy, don't feel like re-reading it right now.

Reading Voyage to Arcturus. Am I being bamboozled? Does it go anywhere?

>>11342479
monster hunter international. the one about frankensteins monster was pretty good also. the series about that cyborg was pretty good.
overall he isnt anyone top tier as an author but hes pretty decent.

What's the best place to start with Stanislaw Lem?

>>11340762
Which series was that?

>>11342447
>SJWs are the reason I didn't win a popularity contest!

AMAZON SCI/FANT CHART FUCKING WHEN

>>11342447
God the fucking cliquishness of these people is unbearable. It'd actually be better if there were an actual comittee for steering fiction in a progressive direction that one could negotiate and compromise with rather than this circlejerk.

>>11342696
to be fair there was a whole boycott thing going on against him that even pulled his books from amazon for a time.

>>11341109
Sooo God is a super quantum computer?

>>11342554
>son of the black sword but it's actually pretty good
Don't get memed like I was, it goes shit.

>>11342717
Have you read anything written in the last 10 years? How could genre fiction become any more progressive at this point.

How's the english translation for the Witcher books?

>>11341421
He's hit and miss. I really enjoyed Ringworld, but not the sequels. Particularly that one where he has to fuck a giantess for diplomacy. But in the first it was fun to discover the traits of the Puppeteer.

>>11342542
>After Ninefox Gambit was nominated for a Hugo award last year I'm still surprised people deny this.

Is Ninefox Gambit that bad? I'd thought about picking it up.

>>11342447
Yeah I'm totally going to watch a 40 minute video

>>11342904
I thought it was great. Sure it has some flaws but it's certainly one of the better & original sci-fi books of recent years.

>>11342303
The first three tell a great and complete coming-of-age story. The remainder increasingly devolve into a combination teen drama and Guardian op-ed.

>>11342904
It's extremely amateurish, the dialogue is stilted, every character acts like a parody of pulp sci-fi, infodumps every couple of pages. You'll see "original" and "unique" thrown around a lot and all discussion is on the worldbuilding not the actual story.

>>11342479
I kind of liked the Grimnoir Chronicles and MHI. Very pulp, so be warned if you don't like that sort of thing. Aims low and hits his mark.

>>11342717
>negotiate and compromise

I'm sorry, but negotiate for what? That there's going to be some Comics Code style restrictions and authors will have their freedom of speech restricted because some conservative guy might get upset that a book has people using gender neutral pronouns or something in it? That conservative authors should get their own little safe space ghetto in the awards?

>>11342904

The main complaint I've seen about the books is that they don't explain shit, which turns off the World Building/Sanderson-fanboy crowds because they've gotta figure out what the evil empire's Calindrical system is by inference or what "invariant ice" is without getting a 10 paragraph dissertation.

Thematically it's very 40k. Like if the Imperium of Man had been workshopped as having a shiny Apple-designed aesthetic instead of dude skulls lmao.

Honestly I wonder if there's a correlation between people who like Ninefox and people who are willing to put up with 40k fiction assuming you're already well versed in what orks and chaos are.

>>11342587
It goes to Arcturus.
One of my favorites.
Bit weird.

>>11341109

>>11343121
So the universe is just one endless loop?

/sffg/ I need short books to pad out my goodreads challenge

Is this any good

>>11342696
That was never his point -- more that mediocre books were being granted bonus points were being granted bonus points for singing from the sjw hymnal

Read this, fags.
http://eidolon.net/?story=Closer

>>11343534
I thought it was terrible. But a) I hate when we meet real people in sff and b) I think it's the book where the author converted feet to meters with a calculator to make it seem modern: the cyclopian cliff rose 3218.688 meters above the puny humans...or something. Could be wrong, but I think it was that. Also it's faggot new wave seventies sci-fi. I'm sure somebody still likes it but I thought it was awful.

I heard some good things from this book alongside the latest Thrawn novels. Is this really as good as I hear for a Star Wars fan who doesn't project their political values onto a children's franchise about space wizard that would outshine Luke Skywalker's projection at the end of The Last Jedi?

>>11343756
You know the Empire was supposed to be America and the Ewoks are literally the Viet Cong, right?

