/lit/ - Literature

I will start off by saying that I like Shades of Grey so far. My only complaint might be that the worldbuilding is almost too meticulous, too abstract in its concepts to keep track of what is important and why it is so and what a thing does and so on. I'm waiting for it to get good too, this 'truth' better be neat.

This series has been better than Malazan even.

>>11368345
this comment has piqued my interest. explain?

>>11368351
hard to find epubs

>>11368351
It's just really great so see a competent woman in fantasy and the world is nicely written too. There's some annoying YA tropes in the very beginning but those are completely gone by the end.

>>11368355
If you had read the /lit/ sticky then you wouldn't have made such an idiotic statement.

>>11368363
no, i found it but it took more efforts than other series

>>11368355
i was asking for more explanation of what makes the series better than malazan, not the availability of any downloads. i stalled out on my 3rd full reread of MBotF about 1/3 through Reaper's Gale, and while i want to finish things at some point, i'm also on the lookout for fantasy series that i haven't read before and could potentially satisfy my like Malazan does

>>11368299
>What books have you read containing an exploration ascending a mysterious tower or other type of structure?
The Tower of Babylon by Ted Chiang is pretty much exactly this. It is well done and I recommend it. Additionally, I would suggest checking out House of Leaves, which while a little gimmicky still manages to have a lot of interesting stuff surrounding the exploration of a mysterious staircase that seems to go down forever.

>>11368355
Literally first google result whole series.

>>11368345
Is it GRI approved?

>>11368392
no it does not

>>11368421
Yes it does, brainlet.

>>11368427
prove it

>>11368430
First result.

>>11368477
not him but thats not my first result, it's this
https://themoonwholistens.wordpress.com/2017/06/08/throne-of-glass-series-by-sarah-j-maas-epub/

>>11368484
Learn to google better.

>>11368489
my google result also got all of the epubs fuck off

>>11368495
>fuck off

>>11368299
who is /sffg/'s favorite autistic protagonist?

>>11368502
Celeana from Throne of Glass.

>>11368502
T'sais

>>11368502
The treeposter.

>>11368502
Severian

>>11368537

>>11368502
Cheradenine Zakalwe

>>11368376
Don't acknowledge the shill. The series is trash

How did the giant hack jim butcher manage to release the same book fifteen times? (the dresden files)
Also what do you do about sites like goodreads.com, where retards give retarded books a 5/5 rating? Whom can you trust?

>>11369002
Do what i do anon: if a book came out after 1950 and has more than 500 ratings don't read it. Works like magic.

>>11369002
If you don't realise that books are subjective, and they affect everyone differently, then you shouldn't be reading in the first place.

>why do people like what I don't like
>why does stacey like chad and not me, I'm nicer and would treat her like a queen
>why do others ride dirtbikes and do cocaine when I don't

They read what they want, if they really like it, then they rate it high.
>Whom can you trust?
Read some reviews(both high and low), look at the shelves(fantasy, scifi, high fant, military, dropped, etc), read the blurb. You combine these things to form an opinion on whether you will read or not.
>Also what do you do about everyone is buying a house, where it's better to be paying a landlord money every month and have a possibility of being evicted, or owning your own home.whom do you trust?

>>11369002
To find reviewers I like, I look at who gave 5 star reviews to my absolute favorite books. There's even a "compare books" function that show you your rating vs theirs on mutual books and a percentage of compatibility.

>>11369002
Look for descriptive reviews.
And ask reddit for good review sites if you want to look for something newly released.

If you look up individual (prolific) reviewers then after a while you recognize what they like and don't like and compare it with your own tastes.
If he or she has the sames taste, then that's great. If you're polar opposites, then that's great too.
But as long as a review is descriptive (and not just, "I really like this because fuck you I ain't explain this shit") you should be able to get a feel of it, provided you've read enough.

http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com
http://www.fantasybookreview.co.uk
http://thewertzone.blogspot.com/

>>11369002
Avoid popular books that aren't well known and established classics, and read the negative reviews. I've often found that If numerous negative reviews all complain about a certain thing in a book then usually that means it's objectively bad.

like the other guy said, just stay away from anything with more than 500 ratings and that isn't an old classic. It's a silly advice, but you get the point.

>>11369002
I never thought a review database site could be worse than MAL and imdb but goodreads proved me wrong. I haven't seen anything get less than a 3.5.

>>11369313
Can you even browse the whole database or what's been released in a specific year like you can on MAL?
It's a horribly designed site.

I really rather enjoyed the first two books. This one is a disappointment. Not bad exactly, just a serious dip in quality compared to the previous books. It's like all the best parts are taking a backseat and letting garbage take over the series:

>Endless flashbacks
>Glacial Pace
>"Mysterious" characters from "Cosmere" setting
>Endless "mysterious" ass puled plot threads that are never properly started or finished
>Constant perspective shift mid action
>Charachters behaving not like people but like "charachters" in a play written by 12 y.o.
>Blatant skipping of obvious questions/lines of reasoning/strategies to build "suspense"

This is really rather sad. I really liked the first two books. Hope the 4th one is gonna be better.

>>11369041
>>11369064
>>11369083
>>11369095
>>11369099
Hmm good points, thanks anons

>>11369330
Sounds like the other two books and Sanderson's work in general to me.

>>11369356
The other two books have much stronger positive sides, and these aspects of them are much less prominent in them. In particular character work is extremely shoddy here whilst previous books had it at a pretty decent level.

Haven't read other works by Sanderson, so cant comment there.

>>11369330
I'm 90% through and even though it's gotten to the """payoff""" part I cannot wait for it to end so I can read something else. I also enjoyed the first two.

>>11369313
It's the "curse of fans", people who read (and write) SFF stuff will be predisposed to like it, so they'll put up with more obvious flaws and will refuse to give it a proper "literary" critique and indeed will react with hostility to somebody saying that "Book of the Elfsong: Saga 9 of 15 in the Cycle of Lyricaliae" isn't a high work of art and indeed is little better than the average hackneyed fantasy potboiler. But like I said fans are predisposed to be favorable, so you'll actually see ratings rise as a series goes on because the more critical readers have stopped and the only people left are those who'd give it a 5/5 even if the book caught on fire and burned them.

