/lit/ - Literature

>Tolkien
>CS Lewis
Why are lads that served on the Western front so much better at fantasy than everyone else?

White anjah best anjah

Brandon Sanderson

>>11602948
>"Well," Shallan said to the captain, blushing but still eager to speak, "I was just thinking this: You say that my beauty coaxed the winds to deliver us to Kharbranth with haste. But wouldn't that imply that on other trips, my lack of beauty was to blame for us arriving late?"
>"Well...er..."
>"So in reality," Shallan said, "you're telling me I'm beautiful precisely one-sixth of the time."
>"Nonsense! Young miss, you're like a morning sunrise, you are!"
>"Like a sunrise? By that you mean entirely too crimson"-she pulled at her long red hair-"and prone to making men grouchy when they see me?"
>He laughed, and several of the sailors nearby joined in. "All right then," Captain Tozbek said, "you're like a flower."
>She grimaced. "I'm allergic to flowers."
>He raised an eyebrow.
>"No, really," she admitted. "I think they're quite captivating. But if you were to give me a bouquet, you'd soon find me in a fit so energetic that it would have you searching the walls for stray freckles I might have blown free with the force of my sneezes."
>"Well, be that true, I still say you're as pretty as a flower."
>"If I am, then young men my age must be afflicted with the same allergy-for they keep their distance from me noticeably." She winced. "Now, see, I told you this wasn't polite. Young women should not act in such an irritable way."

>The man pulling the machine was short and dark-skinned, with a wide smile and full lips. He gestured for Shallan to sit, and she did so with the modest grace her nurses had drilled into her. The driver asked her a question in a clipped, terse-sounding language she didn't recognize.
>"What was that?" she asked Yalb.
>"He wants to know if you'd like to be pulled the long way or the short way." Yalb scratched his head.
>"I'm not right sure what the difference is."
>"I suspect one takes longer," Shallan said.
>"Oh, you are a clever one." Yalb said something to the porter in that same clipped language, and the man responded.
>"The long way gives a good view of the city," Yalb said. "The short way goes straight up to the Conclave. Not many good views, he says. I guess he noticed you were new to the city."
>"Do I stand out that much?" Shallan asked, flushing.
>"Eh, no, of course not, Brightness."
>"And by that you mean that I'm as obvious as a wart on a queen's nose."
>Yalb laughed.

can't believe i fell for the meme. two chapters of fighting with no characterization worth a damn, then this autist.

fucking DROPPED with the force of a thousand suns.

>>11602886
the horrors of the war my friend

>>11602948

>>11602986
thicc

>>11602948
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qy6G0ptrwc

>>11602968
>The meme
That Sanderson can't write "witty" female characters? Because not even his fans believe the opposite.

Fav: Memory, Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams

Hate: Shannara

Recent: Banewreaker

>>11602870
I cant wait to finish the shitty book I'm reading to start with Tolkien.

By That One Author You Had To Stop Reading Because Of Persistent Grammar Errors And Misused Words And Phrases

>>11603003
>Fav: Memory, Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams
Have you read his new sequel series yet? I rather liked Witchwood Crown.

>>11603020
I didn't know Witchwood Crown was out yet. I actually got into him through Shadowmarch and have read his other stuff since. I don't know of many other authors who can make political intrigue so comfy.

>>11603045
I also got into Williams through Shadowmarch. I like his intrigue, but I also really love his mythos building. He's got a huge boner for fairies and mythology and I absolutely dig it.

Only the first book is out so far for Witchwood Crown, but there's also the short novella he wrote that's set right after the end of Green Angel Tower.

>>11603009
right here boi:

https://instaud.io/2xzN

all the files for it here:

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/cjjdiknzeieol,6jmo2c5q9vbll,jdmyib22aeqpm/shared

Is it impossible for modern writers to combine fantasy + horror without making it horribly nihilistic and edgy?

>>11603009
right here boi:

https://instaud.io/2xzN

all the files for it here:

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/cjjdiknzeieol,6jmo2c5q9vbll,jdmyib22aeqpm/

sanderfag a hack

>>11603082
No!

>>11603053
I'll have to add those to my list. I have had the Watergiver series by Larke in my queue forever and I finally got around to it.

>>11602886
not to mention the dang ol David Jones

>>11603081
KINO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6Mo10EOnqc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9Dma9rbOFE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBYBoMhlVtM

I'm writing my first fantasy story after years of exclusively writing sci-fi. It's about a young knight who teams up with a tsundere princess who kicks ass. He's always had feelings for her, but she can't stand him at first. The two journey across the land, get into fights with evil spirits, and gradually form an effective partnership. The story ends with them defeating a necromancer after the knight is severely injured, She confesses her feelings over his unconscious body and they two get together. There's lost of awkward romantic tension and cheesy banter. It's about 15k words and should be finished at 17.

>>11602918
Ajahs, ranked

Blue
Brown
Green
White
Yellow
Grey
Red

Verin was a Brown, gotta respect the Browns

>>11603121
Greens should go just after yellows imo. They're super stuck up, and their defining feature is keeping man harems.

Is Wheel of Time actually worth reading? All I hear is about how the middle books drag forever and discuss braids way too much and that the last two books are an extremely disappointing ending to the series. Seems like it's more trouble than it's worth.

