/lit/ - Literature

is there any cyberpunk that isn't incel wish fulfillment

What are the best character driven sci-fi and fantasy novels?

How do the Games Workshop property novels hold up?

>>16028285
GREGORY BENFORD

Do you know any good progression stories (cultivation/xianxia, empire/clan building)? Apart from the obvious Cradle, First Step and Fimbulwinter.
Just miss me with litrpg or female MCs.

Book club: https://discord.com/invite/KWPCM7m

The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68520.The_Winter_King

The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33413556-the-gone-world

Fuck E William Brown
https://williamscorner.blog/2017/09/05/re-launch/

>>16028453
>The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell
does it being a 25 year old book make it feel dated? i guess with the subject, it doesn't matter that much even if it did

>>16028285
>pic
books for this feel?

>>16028550
> dated
It feels like historical fiction, not fantasy. It almost feels more like SF. "Dated" is not the first thing that comes to mind when describing it.

I kind of wish I was shameless enough to insert magical realm into my stories.

Recently I have read:
>Ride Hells Chasm by Janny Wurtz
Okay, her prose was overtly flowery.
>All of the Witcher
Got sick of it by the end desu, Gerald and Dandelion parts were great.
>Magician, Silverthorn, A Darkness’s at Sethanon
Seems to be your run of the mill fantasy lark, enjoyable but forgettable

I have taken a break from fantasy and read some short novels, Hemingway/Tolstoy/Mishima/Dostoevsky. But the itch of fantasy is back.

My question: I am looking at starting Wolfe’s Shadow of the Torturer. However, all fantasy has seemed juevenile and sortve weak after reading the entirety of Malazan Book of the Fallen.

Will Wolfe break this curse?

>>16028366
The books I read were a bit dumb, but what did I expect from a glorified doll commercial.

>>16028673
Shadow of the Torturer is certainly not what you fear it could be.

>>16028673
>Janny
ehehe
>Will Wolfe break this curse?
Yes. But it might seem a little masturbatory and up itself in places. Stick with it for the satisfying journey and conclusion.

Starship's Mage went to shit this past two books. A good chunk of them is just trivial character drama. Protag is too far removed from the action, ending fight notwithstanding, and the author can't write a mystery to save his life. There isn't even any good world-building anymore, just people saying what they're about to do for a full chapter then doing exactly that in the next. The complaint of readers how space combat has become super stale since the first few books really got to the guy so he's doing pure politics and intrigue now but it's boring as fuck.

I doubt pic related is gonna be better. Probably back to boring space combat again. I hope Damien dicks the teenage mage-queen. Give this shit some actual drama.

Check out the first three books if you're so inclined. They're decent at least. Books 6 and 7 is pretty bland.

Can anyone here recoment stuff from Peter F Hamilton?
Is it on the same level as cixin liu, arthur, or assimov?

>>16028728
It went to shit after he stopped using his wits and magic to overcome obstacles, and just brute forced everything with King Mars Power up.
I dropped the book after 3.
I saw he wasn't going back to using his wits and magic to find solutions, he wasn't going back to messing around with runes, etc.

Really shows that when you get more powerful you lose yourself.

>>16028656
What would yours be? I have it in mine, I just make sure the protagonist / characters don't enjoy it. That way you can have plausiable deniability.

>>16028759
It's better than Liu, not as good as Asimov. Recent work's a lot more pozzed than Liu, if that turns you off.

>>16028550
>does it being a 25 year old book make it feel dated?
Ah, this is why /lit/ has such awful taste in everything. Zoomers.

>>16028759
His work has little value, he is not funny, world building is ok, but it is not great, story and plot very linear and uneventful, he has no concept of a plot twist, characters are many and they are just like random average people, completely ordinary. His space battles are his only strength and even that is not great. There is also copious amount of sex, it seems none of his characters are able to walk even 10 steps without having sex with a stranger.
Nights Down trilogy is ok, also Commonwealth Saga is passable ( the first two books), Void trilogy is also passable, some of his earlier works I read long time ago and can't really say anything good or bad about them. His new work is very pozzed.

>>16028773
I get what you mean but I happen to like book 3's plot and how it was executed so I stuck around. He actually got depowered and lost two of his 5 runes. He's a cripple now too but he can still kick a lot of ass, he just has a lot of relatively OP guards with him all the time. His missions chew through them like cake at fat camp but the tension is not the same. That said, he only kicks ass in the climax too because of his position. He delegates much of his old-timey adventures to someone else and it happens off-page. Really disappointing stuff recently.

>>16028861
>just like random average people, completely ordinary
Everyone's banging beautiful teenagers.

>>16028796
one of the girls in my story would have a few bedwetting scenes, that's for certain. it might even be fitting given her recurring fears about how other people see her.

the funny thing is, i did in fact end up giving her a weird fetish that's apparent in the story, but it's not one of mine and it's legitimately so innocuous I don't even think most 4chan users would realize it was a fetish unless I addressed it directly

>>16028861
>His new work is very pozzed.
I notice that a lot of bad authors are adapting pozzed language now. It makes their work feel really dated somehow. When I read Neuromancer, I thought the prose was from the fucking future. Still is now that I think about it. These new batch of authors need to do hard drugs before writing this shit.

>>16028913
yes, because everyone is a teenager due to rejuvenation technology, I guess if PFH is truly a visionary and is correct in his portrayal of future and longer or even unlimited human life spans then we as a species we are doomed, imagine not even being able to perform most basic of tasks without first having a night long fucking session.

>>16028950
Oh please, unless said fetish is sucking on collar bones then it doesn't even bear any attention at all.

>>16028861
>it seems none of his characters are able to walk even 10 steps without having sex with a stranger.
I don't understand why so many writers do this. Do they get off of it, like that fat fucker ASOIAF author who likes to describe food and desserts in excruciating detail?
Literally no one enjoys reading about sex except women. I'd wager even the chaddest of chads are probably in their loneliest state when they pick up a book.

>>16028972
What do you mean? How exactly have they changed the prose? In PFH case, his prose in Salvation is even worse than in his previous books, but the terrible prose has little to do with Salvation being pozzed.

does malazan live up to the hype?

>>16029009
Oh, I didn't care much for the subject. Just saying that I've picked up a lot of sci-fi books that have this pozzed language and they all feel antiquated already somehow.

>>16028992
from my experience, 4chan users will accuse literally anything you can possibly imagine of being a fetish. That said, I made her into tile patterns because of that really weird shitpost from /b/ years back

>>16029022
It's a fucking mess of a book that wants you to read the entire saga twice in one sitting. It also wants you to already have an encyclopedic knowledge of where and when characters are at any given time. Other than that, it's pretty neat. Keep extensive notes when reading it.

>>16029042
That wasn't a shitpost. How dare you.

