/lit/ - Literature

Rate my list

>Science fiction
http://ix.io/1yvH
>Fantasy
http://ix.io/1yvI
>Bonus: non genre
http://ix.io/1yvJ

>>12429097
I just saw it when I was looking up a blurb for a book I might download

Even the recs on there aren't great anymore (they were better before amazon)

>>12429125
Goodreads personalized recs are poop. But I do find that following people that are active and have decent taste is one easy way to find new material to read.

I went to a really cool bookstore today. It was very cramped, sort of like a little maze with shelves filled to the ceilings and interesting decor like a stuffed peacock and older sci-fi memorabilia. Got a copy of A Scanner Darkly and found (but didn't buy) an older printing of one of the BotNS books with a very nice cover illustration. Comfy place. Do you have any local bookstores that you enjoy, /sffg/?

>>12429108
>First person, second person or third person(limited/omniscient)
What style is LOTR?

>>12429108
>number of povs
I liked just one, 2 is fine and 3 can work well if the author wants to cover several parts of the world at once.

Outside of that the only author I really trust with more is Robin Hobb, Martin seemed quite good at it too actually but I didn't stick with ASOIAF

>perspective
I think third but limited to the character's knowledge/perspective is the best option for most SFF. First person can work well especially if you're using it to pull off some literary tricks but if not it's got less utility in sff which is often concerned with lots of action and big events.

I do love me a first person narration heavy book though, I'm only halfway through it but A Conspiracy of Truths is incredibly fun for this, using the first person pov to play around with the main character who is stuck in a jail cell for possibly the entire book.

>>12429125
Goodreads is a good idea and hosts a lot of readers. I am worry about their reviews in recent years, extremely contradictory reviews have appeared and is deceptive. I am not saying Goodreads is worthless but the situation is getting bad really quickly.

One anon put it right >>12423488
The seduction of ARCs sounds like the right explanation of much of this. I have to say the problematic contradictory reviews I saw are negative reviews though. Is like they are attacking for reason other than the book content. Is not so much now but you see those at the first reviews and over time they change rating.

>>12429142
>>12429125
I find "Based on Read Shelf" turns up some stuff worth reading especially if you prune through it every time you add new ratings.

The based on your interest in genre ones are rubbish tho, it seems to be in love with a couple of pretty meh authors

>>12429160
I keep seeing a lot of ARC reviews that either admit they didn't finish the book or clearly come from someone who didn't finish it.
The whole ARC thing is just a way to kill off the actually critical paid review industry and replace it with scabs who feel grateful for getting a review copy in the first place

>>12429179
>the actually critical paid review industry

lol

alright what made you guys turn on Malazan? It used to be the shit on here and final boss of epic fantasy but now when it gets mentioned, there's more negative replies than not.

Are there any good books about necromancers that actually have necromancy?

Cabal is funny and all, but for a self-professed necromancer he raises maybe one person per book

>>12429154
Mostly third person omniscient.

>>12429179
Well then, the future is grim. I imagine this will only get worse, reviews are supposed to be a tool to help in deciding what is good and what is not for you, not a deceptive mundane sin of greed.

>>12429108
I've never read a book i enjoyed where the characters said "i did such-and-such" or "i was afraid but excited" etc etc.

What's second person like? "he did such-and-such" and "he was afraid but excited"?

>>12429197
Clark Ashton Smith's fantasy

>>12429197
Well... have you read HP Lovecraft's Herbert West: Reanimator?

>>12429218
>What's second person like? "he did such-and-such" and "he was afraid but excited"?
That's third.

Second is more like "You should do such-and-such"

Second isn't really used very much in fiction though, it's a lot more common in non-fiction.

I have not read this but I've been told the Fifth Season does a good job of incorporating the second person pov into the story.

>>12429253
You do see second-person in choose your own adventure books, so it's got that going for it.

Reposting my request from the tail end of the last thread:

Trying to find a short story I read part of a while back on a online magazine, basic premise was there's this woman running a underground printing press in a pseduo-steampunk setting, she's looking for her friend who is some scholar on the run from The Authority and has disappeared, but one day the friend turns back up while the narrator is delivering underground newspapers to a saloon/brothel or similar and a fight breaks out because a Authority agent follows her. I think the friend had partially cyborgized herself or at least had prosthetic hands?

>>12429108
Why do goodreads users complain about sexism and racism in old books?

>>12429300
because they are overwhelmingly cat-ladies or man that have a sever lack of testosterone.

>>12429108
so is that 3 body trilogy anygood, it seems interesting

>>12429150
I moved last year, but the placed I lived prior had a nice bookstore. The store had competitive prices to many online retailers and had a well maintained interior for a building made in the early twentieth century. I moved for work though, and rarely had the surplus cash back then, but when I did it was a treat. There were multiple other nice home-owned businesses on the same street, including a pizza place, ice cream parlor, and cafe.

>>12429253
>Fifth Season does a good job of incorporating the second person pov into the story.
No, it does a terrible job. Not that I have any other second person with which to compare it, but it's easily one of the most obnoxious thing about that trilogy,

>>12429195
>look ma
>i don't read
>i have nothing to add
>i will just post it again

>>12429196
People turned on it ages ago. It has it's faults and problems, but people that don't really read can't focus.

got around to reading A Wizard of Earthsea and enjoyed it. What other books of hers are worth reading?

>>12429367
>The store had competitive prices to many online retailers
Can't be more competitive than free

This is completely off-topic but the rest of lit won't help I know, anyone have any historical fiction recommendations? I'm tired of trying to sort through a bunch of shitty romance books to find something decent.

Anyone have any recommendations for sci-fi with younger characters? Like YA fiction kinda feel, maybe more character driven but also not shit? I've been trying to feel like I'm a teenager again by reading young adult fiction but the last few books I read were kinda trash.

>>12429521
Read Heinlein's juveniles. Like Citizen of the Galaxy and Tunnel in the Sky

>>12429472
Masters of Rome

>>12429544
thanks, i'll put them on my list, but i should have added i'm looking for something written semi recently

>>12429196
even Game of Thrones was seen under a positive light back then, and people didn't warn you it was on-fucking-going.

