/lit/ - Literature

MONTHLY BOOKS
Goodreads Discussion
The Snail on the Slope by Arkady & Boris Strugatsky, ~256 pages, published in 1966.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1535134.The_Snail_on_the_Slope
0 /sffg/ ratings.
Begins July 1st. Discussion is at your own pace and asynchronous.

Discord Readalong
The Black Company (The Chronicles of the Black Company #1) by Glenn Cook, ~319 pages, published in 1992.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/140671.The_Black_Company
28 /sffg/ ratings, including the omnibus ratings. 4.14/5 overall.
Chapter 1 discussion starts Sunday July 5th, 3pm PST.
The book has 7 chapters, so we'll do 1 chapter per day, with the epilogue also on the 7th day.

Both
https://mega.nz/folder/boM2VYIL#tIAAgdpTC_khpDE5jLMAWw

Akka did nothing wrong.

GIVE ME PALADIN BOOKS
GIVE ME NECROMANCER BOOKS

>>15746048
Death Knight by Michael Chatfield
The Peoples Necromancer by Rex Jameson

>>15745544
They are 80s kino, and the sequel trilogy is even better

What are your favorite tropes in fantasy?

>>15745962
Time for sexy snails

>>15745959
>How do you feel about those who aren't fully organic?
I wear glasses and clothes so I'm not 100% organic. I feel fine about it.

>>15746132
Bad taste in snails.

Are there any books with a similar vibe to Shadow of the Colossus? Solemn hero, emptiness and loneliness following you on your massive journey to recover what was lost?

>>15746048
Necromancer - Gideon the Ninth

>>15746105
Super old and powerful wizard who's just so powerful he pretty much stopped giving a fuck about everything.

Anyone got any good pirate fantasy adventure shit?

>>15746294
liveship trilogy

>write a pretty decent trilogy but ruin it with a shit ending
>write some pretty good standalones
>start another trilogy and it's immediately shit

How do you fuck up this badly?

>>15745959
>gonna reply to the last threads prompt about whether or not cover art is important
Covers are useful for picking up/spotting books I would otherwise never give a try, but theres such a large amount of books that I want to read that I don't even have the time to give these random books a try. I don't like to let things outside of the actual text of the books influence how I think about the world within them. I try to avoid all discussions on books I'm interested in reading beyond a very surface level "I found this book to be enjoyable" from friends and critics/reviewers until I've fully read a series and digested the material. I disagree wholeheartedly with the sentiment that the cover art should play an integral part to the story or have some sort of symbolism, because most of the time these writers don't draw the art themselves, either they give an artist some vague ideas or their publishing company does. Just give me the name of the book and the author and let the actual content within the pages speak for itself, more often than not the books I end up enjoying have lackluster coverarts that wouldn't have caught my eye.

>>15746442
why did you think the ending was shit
i didn't like it but i wouldn't call it shit i guess

>>15746105
Dwarves being jolly drunkards who work hard and play hard. My favorite race.
>>15746219
Not really. Try The Night Lands.

>multipov book where it's clear that one pov is the protagonist
hate this

>>15746086
Dragonlance holds insane nostalgia for me. There was this one video on youtube with Dragonlance artwork and this song I don't remember that I keep thinking about randomly even 12 years later.

>>15746546
Actually I think it's this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLMVQX5OjnI

>>15746495
Everyone except based cripple got shit on for the sake of getting shit on. He basically wrote in Red Country that he prefers doing endings with at least some happy note to them rather than muh grimdark edge.

>>15746523
one main pov can give a book a sense of direction

the character suddenly becomes a domestic abuser stuff in first law is what stopped me from taking it seriously any more

>>15746219
Book of the New Sun, d'oh

>>15746873
But that's nothing like Shadow of the Colossus

>>15745544
I read nearly every mainline Dragonlance trilogy early last year at 28 for the first time. Even that weird one by Jean whatever that I suppose isn't technically mainline but Wiki kind of lists it as so, anyway it was out of place.
They are VERY FUCKING GOOD HOLY SHIT I WAS SURPRISED WHY DID I NOT READ THESE AS A KID
People act as if the first trilogy and War of the Twins are all that exist.

>>15747100
I liked the one where the guy plays chess with the death knight who breaks a finger every time his opponent loses a piece

>Fall in love with the fucked up world of The Island
>Enjoy Blindsight on a conceptual level, if completely uninterested in the characters or the main plot.
>Read the rifters, uh, assume he was a young adult when he wrote that
>The short stories are mostly alright
>Check his blog to see if there will be a new work in The Island universe.
oof.

>>15745959
Any recommendations for bestiaries and guides on fighting various paranormal creatures/defending against supernatural phenomena? I'm looking for references for an Urban Fantasy story in a similar vein to the Hellboy comics. The more esoteric the method the better.

Fuck E William Brown
Fuck Pay piggies
Fuck Space lolis
Fuck Patreon
Fuck E William Brown

>that amazing city of alchemists and poets, mechanics and astronomers, philosophers and physicians, the heart of the only civilization in Middle-earth to bet on rational knowledge and bravely pitch its barely adolescent technology against ancient magic. The shining tower of the Barad-dûr citadel rose over the plains of Mordor almost as high as Orodruin like a monument to Man – free Man who had politely but firmly declined the guardianship of the Dwellers on High and started living by his own reason. It was a challenge to the bone-headed aggressive West, which was still picking lice in its log ‘castles’ to the monotonous chanting of scalds extolling the wonders of never-existing Númenor.

>>15747966
rational fantasy fucking sucks ass

So you know how in Civ V you can culturally conquer a nation? What if humans were culturally conquered by aliens?