*tosses you a jelly bean*

*devours saucily*

BORN TO SCIENCE
FANTASY IS A FUCK
KILL EM ALL 2312
I AM CYBERTRASHMAN
497,298,482,197 DEAD WIZARDS

ONE MORE HACK REJECTED

>>11603135
Yeah but... their defining feature is keeping man harems

>>11603160
You probably shouldn't. It has a lot of really excellent strong qualities that people often overlook, but it's just too long and there's 2-3 books in there that are just absolutely killer to get through

I think I'm done ever reading any series that has more than 3/4 books in it. I've been working my way through Malazan and I feel like the pay off will just be a waste of time.

Book 1 was pretty good, if a bit confusing. Books 2 and 3 were fantastic and the height of the series. 4 was not so great, and 5 was good but a prequel and a completely different cast which through me off. 6 had it's moments, but 7 was extremely disappointing.

I'm struggling with wanting to continue. Especially since I didn't enjoy the first two Esslemont books but apparently they all have important shit going on that ties back into the main series. It's just a mess and I regret starting it.

>>11603324
but what if every book had been fantastic then you'd be chomping through them like they were feed, you old billy goat

>>11603081
I mean I have the books already but thank you, anon.

>>11603338
Yeah but they're not, and it's the same problem with ever long series. It's starts strong, falters, and by the end you just want it to be over.

I'd love to only read stories that are contained in a single novel, but publishers refuse to put out any stories less than 4 books long.

>>11603121
Why is red even on this list? Most of them were on the evil team from series start.

>start reading worm because I saw it talked about here
>supposed to be pretty dark and get even darker
>few hundred pages in and its not THAT dark
>I mean, super powers aside, I was bullied harder than this shit
>keep reading
>this is fairly tame, reall-
>Canary's trial and the concept of the birdcage in general
>well that's fucked up
>Panacea accidentally makes her sister gay for her
>oh, what the fu-
>slaughterhouse nine, mostly Bonesaw's shit
>what-
>Panacea isn't done yet, turns her sister into a sexually idealized mess of skin
>remember that most of the characters in this story are like 14-18 years old

I can't really bring myself to relate to or care about any of the characters any more so now its kind of like watching a train wreck in slow-mo. I'm going to keep watching, but mostly because of a morbid fascination and because of my pathological need for answers to questions I know don't fucking matter.

What is Scion's deal?
What the fuck are the things people see visions of during a trigger event?
Why do the endbringers want to wipe out humanity so bad?[/spoiler
Did Cauldron make the endbringers?
Does Theo accidentally end the world when he tries to kill Jack after his powers manifest?

Please don't actually answer those, I've avoided spoilers this long and I'm pretty proud of that fact. I'm just worried that I'll completely lose interest before any of the mysteries are solved like I do with any series that raises more questions with each answer given.

>>11602870
>Name a "Tolkienesque" fantasy published since 1998. Put up or shut up.
I can't even name a Tolkienesque fantasy published before 1998.

>>11602886
Non liberal values.

I've just finished Neuromancer is Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive worth checking out or should I move on to something else?

>>11602986
Holy Jesus look at this fat fuck, is he hoping to weightmog Rothfuss?

Currently reading Berserk. What do I think about it?

>>11603324
The Vorkosigan saga is basically the only series I can think of where every book is good, even the ones I didn't like (Cetaganda mainly). If you like Cordelia's Honor and The Warrior's Apprentice then you'll like the rest of the series. If you don't then stop now because Bujold is consistent.

Now while some of the fans got (really) upset about Gentleman Jolle and the Red Queen I think it's unfounded, I think it stems from the series being space operas while GJatRQ is more of a iyashikei style story about two adults healing and moving on after a tragedy. I think the claims that it's a "betrayal" are silly because they imagine Cordelia being some kind of Barrayarian storybook princess who would starve to death on Aral's grave instead of a Betan who's going to continue living her life. (I was actually surprised it took her that long to tell Miles what was going on.)

>>11603604
I always wonder which one will end first this or Song of Ice and Fire

>>11603624
>ASoIAF
>out since 1996, about five sevenths done
>projected ending date: 2026

>Berserk
>out since 1990, about halfway there
>projected ending date: 2046

The math doesn't lie.

I'm really enjoying the Foundation trilogy by Asimov, just finished Foundation and Empire. Can't believe that fucking clown was behind everything all along. Are the later novels by different authors worth reading to bring closure to the series, or should I stop where Asimov's work ends?

>>>11602340
Nice to see a fellow lafferty fan here. The guy was absurdly intelligent. He spoke ten languages (and had knowledge of ten others), wrote a history of the fall of rome, was an expert on native american history and a student of philosophy and theology, and on top of all that, made a living as an engineer. He wasn't even originally a science fiction fan, but bought two hundred science fiction novels one day and after reading all of them decided that he wanted to do something similar.
I agree that his style is only remotely similar to wolfe's, but I can't help but feel that he must've influenced him. Wolfe mentions him in many of his interviews, had written an introduction to one of his books, and had went as far as rewriting a lafferty story into Peace; Lafferty actually mentioned wolfe as one of a the very few sci fi authors he respected, and he might be the one who pushed him in a more experimental direction after his lackluster debut. both had similar recurring themes of Christianity and the ancient world in their works. There's no way that two such good friends just happened to develop oblique approaches to storytelling with heavy emphasis on allusions to Christianity and Rome independent of each other.

>>11603121
Blue Ajah are full of scheming, spying busybodies.

White Ajah are literally autistic.

Brown Ajah all probably have aspergers, mostly harmless, but pretty irrelevant.

Green Ajah are massive sluts with harems of fuccboi warders. Second most arrogant Ajah.

Yellow Ajah are only Ajah actually dedicated to a noble purpose and aren't completely up their own assholes.

Red Ajah are 99% manhating lesbians, the 1% that aren't are brainwashed by the lesbians to think the same way they do.