I've told myself I would never read Malazan because I just know there's no way a guy can write 10 books each with 1000 pages of pure gold, so what's the point.

>>12429375
Italo Calvino

>>12429585
Well, err, luck to you.

>>12429196
>final boss of epic fantasy
Malazan it's the slime you fight at the beginning

>>12429300
They are the same people who skip over the word "nigger" in a book because it makes them feel "uncomfortable."

>>12429628
Do americans really do this?

>>12429521
A good portion of the Vorkosigan books are set when the protaganist is in his late teens/early 20s.

>>12429345
>>12429628
nice r*ddit spacing.

>>12429636
You'd better believe it. I'm a teacher, and other teachers I work with get pissed when I read the word "nigger" in texts like To Kill a Mockingbird and A Raisin in the Sun, which are both "pro-black" texts.

>>12429664
If was a rdt user I'd be posting on rdt fgt

Anyone reading The Gutter Prayer? I'm pretty impressed so far.

Hey guys, you were right. The Broken Sword is really good.

>>12429418
Tombs of Atuan is also great
>>12429521
Remnants by K. A. Applegate (yes, they same gal that did Animorphs) it's sci-fi and some of the books are quite frankly weird as hell. Also check out William Sleator's books (Interstellar Pig, Singularity, The Duplicate)

>>12429891
>After living in Pelago, Italy for a year, she moved back to Irvine, in Southern California. In 1997, she and her husband, Michael Grant, her co-author on many projects including Animorphs and Everworld, had their first child, who is a transgender woman.

well that's ironic.

>>12429585
>>12429521
Red Rising
Shades of Grey
Library at mount char

>>12429836
Why are you shilling this book so hard? It YA shit from the blurb I read. And it was only recently released too. Are you the author?

>>12429933
It didn't give me much of a YA vibe. And no, but I want to know what other people here think about it.

>>12429585
>looking for something written semi recently

>>12429945
can't even spell fever right holy shit martin

>>12425994
I did and it's shit. The writing is purple prose teenager shit and although the story/lore is somewhat interesting nothing is done with it and about halfway through it just turns into instant love YA shit.

>>12429957
Why don't you read the book?

>>12429964
cause i don't want to unlearn how to spell right

>>12429971
>in books thread
>doesn't want to read
>just memes

>>12429196
it's a series with a very fanatical and vocal minority. when more people read it and inevitably realise those people overrate it, the consensus opinion will obviously go down.

Lord of Light

>I am mostly a reader and don't go to many movies in general. My rate is usually 1 movie every 2 or 3 years. But this past year, I've found myself tagging along more, usually with whatever brother wants a movie buddy.

>Here's what I noticed. Maybe it was always this bad, maybe it has gotten worse (my view), but damn, Hollywood doesn't trust you to pay attention. It's not enough to have people running from a bad guy with a gun. There have to be random explosions and someone bleeding out, too. Because they're not sure you can focus without really high stakes all the time. All this compressed into a much smaller time frame than I remember.

>By contrast, I remember when I was a kid, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. A friend's dad took us to see Lawrence of Arabia. No shit. I think it was even the director's cut. We were 9 years old and it seemed like an eternity in the desert, but the 3 or 4 hour movie gripped us for the entire time. And we got to take the train home by ourselves, which was big.

>This is what I appreciate about LitRPG. The authors trust you to pay attention. The genre is set up to produce big, slow-moving books and series.

>I finished Divine Dungeon 1-3 and most of Book 1 was descriptions of the leveling up system with essence and mana, and getting a tiny bit more powerful. It's the anti-Hollywood. And in a lot of ways, I guess it would be 'bad writing' in fantasy since most traditional fantasy doesn't give you the real, under-the-hood details of how the worlds work, at least the stuff that I usually read.

i'm screaming

>>12429933
It's got nice worldbuilding, author kun plus the author of the Evelyn Hardcastle book are probably going to be the next gen of new fun read authors of soulcrushing books

>>12429197
>tfw the Cabal book was the only necromancer book that I found after about a decade of reading and it took until 2019
Why are we here, if only to suffer?

>>12429992
i read, you bimbo hobbins, i just won't read a book that can't even spell its title right, why is that so seemingly indecipherable to you?

Download: http://b-ok.cc/book/878958/0c476b
The download is slightly faulty, some r's seem to have been replaced with n's resulting in confusing misspellings. I assume the book was scanned with an imperfect scanner. Ironic.

>>12429347
Give it a try. Some say it's shit but the general consensus it that it's pretty good.

>>12429347
Personally I fucking loved it
I haven't heard a lot of good criticisms of it other than "it's not hard enough sci-fi" but honestly it's pretty hard

>>12429472
What part of history are you interested in? The best /sffg/ related historical fiction books, according to me, are Latro in the Mist and Jonathan Strange.

>>12430272
Latro is historical? How so? I've been wanting to find a copy as is but this perks my interest further

>>12429569
That’s fantasy

>>12430289
It’s set in Greece after the Persian wars and it’ about a dude that got hit on the hit so hard he can see the gods.

>>12429472
Aubrey–Maturin is great.

>>12430289
It's set in ancient Greece, during the aftermath of the second Persian invasion, and there's loads of references to various historical events.

>>12430304
>>12430309
thanks franse

>>12430082
>This is what I appreciate about LitRPG.
Oh no no no.

>Book 1 was descriptions of the leveling up system with essence and mana
> traditional fantasy doesn't give you the real, under-the-hood details of how the worlds work
My ribs hurt.

>>12430082
I'm screaming too

The wolf shit in Wheel of Time is full on cringe.

reccy me some fantasy lads, I want to feel young again. Something with ebin twists and whatnot, I've read the usual ones.

>>12430602
Wheel of time, specifically the wolf parts.

>>12430602
Throne of Glass.

>>12430608
>sit on throne
>it smashes
Maas knows how to wrap up a series I’ll give her that.

>>12429472
Try this one. It was really good.

Hye /sffg/ recommend me some adventure/coming of age books with a good protagonist and good feels. Too tired of generic protagonists and sociopaths. First person would be good. And good prose. If it's badly writen but has woldbuilding/good plot/whatever don't recommend me it.