>>11369404
Yeah, it just feels drab. I think Sanderson really mishandled the palace assault and everything that happened after it by playing to much with perspective, character "development" and coincidences during what's supposed to be a climactic moment, and after that the book lost what little momentum it had to begin with.

How would these writers be ranked?
Asimov, Vance, PKD, GRRM, Wolfe, Tolkien, Le Guin, Gibson, Walter Miller

Thoughts on this man, /sffg/?

>>11369535
PKD and Tolkien are the best of that group.

>>11369535
Asimov > PKD > Le Guin > Tolkein > Vance > Wolfe > Gibson > Walter >>>> GRRM

>>11369002
>Also what do you do about sites like goodreads.com, where retards give retarded books a 5/5 rating?
I don't use them.
>Whom can you trust?
Yourself and people whose judgement you respect? Seriously how is this even a question? You sound like a retard who just takes any random person's word that something is good and then gets mad when it doesn't live up to expectations. How have you not been cheated out of all your money yet if you are that blindly trusting? Please develop some critical thinking skills and learn to think for yourself.

>>11369330
I agree, i think Sanderson started buying his own bullshit after spending too much time on reddit and getting his arse licked on social media.

>>11369451
>so they'll put up with more obvious flaws and will refuse to give it a proper "literary" critique
Gee maybe because genre fans actually like their genres, cliches and all, and don't really give a shit about "literary" ambition? I find it supremely ironic that self important wannabe literary critics act like they understand writing yet fail to understand one of the most basic premises of writing which is knowing your audience. Genre fans aren't going to read or care about a literary perspective on their favorite SFF book since it doesn't speak to their sensibility. Literary scholars aren't going to read it because they don't read genre fiction. So who are these people writing for, exactly? I can only conclude it's to stroke their own ego. Much easier to take pot shots at "Book of the Elfsong: Saga 9 of 15 in the Cycle of Lyricaliae" than to strain their intellect on actually challenging fiction.

Despite your derisive claim that genre fans are scared of criticism, I think people who write literary critiques of SFF books are the ones scared of confrontation. That's why they write these reviews in spaces where they feel assured nobody will debate them.

Are there any books that involve but preferably focus on kingdom management/army building? Conan's chronicles got me kind of interested in that.

>>11369633
Bullshit. Just because you're a complete pleb doesn't mean we're all idiots like you who'll read anything with a sword or starship in it. SFF is the genre most ripe for exploration of ideas by it's very fucking nature and I refuse to read 10th generation Tolkien rip offs. If something is garbage I'm happy to see it called out so I don't waste any time on it.

Is Lies of Locke Lamora alright? Is Black Company alright?

>>11369737
yes to both

>>11369737
locke lamora starts out strong, gets a bit weaker depending on whether you like sea settings and then takes a pretty big dive in the third book
still enjoyable overall but the third book is pretty weak

>>11369633
And yet just like the people insisting that "games are art" and "modern warfare 2 is the citizen kane of video game storytelling", they're unable to actually articulate why the person saying that say, Guy Gavriel Kay is a formulaic writer who simply slaps a "fantasy" veneer onto historical fiction and has no capacity for nuance or subtlety in writing, is wrong and simply dismiss them as you have: "oh they're just haters", "they're padding their egos", "they write these reviews in places where nobody will debate them"

>>11369737
Black Company is great but suffers from series fatigue after they get to Fantasy Africa-India. The author's other stuff is generally pretty good too.

Locke Lamora is entertaining but flawed. The first book is good, the second book suffers from being "Locke Lamora is a Pyrate" and "Locke Lamora robs a Casino" stapled together, the third book is more focused but still weak. The fourth book has been delayed for years because the author got divorced and remarried.

>>11368299
Would you rather say that Dmitri Glukhovsky's FUTU.RE is genre fiction or literary fiction? It has all the hallmarks of a genre flick, but incomparably stylish, knowledgeable and meaningful writing to boot.

>Black man described as having a smooth baritone voice
>Black woman always described like she's out of a 70s sitcom
>Black children have the mental awareness of a 30 year old

>>11369683
>army building?
Super Sales on Super Heroes
Daniel Black by Brown

>>11370113
>Black anything
There's the problem.

>>11370185
But my story about a black magical girl in not Detroit is going to be a NYT best seller

>>11370194
Just make sure that she gets raped before the magical powers activate, not just beaten up.

>>11369535
Wolfe, Tolkien, Vance, PKD, Miller, Asimov, GRRM, Le Guin, (maybe move those last three around - asimov is a really poor prose stylist and Leguin is too much of an ideologue - martin was good but not for years). Wolfe is leagues better than the others, more akin to a Joyce or Nabokov in his subtle structural powers, though his late work is too tricky for people to pull out the subtext and suffers on casual reads.

>>11370200
I don't want to do full on rape. Would subtle but vague dialogue hinting that they're going to do it suffice.

>>11370194
the plot twist is gonna be she fights white privilege only to find out black people have been the biggest problem for black people. and all this time this was a coma dream and shes been in a hospital when she wakes up. afterwards theres subtile hints that what she thought was a coma dream might have really happened.

>>11368537
This.

>>11370251
just make sure that the abuser is a white straight male

>>11370251
You need to satisfy your GRI index anon.

>>11368314
Say I only want to read the best from Discworld. Is it okay with just "The Colour of Magic" and "The Light Fantastic"?

>>11369535
Tolkien>Vance>Wolfe>Miller>Dick>Martin>Guin>Asimov>Gibson

>be that guy who listens to Malazan on commute
>Paran starts bitching about being chosen by fate and played with by the gods/cards/treehouses and then doing what they want anyway
>again
>passage of Whiskeyjack doing nothing, then getting his dick sucked by everyone because he is one of Erikson's player characters
>again
>some character acts astounded by some pointless revelation about the setting and feels like crying about some ancient race they've never met nor knew anything about before that point
>for the dozenth time
>suddenly realize that listening to Top 40s would be less painful at this point

Malazan is like eating a box of chocolates where half of it is delicious coconut and the other half are actually shit nuggets with a thin chocolate coating, and all you can do is power through each bite in hopes of more coconut.