>>15747991
I knew you could do that in Civ4 (aka use culture to convert other citie) but in civ5 all I thought you could do was to steal tiles

>>15748001
yeah I'm pretty sure that's how it was in vanilla civ v, but in brave new world they added tourism and shit so you can spread your blue jeans and pop music across the lands

Can Revelation Space be read alone or do I have to continue reading to get closure?

>>15748164
It can be read alone.

>>15746878
Never played that game.

>>15747719
Just accept that the author isn't going to publish for a very long time. He makes far more money on patreon than he does publishing. If he published the books, he wouldn't have anything to keep the paypigs on the hook for, they would eventually cut payments. So to maximize profits, he stops publishing, lets everyone know that chapters of the book you want are behind this paywall, then slowly trickle out information. A month with a single chapter from a book that you want, and then 3 months of 1 chapter each of books you don't give a shit about.

He will never run out things to post, and distract people with. And his payhogs will never be the wiser that if they pull out a few months, he will have that book published within one month. But what you expect? These are probably the same people who pay girls online and don't even get to touch what they pump thousands of dollars into.

>>15747991
Already happening at the moment if we believe certain philosophers.

>>15747719
Who is e william brown and why do you post this shit every thread? Did he fuck your girl or something? Stole your lunch money when you were kids together? Buggered your mom?
Why the constant "fuck"? Do you want HIM to fuck you? You some kind of homo?

>>15748432
some author who works real slow and hides his updates behind a paywall.
its literally just one or two anons that harp on about it. ignore it and move on.

>>15745959
Any books like LotR?

>>15746219
It has been many years since I read them and I cant even remember what the story was about but the "Faded Suns" trilogy by CJ Cherryh left me with exactly that elegiac feeling.

I had just discovered how to download music from iTunes at he same time and I read those books while playing Night Owl and Right Down the Line from Gerry Rafferty nonstop. Funny how the mood of those songs and those books have been linked in my mind ever since.

>>15746294
"Chase the Morning" by Michael Scott Rohan, with a good deal of voodoo and pirate-orcs thrown in.

What's Lord of Light like?

>>15748874
Like heroic fantasy or a story where the main character gives everything he has but still loses it all in the end?

>>15748927
Either of the above.

>>15745372
I'd heard some of that from comments on book retail sites, why is it?

>>15746442
The only thing I read from Abercrombie was Wizard's First Rule and it convinced me he's a hack and not worth reading more of.

>>15748951
first book single pov bildungsroman
rest of series is multi-pov epic fantasy where at least two povs are now unkillable gods at fighting

>>15748983
Yeah that's kind of a step down, but I at least wanna know how the story ends. Lots of loose ends left in book 1. A big draw though was the way it was written. It reminded me of Name of the Wind only with a likable protagonist.

>>15748942
Suppose you've already read children of Hurin

>>15749002
No I haven't. I'll give it a gander. Thanks!

>>15746105
The minor character who was a god the whole time.

>>15746442
Aberfaggot can only write a few types of characters
-grizzled veteran who's seen le too much
-snarky union soldier
-le badass female warrior/politician
-le spymaster
He's trash

>>15746315
He said good

>>15748164
The explanation of the big mystery (exactly why the Inhibitors keep wiping out intelligent species across the galaxy) doesnt come until a later book but it is pretty lame and unconvincing so you wouldnt miss anything. You would be missing out if you dont read "Chasm City" which is a kind of prequel to Revelation Space. I really liked that book.

Is Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun any good? Noticed I can get the lot for $40. Is it worth it?

>>15749102
>tfw I've read everything in RS EXCEPT Chasm City

>>15749135
Is this the 1st time in this general?

>>15746873
There's this but idk if it is anything like I asked. >>15749263

>>15749010
I'm not going to spoil it for you bit it takes place in middle earth in the first age, so many things that are gone or lost in the third age are still around, there's more elves and less humans and rather than the unlikely hero like Frodo you follow a tragical human warriors as he wrestles with the faith the world and his own action force on himself
it's meant to be a lot more tragical than the LOTR, more in the spirit of the finnish and germanic sagas

>>15749274
So that's a yes then

>>15749071
The funny thing is, characters are the only thing he does passingly well too. He''s possibly the laziest popular fantasy author ever when it comes to world building and is pretty bad at describing any sort of fast paced action. He doesn't really seem to know how to build suspense or make action meaningful either.

was this the peak astethic for fantasy book covers?
just keeping it simple

>>15749476
Using iconography from the book's story is fine, but having no title or author on the cover is not. It's just pretentious.

>>15749487
That art was typically used with the title and author, on various plain color backgrounds (white, red, etc). LotR has probably some of the most varied covers for any fantasy series, considering its popularity and how long it's been in print and continually republished.

>>15749487
Pleb

>>15748871
oh. so it's some autists who feel that the author owes them a book?

I just finished The Thousandfold Thought. I don't get it. Khellus is so aware and intelligent. Is he supposed to be the bad guy?

Fuck that, Akha is a fat cuck.

I just finished the 2nd book of The Three Body Problem. This is really great stuff. I wonder why we don’t see as much sci-fi from non-English speaking countries. I like how much Chinese thought goes into influencing the ideas.
Gonna start on the last one right away. I heard there was a fan-fic that was actually canonized by the author and published, is that worth reading after?

>>15750502
we don't see much writing translated at all

>>15750510
Just makes me wonder what other ideas are out there. I’m not going to claim that the ideas in Three Body Problem couldn’t have come from any country, but they’re clearly influenced by the Cultural Revolution and Chinese philosophy and thought as a whole, which adds an interesting layer to the story and shifts the focus towards some thins that American and British authors don’t always focus on.

>>15750526
Yeah there's clearly loads of really different stuff we just don't see because of it not getting tl'd.
And instead you end up with people like the Poppy War and Binti authors being billed as representing african and asian SFF when both authors have spent pretty much all of their lives in america so although they're writing from an immigrant context it's still a distinctly american outlook.