What's the most literary SFF you've read?

>>12430683
Define "literary"

>>12430669
Throne of Glass

>>12430687
Just doesn't suck dick/feel like a movie script.

>>12430616
Was her fat ass too maasive for the throne?

>>12430868
Congrats you got the joke

How are The Expanse novels? I'm liking the show

>>12429300
a large amount of them are inironically femcels

>>12429108
>What is your preferred number of povs in a book?
Two is my favorite, but I tolerate more but not above 4. At 4 the plot starts to become way too spread out. One is good, two is best, then it starts thinning out. I like it best when there's a main male POV, a secondary female POV, and additional occasional POV from bystanders.
>Which type of pov do you prefer? First person, second person or third person(limited/omniscient)?
Third person past tense with limited knowledge. But I can tolerate most. It just so happens that bad books have bad (IMO) narrators. I don't like, but can tolerate, even first person present tense books, or worse yet, third person first tense! I just like when they own it, though. Right now, I am reading Mageborn (can't really recommend, but it's entertaining enough), which has first person past tense, but periodically changes to third person to present to the reader facts that the main character isn't aware of. Well, if the author chose to write the stupid thing in first person, then stick with it!

>>12430669
Xanth, Waldo Rabbit, Legend of Drizzt, The broken prism (with caveats), Ringworld.

I am not entirely sure about the state of the prose contained within, it's been a while since I read any of those. I've heard people complaining about Pierce, though, but I love A Spell for Chameleon, one of my favorites. Drizzt is a safe bet, I imagine. The Broken Prism is a kids' book like Harry Potter, indeed I made a post comparing just how like Harry Potter it is when I first read it, but it has been buried under the sands of time, also some plot holes. Ringworld is a nice adventuring in space and won't really make you feel bad anticipation about who is gonna be raped next or commit suicide, and Larry Niven is a good author. Waldo Rabbit is an indie comedy and also one of my favorites, but I am not sure about its prose; I certainly didn't feel like it was bad.

>>12429945
What is this list supposed to mean? I have autism and I'm not sure if this is supposed to be a list of bad books or if it's an ironic list that just picked up the books posted on that other chart, added some and renamed the list.

I didn't read all of those, but some I've read don't classify as wall of text at all. Some do.

>>12431028
It's just his list of favorite books that he posted in a text post first before making the chart.

>>12423488
>>Furthermore, if you rate a book badly on Goodreads it will still shove shit rated authors into your new releases page which is why I never rate books below 3* to keep them from polluting my new releases date page and other people probably do the same.
>actually seriously reading goodreads recommendations or new releases
Goodreads algorithm sucks. Just look at amazon's new releases if you want to keep up to date.

>>12431028
It's obviously a collage of their cherished books. Obviously there are also books I disagree with on there, but hey, in general you probably like 1/10 of the books on any chart and the chances a rolling a good book are pretty good when you have a thing called mobilism, irc, libgen and private trackers which have 99.9% of books for download and you can read whatever you want before finding a book to stick with.

>>12431036
Oh. Then he should change the name. It makes it look like the books are bad. He should feel ashamed for liking Night Lord, Good Intentions and Library at Mount Char. What a faggot.

>>12431042
Tor also does monthly articles on new releases for both Sci-fi and Fantasy.

>>12431065
>>12431042
So what's the hot stuff as of late?

>>12431067
Some anon around here has been regularly shilling Gutter Prayer off late and I've also been hearing about it for months from people who've received advanced copies so I'm planning on reading it next to see what all the buzz is about.

>>12431053
There's also that harem book that all the degenerates around here like to read...

>>12431067
Amazon lists this as #4 new release. I bet it must be awesome.

>>12431095
What kind of woman reads that?

>>12431099
teenage girls mostly

>>12431111
I thought teenagers knew how to get smut for free.

>>12431099
What do you mean woman? It's obvious that book is aimed at male bigots that would love to have their woman enslaved.

>>12431111
I don't think so. Most teenagers stick to YA (also about werewolves), but I don't think they venture too far into depraved romance novels. I think this book is aimed at middle aged, late 20s, 30s, divorced or unhappily married.

>>12431088
At least it's not cuckshit like Good Intentions. But, yeah, even disregarding the harem, fimbulwinter is a mediocre book. Nightlord is on another level though.

>>12431083
It's not just me. I'm almost done with it now and it's pretty good actually, nice characters and worldbuilding. Worth a try. Don't have too high expectations though, it's not THAT great but compared to shit that's been popular over the past years it's awesome.

>>12431139
>A group of three young thieves are pulled into a centuries old magical war between ancient beings, mages, and humanity in this wildly original debut epic fantasy.
>thieves
This sets off all kinds of alarm to me. I have yet to read a good book featuring thieves. Or assassins.

>>12431042
No it's not the algorithm I'm talking about. The Goodreads new releases page (your personal one) tells you in what month an author who is on your shelf is releasing a new book, which is handy when you have a complete fucktonne of favourite authors. Goodreads recommendations are abyssmal.

I've been using a combo of /sffg/ rec charts (long since exhausted, /sffg/ in general has the best taste but a very shittily small pool of books), r/fantasy (search 2019 most anticipated releases , their top books which are kinda bad and best reads of year x), r/printsf (in general this place has better taste than r/fantasy, some of the book ID threads are good for finding a plot you want to read and books like x are good), author read bookshelves and the x releases in month y posts by booksellers and author blogs (some of them talk about what they like to find good books. Bibliotik also has some nice collages for genres and specific books like those masterworks. Groups also exist on goodreads and I collect book names from past group reads from groups that don't suck. On reddit, some forums and goodreads there's a what people are reading thread that you can collect from. If you are a filfthy crossboarder like me, you can draw recs from the 'what books do you want made into an anime' thread. Some boards also have reclists like /u/ and /cm/ for gay shit. When searching titles, if you also search other archives you'll find that sometimes you'll get hits for asking for similar stuff. You can also use anime and tv and anything to seed these queries (books like x) on google.