Grey Ajah are Blue Ajah wannabes except they pretend to be neutral.

Best hard scifi? Just finished permutation city and looking for something new.

Ancilliary Justice took about half the book to really grab me, parts of it early on were boring to the extreme, but goddamn if it hasn't picked up
Really enjoying myself

>>11603696
Red Mars

>>11603182

>>11603665
How many days should I nofap for to reach this level?

>>11603708
Thanks senpai, saved
10/10

>>11603652
Hey, I've been reading through all of Asimov's stuff these last few months following the timeline he set up in Prelude to Foundation and I am glad to see someone else is to. I am currently on Foundation's Edge and have been sticking with only works written by Asimov. I know I didn't answer your questions but I just wanted say that so far I have enjoyed seeing where this timeline Asimov made is going and having previous events shake the galaxy decades and sometimes centuries after they take place is pretty cool when you have all the context. If you haven't yet I would really recommend reading the books that take place before the foundation series like I, robot.

>>11603642
>projected ending date: 2026

So GRRM dies of a coronary so massive it sets a Guinness record in 2019 after eating his way through an entire chinese buffet, the McDonalds next door, and three bystanders caught in the middle.
I don't think it'll take seven years for Sanderson to write and publish two books, so maybe the math is a little off.

>>11603566
>What is Scion's deal?
He's the projection of a space ayylien. He had a "wife" but she died and got harvested so now he's depressed. Eventually Jack Slash makes him realize this and has him go on a rampage. He's stopped by Taylor getting back alley surgery to her shard, mindcontrolling every cape, and then getting shot in the head.
>What the fuck are the things people see visions of during a trigger event?
Those aliens.
>Why do the endbringers want to wipe out humanity so bad?
Remember Eidolon? Dude's also a depressed mess but has all the powers? Yeah, he's basically responsible for them because he wanted a challenge. Or some shit. When an endbringer dies a new one pops up.
>Did Cauldron make the endbringers?
Nope.
>Does Theo accidentally end the world when he tries to kill Jack after his powers manifest?
Maybe. I don't really recall.

>>11603708
>>11603726
thread theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfetaZZrATs

>>11603652
Might want to spoiler some of that shit even though it's both old and obvious. I know he wrote the post-trilogy books as a cash-grab, but I don't know about other authors. Bing! it

>>11603743
I'm a little goncerend about the post-trilogy Foundation. It looks like Godfather III tier work. The original trilogy just wrapped-up so well. Convince me to keep reading

>>11603566
Once you get over the hump it's not bad. But man, what a hump. The whole middle of the story is the most uninteresting rehash imaginable.

>>11603770
You make it sound like it wouldn't be worth it to endure all that mid-story drek, for the sake of something that's just "not bad" in the end. Is it worth it?

>>11603585
They're both good and do finish up a complete story. But Neuromancer ends well enough that you can read something else in-between if you really want to.

>>11603780
The ending answers all questions and wraps everything up.
The problem is, by the time I got there I'd lost all interest and just pushed through on momentum.
So I can't really tell you how good or bad it was.
Like eating at a gourmet restaurant right after winning a hotdog eating contest.

The metaphor works better than I thought, since the problem in the middle isn't so much quality as quantity. It's probably perfectly okay, but it goes on FOREVER. And in a story that's 2+ million words long, a dragging middle is MULTIPLE EIGHTEEN HOUR DAYS OF NOTHING BUT READING!

How far into it are you at this point?
How much do you like the Slaughterhouse nine?
Depending on the answer to those two questions, you might be fucked.

>>11603702
Yeah the first book is good. The other two, peoples opinions are mixed. Personally I think the third is good but you're not really missing out on anything if you don't read them.

>>11603803
I actually wasn't planning on it anyway, if the story is going where I think it is then it definitely doesn't need a sequel
Plus I'm in the mood for something like Annihilation next, I'm craving some "wacky area with sci-fi bullshit going on" after Roadside Picnic

>>11603585
Count Zero was also good.

Mona Lisa Overdrive felt unnecessary. I liked the Molly/Kumiko chapters but that also made it feel like a cash grab: gotta make it a trilogy and bring back the most popular character. Gibson's prose was still good in MLO. I didn't like his Bridge trilogy at all.

>>11603823
I don't think wacky is the right word. Also, book 2 of Southern Reach is mostly padding.

>>11603706
Read all 3 and was not a fan. Thanks tho

>>11603696
Eon by Greg Bear

>>11604070
Actually one of the first scifi books I ever read. Maybe I'll read the sequels. Thanks.

I really like hard sci-fi. Favorite authors currently are Greg Egan and Peter Watts.

Any suggestions of other guys to look into?

>>11603642
>first order approximation
smdh man. Gotta look at higher derivatives

Am I a brainlet for not understanding the twist at the end of Use Of Weapons? I'm about a third of the way through reading it again knowing how it ends and I still can't piece it together.

>>11603121
Sounds like Pokemon.

>>11603160
Hell no.

Recommend me a fantasy book/series with lots of rape.
inb4 Bakker

>>11604502
A Song of Ice and Fire.

>>11604507
It's not that rapey, senpai. I'd like Alan Moore level of gratitious rape.

>>11604502
>>11604514
Gor.

>>11604516
Eh, apparently all girls end up loving it, so that's not really rape.

>>11604502
Sword of truth and prince of nothing

>>11604551
Oops no meme bakker. Still sword of truth

>>11604314
how do you know theres a twist of you dont understand it?