>>16029038
I personally like and enjoy old prose, people talking like they did in 18th or 19 century. I think many new writers and especially bad authors/progressives/women who go into fantasy thinking they are somehow better than Tolkien choose this type of prose without actually understanding it or being proficient in it. Then you get a middle ages setting, people talking in middle ages accents about non binary genders and lgbtq issues.

>>16028715
>>16028721
Thank you gentlemen I shall commence with Wolfe after I finish Faulkner.

>>16029022
Yes. You need to read it brute force and go with it because they write it like you’re as familiar as they are with their 20yr old table top stories and characters.

>>16029004
>even the chaddest of chads
That's your mistake, then, isn't it? What you said applies for chads, not simp orbiters.

>>16029022
I read the 10 Erikson books. They were pretty good.

How good are the Hyperion books? Throughly enjoyed simmons’ the terror but unsure of his sci-fi.

>>16029151
Hyperion is okay. Fall of Hyperion is Eliot wank. Endymion is best avoided.

>>16029151
Hyperion's definitely more on the hard sci-fi side of the genre, but if you're OK with the occasional excessively long tangent about the singularity and other topics like that then you might like it.

I liked some of the sub stories in that book but honestly I never understood (or cared) about the big overarching plot.

>>16029151
Avoid like the plague. The jew is overrated.

>>16029038
>Oh, I didn't care much for the subject. Just saying that I've picked up a lot of sci-fi books that have this pozzed language and they all feel antiquated already somehow.
do you have any examples I want to know what to avoid

>>16029022
It's a very rewarding series if you pay attention and engage with the world. You can't really passively read it, there's too much going on and very little hand holding with introductions and explanations, at least early on. I actually took notes while reading this series for the first time, something I highly recommend doing.

>>16028861
>>16028797
hm thanks for the input.
What can you guys recomend me in the sci-fi genre?
I dont like pozzed stuff and "generic storys but in space" sci-fi.
I realy realy liked The dark forest from liu or roadside picnic

>>16029022
I don't know what hype you've seen or heard, but I'm guessing no, it won't live up to it. Because you sound skeptical. And in my experience people skeptical of hype are never impressed by the media that generated the hype. The hype serves only to give them an excuse to be disappointed. If you'd like I can give you an accurate description of what Malazan can offer, hype-free.

>>16029475
this may not go well with the rest of the board but have you read stephen king? 11.22.63, the revival, under the dome, also Dark Matter by blake crouch?

>Harrow the Ninth and The Tyrant Baru Cormorant coming out the same month.

Fucking yes sir.

>>16029513
Give him the character names too.

Would you guys go to Elfland if offered the chance.

>>16029022
Yes. Keep a few written notes instead of checking up the wikis, it will feel more rewarding.

>>16029600
The only universes I'd enjoy living in are Star Trek and the Agent Cormac ones.

Any opinions on the first law books? Concerned that dark fantasy means it’s gonna be cringey

Is old pulp magazine-tier fantasy unironically better than most modern fantasy being published right now?

>>16028366
schloppy geloppy genre fiction. if you like that, then there.

Should I move to Book Of The New Sun after I finish the whole Earthsea series? I am really loving Le Guin's work and Sanderson's stuff doesn't appeal to me at all

>>16029703
It isn't "teleports behind you" edgy, but it's very nihilistic. Makes GRRM look like an optimist.

What are Alistair Reynolds best books?
Will I miss out on a lot of references if I read a stand alone book taking place in a series' universe?

>>16029703
I read the trilogy and have zero desire to revisit Abercrombie's setting. He has a few good characters but he's one of the laziest world builders I've ever seen, and a very sloppy storyteller overall. He has no patience for setting a scene or building narrative arcs. He seems to grow bored with characters when they aren't fighting or suffering in mortal agony. He writes in the vein of GRRM, a limited third person style that leaps from character to character, but unlike Martin his jumps can be disorienting and take you weeks or months into the future (or past) without warning, making the sense of time in his stories as fuzzy as the geography.

And oh my the geography and setting is weak. He does the usual epic fantasy thing of having characters traverse continents and visit distant lands, but never bothered to create a map. This in itself is not necessarily bad, but with Abercrombie it just compounds with other negative traits to make it hard to even follow where characters are. He barely describes settings and all of the names he has for places are so generic and bland most of them sound like they were probably place holder names that never got replaced in the final draft. There's no flavor to his setting, everything feels bare bones like he whipped something up really fast so his characters could have a back drop to stand in front of while they get murdered or murder other people.

I think he would have loved to write screenplays rather than novels.

>>16029806
What a weird question. Read what you want.

>>16029867
Angland
Gurkish Empire
etc etc

His characters also have awful fucking names.

>>16029022
No. Only ADHD kids feel good about deciphering a book as poorly written that's missing any actual depth.

>>16029905
lol no one with ADHD could get through even half of the first Malazon book.

Is the kingkiller chronicles really that bad?

>>16029972
Only one way to find out.

>>16029972
I don't know and I don't intend to find out until the third book is out.

If this music video (https://youtu.be/L53gjP-TtGE)) was turned into a fantasy book, what would it be?

>>16029886
It's this weird mishmash of different culture names for no explicable reason. Which reminds me of another thing that bugs me about Abercrombie: he focuses a lot on battles, on military conflicts, yet is exceptionally terrible at writing about them. For starters, the completely nonsensical Union military, which is an unfathomably bizarre mixture of post-Napoleonic organization and feudalism. And you know, that sounds like it could be fascinating to explore to see how it would work, but of course he never explains it. Worse, it becomes obvious he doesn't really understand any of the terms he uses, so there's no consistency, nothing with which to form a base line of assumptions about how their setting works. Ordinarily when the author drops this kind of info on you, it helps paint a picture of the larger world and society the characters live in, but not so with Abercrombie. Just because he describes something that sounds like a feudal system doesn't mean the larger setting adheres to any of that logic. He just arbitrarily staples random shit together so there's no way for you to ever get a feel for his world.

>>16029972
I genuinely liked the books. I just can't stand Rothfuss as a person. He's an insufferable egotist, which is ironic because that's why I like the main character of his series. Kvothe, the main character of Kingkiller, is also a massive egotist, but when I initially read the series, I took that in stride, simply accepting that this was how Kvothe was, and his ego was part of him as a larger than life hero. But that's the most divisive thing about the series. You either like Kvothe or hate him. And you typically make this decision within the first 30 or so pages of the first book. You get introduced very early to Kvothe's ego and if it doesn't immediately put you off then you tend to warm to him. For some people though, an intense dislike of Kvothe settles in immediately and it never leaves.