>>11370245
Be careful about recommending the Wolfepill. It sets a high standard, and there's only so much Wolfe to read.

>>11369536
Would ask for an autograph.

Who is he?

>>11370325
Wait, I forgot to bitch about the following.

>Whiskeyjack starts talking about Tattersail
>"yes, she was very loyal, and brave"
>"I would have trusted her with my life"
>"she was powerful, should have led the cadre herself"
>"by Hood, she could have led the whole Malazan army singlehandedly!"
>"she was amazing, and I see her amazingness in this child into whom she was reincarnated"
>"I will protec this child with my life!"

THEY KNEW EACH OTHER FOR LESS THAN FIVE MINUTES, WHY IS HE KISSING HER ASS SO HARD?

It's as if Erikson realized Tattersail was shitty and mediocre and utterly devoid of character, started panicking, then realized he might be able to trick the audience by having Whiskeyjack talk about how amazing she was in retrospect. Funnily enough, he does the same thing with Whiskeyjack. And half the other major characters too.

>wow [character] is so amazing

NO THEY AREN'T. FUCK YOU, ERIKSON.

I hear that book four is better though.

Hi everyone, sharing my life's worth reading lists:

Fantasy https://pastebin.com/raw/mtwJJ7KG
Science fiction https://pastebin.com/raw/9PQ8cTA7

>>11362728
I've read too few to tell. Can vouch for PKD and Lovecraft though :^)
But seriously, IIRC the ones under a "philosophical" directory are good for everyone although I have problems now because I need to move things outside that folder into more proper fields. Anyway, I've made the list from only the best as far as I could.

>>11369002
Happened to me too, finding some weird reviews that did not match reality. So much lies are around that you can only expect to see "ideas worth sharing". Become a detective, seek who is to trust before you blindly accept a review, have to courage to scrap a chain of recommendations given by one individual if you find you don't like what he is up to.

Time is essential too. Try to find some lists you respect of similar topics and save it like is worth more than gold. Make your own list so in time when you see other people with similar lists you start to analyze what is worth and what is not.

Godspeed.

>>11370113
>implying fantasy authors know how to write anything other than anglos destroying thousands of trees in 8th-12th century europe

>>11370252
>>11370268
The story will present themes of fighting against corrupt systems and uncovering conspiracies and then it'll all be subverted when the protagonist realizes even with her abilities there's not much that can be done. A 12 year old girl finds her father shot, is kidnapped by members of the gang, gains powers, and is thrust into a world that was right under her nose. When her power is used on people and herself she understands them as much as they understand themselves. Their wants, desires, issues, etc are hers that she completely understands in an instant.

She understands the plight of her fellow african brothers, the white man, and everyone else she's used her power on. The plight of the magical girls she had to fight. The ones that she had to kill. Conflict eternal with no end in sight.

Problems she tries to solve, the ones she never noticed, only get bigger. Her mind melds with everyone and she loses herself but understands them all so much. That no matter how different they are the pain of living is in all their hearts. And the downward spiral begins there.

It's revolutionary. My magnum opus. Once it's published and a hit I'll set aside 500 signed hardcovers so /sffg/ can get a copy. I won't forget my roots.

>>11370469
>infamous anglo character paints himself up in blackface
>goes back to destroying trees despite being well known for this

>>11370396
I don't know why you're focusing so hard on characters who die in the first 4 books and are largely irrelevant to the main story. Whiskeyjack (and most of the Bridgeburners) are old farts whose time is over. Hell, most of the Bridgeburners die at the very start of Gardens of the Moon, the handful that survive gradually die off over the rest of the series, most of them by the end of book 4.

Whiskeyjack's glory days are pretty far behind him. People idolize him for stuff he did decades ago, same is true for most of the old guard of the Empire. The problem is in the first few books you're with all these old campaigners in their twilight years who do nothing but reminisce and you haven't met the youngbloods who replace them yet.

>>11369880
You're just strawmanning my point. I never claimed genre fiction is art, I never mentioned video games either. I call it like I see it.

>>11370514
>>goes back to destroying trees despite being well known for this
how did this tree meme start? i've notice this for several threads now

Alright guys, give me the run down on "rationalist" fiction.

>>11369714
Ah yet another wannabe intellectual who lowers the bar to genre fiction so he doesn't have to actually tackle difficult ideas.

Good night, /sffg/. Be sure to read the OP and answer the very important questions before leaving your computer today!

>>11370563
One autist Ent with too much time on its hand (branch)

>>11368314
Don't do this

>>11370633
no u

>>11368299
>What books have you read containing an exploration ascending a mysterious tower or other type of structure?

Annihilation

>What are you currently reading and how do you feel about it?

Not sure.

>>11370555
>characters who die in the first 4 books
The series is 10 books long. That's nearly half the story right there. Besides, these are the main characters of these books they're in, just like Ned Stark is arguably the main character of Game of Thrones despite dying at the end.

>The problem is in the first few books you're with all these old campaigners in their twilight years who do nothing but reminisce
Fuck's sake, did you just ignore the part about Tattersail? Whiskeyjack knew her for all of five minutes in book one and saw her do nothing of importance save watch over a guy while he slept, now in book three he's stroking his cock about how great she was.

>but muh Bridgeburners in their twilight years
Erikson does this with nearly every character, not just the Bridgeburners. He's so shit at characterizing them by their actions that he needs to have another character pop on screen and tell us how evil/crazy/cool they are. And you know what? Fuck you about the Bridgeburners because people who have never even met nor heard of Whiskeyjack will start blubbering about how serious and solemn he is and how there's some deep strategic bullshit going on under his grizzled bearded face.

All this character bullshit is only part of a greater issue because Erikson even does this with basic plot points and revelatory information. It seems like every character needs to explain the proper interpretation of some detail out loud to the audience. Maybe I'm being too harsh on Erikson though. Maybe it's because he's writing these books for braindead Redditors that he feels the need to do away with subtlety and just outright explain everything.

Erikson is an anthropologist first, a dungeon master second, and (regardless of what comes between) a writer dead fucking last. The only thing keeping me going is the hope of more undead dinosaurs fucking shit up, but Erikson seems to care more about showing off his collection of overpowered but undercharacterized Mary Sues he pulled straight from his tabletop campaigns.