Sometimes if you search a book name you like on reddit or the /lit/ archives you'll find them mentioning the book name and other book names. Then you check how compatible your taste is with theirs and that's how you know how probable it is you'll like it. Practically speaking, often you'll have zero choice in the matter and just end up googling hundreds of book names. It's easier if you are on bibliotik as there is an extension that automatically takes you to the overdrive page and bibliotik to download it if you want it but usually I just use mobilism because new books appear there first and if you're really lucky someone might have uploaded an ARC.

Goodreads has discussion threads for book like X but most of the time, like everything related to books, the place is deader than a doornail.

There are also a few sites that rated stuff posted in /sffg/ years back. Some charts were also posted years back, there was a tripfag a while back I found Algernon off.

Anyway, in general finding good books is shit. The best way to find good books is to stalk someone who has good taste, be it a tripfag or some anon or some reviewer on goodreads who rated books similarly or who has a similar read/rated shelf (ooooh!) or some redditor whose post pile you slog through. RES, like 4chan-x, has useful functions like flagging people who have shit taste

Or wait for another anon to find a book.

>>12430255
Just finished this. That was one hell of a heavy authors note to finish the whole thing of with.

>>12431083
>>12431139
>>12431147
I think there's either three or two people. The reason is that I'm pretty sure I was the first person who decided to read it but I didn't think it was the best thing since sliced bread. It's enjoyable (as in, enjoyable enough to stay up to 2 AM reading) but not GOAT and a lot of authors write great books but bad sequels so it's too soon to tell. If you don't think it's GOAT then that means there might be a third anon.

>>12431148
>r/fantasy
I've glimpsed reddit a while back and refrained from doing so after that. Their taste is abysmal. I don't know if it's the karma system that stops them from voicing their real opinions. Every single book they recommend is some new fantasy from a female author with a female protagonist that doubtlessly will feature a strong independent woman that is at the center of a love triangle and fighting the bad male noble who raped her or some such. I'll try searching for books that I liked and see if anything good comes out, though.

Generally, I try skimming through amazon's new releases, but that is an effort in futility most of the time. It's impossible for me to find a good mil-sf, for example, because they all have the same cover and the same blurt, and the reviews are not very helpful. What works the most for me is looking at the reviews for books that I hated, and finding other people that hated it for the same reason I did, and looking through their other reviews. That's why I didn't like your strategy of rating 3 stars the least. Other strategies are also on goodreads: lists that features books I like, and shelves.

>>12431147
Yeah, I felt similiar when I read the blurb. I didn't expect much from it and only got it because the setting seemed interesting and I wanted something new to read.
I think it's less cliche than it seems. There's things about the characters that aren't entirely unique on their own but the authors handles it well so that it seems fresh enough.
Like I said, it's not THAT great. I like it a lot partially because it hits a lot of sweet spots for me. If you're unsure about it just pirate it and give it a try.

>>12431166
Yeah, part of me is already expecting a bad sequel.

Apparently, Michael-Scott Earle gave up getting his Amazon Account back, because he just released his second book on a different pen-name in a week. The first one sucked (unsurprisingly) and I didn't get past amazon's preview.

>>12425903
Why do YA books tend to have more interesting premises than most "adult" books? This actually makes me kind of curious about the mysteries of that world, and I think it's in part because of the simplicity. A lot of books try to be too complicated for their own good and lose focus because of that. I probably won't read it because YA tends to be cringely written, just talking about premises and plot ideas here.

>>12431175
Looking through bad reviews to identify similar taste rather than using good reviews to identify similar taste seems like an excellent idea to avoid the ARC shitfest. I actually tend to use the bad reviews to decide if I want to read a book or not because in general it's because they're personally offended or flaw/plothole x.

I'm not sure if I mentioned it already but your fave authors will sometimes mention what books they are inspired by which is also great for recs and sometimes they have a goodreads shelf which they stalk. Some of them only use it to shill bad books which sucks, but some are genuine.

I haven't tried using lists or shelves to identify good books. I tried using tags which sucked so maybe I'll try that too.

I avoided Amazon new releases because I was sure that it would only contain shit they wanted to sell but maybe I'll see if that works.

>>12431201
The thing about YA is that it doesn't do shit with it's ideas and instead focuses on the romance.

*mogs on sci-fi and fantasy*

>>12431175
*
And for the 4chin /lit/ book searches I just use warosu. You probably noticed years ago but Google doesn't index 4chin well.

No one really discusses what they read because if you search a book title on literally any website including the /lit/ archives you'll just get people posting that title sandwiched between lists of titles of books that they've read or recommended or hated.

>>12430872
>didn't see my pun
Shame

>>12431201
They screw up on either the plot or characterisation or ideas in between. I drop anything that doesn't have good prose or characterisation or worldbuilding at the start and they still manage to impress me with the degree of fuckuppery.

>>12431028
>>12431053
Wall of Text coming:
All You Zombies
The (sort of) Dark Mage
Sunset(Nightlord #1) (stop at this book)
Fimbulwinter
All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1)
Ancient Ruins (Ancient Dreams #1) (read this only)
The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde
Treason by Orson Scott Card
Tunnel in the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein
Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven
Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin
The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis
Legend by David Gemmell
The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson
Girl Parts by John M. Cusick
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
Good Intentions by Elliott Kay (read this one only)
Something More Than Night by Ian Tregillis
The Trysmoon Saga by Brian K. Fuller
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
The Iron Dragon's Daughter by Michael Swanwick
The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
Metro 2033
Out of the Dark by David Weber
Johannes Cabal the Necromancer
Johannes Cabal by Jonathan L. Howard
Hull Zero Three by Greg Bear
Rough Magick by Kenny Soward (rare book based on gnomes)

These are 3.5-4.5 stars and one 5 star. Mileage may vary. Enjoy.

Give me your most meme book. I don't give a fuck about sffg but I want to read something I can shitpost and circlejerk about.

>>12431279
name of the wind

>>12431279
anything sanderson.

>>12431279
Blindsight

>>12429521
Glow

>>12429628
>lynch, segregate and treat niggers like garbage
>less than 100 years later it's the opposite
burgers can't into balance, everything's got to be an extreme.

>>12431199
Why, what happened with him?

