/lit/ - Literature

FIRST FOR BIG TITS

>>14519880
elf? human? other?

>>14519888
All

Whats a good fantasy book on this chart (Besides Tolkien)

Rereading Blood Meridian has put me in a flintlock fantasy mood, what are some good ones? Preferably non-Naval stuff.

>>14519909
Book of the New Sun is excellent, it's more science fantasy than science fiction.

>>14519914
wolf in shadow trilogy
the dark tower

>>14519880
How big is too big?

Just started Dune Messiah and I already don't like how they're conspiring against ma boi Muad'dib. I fear for him.

>>14519947
What was the image

>>14520002
>>14519947
nvrm was massive anime tits

>>14519934
>the dark tower
garbage books by hack author who is also a pedophile into child orgies

Is The Hero of Ages a real ending or just a cocktease for the sequel trilogy? I want to see what Sanderson is like without spending the entire year reading him.

>>14520026
Just read some of his short works then.

>>14520022
i agree, but gun slinging is what anon wanted

>>14520022
Stephen King is a drug addicted retard, but Jesus Christ. At a bare minimum, The Gunslinger was great. Why does /lit/ hate everything? I picture a bunch of elitist college-age faggots wearing all black and sucking each others' dicks between puffs of clove cigarettes, trying desperately to distract themselves from the fact that they won't ever amount to anything.

>>14520068
So, basically this?

>>14520026
read warbreaker, free stanalone

>>14519909
nigger, if it's on the list it's good except dying earth

>>14520086
I hope that dumb faggot on the far right accidentally shoots himself due to his dogshit trigger discipline. Also the retarded tuck-penis transgender person on top left with the exact same issue. Bet none of these people have ever held a gun in their fucking lives. Yes indeed, this looks exactly how I envision /lit/.

>>14520032
>>14520097
Does that mean you have to read Wax and Wayne, Secret History, and Stormlight to get the "full" Mistborn story?

>>14520097
Woops I mean especially dying earth

>>14520106
Technically the full story is COSMERE and it won't be done for decades by his own admission, since it's literally his life's work.

I want to write a book, but I don't know how.

There's too much to choose from to read.

>>14520127
Im in the same boat. I have a story in my head full fleshed out for years now but actually putting it to paper is beyond me.

>>14520155
>>14520127
That's simple. You type some words and then you type some more. After many, many, hours of typing then you have a book!

>>14520155
Are you intellectually disabled?

>Chinese web novel
>japan is totally destroyed off screen

Are they still ass hurt

>>14519914

>>14519934
Read the dark tower when I was younger actually, till about Wizards and Glass til I dropped it, the other one you mentioned seems neat though.

>>14520203
Seen this one floating around as one of the "big ones" along with The Shadow Campaigns series, just wasn't sure if they were good.

>>14520257
Powder Mage is a rare gem. I skipped over it initially because the synopsis didn't really stick out to me, but when I eventually read it, it quickly became one of my favorite modern series. The thing that really shines about the author is the fact that you can see improvement in his writing with every release, so it's one of the few series where the sequels are better than the first book, and the first book is pretty damn good.

What’s a book that is very stereotypical fantasy with dungeons and dragons type wizards, bards and dragons but also creative or well written enough to be fun to read. Tolkien excluded.

>>14520284
D&D ruined normies' perception of fantasy.

Bilbo Baggins isn't some master thief with 99% chance to climb walls, he's just some random dude who got forced into an adventure. Gandalf isn't some 18th level wizard whose sole purpose is to kill everything with muh fireballs, but a mystic entity that relies mostly on wit and cleverness to solve problems.

>>14520284
'kings of the wyle' is literally a D&D campaign, but very well written and fun

>>14520299
I just hate how mundane magic is treated in a lot of settings, I dunno mang, I just feel like magic should feel like some ancient otherworldly shit most normal folk won't see in their lifetimes, not shit so common it's used to warm tea.

>>14520308
I wanted to read that but forgot the reason why i didnt. Did it have gays, feminism, cuck shit, unrealistic strong women, or anything stupid like that?

>>14520323
All of the above

>>14520329
Did it really?

>>14519909
the only one i've read that isn't good is the eye of the world. also, i haven't read it but you just have to flick through a few pages and read the dialogue to know that the sanderson book is bad.

I just finshed this. First work of his I read. I liked it a lot, but what the fuck was with the last several chapters? It felt like a fever dream.
As for the ending, so he wrote the book using the Oracle? Why was he so upset that Juliana said it was actually real? What the fuck does that even mean?

>>14520456
He had some kind of psychosis, that's why its so mind warping at the end. The overly deep Buddhist and Taoist thought is strongly linked to psychosis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WwAQqWUkpI&feature=emb_title

>>14520284
The D&D novels, Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Greyhawk, Spelljammer, Dark Sun, Eberron, Ravenloft, the list goes on and on.

>>14519907
female?

>>14520490
Do Spelljammer, Dark Sun, and Eberron have novels that are at least on par with Dark Elf Trilogy? Because that's literally the only D&D novels I ever liked but those three are cool settings.

>>14520311
Read Lord of the Mysteries.

>>14520026
I second Warbreaker.

This is probably the wrong place to ask, so I'll apologize now if so.

What I want to ask is can anyone share a good book ddl forum or something similar? Reason I'm asking here is because I'm generally looking for somewhere that has a lot of Science Fiction and Fantasy, new and old, and can take requests.

Also, it would be a plus if it had science mags too.

>>14520626
Libgen?

>>14520626
Read the OP

>>14520456
PKD wrote High Castle with the I Ching, ask it yourself.

>>14520626
It's literally in the sticky.

>>14520257
>>14520266
Shadow Campaigns is better, but shits the bed in the final book because the author couldn't stand the have the Napoleon-analogue be an antagonist.

Powder Mage is more consistent but mediocre. Also the military aspects are pretty bad.

Pic related.

>>14520649
>>14520702
>>14520797

Sorry, thanks for pointing it out.

>>14520026
Read emperor's soul then

>>14520921
i get the feeling this is one of those power fantasies where independent female protag will beat burly men and show their place
the kind of novel the people who consume inordinate amounts of onions would enjoy

>>14521235
Just ignore the bait.