>>11604551
>go to goodreads
>ctrl+f rape
>Terry Goodkind likes rape. A lot. I wouldn't be surprised to find out he's a Neo Nazi. Let's have a character who kills everyone who's brown colored and celebrate him! And villains that rape a lot! Rape! Rapedy rape rape rape, rape rape!

>>11604606
>goodreads
Does anyone actually take the "reviews" there seriously?

>>11604719

As serious as posts on 4chan.

>>11603078
Examples of this?

>>11604719
Some. You can tell which reviews are worth listening to most of the time. Just filter it to 2,3 or 4 stars and you'll start getting some more impartial views.

>>11603566
I still never saw why people complained about Worm being too "dark". It has its moments but it's not that bad. Pact and Twig on the other hand? I'd reread the entirety of Worm before either of them because they're nonstop "Oh, you thought it couldn't get any worse? Here you fucking go!" Really glad the author seemed to stop this shit in Worm 2/Ward.

>>11603119
Been done a million times before anon

>>11604833
I find the negative, 1 star reviews far more informative, especially if they go into details.

>>11604859
i fucking swear pact
>Holy shit Blake might actually get a win over the Behaims
>Nope some guy tells him they figured out what he did to fuck up the ritual and the mansion is stuck in a timeloop
>Holy shit Blake's going to Toronto to his friends. We'll finally get time to breath and he'll actually have people to support him that isn't his sister stuck in a mirror and goblin girl
>lol nope he ends up fighting more shit at the demand by the Canadian spirit of Conquest then ends up having to fight said spirit over the course of like 3 arcs
>Finally this shit is-
>Blake gets abyss'd

>>11604960
But that depends on the books, I guess. Lots of womyn giving bad reviews without ever reading a book.

>>11605006
Yeah but who here listens to women, reads women or, dare I say, interacts at all with women?
Joking aside, a 1 star review revolving around "muh SJW" by some girly is about as good indicator to not pick something up as a 5 star review of the next installment of a door stopper fantasy by some dweeb.

>>11604606
>>11604551
To this day, I still wonder why people unironically consider the sword of truth to be worth anything more than the paper it's printed on.

Maybe someday I'll also get an explanation as to why sffg still consistently recommends it to people. I believe that day I'll ascend to a higher state of being and comprehension.

>>11605071
It gets recommended for the same reason Throne of Glass does.

>>11605073
Which is?

>>11605075
Because it's absolute shit. Lurk more.

>>11605075
Funposting.

>>11605075
It's a shitty book that only people who are new to these threads get tricked into reading.

Any other books/series other than ASoIaF that have good intrigue and politics stuff? (haven't really read ASoIaF but people have told me that it has a lot of politics, not sure if I want to go into it with the different things people have said about it to me)

>>11605147
First Law trilogy

>>11605157
kek

>>11605157
anything not depressingly dark or something?

>>11605193
Anon, all politics are depressingly dark.

>>11605193
Super Supers for Super Heroes.

>>11605199
they can be farcical though though

>>11603010
BROOKS

>>11604323
Run me through the Pokemon breeding process again

>>11604502
but why

>>11605157
Such a garbage series. Black Company is how to do grim dark right, First Law was the author desperately going out of his way to divert from classical fantasy tropes literally every chance he got. It's not good writing, it's just the author being an edgy try hard.

Which one first

>>11605226
https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_breeding

>>11605253
Black Company also had multiple CUTE evil waifus.

Meanwhile First Law waifus are neither CUTE nor especially evil.

>>11605307
>evil

you haven't actually read the black company, have you anon ?

>>11605281
I'd say Foundation. But you should be prepared to read the entire trilogy. So, if you're not in the mood for three books, I would say Canticle.

>>11605327
I have, but never let things like truth get in the way of a bit of memeing.

If I'm being serious, I honestly enjoy both Black Company and Abercrombie's stuff, for reasons which have nothing to do w/ waifus of any sort.

>>11605307
legit but Glokta makes up for all of it.

>A Pitiless Rain, the conclusion of the series, release date undetermined.
Let me know when it comes out, I'll tackle this series then. Not gonna make the mistake of starting on an unfinished fantasy series again.

>>11605147
Cherryh likes writing politics. Downbelow Station is a good example. Then proceed to Cyteen if you want it even heavier.

>>11605147
Dune

>>11605071
It's because teenage edgelords who don't want to agree with their liberal parents like it. Goodkind writes meme-level libertarianism and pulp-level softcore bondage smut. Both of these appeal to teenagers who want to feel contrary and "mature." Where do you think this demographic likes to hang out to achieve those same feelings?

>>11605147
Shadowmarch by Tad Williams

>>11605193
Wheel of Time then

>>11604234
Alastair Reynolds and his Revelation Space trilogy is forever in my heart.

>>11605570
really?

>>11605307
How can any fantasy series compete?

>>11605572
Well it's not depressingly dark...

>>11605575
Makes sense...

>>11605572
Yea, there is a load of politics between Noble houses, Anjahs, clans and magic men in the middle books.

>>11605537
*adds to list*

>>11605582
That's interesting, have to read more of it then, thanks!

The King of /sffg/

>>11605574
lady>catcher

(arkana>lady)

>>11605601
Unironically this.

>>11605602
WOEFUL post

>>11605574
>BDSM armor
The peak of "speculative" fiction.

>>11605574
>>11605609
>women on battlefield

>>11605616
>retards in /sffg/

>>11605616
She's basically a demigod anon

>>11605157
Definitely prefer it to asoiaf which is an admittedly low bar, but I don't think the political intrigue is as elaborate as asoiaf.