>>16029905
ADHD kids drop the series less than 100 pages into book 1. You need to focus on Malazan when you're reading it, you can't be distracted listening to music or putting it down every couple of minutes to check facebook or whatever. There's simply too many characters, too many places and events to keep track of, a distracted mind cannot keep it straight.

So, hugo sjws are coming after GURM now?

>>16029545
Not the guy you responded to, but Dark Matter was alright, except I found it a bit difficult to feel bad for the main character or care much about him. Also, I kept imagining him as Jason Bateman for some reason.

>>16030194
Good. The future he chose.

What are some basic rules every fantasy writer should follow?

>>16030194
Good. It's always fun to watch them eat their own.

>>16029703
Rereading the first book at the moment. Its not cringy but he tries way to hard to be gritty and realistic. Reading "You can never have too many knives" gets a bit old after the tenth time

>>16030231
Rule #1: Don't pozz your story.
Rule #2: Don't let anyone else pozz your story.
Rule #3: If you must pozz your story, at least have the common decency to rope yourself
Rule #4: Magic systems are fucking gay. I don't give a fuck about your DnD Homebrew, fag. Move the story along.

Is Permutation City good? Some anon recommended it in a Blindsight thread as a better written book on the topic of consciousness.

>>16030231
Write a good story first, then think about worldbuilding later.

>>16030265
>Magic systems are fucking gay.
Absolutely not. Agreed on the rest.

>>16029703
It's really good as a teenager. Suspect as an adult.

>>16030042
>we wuz

>>16030265
>Magic systems are fucking gay

I tend to agree, but it seems like it's something most readers want.

>>16029038
Because they're writing for a crowd stuck in the past. Science fiction has breezed through all the current issues decades ago. Talking about LGBT is kinda dull in SF terms.

>>16029703
Tries a little too hard to be gritty.

>>16030355
but how do you write fantasy fiction, a novel with plot, story and characters and not have at least a semi defined magic system?

Is the Peter V. Bretts' Demon Cycle any good? I remember reading the first third of The Painted Man years ago but I never finished it

>>16030388
You don't need it to be defined, I think (also, what do you mean by defined magic system, is LotR magic a defined system?), but it can be nice. But again, you don't need to. Maybe magic is mystical and unexplained.

>>16029972
The cuck mentality (someone post that page) is annoying. The second book with that whole sexual prowess thing read too much like porn fanfic.
Still manages to be entertaining, just treat it as western LN/power fantasy and you won't be disappointed.

>>16030231
1) Don't explain everything at the start of the story. A fantasy with no mystery does not inspire curiosity or wonder.

2) Have an actual story to tell, not a meandering saga of indeterminate length and scope.

3) Be consistent. Characters' actions, words, and beliefs should be plausibly derived from the world they inhabit.

4) If you're going to split the point of view between different characters then make all of them essential to the story.

>>16030423
No it gets bad fast

>>16030423
Painted Man wasn't that bad, but it gets worse with each novel.

>>16030426
How about the ability to use magic? Do people just have it, are born with it, acquire later in life, what about magical energy, the types of magic? I guess this all falls under magic system. Having a character just wielding random magic at random times with no explanation will just ruin any story.

>>16030531
What if it's bizzaro?

>>16029856
Chasm City is the best place to start with the RS universe. Leave the Prefect until last. Pushing Ice is considered one of his weaker books but in ideas I think it's his best.

>The Giant Dominant Women of Planet Zur
>Their bodies are changed and transformed, They are turned into submissive sex toys that fulfill their every alien desire. They are transformed to look female, except for their modified and enlarged genitals, which can satisfy a Zurite women. They are even modified, in a special way, that only a being with a penis like tail can appreciate.
>While assertive and demanding dominants the Alien women keep the Earthmen as beloved pets. Pets that serve their every sexual need and desire. It's a kind, loving form of female domination.

>Even with the bizarre body modification and humiliation he is put through, I was wishing to be next on the sex toy pet production line by the end of that book.
I will never understand guys that want to be dominated. Got a laugh out of that though, so it's all good.

>>16030531
You don't need to explain anything. You can say about a character "he's a blacksmith" so when he later makes swords from metal you don't question how he's able to do this, he's a blacksmith so obviously he can do blacksmith stuff. Likewise you say "he's a wizard" so later when he casts a fireball you don't question it, he's a wizard so obviously he can do wizardly things. It's not necessary to explain the origin of wizards anymore than it is the origin of blacksmiths, you simply treat them as a given part of the setting. You also don't have to explain the minutia of how their magic works, you simply demonstrate spells and have the wizard occasionally mention "I can't do that" or "that is possible" to establish vague boundaries. It doesn't require a system or elaborate rules.

>>16030604
Yes, I don't question a blacksmith because I know, maybe only in very general terms how he makes a sword, I know that he wasn't born a blacksmith, he was trained, I know that people since iron age were capable of smelting metal and making simple tools. I don't know ANYTHING about magic because it doesn't exist in real world and in books it has to be invented and it must be done in intelligent way that would make some sense, unless every magician is a messiah from god and can walk on water and produce unlimited bread and water, without any real explanation how it is done (muh just believe), even then, the fact that he is messiah from god and perform miracles when people need bread and wine is a magic system of sorts (just a shitty one)

Xianxia lads is there xx with really good writing for the fight scenes.
Weirdly for a genre all about them it seems to be a weakness.
Like you'll have really well done developlement/power up scenes and then the fight will be a guy using his power which just makes him stronger with no visible change and 500 flying swords to attack someone else and then the winner being whoever's shield/defense doesn't run out

>>16030231
for competent fantasy knowing your magic and world and being able to articulate them to the reader without outright exposition and being able to write a good action scene and ending is probably enough
Add in not writing in an oppressive society that your protagonist does absolutely nothing to change and you're probably already at a good book.

(Seriously so many recent fantasies are like "there's horrific poverty, the secret police murder someone every week" and then have the story end with their protagonist restoring their place in the monarchy/stealing a gem/winning a war whilst all of those problems introduced just turn out to be background dressing.)

>>16030825
Go play DnD and have someone else spoon-feed you the rules you dumb faggot.

>>16030960
What rules? anon said there is no rules and no "magic system" just magic

How do I know if my work is even any good? I'm 45 pages in now of about the 400 or so that I'm planning on for my fantasy book and sometimes I feel like I'm not 100% sure of the quality of the prose, or that the direction of the story will be well paced enough, or that the themes are going to be strong enough. Sometimes I'm not even 100% on little grammar things or archaic language. But I'm also a paranoid, skitzo idiot that can't even share the drawings or notes I do for the story and the world out of fear of somebody somehow piecing all my parts together and making a better story out of it, or discovering that I'm actually total dogshit and have been deluded the whole time, let alone share entire pages or chapters. Does anybody else feel this way or am I just irrational and insane? What can I do?