>>15750584
Well it’s interesting that you bring that up, considering that afrofuturism is, from what I understand, a mostly American idea. I haven’t heard much in terms of African fantasy or science fiction, only people who either split their time between America and Africa or rely on their heritage for inspiration.

>>15747670
>Any recommendations for bestiaries and guides on fighting various paranormal creatures/defending against supernatural phenomena
RPG rulebooks?

> Urban Fantasy
Dresden Files

>>15747719
>Fuck Space lolis
God I wish

How many books a years is too few? are you a pseud for struggling to finish 15?

>>15751293
>outerlit cuck looking for validation

This has to be fan-fiction.
I cringed at a few parts, but when a Taken called the Company "studs" I face-palmed.

>>15751366
Damn look at that stud on the cover.
Yeah it does sound rather faggy.

>>15746549
>2006 was 24 years ago

Just finished up the Dread Wyrm and I can’t decide if want to go right to the next book in the series or take a break and read something else first. I like the idea of taking a break, but there’s so many characters in the series that it’s easy to forget who’s who and what significance they have between books. Also I keep getting the feeling that there’s going to be a lot of little plot threads that get left hanging by end of the series.

Also Blanche a shit and did not need to be included anywhere near as much as she was.

>>15747719
Why do you feel that you are entitled to a book?
This shit of people fucking with authors like they are some vending machine needs to stop. He is a human being with human issues. If the book is delayed, so what? It will come out when it comes out. The author don't owe you and your sanctimonious ilk shit.

How good are the Elric books guys? Can they be read standalone or should I read the whole Eternal Champion Multiverse as well? Also, just out of curiosity, how plagiarised is the Witcher series in comparison?

>>15751672
Authors who ask you to buy into their stories and then don't deliver are punks.

>>15746219
Indigo Series by Louise Cooper
The Night Land
Maybe The Quest for Unknown Kadath
and The Wood Beyond the World

>>15748920
Anyone?

>>15751743
Lurk the archives, newfriend.

>>15751743
Zelezny is really good generally and Lord of Light is fucking incredible if you're familiar with the religious figures he's drawing on.

It's a solid scifi/fantasy without that but his characterisations of them are so spot on.

Any science fiction books about time travel, where the MC goes back to the past, impregnates his own mother, and she gives birth to the MC?

Asking for a friend.

>>15751984
All You Zombies

>>15751725
>Also, just out of curiosity, how plagiarised is the Witcher series in comparison?

I've only read couple of the Elric stories as they are the only ones translated into my language yet I can already tell it's obscene how much Witcher series plagiarised, not only from Moorcock but Zelazny aswell.

>>15752074
The only Witcher stuff I thought that held up was the short stories and guess which witcher stuff is the most heavily lifted from other writers lol

Is prince of thorns YA?
I want to read it but looks YA, someone who has read it tell me if it deals with YA garbage drama

chances of them ending up together?
I'm not a shipfag but I like their interaction and I want Kaladin to not suffer

>>15746442
he's a very limited writer who cleverly capitalized on the grimdark trend when it peaked

>>15752105
It's YA for the wristcutting kids.

>>15752105
It's a very deliberate sendup of the YA 16 year old genius protagonist setup.
Almost too deliberate given that most readers have had enough of the edginess by the end of book 1

>>15752123
>>15752126
What series should I start next then?
Mistborn? is that YA too?

>>15752135
Mistborn's alright (at least the first book that's all I read) but it's a coming of age and power story about a kid again, so if you really hate YA you might define it as such.
IMO just read whatever you want, as long as it isn't explicitly labelled as YA by both publisher and author it'll be mature enough for most genre fic readers.

>>15752158
Mistborn looks interesting but you guys hate Sanderson and I fear that I might actually like the book and start to think that I might not fit in with enlightened individuals of /lit/

>>15752135
If you are after a series, a few I liked are;
>The Book of Words - J V Jones (female author)
>Bas-Lag series - China Miéville (weird lit)
>Malazan Book of the Fallen - Steven Erikson (very dense)

>>15752135
I like the 2nd era of Mistborn books much better than the first, so I think it’s worth it just to get there.

>>15752166
Sanderson is fine at what he does it's just that you get bored of what he does after about 3 books.
As far as edges sanded off magic as anime power system fantasy goes he's probably still one of the best at it, even if you go back and read the authors that he hilariously transparently ripped off like Modesitt Sanderson is still probably the better read because he irons out the more grating tics of their takes on the same concepts.

>>15748954
Isn't that Terry Goodkind?

Reading Malice by John Gwynne and it's weird because I feel like there's the potential for something good here but the book is so fucking glacially paced that I might get bored of it before the plot even kicks into gear.
>>15752193
Yes, it's probably his best because it's before he got more editorial independence and went off the rails and it still sucks

>>15752201
Tfw read almost the whole series as a kid. Loved the first, but each book kept getting worse and worse. However I kept on reading them cuz I was already attached to some of the characters

>>15752229
almost wish I did because the batshit post/9-11 ones sound genuinely funny
like the protag just straight up enslaves a nation of pacifists lol

>>15751984
Time Enough for Love and it's sequels

>>15752166
Go ahead and read it. Be wary of the second trilogy as it ages down significantly.

>>15752201
Malice and the Valor were not bad, but it goes downhill from there, enjoyed it regardless, started second series Of Blood and Bone, and dropped it midway first book, to much gender equality, womanz are equal or better fighters than males.

>>15751726
>>15751672
GURM doesn't have a patreon.. but William does, so he does owe people shit. He takes their money every month and gives squat.