>>11605609
blonde>black

>>11605626
>The Blonde Company

>>11605623
>women can break rules and biology because muh special snowflake mary sues

>>11605628
That's way sexier. Point made, thank you.

shhh.... nobody tell him the chosen child of prophecy in Black Company is a girl

>>11605639
She never actually fights.
The armor, and that of other spellcasters, is purely for show.

Also you don't know what a mary sue is, and soulcatcher certainly isn't one.

>>11605645
But tvtropes told me if a character is good at something or powerful then they're a mary sue

>>11605643
*dabs on the chosen child of prophecy*

>>11605659
opps hahaha i know your name lol
>dabs

>>11605601
I've read Tigana, Lions and Arbonne and they were all good to great. He's very good at stories with a grand dramatic sweep.

>>11605601
>>11605665
I read Tigana when I was like twelve, and couldn't really get into it. The only thing I do remember is when the protagonist and that girl fucked in the closet.

Should probably give it another try.

>>11605664
I miss him so much

>>11605665
Read Sarantine Mosaic

>>11605659
>mfw I realize no 3D girl will ever compare

>>11605700
Alas!

>>11604234
Vernor vinge

>>11605664
Best character

Anyone else read Scourge of the Betrayer? I just did. It's the usual "dark fantasy" shlock but from the perspective of a scribe and oddly readable.

>>11605911
Of course you would relate more to a simple scribe.

>>11605071
Virtue signalling about how RON PAUL they are.

>>11605537
>Where do you think this demographic likes to hang out to achieve those same feelings?
4chan?

>>11605982

what should I read my friends? I like Redwall and Acts of Caine

>>11605998
You could try that new bunny adventure this one guy's been shilling here. It seems Redwall-esque.

>>11605954
uh ?

>>11605147
Lois McMaster Bujold

why is it so hard to get into scifi compared to fantasy novels

>>11606102
Because there's so much less of it and it involves more real-world knowledge.

>>11606111
i mean character wise, most seems to be really focused on their world building

>>11603081
Can confirm that this adaptation is so good.
The production values are amazing.
It's really so much better than the written version.

>>11606132
Bullshit. Most of the soft sci-fi, the usual space operas that most read, are all about characters. Science fiction is there to give characters something to do.

>>11606149
recommend me some of it then, looks like i've been reading shit

Literally all fantasy is derivative of Tolkien

>>11604719
Goodreads is hilarious for 1-star reviews by idiots too stupid to understand the book they read.

Like just admit that you don't get it.

>>11606145
>It's really so much better than the written version.
Get out.

>>11606174
What are you into? First contact, military sci-fi, etc.? What have you read?

>>11606178
*blocks your path*

>>11606181
Have you listened to the adaptation?
It's a cut above those awful "radio play" book productions.
He uses all the film soundtracks to add a huge amount of atmosphere.
It's a really ambient experience.

Just listen to a sample and you will understand.

>>11606195
No, but I will. It's simply impossible for it to be better than reading the books.

>Only read at 280 wpm

>>11606186
i dont know what i like, just i dont like having too many character as i tend to skip pages if i forgot who is who
i just started childhoods end and so far it's good

>>11606186
>>11606222
i also enjoyed playing stellaris if that helps

>>11606222
>>11606237

>>11606178
*blocks your path*

>>11606222
I have to go for a run so I'll keep it short and sweet (you can get the descriptions from Google). All of these titles are fairly new, I really don't like to put forth something you can find on every recommendation list in existence.
Cold Skin by Albert Sanchez Pinol and Crooked by Austin Grossman for all your Lovecraftian needs and wants.
The Metro series by Dmitry Glukhovsky if you might be interested in (Slavic) post-apocalyptic themes.
Freeze Frame Revolution by Peter Watts for that far-future shock.
The Martian by Andy Weir for some hard sci-fi.
Germline by TC McCarthy for some well written and grounded (you'll udnerstand the pun if you read it) military sci-fi without the usual baggage.

>>11606294
cringe and bluepilled

>The Memetian

>>11606367
I see you have only seen the movie.

What's the comfiest fantasy novel you've ever read?

>>11606386
tigana

>>11606377
Wrong

>>11606397
No need to lie on the Interent.

>>11606350
*bayonets you in service of the Somerset Light Infantry*

>>11606386
Sailing to Sarantium

>>11606424
Bayonets racists in the service of international marxism

>>11606405
I never lie about reading.

>>11606508
No need for that tuff guy act either.

>>11606535
I just didn't like the book. The story was good, but not the writing.

>>11605602
How is it possible to be this wrong?

>>11605574
They can't. Might as well just lay on a bookshelf and rot, bc it's all over for them.

>>11605574
>>11606585
*blocks your path*

>>11606386
unironically my diary
It's a fantasy novel because at least in there I'm happy

>>11606570
It's called having taste, young man.

>>11606222
>i tend to skip pages if i forgot who is who
That seems like an excellent way to make a problem much worse

Alright guys I'm in the mood for a good fantasy novel that's light enough for me to listen to in audiobook form while driving. In other words, nothing with super crazy names, and nothing too dense that I have to focus really hard on.

I did the first two Stormlight archives that way, switching between kindle and audio, and that worked out pretty well but I don't think I liked them enough to start the third.

>>11606758
Yeah, bad taste

>>11606802
The less stupid witty bullshit and useless females the better. But I don't like edgy shit for the sake of being edgy either.

>>11606802

>>11606802
Red Queen's War books, starting w/ 'Prince of Fools' are fun light listening as an audiobook.

Not the deepest of things (essentially a fantasy Flashman knockoff) but the narrator is good and it's better than plenty of stuff I've seen recommended in /sffg/.