>>16030923
>Add in not writing in an oppressive society that your protagonist does absolutely nothing to change and you're probably already at a good book.
A goddamn baiter, why do you kys and continue.

>>16030985
Anon wants to understand where the magic comes from and a solution was offered. Imagine my surprise when a board about reading has members that suffer from a lack of reading comprehension.

>>16031000
See>>16030265

>>16031000
Those trips are a sign, my son; you walk the right path.

>>16031026
Don't add me to that chain of shitposts please. My stories are never going to be pozzed, I'm more worried about them just being bad in general.

>>16031025
>Anon wants to understand where the magic comes from and a solution was offered
Saying it is mysterious and unexplainable, just believe in it, don't question it, is not an acceptable explanation.

>>16030423
The first 80% of book 1 is pretty good.
Disillusioned kid runs away and survives in a world filled with demons. Then there is some massive time skip and he turns into some autistic bald freak and meets the 2 other mediocre side characters whose stories have been told alongside his. Then book 2 ends up being about a bunch of muslim sand people that you don't care about. Based on the reviews I read of the other books the author just shits the bed jumping to other random characters and just makes a big mess of what looked like a promising story. So maybe just re-read book 1 and quit. Read the amazon reviews if you're want a better understanding

>>16031121
Apart from muslims is it pozzed in any other way?

Explain what makes a fantasy book pozzed

Is "The Exorcist" fantasy?

>>16028550
i hope you die

>>16031163
typical sjw things, strong women characters, identity politics, lgbt characters, lgbt issues, racial issues

>>16031147
I only read 70 pages years ago. The only thing I remember is how boring it was. I did not give a shit about sand people and kept waiting for it to go back to the MC but it never did. There is rape and women are treated like shit so it's not pozzed it just gets incredibly boring. You can click on each book and read a few reviews and they just get worse and worse.

>>16030825
It doesn't matter though. Unless the story is specifically about wizards and becoming a wizard there's no real reason to describe in any detail their origin or how their powers work. It is sufficient to establish they exist, that people who know magic are a part of this world, and that there are limits to their powers which will be enumerated when appropriate.

>>16031163
note: pozzed means "HIV positive" which replaced calling something AIDs.

>>16031163
anything that stops our resident whiner from reading it
so being over 200 pages for a start

>>16031053
Why not? Chances are readers don't understand how metallurgy works yet they don't go into detail about that either.

>>16031231
There is more to it. You must also consider the method of transmission of the disease.

>>16029972
it's unfinished, why do you want to read an unfinished trilogy when there are literally hundreds that are completed?

>>16031163
book i like is based and redpilled
book (you) like is pozzed and cringe

>>16031000
>I feel like I'm not 100% sure of the quality of the prose
So how sure are you then if you're not 100%? 90%? 80%? What does this even mean? That you don't know how to tell good writing from bad writing? Why are you writing a book then?
>or that the direction of the story will be well paced enough
How exactly is a direction "well paced"? I don't even know what you're talking about here. Pacing can refer to scenes, or to the story in general, it can be fast or slow, and either can be "well paced" depending on the context. How does "direction" figure into it?
>or that the themes are going to be strong enough
How exactly is a theme "strong" or "weak"? Relative to what? Is there even a possible answer to this loaded statement that is not somebody's personal opinion?
>Sometimes I'm not even 100% on little grammar things or archaic language.
So get an editor who knows it then.

Actually I'm going to make that my answer to every weird, nonsensical statement in this post: get an editor. When they react with the same confusion I am you'll learn how to properly word your statements so you get actionable advice.

>>16031245
In my opinion most people (who read books) have at least some idea how most basic of metal work is done. The most basic and general knowledge is taught at school in physics or chemistry class, also history class. If one had such a basic understanding of magic (assuming established rules that most or all writers follow) then no further explanation would be required in the books. However magic differers wildly from one author to another therefore it has to be explained to some degree other than just believe in it, it just works.

>>16031324
>In my opinion most people (who read books) have at least some idea how most basic of metal work is done
This is an utterly bizarre and completely unfounded assumption. I can't even imagine why you'd assume this. Or why you'd think it is a prerequisite to enjoying fantasy.

>>16029972
the writing and fantasy world is down to your preference, if you can accept the "unreliable narrator embellishment" argument for why Kvothe is a Gary Sue, it's okay

>>16030042
On a possibly related note, any recs with a Mansa Musa-like protagonist in a African fantasy setting?

>>16031335
Kvothe is unreliable, but that's not why he's overpowered and good at everything. That's just how he is. His unreliability is more in his relationships with other people which are told entirely from his own point of view. So we're forced to be suspicious any time he makes himself out to be an innocent victim of some asshole noble's cruelty.

>>16031331
>The most basic and general knowledge is taught at school in physics or chemistry class, also history class.
Not sure about american public schools, I hear black history and african history is a major part of curriculum in the states, it might not cover the specifics of iron age, why it is called iron age and the specifics as africans have not yet evolved from tree climbing let alone, advanced into stone age. I am so so sorry about the state of education in your country.

I'm looking for a book that I read as a kid. It had Earth that was so overpopulated that all the land was covered by gigantic city. The city was made from lighter than air material. There was some rape and a guy that was tortured until he started believing whatever his torturer wanted him to (that was part of some plot because he was to testify in court). I think there were some asian undertones and that the book had many sequels.

>>16030883
I dunno about very good, but many people enjoy Cradle and its fights. I also liked First Step and Azyl Academy, though not for the fights, but for the general feel of the world (unlike most xianxia it actually felt diverse and alive to me).

>>16031369
Knowing that metallurgy exists is not the same thing as knowing metallurgy. If anything your argument supports my original assertion that only vague overviews are sufficient for magic in a fantasy setting and nothing else is required.

>>16031376
BDSM rape, I will add. I also think there was a genius kid, but not sure about that one.

>>16031399
Once again the basics are taught at school. After finishing high school I had the knowledge (but not skills or experience) to make the most primitive of metal tools.
It is same with magic, some explanations must be given and finer details can be omitted. And magic is not taught at school therefore the author must provide sufficient explanations in his books.

>>16031461
What knowledge? Heat metal and hit with hammer?
For magic something on the same level would be speak the spell and do some fancy hand moves.

>>16031476
There must be enough information provided for it to make sense, given how a metal is just a matter in solid form and be turned into liquid state, shaped and then turned into solid again is quite logical. Speaking words and waving hands (to produce a fireball) must mean something, there must be some mechanism behind it that makes it all possible.

>>16031511
That's almost nothing. Magic is energy without form, when a wizard gives it shape it exerts its influence on material world. Just use this placeholder explanation if the novel doesn't give you one and Bob's your uncle.

what the fuck are you nerds talking about?