Is the Earthsea series any good?

>>11370555
>Dude just get past the first few books, they have irrelevant characters who just die and will be replaced later, and the story will actually start after 4,000 pages
This is why fantasy is terrible

>>11370555
>People idolize him for stuff he did decades ago

people idolize whiskeyjack for stuff he did five seconds ago

>oh whiskeyjack, the way you drink beer is so grizzled and begrudgingly heroic

>>11370325
I never understood how you white people love coconut candy so much. I'm from the Caribbean, the coconut shavings you eat in dishes and candies I use to cook my dog food (after the milk is extracted of course). Never understood how you can eat and enjoy coconut candy. Yuck.

>>11370674
I only read standalone Fantasy and Sc-Fi now, with decades worth of standalone books to choose from why bother with a overlong and meandering series?

>>11370706
tfw he died I cried
tfw redditor an don't even use it
granted I cried my way through nearly every book

>>11370396
Reincarnated tattersail was only good for taking dicks. (Tattersail was the chubby mage who reincarnated to the bargast and wanted dick all the time right?)

>>11370714
Can you recommend some standalone fantasy? Everything I find is book 1 of 20.

>>11370673
What about that sad fuck who was molested by his mom and sacrificed himself for everyone. I still get feels.

>checking out reviews for Memories of Ice
>see this

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1298853961

Maybe Malazan isn't for me.

>>11370416
>>11369002
I always wonder about the literal brainlets that occupy north Americlap. If someone gives you a recommendation you research it, to see if you would like it.
I see the shill post throne of farts a few times and people go read it instead of research. This general has a lot of low iq sheeps lurking in the hedges.

>>11370771
Nerds are infantile and have stunted tastes.

I say this as a nerd.

>>11370722
Dark Moon and Echoes Of The Great Song by David Gemmell
The Redemption of Althalus
Tigana
Faerie Tale by Raymond Feist
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
Good Omens
Nation by Terry Pratchett
Little, Big by John Crowley

>>11370722
Check out Stations of the Tide.

>>11370722
>not him but
Vurt by Jeff Noon
Last Call by Tim Powers
The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle
Zod Wallop by William Browning Spencer
Cloud's End by Sean Stewart

>>11370851
I love Stations of the Tide but it's sci-fi. Maybe you meant Iron Dragon's Daughter?

I only read YA fantasy

>>11370722
The Icarus Hunt by Timothy Zahn is pretty good.

>>11370722
Three Hearts and Three Lions

>litrpg story
>Guy is a cripple literally just playing a video game

>>11370978
That book is great pulp. It's got a twist to it, but it's not a gimmick -- I've read it five times and never not enjoyed the book or the twist.

I just finished 1Q84 and other than the mediocre ending I really enjoyed the ride. Currently going through Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World and it's pretty goddamn mediocre and regret spending an Audible credit on it...are there any other good Murakami books out there? I like the creepy real world isn't what it seems feel to 1Q84, and the relationships were top notch.

>>11370674
Not my fault you're a brainlet.

>>11370673
>Besides, these are the main characters of these books they're in
No not really. You're just taking a very short view that makes me think you haven't read the whole series yet, that's why you're so inordinately focused on this early part of the story and characters like Whiskeyjack who are effectively written out before the main plot even starts and only pop up later in a very peripheral way. Ganoes Paran, Quick Ben, Crokus Younghand, Fiddler, these are the characters who matter in the early books.

>did you just ignore the part about Tattersail?
He knew her by reputation. Apparently you didn't read the part where I said they are old campaigners who sit around reminiscing. They respect one another because of their reputation, their legacy. They are the Empire's old guard.

>He's so shit at characterizing them by their actions that he needs to have another character pop on screen and tell us how evil/crazy/cool they are.
Except for all those characters where he doesn't do that. Seriously it sounds like you read only the first 3 books. Only way to explain why you're so massively butthurt about Whiskeyjack.

>>11371283
Reading your posts has convinced me to never read this series, so thanks for helping me dodge a bullet.

>>11368299
GIVE ME A GREAT SCI-FI BOOK TO READ OR I'LL KILL THE PUPPER!!

>>11369535
Wolfe>PKD>LeGuin>Walter Miller>Asimov>>>Tolkien>Vance>Gurm>Gibson

>>11371321
The Library at Mount Char

>>11370722
The High Crusade
Voyage to Arcturus
Strange and Norrell
Once and future king
Pirate freedom

>>11371344
Fuck you, you killed baby Lassie

>>11371344
THAT ISN'T SCIENCE FICTION, NIGGAH IMMA SHOOT THIS FUCKING DOG IF YOU DON'T GIMME SOME FUCKING GREAT SCI-FI!!

>>11371351
Daisy´s Destruction

>>11371351
Rendezvous with Rama
Childhood's End
Starship Troopers

>>11371357
I ALREADY READ ALLA THOSE!!! GIMME SOMETHING ELSE!!! I'M SERIOUS YOU FUCKING DINK, IMMA VENTILATE THIS LITTLE CUNTS SKULL IF'N YOU DON'T DELIVER!!!!

>>11371364
Dossadi experiment
Hellstorms' Hive

>>11371365
NOW YOU DONE IT!!!


*BANG*

WHY YOU HAVE TO GO AND MAKE ME DO IT!?!?

>>11371351

I'm back!

Downloads: https://b-ok.xyz/s/?q=the+stars+my+destination

>>11371297
>>11371283
The more I hear about Malazan, the more I know I won't like the series

>>11371388
i love you monthly reading guy. keep on going on.

>>11371388
you fixed the 22th

>>11371390
Yeah, he's saying you have to read multiple books for the plot to even start and that the characters you're getting invested in don't matter and will just be written off. Why the fuck would you read that?

>>11370673
>Is the Earthsea series any good?
The first three books are.

>>11371374
So that's a joke list right? I know /sffg/ hates like half of those.

God, I'm sitting here trying to find a good sci-fi book to read and I figure I'll choose Childhoods End, but it reminded me about Rama. What a fucking shame it is that everything after rendezvous wasn't by Clarke and is instead some kinda weird interracial romance trilogy with a sci-fi sign hung from its neck.