I think some people are turned off because his other series, the Broken Empire, has an edgy psychopath teen as a protagonist. Jalan's much more likable, just a normal dude who wants to gamble, drink, fuck, and avoid any fight he can.

>>11606816
>twin sisters, except one is a literal psychopath and the other one a pure waifu

hmmmm

>>11606817

I don't recall Vin from Mistborn being particularly sanderson-witty.

If you liked Stormlight aside from Shallan, you could give it a try

>>11606602
Based and redpilled

>>11606855
She's only a psychopath because her twin hacked her head of.

>>11606882
U nigga wot

She's always been a psychopath partly because she's always been jealous of Lady, who's better than her at everything -including being a waifu.

A true waifu would never go behind her twin sister's back to fuck her husband.

>>11606900
Yeah but the Lady fucked over the husband so that's not really the sort of thing a true waifu would do is it?

>>11606922
He didn't deserve her

>>11606932
and yet some old over the hill faggot who's utterly shit scared of her for most of the trilogy does?

Jesus fuck I might as well go browse /a/

>>11606952
>reeee womyn in muh novels

>>11606942
More than the dominator that's for sure

>>11606967
>teehee my waifu > ur waifu :3333

>>11605574
>>11605609
I want her to catch my soul!

>>11606386
First 3 books of the Wheel of Time

>>11606900
She was sane before Lady decapitated her, also Lady tortured killed and resurrected her multiple times to make her Taken in the first place.

TL;DR Lady bullied her little sister and is a meanie!

>>11607038
>Lady tortured killed and resurrected her multiple times to make her Taken in the first place
pure disinfo

>>11607046
No u

>just fuck already
Recommend me a book based on this sentence.

>>11607072
my diary desu

>>11607088
I want a book with a happy ending if possible.

>>11606974
One could argue all of human discourse is based on that premise.

>>11607072

>>11607072
shadow of the torturer

>>11607094
What type of conversations do you have with your granny?

>>11607072

>>11607109
One of the topics of cenversation is that my life, such as it is, is better than what she thinks of it. That I prefer a fleixible work time and the ability to come and go as I please on account of busting my ass at work.
The usual my [insert subject here] > [your view of the subject].

>>11607094

>>11607038
She wasn't sane at all. She just couldn't give a fuck about keeping up appearances after the whole decapitation thing. Which she was asking for.

>>11607143
She was only trying to bring her husband back to life and stop the cheating cunt who betrayed him in the first place.
Hardley deserved.

>>11607143
Lies and slander

>>11607161
No u

>>11607150
Nigga both of them were batshit insane.
I know you'd like to stick your dick in crazy but those two were so far removed from sanity that the distance is best expressed in astronomical units

>>11607167
>batshit insane
are you really implying the lady didn't make the most logical use of her powers?

>>11607150
The dominator was a literal retarded, worse than a beast.
Lady was right to keep him contained to build a stable, englihtened dictatorial empire.
Catcher only hungered for the cock and even more power because she was a depraved slut.
Also Lady doesn't cheat on the dominator before way after the decapitation

>>11607179
>Also Lady doesn't cheat on the dominator before way after the decapitation
yeah but she also never slept with him either
not wife material at all

>>11607183
Who's to say it was her fault ?

>>11607174
>logical use
I am sorry the logic must have been lost among all the torture and killing .

>>11607129
But do weird psychic mating flights count as fucking? Or the whole thinking of someone's kisses as interesting as those of a toddler's? Squicky as heck dude.

>>11607216
What are you blathering about?

>>11607213
realpolitik.

>>11607247
No it's not realpolitik. Realpolitik presumes group interests, nations engaged in struggle for their survival, all that high level stuff. It does not include fucking up people just cuz you don't like them.

Alright guys, I'm looking for a book I read when I was too young to understand what I was reading. It was an old sci fi, probably written in the 80s or 90s. It involves a sentient planet which is being colonized by humans. There are some weird backwoods people who may or may not be natives. One of them kidnaps a girl and continuously brings her to the edge of orgasm without letting her actually cum, driving her insane. The book ends with a bunch of people hijacked by the planet who are twisted into caricatures of themselves based upon their self image. One lady becomes mostly lips, another has enormous breasts, one guy has a giant dick, etc. They have a giant orgy and somehow heal the planet or become part of it. Please let me know that this book exists and that i didnt have the creepiest fantasies ever as an 11 year old.

>>11607266
Find any example of gratuitous torture from Lady.

>>11607231
Lanen and Akhor have weird dragon mating psychic visions. And when [Akhor gets a human body, Lanen describes his kisses as those of a toddlers.]

>>11607271
sounds like trash

>>11607275
The domination ritual.
It's a multi day torture fest which culminates in killing the unfortunate fucker and being brough back as some twisted parody of said poor fuck.

>>11607301
and by perfoming that she creates powerful soldiers that act in the best intrests of her empire lol

>>11607271
It sounded familiar until you got to the inflated genitals

>>11607298
Right, but she does get conventionally pregnant. I'd forgotten about the toddler thing.

>>11607314
Or if she just wants to fuck up some poor sod or someone close to that poor sod.

>>11607301
That's not gratuitous.
Half the Takens managed to betray her with that leash on. Imagine without.
Not a very stable empire that would make.