>>15747719
Don't you know he is dead?
https://www.reddit.com/r/DanielBlack/comments/ddh7a9/is_e_william_brown_still_alive/

>>15751293
I can barely finish 2.

>>15752166
>but you guys hate Sanderson
Think for yourself, mate. I picked up Sanderson despite all the haters and I enjoyed a lot of what he wrote (though not everything). He's pretty good at world building but not so much characters and drama. He makes characters that are "cool" but not really interesting, if that makes sense.

>>15752201
I tried to get into Malice and just couldn't be bothered to finish it. Felt like the author tipped his hand way too early regarding a lot of the mystery in the setting and I just lost interest.

>>15752105
If it had less rape and over the top edgy violence it would be YA.

>>15752732
I just read it had sword fights and started because of that. I've got stuff to finish off so if I get bored I'll give it at least one attempt at coming back to it later.

>>15746048
>GIVE ME PALADIN BOOKS
The Deed of Paksenarrion, shepherds daughter runs off to become a mercenary and eventually becomes a paladin, comfy

>>15750493
>Is he supposed to be the bad guy?
yes, and no. the No-God is real and a massive threat to all mankind. read the follow up series Aspect Emperor set ~30 years later

>>15751293
44 audiobooks this year so far, 45min commutes and 1.1x speed helps

>>15749465
Naw he writes action pretty well

>>15752135
Read licinious trilogy

>>15752962
>Ya and christian propaganda
nay thanks la

>>15745959
alright, simple question:
is the witcher series just a weaker version of the elric saga ?
reading the first witcher book but apparently people are saying it's essentially a rip off of elric which is "better" so its got me intrigued.

>>15752997
>being a Godless heathen in the current year

>>15746105
completely overpowered characters who could easily intervene in the story but choose not to out of lazy apathy or a code of rules/ethics

>>15746105
Dark Lordism

>>15752962
>The Licanius Trilogy
just finished this, pretty good. wished there was more character interactions, feels like a lot of the cast just gets forgotten or hangs around in the background not doing anything for large portions

>>15751366
always thought the black company had cringey writing.
in the first book they're watching young girls get gang raped and one literally sees his brother get disembodied and they all just speak like grade schoolers, i legitimately can't remember if they even say a naughty word once

>>15748874

Try Battle Mage by Flannery. It's a fellowship story, has a strong lotr vibe, and it's just a great book.

>>15746105
So underdone it's barely a trope but I love the con man protagonist.

>>15750493
Yes he is but the consult are real and also evil. Fuck you Akka did nothing wrong.

>>15752201
Goodkind and Abercrombie aren’t the same person, friend.

One of my absolute favorite books is The Stars my Destination. I will always hold a special place in my heart for that classic

>>15753359
The only reason I even read SF is because I snuck upstairs at my grandpa's house at Christmas one year and started reading a copy Job: A Comedy of Justice he had on a shelf.

>>15747670
read stuff on actual magic + make up stuff

>>15749476
>was this the peak astethic for fantasy
a cover that is entirely unrelated to the book itself

I am working my way through Count Zero. Does Turner have autism or is did he get brain damage from the attack at the start of the book that blew him to pieces?

Are any of the Harry Potter copycats good?

Guys. Who are the Lightbringers? I've read a bunch of mythology from around the world, but it's only recently I started Lightbringer pop up. Apparently they are some kind of godkillers that has ties with the Egyptian gods? In all the instances I read them, they are always mentioned in conjunction with Egypt.

>>15748297
why tf did you type all dat shit out
like seriously

>>15752116
Motherfucker, Kaladin was only a good character when he was suffering.

Why can't I finish books anymore? I want to finish as much of my catalog as possible before the baby comes.

>>15752166
>>15752722
Mistborn is fine. The first one is the best (though I haven't read the sequel series) and you can read it as a standalone if you don't give a shit about the Cosmere.

Sanderson, like most authors, is at his best when he reigns himself in. I like Warbreaker a lot, because he wrote it as a standalone and so it's pretty tight and doesn't go overboard on the magic systems.

Thinking about predictive AI microterrorisim simulations, urban drone patrol, hostile architecture praxis... post-police corporate security patchwork, organized by upstream hyperracist neural network, crowdsourced from military class similar to uber...

>>15754175

Because you know that your failure is absolute

>>15754439

Boring and obsolete

>>15748297
I don't understand the hate for someone doing this. It absolutely makes sense for an author to use a subscription based service rather than cater to the publishing industry.

>>15746105
elves being condescending assholes to humans

>>15754170
this. as soon as he became big powerful anime man i completely lost interest. and apparently so did brandy sanderman given kaladin does jack shit after the first book

>>15753987
Aren't you a bit too old for Harry Potter rip-offs?

>>15753987
Do I really need to pull the pasta?

>>15753015

Elric is Conan for contrarian soibois. Just skip all the wangsting albino horseshit and read Conan

>>15755405
Conan! What is best in life?

>>15752135
Mistborn is about as by the numbers YA as it gets.

>want to get into a long fantasy series
>ask /sffg/ for recommendations
>"You should read 'x', but stop after book 2 because it gets shit"

Every time.
Are there any series that are consistently good, or get better with each book?
If so, what are they?

>>15755755
Have you considered doing it the old fashion way and looking for something at the B&N?

>>15745959
https://discord.gg/hwCvNpd

>>15755950
No.

>>15755906
Last time I looked in a book store, majority of it was YA teen sex triangle 'shit'. Tons of Cassandra Clare type books.

I had to ask them to special order some shit for me, which came dented as fuck.

>>15755755
Anita Blake

a AAA series from start to finish

>>15755645
To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you and to hear the lamentations of their women.