>>11343779
>Stormtroopers aren’t German
>Darth Vader doesn’t mean dark father in German
Ok

>>11343813
darth vader doesnt mean dark father in german.

>>11343822
but you only need to change a few letters for it to become dark father

>>11342983
>authors will have their freedom of speech restricted because some conservative guy might get upset that a book has people using gender neutral pronouns or something in it
This shit has literally never been an issue until very recently, alternative gender pronouns are nothing new in sci-fi. Calm your tits.

>>11343842
so? you only need to change a few letters in fantasy to make it into faggots.

>>11343851
thats true

>>11340242
I should have listened to your warning. Bloody hell the second book becomes a piece of pontificating garbage when out of the blue a priest starts quoting declaration of independence. Such hackery. And I was just getting to like the Norman guy.

>>11342904
Its great. I really like that author trusts the reader to figure how it works on his own rather then writing a chapter worth of infodumps. Granted, the biggest problem springs up if you can't figure enough of it quickly enough, resulting in confusion and apprehension, which puts some people off.

>>11343863
I read a lot of David Weber's Harington books when I was a teen and yeah that sounds about right for him. I think it took me like 5 tries and as many years to get through Armageddon Reef and I felt no need to continue with it.

The man can murder a good idea most expertly. Somebody even wrote a damn book about it:
https://www.amazon.com/Exasperating-David-Weber-Death-Honorverse-ebook/dp/B015TGKWPC

>>11341444
what, i just find that trope dull.

>>11342691
Traitor Son

>>11343877
>>11342691
And he keeps forgetting who died

>>11341078
The Martian Chronicles - Ray bradebery
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu
are collection of short stores that are enjoyable. Both new and old.

>>11343874
I couldn't stand HH. The first chapter threw up so many red flags screaming "Mary Sue" at me that I never got past it.

But then he has a couple series like Starfire and Multiverse where he seems to rein himself in, or at least gets reined in by co-writers, and his talent in world building and maintaining a large and passably interesting cast of characters make them a decent read.

Safehold sure begins with it's own plethora of red flags, but at lest he went out of his way to justify them trough the narrative rather then just writing "here be boypussy, the mightiest of man". The worst part is that even amid the drab hackery of the second book good moments shine trough like charachters developing in unexpected directions and the story premise and it's development is still interesting enough to keep me interested in what happens next.

This must be what it's like to be a masochist.

>>11342303
You'll be considered a retard if you have not read them and I never found them bad in a I-can-not-continue-reading way.

>>11342464
The Lies of Locke Lamora. Only read the first book.

>>11342479
Opinions aside he's an absolute shit writer.

is apocalypse survival themed novel considered sff? any good ones?

>>11343528
Read all the monthly reading books, they're short.

>I need short books to pad out my goodreads challenge
McFucking kys my dude

>>11343892
Harrington is almost explicitly intended to be a Hornblower knockoff, so being hyper competent comes with the territory, it's just that gradually over time it expanded in scope. In the first few books she was good at athletic stuff (fighting and shooting for example) because she practiced a lot (a unrealistic thing for a military officer but whatever), her treecat was just a pet with a mild empathetic sense, she got where she was with hard work because her family didn't have political influence, etc. There was a element of plausibility because she'd put in the work to become a Sue.

but this eventually got retconned: Instead of being good at fighting through training, her mom gave her perfect DNA from a super-soldier program, the treecats are actually fully sentient and psychic, her parents are directly related to the political elite of another planet that's allied with Manticore, etc.

I think a good contrast is David Drake's RCN series. It's space opera patterned off the Aubrey-Maturin books and while the main characters are still hyper-competent as is typical for military SF, they feel more human and realistic.

>>11343911
Firelance by David Mace. It's obscure but it's basically a scifi story about a super-battleship going on a final mission after WWIII has ended.

>>11342303
Why bother whit it? Its not good.

>Not wanting to gloat on /lit/ at the end of the year that you read 85 90 page novellas

>>11343942
this year alone ive read a book with atleast 250 pages roughly every other day.

>>11343925
>being hyper competent comes with the territory
Its not competence that makes a mary sue but author fawning over said competence for pages and pages on end.