Recommend me a fantasy series packed with the most grandiose, beautiful imagery and/or writing you can think of. Giant, gleaming castles, lush forests, vast, beautiful plains, every goddamn fantasy trope under the sun. High-stakes plot line and consistent quality appreciated. Preferably minimal or at least subdued magic. I haven’t read an absurd amount of books, so feel free to recommend any popular ones

>>14521300
Lord of the Rings

>>14521300
REH's Conan shorts.

Does anyone have a good reading order for Vlad Taltos? The author seems pretty wishy-washy on publication vs chronological and I don't know what to pick.

>>14521314
I just finished my re-reading of it last month
>>14521329
Will check them out, thanks

SF with good space fascism? Progress through order style fascism not kill the space-jews fascism.

>>14521481
Vorkosigan (more feudalist but that's better anyway)

>>14519859
is that pic based in a book? looks really good

>>14520026
It wraps it up nicely. The sequel trilogy takes place a lot of time later, with different problems and nearly no recurring characters.

>walk into bookstore
>walk up to SF&F section
>all of the books are hideously bland
Why the fuck is all published fantasy such trash these days? Are Sanderson, Rothfuss, and GRRM to blame?

>>14522035
>Are Sanderson, Rothfuss, and GRRM to blame
In part, yes. The other part is that formulaic novels just sell better. Its like any other industry. Be it Music, Movies or Video Games. Everything is focus tested to appeal to the lowest common denominator as to attract the widest possible audience. Books are no different. You also cant really do anything about it as voting with your wallet wont work if for every person that does not buy a product there's 20 that throw money at it.
There is no easy solution to this. Some turn to indies, others write themselves but there really is no easy solution to change the general trend.

>>14522035
>all of the books are hideously bland
try weird fiction - Mieville and VanderMeer

>>14522035
>bookstore
found your problem mate

>>14519909
What would anyone recommend that isn't on that list already, if my favorites from that list (in no order) were New Sun, Dune, LOTR, First Law, Black Company and Ghormengast?

I have Bakker to try on the way, as well as other Wolfe and Cook covered and enjoyed. I hear good things about Viriconium, Guy Kay and Locke Lamora more recently, and 16 Ways to Defend a Walled City might scratch my Black Company itch?

>>14522035
Because genuinely good books have always been the rare exception rather than the rule and it's easier to just ignore the mountains of trash when you're looking through known books of an old era, but when looking through the modern selection you get a much wider look of all the trash surrounding the handful of good shit.
It's the same story with everything else, when they have to make room on the shelves for all the new stuff the only old stuff they keep around is what's generally agreed to be great.

>>14522035
If you want an easy way to find out which books are good, I have a solution.

>straight white male authors only
>no women, jews, blacks, gays etc
>check review on amazon
>if 4.5+ stars, ignore it. it panders to lowest common denominator
>enter the reviews and type in the search key words
>sex, sexist, sexism, gay, lgbt, etc and see what people say about the book using those keywords
>"book is highly sexist against women!" good book
>"book goes against sexist tropes and empowers women!" bad book
>look through 2 and 3 star reviews, they were honest enough to not go full 5 star shill or 1 star shill usually
>if the book is part of a trilogy or longer series, do it for each book
>1980's and before tend to be less cucked
>check authors social media for red flags like pronouns in bio, lgbt flags, current event virtue signaling one liners, telling others who they are voting for and who you should vote for, etc

I havent read a bad book so far.

>>14520850
>Also the military aspects are pretty bad
That's one of the main things I'm worried about with most these series, Guns of Dawn was pretty good but I was still a little off put with the slightly retarded shit like "a lead ball needs to be wrapped with leather to work with rifling." Such is the curse of /k/ autism.

>>14522689
Based and redpilled

>>14522689
Based

I'm conceiving an idea for a story I want to write, what does everyone think of the setting? Is it intriguing? Is it common place in lots of other stories?

It's post-post-apocalyptic. In the past, humanity advanced to great technological heights, having achieved interstellar travel, amazing architectural and design feats, etc. Then, SOME kind of disaster happens which will be explored throughout the story, and now in current times, the story has progressed to several hundred or even thousands of years after that event. People have recovered from this great disaster, however they are still trying to understand and figure out this mysterious ancient technology, which is now more advanced than they're capable of. Kind of like Forerunner technology from the Halo universe, if you guys are familiar with it.

Would it be weird or believable if I wanted to set the story in a 1900's aesthetic? With similar cultural norms, aesthetics, names, behaviors? And the setting however is this world far in the future, that takes place in a time where humanity progressed, then regressed, then growing again? Any other stories like that?

>>14522828
World building seems pretty neat, so what's the plot?

>>14522828
>Then, SOME kind of disaster happens
jews?

>>14522828
Children of Time
Revenger

>>14522828
sounds a bit like the canticle of liebowitz desu

Do you guys want to sample some of my writing for a book? English isnt my first language but I think its good enough to try writing.

>It sounds like the beats of a depraved sermon being given in the dreams of the embryo of an insane high priest of an esoteric interstellar blood religion, whose rites are practiced only by the aristocracy of a vast degenerate galactic empire, as he gestates under the beating heart of the giant, permanently intoxicated goddess whose will and appetites he will serve with his life, as she takes a ceaseless hit from the psychedelic dark sun her enormous floating body is jacked intravenously into.

>>14522889

well, a lot of this obviously will depend on execution, but I think the broad strokes will be:

Different human colonies on Earth, moon, Mars, and different space stations. People are not at the level of comprehending how these terra-formed astral bodies / space megastructures were constructed in the past, just enough to keep them running and regulated.

Magic has been discovered on Earth, and many people from these different worlds travel to earth to study it, including some of the main characters. The ultimate conflict will occur when one of the characters becomes obsessive of magic, power, and control, and eventually tries to take over using a mixture of political scheming and brute force; the other characters must discover his plot and stop him.

Along the way, more about the world is discovered, such as the nature of the calamity that occurred in the past, and ancient magical beings that scheme to destroy humanity and are the real villains behind the scenes, granting magic to people in order to stop people from advancing technologically. Eventually, all the main characters should realize this and team up to destroy the demons, perhaps getting rid of magic in the progress, but with a renowned faith in humanity and the discovery that technology and science can lead to far greater feats, as evidenced by what humans of the past accomplished?