>>16031580
>>16031511
Bette answer this >>16031376

Just finished reading Neuromancer. That's some pretty good shit.

>>16031376
>>16031621
The Sky Lords by John Brosnan?

>>16031626
Savor it because the sequels are not quite as good.

>>16031716
Nah it's actual city, attached to the ground, just made of lighter than air material. Not flying airships.

>>16028299
I liked Dr. Adder

>>16031716
>>16031716
After hours of searching I finally found it, it was The Middle Kingdom by David Wingrove. Contains the first BDSM scene I've read about and I remember being both disturbed and aroused.

>>16031626
>>16031722
Is there any cyberpunk that's as good and not as well-known?

>>16030825
This is your brain on Sanderson lol. Just kill yourself, as there is no known cure.

>anons complaining about fantasy with explained magic systems
>anons also complaining that most fantasy feels generic and unoriginal, about quests and swords and shit
Well then, how would you differentiate your setting if not by the use of magic?

>>16032034
>Well then, how would you differentiate your setting if not by the use of magic?
>Because 'magic systems' are the only way to do magic.

The best way to explain it in my mind is how you would make something for a child at build-a-bear or something.
Much in the way you pick the colour, head and clothing of your kids toy; You pick the flavour of the magic system, you pick the general theme (Elemancy, Oneiromancy, telepathy, etc), you pick the 'cost' and you pick the 'power level' (Mundane to Xianxia 'I can split this mountain with my mind') - and you explain it to the reader.
It's boring because there's 0 mysticism, just gimmicks that 'only your magic system could do'. If I can learn the entirety of how magic works with a simple explanation, that's boring. Heaven forbid that you attempt to explain your already easy to understand magic system outside of the book - looking at all of you, aspiring authors.

Write and show magic. Don't give us a tutorial like half of these hacks.

any scifi/cyberpunk recommendations? preferably with aliens. just finished reading blindsight again and not sure what to pick up next

>>16029600
No because I cried when it receded

>>16032454
Why don't they just mask it? It's not hard, GRRM did it, JK Rowling did it to make sense of the world, and I'm sure Tolkein had a mental outline of what everybody was capable of.

You can have a magic system but the reader isnt entitled to a wikipedia entry breakdown of it.
If I wrote a fantasy novel my main character try to make sense of the magic as they see it, and if they strike up a conversation with a wizard, make the wizard talk about their mysticism to the illiterate MC like as though Steve Jobs were describing the utility of an iPhone to an Ethiopian farmer.
It's all made up anyway so whats the harm in omitting a few details?

Was the last mindbending sci-fi book of note Blindsight? Has anything else come out after that that is worth a mention in terms of mind-fuckery?

>>16032636
Your Steve Jobs analogy is dumb.
Wizards care about secrecy (where the importance of names trope come from), techniques, they're trained into a cult, etc. They're usually loathed, respected or feared for this mystic aura.
Some warrior sitting down with a wizard casually divulging his secrets and the nuances of his trade would strike me as too modern and Reddit, a need to "converse" about yourself and being understood, perhaps by some stranger.
Steve Jobs was a proselityzer.

>>16031461
>After finishing high school I had the knowledge (but not skills or experience) to make the most primitive of metal tools.
I seriously doubt it, unless you had some weird education that you won't find anywhere in the first world. That or you're just very stupidly underestimating how complicated metallurgy is.

>>16031904
John Shirley's stuff

>fantasy book
>starts normal
>description of book is normal
>first 5 chapters are normal
>in the middle of a chapter they start talking about levels, stats, adventurer guild rankings, and classes
Fuck off holy shit, it was never even marked as LitRPG anywhere. To make matters worse, the narrator for this audiobook is a woman. Sounds like shit.

>>16019722
I haven't noticed the prose detracting from it or being too particularly purple. Waiting to see what comes next for our girl Ssyba.

>>16032622
Revelation Space

Any fantasy books that have this trope?

>>16032893
Harry Potter

>>16032893
for me it is BG2 Aerie romance

>open Black Company for the first time
>it's written in first-person
>close Black Company for the last time

Thought you people had taste

>>16032921
>being unable to read first-person

How many have you read, /sffg/?

>>16032893
How about you check the Literature section under Examples?
>>16032921
This is as shallow an opinion as discussing a book based on the number of chapters, the presence/lack of a map, or the size of the print.

>>16032921
First-person is the best narrative perspective.

>>16032931
Inability and unwillingness are two different things, anon.

>>16030825
Magic IS the unexplained. When you explain how a wizard chucks a fireball it's no longer magic

>>16030194
It's the hell he created for himself. Get fucked and eat shit, George.
>http://grrm.livejournal.com/418285.html
Such a wonderful time capsule of all the people George insists aren't SJWs who turned out to be rabid fucking puritan cunts in the years that followed.

>>16032636
That's the thing, some details should be explained, others may be explained later as story progresses.

>>16031544
See >>16032675 your "keep your name secret thing" doesn't really fit in with accepted notion of magic here

When does the black company get interesting?

>>16033247
Everything before they sail North is basically an extended prologue. Although it doesn't start to hit its stride until a little after Raven shows up

>>16033247
when they leave the initial city

>>16028550
>does it being a 25 year old book make it feel dated?
For fuck sake's.

>>16029022
Hype? No. It's another bloated epic fantasy series will all the trappings of grimderp and subversion you'd expect. Even the author admits he should have reigned himself in.

>>16029703
It's grimderp, not dark fantasy. Yes there's a difference.

>>16029762
Yes, but a lot of it was terrible (just like modern fantasy).

>>16032882
heard of that, ill check it out, thanks

>>16029972
It's written by a simp who lets his simpness seep through the writing. If you're also a simp and that appeals to you then go ahead and read it. If not try reading some infinitely superior fantasy like David Gemmell. Specifically his Drenai series. Or if you like your fantasy with a bit more drama mixed in check out his Rigante series.

>>16030231
World-building is the LEAST important aspect of storytelling. The most important are, IMO, the characters and the style in which you write and tell your story.

>>16032921
What's the problem? First time I read it, it seemed novel. Also, Soulcatcher a waifu.

>>16030388
Bro, not even ASOIAF has a "magic system" yet it's the most popular modern epic fantasy series that influenced tons of writers. And I say that as someone who doesn't like the series.

>>16030531
>Having a character just wielding random magic at random times with no explanation will just ruin any story.
You are very retarded. Do you need it explained to you how a warrior in a book is able to defeat 6 men in combat by himself, but not 12?

Sup my minions?

Bow down once again to the greatest fantasy author of your time!

Give thanks!

>bitching over muh magic systems
Why even bitch over this? Either you like it being descriptive or not.

for me it is Robert E. Howard

>>16033441
Thank you Terry!

>>16032622
Tomorrow's People

>>16033441
Thank you Mr. Goodkind! You are so tall and handsome!