>>11370673

Everything by Ursula is good, more or less. She's the one writer that never missed the mark completely.

>>11371535
Rama is a self contained story. The sequels are utter utter garbo

>>11371392
Love you too senpai.

>>11371399
Of course. Check'd.

Dunno why I keep giving urban fantasy chances to be good.

>>11371965
You're in an abusive relationship with urban fantasy.

Looking for both a good scifi and fantasy novel with excellent prose. Any suggestions?

>>11371988
Book of the New Sun for both

>>11368345
Did Erikson even graduate Magna Cum Laude?

>>11372084
Had shadow of the torturer on deck to read anyway. Appreciate it.

anybody read the 5th wave series? how is it

>>11372103
YA trash

>>11372121
are there any YA that isnt trash?

Red Rising but debatable if it really qualifies.

>>11372180
Garth Nix's Old Kingdom series

>>11372180
A Wizard of Earthsea, The Belgariad.

>>11372180
Book of the New Sun

>>11372180
Malazan

>>11370878
>I love Stations of the Tide but it's sci-fi. Maybe you meant Iron Dragon's Daughter?

Whoops. That's what happens when you're posting when you should be sleeping. Saw you ask for something standalone stopped paying attention to the rest.

I would check out Wolfe's The Wizard Knight. Its technically two books, but only because he thought it a bit big for one. Grab the omnibus and it reads just like one continuous narrative

>>11372180
Belgariad and that's it.

>>11372249
>>11372281
>The Belgariad
I read it maybe 10 years ago and hated it. I felt it was silly and exaggerated.

>>11372180
>inb4 Throne of Glass

>>11372180
His Dark Materials.
Anything by Diana Wynne Jones.

>>11372294
>His Dark Materials.
>isnt trash

>>11372299
>double dubs
Hard to argue against that, but they are actually quite decent. Way better than Belgariad anyway.

Just finished Chasm City.
First Reynolds book I've read.
Which of his titles should I get next?
The chronology/relationships between the books are confusing to me.

Is there a difference between Malazan and YA?
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1298853961

goodreads android app are the worst thing on the playstore

>>11372387
>t. has never tried badoo

>>11371505
>sffg is a hivemind
>what one/two persons repeat speaks for the whole collective.
No wonder you guys are memed into throne of shit by cum gurgler

>>11371401
not him, its not like whiskeyjack is a main character or even someone who takes up a lot of screentime, he's pretty minor

>>11372354
Probably just read the revelation space trilogy. Or could do the prefect. About pre-fucked chasm city.

>he thinks jorg is an antihero

more like straight up villain lmao

>>11372441
This. That chart ain't so bad.

>>11372441
wtf is throne of shit

>>11372441
The Throne of Glass spammer also shows us that there are constant new faces who have never seen him spam it before.
There aren't many regulars here.

>>11372486
The top good reads review of it is hilarious

>>11371604
KEK

>>11372457
Thanks, anon

>>11372514
Name one straight up bad book of hers mother fucker

>>11372519
Tehanu

>>11372531
That is not straight up bad.

>>11372540
It was pretty bad for a sequel.
I've only read older stuff of hers, all of it good. She has a rep for going off the rails after a certain point, prompting my mirth at your assertion.

>>11372564
*all of it good excepting Tehanu

>>11372510
Honestly, the author of Throne of Glass should have done something like in Buffy when they introduced Spike.
He was known as one of the most fearsome vampires for killing 2 Slayers. In reality he was just an idiot who got lucky twice.
Then it'd have made more sense.

>>11372510
>400k ratings

>>11372564
That may be it. Haven't read much of her 90s and 2000s work.

Mcclellan's 2nd series any good?

>>11372510
is goodreads like 90% women making gif reviews?

>>11370771
There’s a lot of shit in that pic but by far Brent Weeks is the absolute worst. Fuck off

>>11371351
Pandora’s Star only criticisms is it can drag at little and there’s too much sex

>>11372639
Thank god there's a way to filter out reviews with images.

>>11372608
spoiler....

>>11372692
Buffy is a decade old show...
And Spike being an idiot isn't a major or important spoiler at all.

What books do you want to shill?

I'm waiting for My Diary, Desu. I hope more news pops up. I have points in Kobo so I'm willing to try something new.

Recommend me some fantasy "grimdark" books, /lit/. I have read only Black Company and First Law

>>11372746
Land fit for for heroes

>>11372657
I like Weeks. Fuck yourself.

>>11372746
At least you can rest assured that, after reading First Law, anything you pick will be fast-paced.

>>11368307
SEQUEL NEVER

Looking for some epic high fantasy that retains realistic character motivations and logically consistent depiction of magic.

>>11372966
>logically consistent depiction of magic
pleb

>>11372973
Yes, writers asspulling deus ex machina every other page is sooo much better.

>>11372987
Better than doing exactly the same thing but presenting it as a previously unexplained piece of your hackneyed video game "magic system".

>>11373011
Right, because retcons are awesome.

>>11373047
no u r

>>11373011
Anyone got that video of Sanderson arguing with those 3 women over "hard/soft" magic?

>>11373011
Must admit I prefer a bit of mystery generally. Sanderson takes it too far.>>11373047

>>11373153
Sanderson is prone to masturbate too much about it which is a bit of an issue, but I generally like the way he does magic.

Problem is, the way he does character motivation is often atrocious.

>>11371297
>>11371390
>>11371401
I think the worst part is that I actually enjoyed the first book. It was fun, mostly self-contained fantasy story set in a bizarre world in the middle of a war, all centered around a sabotage mission that has varying levels of betrayal stacked all around it, which all converge around one location. Every person to belch about how great Malazan is always talks about how the first book is the weakest when it clearly has the tightest narrative. I recall reading that Erikson tried forever to get the first book published, and maybe that's what caused him to revise it and make it attractive for publishers, e.g. trimming the narrative fat and making sure pace is maintained. Characters are constantly making decisions, reacting to other characters' actions, changing up their plans at the last second, and it makes for an energetic read. Book two was considerably slower, and book three has been a plodding mess.

>>11371283
>Ganoes Paran, Quick Ben, Crokus Younghand, Fiddler, these are the characters who matter in the early books.