I like, hell, I love competent MCs. What I hate is when MC's hypercompetence is being masturbated on by the author, because to me it spells doom for any chance of MC actually being a character in his own right with all the good and bad being a character implies. One example of what I mean is the cat HH has. It's not enough that HH is competent, no, he had to give her an exotic pet to underscore how SPECIAL she is, and it wasn't enough for the pet to be rare breed, nooooo, it fucking had to be sapient(or apparently as you've corrected my memory of it first emphatic then sapient).

This going overboard with trying to show how SPECIAL MC is not in an ofitself a death sentence for a good book, rather I dropped it because of what it promises for the future of the character and the world she's in. Mary Sue protags dont make for good stories.

>I think a good contrast is David Drake's RCN
I'll check it out then, I think I may have read a book or two of it, but im unsure.

>feel more human and realistic.
Yeah, that's what I mean, being competent in a book about competent people competing is by no means a bad thing, its when it turns into a circlejerk on how great you are that it becomes a problem.

>>11343946
based NEET

>>11343966
NEET LYFE
im not a neet. i just have a lot of time and not a lot of friends ;_;

What is the fantasy genre's biggest pleb filter?

>>11343966
You don't have to be a NEET to pull that off, you just need to have no social life whatsoever. You'd amazed at how much you can cram into your free time while working 40 hours a week if you have no girlfriend and no social obligations.

>>11343963
>fire lance
doesn't sound that interesting

>>11343980
low fantasy without magic or nonhuman races truly is the patrician tier of novels.

im going to read children of time
what should i expect?

>>11344008
children but no time.

>>11344000
big brained post desu

>>11343942
>when they ask for pagecount

>>11343980
BotNS

Can /sffg/ recommend some 'elite' or 'special forces' themed fantasy or historical fiction. I'll even take a look at science fiction if the books are supposed to be quite good even though I'm not really that interested in aliens and spaceships.

>>11344056
black company

>>11344056
Unhewn Throne has a decent portion dedicated to the training and deployment of what are basically fantasy special forces.

Neal Asher's Cormac stuff for sci-fi.

>>11344062
I read the Red Knight reecently, is The Black Company similar?
>>11344071
Interesting I'll look into it.

>>11344081
> is The Black Company similar?

It's similar in that they both deal with mercenary companies but tonally they're on different planets. Black Company is more stripped down with a quite cynical voice.

>>11342084
This is real good

is chronicles of narnia good or is it just kids book

>>11344110
Kids book with no value whatsoever for an adult

>>11344110
Kids book with some value for and adult that's interested in the history of fantasy.

It is time for me to end it all lads

>>11344134
Kill Teddy Beale in the name of Islam. Maybe Correia too.

>>11344056
maybe try Blood Song, the main group in that are part of some elite monastic order. Accepted wisdom is to treat the book as a standalone.

>>11344056
Strange&Norrell

>>11342447

>>11344000
you'd think it would be more of a thing. Worlds that could conceivably exist and keeping the tech level below sci-fi levels or ideally pre-industrial but there're always gimmicks of some sort. ASOIAF stripped of all the shite basically.

I'll just leave this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqZI0CHOeEI

>>11344151
Where did he go so wrong, from such a comfy enjoyable slash and hack story to an absolute drag in the second and third books.

>>11343980
I think anyone who ranks the Stormlight Archive as the best fantasy books going around are most certainly plebs.

>>11344375
Tell me about Severian, Why does he wear the mask?

>>11344387
without knowing the ins and outs I'm gonna blame an editor for the insertion of multiple POVs. First book was self-published.

>>11340762
Same. I was reading Peter Grant (basically British Dresden with more actual policework and more to trigger /pol/fags) and he kept switching between Leslie and Lesley.

>>11339551
Did anyone have an answer for this not laden with racial pejoratives and/or beastiality references?

I mean, the answers I did get weren't like that, but I'm just setting boundaries.

webm unrelated and technically SFW.

Is there a /sffg/ discord? I tried the general literature one but it's just some guy posting tweets and news articles

>>11344482
>the absolute state of anime

Other than Neuromancer, what William Gibson books are worth reading?