Not too sure also if I want this to be an alternate world, or if is our current world far in the future. I just can't see if it's believable that the culture of the world would be similar to our modern times if it's this far in the future, even if I explain it with the "regression" that occurred after the great apocalypse

>>14522689
Do people actually do this?

>>14522828
>>14523002
Conceptually it's fine. I think it's difficult to mix magic and a high-tech setting without coming off as goofy, but like much of the minutiae that relies on the strength, or lack of, of the writing

>>14519909
Hyperion is pretty great.

>>14522982
>present tense
>Arab-tier run-on sentence
>overwrought
Your grip on English is good enough to write, yes, but I think you're trying too hard. The idea is lost in the mass of imagery you describe.

can't believe Latro choosefriends over memory, wtf

>>14521562
No.
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/x2k11

>>14521300
Malazan

>>14520850
>Shadow Campaigns is better, but shits the bed in the final book
not much different from powder mage so

>>14523018
I'm not quite that autistic about it (I've read books I liked from women and darkies), but I basically use the criteria presented here as part of my pre-reading evaluation process.

>>14522689
So you end up reading 0 books. Congratulations, you played yourself.

>>14522689
>>14522746
>>14522784
>>14523344
Thats not based. Have sex.

>>14522689
I wrote and shilled a book on /lit/ and would pass these criteria. Well, except for people bitching about sexism - but I figure that'll come with time.

>>14523545
That isn't what "shilled" means.

>>14523572
What is it like going through life as a pedantic faggot?

>>14522689
I feel like this would weed out 80% of garbage junk books but also 20% of books that are legitimately good despite having some faggy themes. Like The Forever War

Any good 40s-50s era air force encounters UFOs SF? I'm fed up of reading wikipedia articles and that sort of thing, I want something with a narrative but still grounded.

>>14523605
Better than pretending to be a writer who has no idea of semantics.

>>14523770
It's a colloquialism which has developed extended meaning on 4chan you pretentious poser retard. Actually kill yourself.

>>14523790
I'm aware. It originally meant what it is actually means but due to idiocy and paranoia it came to mean what it does now, which is basically just "something was put forward" and nothing else really. Right now I'm "shilling" semantic hygiene.

>>14523467
Based.

>>14523002

i feel like i've read this exact story before. you said yourself that it's like Halo with the lore

For a different example, I don't have any problem with "based" even though its current usage is a series of corruptions because it creates new meaning rather than reduces meaning.

>>14519859
I'd like to read something by Gene Wolfe, haven't read any of his works. Any book in particular that anons can recommend? U know The Book of the New Sun is supposed to be good, should I start there?

>>14524291
*I know

What the fuck was the point of the stories told in the wounded camp ?

>>14524486

Fuck, like a retard I forgot to include the picture.

>>14524291
The Wizard Knight is basically a Japanese Isekai story before the japs started writing them. Its good. You might want to check that book out as well. Wolfe wrote some interesting stuff. Latro in the Mist or something forgot the title is also decent.

>>14524486
>>14524498
The story Severian told Jonas was the most confusing for me. Never understood it's significance or meaning.

>>14524499
Thanks anon, will check those out!

>>14524291
fifth head of cerberus is good
>>14524498
i have no idea but it was super boring

>>14525214
>ex boyfriend
woman or fag so I don't care

I recently read Roadside Picnic. I really enjoyed the gritty setting. What would you recommend next?

>>14521501
>Vorkosigan
This series doesn't get enough love.

Shit, Peace Talks got a release date? is it locked in?

>>14525403
>Peace Talks got a release date
About fucking time. I remember recommending Butcher to a jaded friend who was sick of lazy assholes like GERM who go ten years between books because he had a pretty good release schedule, only for him to immediately go into a six year hiatus.

>>14525214
>There's nothing wrong with liking that stuff...what baffles me is how people delude themselves into thinking Rothfuss or people like him are good writers.
This. I liked Name of the Wind precisely because it is cheap hacky escapist bullshit. It's a guilty pleasure, like fast food or reality tv. Sometimes you want fine dining and a show, and other times you just want to pig out on pizza whilst on the couch at home watching the bachelor.

>>14519909
Gormenghast is comfey

What's some good Dark Fantasy?
Recently binged the Dark Souls trilogy and i'm dying for more in the same vain in terms of worldbuilding.

>>14523002
>I just can't see if it's believable that the culture of the world would be similar to our modern times if it's this far in the future
Ultimately this depends on how strong and well utilized the setting is, Dune is a completely unbelievable setting but people still consider it one of the most legendary """sci-fi""" novels ever made because of just how well everything was written.

How do I go about reading the Eternal Champion series?
It seems like a clusterfuck.

This book was fun

>>14525631
I think Book of the New Sun captures this aesthetic on some level.

>>14525631
If you want something dark, read The Night Land, there's no sun.

>>14525631
I heard (but not read) that Nifft the Lean is the Dark Souls of fantasy.

I'm almost halfway through Hyperion I've heard three stories. Are the other cantos worth reading? I'm really enjoying Hyperion

>>14522689
>if I find a book that exclusively panders to me it's "good"

>>14525631
Vampire Hunter D

>>14526019
Go be a woman somewhere else incel.

There any good fantasy books that take place in a more Ancient Egypt inspired setting?

Fell for the meme and read this shit

>main character is annoying as fuck and basically reddit incarnate
>shills space on the cover and there is no planet hopping or really anything in the book that takes place in space
>shills lesbians on the cover and there isn't even a single kiss in the whole book
>predictable plot twist
>final fight scene is boring as fuck and like 40 pages long

Why do so many people on here recommend this shit?

>>14526599
Nobody on here recommends that shit.

>>14524498
The story about the chicken fighting the angel is pretty obvious. Evolution vs creation, determination vs free will. I don't know what the sealers story was suppose to be about. The one told by the ascian is about how we shouldn't try to find the meaning of something by slicing it into pieces. folios story was about the story contest and who won it.

books with demons thats not the fucking warded man please

>>14526663
Warding Male is pretty good. So is Man of Warding.