>>12430608
>female lead
lol

any decent novel where human is the strongest species and a good dose of xenophobia? recs pls

>>12431147
>I have yet to read a good book featuring thieves. Or assassins.
Read the Gentleman Bastards series asap

If you've exhausted the lists of classics, bestsellers and popular series, and all you have left is YA/litRPG/free Amazon novels, I'd say maybe it's time to grow the fuck up and explore some other genre.

>>12430722
oh in that case can someone recommend me something that feels like a movie script but is absolute kino?

>>12431441
B& from amazon for being too successful. And possibly using bots and other underhanded tactics to improve his read count.

>>12430669
Citizen of the Galaxy

>>12431148
Sounds like a lot of effort. Why not just pick books up at random?

>>12431502
He said good. Lynch wife fucking him over, fucked over the books. Also I was shocked when I read that book a decade plus ago. I never read so much flagrant profanity in a book. I still don't think anything compares to Lynch's potty mouth characters.

>>12431148
I've had a slowly increasing amount of people following my reviews on goodreads recently. It's unsettling.

>>12431656
post it

>>12431279
Age of Swords By Michael Sullivan

>>12431502
The first book had a good story, but the ending ruined it for me. And the second book didn't come close to fixing it.

Seriously. Horse piss and what else? I don't even remember if rape was involved. But the mages were way too overpowered. I kept thinking, "just kill yourselves already, you can't win this".

>>12431648
It's the only fantasy thief genre book worth reading in the entire world.

>>12431279
Book of the New Sun

Anyone else visualize Dalinar Kholin as Dumbledore with a short beard?

Who else fucking loves Kaladin's chapters?
>that scene in book 1 part 2 when he leaps off the half alighted bridge and flies above the parshnedi by sucking in storm energy from their gems
fucking sick.

>>12431668

>>12431668

>>12431723
You're in the wrong place bro.
>>>/r/eddite/fantasy

>>12431099
Wine aunts

>>12432287
>no-meme-face.jpg
yeah nevermind

>>12432314
>what is linking a pic directly from google images into sffg

>Rand's looking into the face of one of the maidens after she has died protecting him from an attack. Memorizing her face and name because he has vowed to memorize the face and name of all the maidens who had sworn to give their lives to protect him. Let's talk about that scene in particular, I'm curious about it. You had two tours in Vietnam, you've had military experience, you're a graduate of The Citadel. Does something like that particularly come out of the people you've met in the military and the kinds of personalities you met in the military, do you draw any of that kind of thing from that?

>ROBERT JORDAN
>Some of it. I suppose, actually, that particular thing came from the only time I was really shaken in combat in shooting at somebody, or shooting AT somebody. I had to, uh, I was shooting back at some people on a sampan and a woman came out and pulled up an AK-47, and I didn't hesitate about shooting her. But that stuck with me. I was raised in a very old-fashioned sort of way. You don't hurt women, you don't DO that. That's the one thing that stuck with me for a long, long time.

So that's why Rand is such a cuck

>>12432335
thats exactly the problem, shame on you

>>12432355
I'm shitposting from work. I don't have my meme archives.

>>12432336
> has a harem
> cuck

>>12432391
Shame he only has two holes.

>>12432305
suck my dick bro

>>12429845
Were you the person asking for fantasy masterworks? I'm glad you enjoyed it

>>12432208
>Who else fucking loves Kaladin's chapters?
Weebs. I confess they were the only bearable parts of the books, though. Shallan sucks, Jasnah sucks, Dalinar is just flashbacks all the time... I don't know why I bothered.

Is Metro 2:33 worth reading?

>Could read Masters of Rome
>Read Sanderson instead

>>12430616
>>12430868
>Female lead has a phat butt
Wtf i love throne of glAss now

>>12432642
I hate Sanderson but I'd probably try another book of his before turning to boring history shit like that.

im gonna make mr sanderson so proud when he hears i started the well of ascension today
brandon i know you are here, i am reading your book brandon sanderson

>>12431099
Divorced moms

>>12432660
What does Tesco's pay these days?

Hey /sffg/, I have read a lot of the novels in the Eternal Champion cycle but never got into reading the Corum saga. I have heard that in the early works of the cycle Corum stands out as one of the best, what do you guys think?

>>12432637
The first one is alright, haven't read the rest.

I noticed some people making KU lists and such. Here goes my rec.

Book about a strong wymyn and a nigg- I mean a demon. Pretty good book. They are not a romantic pair, btw. Second book is coming in may. The female is being hunted and she summons the nig to protect her. There's a convoluted plot to revive an old evil.

>>12432992
>They are not a romantic pair
It's shite.

>>12433026
There is a second book coming... who knows.

>>12432992
The other book set in this world, Revenant Winds, was a lot better imo. Mostly because I don’t have to listen to the nigg-, I mean, demon talk about how he wants to fuck everything that moves.

I want to read Conan, is the best way just to get "The Complete Chronicles Of Conan"?

>>12432659
Actually the author is fat as fuck, but has a cute face. So she uses maasive fat girl angel shots to grab the public.

>>12432992
>Hogan
He is a Kindle author? People used to meme his Crucible of Souls book here. I thought he was funded by Big publishing.

>>12433264
He’s more freelance. On a contract per book basis. Revanent Winds was self published, Shadow of the Exile is some small publisher picking him up.

>>12432913
Yes,the first Corum trilogy it's one of the best parts of the EC cycle,the second trilogy is more depressing and heroic in classic moorcock fashion.

>>12433249
>Tfw no thicc mommy gf who writes shitty fantasy

>>12433531
>thicc mommy gf
Thicc and fat are two different things.

>>12433042
I didn't know there were other books in the same world. Are they worth it? I don't remember enough, but I don't think the setting was interesting enough to warrant more than one series in the same universe.

"ohh yes my sweet seal, your new self indulgent female power trip shlock is wonderfully captivating, now give me that royal rump, i have read plenty for one night"
imagine? i feel almost sorry for anyone retarded enough to chain themselves to that ball of blubber

>>12434129
>"ohh yes my sweet seal, your new self indulgent female power trip shlock is wonderfully captivating, now give me that royal rump, i have read plenty for one night"
Quote is from?