Many years ago I wanted to watch that movie on TV and they had cut out that exact scene. The old guy asked "what is best in life?", the first guy spouted his bullshit about the falcon on your fist and the wind in your hair and the next thing you saw was the old guy shouting "Goood!!1!!!".

They butchered that movie for the sake of political correctness. They also cut out the complete scene with the witch that Conan threw into the fire. I was so pissed off that I never watched TV again ever since.

Gonna try bring together a MEGA link with some epubs of Gene Wolfe's work. What's some Wolfe-core I mustn't miss out on?

>>15752808
>shepherds daughter runs off to become a mercenary
How many times did she get raped? Did the constant rape make her broken enough for a God to take notice and "fill her", thus making her a paladin?

>>15754175
>breeding in this day and age
You deserve all the shit life will give you in the very near future.

>>15754439
>all those buzz words

>>15754484
No I agree, it makes sense to do it. The thing is, brown only posts one single chapter a month for that money. Other authors at least release a chapter a week, and they release the book they are working on, not other materials no one wants.
Do you know what brown does in his spare time? He is on some d&d site where he writes prompts about d&d situations. He is a "fulltime" author according to his blog, yet he is pulling a George Martin and doing other stuff instead of writing his book. I think he also posts his d&d situations to his paywall, one chapter a month to fulfill his obligation for them to stay on. He is doing the exact bare minimum (one single chapter a month, and it's not the wandering inn long levels of chapters), delaying the release of a book people want as much as possible to maximize profits, doesn't interact with anyone and doesn't post on his blog like he promised he would, and playing his d&d game instead of writing.

I hope his paypigs wise up and take some time off funding him. He is slower now as a "fulltime author" than he was when he had a job. He is making over 2k a month for doing absolutely nothing. Brown better wise up, simps are the worst people to fuck with, when they realized that they have been taken advantage of, they go out of their way to fuck you over. He is playing with fire. Also..

Fuck E William Brown.

>>15755755
Septimus Heap
The beginning after the end

are there any books that give off this energy?

RIP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85upaSdEOxc

>>15745959
I've never read Asimov. Which should I start with? Has he done any mystery based sci-fi like Arthur C Clarke tends to write?

>>15751366
Port of Shadows is simply a pointless sequel that retcons itself out of existence by the end. I wish the Domination period bits were more interesting, though.

>>15756480
the thousand year plan is a great story of his. you might like nightfall as well

>>15756524
>the thousand year plan
So, Foundation? Is that the best one to start with out of this series?

>>15756024
That is horrible.

>>15756024
where did you watch this? the UK?

>>15755755
the elric saga is a consistent 6/10 experience with the occasional heightening to a 8/10 with some books, stormbringer and the fortress of the pearl are the highlights imo.
just make sure you read them chronologically according to the story as the author has released prequels and sequels all over the place, don't read them in release order

Can we have an actually talk about this guy for a second.
There's something about him that's fascinating to me.
I just finished Oathbringiner, and with that I've officially read all of his Cosmere works.
They're not good. But there's something about them that makes me keep reading.
SA is something like 3500 pages already and it's only on book 3 out of a planned book 10. Now, neverminded the fact that he's going to die LONG before he finished his Mistborn and SA plan, but that shit is just absurd.

And here's the catch.
He's not a flowerly bullshit descriptive writer. In fact, he's fairly bland and doesn't write really any descritions or ever really paint a scene. It's like he writes in script form.

I just don't get it. Fuck you I guess.

>>15755755
Legend of Drizzt.
Gets kinda meh around book 26, but it's back to all it's glory with book 32.

>>15757093
There was an in-depth explanation of his publishing plans a few threads ago. I think the anon said it would take 30 years for him to finish stormlight. Check the archives.

>tfw you're on the last-route-before-true-end of a surprisingly good VN and you've got the goosebumps and the headspace of the wild esoteric concepts thrown at you
oh sweet baby if this can out ever17 ever17 I'll nut all over the walls

>>15757108
It was ~30 years around 2010 even lmao it'll never end

>>15757093
how is it possible for someone to look this smug

>>15757232
>no sexual content

What's the fucking point?

>>15757093
where could my pipe be...

>>15757257
>being a slave to your hedonism
are you a womyn

>>15757232
>It was ~30 years around 2010 even lmao it'll never end
Well every year he finds an excuse to stop writing cosmere books and write some YA filler shit. First it was the reckoners, then that guardian spinoff shit, then skyward. I'm sure by January 2021 you will hear he has a new YA non cosmere book series, that he will put all cosmere related stories on hold to write.

>>15757093
He looks like he can't wait to tell you of his lord and saviour..

>>15754381
Warbreaker was the one recommended to me as "one of his best" that I found so uninteresting I never finished it.

Nothing good is coming out in july.
Is Jeff Hayes too busy fucking Andrea Parsneau to record?

>>15757093
That's the thing about Sanderson, his books are just crammed with stuff happening. He does describe scenes, but it's so basic and lacking in ornamentation it barely registers in your mind. It's just a constant barrage of plot with him.

As ambitious as his Cosmere stuff is I'm not really worried. He's one of the most prolific fantasy authors ever, his idea of taking a break is to just write some other novel or start a brand new series. Outside speculating the plot there's not much to Sanderson's books though.

>>15753063
Ever heard of an unreliable narator. Croaker fucking says he is trying to edit out the bad shit as much as he can

>>15757504
Soundbooth Theater got a really bad reputation recently for doing bad practices. Like renegotiating contracts mid series. People dont want nothing to do with them. Andrea Parsneau is a different matter because she isn't working for them only with them. They hire her when clients specifically want her. Nowadays everyone wants her not only because of her talent but she isnt a dick about rates.

thoughts on the battletech books?