>>14526663
Chronicles of the black gate
Southern Watch series

>>14525631
Elric of Melnibone

>>14520311
>I just feel like magic should feel like some ancient otherworldly shit most normal folk won't see in their lifetimes
Oh. You're one of those.
You should read low magic books like GGK(you're probably the shill) or ask lit for magical realism.

>>14522689
Pol'd and brainlet pilled.

>>14526034
>now incels are also trannies
Yall pol types would grab at any straw, huh?

>>14526599
The only time I've seen people recommend it on here they said the publisher description was a lie, so good job with that reading comprehension I guess?

>>14524499
Is there a truck kun?

>>14523236
Based Med BVLL

>>14525376
Search the last thread for the book you read, and read the other books you see listed.

>>14526107
Yes?

>>14526599
>baits assblasted y/u/riniggers and SJWs with a supposed lesbian romance and blows them the fuck out
>filters normalfags looking for a 'space adventure'
Based as a fuck, I hope more books get advertised as being gay friendly and kill them off a few chapters before the end just for all the tears.

>>14527508
eating your girlfriend's soul is the purist form of love

>>14526663
Book of the New Sun, obviously

Is the whole Dune series actually good or just the first book?

>>14527591

>>14527591
It goes like:
Messiah > God Emperor = Dune > Children of Dune >>> Heretics=Chapterhouse >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Whatever his son and Anderson are doing right now

>>14527607
>>14527611
Alright thanks, looks like up to God-Emperor is worth reading.

>>14527611
>>14527607
So why is the first 3 so often listed as a trilogy if Children is only for leading into God Emperor? I just picked up the hardcover trilogy to finally read past the first, how is the ending to Children without continuing?

What does /sffg/ think of power metal?

>>14527631
Probably because of the massive timeskip after Children

>how is the ending to Children without continuing?
No worse than Dune's

I'm still upset we skipped the entirety of the Jihad between Dune and Messiah

>>14527637
I like it, the cheesier the better. Powerwolf and Beast in Black are great as well.

>>14527698
We don't even see the Battle of Arakeen at the end of Dune.

>>14527698
Don't give them ideas, anon

>>14527508
Really? I got absolutely filtered by the lesbian marketing. Maybe I might actually read it.

>>14527611
>Messiah above God Emperor
>Messiah above Dune

>>14527524
As a person who got strung out by that trope multiple times, I kind of hate it. Especially when the author pretends that the other character who sacrificed themselves is still aroundonly to reveal they were merely pretending or the author just blueballs you the whole time. This trope rarely ends well and usually they either come to terms with the fact that the character is truly gone or the character comes back wrong.

It's up there with the character has their mind state/thoughts transferred into a new clone and please just take that to mean that the character's 'soul' has been transferred uwu (in a scifi where the concept of a soul doesn't exist) tier annoying

>>14527889
Really liked Muad'dib fucking up and his empire collapsing under his very eyes

>>14521300
The Worm Ouroboros is more this than any book I've ever known. EVERYTHING gets described in this ridiculously beautifying way. It rules.

>Wondrous fair was the great four-posted bed of the Lord Juss, builded of solid gold, and hung with curtains of dark-blue tapestry whereon were figured sleep-flowers. The canopy above the bed was a mosaic of tiny stones, jet, serpentine, dark hyacinth, black marble, bloodstone, and lapis lazuli, so confounded in a maze of altering hue and lustre that they might mock the palpitating sky of night. And therein was the likeness of the constellation of Orion, held by Juss for guardian of his fortunes, the stars whereof, like those beneath the golden canopy in the presence chamber, were jewels shining of their own light, yet dead wood glimmering in the dark. For Betelgeuze was a ruby shining, and a diamond for Rigel, and pale topazes for the other stars. The four posts of the bed were of the thickness of a man's arm in their upper parts, but their lower parts great as his waist and carven in the image of birds and beasts: at the foot of the bed a lion for courage and an owl for wisdom, and at the head an alaunt for faithfulness of heart and a kingfisher for happiness. On the cornice of the bed and on the panels above the pillow against the wall were carved Juss's deeds of derring-do; and the latest carving was of the sea-fight with the Ghouls. To the right of the bed stood a table with old books of songs and books of the stars and of herbs and beasts and travellers' tales, and there was Juss wont to lay his sword beside him while he slept. All the walls were panelled with dark sweet-smelling wood, and armour and weapons hung thereon. Mighty chests and almeries hasped and bound with gold stood against the wall, wherein he kept his rich apparel. Windows opened to the west and south, and on each window-ledge stood a bowl of palest jade filled with white roses; and the air entering the bed-chamber was laden with their scent.

>>14527637
I think it belongs in >>>/mu/ you filthy non reading board hopper.

>>14527937
Zzzzzzzzz

I've finally come round to reading Wheel of Time, and after some 150 pages I can say that it feels very old school, but in a way that I've completely missed up to this point: not Tolkien or people from that age, but someone who got popular as DnD really took off. Perhaps it also reminds me a bit of Shannara. I've read a good deal of fantasy and I like seeing how writers approach world building, magic systems, politicks, combat...

...anyway, this is perhaps the book that most reminded me of wRPG games, from Baldur's Gate to Temple of Elemental Evil, and I'd say that the inspiration Bioware and Troika found in Jordan is pretty obvious. There is something wonderfully naive about Trollocs and ferry ride and mist and whatever. It's very theatrical and contrived and Shannara-tier retelling of LotR intro...

... I somewhat like it. It's fucking humongous obviously and I doubt I'll read much farther but it's not bad. Perhaps if I ran into it when I was a teen.

>>14523261
Malazan is a mix of grime-dark and high fantasy; hurling balls of energy between the slums. I hate magick in that game..I mean novel.

>>14527631
If you picked up hardcover trilogy you have shit taste solely based on actually buying a book that cumbersome, ugly and expensive. That's before we go into that it's not complete since God Emperor is missing.

What you fags reading?
I got some fresh self published trash to see me through.

>>14527637
melodic power metal is where its at or failing the availability 80-90s thrash metal can substitute.