>>12433987
It takes place on the different continent that is mentioned in a throwaway line. But it’s leaps and bounds better than shadow, if you liked that.

>>12434129
this cant be real.

>>12434152
mrs maas' future mista mista

>>12434208
>future
She’s already married though

>>12434245
what about all the anons in this thread that will pounce on that pearly divorced pussy if given the chance?

What fantasy author has a spanking fetish?

>>12434273
Who do you think?

>>12434273
John C Wright
Read Orphans of Chaos

Would you read a second person, present tense choose-your-own adventure style sci-fi novel?

>>12434288
>Orphans of Chaos
>I was pretty excited and anticipatory of a new, favorite author when I first started this book. But then I hit the first time the main female character had her initial taste of bondage, and got all 'excited'. Uh... Maybe there was a reason, and it had something to do with the plot. I kept going.
>I realized after a few chapters that it did have something to do with the plot; or rather, the sci-fi plotline was a thin excuse for this porn-hound of an author to revel in his rape fantasies.
Picked the fuck up.

>>12434326
Never.

>>12434335
Just curious. I've been thinking about writing one for 6 months or so now, but the more outlining I did, the more I realized how grating it would be to the reader as opposed to the traditional 3rd person story. Less opportunity for character development and multiple storylines at once too.

What should I read first, Children of Time or Blindsight?

>>12434493
Blindsight

>>12434273
>it’s an egwene gets spanked until she cries chapter

>>12434493
Children of Time

>>12434493
Blindsight. CoT is okay, but it doesn't come close to blindsight.

>>12434511
>>12434583
Democracy works!

While we're doing fetishes, what book has breeding/impregnation scenes?

>>12429195
Is Patrick Rothfuss aware of this? Did he sign off on it?

>>12434891
Lord of Light

>>12434893
Did he sign off on it? It's originally from HIS twitter/website.

>>12434900
Which author? There's like 5 books with the same name.

>>12434893
kek

I also thought it was a parody.

>>12434983
zelazny

>read like 85% of updraft and poppy war last year
is it cheating to count these as read this year if i finish them

>>12435158
i did that too with earth abides
its ok to cheat 1 or 2 books

Maybe this should be it's own thread buy i'm sleepy and just want a quick blogpost.
Originality is really strange. I feel really sad when i come up with something and later find out someone had done it before. I don't know if i just picked things up through cultural osmosis.
A sci fi example would be dyson spheres for me, i remember imagining something very similar to it when i was a kid. A non sci fi example (and what made me blogpost) would be All quiet on the western front. Despite not having read the book (or seen an adaptation) i wrote a story for an assignment that now, having read it, seems like it's been ripped straight from that book.

>>12435158
It's certainly better than feeling cheated like I did when I finished Poppy War.

DO NO READ THIS, I REPEAT DO NOT FUCKING READ THIS ABOMINATION NO MATTER WHO YOU WANT TO IMPRESS.

>>12435214
>anals of the bitch queen

>>12435214
sounds like a good book based on the cover so what is the problem? if a book has a good cover it is usually good unless your stupid

>>12435270
would read this dbh

Why is it that when authors hear "strong female character", they always go literal? They're always either tough as nails alphas or goth loners.

Dammit, I want to see smug chessmistresses, awkward mad scientists, timid brawlers, weirdos who can't do anything without coming off creepy by mistake.

For fucks sake people, show originality

>>12429108
There are only three good works of fiction written in the second person and two of them are webcomics.

I don't have a preference otherwise, but a witty narrator does wonders to enhance the reading experience

>>12434273
there are authors without spanking fetishes?

>>12434326
the one man I would have trusted to do it isn't worth trusting anymore.

>>12430485
>>12430498

gamers read up

>I agree. Modern media is practically propaganda with a side order of "appealing to a wider audience." Same with AAA game publishers. By appealing to as many people as possible instead of a specific audience, they have to dumb down material in order so that the least capable in the audience won't get discouraged and leave. So its jangling keys, bouncing tits, orchestral stings, lens flares, explosions, and drama/action every moment all smooshed together in a plot that reads like a tumblr post mated with r/politics. Tada! Weak men, cucking, 'strong independent wymyns that don't need no man,' purple haired lesbians mocking men all the time, women who solve all the mens problems because men are useless trash, 'ask me about my SJW agenda,' diversity is our strength, and so on. Its pretty much why I prefer my harem fantasy because at least the male characters aren't useless most of the time.

bottom text

>>12434330
>falling for the papist meme

>>12434891
Darkover Landfall by Marion Zimmer Bradley,it's basically "Breeding thicc bitches:a novel"

>>12430082
Ahhhhhh

>>12434288
>>12434330
What are these like, I think the only times I see them brought up is by the one bitchy autist who hates Wright personally.

Are there any modern authors that put out good sword and sorcery stuff, or are these sort of pulp adventures a dead art? I've read all of the classic sword and sorcery stories, but it's hard to find recent recommendations because most people seem to think sword and sorcery is just another name for general fantasy.

>>12435436
OH NO NO NO

>>12435992
Rigante

>>12435992
Sword and Sorcery mostly died out in the 80s, murdered by He-Man and terrible paperbacks.

Nowadays the closest analogue would be grimdark or "low fantasy" stuff.

>>12435417
Asoiaf has good female characters.

>>12436195
>low fantasy (not sure what this implies)
>truly influenced by sword and sorcery and not just Tolkien
>grimdark tone instead of flowery and poetic language
Books like this?

Abercrombie came close but it lacked more knights. The Red Knight was "similar" but in truth it was sort of a Prince of Thorns on cocaine and DMT and I hated both.

>>12436423
Red Queen's War

>>12436451
>Red Queen's War
It's short, it'd be interesting. Thanks, anon.

should I read Revelation Space or The Expanse?

I've been world-building for a recent Fantasy novel. I'm thinking there should be a play on the trope of the bridge troll. The toll you must pay is to answer a riddle, which isn't very innovative. But the troll is a really obnoxious liberal who claps every time they say a word.

>>12432619
But I dislike anime and the only manga I've read are Berserk, Death Note, Monster and AoT? And even there, AoT went to total shit after the basement chapter.