And none of them are particularly well defined or have character motivations of any sort besides "muh comrades" which is the staple for gritty military fantasy or whatever this is supposed to be. At least Crokus wanted to bang some noble girl, which was a fun motivation that got him into plenty of trouble, adding spice to the plot in book one. Of course, once he got over his crush, he ceased to have a personality altogether. He didn't even seem sad when his uncle (the guy who raised him) suffers a fate worse than death. "Alas, poor Uncle. I don't give a shit."

Let's see: Fiddler cheats at cards and "gets bad feelings" about things, Ben is twelve clever mages in one. And Paran. His defining characteristic is being that brooding young man who shakes his fist at the heavens and curses fate for being the fated chosen one. He does this in every fucking chapter, cursing the gods/fate/etc. It gets old fast, and Erikson lays it on thick, clearly pleased with himself.

The characters are flat with little to no character motivations and start to sound like one another after the first two hundred pages; the world is as bloated as a D&D setting with inconsequential details stacked alongside things we should apparently find astounding; the mechanics of gods/magic are inconsistent and work more as plot devices than anything else; what little motivations and personalities the characters do have will suddenly evaporate just to get them from point A to point B and railroad the plot forward.

But the story's only unforgivable crime is that it's fucking boring. I never thought I would say that in a book where giant zombie dinosaurs with scythe hands start carving the fuck out of people, but holy hell, this book is boring. It's a slog. I don't care about any of these characters and their awesome cool god-forged weapons that take up entire pages. Malazan is like reading a video game's wiki.

>>11372753
Thank you very much, will read.

>>11372845
I like slow pacing though, that's better for understanding the world imo

>>11372275
>The Wizard Knight

I'm glad Wolfe answered the age old question of how half-giants are made.

>>11370163
Will try them out anon.

>>11371611
Exactly my point anon

>>11373233
Gotta hand it to the man for slipping some hardcore fetish shit into a [mostly] light read.

>>11372894
Oh mr Fforde might get around to it eventually. Have you read any of his other work?
I thought the 5 Thursday next books I read were entertaining enough. And that movie they made from his Last Dragonslayer book was cute.

>>11368299
>>What are you currently reading and how do you feel about it?
The Divine Invasion. Going through PKD. I'm almost finished it. I think it's one of his strongest works I've read so far, and it's really engaging, but it's not as fun as his other stories. I liked VALIS more because of how silly it was at times. I'll be reading Timothy Archer next, and then RFA.

>>11372180
The Book of Three and the rest of the Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander
The Dark is Rising etc by Susan Cooper
The Forgotten Door by Alexander Key
Jinx etc by Sage Blackwood
The Phantom Tollbooth
The Last Unicorn

>>11372287
>>11372281
The Belgariad isn't quality but I still enjoyed it. It was very comfy.

>>11373194
Great review.

>>11371988
Yeah, peace by gene wolfe.

>>11368345
Woman writer, sjw flock

>go to watch the Axiomatic fanmade short film
>MC is now a female with a murdered wife
>book MC was a male with a murdered wife
>close tab

>>11368299

>>What are you currently reading and how do you feel about it?
The Silver Spike - comfy, started slow but really picked up after we get to know the characters better, like Shed a few books back. There was a disconnect in the beginning when the book didn't follow what happened to Croaker and I only later realized that I was reading a spinoff, because of the ordering on the torrent.
The basement hostage rescue scene was great!
> "It's like taking a woman. Just slide it in, don't stab."
> stabs dude through the ribs

>>11373694
skipped it

Anyone here read this?
I was surprised at how good it was for such a shit title.
It was especially nice as a dose of epic fantasy after Oathbringer ended up being horrible.
World building is inspired by African culture so it's pretty different from other things I've read.
Cool action, magic and a decent story.

What sites do you use to find new releases?

>>11373789
4chan

>>11373789
I follow authors I like on Goodreads to get noticed about their new releases. I find new authors by researching authors mentioned here or by authors/reviewers I trust .

Can i have your opinion on Flowers for Algernon and Lovecraft's work?

>>11373789
the barnes and noble blog ain't so bad for a monthly round-up.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/sci-fi-fantasy/the-best-science-fiction-fantasy-books-of-may-2018/

Goodreads for stuff by authors I've already read.

>>11373858
>Lovecraft's work
Overrated. The Shadow over Innsmouth is his best work.

>>11373862
His shorter works are pretty great too.
The one story that I always remember is The Music of Erich Zann.

>>11369330
Words of Radiance wasn't very good

Way of Kings is a legitimately good zero to hero book with an interesting setting but then it just devolves into standard Sanderson metaphysical schlock

>>11372657
go neck yourself pussy. Brent Weeks is better than Sanderson. Stormlight is turning into a slog. I would take tight pussy over oathbringer.

>>11372845
Is that the sloth from iron druid chronicles abomination of a last book?

>>11369535
Vance is dead at the bottom. I'm astounded anyone can take his novels seriously. And The Dying Earth is in the sticky???

>DEEP IN thought, Mazirian the Magician walked his garden. Trees fruited with many intoxications overhung his path, and flowers bowed obsequiously as he passed.

Are you fucking kidding me.

>In this waning hour of Earth's life no man could count himself familiar with the glens, the glades, the dells and deeps, the secluded clearings, the ruined pavilions, the sun-dappled pleasaunces, the gullys and heights, the various brooks, freshets, ponds, the meadows, thickets, brakes and rocky outcrops.

I was pissing myself laughing when I read this. And the whole book is like this. My eyes nearly rolled out of their sockets.

>>11374093
Why would you post this? You want us to laugh at you?

>>11374120
As I was reading it I would occasionally read out lines to friends or family and I was invariably met with laughter, or groans and eye-rolls. I cringe at anyone who thinks this is good writing.

>>11374019
>Words of Radiance wasn't very good
Why do you think so? I dont think its great as such, but its a solid work in my opinion. Has a few gaffs to be sure but those are quite tolerable.

The worst thing about it is overload of flashbacks, but that's every book in that series.