>>14528173
Well it was pretty cheap and I really didn't like the format of the really chunky narrow massmarket paperbacks I saw for messiah/children, so it was easier.

What is the definitive releases, that aren't dumb tiny massmarkets or huge trilogies then?

>>14528629
well i think that the most common paperback edition of dune has decent format (that orange book), not sure about the binding. there are some more expensive hardcore ones

anyway, my point is that i hate hardcover a4 format type books

>>14522828
>>14523002
The apocalypse and 1900s aspects seem a bit tacked on. I feel like you could do better without some gaslight aesthetic. Also would you really want to call it just “magic”? Seems like you could go further than that.

>>14528652
>anyway, my point is that i hate hardcover a4 format type books
That's your problem bro.

>>14528161
I tell people not to read WoT but I'm the first to admit that the first 3-4 books are really quite enjoyable, for exactly the reasons you mention.

>>14528795
Well I know the series is not finished, but I don't mind reading anything as long as it's enjoyable. It's just that I'll probably not go too far with it because it feels like a deja vu, which is not bad per se, but not good either.

>>14522828
scrap the 1900s aesthetic and go for something original. kind of inauthentic for the people to just land on the 1900s look out of nowhere.

>>14528924

I guess it doesn’t need to be that aesthetic. I wanted there to be semi-modern technology that is still dwarfed in comparison to the much more impressive feats of the older human civilization, and so 1900’s era just seemed like a good fit.

>>14528821
WoT is finished, and book1 was intentionally similar to LOTR.

>>14527591
I saw a book by Herbert that wasn't Dune, I can't remember the title but it was about some prison planet. Should I have bought it?

is malazan any good? from what i've gathered it seems like discount Wolfe

>>14528821
I'm not one of the purists considering the series unfinished. It just went to shit during the middle books and never recovered.

>>14529164
The Dossadi Experiment? If so, yes, you should.

Has there ever been an author as hit-or-miss as Herbert?

>>14529386
one hit wonder is not "hit or miss"

>>14529432
Sure it is, it just means you missed a whole lot.

>>14522828
Hardly anything will work after no maintenance for centuries

Imagine people trying to drive cars with moonshine too
Shit just breaks down

>>14520311
Except there was very prevalent magic in lord of the rings, only very subtle. Aragorn taming horses, Gandalf fighting with the balrog, the whole ent story, the palantir, the morgul blade. It's all magic, only your mind is not "trained" to see it as magic, only as odd occurences. Except it really is just that, magic.

I see too few people having an understanding of what soft magic is. It's not "some ancient otherworldly shit most normal folk won't see in their lifetimes". Soft magic is something otherwordly but prevalent within the metaphysical engine of the world itself. Like rain drops, each occurence random but undeniably reliable.

>>14526663
You dont like arab dick sucking?

>>14522828
Is this Turn A Gundam?

>>14529432
>implying the Dossadi Experiment isn't good
>implying The White Plague isn't good

The White Plague, taken as a single novel, is better than any of the Dune novels on their own

>>14527611
Disregard this pleb

Heretics > Chapterhouse > God Emperor > Messiah > Dune > Children

I've read the whole series thrice.

>>14530097
I love soft/folk magic. Have you ever heard of talking the fire out of people? Apparently in some Appalachian communities there's someone that can heal burns by scolding the fire in your skin and demanding that it leave. Maybe it's a placebo thing, I have no idea, but it's a reasonable thing to believe given certain priors (fire being alive, humans having authority over other life). That sort of thing is way more interesting to me than RPG leveling.

>>14530154
You've structured your bait really well tebehe

>>14530171
Not a bait. I like the whole plot of endless hordes of people returning from the depths of space after hundreds and thousands of years because (apparently) they weren't able to cope with their new "enemies", whoever Frank Herbert intended the enemy to be in the end, be it highly evolved face dancers wielding biological weapons, or something else.
Teg's ascension at the end of Heretics was perhaps the most awe inspiring scene I've read in any book, except maybe some parts of Book of the New Sun. And at the end of the say, the Honored Matres were a pretty good villain, so alike with the protagonists but so clearly corrupted. Those are always the best bad guys.

Maybe my rating was a little harsh, but Heretics > Chapterhouse = God Emperor maybe.... Good Emperor was especially good in my opinion. I still re-read parts of the book now and again.

More importantly, what do worms eat (apart from sandwiches)?

>>14530580
Halves of apples.

>>14525663
that is a sexy cover, and easily one of the best neals

>>14530160
You have mastered self-delusion.

Fuck E William Brown and his paywall

>>14526599
Fuck. I wanted to read this next. Of course it turns out to be shit.

>What struck me on the beach–and it struck me indeed, so that I staggered as at a blow–was that if the Eternal Principle had rested in that curved thorn I had carried about my neck across so many leagues, and if it now rested in the new thorn (perhaps the same thorn) I had only now put there, then it might rest in everything, in every thorn in every bush, in every drop of water in the sea. The thorn was a sacred Claw because all thorns were sacred Claws; the sand in my boots was sacred sand because it came from a beach of sacred sand. The cenobites treasured up the relics of the sannyasins because the sannyasins had approached the Pancreator. But everything had approached and even touched the Pancreator, because everything had dropped from his hand. Everything was a relic. All the world was a relic. I drew off my boots, that had traveled with me so far, and threw them into the waves that I might not walk shod on holy ground.

If everything is holy, then why discard his holy boots? He would be walking on holy ground wearing divine boots and avoiding blisters the pancreator clearly didn't intend for him to have since he was given the sacred boots. This reeks of heresy.

Been rereading Book of the New Sun and it strikes me how alien are the exultants. They are described invariably as grossly tall, like they would look at an adult man as an adult would look at a kid, with triangular or heart shaped heads, long limbs, odd colored eyes (Thecla has violet eyes). Based on description they resemble aliens, and it's a subtle hint at how different are the values of beauty in that world.

Any other simple but intriguing oddities you particularly enjoyed in the book?

>>14531432
Reference to washing feet in the biblical tradition. Stepping on anything with boots on is a disrespectful act, not because the boots are unholy, but due to tradition and culture. Even if I know for a fact it's clean outside, I would still except you to remove your shoes when you step into my home. It's that sort of deal.