Any books about incredibly bitter people getting revenge on the world? Happy endings where they redeem themselves optional.

>>12436682
Unironically Lord of Light

>>12435765
Best modern fantasy I've read, it's refreshing to read a book that doesn't feel like a left hugbox for once.

Babel-17 or Dhalgren? I just bought both but I'm not sure which one to start with. I'm leaning towards Babel-17.

>>12436682
Unironically Masters of Rome

>>12436556
Rev. I dropped the Expanse early in. It just wasn't good.

any good scifi with incredibly wealthy characters?

>>12436834
The Commonwealth Saga

>>12429585
Try John Varley's Red Thunder. It has a distinct Heinlein juvenile feel, but was written in 2003.

A group of teenagers build a spaceship and go to Mars with the aid of a genius and an ex-astronaut to save a US effort to reach the planet, and beat the Chinese in getting there first.

>>12429636
I've seen them blank out the word even when clearly quoting a source; e.g., 'n******' instead of 'niggers'.

>>12429836
The Guardian's review made me put it on my wishlist. It looks promising enough.

>>12436892
>"funny video" where a toddler accidentally says a swear word
>word is bleeped out
American "culture" it's so weird.

>>12436899
Is this funniest home videos the show? They used to bleep out stuff like damn and hell iirc

>Storms, Dalinar!

>>12436465
Red queen is more shit than broken empire.

>>12436969
You're more retarded than me.

>>12436771
Neither. You will regret it.

>>12436889
Back in the days it was bugs bunny cartoons propaganda about beating up Italy Germany and Japan.
Now it scifi propaganda about beating the Chinese.
>Americlaps

>>12436556
I haven't read The Expanse, but I can tell you that Revelation Space is quite enjoyable, especially if you're a fan of hard Sci-Fi. If you enjoy it, I'd recommend reading some of the short stories as well. Diamond Dogs, Glacial, and The Great Wall of Mars (Conjoiner faction backstory) come to mind as some of the better ones. Diamond Dogs is in my opinion the best of the short stories. As for the full-blown novels, I think Chasm City and The Prefect are probably the best. The Prefect is a detective noir entirely detached from the main RS story, so you can read it whenever it suits you, and, while it's technically a RS sequel, Chasm City would fare well as an independent novel. The direct sequels to RS (Redemption Ark and Absolution Gap) are decent, but I personally found it hard to connect with the characters. Revelation Space has always suffered from having poor characters, and that only gets worse later on. Still, Redemption Ark has some nice space battles, and the conjoiners are an interesting faction. Absolution Gap fairs as a decent ending to the story as well, except for the ghosts getting side-lined at the last moment.

By the way, the reading order for the main novels is meant to be Revelation Space --> Chasm City --> Redemption Ark --> Absolution Gap. I tell you this because I accidently skipped Chasm City, and that meant there were some parts of Redemption Ark that I only understood in retrospect.

If you have any questions about RS feel free to throw them my way. I’ve read everything set in the universe except for Elysium Fire, which released last year. Pushing Ice is the only non-RS Alastair Reynolds novel I’ve read, though.

>>12436983
Just curious, how many sff books have you read over the years?
I notice brainlets that don't read much praise red queen war and Abercrombie.

>>12437010
dumb chart

can we make an official chart for books to avoid in the OP?

Anyone read this? https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40045224-the-unsung
Seems generic, and it only has one rating.
I thought it was that unsong by alexander w/e, but it is not.

>>12437052
How about you let people enjoy what they enjoy and talk about the things you like instead?

>>12437052
No we can't make any "official" avoid chart.
Some faggot will want to put avoid all modern fantasy, some will want to put avoid all classics, some will put avoid all fantasy, some will put avoid all scifi, some faggot will put avoid everything not "real" literature.

>dumb chart
I'm sure you haven't read half of the books in that list.

>>12437031
Revelation Space (the universe) is indeed filled with a brimming number of sociopathic autists but I didn't have difficulty connecting with anyone except in the first book, just so the other anon knows. Also for the other anon's sake, in my opinion, RS is a rare series where subsequent books get better and better. Characters still do more immoral things more often than your average bad guy or a villain protagonist for pragmatic reasons, but I enjoy them anyway and the characters in the main series (second book onwards) and get retconned to be less autistic.

Revelation Space (the universe) is like the dad influence on Blindsight.

The Prefect is best read after Revelation Space but Chasm City is in my opinion the best in the series and is also standalone.

What are some good books with twist and turns? And not the cheap kind, such as the guy that raised and trained the protag is actually evil and betrays him, please.

>>12437115
The ones that kept me guessing recently to the greatest extent was Early Riser by Fforde (scifi/psychological/horror/mystery/a bit of black humour), that second Johannes Cabal book (fantasy/mystery/black humour), the Prefect (scifi/mystery/horror as above the mystery is better if you've read the first Revelation Space novel), Chasm City (scifi/horror/mystery)

In general, you've probably read them but PK Dick and Asimov are masters of the plot tweest. They both write really short and fillerless books and Ubik (scifi/mystery/psychological) is an especially weird and flavourful set of intriguing plot twists that are to die for.

>>12437115
Masters of Rome

any books similiar to the half life series? i cant stand stereotypical sci-fi with laser guns and starship battles but i find the idea of a mysterious, brutal, seemingly unstoppable multidimensional empire enslaving every planet and species they can find to be really interesting if potrayed somewhat realistically. any book which has something similiar or at least feels very half life-like?

What are some series with worldbuilding and history on the level of Lord of the Rings? Ideally something that is also more enjoyable to read. I love the whole idea and history, but it's kinda bad that 80% of it is told in appendices, letters and simple listings of events instead of prose.

Also, what are some scifi or fantasy series that explore really weird and foreign settings? Like the far eastern lands in ASOIAF

>>12437223
unironically Wheel of Time.

>>12437223
>What are some series with worldbuilding and history on the level of Lord of the Rings? Ideally something that is also more enjoyable to read.
Masters of Rome

I just read this and wow, was it boring. Some of the scientific discussion was interesting and the solution to the main mystery was neat (albeit ultimately pointless), but boy, the novel itself is as lifeless as its protagonist.