>>11344486
>I tried the general literature one but it's just some guy posting tweets and news articles
Welcome to Discord

t. every server ever

>>11344506
Both its sequels are great. The final ending is a bit anticlimactic but everything else is bangin.

Are there any decent science fiction books, be they short stories, stand-alone novels or whole series, that have cybernetic augmentation as part of its main themes? Or rather, that they feature heavily in them.

>>11344507
I just want nice people to talk books with :(

>>11344571
Unfortunately, that's pretty much impossible, book clubs have never been about discussing books but about gossiping between people who read books.

>>11344566
Try Empire of Bones saga. Not sure if it really fits since cyber augmentation is a relatively minor part of the story, but given focus on interaction between men and computers and how privileged are those who can and how fucked are those who can't and what such interactions can lead to playing a major role in the story it might prove interesting to you.

>>11344566
neal asher anything pretty much

>>11344571
Hey anon!

I'm a pretty nice guy. What is it you wanted to talk about?

>>11344581
>>11344584

Cheers, I'll look those up.

>>11344571
Have you tried this thread?

If Goodreads recommends me one more fucking book about a New York ripoff and an assassin named Cain/Caim/Cairn, I cannot be held accountable for my actions.

>>11344482
imagine the smell in that cockpit

>>11344620
>Goodreads
I unironically get all of my recs from this general. So far it's been total shit; Southern Reach-Around was mostly bland, Blindopraxia was good.

>>11344620

>an assassin named Cain/Caim/Cairn

Why those particular names?

>>11344666
Because they're stupidly popular.

>>11344620
>tfw Goodreads recommend me a book I've been thinking about reading
Never been so suspicious of a book in my life. But it turned out great.

>>11344620
Heroes Die is good if it's giving you that

Why are chinese web novels so based?

>>11344728
Now that you mention it, Cradle is a western take on the usual cultivation shlock and it's pretty alright.

>>11344728
Share the best ones with the class or I won't bum you.

>>11344771
peerless martial god and martial god asura

>>11344779
Hmm, looks interdasting. Gracias! Looks like you earned your bumming. Prepare your anus accordingly.

>>11344813
dont listen to him, that 2 is like the shittiest and longest chinese webnovel translated so far

>>11343892
>here be boypussy
Hmmm

>>11343528
Read amazon published books.

>>11344842
Too late. I already marathoned the whole thing.

>>11344000
I bet you're the faggot that recommended children of earth and sky in this general.

>>11344584
>>11344566
Seconding Neal Asher.
>tfw robot gf killed herself
got me in my feels

>no tight pussy 2 this year
Brent Weeks a shit

>>11344935

Is there any particular order in which the books should be read? I ask because I noticed a lot of them happen in the same fictional setting he made.

>>11344957
Neal himself came up with a chronology for the polity-verse but reading in publication order also fine really. Either way I'd start with Gridlinked.

>>11344973

Thanks.

88% in prince of thorn and im still not sure whats happening and why
doesnt make any fucking sense

>>11345070
Why would you read garbage?

What other sffg is on Wolfe's level of writing?

I read Vance's Blue World and it dissapointed me. I've also read some Conan works, which are fine for what they are, but a bit too pulpy for what I'm looking for.

>>11345090
The fantasy books I rate as high as BotNS and Latro are Lyonesse, Gormenghast, Once and Future King, Mists of Avalon and Aegypt.

>>11344666
As if you wouldn't know, Satan

How come Soulcatcher is completely off her rocker?

>>11344566
The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells are pretty gud

>>11344506
I hated his Bridge trilogy but the Blue Ant books were a return to form

>>11343925
>David Drake's RCN series
So. I've started reading this. I have a question. Does it stay as boring as the first few dozen pages suggest it is, or does it improve as things move along?

Because I now remember that I have, in fact, tried to get into it once already, and couldnt stomach waiting for it to go somewhere.

>>11342904
Ninefox Gambit is a great standalone, but the sequels never lived up to the full potential. Like other people have said, it is a bit stilted in places but granted the first book is most definitely a fun read.