Don't be so pedantic.

>>14531525
expect*** damn sausage fingers.

>>14531507
I always thought gene was just exaggerating the ovalness/heart shaped features of their heads, since severian is mistaken several times as an exultant simply by being tall and pale. He's certainly never described as alien

>>14527637
Noldor and the entire middle earth album in general is the greatest thing to come out of power metal

Guys, recommend me some good books about alien invasions (specifically the after part, with the humans living under alien ruling)

>>14531543
Well he specifically said Thecla was too tall to stand straight in her cell, and since nobody else is ever described as being too tall to stand straight (Severian said somewhere in the beginning that he is already tall enough to be considered adult by other adults) I see her as truly abnormally and freakish tall.
And he specifically says her face is triangle-shaped with large eyes, with a V hairline that goes down her forehead. Her hand is described as "unimaginably thin" and white.

I don't think Wolfe is exaggerating. Remember, BotNS is supposed to be "100% real guise" and it's written as if from the true perspective of Severian. For him, something very tall, skinny with a triangle face is seen as a normal beauty standard, not something alien like it would be for us.

/sffg/, how do I write an adventure story without it being boring as shit?

I find that far too often, journeys are the most boring part and it's fixed settings that are the most entertaining

>>14531571
Some of the Xeelee books have this.

>>14531525
He discards his holy boots though. Pure heresy.

Anything where the protag dies mid way through the story and everyone is like "oh shit what the fuck do we do now?"

>>14531115
>Single post from random anon determines what I think and do

>>14531543
>severian is mistaken several times as an exultant simply by being tall and pale
Remember the normal plebs don't see exultants that often. For them, a particularly tall guy might as well be an exultant. But whenever Severian encounters an exultant (like say Vodalus or Thecla or Ultan), he always mentions how THEY look like TRUE exultants. So it's obvious true exultants are more than simply tall humans.

>>14531592
You gotta add interesting things to discover along the way, like catgirls

>>14531604
Only thing that comes to mind is something with two protagonists at war with each other and halfway through one dies and other takes over. The other half is about how the remaining protagonist is lost without a worthy adversary and he dies at the end as well.

There needs to be a Wolfe general to contain all the Wolfe posting.

>>14531608
Was it ever described what they were? It's been a while and I don't remember. Not that it really matters. They sound like Ousters from Hyperion or something.

>>14531604
The closes thing that comes to mind is this:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36452106-fate-of-the-fallen
Its a what if the evil guys win and everyone just rolls with it book.

>>14531688
Wolfe posting doesn't happen that often.
Plus they're the best posts in any thread.

>>14522828
I've seen a few stories like that (I think George R. R. Martin himself has wrote some similar stories and this is not a particularly original trope in stories where there is space exploration). I liked the setting until you said the society will look like the 1900s. It just doesn't feel right that the style, art and culture of that period would work in a post-technology society. I would go for something more similar to current world instead. Anyway, it's your story. Setting is nothing if we don't know what you're trying to convey.

>>14531669
What book is it?
>>14531705
Looks very interesting. How do some people have reviews already if its release date is July 2020?

>>14531571
The Alien Years by Robert Silverberg if you want something more existential.

>>14531727
>if its release date is July 2020
Goodreads is really bad with actual statistics.
https://www.amazon.com/Fate-Fallen-Kel-Kade-ebook/dp/B07LF5DQ15
The amazon page is more informative. Didn't know there was a hardcover i thought amazon print on demand service does pocket books and paperbacks only. Neat.

>>14523002
>Villains are those godly creatures above everyone else manipulating everything
Don't do that. The conflict you characters face should come from their own choices, not some higher than life superior power. A good advice for fantasy is 'keep it leveled'. It's easy to exponentially rise the stakes until you lose track of it, but be aware that what makes a story interesting are the human connections inside. Universe building is just supposed to establish the board where the game is played.

>>14522982
Your sentences are too long. And I know this is specially hard in fantasy/sci-fi, but try to use less adjectives. Let the imagination do some of the work for you. Less is more.

I would expect any author mentioned in the same breath as Peake to have an original and vibrant style, but I found Wolfe's writing to be simple without being elegant. His language and structure serves its purpose, only occasionally rising above mere utilitarianism, and then he rushes to florid flourishes that fall flat as often as they succeed. Sometimes, it is downright dull. The prose of the second book is stronger than the first, but its plot and characters are more linear and predictable.

He is better than the average fantasy author, but he resembles them more than he differs from them. His protagonist started off interestingly enough: an apparently weak and intelligent man, which made it all the more disappointing when he suddenly transformed into a laconic, wench-loving buttkicker who masters sword-fighting, finds the Super Magic Thing and follows the path of his Awesome Foretold Fate. Again, I must agree with Nick Lowe: Wolfe's plot owes more to magic and convenience than good storytelling.

It relies on the same tricks over and over: any time a character is about to give important information to us, there will be a sudden attack or other interruption, as convenient and annoying as the moment when the dying man says "I was killed by . . . aargh". We also get problems solved by divine intervention whenever things start to slow, which doesn't leave the characters much room to be active.

He also seems to suffer from the same sexual discomfort that plagues so many fantasy authors. There is an undercurrent of obsession with women and their sexuality, complete with the sexualization of rape and murder. It's not so much a case of misogyny as it is an inequality in how characters behave.

Then there is the fact that every character you meet in the story turns up again, hundreds of miles away, to reveal that they are someone else and have been secretly controlling the action of the plot. It feels like the entire world is populated by about fifteen people who follow the narrator around wherever he goes. If the next two books continue along the same lines, then the big reveal will be that the world is entirely populated by no more than three superpowered shapeshifters.

Everyone in the book has secret identities, secret connections to grand conspiracies, and important plot elements that they conveniently hide until the last minute, only doling out clues here and there. There are no normal people in this world, only double agents and kings in disguise. Every analysis I've read of this book mentions that even the narrator is unreliable.

This can be an effective technique, but in combination with a world of infinite, unpredictable intrigue, Wolfe's story begins to evoke something between a soap opera and a convoluted mystery novel, relying on impossible and contradictory scenarios to mislead the audience. Apparently, this is the thing his fans most appreciate about him--I find it to be an insulting and artificial game.