>>15757526
wouldn't he edit out kids being raped then lol

>>15757558
>Soundbooth Theater got a really bad reputation recently for doing bad practices. Like renegotiating contracts mid series
You think they would have learned after Jeff hayes fucked over William D Arand in the middle of a contract. People really are a glutton for punishment and like to feel hardship for themselves instead of listening.
I just hope everybody loves large chests isn't fucked over.

>>15757570
Kind of hard to edit that out seing how It was a big part of the story.( stuff with Darling )

>>15757570
The bad shit his group do. Them killing rapists makes them seem like heroes.

>>15755059
she needs to do a bit o' rip-offing herself if ye ketch me drift

>>15755645
anal sex
wait for it
.
.
.
.
.
with an uptight mage girl

>>15756650
>where did you watch this? the UK?
Germany. You wouldnt think that stuff is censored here but it happens. I have a German edition of Gary Jennings' book "Raptor" and a lot of the most brutal or sexual scenes are heavily edited or missing completely. There is also one book from the Horatio Hornblower series where Hornblower massively threatens the German tutor of a small German prince who is serving as a midshipman on his ship, that part is also missing in the German version.

What's /lit/s opinion on gay space necromancers

>>15757906
It doesn't appeal to me, but I hope that whoever it does appeal to gets their hands on it.

>>15757906
fun book albeit one that relies almost entirely on the strength of its character work

What are your favourite solarpunk novels /sffg/?

>adding -punk as a suffix onto random shit in order to create a "movement" that's just a couple of digital paintings in reality
>this same "movement" you've created is the very antithesis of the suffix because it's utopian
>also the creators are tumblr dykes

>>15756024
Based anon

What the censors didn't get is that you're not supposed to agree with Conan but understand his plight and desire for revenge. I agree with him for one. Conan ia still the absolute greatest fantasy film of all time, the Atlantean Sword scene is one of the beat i have ever seen. The score by Poledouris is so integral to the scene and the film itself I can't imagine it without it.

>>15758057
What's wrong with tumblr?

You gotta fish harder for (You)s than posting some visual tumblr garbage.

>book is a regular fantasy story
>sequel is an alternate version of the same story if the main character made a different decision at a crucial point in the opening chapters.

Are there any books like this?

>sequel doesn't start on page 400

>>15758128
Well, Last Temptation of Christ

>>15756229
Ok yeah that does sound shady. Do you know other authors doing subscription services, but the right way? I've had that idea but didn't know of people actually doing it before this thread.

>>15757519
This is the sense I got when I read the first Mistborn. The dude talks about worldbuilding but the world of Mistborn doesn't exactly inspire the imagination. It feels flat, like an RPG or a video game.

>>15757232
If it isn't ever17, what vn is it?

>>15757998
Trying a new tactic to get recommendations, I see.

>>15758117
It's gay

>>15758165
>Do you know other authors doing subscription services, but the right way?
William D Arand does something like that. It's just that his patreons get chapters before the book is released. I think wen Spencer gives chapters too. I don't pay attention much because I usually just get the final result. It's just that e william brown was fishy so I dug into his work ethics.

>>15758188
His approach to world building is to usually start with the setting, making it somehow fundamentally different from Earth, and then thinking up all the major ways that would alter life on that world, biologically and socially. After that he'll usually come up with the "main culture" that the story focuses on and everything else is filtered through that culture's perspective. The rest of the world only exists through the interactions with this culture and its history. You only know as much about the rest of the world as the characters who in habit that culture. In Mistborn, it's the Eternal Empire, even more narrowly, it's Luthadel. In Stormlight, it's Alethkar.

>Andrea P just finished up recording incubus inc 2. Next is editing and putting it up for Audible, but it's moving along.
Well hopefully Andrea doesn't get another wandering inn any time soon. Those 100hr books took up so much time she could have spent on other books.
Do you guys think published authors browse sffg? I think William Arand does, he pops in his blog ever so often to give small updates... Will Wight also does updates regularly.
Do you think they don't want some butthurt fan posting about them every thread?

why does this read the gibson was having a stroke at the time?

>>15759040
did YOU have a stroke?

>>15759091
only over your mams tittays, bich

>>15745959
can we go back to the kino art styles of the early 70s for fantasy books already please ?
im sick of modern "abstract" covers that anybody could make

>>15759161
Fantasy novels used to be niche. With niche comes specification to audience and quality. They are no longer niche. We will never have the seventies back until we drive fantasy into the niche again.

>>15759040
Your post read like you had a stroke senpai

>>15759161
Take your shitty conan knock off and shove it.

>>15759110
My mother is ugly af and had sandbag titties

>>15746442
I mean he's rich as fuck, and his books are pretty readable so he's not doing too badly?

I read all his shit, and I always enjoy it, but I've heard him say in interviews that "originality is overrated" and I think that's a limiting attitude - his new book has the fall of Gotham in it, and opposing lion/wolf characters, so it did feel a bit underwhelming. Like, pick different animals. The hawk and the boar - boom done.

>>15759256
Bro, I think he's talking about Sanderson.

Looking for some Fantasy or Science Fiction that deals with existential dread. The MC's cannot win, regardless of what they do, and have to face that they will inevitably lose.

Any recommendations?

T H E
E L E P H A N T

>>15759323
i am legend kind of has that.
a revelation that his fight is not only unachievable but also pointless, doing nothing but harm when he thought he was pursuing the "good" thing.
might want to read it, it's barely over 100 pages either way.

I saw The Iliad in a bargain bin and bought it because why not, what am I in for?

>>15759520
You ever tried to read a phone book?
Basically that.

>>15759524
I read the war nerd iliad fairly recently which semi-directly translates it into a prose novel and it was so much more interesting than all of the attempts at direct translation I've read

>>15758929
Will wright sounds like he’s taking the criticism of his last cradle book more seriously, trueing to slow the pacing down a bit after it went haywire in the last book. So I’m sure they appreciate as long as you don’t sperg out on them.