>>16032944
No it isn't.

>>16033448
For me it's Akivasha and other Stygian noblewomen. Like really, I never cared that much for Conan as a character, I much rather we also had different characters running around the Hyborean age world.

>>16033443
>WHY DISCUSS THING ON BOARD MEANT TO DISCUSS THINGS

>>16033448
Based. Now check out Karl Edward Wagner if you haven't.

>>16028469
holy fuck anon, get a grip. no one cares that your indy author wont finish the last book in his shit series.

Who took the most recent shower?

>>16033544
the mormon, obviously. they are a very fastidious people

>>16033544
Sanderson

>>16033441
>Chadkind
Wasn't this the faggot who wrote the primordial simp fantasy?
I forget what book it was, when the MC's girl sleeps with MC's evil brother (?) and MC "totally understands" and there's some horseshit analogy about roses.
On the other hand, the anti-communist book was nice...

>>16033544
how many times you gonna post this?

What's the difference between Tolkein and Sanderson?

>>16033721
One is a good writer and the other wrote Lord of the Rings.

>>16033721
>>16033735
>t. samefag preparing for the stand-up comedy circuit

>>16033544
At least Sandy doesn't look like the unholy bastard child of Brian Blessed and a garden gnome

>>16033544
Why the beards of fantasy writers look so dirty?

>>16033759
He looks like a lesbian version of Rich Evans.

>>16031368
>>16031335
Do you guys really think Sanderson actually has enough nuance in his writing to treat Kvothe like an unreliable narrator? Yeah he might drop a hint here or there to try and play that angel, but personally I think Sanderson means for us to take everything at face value. Subtly isn’t his strong point.

>>16033932
Whoops, mean Rothfuss. Same things apply to Sanderson, just more so to Rothfuss.

>>16033932
>Subtly isn’t his strong point.
This is true, but he showed signs of improvement with Hero of Ages.

>>16033946
How would Sanderson write this scene?

>>16033957
>Rothfuss actually has decent prose
>But can’t write a halfway decent plot
Also Sanderson would probably write it in about half that with twice as much angst.

>>16033950
To be honest, The Way of King’s series hasn’t been too bad-minus Shallan. But the plot beats are pretty cyclical. On the other hand at least writes his characters with enough flaws and nuance to be a little interesting. At least you wouldn’t accuse them of being Gary Stu’s. Except Shallan. She’s the worst.

>>16033957
That's so pathetic it's unreal.

So this is the power of modern fantasy...

>>16033983
>we'll keep talking about it
This has a very "the beatings shall continue till the morale improves" vibe to it.

>>16033983
How did Fantasy go from being written by priests, bards, and Christian nerds at colleges to... this?

>>16033932
I think you mean Rothfuss, and he demonstrated enough ability in his writing that it should be within his grasp to write Kvothe as unreliable. Or at least it was a decade ago. He hasn't published anything in like 7 years and I think he's long since burned out on writing. I think he decided a while ago he no longer had any interest in finishing his series, or indeed writing anything ever again, and just wants to enjoy the celebrity author status. Despite having only written 2/3 of his debute trilogy.

>>16033477
Because you’re shitting up the thread with this stupid fucking discussion.

>>16034149
I'd rather read 200 posts about what makes for good or bad magic in books rather than this retarded war about Sanderson/Rothfuss (both shit), some dumb award, cuckoldry bad and /pol/ tier topics, you shithead.
There's hardly any discussions in this thread. It's just juvenile banter because it's the only shitty thoughts you basic fucks can articulate. So go ahead. Namedrop books, authors, call other trannies and enjoy the echo.

>>16034071
It became the domain of geeks and nerds, who are weaklings and cave in to peer pressure to be "woke" once they go to college.

I'm making a fantasy soundtrack compilation for my fellow autists who like to relax and daydream to this kind of music. It will have over 30 hours total, here's the first and shortest "chapter"
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfVg4rq8f5Zerm7MVSxi6XN5NnFPe0NDx

>>16034051
Right? The guy has a moral objection to it, but that's not acceptable. They're just being patient until the brainwashing is complete.

>>16034071
Blame D&D

>>16034220
Sounds good. You like dungeon synth by any chance?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DffQVP6UqVQ

Goddamn I wish Gemmell were still alive. Pretty much the only writer who knew how to evolve S&S to make it stay relevant in the changing market when epic fantasy became the new hot thing.

>>16034230
>70-90s D&D
>Wenches and mead, epic quests, guy gets the girl, bikini armor and unrealistic weapons, Men doing manly things and women doing womanly things
>00s and onward
>goblins deserve rights, stealing treasure from dragons is wrong, necromancers are an analogy for oppressed minorities, orcs are racist cause they look like black people, cant be committed to a single relationship anymore, marriage whats that? That dude looking all muscular and carrying that fucking axe is probably a pedophile and that woman over there that is not fat at all represents an unrealistic beauty standard, also elves have to be fat now.

What the fuck went wrong?

>>16034268
This reminds me, where did the narrative that showing women as sexy was somehow dehumanizing come from? Feminists started whining about how women are shown as sexy instead of having a good character as if looking hot and not being perfectly realistic was somehow an either/or thing, when aesthetics and visuals really have nothing to do with how well developed a character is. Is it just roasties jealous they don't match up to hot imaginary women?

>>16034279
>Is it just roasties jealous
That's literally it.
I remember a popular youtube video from a few years ago where some fat woman on a talk show argues about fat acceptance and the gist of the conversation end that everyone can loose weight if they want to even if they have things like under-active thyroids. She just says "but exercising is hard".

>>16030355
Magic systems can be fine, but sometimes they work to the detriment of the setting's sense of wonder and mystery.

>>16034279
>where did the narrative that showing women as sexy was somehow dehumanizing come from
This is /lit/ and not /pol/ and so you kings may actually be able to appreciate this.
Read "Albion's Seed." Your bicoastal liberals are all memetic and mostly genetic descendants of Puritans. This spills over into all facets of their activism, such as sex is demeaning to women, whites have the Original Sin of being born racist, ...
It's also why Borderer chads like Moorcock and Torgensen and Correia don't get along well with this tribe.

>>16034326
I'm familiar with Puritanism and I think that this interpretation, while it does have some truth to it, relies a bit too much on caricature, and our society has been engaging in a mean-spirited caricature of the Puritans for a very long time, to the point that it seems to have become accepted as factual.

>>16034358
I guess what I mean, there's clearly some root religious impulse behind it (I definitely agree with the idea of original sin carrying over into our modern politics) but it's been distorted into something very different from its origin, which makes sense given that it has no god anymore. There's literally nothing to ground it or shape it other than human emotion.