>>11607366
>That's not gratuitous.
How exactly being "shattered, slain, revived and reassembled as a devoted slave" is not gratiotous on pain and violence inflicted? Even more so with how unreliable the Taken are. That's on top of whatever she did (and approve) under Dominator, a man who had "glassblowers create glass displays into which some of his "most important enemies" were deposited in public. Trapped, they were "kept alive and fed until they drowned in their own ordure"".
I know you either want to cure Lady of her of her evil ways with your dick or want her to tap dance in stilletos on your balls but the fact of the matter is that she is a couple of screws loose.

>>11607366
It wasn't a stable empire anyway

>>11607453
Any leader would want to make sure his generals are loyal. Even more so given how powerful the Taken are.
also >devoted slave
It seems clear they keep most of their free will, enough so that they can betray her, so not that devoted.
Would you rather have had those absolute nutcases loose, free to create their own little kingdoms wherever -like the howler does, despite being the less ambitious of the taken ?-
It was serve or die. The whole torture thing seems to be a necessary part of the ritual.

>>11607462
Uhh.. Yes it was? Enough so that a few maneuvers from her before departing is enough to ensure it doesn't immediatly shatter from power vaccuum ?

>>11603324
Are you me? Pretty much the same reactions for every book, only I dropped it during 7.

>>11607505
I am not objecting to the goals of propping up your own little empire. I am pointing out that the fact that there is way too much paing being inflicted for nothing other than someones amusment.
All that pain to turn someone into something as powerful and unreliable as Taken or keep down a population that ends up almost killing you and the list goes on.
There are more efficent ways to go about it unless... unless you are batshit insane and just want to watch people squirm in pain.
Dominator was a fucking nutcase, Lady just put a different spin on the same lunacy.

>>11607505
>stable empire
>have to kill half of your male population to end a rebellion

>>11607609
>I am pointing out that the fact that there is way too much paing being inflicted for nothing other than someones amusment.
How do you know that all the torture isn't necessary for the rite? Lady's never described as enjoying torturing the limper.
All we know of the process, from longshadow's poor man's taking of Smoke, is that it basically involves traumatizing your guy into being too terrorized of you to betray you.
>There are more efficent ways to go about it unless... unless you are batshit insane and just want to watch people squirm in pain.
The only Takens who get some characterization are the Howler and Catcher, and Limper to some extent. How exactly would you keep them in check ?
Afterall, there seems to be a trend of correlation between great magical aptitude and raving ambition and power complex, judging from the various characters.

>>11607629
Well it was pretty stable after that wasn't it? :^)

>>11606802
tigana

>>11602968
On the verge of cringe but common wart on a queens nose was a funny analogy

holy shit sffg has taken off lately. whats going on?

>>11607908
waifufag wars

>>11607915
waifufag massacre*
Ladyfags never had a chance

>>11607927
>Ladyfags never had a chance
Cuz bitch be cray cray.

>>11602870
>TQ1
tolkien by default
>TQ2
also tolkien by default
>TQ3
the children of húrin

>>11603160
I read the entire first volume and hated every second of it.

>>11605664
That ceases to matter when that ancient vampire thing's powers bleed into Lady through her unborn child

>>11606294
>literally all fantasy is derivative of tolkien
>responds with a book by a guy who literally knew tolkien

This thread is convincing me to read Black Company

>>11607453
ALL of the magic users in Black company are batshit insane. Even before being mindraped the 'good guy' Taken were pretty fucked up. One-eye and Goblin are lovably bonkers, and Silence was a full grown goddamned man who just chose to not talk for almost his entire life.

Magic makes you crazy.

Sometimes I wonder why I come here when all you fags talk about is epic fantasy series with 15 books that are 1k page each that I have no interest in reading.

>>11608045
Do it. Its flawed, but it has a lot of good bits.

>>11608063
I'm doing it for the waifus desu

Waifus don't matter. The world is nonsense. There's nothing out there. Stop playing the game.

>>11608043
And?

>>11608059
This entire thread has been about the Black Company you dunce.

>>11608098
>9 book long fantasy series with a cast of 800 characters
Your point?

>>11608124
>800 characters
Fuck off

>>11608208
*800 waifus
Sorry, my bad

>>11608068
>Waifus don't matter

Give me good cosmic horror you fucking autists

>>11608068
>Waifus don't matter.
you are a nigger of the highest tier.

>>11608268
My diary, desu

book of the new sun

>>11608059
You like sci-fi more? Let's talk about the Bobiverse and why his system building is crack, but the author still needs a hearty kick in the nuts.

>>11608279
are you a 16 year old goth girl?
that's real cosmic horror.

>>11604502
can we count bakker if we instead focus on all the homosexual alien encounters?

in all seriousness, i'm very salty after reading both the Prince of Nothing and the Aspect Emperor series based on it all being sold as a "metaphysical whodunit" and instead i'm left with a bunch of black alien seed sprayed all over a bunch of unlikable characters. i also cannot for the life of my decipher any internal logic behind bakker's "pilosophical" shriekings as no one but him seems to know what "crash space of meaning" actually means with any certainty.

long story short, fuck bakker and his horrendous writing. i hope he chokes on a timbit.

What sounds better?

>two people get on the wrong train together and end up on a journey across an alternate Manhattan where humankind has disappeared and the fauna have inherited the city
>a martian rug merchant discovers a lunarian princess unconscious in an alleyway clutching a bag of ruby-colored nanobots to her chest and winds up on the run from the criminal kingpin she stole it from

>>11608268
depends how grim you want it. I've heard good things about Annhiliation if you want something grim, but if you want something that's not afraid to crack a joke I'd say John Dies at the End

IT is of course always good but it's a bit too anthro-centric to be cosmic horror in my book

For anyone who read past the first Blood Song book, does the world building take a nosedive as well after the first? From what I understand peoples biggest complaint is more povs with some of them being really bad, but what I enjoyed most in the first book was the stuff with their religion and world history and the creature or whatever it was that that's implied to have power over everyone that dies which sort of reminded me of berserk and of the sword of truth but let's ignore that. Does any of the stuff that was set up in regards to the plot have a satisfying resolution at all?