What fantasy books from the last 10 years or so can be mentioned in the same breath as The Iliad and The Odyssey?

>>14531785
none

>>14531785
crap, not 10, I meant from thte last 100 years.

Would you recommend "The Expanse"?

>>14531768
This can't not be a pasta although I agree with what is being said.
BotNS is still my favorite book of all time

>>14531785
>>14531785
the aeneid

>>14531854
If you like colored people, white man bad, strong women, fags, trannies, etc then yes its highly recommended

>>14527607
I liked Children more than God Emperor desu.

>>14531607
That's how the Vance anon, and Sanderfag/hack shit started. It just takes one.

>>14531934
How about if I like pol should be contained? I'm surprised you didn't say the aliens were space jews.
>>>/pol/

>>14532080
Yikes

>>14532080
>How about if I like pol should be contained?
I'm sure if you say this and post a link to /pol/ a few thousand more times it will eventually have some sort of effect. Good luck!

>>14526002
not really unfortunately, really can't get through the second one and I loved hyperion,

>>14531768
>There is an undercurrent of obsession with women and their sexuality,
Damn... so... it's about a heterosexual male?
>complete with the sexualization of rape
How can rape be non-sexualized? What the fuck?

How do I set up a spirit gathering formation around my house
Already have the jade

>>14532213
Don't forget the unbred goat and lots of condoms.

>>14532213
Depends entirely on whether you've reached the third realm of Qi Condensation yet.

Any decent Japanese fantasy that isnt some ancient text. At least within the last 100 years. Surely they have more than just hentai and anime. No light novels unless they are actually good.

>>14532159
>unironically using yikes on 4chan
>>>/r/edit

>>14531854
it was nice reading a sf book in space without aliens
until surprise, fucken aliens

>>14532179
Don't you know you rape with your eyes too! Stop watching me, even if I wear eye catching sexual clothes to catch people's eyes!

>>14532298
oof

>>14532298
oof

Did that shill for The Broken Earth finally leave? I've only been visiting a few threads lately but I haven't seen him around anymore.

>>14532306
>it was nice reading a sf book in space without aliens
Try Dune.

>>14532317

>>14531869
>>14532179
It's the top review on goodreads for shadow of the torturer. Those paragraphs are a fraction of it.

>>14532294
Guin Saga technically isn't a light novel but you'll have to settle with it only having a bit of the whole translated and it's only decent at best.

Moribito is also only partially translated and only decent at best.

Brave Story has been well-received but I didn't have any interest in it.

But yeah, mostly light novels.
Overall Japan isn't much for novels.
Something like 40% of all printed material sold in Japan is manga-related, followed by textbooks, and then novels, which probably a large amount of that is light novels.

>>14532458
Japan makes some good horror novels but its by the same 4 or 5 authors

>>14532458
Example:
>In the 2017 survey, 53.1 percent of the [university] students said they do not read books, including electronic, at all

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/02/28/national/majority-japanese-university-students-dont-read-books-pleasure-poll-shows/

>>14532458
What about Korea, or China (other than xianxia)

>>14532478
Too be fair I imagine the numbers are comparable in most developed countries.

>>14532506
Certainly not in the US
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/10/19/slightly-fewer-americans-are-reading-print-books-new-survey-finds/

>>14532306
try the Foundation novels.

>>14519859
any good dark fantasy come out recently - introspective character drama type, not the teenage slasher type

>>14532514
For the lazy, the College stat in that one is 81% for "some college" and 90% for "college+".

>>14532499
I don't know about Korea or China for fantasy.
The Chinese government subsidizes science fiction authors though.

>try to write a pokemonesque fantasy novel since Butcher butchered his original premise in favor of furries and starship troopers
>realize there's pretty much no way to keep the pokemon aspect at the forefront without it being cringy.

welp. I think I at least did it a little better.

>>14532555
A lot of stuff relies upon not thinking about it on anything more than an entirely superficial level or it all falls apart.

>>14532555
>pokemon prostitution
>pokemon abuse (animal abuse)
>pokemon bestiality
>undeground pokemon fight clubs
>pokemon used as murder tools and gang fights and other illegal illicit crime
>pokemon used in warfare and terrorism
>pokemon rapeing human (the humanoid fighting type machamps for example)
>pokemon used by cults and sex cults (psychic types)

I could go on. Just write some real world shit and add pokemon.

>>14532555
What book is that?

>>14532574
to be fair he fucked up the other way. I actually had to use my brain to see the pokemon parallels, since the alerans furies weren't even remotely like pokemon except for a few tiny scenes in the first and last books.

>>14532583
that's if you want to get edgy about it. I basically just ended up cribbing Suzanne Collins's Underland Chronicles and adding a surreal twist

>>14532587
The Codex Alera series. Supposedly, after his intentionally shitty wizard detective series turned out to be unironically fun, Jim Butcher challenged himself to pick two random shitty ideas out of a jar and combine them. He picked Roman Empire and Pokemon. The series actually turned out great, but he almost completely ignored the pokemon aspect. If you didn't know any better, you'd think he had pulled out Avatar the Last Airbender instead

Pokemon are our friends, not food!

they pretty tasty tho

>>14532608
>that's if you want to get edgy
Its not edgy, its reality. You know thats the kind of shit people would use pokemon for, not just the good stuff.

I'm about halfway through Messiah and I've never felt this much anxiety reading a book.

>>14532080
this wasn't me
>>14531854

>>14526034
Go be a snowflake somewhere else.

>>14532678
Have sex.

>>14532648
realistically? Dude, i hate to break it to you, but don't know shit about realism. Your idea of realism is Crawling in my Skin.

Think about the roles animals have played in our civilization since it's inception and you'll realize the kinds of things pokemon would get put into. Pets, pack animals, material resources. Imagine how farmers would use creatures that can produce water from thin air, cause plants to grow at astounding rates or grow wool made of electrically charged wires. Imagine how trade routes would have changed if people could fly on the backs of giant birds. Yes these creatures would be used for war, it's hard not to imagine military uses, but you overlook the fact that these are everyday shit.