>>11373789

Generally I just check the "releases this month" lists that B&N and Tor put up on their respective blogs. Biased towards regular publishers yes, but I figure any self-published/niche publishing house stuff that's actually good will get noticed and mentioned elsewhere.

For specific authors, generally just their blogs.

>>11369002
I look up users bookshelves. If someone leaves a decent review and gives a book same rating as me I check their favourite/highest rated books. I've been following some people that provied me with many great reads over the years.

>>11369535
Wolfe > Tolkien > Vance = Le Guin = PKD > GRRM > Asimov > Gibson

Any Swanwick fans? I loved the darger and surplus short stories, been wondering if they don't fall short in novel form.

>>11374147
I feel ready bad for you.

>>11373789
>not having an enormous backlog
I can't keep up with new shit much less my stack. This year I tried to make exceptions for short fiction nominated for awards. And I do follow a bunch of people on Goodreads who are reading new shit which pops up on my feed.

>>11373789
For a long time I found new books by taking whatever was posted on usenet, but that's drying up. Now I mostly get recs from here or following up with authors I know.

I wish we had literature generals where people discussed literature like people discuss science fiction and fantasy on /sffg/

>>11371611
Rama II is good like the first, everything afterwards is shit though.

>He knew she slept around, moved from asshole to asshole. It hadn’t stopped him from liking her.

Authors please, no cuck protagonists thanks

>>11374468
Which novel, so I can avoid it.

>>11374478
Sounds like Rothshit.

>>11373223
Prince of nothing but GRI

>Protagonist is killing trees again for no good reason

>>11374049
What, did Hearne try to out-Abercrombie Abercrombie?

whats that sci-fi book that is paralleled with Neuromancer and its called Necronomicon or something like that? Cant remember the name and I want to read it.

>>11374640
>Has made no comments on trees
Worse, it's recorded he killed a fig tree just because he was piqued.

>>11374712
He did way worse than that, he killed billions of trees during the flood.

>>11374746
never change treeposter

>>11374746
Can you post some pics or screenshots of tree carnage?

>>11374683
Cryptonomicon

>Reading Super Sales because of this thread
>Protag's power is literally an rpg stat allocation screen

How the fuck do people read this shit?

>>11374867
> What is litrpg

>>11374879
I was informed that it wasn't.

>>11374884
They lied.

>>11369737
I liked both. Like others said, Lies of Locke Lamora is great, and the other two or a little bit of a let down. Still decent, but less of a grand heist feel to it.

In the middle of reading Black Company and it’s been great. Just about to start The Sliver Spike and my only complaint is I know it’s going to be at least one or two more books till Croaker is writing again, if ever. It beat the pants out of the past couple fantasy books I read, Oathbringer and The Shadow Campaign series.

>>11373694
Just started it, it’s weird they slip it into books of the South though. Almost tempted to skip ahead to Bleak Seasons and get on with the story.

What are the single most alien aliens in all of science fiction?

>>11374093
>DEEP IN thought, Mazirian the Magician walked his garden. Trees fruited with many intoxications overhung his path, and flowers bowed obsequiously as he passed.
The original Mary Sue self insert

>>11375008
xenomorphs.

TODAY'S THE DAY

>>11375008
>most alien aliens
If by that you mean different from us, then the aliens in Blindsight by Peter Watts do pretty well while still remaining in the realm of [hard] science fiction. There are some things out there that are probably more bizarre, but when its a science fantasy novel and you don't attempt to explain anything that is a bit easier. For example the creatures described in BotNS are pretty wild.

Oh and I almost forgot the ocean from Solaris. That might just be number one.

>>11375226
The whatever it was in His Master's Voice is a lot more alien than the ocean, but not it's not anywhere near as fun.

>>11374250
"Passage of the Earth" is good shit.

>>11374746
You're confusing Jesus with Yahweh.

>>11374890
I made this for you.

>He grabbed it and gently pulled it across the surface of the table. Immediately, the hard table that was made from solid wood broke apart like beancurd.

Chop down a fine tree, turn it into a fine hard wood table, then destroy it as a test to see how sharp some object is...
fucking protagonists..

>>11375504
>Reading Wuxia

fault.

>>11375512
East > West no doubt

>>11375008
I nominate the ones in Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang

>>11374093
There is a reason they are fossil fuel.

>>11374120
>us
>we

>>11375133
Yeesssss
More hilarious misunderstandings... Now if the other books I wanted were released.

>>11375515
>East > West no doubt
And if their names end in "in", it's time to get out.

>>11375597
I don't know how many more times I can read "those old fellows who won't die"
Maybe its cuz I'm not chinese

>>11368299

Thank you dude. I ordered the 1st Malazan and Johnathon Strange & Mr Norrel.

You're a fag if they're crap tho

>>11375819
He pulled a fast one on ya son.

>>11375819
oh boy.
this is gonna happen to you. >>11375483

>>11375819
>Johnathon Strange & Mr Norrel
Can't say about Malazan, but for the other you dun goofed.

>>11375819
Those are completely opposite books. For my part, I liked Strange & Norrel but not Malazan.

>>11372299
The first one is fucking 10/10
Put some respect on the name
The others are kinda disapointing but w/e

>>11375993

Yea I like having a couple of different syles on the go.

>>11375999
I know you haven't a clue, "others"? There is only 2 books there.

>>11374867
>Reading Super Sales because of this thread
The gullibility of people in this thread lmao

>>11375008
Probably the one in Solaris.

>>11375819
You'll like at least one of them, can't say which though.

>>11376031
>I know you haven't a clue, "others"? There is only 2 books there.
?

>>11375008
Tzadkiel in Urth of the New Sun or Oceanus in Solaris

Just finished The Left Hand of Darkness, man what a fantastic read. You can tell Le Guin really did her research on Shackleton/Arctic explorers to make the last third of the book so compelling.

Also it seems impossible given when it was written but her description of the kemmerhouse is a pretty good description of how MDMA feels

>>11376214
Amphetamines have been around and popular for 30 years when she was writing the book

>>11376218
Didn’t read as “speed”-like but I suppose you’re right. The old girl must have been up to the gills on it

>>11374928
It is in publication order. And it seems it fits with the fabula of the series, showing what happened up north after the Black Company left. You'll see some old favorite characters soon enough.