>>16034384
Laypeople unlocked the idea of ultimate subjectivity but they didn't know what to do with it, so it was co-opted by these types of people to claim that everything is a social construct created by oppressors and establish identity hierarchies as an objective and moral natural order. It only gets twisted into more and more nonsense as time goes on.

>constant poo jokes
>Damn you're thirsty (said to a dragon talking about a woman)
>Facepalm used as a verb
>Pokemon jokes
>Characters in a fantasy world using a basketball for a a size reference
>More poo jokes what if we drop POO onto the soldiers ehhehehrhrhehehehehehh
Whoever recommended this blue mage dragon shit a few weeks ago, fuck you

>>16034518
what book?

>>16034522
Blue mage raised by dragons

What are some fantasy books and short stories focused on little plant creatures?

>>16034527
Just randomly tapped into a chapter and what appeared to be a side ho told theC that he stinks and the MC replies that he was emptying someone's poop bags.
Is this what it's come to?

Are all five books of the Book of the New Sun worth reading or do they drop off?

>>16034592
braap posting is the next frontier of fantasy

>>16034609
yes. read them all. how long have you been in this general? the first four are all supposed to be one book, and should be read as one book. urth is the only one you dont really NEED to read, but its supposed to be a nice coda

We're close to the bump limit, so might as well.
>https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2020/08/01/sheesh-i-missed-the-worst-bit-of-the-hugo-awards/
Pee Pee Myers weighs in on the Gurm Hugo nontroversy. How do we prevent libtards from fucking up SF/F?

>>16034933
>"tried" to undermine someone winning a hat-trick
>tried to undermine someone who already won
>tried to degrade the value of a person, that has already won THREE TIMES
What the fuck even is this argument?
They got three awards, he compared it to someone else who won three awards. What the fuck is the actual problem?

>Doesn't say dumb publishing house name right
>This is somehow too far
I fucking hate people.
I know black authors that went to Fiyah and got told to fuck off cause they were too pasty. When they went to other houses they were fine and at least had people read their manuscripts.

I consider myself a soft-lefty-boy, but this is actually retarded.
Out of all the legitimately problematic things he did say (spoiler; there's truly only one thing that was problematic, and it was the comparison but it wasn't the awards comment itself) they pick all these minutia that doesn't matter.
Fucking hell. No wonder no one takes SJWs and guilt-signallers seriously.

>>16035064
Check out the comments to the post linked from within Myers' snide commentary. You have actual slant-eyes and sandniggers telling her that it's okay if they don't get the pronunciations right. She basically says that they don't understand the level of their oppression.

>>16034933
It funny how "free thought" means wholeheartedly believing the ideological dogma of the political, cultural, and corporate elite.

>>16034933
I haven't given a shit about the Hugos in over a decade so I haven't looked into it but am I given to understanding that the controversy is about pronouncing a few names wrong?

>I don't care about the hugos
>but here's me moaning about what six blogs nobody else in the thread has ever mentioned or hear of think about it
this is a pretty boring routine lad

>>16028570
dorohedoro

>>16035136
FTB has been this way ever since Atheism+ started to be a thing. One of the first faultlines was Elevatorgate. You can chart a sequence of causality from Elevatorgate via Donglegate and Gamergate and the Puppies Drama and finally disowned liberals not turning out to vote.
>>16035160
Also because Georgie Boy did not know that some Old White Male authors had been unpersoned a few months ago, such as John W. Campbell:
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ58zf0vzB0
This festering cunt is now a top result when you search for based Campbell. For all the "get your /pol/ out of my /lit/" milquetoasts, this should serve as a wake-up call.

>>16035198
>FTB has been this way ever since Atheism+ started to be a thing. One of the first faultlines was Elevatorgate.
Hah, I'd forgotten about this. A portentous event and an ill omen in hindsight. Hard to believe how much farther into the pit everything has fallen since then.

>>16035198
>For all the "get your /pol/ out of my /lit/" milquetoasts, this should serve as a wake-up call.
They don't tell you to go back to /pol/ because they're opposed to political discussion. They say it because you're criticizing things that they support and they want you to shut up about it. All the brushing under the rug and denial is just a lying rhetorical tactic to keep you from criticizing things.

>>16028299
Veniss Underground

Never read any Campbell, but I'm intrigued now.
What are the essentials?

>>16035237
Can't go wrong with The Thing from his anthology Who Goes There.
Hell, just pick up his short story collections and go through them one by one.

>>16035237
His short story collections "Death to all Darkies" and "The Aryan with One Thousand Races"

>>16035170
Lol sjw

>>16035221
It cant be because this is a place to discuss literature?

>>16035280
That's what's being done. This is all directly related to literature. None of it is off-topic.

>>16035280
>brainwashed whores and their constellation of orbiters is destroying SFF as we have come to know and love
>"noooo you cannot be opposed to this why won't you roll over and die"
>>16035221 is right. Fuck off and die, Hugo Tranny.

These are the same posters who replied to someone discussing poverty within fantasy upthread as "bait" lol.
There's absolutely no sincere intent to discuss books here

>>16035296
Then fuck off to somewhere else.

>>16034220
Consider checking this album out: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kGxQpqCnUR-10THetzAHHMJiEoBXLNCuY

having used libgen for other a year i've just noticed there is a radio checkbox for fiction, which searches an entirely separate list

what the fuck

>>16035327
I've never used the non-fiction search, does it still find stuff?

Libgen was the only way I could get the correct translations of the chinese classics when I started reading them recently

>>16032675
My point is when you're buying a phone the seller never tries to explain the micro-processing at play or the fundamentals of how the touchpad works, it simply does.
If they don't tell you that, why would they divulge such secrets to somebody who has 0 baseline knowledge? Someone with even appreciation for the tech than normies today (at at least understand the basics of radio transmission and satellites)

>>16030825
if you have a different world you kind of have to explain that world and you can di the same with magic if you want and some people do explain their magic.

Anyone here read The Middle Kingdom/Chung Kuo by David Wingrove? I'm wandering if it's worth reading.

>>16028816
Hey. Just because you were 40 when that book came out and you have nostalgia doesn't mean it's for everybody.

>>16032816
I just read first few reviews at goodreads, often someone mentions that it's litrpg even though the blurbs has no warning about litrpg.

>>16032944
based

>>16035191
>Dorohedoro
>Knights of Sidonia
>Ajin
All my favorite manga have gotten anime adaptations, but they're all CG abominations. It's like I've fallen into a vet of monkey paws...

>>16033957
I wonder if Rothfuss was orbiting some woman in real life.

>>16035431
>abomination
Have you even watched it? Doro looks great.

>>16034933
Who cared about all those shitty awards (every single one that isn't objective, so every single one apart from the majority of sports awards), most of the time they are completely retarded.