Is this the best science-fantasy book ever written?

I think it is

>>14531768
this is what happens when a sanderson consumer reads wolfe

>>14519909

imagine being such a bitch to the fantasy establishment you pretend the silmarillion is enjoyable to read

>>14532080
How about you contain yourself with a bullet in your own mouth, you dumb subhuman nigger?

>>14520150
Narrow it down to a list and decide using a random number generator.

>>14532833
I've decided on something for now, but I can't say what it is because that would influence the outcome.

>>14532833
this is literally what I do, I dont even care anymore

>>14530219
most exalted post. heretics is also my favourite

>>14530867
>missing the point

>>14531603
He holy placed them in the holy sea

>>14531571
Count to the Eschaton

>>14533093
Even if the point was "this is more interesting to read about", that doesn't mean my statement was wrong and you don't disagree with that.

Which one's the preferred illustrated edition of Lord of The Rings? Want to read it in English this time round, and also want a nice copy with colored illustrations (Nasmith, Lee).

>>14532350
Not him but Broken Earth are among the better series released during the last decade.

>>14532778
I'm assuming those 3 are relatives and also a polyamorous collective.

>>14532653
Alright, finished Dune Messiah
That was nowhere near as bad as I was lead to believe. People shit on it endlessly but I found it entertaining throughout and the ending was sad yet triumphant.
Dune 9/10
Messiah 7.5/10

>>14532350
The Broken Earth is a good series you fucking retard

>>14533705
I've never seen people look down on Messiah. At worst I've seen people say it feels like an epilogue to the original.

If I haven't made a post about making a new thread by pg. 8 after it reaches the bump limit, then that means I'm still asleep and won't be making the new thread. Not going to wait despite being close to the bump limit.

>>14522689
kinda looks like amanda seyfried

I'm reading book 4 of WoT after a break and need a reminder on what Min did in book 3 - I looked at a spoier free wiki already, she tagged along with Perrin and Moiraine to look for Rand, then got sent to the White Tower (why?). so at the start of book 4 why is she still traveling to WT months after the Egwene gang came back?

>>14533820
ok nevermind, the girls got back from their *book 2* adventure months ago, their book 3 adventure is unknown to min.

>>14533176
>being interested in appalachian folk magic means you except uncritically the claims of those involved

>Wheel of Time
I want to read this series but I am weary of cuck elements. I just want decent fantasy without politics, homosexual agendas, muh stronk independent women who dont need no man, interracial, actual cuck stuff, trans bs, and the like. You can have all those things normally if it fits naturally but 99.99999% of the time its forced nonsense and I hate it.

Back in the day for example when the Blade movies came out, if was the coolest shit even though Wesley Snipes is black (fuck the IRS) and no one cared he was black, but today now when there is a black person the first thing people think is there is an agenda being pushed because the faggot directors and what not cant shut the fuck up about people of color representation in media all over social media and its obvious what they are doing. No one cared that Charlies Angels had 3 women back then, but todays remakes, Ghosbusters bragging about being all female, Oceans remake with all women etc all ran adverts about how inclusive it was and how they added woke jokes and shit then complained when it tanked, Terminator, etc. So now it matters and pisses many off because of how obvious it is.

So really is Wheel of Time good? Or is it junk? Sorry for the rant.

>>14533933
WoT is literally the opposite of that.

>>14533933
It's shlock

>I just want decent fantasy
Lyonesse

>>14533938
Not the guy but is it really? I dont know why but I always assumed the opposite. Maybe it was a copypasta I read, or something about Sanderson. Not sure. Or the Netflix adaptation casting I saw memes about.

>>14533933
>homosexual agendas
>muh stronk independent women who dont need no man
>interracial
You will get these in WoT.

>>14533968
The Amazon adaptation is getting completely cucked but that's just because it's an amazon adaptation. The series itself couldn't be further from that if it tried.

>>14533972
>>14533987
>>14533938
you guys seem to disagree

>>14533991
>Interracial
Mat slays black puss
>Stronk women
Aes sedai think they are this, they aren't
>Gays
I can't actually remember any gays in it aside from Aes Sedai the red ajah being a bunch of man hating lesbians.

Heya, going overseas for a few weeks and just picked up an e-reader.
what are some good hard sci-fi books to kill time travelling?
I've read most of Peter Hamilton's stuff and enjoyed it for the most part, interested to dive into something similar if there is anything.
Sorry if asking for reccs is bad form

>>14533991
>homosexual agendas
Various novices in Tar Valon, in the main series this is mostly implied however. And there's no male homos from what I can remember so maybe it won't bother you.
>muh stronk independent women who dont need no man
More or less every woman in the book. The whole thing is written with the perspective that men are from Mars and women from Venus, which is why every character have an inherent difficulty understanding the actions of anyone of the opposite gender. Some people find this infuriating, and being mad about the women of WoT is quite common in this thread.
>interracial
Tuon x Mat. And while there are no true niggers on the main continent before Tuon and friends arrive the continent is quite diverse, so for example Faile and Perrin is technically an interracial couple.

>wheel of time
>no cuckery
kek. Have they even left not-Shire before Rand gets butthurt because his girl is cucking him with some gypsy they met on the road?

>>14531507
I enjoyed how instead of saying things like "the sun set" Severian says stuff like "the Urth turned her face away from the sun". Subtle but shows that the society they live in has a good understanding of the solar system.

It's been a long time since I read WoT (there were about 10 books when I stopped), but regarding the stronk independent womyn characters, IIRC a lot of them get a good spankin' at some point.

>>14534269
why is it that fantasy writers can't seem to resist inserting their fetishes into their work?

>>14534295
>Why did they put their sexual fantasy in their fantasy book
damn I dunno

>>14533558
The hero and the woman are banging. The old guy is just their sidekick.

Who is the Philip Marlowe of SF?

>>14527637
I'm more into black metal and dungeon synth

>>14534350
Too bad. Anyway, that's a great looking cover.

>>14534653
It's a lot of fun. Pulpy yet smart.

>>14531507
I'm only halfway through the second book but I always thought of them as mutants

anyone read this?

>>14533933
>>Wheel of Time
redpilled on the fem q

>>14519859
new thread >>14534823