>>11376221
Era she came up in it's unlikely she wasn't on the take. I also think Gene was on the sauce and Clarke did an inordinate amount of hash.

>>11375008
Childhood end has some wied aliens, but you only see them for a short time.
The paper menagerie, has some short stories about wired aliens.

>>11376272
We should make a chart with old school sci-fi writers and their assumed (or known) drugs of preference. Useful both for degenerates (to find books to read) and pompous purists (to find books to avoid).

>>11376345
I'm at work, will try one later this evening. Who should we include? I'd also add the book thay makes the drug consumption obvious

>préface de Neil Gaiman
The fuck? he doesn't even speak French and this hasn't been translated, or released outside of France.

>>11376578
A foreword does not have to be about the work in question, it might as well deal with the author of the work or something else the writer of the foreword believed to be relevant.

>>11376578
Neil Gaiman probably has so much freetime that he can learn French just to write blurbs on more books.

>>11376651
I agree with Neil that homosex with an Arabian Desert night demon with fiery eyes(and semen) in a dirty NY apartment is important

Do I have to look forward to any more stupid references in Everybody Loves Large Chests, like Kora being Star Platinum?

>>11376578
gaiman is like a parasite. he worms himself into everything.

>>11376578
You ever heard him narrate any of this own stuff? Sounding self-satisfied is quite an under-statement.

>>11376836
>he worms himself into everything

he really fucking does

i used to love the guy back when i was 18 but holy fuck i can't stand him now

>>11376083
You don't even read so why do you care?
Almost everyone who read super sales like it, I hated the stats thing too but at the end of the book I wanted book 3.

>>11376931
How old are you now? 19?

>>11376812
Isn't there a gif version of that pic with the vines and girl stuttering to imply movement?

>>11376963
That is a gif but as far as I know, none of the images are animated. I would guess they are uploaded in .gif format for size constraints although I don't know why .png wouldn't be used instead.

Decent light reading if anyone looking for something to relax with.

>>11376956
you actually like gaiman?

>>11376812
Sorta, web novels and especially litrpg are heavy on references.

The trick is to not take yourself too seriously and picture the world they reference as a second fantasy setting.

>>11377006
>the trick is to trick yourself into liking shit

>>11376987
>book one of x

>>11377052
To a man that's only eaten shit all his life everything tastes like shit.

>>11377066
If every post in this thread was as useful as yours we'd need this thread no longer.

>>11377074
If all we did was discuss shit books and complain people called them shit we'd be on 4chan

>>11376995
Yes.

>>11377073
>To a man that's only eaten shit all his life everything tastes like shit.

>tfw waiting for the slow as fuck revered insanity updates.

>>11377052
Well, I respect your opinion but I pity you.

>>11370294
I’d say Equal Rites and Small Gods, personally.

>>11377079
Ikr? People call vance tolkien and lieber shit all the time

>>11377119
go read emperor's domination like the rest of us patrician

>>11377092
post bobs

Why didn't she just press it?

>>11370294
Wyrd Sisters, Mort and Guards! Guards! are seminal works of fantasy in general.

>>11377132
Vance is shit

>>11377342
Because she's not a psychopath

>>11370565
Rationalist fiction is a genre of web fiction. Web fiction are novels written and hosted completely online, generally for free and in a serial format.

Rationalist fiction attempts to address what its authors see as a critical flaw in most modern fiction, especially sci-fi and fantasy: when an author writes a character as ‘intelligent’ it often ends up as a trait on a character sheet. Their actual thinking remains unexamined and its only effect is an expanded vocabulary for the character and deus ex machina asspulls. Seemingly intelligent characters will often miss things or make stupid mistakes for the benefit of the overall story, lowering the believability for the reader. Rationalist fiction aims to fix this by writing intelligent characters as intelligent not only in name, but in action, examining their thought processes, and rewarding critical thinking, often inserting puzzles for the reader to solve. The (rationalist) characters in rationalist stories will make the decisions that any rational and intelligent person would make in their situation, with the information available to them.

The genre was pioneered by the writer-blogger Eliezer Yudkowsky, who is the principal researcher and founder of MIRI, a prominent AI research organization. He created a very long rewrite of Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone titled Harry Potter & the Methods of Rationality, where Petunia had married a scientist instead of Dursley and Harry was equipped with a good education and knowledge of the scientific method before being invited to Hogwarts.

Other notable entries in rationalist webfiction include:
The Northern Caves by Nostalgebraist
Unsong by Scott Alexander
Ra by qntm
Fine Structure by qntm
Mother of Learning by Nobody103 (in progress)
Luminosity, a complete rewrite of the Twilight series by Alicorn
Worm by Wildbow
Twig by Wildbow

>>11377541
That... that actually sounds interesting.

>>11377572
Here's a prime example of "rational" fiction.
It's shit.

https://www.fictionpress.com/s/3323184/11/Aeromancer

Average "rationalist fiction" writer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjuVVlSgYLc

>>11377594
Someone’s shitty OC they wrote that doesn’t even garner a listing on tvtropes ratfic page is not a “prime example.”

>>11377629
That’s actually pretty funny, enjoy a (you)

>>11377541
>a prominent AI research organization.
Note: not actually prominent. Far as I know it does not publish research recognized by many others.

>He created a very long rewrite of Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone titled Harry Potter & the Methods of Rationality
Note: Big Yud has admitted to never actually reading the books themselves.

>Harry was equipped with a good education and knowledge of the scientific method before being invited to Hogwarts.
Note: later on it's revealed that the reason for Harry being far more intelligent is that the bit of Voldemort's soul in his head is posessing him. The scientific method at no point matters. It's just Harry guessing, these guesses being right because he's the author's mouthpiece, and never testing his hypotheses.

Finally, also note that Yudkowsky has no real scientific education and appears to make shit up; he doesn't even appear to believe in the scientific method, or at the very least cannot explain it well; he begged for donations to his institute before he'd release another chapter; he actually made a post about trying to contact JKR and getting his fanfiction published with official approval.

Yudkowsky is, quite generally, a twat, as you might have inferred from his description as a "writer-blogger". Rationalist fiction is a retarded meme even by the standards of online "literature".

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>>11377775
>>11377775