>>16035479
Go over the history of those awards from the 1980s to about 2008. There were some quality books on there.
Most of the books /sffg/ wanks itself raw over won "a shitty award" when they came out.

>>16035333
Maybe I'm using it wrong, but I'm having more luck with new titles on b-ok and chomikuj (not recommending the last one because it's paid, but I spent a few bucks on this as a child for a few GBs of transfer and since books are small I still have a fair bit of transfer)

>>16035499
I did look up some of them when looking for something to read a decade or two ago, but most were boring so I stopped caring about it.

>>16035501
I don't use libgen for new stuff so maybe
My process is mobilism>irc #ebooks>libgen>the other irc channel I forgot the name of

If I don't find new releases there I just wait a week or two. Only recent one I didn't get in that timeframe was the Sarah J Maas book I was going to read just to shitpost about lol

>>16035527
So mobilism is good for older books? I was wondering why it is recommended by some when b-ok has way more of the titles I search for.

Don't you guys get your books from private trackers?

>>16035537
for older I prob go irc>mobilism>libgen
mobilism is spotty on older stuff, it depends on how much whoever posted it likes to reupload

IRC's problem is that some of their copies of old books are really early ebooks which were digitised by amateurs and thus have errors and worse formatting than professional efforts. Usually they have newer copies too but sometimes you have to download every version to see what's what
>>16035550
porn is the only thing ever where I haven't been able to find what I want on the public options

>>16035550
Do they actually have more titles? b-ok has more than 5M books.

>>16035550
Yeah I only use MAM. It's helpful to find new stuff, especially new translations and newer editions of old books.

>>16035550
>>16035588
I gave up on private trackers after losing my PTP, MAM and BTN accounts. Inactivity pruning is a bitch.

>>16035550
Never, I use several public sources, Internet Archive, Z-lib, libgen, IRC, scihub(this one is not for fiction) and ebookhunter.ch(only reason I use this one is because I once managed to find a book in it that I just couldn't find in any other website, or rather, I found it on libgen but for some reason the one in libgen didn't have the images that the book was supposed to have, while the one I found there had them).

I can find most stuff there, not all of it, but most of it.

>>16035550
>>16035557
>>16035574
>>16035588
>>16035596
>>16035704
Reminder that the-eye has a full siterip of Bibliotik that is going up once there server is upgraded. A partial upload is already complete.

>>16035739
>the-eye
URL?

>got memed into buying words of radiance
>rated 4.7 on goodreads by roasties
>half of the book is about a quirky uninteresting roastie
Why does every book nowadays have to pander to those scum?
Btw recommend a better series please I just want a good plot for escapism.

>>16035853
>better series
Have you tried The Endlords series by J. V. Jones?
She's a female author, but from a time when it wasn't considered a red flag.

>>16035873
>female author
I don't touch anything written by females

>>16035853
Hey anon, have a little treat.
Go onto Goodreads and look at Stormlight Archives books 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10.
>But they're not out yet-
People have already given them 5/5s.

Most people don't read Sanderson because they like his work.
They read his work be because he's popular.

>"These poor savage things will never embrace salvation."
>"I will have to rape it into them."
What did he mean by this?

>>16035884
>i'm an idiot who won't recognize quality even when it's called out as such
It's your loss.
>>16035886
Goodreads can be consigned to the fire at this time. It's useless.
What's the non-plebeian place to discuss and review books?

>>16034268
00 onwards sounds like you read wandering inn. Told you fucks to stay away.

>>16034592
>>16034527
>>16034518
It's supposed to be a comedy. You know? Something that makes you laugh. If you don't have a funny bone ignore it.

>>16035886
I knew it would happen but I expected it to be like 5 or 6 people max.
>4.45 Stars, 336 Ratings, 61 Reviews
>Expected publication: November 17th 2020 by Tor Books
Rhythm of war isn't even out.
What the fuck. Sanderson autists are the worst.
Some poor author(s) that's trying to get publicity via GR probably got cucked by this.

>>16035853
So you actually loved book 1 enough to pick it up or did you actually start with book 2 like a retard? In either case it makes your post invalid.

>>16036085
im 600 pages into book and so far kaladin has been carrying a bridge for 550 pages and shallan has been sitting in a library.

>>16036036
They probably got an ARC. I think goodreads put a stop to rating and reviewing books a few years ago.
It got bad. Look at the doors of stone reviews. That book is never coming out and there is a detailed review from years ago that Rothfuss commented on.

>>16036105
You can simplify every book in existence. You using this as an unironical argument just shows that you're not smart enough to read.

How much of a book do you read before dropping it if you don’t like it? 100 pages into the first first law book and it’s not really doing anything for me.

>>16036126
I've dropped as early as 5 pages if I hate the writing (The Broken Earth trilogy), but usually anywhere from 30-100.

Fuck amazon and their "release on Tuesday" policy plans. I want all my August releases NOW. Not on the 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th.

>>16036126
I usually death march it

>>16036126
It honestly depends.
I stopped Eye of the World at 300 something because it was just a travel guide.
I nearly stopped WoK in the literal prelude because of the tutorial, see >>16036137.

>>16036107
Even with NDAs they put out a review?
Seems unlikely.

>>16036126
I usually finish it(stop at book one of its a series). So when I tell sffg it's shit, I have proof to argue with, and know about parts and aspects that wiki readers won't.

Just finished this. Where do I go from here?

>>16036118
ok brandon

>>16036158
I think the nda wants them to put reviews (it hypes books sales), it's just that they can't expose plot points.
They usually put out a hype review , then a detailed review once the book is released.
These are review ARCs, not the beta / alpha reader ARCs.

They already have a banner. When will the litrpg crowd migrate?

>>16036036
>"In July of 2020, Rothfuss's editor and publisher Betsy Wollheim said, "I've never seen a word of book three" and that she doesn't think Rothfuss has written anything since 2014."
lmao

>>16036251
You (you)'d the wrong post, faggot.

>>16036303
The rothfuss whiner has done that before lol
They're so desperate to go on about their pet subject that they can't even check what they're replying too

>>16036386
>mfw rothfaggots have infiltrated /sffg/
please go back to wherever you've come from.

>>16036449
I think he's a bad writer, I just don't see the benefit in going on about a writer every thread when I read his last book and thought it was bad like 7 years ago.
What does it add to the discussion, what joy does it bring?

>>16036563
He was recently curb-stomped by his editor and so we're having some fun at his expense. Give it a few more weeks and /sffg/ would have forgotten all about him.

This was my first Sanderson and it was SHIT
Any other anons here read it?

>>16035550
Always. Easiest and usually the only way of getting retail quality epubs free of OCR and formatting issues.

Thread slave

>>16031310
a lot of effort writing a post just to say you don't understand shit about it. jesus christ you retard just don't respond next time