>>15759520
Rape of women who you pulled off a horse.

>>15759323
>Fantasy
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever
Elric
>scifi
Stand on Zanzibar
A Canticle for Leibowitz
The Genocides (kind of lame desu)
The Simulacra
We Who Are About To...

any scifi where people fight against things like the zerg or tyranids?
read all the alien novels and starship troopers already. i kinda want a human versus xeno action adventure. can be set on earth or with a spacefaring humanity.

>>15755755
>2nd Apocalypse
>Wheel of Time
starts to become its own thing in book 2, 6th is worth reading the first 5 books just for it, gets a little dull until book 10 then a strong finish
>Malazan
you'll get thrown in the deep end of fantasy jargon but it stays consistent if not gets better

>>15756092
>How many times did she get raped? Did the constant rape make her broken enough for a God to take notice and "fill her", thus making her a paladin?
opposite actually, becomes a noble paladin through her deeds then sacrifices herself to a spider cult in exchange for their prisoner, they get a bunch of orcs to rape and torture her to corrupt her and true to her calling she doesn't break
>>15756480
>Has he done any mystery based sci-fi
caverns of steel and its following books are whodunit's, read his robot short stories first and then Foundation series after

Is there such thing as magical girl /lit/?

>>15758128
i know of a sci-fi example enders game & enders shadow

>>15758781
See this is exactly the problem with Brandon Sanderson. On paper that sounds good, but in practice it comes across emotionless and stilted. Not surprising. i watched an interview with Brandon once and he said usually doesn't feel emotions very strongly.

>>15759161
Abstract covers? Where is that being used? I wish covers were even more abstract if that's the case

>>15757093
i've never read fantasy and the idea of wizards flying around smiting each other with swords and drinking grog from a tankard makes me cringe. should i read mistborn?

>>15758207
Birth ME Code
Just finished TRUE END about 10 minutes ago. Highly recommend.

>>15759777
>>Wheel of Time
>improving each book
>strong finish
I don't think we are talking about the same book here.

>>15759777
>opposite actually, becomes a noble paladin through her deeds then sacrifices herself to a spider cult in exchange for their prisoner, they get a bunch of orcs to rape and torture her to corrupt her and true to her calling she doesn't break
How the fuck can a womyn, a sheep herder's daughter join a mercenary team and not be raped?

>>15760122
it improves up to book 6 and it does end well considering the author died and passed it on to sanderson

>>15760122
yeah bro every book is 800 pages of filler but there's a 5 pages battle at end of each book so it's good bro don't worry trust me

>>15760145
well its aimed at young teenagers and the orc gang rape came way out of left field

>>15759805
Mormonism kills your emotions. Do you think a healthy mind can be rejected day after day and still return to recruit you to their cult?

>>15759935
Maybe you should go back to outer lit.

>>15760148
>>15760155
The anon wanted constant improvements.

>>15760198
we all want constant improvement, we all eventually grown up and settle

>>15760057
>'Danganronpa + Zero Escape goes indie' clone
Hmm

>>15760158
She should have been raped since she joined the mercenaries. It shouldn't have to wait till she turned a paladin and needed a trial that would test her devotion. She should have been raped and broken from the start, and being stronger, filled with god because of it. I mean it is hot that holy things were defiled but a naive country bumpkin needs to be raped by a high test mercenary to show her the world isn't peaches and rainbows and bad shit happens when you make bad decisions.
But you said it's YA shit, so I'm not going to bother reading it.

>>15760233
I've never played Danganronpa but there is a LOT of similar themes from ZE/infinity series. And that's a fucking good thing because somebody other than Uchikoshi needs to be using this shit.

>>15760210
The gud ting bout books, is that unlike life, I can actually decide what I want and get it.

>>15759777
>opposite actually, becomes a noble paladin through her deeds then sacrifices herself to a spider cult in exchange for their prisoner, they get a bunch of orcs to rape and torture her to corrupt her and true to her calling she doesn't break
finally some fucking GRI content.

>>15760283
Why is rape so good brother?

sanderson is a hack

>>15757906
I won’t read anything with gays in it

>>15760456
guess you don't have a diary then

>>15759709
Codex Alera, although they take a few books to really show up.

>>15749364
Yeah, Turin is primarily based on the Finnish Kullervo from Kalevala. Both are vengeful characters who commit incest with their sisters and kill themselves in the end, with their talking swords, which are glad to do so. I'm sure there is more but that's all I remember of the top of my head.

Any suggestions for books with about alien culture clashing with our own. I live for the scene of a character analyzing/marveling over the absolutely pedestrian. I've read and enjoyed David Weber's Multiverse series, as well as C.J. Cherryhs Foreigner series so I'm undettered by unapologetic infodumps. Doesn't need to be aliens either, I'll take aliens or elves as long as there is a bunch of culture clash and blue and orange morality. The closer to xenofiction the better.

>>15756346
Book of the New Sun.

Is it good bros?

>>15754439
Seems just the world we're living in.

>>15753015
>>15755405
Elric is cool, don't listen to this i-like-conan-because-i'm-actually-the-opposite guy.
Conon is cool as well. Read both.

>>15761115
Neal Asher Agent Cormac series.

>>15761427
sucks

>>15757558
>Soundbooth Theater got a really bad reputation recently for doing bad practices. Like renegotiating contracts mid series. People dont want nothing to do with them
When will these fucks learn? The narrator for the divine dungeons series tried something similar on the author. Wanted to hike up price by four times, mid contract. Thought he was too entrenched for the author to dump him.. Author hired luke daniels instead, which too me a while to get accustomed to, but it worked out. Don't feel your hot stuff, you can always be replaced.
It's sad though. If explains why two series I was waiting for from soundbooth hasn't arrived yet. Probably will have to wait for podium to pick those series up.