Are other Sawyer books just as dull? I want to read Illegal Alien because I love courtroom drama, but now I'm not so sure.

>>12437239
>on the level of Lord of the Rings?

>>12437241
>>12437162
why do you keep recommending pseudohistorical fiction in a thread about fantasy and scifi?

>>12437064
>I thought it was that unsong by alexander w/e

You should read that one anyway

>>12437260
When it comes to worldbuilding yes it is.

>>12437275
>this is what wotfags actually believe

>>12437273
It's not in book (audio) form. When I saw this pop up I thought it finally got done... but no.

>>12437239
>everyone in the world speaks one language despite thousands of years of isolation
>world building on par with lotr

>>12437280
Name some books with better world building written in the last 25 years.

>>12437264
It has magic.

>>12437223
>What are some series with worldbuilding and history on the level of Lord of the Rings? Ideally something that is also more enjoyable to read. I love the whole idea and history, but it's kinda bad that 80% of it is told in appendices, letters and simple listings of events instead of prose.
Bakker
>Also, what are some scifi or fantasy series that explore really weird and foreign settings? Like the far eastern lands in ASOIAF
Mieville

>tfw depressed again
any decent fantasy/scifi that will cheer me up?

>>12437377
Try not watching porn.

>>12437377
discworld

>>12437377
Morningwood - Everybody loves large chests.

>>12437377
>tfw no qt depressed plastic face korean gf to cuddle with and take advantage of
Sad.

>>12437290
The audiobook hasn't been updated since 2017. You're better off just reading the web/ebook version.

>>12437442
(or wait until he publishes it in paperback lol)

>>12437447
Waldo Rabbit and Large Chests were worth the wait.
If unsong is good it will be worth the wait. I have other things to rad in the mean time.

>>12437299
Masters of Rome

>>12437450
Fair enough. But there's a difference between "it'll take a long time" and "it's apparently dead in the water".

Any sci Fi that has giant mechas?

>>12437377
Space Captain Smith

>>12437459
Sleeping Giants

>>12437463
Why is everything a "game of [insert object here]"

>>12437212
I don't know of any that are too similar to Half-Life. I want to say that Revelation Space has a similar vibe, but that might just be because people keep mentioning Revelation Space in this thread.

>>12437258
>Are other Sawyer books just as dull?
Yes, and I read all of them.

>>12437391
I like smut but this fucker was too much for me, it detracts from the story.

>>12437459
BotNS
And before anyone try to contradict me, the walking towers featured in the war in the north are obviously mechas, and since there are parallels drawn to the things awakened in the cave they are most likely also battle mechs.

>>12437595
The Amazon releases fix that a little. Many pointless sex scenes get replaced with character scenes instead.

>>12437379
i try, it's been a week

>>12437388
>>12437391
>>12437463
thanks, i'll try those

>>12437415
this one have no plastic in her face, she's pure
also don't you dare take advantage of her or else

can you kind fellas give me sum nice recs on novels with environmental themes?

>>12437539
It's taking the piss.

>>12429195
Good to hear I don't need to finish that series.

>>12437589
Really? What made you keep reading?

>>12437642
Great, I'll give it another try, since I only read the web novel till they nuke a city
After that it was so much lesbian sex that I got tired of it.

>>12437785
I really like the premises of his books (how science can affect a society. artificial intelligence, aliens, etc) but his characters are just mouthpieces for the debate. Don't get me wrong, the books are dull, but they made me think that's why I read them all (except his latest detective story, I'm not a fan of that genre)

>>12437765
Pic related
And shades of grey

>>12437788
That covers the first book. You can start at the second then.

any novel where the mc is a priest and very devoted to his religion?

>>12437834
Unironically Masters of Rome

>>12435214
>Annals of the Bitch Queen
I do not need to read any more to know that this is not something that I want to read.

>>12436682
The whole Eternal Champion Cycle is about that,some characters get happy endings,some characters get impaled by a sentient black sword

>>12437765
The Word for World is Forest

>>12437023
>Now it scifi propaganda about how Elon Musk will save earth
>Americlaps

ftfy.

>>12437606
I think I have to re-read that, I couldn't make sense of the thing when I tried a few years ago

>>12437834
Not a novel, but try The Star by Clarke.

Also Three Parts Dead, although it's not great and the priest there is only the deuteragonist (probably the best character in the book, though)

>local sf/f club is reading A Fire Upon The Deep
>discussion is January 29th
>600 pages

Is this by any chance a book that is super engaging and easy to read? I heard many good things about it and I rarely get a chance to discuss sf with people IRL but there's no way a readlet like me can swallow 60 pages per day.

>>12430082
My fucking lord

>>12438033
This and treason.

>>12438069
Get the audiobook. You can finish it in 5-6 days.
Also
>teenage space sluts taking puppy knots

>>12438092
>>12430082
Litrpg is the future. You've read so many books that you enjoyed and haven't realised that they are based on litrpg.

>>12438148
Name one legitimately good litrpg.

>>12438156
There’s been a few I have enjoyed on that royal road site

>be rand
>not only be the chosen one but do nothing wrong
>everyone questions you at every turn even though by divine right you're destined to do the correct thing
>even if you made a mistake creation itself would bend itself in such a way that you actually made the correct choice
>everyone is not only surprised when you actually win every time but they credit themselves for teaching you how to win

I guess this is truly the white mans burden.

>>12438271
>aiel
>white

>>12438156
>>12438185
>anon: name one good litrpg
>litrpg fan: *doesn't*

>tfw you're that friend of the side character
>only shows up once in the background
>you literally dont matter

New thread please my fellow citizen.

>>12438332
>if the series goes long enough you'll get your own book
>your adventure will be stale because the author has run out of ideas

>>12437834
The Hound and the Falcon
he's a monk

>>12437539
so it sits next to GURM in list of titles

i herd u guiz liek noo threds
>>12438614
>>12438614
>>12438614
>>12438614
[mudkips]

>>12438407
GO BACK TO GAUL GINGER NOB!

>>12437826
>shades of grey
50 shades has environmental themes? wtf

>>12437765
The forever hero.