Second and third books are completely /cm/ material which is funny because everyone acts heterosexual in the first one. This author loves /m/ anime and seems to have distilled all the gay into the last two books. It has a fascist super gay space nazi and dindu nothing wrong genocidal mass murderer from the fascist empire being moe. Too bad the villain cucks himself to death because he has a full retard moment and the resultant gay NTR by a literal who (and not even the female protagonist or the established love interest or the childhood friend) in the third book ruins it.

>>11345350
You know, I've been putting off reading 2 and 3 for various reasons, I really enjoyed 1, but now I'm torn on not reading it at all, or reading it hoping that it's "so bad, it's good".

Thanks for heads up anyway

>>11345350
Interestingly you didn't point out all the transitioning metaphors, which have the subtlety of a sledge hammer.

>>11344976
>>11344957
I started with shadow of the scorpion and went on from there. It's what made me interested enough in the world, tech, and society to continue.

>>11345090

>>11345402
>have the subtlety of a sledge hammer
Did he really slam it in?

>>11340754
What are some books where the villain is kefka?

Can someone recommend me a sci-fi book set in a very long period of time (millions od years).
Most books seem to focus on a smaller set of events and people but I'm more interested in long lasting astronomical events, rises and falls of life, maybe some kind of immortal AI's, etc..

>Author spends 10 pages at the start of his book introducing the whole "magic" system with tons of made up words

How frustrating

>>11345590
Last and First Men

>>11345595
Looks interesting, thank you.

>>11345591
same as chinese authors who explains cultivation system at the beginning, some a few chapter even

>>11345590
Three Body Problem series end with the end of the universe.

>>11345590
House of Suns, Alastair Reynolds it has immortal post-humans living on a galactic (time)scale.

*protag walks into forest*
"Time to kill trees"
*spends months destroying a million trees without anyone noticing or caring*

Friggin cliches

>>11346001
i hate trees. which book shares my sentiment for killing nature?
fuck nature and fuck trees in particular. though apple trees are cool. they make apples after all.

are there anything magic vs high tech
or purely magic society met with no magic society with high tech

basically fantasy vs scifi

>>11345331
Yes as I recall it does take a bit of time for the story to start in With The Lightnings since it needs to establish the characters and their relations. The later books generally have quicker starts.

>>11346001
Name 5 books that do this. Not even Sanderson does it.

Something that bothers me about a lot of BotNS art is that Severian's cloak is never depicted properly. It's most often colored like a normal black cloak when it should be a featureless blob of darkness. The mistake was forgivable when fuligin didn't actually exist but now we have vantablack

Also, wouldn't something THAT fucking dark make you easier to see in normal darkness? Like, unless it's absolutely pitch black people should be able to see the gigantic blob of unnatural darkness moving about pretty easily

>>11345590
Baxter's Evolution

>>11345590 look at >>11341109

>>11346062
galactic mage.
starts off as a fantasy book with magic about a mage that wants to go to the moon. eventually he wants to go further and then makes contact with other humans that come from earth where they have technology instead of magic. it starts off tame as a love story between a wizard and an earth ensign. then turns to political stuff with tensions that turn boil down to tech vs magic.

second book is pretty bad but overall its a great series. but yeah second book really isnt any good. id tell you to skip it but a lot of important plot elements get set up there.

>>11346062
Cogweaver Trilogy, kinda.

>>11346062
All the Birds in the Sky. But it's shit.

>>11346062
Divine Cities is this kind of though after the fact and dealing with the aftermath of de-powered magic reliant cities being annexed by the tech faction.

What do you guys think of this science fiction list https://pastebin.com/raw/UVRbKDaV

>>11346197
What's the purpose?

>>11346215
Read what I want, give others a hint according what they want.

>>11346226
I looked at it briefly and you should remove the two sequels to Hyperion and while I have not read it I sincerely doubt that The Host by Stephenie Meyer is worth the paper it's printed on.

>>11346158
>>11346166
>>11346174
>>11346189
thanks
i'll look it up

>>11346258
Noted.

>>11346062
Throne of Glass.
The king has demolished magic in his kingdom.

>>11346062
Multiverse series, thankfully, unlike most Weber's books it's not a Mary Suetopia.

I very much recommend it, tho the series isn't finished and the tech society has psionic powers in addition to their tech advantages.