>>15761457
More than your mom?

What's everyone reading?
Anything you expecting to be released in July?

>>15750493
he's basically what bakker wishes he could be: a super chad among mortals, guided by complete rational thought, no emotions or heuristics here.

bakker just can't seem to figure out how to make his stuff slightly more normal/comprehensible to the rest of us. Instead we're left trying to fit together a jigsaw puzzle from 4 different boxes that are missing half the pieces. PoN trilogy had some great events and seemed to be going somewhere. and then it just kinda turned into chad cucks akka and cnaiur fucks some dirt while a bunch of awful people act awfully. the Aspect-Emperor series gets worse with plenty of very intriguing settings and characters, all getting tossed away because muh depravity and pretty sure bakker has some kind of mental issues that he struggled with while writing these books.

>>15745959
She's kinda pretty desu

I've started reading the Culture series. Does it get better? The first book is really mediocre, and the protagonist is a real asshole.

>>15755755
malazan. book 1 is weakest when compared to the rest. books 2 and 3 are on my shortlist for best fantasy books ever written. books 4-6 take a different path that plays really well on reread. 7-10 are great too, and 10 really sticks the landing for the whole series (expected it to fail and was pleasantly surprised).

>>15761618
i'll be honest, i read consider phlebas about 3 years ago and haven't returned to the series since.

i was interested in what was going on with that AI core but instead it was a lot of poorly written spy stuff. maybe someday i'll return to them, but feel like there's other stuff out there that i'd enjoy more first.

>>15761570
The consult are genuinely great villains.

Any dirty fantasy like First Law that's not shit, lads?

>>15761322
Yeah, it's fun.

>>15759520
DIOMEDES DABBING ON INTERLOPING IMMORTALS

>>15761322
It's still Wolfe but it doesn't read like anything in the Solar Cycle. If you don't mind the childish tone of the first book (which some anons have likened to The catcher in the rye) you might like it. Knowing something about Arthurian and Norse mythology would help to grasp references and meaning for some of the layers.

Is the worm ouroboros the ultimate fantasy filter? Mythic is the only way I can describe it. Are eddison's other books as good? The worm seemed pretty stand-alone to me.

>>15762540
Unrelated, but Lord Dunsany is pretty good.

>>15762540
>Is the worm ouroboros the ultimate fantasy filter?
it's up there, together with Night Land and the Well at the End of the World.
and It's stand alone, the Zimiamvian trilogy only has a few passing references.

Sff is dead.
Nothing new!hs

>>15759709
write it

Why are female fantasy authors so obsessed with rape? Almost every single female main characters is raped.

>>15762919
ummmmmmmmmmmmmm because it's epic??? next question??

>>15761115
5th Head of Cerberus

>>15759783
Phantastes

>>15761618
Consider isn't even set inside The Culture, it's a pretty poor introduction.
Player of Games is the probable better and certainly more recommended entry into the series

>>15761618
Yeah, Consider Phlebas is really weak and the next three step up a lot. After that's it's more of a hit and miss series.

>/sffg/ - same books discussed every thread because people don't actually read here

>>15763699
I read all the fucking time, dude.
How do you think I know what you just wrote?
Dummy.

Thoughts on Vonnegut?

>>15763699
People here want to virtue signal by 'dropping' books with sympathetic portrayals of women / POC / sexual minorities.

>>15763699
I only talk about like 40% of what I've read because the rest of it has either been read by nobody else or just wouldn't draw worthwhile discussions here

>>15763859
maybe, just maybe, those books just aren't good?

>>15763897
have you seen the posts people make? they're not sticking around to see if the books are good or not.

>>15763859
hope she sees this bro

>>15763951
If a reader drops a book, then there are a couple options as to why.
1. The reader wasn't giving enough effort to enjoy it.
2. The book failed to meet the reader half way.
3. The book was actively insulting to the reader enough to push them away.
With modern books it's almost always 3.

>>15764009
You're forgetting that in this thread
4. They were lying about ever reading it
applies half the time

>>15763699
It's almost impossible to find new books that meet the standard.

>>15764013
Well if you're so jaded that you can't even believe something so simple as when they say they read a book of all fucking things, then I think you need to go out and do something else.

>>15764039
gottem' newfriend :-)

Looking for Vikings in space. Gene wolfe or something?

>>15746105
those mushrooms will grow and unfurl in a matter of days, destroying the homes
this triggers my autism

>>15764441
they're fantasy shrooms
they don't grow and unfurl completely

>>15764461
thank you

>>15764039
You sound awfully on the defensive for someone who supposedly "actually reads"....

>>15764465
any time, friend
any other nagging modern mysteries of fantasy that you would like cleared up?

>>15764536
i'll probably find a few as i read through the thread, will keep you updated

Seems I'm awakened. I guess I'll make a thread in a while or someone else can. Either way.

>>15764419
This might be what you're looking for

>>15764496
and you seem anal retentive

>>15751595
i gave up in the middle of the fifth book

>>15764771
I'd heard of it but i'd like something more nordic. I was thinking of writing a nordic sci fi fantasy world but scared ppl will think it's spacewolves from warhammer

>in the middle of the jungle with days until pickup
>being attacked by wave after wave of screeching lizards
>take time out of your defense to marvel that their "dongs are the size of a forearm"
What the FUCK did Drake mean by this??

A new thread
>>15765064
where the pretense continues

>>15759783
thumbnail looks like she's sucking a fat one

>>15764813
obviously. Why would I want foreing objects near my anus? I retain it's closure.