>>11608441
alternate manhattan

>webnovel authors who publish before they have written 250 chapters

What’s their issue

>>11608681
A benefit of webnovels is that they can adapt the story in regards to reception as they write it at the cost of having to write shit week by week with worse editing.

Unless you're talking about those that turn their stuff into an ebook or something, then I have no idea.

>>11607513
I've seen a lot of people the general same feelings about each book. Reaper's Gale had it's moments but then they just killed Trull out of the blue and it was dumb as hell. He gets killed by some random no-name character and that's the end of his story all because "hurr durr Errant's pull".

I'm giving it one more book and we'll see if it redeems itself. Apparently Stormy and Gesler get to ride around on the not-dinosaurs that were introduced so that's all I'm looking forward to, and hopefully some fucking closure on Paran.

>>11604502
prince of thorns

>>11608045
For me it's doing the opposite.

>>11608652
I read Tower Lord and to be honest I don't remember much of it aside from being incredibly disappointed. I feel like he completely lost the tone in the second novel and I can't bring myself to read the third.
My cope is just considering Blood Song a stand-alone.

>>11608816
Same, not gonna read that autistic shit.

>>11604502

>>11604502
theres an electric retard book.
the book was naturally banned in germany and people actually did bookburnings on it.

you litrpg apologists have a lot to answer for

>A Worldwide Phenomenon With over a billion online viewers, Leonard “Smitty” Smith hosts Chicken Dinner the world’s most popular live streamed show. As the only person who has twice finished, Smitty is the face and voice of the game, and millions of fans follow his every move. But Smitty is dogged by burgeoning debt and an addiction to pain pills.

>The Biggest Prize Fifty highly trained players will compete, but only one winner will go home $25 million richer, and with bragging rights few can claim. With body camera's streaming their every move, the fight to survive is captured in full color.

>The Biggest Risks Find a weapon, fight the other players on an ever shrinking battlefield, until only one remains.

>A violent and bloody novel that captures the life and death struggle of fifty voluntary combatants. When the game is over, and the smoke has cleared, only one will walk away from Chicken Dinner.

>>11609110
I've seen worse.

>>11606178
> What is The King of Elfland's Daughter?

>>11609110
got any... 'good' or 'decent' litrpg books?

>>11606179
What book is this?

>>11609171
Like isekai, litrpg is an inherently tainted genre. It can never produce anything worthwhile. I can only look baffled at the many glowing five-star reviews they nonetheless keep getting.

Time to reread the lost regiment series.

>>11609110
What the FUCK is litrpg, is it like choose your own adventure or some shit?

>>11609195
Not really, but it's based off of that. Basically, LitRPG is like a guy who is either in a game, or has game powers and all that shit. With all the numbers and stuff and all that. I find it entertaining for the numbers and min/maxing wank that happens in it, otherwise it's just meh.

>>11609177
But unlike Isekai, LitRPG (at least the ones in the middle of the popularity spectrum) don't really have or hardly have any romance or harem bullshit!

... unless you look at certain authors I suppose, but generally it's about the powerwank and the min/maxing shit.

>>11609195
its books with stats and rpg like progression. its setting agnostic but the most common setting is trapped in a game or visiting another world.

>>11609202
>>11609214
I have no idea what people writing this shit hope to accomplish. Are they just trying to make a quick buck, or do they legitimately think they're telling something new and worthwhile that people just have to hear?

It sort of depresses me that both of those things seem true: judging by the reviews they're making enough money to accomplish the former, and someone clearly thought it was worth the distinction of the latter.

>>11609336
simple really its cliche pulp most of the time. no difficult topics, no elaborate machinations. just a simple story.
sometimes you just want a simple story. the stats make it feel like a pen and paper rpg or a video game.
there's no secret behind it its just schlock meant to be enjoyed for what it is with no deeper meaning behind it.

>>11609336
Like you said, most likely both. It's not like people tell anything relatively new in Sci-Fi and Fantasy nowadays do they? So yeah, LitRPG is just another one of those genres that are just there because there's an audience for it. People who like to play games but either don't have the time to do so, or are too lazy to become the kind of character that they read.

I mean, it's kind of the same for all of fiction, we read because we want to see extraordinarily amazing or mundane people.

Also this: >>11609339

>>11607993
>Ladyfags never had a chance Cuz bitch be cray cray.
>prefers soulcatcher

hmmmmmmmmmm

>>11609174
The beauty of it is that it can be applied to literally any book that /lit/ loves.

Make a new thread or else

>>11609507
If I must.

New thread:
>>11609531
>>11609531
>>11609531

>>11602870
What is the Moby-Dick of science-fiction?

>inb4 muh dune

>>11609202
>But unlike Isekai, LitRPG (at least the ones in the middle of the popularity spectrum) don't really have or hardly have any romance or harem bullshit!
>but my shit doesn't smell so bad, so it's better when I eat it
If I am gonna eat shit, I might as well go all the way and pick the smelliest of them all. Romance or Harem is not nearly the worst thing that can happen to a book. Now, reading about stats, abilities, levels, grinding and planning... How can people do that to themselves?
>I killed 500 porings and I leveled up 20 levels and them I killed zombies and I got a regeneration skill so I killed more zombies and I ate them and Imma be super strong after I never finish grinding