>>11346097
I see. Thanks, guess ill have to just slog trough the first book, at least the world seems to have an interesting setup to it.

>>11346197
>https://pastebin.com/raw/UVRbKDaV
There is some good stuff, but some YA drivel like Scott Westerfeld is unfortunate.

If you want a really solid list look at the S.F. Masterworks series:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SF_Masterworks

Just started with Terry Pratchett's "The Colour of Magic", is the quality consistent through all the books?

>>11346324
What is wrong with The Risen Empire?

>>11345590

>>11346331
I like his early stuff better but you're good for at least the first 10

>>11346342
Found this on Wikipedia, think I'm going to read through each story line, if I don't get fed up with his style.

>>11346123
Dark grey, navy blue and dark brown/green all work better than pure black at night. As you said, the eye picks up a void of reflected light.

Now an additional issue is that if you get illuminated by a light, you'll stick out right away. So commandos/special forces units IRL just use whatever camouflage is suited to wherever they're operating.

>>11346331
Yes I have read half his books and they are all great.

Is there a hardcover edition of Book of the New Sun?

>>11346360
I think that's a terrible way to do it. Publication order is much more engaging.

>>11346376
There is, but good luck getting one in new (non-used) condition for less than 75 dollars.

>>11346393

I don't mind paying the price, but can you point me to where I can actually buy it? Googling isn't helping.

Would you say Wrath of Khan by Vonda McIntyre is YA or would you put it in another category? Which one?

>>11346387
I have to disagree. The Watch books are the best starting point IMAO. The Rincewind books are rougher written and not as fun, and he hadn't really fully developed the setting so you get anomalies.

Basically Discworld is a series where you can pick a sub-series that's most interesting sounding and start with it.

>>11346401
Amazon.

>>11346415
And then have to slog through the mediocre ones all at once. No. Mix it up, get some variety and you have a sustainable path through.

Hamfisted sex scenes or badly thought out philiosiophying

>>11346422

This is someof the most hideous covers I have ever seen.

>>11346339
Democrats, apparently.

>>11346440
>Prince of Thorns by Gene Wolfe

>>11346440
If Severian was just a poorly photoshopped picture of some cosplayer it'd fit right in on Amazon.

>>11346415
>caring about world building autism with discworld

nah, missing the point

I've read some of Peter Watt's reviews in his blog and he tends to rag on the slightest perceived logical inconsistency even if the element has a simple explanation from a literary standpoint. So I just started Echopraxia, and I have to wonder one thing: why the fuck did anyone think investing time and money to remove the transhuman cannibalistic monsters' one and only weakness was a good idea? Why do they even willingly keep vampires around if they can build benevolent AI like the one occupying Theseus in Blindsight?

>>11345590
Count to a Trillion series.

>>11343756
Thrawn was good. Pure ice criminal. Love how he reads people.

>>11346331
Rule of thumb. Never read any books by Authors that have the name Terry in their name.

>>11346710
Your rule has never been particularly useful friend.

>>11346744
terrys a shit

>>11346710
>>11346885
Did you get a bad touch?
Show us where the Terry(s) touched you?

I'm reading Anne Rice's sucky books. The 90s goth scene makes so much sense now.

>>11346961
Anne Rice has never written a non-"sucky" book.

>>11346961
>I'm reading Anne Rice's sucky books.
Anon don't!

>>11346961
>johnny the homicidal maniac
>goth

>>11346387
correct

Touching myself early tonight, so I made it early.
New Thread
>>11347377
>>11347377
>>11347377
>>11347377

>>11345590
The Hyperion Cantos

>>11344813
>>11344842
Yeah you're being tricked anon.

What you want is some of that revered insanity and emperor of solo play. Both are decent reads.

>>11347427
You mean the sequels too?

>>11342303
You should at least read the review where the guy goes through all seven books replacing all the boring scenes with a deep and complex wrestlemania lore backstory for Snape and his arch nemesis: a time-travelling robot bear. Somehow it's LESS stupid than what actually happens in the books.

>>11344728
They'd all be masterpieces if they ended at 100 chapters. Unfortunately they all breach 1000, with the last 900 being pure paint-by-the-numbers shit.